Logistics

VIETNAM EVISA

We used official site http://evisa.gov.vn , all the personal details fields are automatically populated from the uploaded passport photo.

Applied for 90 full days

[Better put maximum days beyond your travel days whether using it or not. Please note, that the dates you input for your visa do NOT have to match your actual travel dates. But remember, you cannot enter before the entry date specified on your e-visa, and you need to leave on, or before, the specified exit date]

90 day single entry e-visa at US$25

need to upload a photo, which can be a photo taken with mobile phone/laptop, in front of a white or light coloured wall.

For ‘Residential address in Vietnam’, just put the name and address of your first accommodation.

We got ours by the 3rd day

CAMBODIA EVISA

We used official site https://www.evisa.gov.kh/

The Cambodians were very efficient they just needed our passport and boarding pass when we stood at the line for passport control, our data was already there in their system and we did not even have to show them the printed copy of our E Visa both at entry and at exit. It is obviously in their system and it was such an efficient way of addressing stuff.

We had filled their entry form one week before entry and got our qr code, so we proceeded straight to the line and there was hardly a minute for us to get processed

FLIGHTS

let's talk about the flights

International flights

for the international flights in and out of the countries, we looked for timing, convenience and the price. we had to fly into Saigon and fly out of Phnom Penh because those were the international flight cities, so we scheduled our visit around that .

From Delhi there was a direct flight into Saigon and a direct flight back from Phnom Penh by Viet jet, it was only 330 usd, 200 usd less than the other alternatives. there was no food on the flight in but that did not matter, it was after midnight and it landed early morning in Saigon.

Checked bags were charged but it was a very nominal amount around 15usd per flight, 29 usd in total for both international flights. [less for domestic].

Their measurement for the cabin bag was reasonable as well 23-36-56cm and the allowed weight was 7KG with both cabin bag and personal item.

From Houston Eva air was through Taipei, one and half hour layover on the way in and 4 hour layover on the way out. Houston- Taipei was a long sixteen and a half hours, taipei to Saigon was three and a half hours,

these were the details about the international flights

Domestic flights

we took two domestic flights inside Vietnam. Both were also by viet jet:

5:30 AM from Saigon landing at Danang at 6.50AM

6:45 AM from Hue to Hanoi.

Both were on time, there was absolutely no problem with the check in, boarding.

I had booked a checked bag for these two flights also because we carried some items for self catering , very nominal charge 9 usd.

Next flight was from Hanoi to Siem Reap it was scheduled at 4:10 PM but took off only at 6:00 PM and that was a bit annoying and inconvenient but no major repercussion on our sightseeing plans. So on the whole we were quite pleased with Viet jet despite reading a lot of criticisms online.

We booked all the Viet jet flights on booking.com because we could not do it on their own site, we had absolutely no issues

Private taxi Danang to Hue

Danang to Hue we had a private taxi arranged by the Hue Amy Hotel 1 million 430,000 dongs for 110km, [ little less than 60USD] for a tailor made schedule. it suited us fine. Pick up at our hotel at 8 AM and visit Linh Ứng Pagoda

Go by Hai Van Pass Scenic road,
Stop at Lang Co Beach, Lap An Lagoon, Mo Stream, Thanh Toan Bridge. private car (english speaking driver) : 1,4300,000vnd

we had a scenic journey our bags were safe in the boot and we were more than happy with the arrangement.

If we had taken the limo it'd have costed nine usd per person but we would have gone through the tunnel and missed out on all these sites.

Of course Linh Ứng Pagoda we would have had to do on our own, it's right on the way. so it totally worked out.

SA PA EXPRESS, Hanoi to Sa pa & Back

Hanoi to Sa pa was by the bus sa pa Express, we booked online on their site, 7 AM

For coming back from Sapa to Hanoi they probably didn't have enough people for the bus so they booked a limo for us starting at 7:30 AM from Sapa and that was fine as well.

It was a six hour journey including to half hour halts.

Train Hanoi to Ninh Binh

We took a train Hanoi to Ninh binh and booked the train tickets online on this website and they emailed digital tickets. https://booking.baolau.com/en/s/hanoi/ninh-binh

we took the early morning 6:10 AM train. The duration was just two hour 10 minutes and we had to really rush out to disembark because people who were boarding really pushed in with their huge luggage.

We assumed it'll be similar 2h 10min on our trip back the next day at 4:10 PM. We were hoping to reach Hanoi by 6:30 but the train stopped at two stations for more than half an hour, both at Ninh Binh as well as another station, then right before reaching Hanoi some 6KM away again it stopped for some 20 minutes!! it felt like a very needless delay and since we had not expected it, it really felt tiresome but our sightseeing plans were not disrupted because of it

TAXIS

Installed GRAB, Xanh SM apps.

all our Grab Taxi payments were through credit card so that was very convenient. For Sa Pa we could not use grab so used Xanh SM , that app did not accept our credit card, there was some niggle so we had to pay cash for those taxis there.

ATMs and Local currency

In Vietnam the TP and VP Bank atms are recommended because they dont charge a percentage on the withdrawal but we could not find any. we just used whatever bank we could find.

Some of our apartments wanted payment in cash, we managed not to have extra cash at the end!

For Cambodia we had brought lot of USD in cash and that worked well. We did not need any local currency at all. In fact the Siem reap Angkorwat ticket was through credit card opposite to what I had read online that they needed only cash in usd

esim from Airalo

We got an esim from Arola online before our trip and activated it on arrival at airport, it was 7 usd for 15 days, 2GB allowance and it worked great for Vietnam. for Vietnam we had spent some 1.8 GB from Apr 17 to Apr 30 for google maps, GRAB taxi, whatsapp with hotels, checkins on Vietjet

https://airalo-esim.com/esim/vietnam/?_gl=1*km5imo*_up*MQ..*_gs*MQ..&gclid=CjwKCAjw_pDBBhBMEiwAmY02NjzqFPv9ReTuJ4Xbhtz8jGRcXhbrIpef0stovwGHh2kBrFrpioGV5RoCCPAQAvD_BwE&gbraid=0AAAAA_esurI2k1LT8boMracqLuMfAXcgS

https://www.airalo.com/vietnam-esim

again for Cambodia also we had an Airola esim for 15 days for $7 and that too had no issues it was all fine

Google translate was helpful (Grab drivers). They had their own app too