I recently returned from a few weeks Asia hopping with my mum and a friend of mine and I want
to share my experiences here. I hope it will help others who want to visit this part of the world. It is
my fond hope that, one day, this journal will take its place alongside `Napoleon's War Diaries' and
`The Memories of Julius Caesar'. (Red Dwarf reference for my fellow nerds)
There will be several posts about the different countries and also about the land transits between them. It will chronologically follow the trip. But be prepared that you will sweat litres and litres when travelling through this part of the world.
Vietnam: 23.10.2012-27.10.2012
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| Night street life in Da Nang |
The journey starts in Vietnam. We went there via air from Kuala Lumpur. We used Air Asia as our carrier to go to Da Nang. Air Asia is Asia’s most well known low cost carrier, and when you hit a time with promotions you can get a lot of bang for your buck. For a visa for Vietnam, if you are arriving by air, it is best to use the online visa service on arrival. There are plenty of them out there; and they vary in prices for their services. I found the cheapest that were legit and we used them
www.vietnamvisapro.com and www.vietnamvisapro.net. They cost $10 for one person for one month single entry visa and the price goes down when you travel with more people. The stamping fee you will pay at the airport is always $25, it is a Vietnamese government issued fee and you will get a receipt. You will need one passport photo and have to fill out one form; the online service will send you all things necessary, so you can fill it up ahead of time. They will tell you that you need 2 passport photos; however at the airport the officer only wanted one. Although if you have a extra photo it is better then to have one less :)You will receive a full page visa sticker and then go to another officer where you will get an arrival stamp.
We arrived in Da Nang on Sunday and learned that no banks were open, thankfully the taxi driver was ok with taking dollars and he even used the correct exchange rate and a meter without us having to hassle him about it. We later found out, that everyone works on both dollars and dongs there. We paid for all our hotel stays in dollars and we exchanged money for little shopping in the streets. We booked some of our hotels and hostels in Vietnam via booking.com or hostelworld.com so we already knew how much in dollars the stay was going to be. The hotels we just turned up at and asked for rooms were also working in dollars and the prices were similar. For shopping in the street it is better to do so with the local currency as they only operate on whole dollars so if you pay in local currency it will be cheaper for you and I think it is more fun to work your way with new currencies :)
We spent one night in Da Nang at the Hotel Dai A, which cost $10 per person, there was a free wi-fi and it included breakfast (which we didn't have as we left way too early in the morning) and a very helpful receptionist, who exchanged some money for us at a bank rate. After we checked in we explored the Marble Mountains just outside the city, went out for dinner and then took a little walk in the streets. We had quite a packed schedule of what we want to see and do, in the little time we had.
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| My Son Sanctuary |
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| Hoi An |
The taxi was waiting for us and then took us to Hoi An where we arrived around 11am. Hoi An is best known for its old town where time has stopped, with a delightful little streets a canal with boats and lovely bridges. One of the bridges is the Chua Cau bridge which, legend says, was build in the 16th century by the Japanese to kill the dragon that stretches from India to Japan and when angry caused earthquakes. I don't think the dragon is dead... there are still earthquakes in Japan. The whole old town is conserved and registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The entrance fee is 90.000 dong ($4.3) I would recommend this place for a visit, but give it more time, at least a full day. We had to leave at 3pm to catch a bus and 4 hours just weren't enough, not at all. From Hoi An we took a bus back to Da Nang. There are two bus stations in Hoi An. Northern which is the main one and one that is called just bus station (Bến xe buýt Hội An) and it is in the west. We took the yellow public bus service that goes every hour or so from the smaller bus station. Beware of this. This bus service is known for ripping of tourists. The price from Hoi An to Da Nang is 20.000 per person, but they will try to charge you 60.000. We just endured, didn't back off and we only paid 20.000, but it is annoying and you can probably get another bus service from Hoi An to Da Nang at the northern bus station. I even read that the BigC supermarket in Hoi An offers free shuttle to Da Nang if you shop there, but I haven't experienced it myself as I didn't go to BigC supermarket. I know 60.000 is less then 3 dollars, but as a principle I don't like being blindly ripped off.
As I stated before we were heading to Hue next via train from Da Nang. There is an official web page for train services in Vietnam, but it is sadly only in Vietnamese and I don't speak it. Thankfully I found all I needed HERE. Everything or almost everything you might need to know about train or even bus travel within Asia you can find on that webpage. And it is not just about Asia, the guy has a whole world there. I would like to send him my kudos with this. It helped immensely with our planning of the whole trip.
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| Ga means train in Vietnamese |
We took the train SE20 from Da Nang to Hue. You buy your ticket at the train station. The price from Da Nang to Hue is 65.000 ($3,1). When you get your ticket there will be written that you are a foreigner, but don't worry you pay the same price as anyone else (yes I checked it with another passengers, by looking at their tickets, I'm sneaky like that :)) the tag that you are a foreigner is for their statistical purposes. All Asian countries are obsessed with any type of statics. The train ride was quite pleasant, the trains are old and worn out, but it is all part of the experience and the view from the train is quite scenic. Don't expect Japanese trains. Japan is completely different from the rest of Asia in many, many respects. There is one important thing you should know about the Vietnamese train services. You have to keep your train ticket even when you are leaving the train at your destination, there are people at the exit of the train station who are checking your tickets, to see that you actually bought a ticket to this place. And yes there are conductors on the train as well, but I guess they want to double check.
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| Hue Forbidden City |
In Hue we again stayed just one night. We took a taxi from the train station, it is not that far you can actually walk it, but we were tired. The taxi was 60.000 dong ($2,8). We stayed at the Jade Hotel, 17 Nguyen Thai Hoc, Hue. I have to say it was the best hotel we stayed in through the whole 3 weeks. The other hotels and hostels were great, I will recommend each one of them, but the Jade has the pick of the bunch. You step in and immediately you get a cold wet towel and orange juice to freshen up. The rooms are small, but lovely and clean, there is free wi-fi and breakfast is cooked for you at the moment you order and you can eat the whole menu if you wish and it was all included in the price. And the price was absolutely unbelievable $19 for all 3 of us, which worked out to about $6 each... I mean WOW.
Hue itself is a lovely historic place with a great citadel, palace, pagoda, forbidden city and lots of tombs, a lot of royals have died here over the centuries. The entrance fees are around 80.000 dong ($3,8).
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| Paradise cave |
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| For comparison of size the little circled thing is my mum |
We decided that we will come and see what is what. You can rent a bike and go the caves by yourself and if you want to spend more days exploring I think it is wise to do so. We wanted just a one day quick peak so we asked at our hotel reception if the have anything available and they had one day tour for $35 per person, included in the price was transport from and to the hotel, a tour guide, lunch, entrance fee and bottled water which is very much needed in the hot and humid weather. The lunch was great; it consisted of many different local dishes that are extremely tasty. The tour was very enjoyable; the tour guide was a great guy who spoke English very well and shared some cool stories with us.
And in the evening it was time for us to move on again. This time to a town called Vinh. The reason for visiting this town is usually only because you want to take a bus to Laos. This was our case too. We took the train SE2 from Dong Hoi to Vinh, the ticket was 137.000 dong ($6,6). Our arrival was quite late, close to midnight. Again we opted for a taxi instead of walking. Yes, yes we are lazy like that. The taxi was only 28.000 dong ($1,4) as the train station was pretty close to the hotel we chose from Lonely Planet. The name of the hotel was the Thanh An Hotel, 156 Nguyen Thai Hoc. We chose this hotel because of the proximity to the bus station we needed to be at 5:30am. This hotel was basically around the corner from it and you could walk it even half asleep. :) The price was only 100.000 dong ($4,7) per person. They don't have any email or web, you can just walk in and ask for a room, it is an ok place to stay for one night. There was free wi-fi, but no breakfast, which we didn't need anyway as we had to leave the hotel very early in the morning.
How to cross border from Vietnam to Laos by bus from Vinh.
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| Bus from Vinh to Phonsavan |
There is a bus service at 6:00am from Vinh bus station to Phonsavan, Laos. You should be there at 5:30am to have a place to put your bags in the trunk of the bus, buy something to eat and to find yourself a seat. The bus ride takes about 14 hours even though it is only about 400km away, as I said before Vietnam roads are full of bikes and larger vehicles just have to take their time with it. The roads are basically ruled by the bikes. On the Laos side, the roads are incredibly windy. So again your average speed drops down to about 30km/h. But the view from the bus is great. The bus ride costs about $16 and you pay in the bus. The price for locals was the same, 340.000 dong. We paid in dollars as we didn't have any dongs left at this time. Stepping into the bus is a very funny experience as the walk way is cover with bags of rice as are some seat's foot well. You just walk on them while bending to avoid hitting your head in the ceiling lights. I actually prefer having my legs up so I was seeking a seat with a bag of rice there :) I found one and I was very happy for the rest of the journey :)
The ride to the border is the longer part of the journey. We stopped a few times for a toilet break, it is important to point out that this doesn't mean any real toilets, the guys just stand next to the bus pissing on the side grass and ladies have to find some bush to hide behind ;) We also stopped for lunch in some local village, there was a toilet in the food places, mind that I don't use the word restaurant as you can not call it that by any stretch of imagination :) If you see a whole little piglet being roasted in old cardboard boxes set on fire on the side of the road you get what I'm talking about :) We actually decided to try and eat something, but it was a mistake, the place we chose served really gross stuff. And I mean gross, the soup Pho that we ate many time in Vietnam and liked it was full of thick un-chewable meat and the broth was not strong and full of black pepper, and it was more expensive then food in a restaurant in the cities we had visited. It was just bleh. If you decide to eat at this stop, just ask for the price first. I personally would just buy more biscuits in Vinh before the ride. Crossing the border itself is a piece of cake. The bus takes you to the Vietnamese side, you just take your personal bag with you and leave the big backpack inside the trunk of the bus. You then go inside, give them your passport and wait for them to call you. After that you walk to the Laos side of the border. Fill out the arrival card and attach one passport sized photo, give them the visa fee, it is around 25-35 dollars depending on the country you are from. That is not a scam; it is an official policy of Laos. The procedure is the same as in Vietnam. You will receive a full page visa sticker and go to another window where you will get an arrival stamp. After that you just go to the bus that now waits on the Laos side and wait for all the people to come to the bus. It can take about an hour to process all the people in your bus. The rest of the ride you can just enjoy the view and have a camera ready as you can see some interesting scenes from local life.
This is all for Vietnam and crossing of the border. The next blog post will be about Laos. If you have any questions just leave a comment and I'll answer you as soon as possible. I hope all the info was helpful.
