Just in case you are considering a visit to Vietnam – and why shouldn’t you?
This trip is over and done with and, no doubt, another will follow sooner or later. Why do I go back there every year? Well, perhaps I should do some summing up. Everyone will experience Vietnam in a different way - it all depends on your expectations. I believe that to either "go it alone" or with a friend is the way to do it. Organised tour? Just forget it. I have seen many advertised. For example, yesterday when visiting a motorcycle shop here in Brisbane I noticed a brochure advertising an “all in” 10-day tour of the Country for around $4000. From experience I know you can do it yourself (or book local tours) for perhaps $1000 or less. Anyway, let me run some ideas by you.

I think most people take 2 weeks to do the Country. However, I think a full month would be a better option. If you travel on a tight budget you still can travel comfortably.

Air Travel
From Australia:
I have found the cheapest way to travel to Vietnam (or SE Asia for that matter) is to book welll ahead and check out the weekly specials of Scoot Airlines (ex all capital cities and Goldcoast) and Jetstar Vietnam. They are safe companies to fly with (Scoot belongs to Singapore Airlines and Jetstar belongs to Qantas) Ex Aus the fare is around $800 return however, I have flown several time for less than $500. An overnight in Little India in Singapore is an added bonus.

Arrival

Before you leave home you can arrange a visa via your local Embassy at a high cost plus registered post etc. The better way is to arrange a “Visa on Arrival” for a quarter of the cost. (below I will let you know how to do that)

Most people arrive in either Hanoi or Ho Chi Min City and start their journey. The best way is to start in one city and leave from the other. Let’s start an imaginary journey in Hanoi. You arrive and walk over to the "Visa on Arrival" counter and collect your visa (takes about 10 to 15 minutes). You walk to the arrival hall and the first thing you do is go to one of the counters to buy a Vietnamese sim card which costs about $5 and will last you (even if you use the internet) for the entire journey. On your phone you should have the App "MAPS.ME" and have downloaded the Vietnam maps which can be used offline as they work via GPS. Ok - ready to go? Walk past all the taxis who will charge anything from $20 to $30 to get you to the old quarter of Hanoi. In the carpark you will find a bus which will take you there for $0.40 cents.


(Another useful App is "Grab" which is like Uber. I had never used it before and tried it out. Excellent! Your phone lists where you are and you just type in the destination. Immediately you see the price and distance. Within two minutes a car arrived and, although the young driver did not speak a word of English, we got to our destination hassle free and there was no issue of extra charge.)


Accommodation

Vietnam has an oversupply of hotels. In any city just go for a short walk and you will find them all around- If you dress modestly the price quoted may be lower. Many hotels have a width of perhaps only 3-4 meters and are up to 7 levels high. They may not have windows or, if there is one, it will face a wall only 40 cm away. Many hotels list themselves as backpackers but have private rooms which, in fact, are the original hotel rooms but at a reduced price. Backpackers accommodation costs 4-7 dollars a night incl breakfast. Private rooms (for two persons) around $15 for the room incl breakfast for two. The best sites to do your bookings are hostelworld.com and hostelbookers.com, they list hostels and hotels and quote to exact price (you pay $1 -3 deposit to secure your booking) Do not use Bookings.com, they quote inflated prices up to 100% and further advertise a listed room (say $40) with a message “Hurry!-only 2 rooms left!!” When you get there you may find that the hotel is near empty and that the sign in the lobby lists your room at $12.

Often the hotel staff will try to sell you tours and add-ons before you have even entered your room or even ask (and keep on asking) if they can book a taxi to the airport if they know that you are flying out in the next few days Often one of the first questions they ask is if you have been to Vietnam before. If your answer is “no” they go for it and without hesitation will quote you $100 for a $20 flight to your next destination. So don’t do anything until you check prices. Every hotel acts as a travel agent and often in a busy street you will find one next to another. One morning I witnessed 4 French tourists being “advised” by the hotel manager (I was writing my blog at the next table) One of the things I heard was “if you buy 4 flights to Danang I may be able to get them for just under $100 each” quickly I googled Jetstar Vietnam and saw that the tickets were $19 each plus booking fee.

Food

You will never go hungry in Vietnam. In both Hanoi and Ho Chi Min City entire streets are turned into roadside eateries after 4 pm and are open until midnight. Although I mainly eat street food I have never been sick, I am very selective where I buy and what I eat. Your best bet is Pho which is a noodle soup served steaming hot with either chicken or beef. About $2.50 and will fill you up. There are shops and stalls where they will fry you up some eggs on a crispy bun filled with fresh vegetables - a meal for $1. If you are an extremely low budget traveller you can survive on very little. For example in Hanoi - accommodation $5 including breakfast, Lunch $3.00, Dinner $3.00, 1 or 2 free beers at your hostel during happy hour plus a bottle of water which you can refill at you hostel - all in all you can survive on $15 per day easily.

Traveling through the Country.

If you plan it well you can travel virtually free of charge. Vietnam uses sleeper busses. They are clean and comfortable (if you are tall, head for the back rows in the bus). By traveling at night you save a night in a hotel; depending on how far you are traveling. the cost of the trip may be equal to or less than a night in a hotel.

Traveling by train is a bit more expensive - always book a soft sleeper (4 beds per compartment and thicker mattresses) and not the hard sleeper (6 per compartment)

Doing your own thing by buying a small motorcycle at around $250 and selling it again for the same price gives you the best of all options. (most people travel South to North – making it harder and more expensive when buying in Ho Chi Min City. Riding North to South you can even make some money on your bike)

Information

Just google “Traveling in Vietnam” and you will find plenty of information about the Country. Many sites and businesses have a “recommended by Trip Advisor” sign at their shop or business. Take that all with a pinch of salt. The site is often manipulated and the more money is paid the more important status the site gives to the business. The fact that it is all generated by different people makes it subject to a lot of variations as report are written according to the expectations of the contributors. For example a person could stay in the country where lots of buffalos roam around giving the place a real country feeling. A person could give it 10 points because of all of the sounds, smells etc while the next person could say “I hated the place because of the noise of the bells and the smell buffalo **** everywhere.".. So forget about the ratings and just go and experience it for yourself.

Pricing

When the market freed up and the Vietnamese were given the freedom to run their own businesses things went crazy. It seems that not many people give it much thought when they have the “idea” of starting out on their own - for example, there are 10 shops in a row, all selling glassware - so things must be good. "I will start a shop next door and be number 11” seems to be the way planning goes. There is no such thing as a standard price unless you go to a supermarket. The only place I have encountered standard prices other than supermarkets is in part of the Benteng market in Ho Chi Min City. The outer row of trading shops is owned by the government. All sales personnel wear a blue uniform and the shops are numbered. Prices are set and no bargaining allowed. I bought a wooden 3D puzzle in the shape of a buffalo. The price was 50.000 Don ($2.50) However once you enter the area of the free market you see prices of exactly the same item for between 200.000 all the way to 350.000 Dong. When you enquire they immediately say “Oh, special price for you 225.000" - and then when you walk away - "Ok, 180 or final price 150!" While there I saw a group of tourists who had arrived by cruise ship and, obviously unaware of anything I have mentioned here, handing over the full 300.000 for these items. So "buyer beware" is the advice.

Choice of destinations:

It all depends on time. In the north visit the region of Sapa. It is a beautiful part of the country. The local tribal women wear their traditional dress and this is not done to attract tourists. Stay a few days and do some trekking to visit the villages. My advice is to stay in a nice hotel in Sapa town (say the Cat Cat View hotel which offers magnificent views from nearly every room) During the day wander around the markets and the lovely streets and at night have a great dinner in the main street. Then stay a few nights in the village of Tavan in the magnificent "Buffalo House" owned by my friends Eddy and Hien. A home away from home in an authentic Hmong house where the sleepy buffalos walk past your window and you have a view over the valley right from the front porch. The nearby Bamboo Bar serves excellent food and is a terrific place to unwind while sipping some great coffee or enjoying a banana pancake. The choice is yours. (facebook: luckydaisy’s buffalo house )

The second place is Halong Bay which you saw in the pictures two blog pages back.

A side trip could be made to Mai Chau - a White Thai village - and enjoy the girls dressed in their blue and black outfits performing their local dancing accompanied by the sound of the equally enjoyable Vietnamese instrumental music.

Most people travel from Hanoi straight to Hue, thereby forgetting Ninh Binh. This place is worth a visit. "Halong Bay on land" it is often called, and indeed the roads wind through the karst outcrops until it reaches the town. Nearby women, who row the boats with their feet, will row you along a narrow river to the caves and back. An enjoyable few hours to spend with just the sound of the oars splashing in the water.

Then take a bus to Dong Hoi and stay there overnight. From here you could use another bus or, better still, rent a scooter and ride to Phong Nha which has now become more prominent on the tourist map due to the discovery of one of the worlds largest caves. However, if you think you would like to visit this newly discovered cave, you need to make a booking (possibly a few years in advance) and buy a ticket costing several thousand dollars. The plan is that they only allow a very limited number of people to visit the caves system each year. But don’t be deterred. There are more caves which can be reached by road or from the town itself where a long boat will take you through a series of them which are still very spectacular.

South of Phong Nha is the city of Hue. Again most places are best visited using a locally rented scooter (usually fully automatic) and discover the cities and surrounding areas. Hue, its citadel and the surrounding area is worth a few days.

In Hue there are many businesses which offer a one way rental to Hoi An. The best way is to negotiate a five day deal which includes the one way rental and two days in Hue and Hoi An. The road south is new, wide, in very good condition and has a separate track for scooters. Via the magnificent Hai Van Pass you reach Danang (If you prefer to take the bus you will miss it all as they will use the Tunnel.) Your better option would be the train which travels only partly through short tunnels but also offers great views over the South China Sea.

Hoi An I wrote about and is not to be missed. Traveling further south the best way is to go as far as Nha Trang and spend some time at one of the beaches which are excellent. From there take a bus to Da Lat in preference to the route along the coast unless you like to mix with thousands of Russian tourists (Nha Trang has its fair share of Russians as well)

Da Lat is refreshing with its cool climate and beautiful waterfalls and surroundings. It is also the flower growing centre of Vietnam.

From Da Lat it is an easy day travel to Ho Chi Min City. The city, which was once called Saigon, is a busy place but very different to Hanoi. The streets are wider and the place is definitely a lot cleaner than Hanoi. There are plenty of sights and things to do. One of these is a Delta tour of one, or several, days. It is best to shop around and question the agents as to what is on offer. The Vietnamese think differently and could tell you anything to get you to buy their product. Client referrals is not really a factor. If there is still time left, a nice place to relax for a few days is the island of Phu Quoc in the Gulf of Thailand. This tropical island has some excellent beaches and is a great place if you love to eat fish as nearly every restaurant has a large assortment of a variety of fish on their menu.

If you are not sure:

If you are not sure of doing it all on your own, there is only one person I can recommend who can assist with the visa, travel bookings and tickets - Eric Couwenberg of Getupendgo Vietnam, a Dutchman who has made Vietnam his home. Eric does it the European way. Meaning, "What I recommend is what you get and there will be no surprises". His underlying reason is that he wants his clients to be happy and satisfied. A happy client will more often than not refer a good agent. Eric runs his business with his Vietnamese partner Hue. I have noticed that while talking to Eric, his partner listens in and is already on the phone as soon as you ask, for example, "What time is the train going to XYZ ?" Before you finish your question Hue is already speaking to someone at the station. Eric can arrange the visa on arrival which costs $5 plus $25 at the airport. (Instead of more than $100 in Aus)

If you wish to, you can contact Eric via his website www.getupandgovietnam.com

So, just consider that you can do all this for a month for about the same cost of holidaying for a much shorter time in your own Country.

So “getupandgoanddoit” is my advice.

Meanwhile:

My friend Michael (who Gert and I visited earlier this year in Taiwan) has arrived in Australia. We have purchased a BMW R1200RT and are getting ready for an Australian Adventure through the states of Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. So - watch this space.