Vietnam was pretty cheap. Dining at the restaurants can set you back around Php 300, while dining in the streets or markets can go as low as Php 40. Accommodation is also relatively inexpensive. My rooms range from $15 to $18, all with air conditioning and a fan, with ensuite toilet & bath, cable TV, a closet and even a small fridge. While the xe om is the most popular way to getting around town, I prefer to hop on a cab. The taxis in Vietnam are well kept with good air conditioning. Meter starts at VND 9,000 for the small cars, VND 10,000 for the sedans and VND 12,000 for the vans (depends on the company). Be careful about the taxis though; there are rogue taxis that use a very fast meter! They use the same name as the big cab companies, only changing one letter and using almost identical hotline numbers.
Krabi, on the otherhand, is pretty expensive (as expected). However, in the midst of the Thai and Italian restaurants, there are small street stalls selling noodles and rice. I stayed in Ao Nang beach, and it’s small enough to walk around. You can take the tuktuk around town, but to go beyond, you’d either have to ride the government songtheow (with routes to Krabi and other places) or hire a taxi (taxis in Krabi are Toyota Fortuner. Sosyal!)
Bangkok and Kuala lumpur are only in the itinerary for transit and shopping.
| Vietnam – Thailand – Malaysia | |||
| June 16 – July 1, 2010 | |||
| US$ 1 = PHP 46.45 | THB 1 = PHP 1.43 | ||
| VND 1,000 = PHP 2.43 | MYR 1 = PHP 14.56 | ||
| Cost | Actual Cost | ||
| (in local currency) | (in Peso) | ||
| Air Transfers | |||
| Manila – Saigon | |||
| Cebu Pacific | PHP 36.00 | PHP 36.00 | 1 |
| Saigon – Da Nang | |||
| Vietnam Airways | VND 1,089,000.00 | PHP 2,720.59 | |
| Hanoi – Bangkok | |||
| Air Asia | US$ 21.00 | PHP 987.08 | 2 |
| Bangkok – Krabi | |||
| Air Asia | THB 157.00 | PHP 225.27 | 3 |
| Krabi – Kuala Lumpur | |||
| Air Asia | THB 530.00 | PHP 760.05 | 3 |
| Kuala Lumpur – Manila | |||
| Cebu Pacific | PHP 546.86 | PHP 546.86 | |
| Philippine Travel Tax | PHP 1,620.00 | PHP 1,620.00 | |
| NAIA Airport Tax | PHP 750.00 | PHP 750.00 | |
| Taxi to NAIA | PHP 200.00 | PHP 200.00 | |
| Taxi from NAIA | PHP 350.00 | PHP 350.00 | |
| Accommodation | |||
| Saigon | |||
| Bich Duyen | |||
| 4 days, 3 nights, $17 per night | US$ 51.00 | PHP 2,368.95 | |
| Hoi An | |||
| Vinh Huy | |||
| 3 days, 2 nights, $15 per night | US$ 30.00 | PHP 1,393.50 | |
| Hue | |||
| Halo | |||
| 3 days, 2 nights, $10 per night | US$ 16.00 | PHP 743.20 | |
| Hanoi | |||
| Hanoi Guesthouse | |||
| 4 days, 3 nights, $18 per night | US$ 54.00 | PHP 2,508.30 | |
| Bangkok | |||
| Old Charm Guesthouse | |||
| 1 night, THB 990 per night | THB 990.00 | PHP 1,415.70 | 4 |
| Krabi | |||
| Buri Tara Resort | |||
| 3 days, 2 nights, $30 per night | US$ 60.60 | PHP 2,814.87 | 5 |
| Land Transport | |||
| Giang Son airport taxi (2-way) | US$ 26.00 | PHP 1,207.70 | |
| Hanoi airport taxi | US$ 15.00 | PHP 696.75 | |
| Vietnam Open Bus | VND 380,000.00 | PHP 923.40 | 7 |
| Hoi An transport | VND 428,500.00 | PHP 1,040.04 | 8 |
| Hue transport | VND 157,000.00 | PHP 381.51 | 9 |
| Hanoi transport | VND 460,000.00 | PHP 1,117.80 | 10 |
| Bangkok airport taxi (2-way) | THB 500.00 | PHP 715.00 | 11 |
| Bangkok transport | THB 100.00 | PHP 143.00 | 12 |
| Krabi airport bus (2-way) | THB 300.00 | PHP 429.00 | |
| Krabi transport | THB 40.00 | PHP 57.20 | 13 |
| KLIA Transit (2-way) | MYR 25.00 | PHP 364.00 | 14 |
| KL transport | MYR 3.20 | PHP 46.59 | |
| Food Expenses | |||
| Saigon | VND 451,500.00 | PHP 1,097.15 | |
| Hoi An | VND 409,000.00 | PHP 993.87 | |
| Hue | VND 426,000.00 | PHP 1,035.18 | |
| Hanoi | VND 833,500.00 | PHP 2,025.41 | |
| Bangkok | THB 541.00 | PHP 773.63 | |
| Krabi | THB 1,444.16 | PHP 2,065.15 | |
| Kuala Lumpur | MYR 22.90 | PHP 333.42 | |
| Miscellaneous | |||
| Travel insurance | PHP 1,173.00 | PHP 1,173.00 | |
| Laundry | US$ 5.00 | PHP 232.25 | |
| Internet | THB 500.00 | PHP 715.00 | |
| Admission fees | VND 225,000.00 | PHP 546.75 | 15 |
| Hue tour | VND 150,000.00 | PHP 364.50 | 16 |
| Halong Bay Tour | US$ 35.00 | PHP 1,627.50 | 17 |
| Beach lounge | VND 30,000.00 | PHP 72.90 | |
| Souvenirs – Vietnam | VND 280,000.00 | PHP 680.40 | |
| Souvenirs – Thailand | THB 262.00 | PHP 374.66 | |
| Souvenirs – Malaysia | MYR 39.90 | PHP 580.94 | |
| Postage | VND 60,000.00 | PHP 146.15 | |
| Locker storage | MYR 20.00 | PHP 291.20 | |
| Total: | PHP 41,691.42 | ||
| 1 Hell yeah. | |||
| 2 Thanks you Air Asia Bangkok sale! | |||
| 3 Thank you Air Asia zero fare sale! | |||
| 4 Most charming place in Bangkok! | |||
| 5 I figured I deserved a treat! | |||
| 7 The bus that took me from Hoi An to Hue and from Hue to Hanoi | |||
| 8 Includes taxi from the airport in Da Nang, taxi to and from Cua Dai beach | |||
| 9 Too hot, too lazy. | |||
| 10 Includes a very bloated meter price. Damn that taxi. | |||
| 11 Just the regular metered taxi. | |||
| 12 Loaded THB 100 unto my BTS card, but ended up only using the remaining balance. At least I have loaded BTS card for the next time I’m in BKK! | |||
| 13 Took the tuk-tuk once going back to the resort. | |||
| 14 KLIA Transit is the cheaper (and longer) counterpart of the KLIA Express that takes you from the LCCT to KL Sentral in 50 minutes | |||
| 15 Reunification Palace and Revolutionary Museum in Saigon, Imperial Palace and other places in Hue | |||
| 16 Tour is cheap because you have to pay for the entrance fees.Transport, guide and lunch is included, but bitin (unsatisfactory). | |||
| 17 Includes admission fees, transport, kayak, guide, 2 bottles of water and pretty good lunch | |||
Download:
Vietnam 2010.xls (24k)
Vietnam 2010.pdf (92k)
This trip is expensive, compared to my month-long trip back in June spanning five countries. However, it still came out cheaper than the budget I drew up when I was still planning for the trip. And this is the moment when I admit that I really cannot be a hardcore backpacker (that sounds sooo wrong). Haggling will never be my forte, and I will splurge whenever I can. And I will never stop buying doll clothes and books.
Shopping aside, the biggest expense in this trip was my 4-day stay at the Sunway Hotel in Georgetown. I needed to work during those four days, so I splurged on a hotel to ensure that I have a stable Internet connection. Ironically, the Internet at the guesthouse where I transfered to was much better. Hmp.
| Bangkok & Penang | |||
| October 3 – 11, 2009 | |||
| MYR 1 = PHP 14 | |||
| THB 1 = PHP 1.4 | |||
| Air Transfer | |||
| Philippine Airlines | |||
| Manila – Bangkok – Manila | US $ 148.00 | PHP 7,290.47 | |
| October 3 – 5 | |||
| Air Asia | |||
| Bangkok – Penang – Bangkok | THB 3,865.00 | PHP 5,817.90 | |
| October 5 – 11 | |||
| Terminal Fee (NAIA) | PHP 750.00 | PHP 750.00 | |
| Airport Tax (NAIA) | PHP 1,620.00 | PHP 1,620.00 | |
| Taxi to and from NAIA | PHP 590.00 | PHP 590.00 | |
| Accommodation | |||
| Bangkok | |||
| HI-Sukhumvit | THB 800.00 | PHP 1,120.00 | |
| 1 night | |||
| Sunway Georgetown | |||
| 4 nights, MYR 170 | MYR 680.00 | PHP 9,662.22 | |
| Hutton Lodge | |||
| 2 nights, MYR 65 | MYR 130.00 | PHP 1,820.00 | |
| Food | |||
| Bangkok | THB 1,212.00 | PHP 1,696.80 | 1 |
| Penang | MYR 129.50 | PHP 1,813.00 | 2 |
| Transport | |||
| Bangkok | THB 610.50 | PHP 854.70 | 3 |
| Penang | MYR 42.00 | PHP 588.00 | 4 |
| Miscellaneous | |||
| Laundry | MYR 6.30 | PHP 88.20 | |
| Admission fee | MYR 9.00 | PHP 126.00 | 5 |
| Books and other things (BKK) | THB 1,835.00 | PHP 2,569.00 | 6 |
| Books and other things (PEN) | MYR 159.35 | PHP 2,230.90 | 6 |
| Travel Insurance | PHP 600.00 | PHP 600.00 | |
| Total | PHP 39,237.19 | ||
| 1 Just three days in Bangkok and my food expense was this high?! I blame it on the crappy airport food. | |||
| 2 I cannot count how many chicken rice and char kway teow involved, but there were plenty. | |||
| 3 Airport express, BTS and taxi. | |||
| 4 This was actually just one taxi ride, the one from the airport to Georgetown. I ended up walking all around Georgtown and Wei pretty much covered my weekend transport. | |||
| 5 MYR 5 for the Khoo Kong Si Clanhouse, MYR 4 for the train up Penang Hill. | |||
| 6 Shopping is the bane of all budget travelers. On the upside, my dolls have new clothes and I have new books. And plenty of Tiramisu and Pocky. | |||