So finally after tons of Korea posts, now i'm gonna stop that for a while for ...... *drududududum* .. abroad trip with my boy friend!! Yey! finally after more than a year since the last time we met, we decided to meet again in a super-adventurous-backpacker trip. After a long discussion about places we wanna go, we finally choose VIETNAM & CAMBODIA for this trip. why? simply because it seems super cheap and both of us never go there. We prepared all our itineraries, booked everything (hotels and transports) since 2 months before the D-day. We are not the expert in backpacking. But we hope, this post will help all of you who decided to travel to VIETNAM & CAMBODIA IN 2 WEEKS
P.S. this post is not recommended to those who loves historical place, because we only do easy sight-seeing but we won't disappoint those who LOVES FOODS (just like us!) because this post will contain LOTS OF FOOD! xoxo
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🔻ITINERARY🔻
DAY 1 | 27 FEB // SEOUL - HOCHIMINH CITY by airplane
DAY 2 | 28 FEB // stay at HOCHIMINH
DAY 3 | 01 MAR // HOCHIMINH CITY - PHNOM PENH - SIAMREAP by night bus
DAY 4 | 02 MAR // stay at SIAMREAP
DAY 5 | 03 MAR // SIAMREAP- PHNOMPENH (TRANSIT) - HOCHIMINH by bus
DAY 6 | 04 MAR // Tour to CUCHI TUNNEL & MEKONG DELTA RIVER
DAY 7 | 05 MAR // HOCHIMINH CITY- DANANG by airplane
DAY 8 | 06 MAR // stay at DANANG
DAY 9 | 07 MAR // DANANG- HOIAN by bus
DAY 10 | 08 MAR // stay at HOIAN
DAY 11 | 09 MAR // HOIAN - DANANG (TRANSIT) - HANOI by flight
DAY 12 | 10 MAR // Tour to HALONG BAY (1-DAY TRIP)
DAY 13 | 11 MAR // HANOI - HOCHIMINH (TRANSIT) - SEOUL by airplane
DAY 14 | 12 MAR // arrived at SEOUL
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🔻BUDGET ESTIMATION🔻
(per-person)
// Flights
Flight SEOUL-HCMC-SEOUL (by T-WAY airline) = ￦290.000
Domestic flight HCMC-DANANG (by Vietjet airline) = ￦30.000
Domestic flight DANANG-HANOI (by Vietjet airline) = ￦14.000
Domestic flight HANOI- HCMC(by Vietjet airline) = ￦48.000
➥Flight total = ￦382.000 (1 KRW = IDR 12) = Rp. 3.584.000
// Buses
Bus HCMC- PHNOMPENH (by Mekong express) = US$ 12
Bus PHNOMPENH-SIAMREAP ( by Giant ibis) = US$ 15
Bus SIAMREAP- HCMC (by Mekong express) = US$ 24
Bus DANANG - HOIAN (round trip by the sihn tourist) = US$ 8
➥Bus total = US$ 59 ( 1USD = IDR13.356) = Rp. 788.000
// Stays
( based on private room price)
➥USD 15/person x 10 nights = USD 150 ( 1USD = IDR 13.356) = Rp.2.003.000
// Tours
VIETNAM
We booked several tours in Vietnam by one local travel agent named The Sinh Tourist
➛CHUCHI TUNNEL + MEKONG DELTA (1-day trip) = VND 305.000
➛SHOOTING AK-47 (10 BULLETS) = VND500.000
➛HALONG BAY + KAYAKING (1-day trip) = VND 799000
➥Tour total= VND 1.604.000 (1VND = IDR 0.59) = Rp. 898.000
CAMBODIA
We're guided by friendly local guide which can speak Melayu.
➛Angkor Wat Entrance Ticket (1-day pass) = US$ 37
➛Tuk-tuk rent for a day (US$15+ optional tip US$5) US$20
Tour total = USD 57 ( 1USD = IDR 13.356) = Rp.761.000
// Taxis
We managed to find that we can use our Grab apps in Vietnam so we use Grab services several times because it's cheaper than the local conventional taxis. (you can cut this budget out if you loved to walk tho LOL)
➥Taxis Fee total = VND 822.000 (1VND = IDR 0.59) = Rp 460.000
// Meals
Eat budget (heavy meal) VND 40.000 x 2 ( lunch & dinner) x12 days = VND 960.000
Coffee budget VND 20.000 X 12 days = VND 240.000
➥Meals fee total = VND 1.200.000 (1VND = IDR 0.59) = Rp.672.000
GRAND TOTAL
Rp. 9.166.000
( ~USD 687 // ~KRW 790.000)
what do you think? is it cheap? honestly, i feel like i've spent more than Rp 10.000.000 because we eat more than twice a day (snacks are not included). We ate like.. 5 dishes, 3 banhmi, 3-4 times coffee a day HAHA not really a backpacker budget but a very exclusive comfort backpacker trip i guess. Because if you compared 2-weeks trip like this with a travel agent itinerary... it much cheaper, obviously.
P.s if you out of budget here our tips
#1 use share room hostel only USD5-8/day/person
#2 instead of airplane for domestic transport within cities, you can use train or bus. but it'll takes a loooong time.
#3 walk all the time, dont use taxis or rent a bike. and i won't suggest you to take the local bus since it's too complicated to understand.
#4 eat banhmi or vietnamese baguete all the time! It cost less than a dollar! and tastes GOOD!
#5 drink beer not coffee (much much cheaper)
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After itinerary and all the money that we used now i will give you detail each city and some important travel tips to survive in Vietnam and Cambodia based on our experiences.
#1 BEST TIME TO VISIT
Dont forget its all south east asia countries which is hot all the time and can be raining and flooding also. We suggest you around FEBRUARY-MARCH- APRIL. Because it is autumn time ( not autumn leaves HAHA dont have here) but the weather super friendly not really hot not raining. But if you want to burn yourself come around JUNE-JULY- AUGUST or if you want to see flood comes around NOVEMBER-DECEMBER-JANUARY
#2 VISA NEEDED?
no way we are asean so no need visa HAHA but if you are not asean so you can apply visa online or make it visa on arrival for both vietnam or cambodia
#3 MONEY!
VIETNAM uses DONG
CAMBODIA uses mostly US DOLLAR but give a small change in RIEL ( usually 1usd = 4000riel)
just changed your money lil bit in local airport because usually the exchange rate not really good but you can change more in the city. Dont change too much because it doesnt have any value in other countries especially cambodian riel
#4 SIM CARD / LOCAL NUMBER
you can buy in the airport or local provider office
(From our experience)VIETNAM: we bought VINAPHONE simard for VND36.000 + 5GB DATA VND 100.000
CAMBODIA: we didnt buy any simcard because in cambodia has lots of wifi connection
#5 GET FROM CITY TO OTHER CITY
You can use domestic flight for saving time or try public transport like train or bus but it takes quite long time. For booking you can go directly to bus station or train station ( sometimes on the spot can be cheaper) but for keep your seat better to book online. I recommended you book from THE SIHN TOURIST it a big local travel agent company in vietnam and also provide tour and transport not only around vietnam but also to cambodia.
But usually for bus to cambodia there are 2 big company that very famous, read my review here ( update coming soon)
#6 GET AROUND CITY
In Vietnam, nothing more comfortable than use taxi, because taking other public bus means suicide HAHA but so many taxi scam that will charge tourist so you can use 2 trusted big company MAILINH TAXI ( white with green stripes) and VINASUN ( green color). But if you want cheaper option take GRAB! haha
#7 EATING
You can download foody.vn to know all food around vietnam because i got all my recommendations from there and instagram. And the most important thing before eating ASK YOUR FOOD PRICE BEFORE ORDER because some of seller dont put price on their menu so based on our experience when we were in Hoian, we ate without asked the price and ending robbed for VND60.000 or USD 4.5 for a bowl of noodle on a small resto shit.
#8 COFFEE CULTURE
Cambodian drink coffee but not as much as vietnames
coffee is life for vietnamese so you can find lots of coffee place from streetfood, small local coffeeshop to giant coffeeshop and we thought their local coffee even better than starbucks so i made
#9 SOUVENIR!
ga lengkap kan liburan without oleh-oleh usually here you can buy like t-shirts for usd1-2 with flag on it or whatever in cambodia or vietnam but actually for vietnam so many snacks that you can buy as souvenirs for your friend.
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HOCHIMINH CITY
Also known as Saigon, one of big city vietnam welcomed us with tons of motorcycles 10 milion popullations vs 8 million motorcycles HAHA we thought we can do this but it is worse than Indonesia. Overview the city super oldstyle feel like back to indonesia 90s. Divided into many districts but we suggest you stay at Pham Ngu Lao or known as backpacker street in District 1 so you can go around public attraction easily. After done all city tour, you can also take some tour outside city, like cuchi tunnel, mekong delta, or taking bus to muine
(+) many tourist objects which super interesting and walk distance friendly
(-) not so many local speciality food but it has all food from all around vietnam.
Read also:
DANANG
after discovering south part that full of crowds and citylights now we go up to central. Beautiful highlands meets beaches. You can do the empire time travel to Hue or enjoy ancient city of Hoian.
(+) less crowded, slow city
(-) each objects quite far each other need join tour or rent bike
Read also:
HANOI
come to the north! I felt like my body got confused with the weather. After long hot days in central and south area, northern part is super chill with temprature never passing 27degree celcius. City of best food origin in Vietnam so here actually their tourist objects failed to amazed me compared to other city here just boring so sorry i didnt recommended you any tourist objects here in Hanoi. Full of street food madness everywhere.
P.s dont forget bring jacket and umbrella because it totally different world
(+) no sweat HAHA
(-) super small alley with tons of motor cycles. Worse than hcmc
Read also:
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CAMBODIA
Well actually i didnt browse it as much as vietnam but lets give it a try as many westerners come for backpacking here HAHA it takes around 7 hours by bus from hcmc to phnompenh and 7 hours more to Siamreap from phnompenh. Suprisingly their living cost more expensive than vietnam, i think because they use mostly usd. And honestly hmm its okey to visit but not twice , im sorry HAHA only 2 cities that ive visited, the capital city : phnompenh and Ancient temple central : Siam reap
(+) new experience and super recommended for history and temple lover
(-) as im foody not history lover yaaa quite boring
Read also:
FINALLYYYYY
This a wrap will update all "read also" as soon as i am working on the video too. Overall, this 2 weeks trip was fantastic and made me realized as Indonesian, how our country is much much more beautiful HAHAAHAHA sorry please dont hate me #peace. Hope this blog help and add more reference for you.
Muchlove,
HJ
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