Trip to Vietnam - Cambodia 1/5

March 25, 2014

Trip to Vietnam - Cambodia 1/5

This is my first trip in 2014, already bought promo tix (Air Asia) since last year and this time I planned to go to Vietnam & Cambodia, Thu 13 - Wed 19 March 2014 (7D/6N). Works made me very stressful since this February 2014 so hardly can't wait to have fun anymore, away from my city and works ;D Actually I do want to visit Halong Bay but just found out it near Hanoi city and I booked my flight to Ho Chi Minh not Hanoi...well, I might visit Hanoi someday. I got sick two days before D-day, ughh..how come >< Anyway you don't have to exchange your money with Dong (Vietnam Currency) in Indonesia just bring USD instead and you can exchange at Airport with Dong (Airport rate was better than the city), much worthed, here the comparison 1 USD : IDR 11,500; 1 VND : IDR 0.75; 1 USD : 21,000 VND. So if you exchange your money in Indonesia with your IDR you only get IDR 11,500 : VND 15,300 while actually you can get VND 21,000 if you exchange with USD *smilegrin* For this trip I only bring around USD 120 and RM 20 so it is around IDR 1,500,000 for 7 days, exclude the flight ticket, bus ticket and hotel deposit. I will break down my budget at the end of my stories ;) hope it will help you to arrange your trip.

날씨가 좋다~~ ^^

Day 1 - Thu, 13 Mar 2014
I went with two friends, supposed to be three but one cancelled. Flight to KL first at 08.30 AM (2 hours), met my two friends at LCCT, lunch at Marry Brown (RM 6) then have flight together to Ho Chi Minh at 02.45 PM (another 2 hours) got delayed around 15 minutes. From Tan Son Nhat International Airport we took bus 152 (VND 5,000) to the city (Ben Tanh Market) get off at the bus terminal across that Market. To get in that bus 152, after exit from airport just turn to the right, i heard the bus will operate until 7 PM. Anyway if you carry your big luggage or backpack, they will charge another VND 5,000 for it. It took less than an hour from airport to the city. Ho Chi Minh traffic was terrible especially the motor cycle, crazy, and i could tell for the first time Jakarta traffic was better than this, be careful when you cross the street in this city ;D Our hotel is 10 minutes walk from the market, located at Bui Vien Street, District 1, it's similar like Kuta or Legian, Bali. With the nightlife, stall, so many tourist etc. We stayed at Luan Vu Hotel, booked via Hostelworld.com, Family Room (4 persons), AC, hot water for shower and drink, TV, towel, ensuite bathroom, fridge, free breakfast, etc US$ 34/room/night so @US$ 8.5/person/night. Nice service, helpful receptionist who recommend us place to have a good food and place to visit, they also gave us a good map to explore the city.

crazy queueing at KL immigration, took me around an hour -_-

can you see the smoke? we got delayed due to technical problem

our plane to HCM..woww..yellow for the first time :D

inside Tan Son Nhat International Airport, Ho Chi Minh

turn right after exit you may find this bus to downtown

bus ticket only for VND 5,000

inside the bus

view during our way to downtown

that is a taxi (Vinasun) in Ho Chi Minh city

the traffic was crazy @__@ esp. motorcycles

last stop for the bus 152, across the Ben Tanh Market

the opposite is Ben Tanh Market

We decided to go to Ben Tanh Night Market at night and just having stroll around that area but before we go there we went to Pho Quynh (recommended by hotel) to have dinner, Pho VND 55,000 & Tea VND 3,000, it was very delicious Pho ;) the place always crowded. Seller at market in Vietnam was kinda annoying coz they keep forcing you to buy their stuff. There was time when my friend want to buy sticky rice with this woman, we asked her first how much is that, but she did not answered but she preparing the sticky rice instead and gave that to my friend and asking for money to pay it, sooooo annoying and that was happened on our first day -_- On that day we booked our Mekong Delta Tour at Sinh Tourist for USD 10 for the day after tomorrow.