Vietnam – The TPTC Blog!!

To Vietnam: Epilogue

Hi there all,

Recently, I and three of my friends, Manas, Ankita and Ritwik, we went to the amazing country of Vietnam. Detailed accounts of the planning, travel, places we visited, food we ate, what we liked, what we didn’t are typed down in the links below:

You can go through each of the above links or find them all at a glance by following this tag: A week in Vietnam.

There are a few things I wanted to add which I felt is necessary to be known to all the travellers who are planning to make the trip:

Plan early and plan meticulously. Go through every blog, website, journal and book that you can find and gather as much information that you can get.
Save money for the trip. Yes, Vietnam trip can be done on a shoestring budget, you never know what extra expense you may incurr or rather what new dress shall entice you suddenly. It is always good to have a certain amount of headroom.
Travel insurance is a must. No arguments whatsoever.

Book through tickets. Cant stress this enough. Book tickets which belong to a single airline. The booking must be point to point, say from Mumbai to HCMC. In case there is a need to change flights, and the journey is in parts, please make sure you have the Visa already. It becomes very frustrating when you have the boarding passes but cannot get past the immigration to transfer the luggage to the next flight.
Get a local sim. You may not need the calling facility, but to have internet is a blessing. Most of the places within the country has a good network coverage and speeds are decent.
It is generally a better deal to withdraw cash from the ATMs in Vietnam than to trade in USD at restaurants or jewellery stores.

You will need to pay USD 25 as visa stamping fee at your port of entry.
Do not give up on the opportunity to travel in the train in this country. The trains are smaller, so are the berths. The view is scenic. I can vouch for the Da Nang to Hue.

The Ben Thanh market at HCMC is pricey, the food is fine though. A must visit off course, maybe just to enjoy the place. Bargain, and bargain hard. Be ready to be hear “You handsome/pretty, I give you best price…xyz dongs”.
Despite being pricey, the collection in this place is damn impressive.
Try your best to transact in VNDs. Every time you transact in USD, you lose out some value.

Be careful of the notes. The denominations have a lot of zeros. Mostly the shopkeepers return or point out the correct denomination if you are paying excess or less.
The paper cut out cards are really interesting.

Veg food is rare. Chicken is scarce. Pork and beef galore.
Banh Mi is a lifesaver. Pho is bland, to a Bengali palate at least.
Pack carefully; for south of the country is warm and cosy, while the north is chilly and grey.

It is a beautiful country, Vietnam and I suggest you do visit it. Respond in the comments if there is any thing that you would want to enquire about.

Cheers!!

June 3, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200 mm lens, A week in Vietnam, Backpacking to Vietnam, Budget trip to Vietnam, Da Nang, Epilogue, Ha Long Bay, Hanoi, HCMC, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Hue, Indian in Vietnam, Must do for Vietnam, Nikon D7200, Seven Days in Vietnam, Things to do in Vietnam, Things to eat in Vietnam, Tips for Vietnam Travel, Tourism, Tourist in Vietnam, Travel, Travel to Vietnam, Vietnam 3 Comments

To Vietnam: Hanoi

Apologies for being away for so long, the previous weeks had been hectic.
Anyway, we reached Hanoi on the noon of 5th of April, 2018. We met an amazing Portuguese couple in the airport and they suggested we take the bus to the Old Quarters. So, we boarded the bus number 17 (bus number 7 also takes a similar route) for a ride which dropped us close to our place, a lovely AirBnB located on the Hang Ma road in the Hoan Kiem district.

That evening, we just strolled around the place, enjoying an occasional Banh Mi with a Bia Ha Noi. The street 9 Ta Hien is a an amazing place to be. Foodie’s paradise and you shall be spoilt for variety.

We were excited about the next day, for we were scheduled to go the amazing Ha Long Bay.

The weather next day was gloomy as the tour bus came to pick us up. There were chances of rain, and by the time we made it to the halfway point between Hanoi and Halong, news arrived that it was too dangerous to go to sea. So, we turned back. Apparently, this happens quite often, and we blessed our lucky stars that we had planned the trip on the first day at Hanoi, we still had the next day to take a shot. If a situation like this happens with you, make it a point to talk to your booking agent so that an alternate may be arranged.

Once back in the city, we found no reason to waste any time by not sightseeing within the city. Leaving Ankita and Manas lounging back home, scheduled to join us in some time, I and Ritwik went out on foot.

There is a Train street in Hanoi, which is basically a train crossing right in the middle of the city, with houses very close to the track.

We had our customary Banh mi, yet again, and were headed towards the Hoan Kiem lake.

The lake sits in the middle of the crowded city, with buildings on the banks and people thronging all about. Despite the bustle, there is a sense of calm and peace near the lake. Within the lake, is the Turtle Tower.

Next up we made our way to the famous Opera House. This is a grand French opera house in the city centre, which was commissioned in the early 1900s and is still in operation.

A short walk ahead, took us to the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, a grand building in memory of the country’s leader Ho Chi Minh. Right beside the mausoleum is the museum, which we could not go in to.

We did go to the One Pillar Pagoda situated behind the mausoleum.

Somehow, I am not getting the actual photo of the pagoda, so, making do with a paper cut-out pop-up model’s photo of the same. These pop-up models were available in plenty in the night market street.

Now, it was getting dark, so we decided to meet up near the lake. We took an Uber to the night market on the way, which turned out to be a long street, where almost everything is up for sale, from apparels to jewellery to food and the market culminated at the lake.

Soon, we met up and were trying to find a decent place to have dinner, when we heard the unmistakable music of the song Despacito. We followed the music, and found this.

He had a small team on a synthesizer and drums to back him up and he played around effortlessly to a crowd. Since we had nothing else to do, and were quite enjoying the music, we stayed there for more than an hour listening.

We found some banh mi yet again, and wrapped up for the day.

For the ones who want to explore the city, wandering around is a way to go. For the more structured ones, Hanoi Walking tour may be the easier way.

The next day, would be our shot at going to Ha Long bay.

Cheers!!

May 22, 2018August 14, 2019 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: A week in Vietnam, Backpacking, Ha Long Bay, Hanoi, Hanoi Opera House, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, Hoan Kiem Lake, Nightlife, Photography, Travel, Travel in Vietnam, Turtle Tower, Vietnam 1 Comment

To Vietnam: Huế – Imperial Citadel

The next day, our itinerary was clear, get to the Imperial Citadel, have a tour of the place, get to the airport, and fly away to Hanoi.

So, we hopped on our bikes and made for the citadel. Getting to the citadel was simple and easy. The signposts are ample, and the maps are easy enough to follow. An entrance fee of VND 150k / pax is present, which includes the Royal Antiquities Museum within the citadel.

There is a huge courtyard within the citadel, which has the massive flagpost we had seen the previous night, right opposite the main entrance.

Within the citadel, are the old palaces, a museum, numerous gates and loads of places to walk. Honestly, I was not vastly mesmerized by the place.

The gates had nice carvings though, and Manas did get a nice photo 🙂

The place seemed to be frequented by school children.

The place is huge, and needs patience to go through each of the buildings and read all the plaques. Patience and time were something which we didn’t have then. Ritwik went in to look at the museum, while the three of us found shade and rested.

Later, we got to the airport and were on a flight to Hanoi. We were excited for Hanoi as a city, as we had read, was amazing…and then there was Ha Long Bay.

Coming up soon, cheers!!

May 10, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200mm, A week in Vietnam, Carvings on gate, Flagpost, Heritage buildings, Hue, Imperial Citadel, Nikon D7200, Vietnam 3 Comments

To Vietnam: Huế

We arrived at Huế in the afternoon. As we made our way out of the railway station, we noticed the absence of Uber in the area. So, we settled for USD5 for a Toyota Innova to carry us with our baggage to the Serene Shining Hotel. The hotel was quite a nice one, with rooms facing the river. But, we did not have time to enjoy the views from the hotel, for we were already late for the day’s plan.
Huế has a lot of tombs scattered all over the place and the imperial citadel as its main attraction. There is also a bridge, Truong Tien Bridge, on the Perfume river, designed by none other than Gustave Eiffel. Now, the problem was that all the tombs and temples and pagodas close for the day by 1700h, and it was about 1600h already. We decided to skip the tombs all together, and went directly to the Thien Mu Pagoda.

We had hired a couple of bikes for us, cost us USD 25 for 24h. Fuel extra. So, Ritwik and Ankita were on one bike, while Manas and I followed them. The roads are wide, clean and people seem to follow the traffic rules here better than Hanoi. So, without any scare or incident, we made it to the pagoda. It was beautiful, peaceful and serene.

Since we were in no hurry, we spent quite some time there. While Manas and Ankita sat on the stairs of the pagoda, listening to distant chants from boats on the river, I and Ritwik were experimenting with long exposure shots of the gates of the pagoda.

Then, some time later, as the dusk had passed and night descended, we rode our bikes on the way back. Agenda, to take shots of the Truong Tien Bridge.

On the way we passed the citadel, which has a huge flagpost and a gigantic Vietnamese flag fluttering in the wind. Looked nice. Took a shot 🙂

In my opinion, the best view of the Truong Tien bridge will be from the parallel, Phu Xuan bridge with a wide angle lens, 18mm-ish. Since the parallel bridge was under renovation, we chose a park kind of place, between the bridges on the citadel side bank and set up our cameras.

I found the results quite satisfying. To watch the water of the river turn into a mirror and to get the glittery lights with starbursts, I was happy.

We had our daily dose of Banh Mi for dinner, and rode our bikes back to the hotel. Be aware, in the evening, you will find men on bikes, come at you with offers of girls, marijuana and cocaine. Tread carefully. The Phú Hội district of Huế is a hotspot for tourists, with numerous bars and backpackers hostels all around.

Next day, we would be off to the citadel. But for now, a couple of beers and a good night’s sleep was on the charts!

Cheers!!

May 7, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200mm lens, A week in Vietnam, Boats, Bokeh, Bridges, Gustave Eiffel, Hue, Long Exposure, Nikon D7200, Pagodas, Thien Mu Pagoda, Tombs, Truong Trien Bridge, Vietnam, Vietnam Trip 3 Comments

To Vietnam: Hoi An to Huế

By now, we were getting the hang of the country by a tiny bit, the people felt more approachable, and the beer felt much more palatable. Our next destination was the imperial city of Huế. All about the city and its sights, that ll come in the next post, but this time, let me tell you about the journey.

From Hoi An, there are two budget and recommended ways to get to Huế, take the bus or the train. You can always hire a motorbike, join a bike tour or hire a private car for the journey. This website, I Love Hue Tour is a good source of the information and one can never plan a trip without active use of Seat61. We took the comfortable way out, and booked ourselves a coupe in the soft sleeper in the SE2 train, which runs from HCMC to Ha Noi. The coach was air conditioned, and quite comfortable. Not the Indian trains’ first class type comfortable, but good enough; a bit cramped though. For a travel time of about 3 hours, we had each paid 1600 INR. We may have had a thought to grumble about the cost, but it was laid to rest within the first 15 minutes of the journey.

The entire route of the journey is through the hills, which hug the coastline. The view was amazing. The train chugs along slowly enough to take photos all the way. The aisle is generally filled with tourists and locals alike, taking in the sights and clicking away happily. I was no exception to this 🙂

The views continued to keep us mesmerized, spaced with dark spells through the numerous tunnels.

Soon we had reached plain land, and it felt very much similar to train journeys back home. Rolling fields with paddy, men and women working, etc.

And then, all of a sudden, we were in Huế. So, we picked our bags, and hopped off!

All about Huế, coming up shortly in the next post.

Cheers!!

May 4, 2018May 11, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200mm lens, A week in Vietnam, coastline, Da Nang, From Hoi An to Hue, Hoi An, Hue, Nikon D7200, Sea, Sea Shore, train, Train Journey, Train ride from Da Nang to Hue, Trains in vietnam, Travel, Travel in Vietnam, Vietnam, Vietnamese Railway 1 Comment

To Vietnam: Hoi An by the night!

After we were back, we had just crashed into our beds, tired and exhausted. We had planned to go to the beach, the An Bang beach. When we woke up, twilight was fast fading. So, we quickly got on our bicycles, and rode for about 4 kms to the beach.
We paid 30000 VND per bicycle as parking fees and went in. It was dark by then, and we could see lights of far away ships near the horizon. There were deck chairs on the beaches, and it seemed that they were free to use. We sat there for some time, and were hungry. A hour and a Banh Mi later, we were ready to leave.
As we were retrieving our bicycle, Ankita noticed that here phone was missing. She had put it in the cycle’s basket an instant earlier and now it was gone. We started searching for it desperately everywhere. Our primary suspect was the attendant, who had suddenly turned deaf and mute! We glared and growled at him, and bared our teeth, and he slithered away to a hidey hole. Ritwik followed him, came back victorious with the phone. We made a swift exit out of the area to avoid any such risks any more.

We crossed into the old town soon, and it was just wow! Lights all around, lamps, lanterns, LED lights. Best bit, no vehicles. We parked our bicycles beside the Japanese Covered Bridge and hit the streets.

Camera set on lowest ISO, long shutter exposures and deep apertures, I went about shooting.

Every other street had lamps in them lighting up the street. The shops had various happy hour offers and it was thronging with tourists and locals alike.

The Thu Bon river, now had multiple boats with tourists on board, rowing up and down. Some had the floating prayer lamps with them while some were simply enjoying the ride. Ritwik and I got interested in the long exposure opportunities while Ankita and Manas went ahead to a nearby museum.

Now, it was almost 2100h and we were hungry too. So, we crossed the river and went to the other bank, where it was as if a carnival was on. All shops were glittering with lights, live music being played, food and ale galore. And then, the street which had every kind of food imaginable.

The other bank also gave a perfect shot of the Japanese Covered Bridge.

Promptly at 2200h, the lights went out and the music subsided and it was the end of a long day. We lingered back to enjoy the quite and calm atmosphere of the place for some time, and shot some more photos.

We reached back around 2330h to find the receptionist at our hotel fast asleep. Had to wake her up for the keys though, guess people sleep early in this side of the world. And, that is how our stay in Hoi An ended. Next day, we would leave Hue, via train! The journey would be something to look forward at.

Cheers!!

April 29, 2018June 3, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200 mm, A week in Vietnam, An Hoi Bridge, Boats, Bridge of Lights, Carnival, Festival, Floating lamps, Food, Hoi An, Hoi An Old Town, Japanese Covered Bridge at Night, Japanese Covered Bridge in Vietnam, Light Trails, Lights, Long Exposure, Night, Nikon D7200, Places to go in Vietnam, Thu Bon river, Travelling, Vietnam, Vietnam in 7 days 5 Comments

To Vietnam: Hoi An by the day!

Our flight from HCMC to Da Nang was delayed by about 4 hours, so we requested the VietJet associates on station to possibly find an alternative flight, they got us something that was just a couple of hours away. The flight was uneventful and we reached Da Nang around 2100h. Luckily, Ritwik had the foresight to book a cab beforehand, which would take us to our hotel in Hoi An. I highly recommend this. Yes, it will cost you some money, but it shall be totally worth it. We were picked up by a Ford Endevour and off we went to our hotel, the Green Apple hotel in Hoi An.

We were welcomed with a plates of fruits and fruit juices.

By the time we were ready to go out and eat, most of the nearby shops had shut down, so we asked the ladies in the hotel to help us out, and they pointed us out to a nearby restaurant.

We found the food to be outright delicious. We retired, excited that we had an entire day to roam about the town the next day.

Next day at Hoi An began with us gorging on enormous quantities of bacon, sausages, eggs, boiled chicken, bread, jam and butter; not forgetting the juices and coffee, all in the amazing buffet breakfast at the hotel. We began the day trip by getting ourselves cycles from the hotel. The cycles were free to use, and all you had to do was ensure that at the end of the day, you brought them back in one piece.
Now, in Hoi An, there is an old town area, which has the typical french charm to it. There are some old houses which are preserved in their original conditions, community halls and assembly halls, etc, strewn all about the place.

To enter these, you shall need a ticket. On a single ticket, there are 5 tiny slips of paper, which are torn away as and when you enter these ticketed places. There are a total of 11 such places within the Old Town area. Also, the area is marked walking and cycling only.

We went to the Cantonese Assembly Hall, the covered Japanese Bridge and the Cam Pho Communal House during the day.

These places were quite fine, in my opinion, but not exactly spell binding sorts. Yes, the work done on the murals and the sculptures are quite artistic, yet I didn’t feel them to be absolutely amazing.

Instead, what I did like was the An Hoi Bridge, which bridges the Thu Bon river.

This river is also known as the bridge of lights.

There were these heads, made of plants, up for sale. Found them a tiny bit creepy!

Hawkers were highly enthusiastic about selling a flying object, which resembled a bird. It was powered by a twisted rubber band and once released would flap its wings and fly.

We also got ourselves some pop up cards. These greeting cards come in various themes and tones. Choose your favourite and always bargain.

By this time, it was past noon and we felt hungry. So, after roaming aimlessly for sometime within the Old Town area, we crossed to the other side and found a place where the sign board signed the presence of cheap beer; and egg coffee.

We made peace with beer, spring rolls and egg coffee. The spring rolls are different from what we have here. These were not fried, and the covering was made of thin rice film.

The egg coffee was a different matter all together. Rich strong coffee, sweetened using condensed milk and sugar, with an egg added to it, while it was piping hot, and then served. It was very filling, and very sweet. Had to tick it off the checklist, done that.
Then, we were on our way back to take a bit of rest. Later we would go out again, to the beach, and then we had plans to come back to the night market.

April 23, 2018June 3, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200 mm lens, A week in Vietnam, An Hoi Bridge, Boat, Cam Pho Communal House, Cantonese Assembly Hall, Chicken Fry, Egg Coffee, French Architecture, Hoi An, Hoi An Old Town, Japanese Covered Bridge in Vietnam, Nikon D7200, Places to go in Vietnam, Pop up cards, Seven Days in Vietnam, Spring Roll, Sticky Rice, Things to eat in Vietnam, Thu Bon river, Travelling, Vietnam, Vietnam in 7 days 5 Comments

To Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City and onwards…

As we were back quite late from the previous day’s adventures, we woke up late. Meaning, we had to rush and ration our available time between the Ben Thanh market, the War Remnants Museum and the Bitexco tower.

We made our way on foot to the Ben Thanh market, located centrally within the city.

It has a big gate proclaiming the market and within is a market where you can find almost everything.

We were hungry and in need for some urgent breakfast, hence we made our way to the food street within the market for Banh Mi.

After we were done with the breakfast, we roamed within the market looking at the wares to offer. Bargaining and haggling is rampant and is definitely needed. A general rule of thumb to be followed is that to begin the bargain at 50% of asking price and gradually increase to a maximum of 70% of the asking price.

We bought few souvenirs from the market and were headed towards the War Remnants Museum.

A 15 minutes Uber ride got us to the museum.
This museum is special, for the fact that it highlights the ugly face of the invading army in the country and this time, it was the smaller country which had won. History is written by the victors holds true, and we get to see the evils which the US Army had done to the ones they considered to be threats. The museum is rife with stories and artefacts from the times of the Vietnam war. Stories of future leaders of US population, who were then deployed at Vietnam and the atrocities they committed are plastered all around the walls in vivid details.

True, that the museum is depressing and the descriptions are gut wrenching, but it is a necessary bit of knowledge that should be imparted to the populace.
The museum gives an insight into how much the country has evolved from the devastation and destruction that was there just a few decades ago.

Next up, we went back to our place and grabbed the bags. We were headed to the 3rd tallest building in Vietnam, the Bitexco Financial Tower. Tickets are available at the ground floor for the sky deck tour and also a Heineken factory tour is available. The Heineken factory offers a unique tour, which includes a couple of pints of beer and the souvenir that you obtain, is a pint with your name engraved on it. Sadly, we were out of time for the Heineken tour.

Later, we booked an Uber, yet again and made our way to the airport, for an onward flight to Da Nang. There, a taxi would receive and drop us at our next destination, Hoi An!

April 18, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200 mm, A week in Vietnam, Artefacts, Banh Mi, Ben Thanh Market, Bitexco Financial Tower, Chicken, Ho Chi Minh City, Nikon D7200, Panaroma from Bitexco Tower, Places to visit in Saigon, Souvenirs, Travelling, Vietnam, War Remnants Museum 3 Comments

To Vietnam: Touchdown – Ho Chi Minh City

Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) or Saigon, used to be the erstwhile capital city of South Vietnam, prior to the reunification of the country. It used to be a French capital town too during their reign over the Cochinchina colony. Now, HCMC is the most populous city of the country. A city bustling with traffic, energy and food.

We landed at the Tân Sơn Nhất International Airport (SGN) on 1st of April, 2018 at about 1300h local time. We had a layover at the KLIA2 (Kuala Lumpur International Terminal 2) and onward flight to Saigon. At SGN, we had to clear the immigration first to get to our baggage.
Immigration procedures were fairly simple. There is a window where you submit your passport, the approval letter and the filled form (attach 2 photos with the form) and then you wait. Your name shall get called out from another counter, where you need to pay USD 25 and receive your visa affixed passport back. Then you go the queue for the passport control, they stamp your inwards date, maybe ask a couple of questions, done!
We retrieved our luggage, bought a couple of local sim cards, costing us each 9 USD and came out. We also converted 100 USD to VND, which turned out to be about 2.2 million VND. Be careful of the denominations though. I found that they have currency notes of the following denominations (in thousands) – 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500. It is easy to confuse amongst the zeros and sometimes the notes stick together too. Just take your time to count and pay, simple.
We had booked our stay with the Chill Box hotels. It was a couple of kms away from the airport and the best way to reach there seemed to be using Uber. Later, we found that Uber was indeed the best way to travel within the city for they are quick to respond, and the cost is quite reasonable. The local taxis do rip you off real bad.
We dropped our bags, bathed, refreshed for a bit, and were out on the streets by 1700h. Since we were famished, the first place where we saw something being cooked and served, we went for it.

What you see above is fried rice, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and a pork sausage. I do not remember what it was called, but it tasted quite nice. The sausage had a slight sweet taste to it. The rice, when mixed with the soup, soya sauce and some chilly paste, became absolutely amazing. Chicken, egg and beef options were also available for the same dish.

Next, we were headed to towards the town centre. Since we werent scheduled to be in HCMC for a long time, we concentrated only on the places within the city. It was past 1730h, so we could not go in the museums.
We went to the Notre Dame Cathedral and found it very beautiful.Right beside the cathedral is the post office, which has been operational since the French were there.

There were street performances in progress in the lanes and we progressed towards our next destination for the evening, The Hard Rock Cafe, Saigon!

Since it had become quite late by then, we decided to head back, and retire early.

For dinner, that night, we gave Pho, which is basically a bland-ish noodle soup with choice of meat, a try. I did not like it much and in the trip, never did we have another bowl of Pho.

We retired for the day by 2300h and had planned to visit the Ben Thanh market, The War Remnants Museum and the Bitexco Financial Tower before we flew out the next day.

The trip continues in the next post.

Cheers!!

April 16, 2018April 16, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200mm, A week in Vietnam, Blogging, Central Post Office Saigon, Food, Food in Vietnam, HCMC, Ho Chi Minh City, Nikon, Nikon D7200, Notre Dame Catheral Saigon, Pho, Pho Bo, places to stay in saigon, Places to visit in Saigon, Saigon, Travel, Travelling, Travelougue, Trip with friends, Vietnam, What to eat in vietnam 5 Comments

To Vietnam: The planning

As with any trip, there ought to be proper planning. This time, it had to be much more detailed.The scope of winging it in a foreign country was limited.

Visa: Vietnam offers Visa On Arrival (VOA) for Indian citizens, if they have the approval letter already. Obtaining the letter was not a difficult job to accomplish. We searched for visa to Vietnam on Google, and then it was just finding out the cheapest option. We went ahead with this website. We had to pay 8 USD per person for the approval letter. The letter arrived within a couple of days, along with a copy of the form that we would have to fill. A mandatory visa stamping fee of 25 USD per person is to be paid during immigration at the point of entry.

Flights: We had booked our flights, to and fro well in advance. This may appeal to the mass, as it did to us. Make it a point to book the tickets from the airline company’s website. ENSURE that each booking are on a single PNR. Since the flights have a stop invariably, which will either be in Singapore or Kuala Lumpur, having the booking on a single PNR ensures that you do not have to go through immigration at the intermediate country and that your luggage is counted as a through baggage, so you check in your luggage at home, and retrieve it right at the destination. In case you have a long layover and want to check out the country, make sure you have a visa prior to your arrival. Do not depend on a VOA. Flights within the country is fairly easy and cheap. Make sure that you are at the airport at least 2 hours prior to the flights for the domestic flights while it should be minimum 3 hours for the international flights.

Hotels: We also had our hotels booked at the places we would stay. It should be noted that if its just you, or max two of you, staying at the backpackers’ hostels is the best way to go. You get to meet people of various countries, interact with them and make friends. While if you are travelling in a bigger group, it is better if you book hotel rooms. The cost per head will be similar, but you shall have multiple bathrooms at your disposal. This is preferable if you guys need to leave at the same time. Since we were 4, we had hotel rooms booked. While booking the hotels, we tried to go go for the ones which have been vetted multiple times by travellers across the world and were within walking distance of the tourist hub. I shall tell more about the hotels we were in as and when we reach each city.

Trains: Vietnam has a limited number of train plying their reunification route, starting right from Ho Chi Minh City ending at Hanoi. It passes through picturesque routes, hills, sea shores, markets and even doorsteps. We had ours booked from Da Nang to Hue. You can book the tickets from the Vietnamese Railway’s website. Do check out this website for a treasure trove of information about the travel.

Food: You must understand that vietnamese people are primarily meat eaters. Beef and pork are the most commonly available kinds of meat. Chicken is a rare find. Egg is common though. In the week that we were there, I did not spot any place serving lamb or goat. If you go to places like Da Nang or Hoi An, which are beach towns, you can get ample sea food. Fried food is not common. Most of the food is baked or boiled. Noodle soups or Pho, are most commonly available. A food that kept us alive, for it was healthy, readily available and cheap on the pocket was Bahn Mi. It is a baguette with shredded meat and some sauces and comes mainly in beef, pork and egg variety.

Banh Mi, Chicken, Baguette, Meat, Mint leaves — Banh Mi (Chicken)

Condiments accompanying Banh Mi , chilly, sauce, lemon — Condiments accompanying Banh Mi

Drink: Packaged drinking water is fairly easy to obtain, but it does not hurt having some sort of water purifying options along. Beer is cheap and plentiful to choose from. The most common were Bia Ha Noi, Bia Saigon, Bia Huda and Heineken. The beer felt toned down, and I would feel more fuller than being tipsy at all.

Clothes: Restrictions on what you wear exist at the religious spaces where it is expected that one would wear clothes which are not revealing. Other than these places, we didn’t see any signs or reactions which would suggest that the people are remotely bothered of what you wear. I suggest you have a look at the weather forecasts and pack accordingly prior to your trip. In case you want new clothes, night markets are present in the tourist places, which are amazing places to get stuffs cheaply. Do remember to haggle about the price.

Currency: The local currency is Vietnamese Dongs. 1 INR = 350 VND roughly. Do not get excited about the exchange rate for the minimum denomination we came across was a 1000 VND and it was not enough to buy a bottle water. So often you shall find yourself moving about with millions of dongs, just be careful with the money as you pay. It is easy to confuse a 10000 VND with a 100000 VND. With a little practice, it shall be fine. Also, the big shops have card swiping options. Do note, the cards swiped do not require a pin to complete the transactions, they just make you sign the slip, so hold on to your cards real tight. You shall need to convert INR to USD here, and then use them to convert to Dongs at Vietnam. You can pay by USD, but you shall be overcharged invariably, hence, stick to Dongs.

Now, that you have a back ground about the country, we shall continue post the arrival at HCMC.

Feel free to reach out to me for any doubts and clarification that you may have till now.

Cheers!!

April 14, 2018June 3, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200 mm, A week in Vietnam, Banh Mi, book hotels before travelling, Clothes, comfortable clothing, Currency, Flights, Flights to Vietnam, Food, Hotels in vietnam, Nikon D7200, Pho, train, Travelling, Vientamese Dong, Vietnam, Visa, Visa On Arrival, Visa on Arrival at Vietnam, Visa on arrival for Indians 1 Comment

To Vietnam: Prelude

India, land of dreams and dreamers. We dream about everything. From having a perfectly cooked rice for dinner to achieving pin point accuracy in missile hits, we have dreamt it all, and collectively, have achieved them all. On an individual level, going on foreign trips using your own hard earned money is a dream that every person harbours over here. I also had the dream. And now, that I have achieved it, I want more.

It all began sometime in September 2017, when me and my fellow colleague, Ankita, found ourselves in a crowded cafe discussing the possible countries to visit. Our first point of consideration was exchange rates, how much does 100 INR translate into?. Not the brightest way to make choices, but it did get us rolling. Then we compared the easiest thing available to compare against, beer price. That gave us a realistic idea of the places we might choose for our visit.
We concentrated on the south east asia, simply because the travel is not the biggest expense here. Touring within Europe might be cheap, but getting to the starting point of the tour is the maximum share holder in the entire expenses. Here, we did not have similar problems.
We wanted to visit a country which has not yet become a tourist hotspot amongst us. Cambodia and Vietnam were the contenders, and we chose to go to Vietnam. We called up two other friends of ours, Ritwik and Manas, and they were ready for the trip immediately. So, we decided, that in on 1st of April, 2018, we shall meet at Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

I intend to be as detailed as my memory serves throughout the series. I shall talk about the flights we took, hotels we booked, places we visited, what we ate, what I liked, what I didn’t and there shall be photos. The posts shall be long and opinionated. So, strap in, for the series shall be a long one, and I hope to keep the posts regular.

Cheers!!

April 13, 2018June 3, 2018 by SenK Categories: TravellingTags: 28-200 mm, A week in Vietnam, Foreign trip, Ha Long Bay, Hanoi, HCMC, Hoi An, Hue, Nikon D7200, Travelling, Vietnam 1 Comment

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