Visa
There are two types of visas available for going to Vietnam, the first is a temporary passport, which must be used with a tour group, and the route is limited to Halong Bay and Hanoi. The second is a tourist visa, which allows you to travel throughout Vietnam with a private passport. We chose the second type. Currently, this visa is only issued by the Vietnamese consulates in Guangzhou and Beijing, and you can ask them for the application form directly or through an agent. The visa fee is 400 yuan.
Nanning
How to get there: Train: 1379, departs at 10:41 a.m., arrives at 8:40 p.m. the next day, fare: RMB 401 for a hard sleeper on a lower berth
Airplane: about three hours, all-inclusive RMB 1,440
Accommodation: There are quite a lot of guesthouses in Nanning, especially near the bus station, and the price is around RMB 80 for a clean room
Dongxing
Dongxing
Dongxing is the only place you can find a visa. p>
Dongxing
How to get there: There are fast buses from Nanning to Dongxing, one at 8:30am and one at 11:00am, with a fare of 40 RMB and a time of 3 hours
Customs
Chinese Customs: Passport and a valid visa are sufficient. Health and quarantine certificates are not required, as they are in any European or American country. Remember to declare your camcorders and cameras when you leave the country to avoid unnecessary explanations when you return to the customs.
Vietnam customs: passport and valid visa are required. Vietnam Customs may ask to see the health quarantine certificate, so be prepared. It is worth reminding: Customs officials may forget to stamp your passport with the border seal of entry (sounds a bit funny, he sits there every day, his duty is to stamp a passport, how can he forget? But he just forgot to put this one stamp on our passports that represents the sovereignty of the country, making our trip in Vietnam an illegal entry in the legal sense. (Sounds a bit scary, so when you pick up your passport, make sure you check to see if it has this entry border stamp.) Also, Vietnam Customs must stamp your entry declaration form (a separate yellow application form to avoid any trouble when you leave the country)
VIETNAM
Currency: Vietnam's currency, the dong, is exchanged at a rate of 1,800:1 to the Chinese yuan, but the Chinese yuan can only be exchanged in the north of the country (the northern part). The Yuan can only be exchanged in the north (Hanoi and Halong Bay), from the center to the south, you can easily exchange US Dollars for Vietnamese Dong at local banks at a rate of 15,000 Dong to 1 US Dollar. If you don't want to carry too much cash in US dollars, you can use an international credit card to pay for large amounts (e.g., airfare), but there is an additional 2.5% to 3% service charge for each use of the card.
Climate: The year is divided into two seasons, dry and wet, with an average annual temperature of 27 degrees Celsius and plenty of sunshine, so sunglasses and sun hats are recommended for outdoor activities, and sunscreen is also a necessity.
Language: Vietnamese is a phonetic script with 29 letters, created by Portuguese missionaries in the 16th century and recognized as an official language in 1900. In fact, before that time Vietnam had no language of its own, the official language being Chinese. The missionaries created today's Vietnamese based on the pronunciation of Chinese to make it easier for Westerners to learn.
Communication: In Vietnam, you can communicate with backpackers in simple English in all kinds of business related to backpackers, such as hotels, restaurants, travel agencies, airline ticket agencies, banks, etc. There is no problem to communicate in simple English, which is one of the main reasons why Vietnam is known as the world's backpacker's paradise. Of course, you may face the dilemma of speaking to locals who don't speak English.
Income: The average monthly income in Vietnam is 200 RMB.
Safety: The safety situation in Vietnam is reassuring. Tourism is one of Vietnam's mainstays, and any behavior that might cause foreigners to worry about security is strictly prohibited. In terms of safety, there is no difference compared to traveling in the cities of the country.
Communication: International roaming charges for cell phones in Vietnam are quite expensive, for example, for me: 10 calls to Shanghai from a cell phone in Vietnam***, with each call lasting less than a minute, cost me 220 RMB***.
Hawkers and cart drivers: the Vietnamese who greet you with the greatest hospitality. Unfortunately, the only answer to their hospitality is the usual one: 'No, Thanks'. If you're going to try to test this rule, bet you can only do it once.
Mong Cai: A small town that thrives on border trade
Accommodation: There are a dozen or so homestays near the bus station, most costing between 80 and 100 yuan.
Attractions: None so far
Halong Bay: advertised as 'Guilin on the Sea'. Halong Bay is located in the city of Halong, divided into two parts, east and west, separated by a bay, the eastern part is called Hong Gai, the western part is called Bai Chai.
How to get there: Take a bus from Manggai Bus Station to Hong Gai for 35,000 rupiah per person, which takes about four hours. After getting off the bus, walk west about 100 meters to the ferry terminal, every 10 minutes there is a ferry, the cost is 500 rupiah per person, five minutes to Baezai. When you arrive, don't rush to find a hostel, because the lively part of Baezai is on the beach, about two kilometers from the pier. Pay 4,000 rupiah for a motorcycle and walk along the beach, and you'll be there in no time.
Accommodation: There are many hotels across the beach. Backpacker-friendly accommodation is available across the beach in the restaurant area, just around the corner, where you can get a clean, spacious double room for as little as 10 dollars.
Eating: Chinese-style seafood is available here. Further south there is seafood, even cheaper, but not quite the same way as in China, so you can say that it is a different flavor, just eat the heart of the people who are a little reluctant to eat. In Halong Bay, two people spend hundreds of yuan to eat seafood, you can eat your heart out, not very corrupt.
Attractions: A trip to see the 'Sea of Immortality' is a must in Halong Bay. You can charter your own boat from the pier by the beach or take a day trip with a local travel agency. There are all kinds of caves on the 'Mountain of Immortality', which looks like nothing more than that to me, but it's still fun to get out on a boat and blow off some steam.
Hanoi (Ha Noi): the hustle and bustle of the city
How to get there: The bus station in Baichai is on the east side, close to the ferry terminal. From here it takes about three and a half hours to get to the Kin Ma bus terminal in Hanoi, with a fare of 40,000 dong per person. After arriving at Kin Ma station, take a motorcycle to Hoan Kiem Lake. By the way: the most convenient way to get around Vietnam is by motorcycle, which is cheap, fast and seems to be safe (from North to South, we haven't seen a single motorcycle accident). The Cyclo (a three-wheeled rickshaw with a passenger in front and a driver in the back), which is highly prized by ex-donkeys, is only good for short distances and is not cheap.
Accommodation: The Old Quarter, immediately north of Lake Yoho, is full of homestays, and most backpackers stay in this area. There are so many choices that it can be a headache sometimes, especially when you are a complete stranger. So here's a list of hostels we've stayed in, with hot water, air-conditioning, satellite TV and a mini-fridge, and a daily change of sheets and pillowcases, which doesn't sound too bad:
Sports Hotel
Address: 96 Hang Bac Street, Hanoi
Tel: (84-4) 9260 0154
Price: US$8/day
Eating: There are a number of Café's in the same area, offering Western-style meals for about the same price as a set menu at a teahouse. The problem is that it is not easy to find Chinese food. Or you can try one of the locals' eateries, if you're sure you're getting what you're ordering.
Attractions: Long Bien Bridge, Ho Chi Ming's Mausoleum, Temple of Literature, Water Puppet, City Museum
Open Ticket: This is the bus ticket equivalent of a coupon. This is the equivalent of a combined bus ticket, starting in Hanoi and ending in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon), with stops in a number of major cities for any length of time (up to six months, which seems a bit too long), and a confirmed seat on the next day's bus the day before you decide to leave for the next city. Backpackers almost always choose this way of traveling. Most of these tickets are provided by travel companies, which not only provide the bus service, but also accommodation and meals in the relevant city, in a sort of one-stop-shop. The most famous of these is Sinh Café, and the one we rode in was T&M Brother's Café, which is pretty much the same thing and won't save you any time on the road. The fare is 26 dollars per person and the total distance is about 2,200 kilometers.