Travel guides
I bought the 3 travelguides before I left and used them while in Vietnam, and I must admit it's really difficult to find big differences. All 3 of them offer the same info, with probably the Rough Guide a bit more details on background, but also f.i. walks in Sapa were better explained. The LP has excellent maps, but the other 2 also have good maps. Still in the Footprint it can be confusing that they use the same numbers for both restaurants and hotels, the difference is the hotels are marked with a square, and restaurants with a bullet. In the Rough guide, the position of a map is not always where you'd expect it, for instance the map with restaurants of Saigon is 10 pages before the restaurant chapter.
You understand that these differences are really slim. The big malority of the travellers have LP, with Rough guide a second. I didn't meet anyone with Footprint although I like these books a lot.
Vietnam: a travel survival kit Published in April 2001
Price 15.99 US$
This is of course the classical book of every backpacker. Their maps are especially good.
Order the Lonely Planet Vietnam now for only 15.99 US$! Other Lonely Planet titles include:
-
Vietnamese phrasebook (1/96) price 4.76 US$ -
Ho Chi Minh City guidebook (11/2000) price 11.99 US$ -
Hanoi guidebook (8/99) price 11.99 US$ - Don't forget to go to their fantastic website where they have the "Thorn Tree". You can add your posting with practical questions about your trip:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com - They also publish an update of this book on their site at
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/upgrades/up-vie.htm If you're into cycling, then the new LP on cycling in Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos is perfect for you (edition 8/2001).
Order the Lonely Planet Cycling in Vietnam now for only 17.59 US$! Rough Guide to Vietnam The rough guide to Vietnam is an excellent book, and at least you know not everybody has the same book as you.
Published October 2000, price 17.05 US$
Order the Rough Guide Vietnam now for only 17.05 US$!
Vietnam Handbook Footprint Handbook, published in October 1999
Price 13.56 US$
The books in this series tend to be amoung the best, and especially on middle and upper class accomodation are usually better then their competitors.
Order the Footprint Vietnam Handbook now for only 13.56 US$
Other books 
If you can't make up your mind, click on the Amazon.com logo and search for more books
Visa/Crossing the border
Visa Unlike previously, the visa no longer states your point of entry and exit. It simply states "All international check points". This allows for much more more flexibility of course.
About the date, there seem to be mixed reports:
- Some visas (eg. those issued in America and Australia) specify a start and end date for the period of validity of the visa (usually 30 days), within which period you can enter and leave the country.
- In other cases (eg. Hong Kong and Britain) visas show the issue date and an expiry date three months later.
For Belgium :
- Vietnamese ambassade, Avenue de la Floride 130 1180 Brussel, tel. 02-3749133, fax. 02-3749376,
- open : Monday, Wednesday, Friday from 14.00–17.00
- duration : min. 1 week
For Germany, the new embassy is in Berlin:
- Konigswinterstr. 28 10318 Berlin Germanyµ
- Tel: (030) 509 9074
- Fax: (030) 509 9141
Extending your visa can be done at the immigration office, 40A Hang Bai street in Hanoi. Tel 8266200. (10 days extra : 20 US$, 30 days extra : 30 US$ (9/99).
You can also go to the Sinh cafe in Saigon to do the job for you. Visas renewals of up to 3 months were possible (1/2000).
Airport tax International flights – 10 US$ (10/2000)
Domestic flights – 20.000 VND (10/2000)
Children under 2 years are exempt from departure tax.
Customs On the yellow and white custom forms you have to declare the following :
- cameras, camcorders and other electronic devices not for personal use
- jewelry not for personal use
- currency over 7000 US$
- video tapes
- 200 cigarettes, two liters of alcohol, perfume and jewelry for personal use are allowed to take out of the country.
Blue entry/exit forms : Don’t lose it because you need it for leaving the country.
Transportation to/from Hanoi-city :
Hanoi is about 45 minute ride from the airport Noi Bai.
Airport taxi charges 10 US$ to the city (fixed price to be be paid at a taxi counter). In the other direction the trip costs sometimes more, but travel cagés can do it for 9 US$.
The airport minibuses cost 4 US$ per person both ways.
In Hanoi the bus will drop you off at the Vietnamese airline office close to the Hoan Kiem lake.
Transportation to/from Saigon-city :
Prices are not fixed here, so
rip offs are common. Demand to put on the meter, normal price is about 5 US$, but no more then 7 US$!!. Our taxi driver put on the meter, and at our arrival the meter said 6.900 (underneath was written "Fare in VND"). Of course 6900 VND is 50 cents, so that's way to low). So I presumed (correctly) the correct fare was 69.000 dong (which is 5 US$). The driver denied this and said it was 6,9 km, and he had to multiply this with the fare per km, thus he demanded 9 US$. We refused and paid him the 69.000 VND (he refused a tip of 11.000 VND !). So be firm, and pay the fare on the meter !!
Money matters
The Vietnamese currency, the
dong (VND) is now worth around 14.200 VND = 1 US$ (10/2000).
If you want to know how much the Dong is worth today, click
here to go to a currency converter.
Money can be changed in airports, hotels and banks. Travellers cheques must be exchanged at a bank.
Credit cards (especially VISA) is spreading fast and most tourist businesses accept it now. They usually add a 3% commission, except the Vietnam airlines offices and big hotels.
It is also possible to get
cash advances in big cities, either in banks or money changers.They will add a 2 to 3,5% commission if you wish Dong, a bit more if you wish US$.
Everything can now be paid in Dong. This is usually a bit better, because they will state the fare in Dong by multiplying the US$ fare with 14.000, while at the bank you'll get 14.200 D for your US$.
When leaving the country, you'll have to change the Dongs you've left back into dollars. We got 1 US$ for 15.000 VND at the airport. The only alternative is to use them as toilet paper once you're home.
Hotels
There is a variety of choices at least in Vietnam’s major cities. From the guesthouse to a five-star hotel. Prices vary from 10 US$ till more then 100 US$ for a room.
It is important to know that occupancy rates in the bigger 4 or 5-star hotels tend to be low (around 40 to 50%), so big discounts of 50% off the rack rate are very normal. So a 5 star hotel anywhere in Vietnam will not cost you more then 80 US$ including breakfast and taxes (with only very few exceptions).
In almost every hotel you can change money and book tourtrips.
Registration : hotels and private hosts must register your presence with the police. Every receptionist will ask to leave your passport at the counter for the duration of your stay in the hotel. Make sure you get all the documents back including the blue immigration card.
Websites with info on hotels in Vietnam
Asia-hotels: this site gives a lot of reviews on different hotels by readers. I found their prices to be good copies of what you can get as a walk-in guest.
Vietnam-hotels also has a collection of accommodations in whole the country with a possibility for 'on-line' reservation. However, prices here a 10 to 20% higher then what you can get as a walk-in guest.
Victoria hotels is a French chain of smaller scale 4-star hotels specializing in tourist spots in Vietnam where few luxury accommodation is available, like Sapa, Can Tho, Chau Doc etc.... Prices around 60 to 80 $. These hotels are certainly recommended, look at the Mekong Delta and Sapa pages for more details.
Saigon tourist is a government owned organisation owning plenty of hotels in and around Saigon. Plenty of info on all their hotels.
Vietnam tourism is also government owned. This site has an excellent list of hotels with links to all the websites of these hotels.
Food
The food is generally very good. When ordering a meal, check whether tax and service are included, otherwise 15% might be added. In the cheaper places they won't charge extra, in the more expensive places they'll usually add the 15%.
Internet cafés
Everywhere in vietnam you'll find internet connections, but price and speed vary greatly.
The cheapest connections can be had in Saigon where prices are 150 to 200 VND per minute. Hanoi comes next with about 300 VND per minute, and other parts of the country charge 400 to 500 VND per minute. Understandibly, connections in the NW mountains are much more expensive at 2500 VND per minute (but this may change once they have their own server there).
The speed amoung different cafés can differ greatly, and in my point of view there's 1 important trick to remember:
go there where few people are surfing (and this often means going to the place where they charge 200 instead of 150 VND per minute.
Why? The reason is simple: these cafés only have 1 modem, and they often (especially in Saigon) put 10 or 20 PC's on this 1 modem. Thus, the more people surfing on this 1 modem, the slower you'll go (and for them, their costs are the same, whether there's 1 surfer or 20 surfers). Another thing which happened to me in Hoi An was this: I was the only one in the café surfing, and he just sat next to me. As soon as I started typing an e-mail, he disconnected. When I thus wanted to "send" the message, it gave an error message because he had to reconnect first. As I only had small e-mails, I got quite pissed off with this and het stopped doing this, but if you don't know this, you'll loose a lot of time.
Safety
Generally, it’s safe. But like everywhere be aware for pickpockets, lock your luggage in the hotel and don’t wear jewellery.
Petty crime seems to be increasing everywhere in Vietnam, especially in HCMC. The overnight train to Lao Cai also gets his share. The LP has a fair selection of tricks and scams performed by thieves.
Personnally we never felt unsafe, and we didn't get stolen.
Souvenirs
Plenty of shopping to do:
- In Sapa and Bac Ha you can buy all kind of textiles, bags, jackets, shirts etc... We thought shopping in Bac Ha was a bit better then Sapa.
- All over the country you can buy clothes, but the best place to buy tailor fit clothes is certainly Hoi An: cheap and good quality.
- Toys are also popular. For wooden toys, Hanoi is the best place, for toys made from cans Saigon and Danang are good, for aluminum toys you can find them all over the country.
- Copied books like LP guidebooks but also literature can be bought in Saigon, and also a bit in Nha Trang In the North you won't find it so easily.
- You can find CD's all over the countr
y, but Hanoi is the best place. Chinese copy CD's are 14.000 to 18.000 VND, for a vietnamese CD made by CD rewriter, you'll pay double.
- You'll also find plenty of shops selling rucksacks of brands like The North Face, Jack Wolfskin, Lowe etc... You won't see the difference with the real thing, but once you touch the tissue, you'll see it lacks the strength of the real stuff. Plenty of choice in Saigon.
Medical matters
Food Vegetables should be peeled, thoroughly cleaned and cooked.
All meat and fish should be well cooked. To be safe, peel your own fruit. Yoghurt, milk and home-made ice cream are also risky.
Water Avoid drinking tap water. we took ice in most of our drinks and had no problems. Nowadays you can be sure that all restaurants catering for westerners use mineral water to prepare their ice.
Buy only bottles of mineral water which are sealed. You'll see that there's only 1 real mineral water in Vietnam, namely "La Vie". This tastes much better then all the other waters, often with similar names, but the others are merely purified drinking waters. "La Vie" is usually 20% more expensive then the rest. You can find water everywhere, so no need to take purifying tablets with you.
Malaria
Where to take what Vietnam is a WHO C area, meaning that Lariam is recommended as first choice profylactic. However, the risk is not everywhere as big, and depending on where you go, it's not always necessary to take profylactic pills.
No risk in big cities like Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh and in the delta of the Red river.
Risk in the Mekong Delta is low.
No risk in coastal areas North of Nha Trang.
Risk is highest in the plateaus of the hilly areas in the innerland.
You can have a look at
this article with epidemiological data on malaria in Vietnam. Conclusion is that the incidence of malaria is quite low (8,5/1000 people infected), but in some areas, especially the center of the country as well as hilly terrains the incidence is higher (100/1000).
THUS: For an organised trip from city to city, there's no prophylaxis needed, general measures are OK. For info on side effects of Lariam, and what to do if you've never taken it, have a look at the "
Medical matters chapter".
Hepatitis A If you travel with a backpack and don't mind eating in cheap restaurants, it's easy to catch Hepatitis A. Chances of getting infected range from 1/300 to 1/50 per month depending on your standard of travelling. It's not dangerous, but you will be sick for some weeks.
There is a good vaccination for Hepatitis A nowadays, so ask your doctor. You need 2 shots (used to be 3 shots) at 0 and 6 months, although if you can it's even better to postpone the second shot till after 12 months. They are expensive, but they protect you for 10 years.
Hepatitis B You can only get this through sex and blood transfusion. Since prevalence of Hepatitis B is much higher in SE Asia then in the Western world, it might be wise to get vaccinated.
Get your shots at 0, 1 and 6 months. They are equally expensive as hepatitis A.
Typhoid fever There is also a good vaccination consisting of 3 pills to be taken every 2 days. Take them early enough before you leave since it's better not to combine them with malaria pills, although these guidelines have recently changed (meaning you can combine them). The vaccination works for 3 years.
Travellers diarrhea We always have antibiotics at hand in case of diarrhea. We take Ciproxine 250 mg two tablets at once and then another 3 tablets, one tablet every 12 hours.
Weather
There is no good or bad time to visit N.-Vietnam.
The coolest and driest time is during
december-march (in the mountain areas the temperature can drop till 0°C)
From
june till september (monsoon) it is hot and humid. It rains most of the time at night so it will not spoil your holiday.
We went in September-October, and we had excellent weather, so you really need to be a bit lucky. In Saigon we were in the middle of the rainy season, but we only had some occasional showers. In the Mekong delta however, there were serious floodings, but we could still do a 2-day tour (3-day to Chau Doc was impossible). However, in the center of the country and also in Sapa, you should always expect some bad weather.
Weather in HCMC
| |
jan |
feb |
mar |
apr |
may |
june |
july |
aug |
sep |
oct |
nov |
dec |
| Temp |
27 |
28 |
29 |
30 |
29 |
29 |
28 |
28 |
27 |
27 |
27 |
27 |
| Rainfall |
15 |
3 |
13 |
43 |
221 |
330 |
315 |
269 |
335 |
269 |
114 |
56 |
Weather in Danang
| |
jan |
feb |
mar |
apr |
may |
june |
july |
aug |
sep |
oct |
nov |
dec |
| Temp |
22 |
23 |
24 |
27 |
29 |
30 |
30 |
30 |
28 |
26 |
25 |
23 |
| Rainfall |
102 |
31 |
12 |
18 |
47 |
42 |
99 |
117 |
447 |
530 |
221 |
209 |
Weather in Hanoi
| |
jan |
feb |
mar |
apr |
may |
june |
july |
aug |
sep |
oct |
nov |
dec |
| Temp |
17 |
18 |
21 |
25 |
29 |
30 |
30 |
30 |
29 |
26 |
23 |
19 |
| Rainfall |
18 |
28 |
38 |
81 |
196 |
239 |
323 |
343 |
254 |
99 |
43 |
20 |
Language
Unless you speak Vietnamese, you can manage with English and sometimes French. At the airport, hotels, and travelagencies the knowledge of these languages is sufficient.
This is not the case for markets, restaurants, with taxi and cyclodrivers, and certainly not in the mountain and rural areas. Then you will have to use your imagination or…….a phrase book.
Useful telephone numbers Police 113
Long distance operator 101
International operator 110
Fire 114
Time 117
Go to info on transportation For questions on
N-Vietnam send an e-mail to
Steven Buvens or
myself, but please read the site first!
Article Comments:
| 06/02/2006 |
| Bich Nguyen Ngoc (1) |
|
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