Before traveling to one of the destinations where Kong: Skull island was film, 9 Ninh Binh travel facts below will help you understand more about the beautiful province in Vietnam.
I’m at Bai Dinh main chamber yard
Vietnam records pagoda: Bai Dinh is not just a normal pagoda, it’s a complex, very very large area, including so many interesting structures that you should do a slow travel to have more deep experience. There are many Vietnam records happening here: the largest pagoda, the most Arhat statues, biggest bronze bell,… Free entrance and you only pay 10,000 vnd/ bike parking fee.
Rowing by feet: taking a Trang An boat tour and you’ll see artful rowers using their feet to drive the boat. (I can’t even drive a boat by hand, they are so admirable).
A wildlife tour are also available here: Cuc Phuong national garden is 22,000 acre quare area, a “homestay” of 71 animals, 319 birds, 16 amphibians and so so, and you have a chance to meet them. and ticket is cheap, 40,000 vnd. Take it!
An “ex” Christian capital: Phat Diem Cathedral complex was completed in 1899. Many typical structures in a mix of Western and Eastern architecture remains here. A historical site that attracts thousands of pilgrim coming every years. It’s free entrance (nice!)
You can enjoy hot spring: Kenh Ga hot spring is a real relaxing experience. It’s cheap (10 usd/ person), hot water, essential minerals, natural massage therapy,… most of travelers come here the last day for rejuvenation.
Trang An – beautiful destination that you should come once
Food is cheap, unique and awesome: Cheap beer and sugar cane for only 5,000 vnd. You can survive with only 3-5 usd/ day for full of delicious food around. Variety of goat meat dishes and burnt rice are two of must-try specialities.
Mountainous snails: you may heard a lot of snail in rivers, seas but on mountains, that sounds strange. It’s said that because those snails enjoy mountainous herbs and other natural elements, they are very good for your health and tasty – taste of a truly natural food.
There are two Emperors used to locate the region as their capital: Dinh emperor and Le emperor located Ninh Binh as the heart of Vietnam (or “Dai Co Viet” at that time), so some ancient structures remaining in Hoa Lu district may reveal interesting historical facts. 20,000 vnd/ ticket
Trang An scenic landscape area is a complex offering a dual world heritage UNESCO’s world heritage site for both cultural and natural features – a must-see destination for around-the-world nomads. Price is quite reasonable: 150,000 vnd for a 3-4 hour boat tour, very relaxing.
Travelling to Bai Dinh pagoda is one of my greatest experience
A budget travel heaven: read my Ninh Binh travel guide and you’ll see: this place offers very cheap accomodation, bike rental is only 100,000 vnd/ day and you possibly spend only 100 usd for 5 day-trip here, while checking most of the famous attractions, including ones in Kong: Skull island.
“Photos worth thousands of word”. I spent a day travel around Hanoi and took an album of “hanoi people street photography 2017”, which tell a lot about Hanoi local lives. From young people to old ones, each of them has an own story, that they won’t let us know, but through their face, we know some!
Hanoi Old Quarter lives
An old man were making products daily by his skillful hands, transforming metals into useful stuff to meet people’s need. The way he did was very passionate, from torching to bending materials.Another craftman, skillful cutting metal. He’s old, but still well-done.I didn’t know what the old woman thinking, but her facial features showed a deep burden deep inside her heart, some worry for days. I do love the picture.You usually see a typical mechanic like this man in Hanoi: smoking a cigarette with a shady glass and a loud fierce voice when you annoy them. I was scary a bit at first, but if you know how hard to survive in Hanoi, you will sympathy them.An middle-aged woman preparing food for evening service. Her eyes was the reason why I took the picture. Two men having an late afternoon talk, I didn’t see them, but the glass reflection is a true new angle that made me photograph. ‘An old man reading wall newspaper. The politic talks are very popular in Hanoi.
Sword Lake photography
An old woman rest after jogging around Sword Lake, she was using her smartphone. That’s really interesting that old people still keep in touch with technology.Taxi bike rider rest in a sunset. He’s curious when I took a photo of him.Three old women chatting on a bench…… and the opposite three men. Many old people choose to have a seat in benches in Sword lake every sunset as a pleasure.A woman sitting alone on a bench, looking at the lake. Nice shot!
Queuing at “Street restaurant” in Hanoi
Take a look at how Hanoi people queuing for a famous food stall. I was stunned by the service, but after all, I accepted it as a local culture instead of a bad service.Hanoi people love crowded place, it somehow indicates that the restaurant offer good food.Young people enjoy a meal. I don’t highly recommend Hanoi streetfood because sometimes the hygiene is not guaranteed.
Work in Hanoi
A guardian warning a cyclo driver for not touting a tourist. Hanoi capital now enforces many very strict policies to keep the city clean and tourist-friendly
A Hanoi in Old Quarter
This is the picture that I love most, taken outside a store in Old Quarter area, showing a relaxing man after smoking a Vietnamese tobacco. The face was very enjoyable, very Vietnamese and somehow, funny.
The photography tour could fit perfectly a 24-hour itinerary, remember to read it to save more time to enjoy Hanoi if you come here as a transit.
Budget travel opens door to the world! I used to think “travel is expensive”, that travelers had to very rich to travel overseas.
How did I begin travelling on a budget
I, a son in the middle-class family in a city of third-world country. All we cared was how to earn enough money to survive everyday and tried to save money for rainy days. I thought simply that though I loved traveling, I wasn’t born to do it.
Money problem wouldn’t let me follow my passion – travel around the world and see wonderful things, real eyes.
Time proves I was wrong. And all my reasons were just excuses.
Travel is cheap. When we think it’s expensive, it “will” be expensive, but just in our mind, not in practice.
Travel means your choice, that if we focus on one thing, some day we will make it. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Our lifetime is always long enough for any dreams that we do desire to pursue.
But note that: you have to be serious, in making your dream come true. A great difference between a real dreamers and a boasting guy is action.
When I was a young boy, I didn’t have much money, just some pennies from my parents. And when my friends showed their overseas trips, I honestly admit that I was very jealous of them. I grew up with a mind set that I couldn’t afford to travel.
Vietnam on bicycle
My turning points
Then I joined a forum, and started to read travel blogs. There were some backpackers wrote their lives on road with very tight budget, and they even earn money while traveling, sound some way I could follow.
So with my bicycle, I started my first journey, just 60-kilometer away from my home, pedaled to a beach, alone, and enjoyed my freedom. Very cheap. I couldn’t forget. I loved the moment – my turning point.
Sequentially, I thought I would travel around the world, country by country, on bicycle and live in tent, watch sunrise and sunset everyday, make friends with people around the world. My dream appeared realistic a bit.
But soon I realized that I couldn’t live like a tramps, that I needed to earn some money to fund my trips. I started working, and saving. The real push was from my research of the destinations. They are so beautiful that I knew I could save money for airline tickets instead of weekend meals.
My first journey overseas was to Cambodia, a nearby country. Phnom Penh, Siem Riep, stunning Angkor Wat, first-time experiences, unforgetable! I love the morning biking around Angkor. I couldn’t turn down traveling, it was really my life.
Bus is very budget transportation, but couldn’t get me everywhere and I’d never took a flight before, I thought it’s so expensive (in my country, people told me so, they flied by national airlines).
It was a trap, and I was trapped. I thought travel was expensive, again. But there had to be some way, I had to figure it out.
Travel around the world – sound great to me
Another turning point – budget airlines, was coming. Jetstar, Vietjetair, Airasia. They were all bringing my wings to travel. First trips to Phu Quoc and I met a long-term traveler, who taught me how to fly cheap. Since then Malaysia – Singapore, ancient vs modern, cheap hostels, splendid sceneries, blab blab blab,…
“Travel to every countries in the world – 197 countries” – a blogger suggested his journey. And he did it. Why I couldn’t do the same? Travel to every countries, sounded very challenging and life-time experience. I had to embrace it.
I set up a plan that I would travel around the world, visit country by country to 197th one, before I am 30. It did inspire me! I live everyday meaningfully and purposefully.
Just save and go! Budget travel opens the door!
A budget travel means “cheap traveling”?
It’s a common misconception. The core of budget travel is to save money (you would treasure every dollar you spend) and spend it purposely and wisely (gain the most value for each dollar you spend).
Cheap travelling focuses on hacking expense, making people “wow” but almost ignore worthy experience. That’s sometimes so bad because we don’t have much chances to visit certain places, so it’d better spend money purposely on what you put your travel bucket list (you should compose one, it’s very interesting and inspires you every mornings).
When you travel on a budget, most of people think you travel cheaply. Actually, it isn’t “cheap” as its original meaning. I totally agree with Matt Kepnes – a well-known budget traveller that “budget travel is about getting the most value for every dollar you spend”. Yes, and what you should spend is anythings that you know if you have the only chance but you don’t take it, you will be regretful. As Mark Twain once said: “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Coastal road in Vietnam on bike
Where is a budget travel heaven in the world?
South east asia – many budget travellers around the world totally agree that the region is true heaven for travel on a budget. It’s just like a small-scale world, where you find almost every aspects and I was lucky to be around here for years.
Need some modern north American ambiance – get to Singapore. You love Roman architecture but budget is low – take a tour around Philippines, the country also offers beautiful islands and beaches. Islamic atmosphere is what you’re searching for? – Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei are the answer. Thailand, Cambodia and Myanma – Buddha pilgrim holy land. Mountain trekking and highland roadtrip – welcome to Laos and northwestern Vietnam. Jungle adventures? – Borneo (Malaysia) and Vietnam are the best. Low living expense is one of the top reasons why so many Western settle here, and enjoy their life at relaxing pace more than the homeland. Southeast asia is true heaven to backpacking.
How to travel on a budget
The number one budget travel tip is to well plan your trip. The destinations are some how considerable factors affecting the expense. The number one (dot five): save money, today! Number two: know how to find perfect deals. Numbet two (dot five): install travel apps, they are really awesome these days. Number three: collect travel miles or budget airlines – your choice. Number four: subscribe to travel hack blog. Number five: ask the local for budget travel guide – it works usually (if you’re not lucky enough that meeting a wrong guy try to rip you off the money. Number six: travel in group and take advantage of sharing economy (beds, meals, rides,…)
What if you run out of money on the road?
Budget travel didn’t mean you spend your last penny and broke. Despite sounding romantic that you’re burnt out for your passion, it’s not a smart move. A practical traveller always keep enough budget for (not mentioned in most of inspirational travel blog posts but the fact is that people have) a return ticket. Sorry if I paint your beautiful travel vision in black, but don’t ever ever run out of money when you’re in a oversea country, that’s a direct catastrophe and you won’t like to be in.
How to deal with an oversea broke? Always bring back up visa card so that your relatives or friends can support you from homeland, don’t be like me in Manila.
Is budget travel exhausted?
My answer: Absolutely Yes! It’s quite tired to spend a lot time seeking any good deals in websites and apps, red-eye flights and sleep at airport under bad condition sometimes and when you save money for the trip, it turns very temptation of every things: food, TV, gym,… and you have to strike against them and keep value penny for flights, accommodations and promising experience. It’s worthy!
Bike trip in Sapa
What is your budget travel mantra?
Deep local experience: live overseas as your home. The master of budget travel is that when you see a pictures including travelers and local, you can’t even distinguish them. The thorough research plus your practical experience in the country will hint you how local live and spend, then you can imitate them to find out best local food/ restaurants or off-the-beaten-tracks that few travellers could come.
One of my most memorable budget travel experiences was to live in a dorm in Phu Quoc island. I initially travelled alone, but fate led me to other travellers and we had wonderful time together snorkling, biking, cooking and sharing our travel stories and tips. That was one of my turning points. Whenyou travel on budget, you’re not alone, there are always like-minded friends around the world.
The most frightening incident I’ve experienced while traveling was to be pick-pocketed in Manila in the last day. Keeping a low budget help me a lot that I just lost a portion of money. Phew! And when someone asked me if I would turned back on Philippines, I said “no way!”. Getting incidents is what you expect in life, not only on road but also at home. So learn from them, get experienced and become an advanced travellers in general.
What’s difference between a amateur and professional budget traveller: to be flexible.
Though we should plan carefully before hand, don’t be obsessed with it. To be honest, time is the most important resource you have, so don’t waste time when troubles come, be flexible! If you’re stuck in traffic jam, walk! If your flight gets delayed, take your time visiting around the town. If you realise that the map is wrong, get lost!
Plan helps us know more about the destination: attractions, things to do and budget reference. Keep those in mind but your travel itinerary is likely to change continuously, just go with the flow.
Years of travel and I’ve learnt one thing: some times travel blogs and beautiful pictures can not bring us emotions until we are really standing there, see it, touch it and sense it and decide whether we should stay longer or leave for the other. Those moments you wish won’t last forever, so when you found them, keep enjoying! We can sacrifice and spend less time on the rest whilst focusing on the real things that make us stunned!
On top of that, you should be flexible to enjoy travel more slowly and deeply.
Kotakina Balu island travel
Budget travel + a great desire for “travel around the world” = Darejourney
I started ‘Darejourney’ as my travel journal, and when my sharing spreaded, many friends asked me how to travel on a budget, I inboxed them so many times that I decided to share systematically on my blog, hopefully helping people around the world who don’t know what I know have a better preparation and more relaxing travelling time.
Darejourney is also a diary where I share my journey conquering every countries in the world, inspire people to dare (their own) journeys. Maybe start travelling, maybe do one new thing every day, that is “journey” meaning
Tram Chim national park is a very famous spot in nature trail along Mekong delta. Located in Dong Thap province, 4 hours ride away from HCMc, the park is really a great place for bird-watching activities with dozen of species, a promising photography destination, as well. The price is affordable if travelling as a group.
What is the best route to Tram Chim national park?
Off-the-beaten-track: Go northwest, follow countryside road.
When is the best time to visit?
Bird homing at the beginning of rainy season (March-April) when the water level rises bring more fish for them. So it is the best time for bird watching activity.
Floating season (or rainy time) from September to December is also a good time because the whole landscape is painted in green and brand-new smell after hundreds of rain feed the forest.
Sua hat sen – popular drink in Dong Thap
Food & Drink & Take-away
“Sua hat sen” (Lotus seed drink) is quite popular in Tram Chim.
In general, Lotus is a speciality in Dong Thap, you can buy fresh lotus seed to eat fresh, or make it as ingredient for a dish cooked at home.
Fish and dishes are quite popular here, well-cooked with delicious taste, truly local.
Food is a real mean to explore culture.
Accomodation
Few people stay overnight because it’s quiet and almost nothing to entertain at night. But if you want to rest and enjoy peaceful countryside atmosphere, there’s several choices.
The most interesting but still very budget friendly that you can sleep in a private room right inside the park center, price ranges from 7-15$/ day. At night, you can walk around a bit, but all you see is likely darkness and sound of (con trung va coc nhai’).
In low season, it doesn’t matter booking in advance but in bird watching season, you should do so.
Packing
not too far from travel hub HCMc, so there’s no need to bring a lot in your backpack, just few essential stuff: mosquito repellent, sunscreen, t-shirt, hat, slippers and swimsuit in case you’d love to swim in the river.
Activities
tram chim national park information center
Study
A wide range of bird is really ideal for anyone who wish to study nature, you can collect many information in the park center complex and a real experience on boat into the park.
Cruising
very exciting and peaceful. You rent a small wooden boat, order delicious food and enjoy them directly, while surfing quiet along route into forest, seeing bird, listening to wild life. It’s simply amazing.
Kayaking
Young and active? Rent a kayak and you can explore the national park in your own way at your own speed. Gopro is definitely a good choice for sport shooting style.
Speedboat cruising
Wanna a brief visiting, rent a speedboat tour and a pretty-girl tourguide will take you around, representing all interesting facts and maybe answer all your queries
Fishing
A big fan of fishing love Tram Chim, many kinds of fish here, and a good rob can make you rich with fish.
I’m on a speedboat
Photography tips
The cruise follows a route like a triangle: the first line is grass on water, the second leads you into the Melaleuca forest and the last one is really a lotus showcase.
Photographers had better visit Tram Chim in the early morning or late afternoon, when the sun is in perfect color – orange – blended with blue clear sky if you’re lucky.
To shoot birds, arrange your trips in homing season (see When session), to see most of them flying around.
Tele lens are the best choice, and a CP-L filter will give you more power in shooting water and also, make the color better.
Budget tips
Price board
You can buy a tour “Mekong Delta exploration”, including Tram Chim national park in Bui Vien, for 50$.
Rent a bike (5$), get fuelled (5$) and make a DIY tour for a cheap trip on day. It’s not far from HCMc.
Group travelling is advised because there are few options for a solo traveller here. Sharing is really ideal.
Typical expense:
Drink: no more than 20,000vnd/ bottle
Lotus seed: 50,000vnd/ pack
Kayak: 50,000vnd/ hour/ 2 seats
Entrance ticket: 5000 vnd/ adult, 2000 vnd/ child (no need if you catch a boat at the port and directly deal with boat rider)
Bike parking fee: 5000 vnd
Transit to rest stop inside the park (electric car): 30,000 vnd/ pax
Combo: 150,000 vnd/ person (for a group at least 6 people)
You have a trip that you’ve been dreaming for years and now you make it come true. After choosing must-visit destinations, read many guide books and consult travellers before, suddenly you recognize that how much will this trip cost? How much travel budget do you need to pay on whole your trip?
So to have a good budget travel trip – spend least earn most, you should sit down and make a list about travel budget. Why do?
Because travel expense can depend on how you travel, what destinations, food and so on. So, make a loose travel budget plan is very essential.
Now, let’s try!
Travel budget for transportation. It saves you money!
Travel budget for Transportation
Firstly, you determine what attractions you will visit in a city and popular means of transport there, as well. As usual, public transportation like bust, metro is the best option because they are cheap and friendly, also giving more local perspective. If you want to save more travel budget for transportation, so walk is not a bad option, especially when time is tight and tourism spot is quite close to one another. Taxi is usually the most expensive option, but group travelling or urgent cases.
A way simple to know tickets cost is to search the official website of the transport. Most of them provide schedule along with cost tables so that you can estimate how much you would pay to get around the city. If you’re going to Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), it’d better check the Myrapid fare table to estimate the cost. You should take advantage of packages so that you would know a fix cost for a week/ month.
Not only do you research ticket bus but also you need to expand your options getting from places to places by bus, train or boat – specific prices… then make comparisons to get the best cost.
Choosing good accommodation and cheap price are difficult
Travel budget for hostel/ accommodation
A big part of travel budget will depend on where you sleep. Shared bed is quite popular choice, cheaper, more friend more fun. It’s quite easy to estimate cost because there is dozen of accommodations booking website like booking.com, agoda.com,… hostelworld is my favorite. For free bed then couchsurfing is a good place to start, but it requires your travel profile and time search for good hosts.
Access booking accommodation platforms, choose what hostels -> kinds of room you like, then multiple your nights there, plus all the nights in different hostel/ dorm, then you have a relative cost for your nights.
travel budget for food
Travel budget for food you will eat at the destinations
(To be honest, I hardly save money on food)
Okie, let’s start with a minimum daily food expense, you have breakfast/ lunch and dinner, so you should search budget travel guide of the destinations you go, there’re generally preference cost tables so that you have knowledge of food expenses, allowing you to guess how much your meals will cost.
After you have the number of basic food expenses, then make second list of Specialties you would definite enjoy and price, as well. If you love some alcohol (you definitely know your taste, right?), it’d better add them here.
Finally, plus some bucks in snacks and water. Now you get the total number.
If you want to save more on food budget, let’s look for hostels, hotels or homestays including breakfast or premise cooking. Even if you buy groceries and cook just a few times but you will save money more.
Last but not least, different countries have different price, so consider this factor into your plan or it would become not practice anymore. If you’re travelling to Australia or New Zealand, eating out will probably cost you approximately the same as it does in the US or Canada, maybe even a little bit more. Contrary to South America or Asia, you can enjoy anything you want with cheapest price you’ve ever seen.
travel budget for activities
Planning budget for activities
Travelling is to must-go and sightseeing beautiful destinations, do once-in-a-life experience,, you will go to museums, visit pagodas, parks or do some trekking, skydiving, shark cage experience, Coral reef snorkel…. But now everything is mostly not free. You must add up these costs too, so you must list them on travel budget document.
For attractions, wikitravel.com and guide books (lonely planet, rough guide,…) will mostly tell you how much the attractions/ experiences cost. Some activities like skydiving, flying balloon, yacht surfing,… even has their own website, check it for more practical number.
Depend on your travel bucket list, you will know how much your trips costs.
I give you a travel budget example:
You’re planning trip to Ninh Binh, Vietnam and you want to take 5 day trip at here. So what would you do in these days?
You can enjoy with this itinerary:
Day 1: Trang An (4h) – Hang Mua peak (2h) – Tam Coc (4) (optional) – Bich Dong pagoda (2h)
Day 2: Phat Diem Cathedral (2h) – Thung Nham bird garden (4h)
Day 3: Hoa Lu ancient capital (1h) – Bai Dinh pagoda (4h)
Day 4: Van Long natural preserve (4h) – Kenh Ga hot spring (3h) – Cuc Phuong national park (overnight)
Day 5: Cuc Phuong national park (4h)
A typical expense for a day in Ninh Binh
Dorm: 6 usd
Food: 4-20 usd (normal or specialities)
Attraction entrance fee: 5-7 usd
Bike: 8 usd in total and 4 usd/ person (you could share ride)
Totally: Only 20 usd/ day minimum expense. For 5 days discovering Ninh Binh. Total for 5 days: 100 USD. So cheap for whole trips at Ninh Binh, Vietnam.
In general, when you have a planed trip with realistic travel budget, you can easily know how much budget your trips require, and have a plan, a goal to earn/ save money. This step also helps you make quicker decisions when cut-cost is in need.
Many people backpack nowadays, but few one know what “Backpacking” is.
I’ll tell you what I think of the lifestyle and why I love it!
What is backpacking travel and who are backpackers ?
Backpacking is the art of travel the world with a backpack, and anyone carrying a backpack and a soul of travel is backpacker. It’s simply.
When you “backpack”, you feel completely independent and authenticity. you eat what you wanna eat, visit any destinations in your travel bucket list and meet like-minded people, whom you can talk with whole day.
It’s your life in a way you want it to be. It’s not just a holiday, it’s a life-changing moments, and you’ll love that.
When I was a student, I didn’t have much money. So I practiced budget travel – save money, do whatever part-time jobs to earn enough money and backpack with a low-budget plan to my dream destinations. That’s lifestyle now I’m pursuing, and I don’t have a plan to stop.
Do you know, we backpacker, we carry our “home” along journeys so by the time, we learn to love our backpack. I love my backpack. Sometimes I tease people backpackers get familiar with their backpacks more than the girlfriend/ boyfriend in term of time. A solo backpacker knows it’s true.
With such a low-budget most of the time, I admire some “super” backpackers who can survive for years with just under 10$ per day. I really wanna learn that technique and share with you guy, who also really wanna quit the job and start travelling.
Be you – be authentic !
Backpacking culture – be Authenticity
“Authenticity is the degree to which one is true to one’s own personality, spirit, or character, despite external pressures” – Wikipedia
And independent backpacking is a must-have experience for youth – to seek Authenticity.
I think that most of the people don’t know what they really love, what will fulfill their life completely. I love Steve Jobs and his speech “You’ve gotta find what you love” in Stanford. I used to read it everyday, but now, I live it !
Travelling around the world is a way not only to know outer world when you see people and beautiful things but also to know more about yourself, your inner voice, which sometimes, covered by pressures from society, and our dear family.
So my opinion, one of benefits of backpacking lifestyle is you know who you are after so many life-changing experience.
Once you know yourself, your life begins blossoming
Best destinations for a backpacking travel
Low-cost airline put wings on our feet, budget accommodations like AirBnB or travel communities like Couchsurfing take care of our sleeps. Nowaday it’s easier to travel the world than our father age.
Southeast Asia is always the top of mind, I think this is mostly a “Mecca of backpackers”. Cheap hostels, amazing activities, delicious food, multi-culture experience, and people are super friendly. Wooohooo!
Next, I would fly to Oceania, live in countries like Australia and New Zealand, where Working holiday visa is available. You can work officially to earn money, fill your wallet enough to get back on road.
It’s also great to have backpacking holidays in Fiji or Papua New Guinea, where it’s said that “The country is one of the world’s least explored, culturally and geographically. It is known to have numerous groups of uncontacted people, and researchers believe there are many undiscovered species of plants and animals in the interior” (Wikipedia) -> Super amazing !
Then Africa would be my next step. Many traveller buy a one-way ticket to the “Black continent”. Is it dangerous? Yes, but it’s safe for some countries, also and low-cost practice is available.
What’s next? South America! Backpacking there is quite easy, visa is not strict for travellers and public transportation can bring you from country to country. And most of the countries like Chile, Argentina or Brazil are amazing.
Then you can go up to Latin America, which cost just rises a bit. It’s not a problem if you can find a job in local bar or volunteer work.
Asia is so huge. So I would visit some countries as a break. China, Japan and Hong Kong is very costly, but South Korea is good. India is cheap, and I should reserve some money for Everest base camp. In general, Asia is very diversity in cost, depending greatly on certain destinations.
East Europe is also a good region for budget travel.
North America and West Europe would be my last ones for the feet. It’s costly, but everything is easily accessable. It’s just matter of money. And I hopefully solve it at that time.
Light backpack makes travel easy !
Backpacking gear and why you should travel with less than 7kg on back.
The reason why I always carry no more than 7kg on my back because of the airline limit-weight regulation. The number forces me to smartly pack the stuff, and because it’s quite light, so I have no problem travel from A to B.
I have only one backpack so I rarely buy more room for luggage, which I can save a bit more money and spend them on things I love.
One backpack means when I leave dorm, I hardly forget anything (it’s pity that many people leave their belongings at hostel). Everything is on my backpack or my bed, and I just collect all of them and put in one place. No need to think much. Packing doesn’t bother me anymore.
One backpack means you can easily take public transportation from airport to downtown and get around instead of taxi, which is quite expensive in some countries. Saving more money !
So many benefits when you travel light. You should practise it as soon as possible and travelling become easier.
Research saves you money! Why not do?
Planning and research: funny and useful part of backpacking lifestyle
Sometimes I still book a tour, but one of the reason why I prefer backpacking lifestyle is to do research and planning myself. When booking a tour, I bet that most of us won’t research anything, and just depend on everything the tour guide tell us.
Research give you more clue about the destinations, more interests in the place you’re going to, and an in-depth research really useful for ones who wish to live as a local.
Planning – is it hard-working? Is it important because we’re on holiday? Yes and no! If you just travel for a short time, so no need to plan, but a long-term travel will require it. Budget travel is extremely in need of planning, because you just save more money when you know cheap places to buy, it and sleep.
I admit that research and planning step is very hard-working, but the result is satisfactory ! Some locals admire me that I know their cities more than them! And when I leave a place for others, I know that I have complete most of the things I should.
Have you ever thought you’d sell bananas to travel !! hahah
Work and Travel: a real lifestyle !
Money is always the main problem prevent us from quitting jobs to travel. But the world is open now, more jobs are offered for foreigners, so with a quick research, you can earn money on road instead of being locked in cubicles for a load of money (and sadness).
Working holiday visa in Australia and New Zealand, Au pair, Volunteer works,… – chances for you to work for local in the farm/ school or wherever, live a true local life and refill your wallet for the next trips. I take it a box in my bucket list and so do you. It’s worthy for our journey.
Backpacker’s close friend is his/her backpacking gear , so decision of what to be with and what should be left is very important
Why we should choose ultralight backpacking gear?
It’s simply. When you backpack lighter, you have more energy to enjoy the journey!
I used to bring my “whole home” on my back, nearly full of backpacking checklist. it contains a lot of stuffs and to be honest, it was heavy and quite inconvenient on road. At first, I thought many things would be useful in some cases, so I brought all of them.
However, I soon found out that somethings could be used for multi purposes and somethings actually were possibly left at home while I had no trouble without them.
So I started to list things that I just grasped in seconds, and put them in check before trips, it saves me plenty of time preparing. And hardly do I forget anything at home or in hostels.
Ultralight backpacking gear list allows me to start journey quickly, more reflexive on road. Now I’m almost an ultralight backpacker.
Choose the right backpacks: lightweight – ultralight
Actually, I have two backpacks: 30L and 50L, which I use for certain trips. It’s definitely that 50L backpacks used for wilderness or long journeys whilst 30L one are usually taken for short trips, days or weeks, and in spring – summer seasons. For instance, my four-day trip back to Phu Quoc island, or Con Dao (Vietnam) was quite comfort with a multi-functional 30L backpack.
50L backpack has more space, which I can bring along sleeping bag or personal tent while I’m into the wild (you can see it in Baden mountain trekking trip in Vietnam), or when travelling to oversea countries, I can bring more souvenirs for my friends and family at home.
Dress light and smart
There’s a trick here: You bring clothes suiting multi purposes. Because we face two problems: wet and dry/ hot and cold (and sometimes formal/casual), so bring ones that can fit most of circumstances.
Travelling in rainy season and you’d likely to be wet, you would need a rain-suit to waterproof and a t-shirt which can be dried quickly. Slippers is more comfortable than sport shoes.
When it’s hot, you need light clothes to keep your body cool. And you can travel as ultralight as possible, I prefer dry season in most of travelling timing.
The cold is your enemy, both toward your health and your packing. Avoiding sickness is very important, because getting stuck in a oversea hospital, and worse, among local doctors who can not speak your language is not an easy experience. I always try my best to keep my health good.
So you have two options: bring warm clothes (heavy and spacy) or mix light ones (I usually do this). I would dress a t-shirt, shirt and a fashionable rainsuit. The more polyester fabric you wear, the warmer you’ll feel.
For most of situation, we dress casually but in some countries, especially islamic ones, formal dressing is advised. That’s why jean/kaki pant and a shirt will be your savior in a church/ mosque or pagoda.
My style: simple and flexible
What’s in my backpack?
Just a cap, multitask scarf, two t-shirt, a shirt, two short, a pant, three underwears and socks as well and a light raincoat.
Some electric devices such as my phones, tabs, earplugs and camera/ photography accessories (if any).
A small first-aid kit set for emergence case.
Travel documents, note and pen.
And some snacks for pleasure !
I’m very pleased with my backpacking gear.
Phones, Tech and other accessories
Except for the battery, phones are our friends, they really a multitask equipment these day. I’m not a device addictive, but truth to be told, I can not live without a smartphone abroad.
I use google map to explore new cities, booking bunk beds via apps, a lot of pictures were taken and upload directly to social, and blab blab blab, phones are a useful assistant.
The first times, I loved DSLR so I bring a Canon 1200D to shoot, but, it didn’t fit well with my ultralight packing, then I changed to Sony Nex 7, a mirrorless camera, and it completely satisfied me.
Actually a Compact Digital Camera will be OK for most of cases. I’m learning some photography techniques to take advantage of my phones and the goal is to bring no more camera, and save more room in backpack.
Remember to bring earplugs, it saves your life thousands of time, on airplane and on road. I’m kind of music lover so the road becomes less boring when filled with melodies.
Phu Quy travel guide provides you transportation idea, things to do, travel map and also budget information for planning trip.
Phu Quy, an island not two far from Phan Thiet – Mui Ne, a real unbeaten-track destination, still very pure scenery. Food is delicious and cheap, fantastic landscape. Totally it costs 1,000,000 dong/ 2-day trip. You won’t regret to be here !
Get in
There’s only one way to reach the island: on boat. You should travel to Phan Thiet Harbour second-gate to buy the ticket and boarding. You can park your bike at a nearby house (ask local for overnight bike park), 5,000 dong/ day and 10,000 dong/ night.
There are two options: fast-moving: 250,000 vnd/ ticket/ 3 hour surfing and 150,000 vnd/ ticket/ 6 hours. The schedule is very unusual, so it’s advised to check beforehand.
You can contact some hosts in the island to check the schedule: Gioi (0966661052) or Cot (0937194908). If you book their homestay, they will arrange for transit from the harbor to their house.
Though your seat is in the basement, you should stay on deck because of the spacy, airy and landscape is stunning. Sunrise, flying fishes, feelings of adventure and freedom.
Phu Quy Travel map, zoom-in for recommended restaurants, things to do and accommodation.
Get around
Phu Quy is a small island, so a motorbike is ideal to move around. The rental is very easy, and you can take the bike first and pay later, refill yourself, 20,000 dong gasonline is enough.
Actually, it takes you only one day to explore the whole island, but for better experience like sunrise – sunset watching, you should stay for 2 days.
To explore nearby isle, you can book boat (0972031325) to Tranh isle, Den isle or Trung isle,… from 300,000-400,000 dong/ boat (depending on the number of people joining to bargain).
Phu Quy water is clear-as-crystal
Accomodation
There are a lot of hostels and a few hotel in Phu Quy. As far as I know, there are merely two homestays (Gioi and Cot, the contact above). The price is 50,000 vnd/ day (Gioi) or 100,000 vnd/ day (Cot), you are served meals with the family.
Puffer fish dish
Food
I think the food is one of the best experience. Taste is amazing, price is super cheap. A tall cup of Nuoc mia (sugar-cane juice) costs 5,000 vnd, a 300g moon grab is 60,000vnd, even a set of six small Banh xeo (Vietnamese crepe) costs just 15,000 vnd and really full. A set of Nem nuong Cha lui costed me 30,000 vnd.
I came in a small restaurant and order 3 dishes and paid just 45,000 vnd.
Vo Van Kiet is a street food hub. Banh xeo is at 256 Vo Van Kiet street.
Ong Gia (Old man) restaurant is also a great choice of seafood with reasonable price, locates at the end of Ly Thuong Kiet street, near 27/4 street. I tasted puffer fish dish for the first time here, very delicious. (puffer fish consideredly contains poison, so it seems I’m very brave to try it *LoL*).
Check-in sunrise in Linh Son Pagoda
Things to do
My Phu quy travel guide suggests some activities below:
Sunrise watching: You’d better visit Linh Son pagoda at dawn to see gorgous landscape.
Biking: It’s great to bike around and see local life, eat local food and explore unexplored spots.
Eating: Yeah, why not!
Windmills: just for photography, we can’t climb up. they locate at Nguyen Thi Minh Khai road, near lighthouse. As far as I know, there are very few island in Vietnam located windmills.
Get to the top of the island – light-house: travel to restricted mountain, with a radar station there, so it depends on your luck to get the light-house.
Swimming and sunbathing at Trieu Duong bay
Whale bone exhibition: There’s a temple of Whale bone with over 100 sets of whales and turtles. It’s usually closed, there’s a contact number attached so you should call to have people open the door.
the cliff – my favorite spot for climbing and natural-pool relax
Sunbathing and Swimming: The east beach (Trieu Duong bay) is the best beach of the island. Nice sand, clear water and beautiful panorama, suitable for outdoor activities, even sports. In the evening, many locals gather here to swim, eat and play sports or just di jogging.
Adventurous climb: Actually, this is what I do-it-myself experience because there’s no tour for it. There’s a cliff (Ganh Hang) at the northeast (Stone ground), you can climb there, it’s not hard but scenery is awesome.
Malaysia’s national monument in Kuala Lumpur (Tugu negara) is a favorite destination of travelers love history and military aspect of the nation. Free entrance !
Why not snap a couple of pictures.
Schedule
Open Daily: 07:00-18:00
Admission: Free
Every year on 31st of July – Warriors Day, the Prime Minister as well as the heads of military and police will pay a visit to the site to honour the heroes of the war.
Decorated Floor at Pavilion at National Monument site
How to get to the national monument in Kuala Lumpur
Taxi/Car: take any cabs and tell the driver you heading to Tugu Negara (national monument) and he should get you there at no more than RM20 from any starting point in the capital downtown area. The destination situates on Jalan Parlimen, which is a two-way street so very easy to access.
KTM Train: get to KL Sentral and take KTM Komuter to Bank Negara Station, follow the signages to Jalan Parlimen until you see a green park (15-minute walk), it locates to the right side.
What to explore
The 48,562-sq-meter complex includes five major components and takes you around 30 minute to visit and take a look. Along with Surronding gardens and the Fountains, three typical structures you should spend time on is Cenotaph, Pavilion and Bronze sculpture.
The cenotaph
The cenotaph
The 10-meter-empty cenotaph was elected to honour the dead with engraving words “To Our Glorious Dead” along with period (1914–1918), (1939–1945) and (1948–1960) as the evidence of Malaysia’s involvement in such wars. The fallen’s names are engraved on the plaques of the cenotaph.
It’s so pity that there’s no further information available so most traveler may be curious but just let it be. FYI, they belongs to two World Wars and Malayan Emergency – a guerilla fighting between the Commonwealth armed forces against the soldier of the Malayan Communist Party. The other term of this war is “Anti-British National Liberation War”, named by the latter.
National Monument
National Monument
The structure, marked in the book of records for being the tallest freestanding sculptures in the world, is made up of immense bronze soldiers with seven statues representing courage, sacrifice, leadership, unity, vigilance, strength and suffering, as well as to be dedicated to the 11,000 people who died during the Malayan Emergency (1948–1960) with inscription “Dedicated to the heroic fighters in the cause of peace and freedom – May the blessing of Allah be upon them”.
Felix de Weldon sculpted this memorial one as well as the famed Iwo Jima Memorial statue in Virginia, United States. The base stones were imported from a little coastal city of Karlshamn in South Eastern Sweden.
It suffered extensive damage in 1975 and took 2 years later for the restoration. Since then, the fence is erect at night to deter any further destructive attempts. Every day at dawn, a soldier raises the national flag and lowers it at dusk.
A corner of the Pavilion
The central pavilion
Locating between the National monument and the Cenotaph, it is such a stunning crescent-shaped composition that you will find interesting.
The pavilion comprises 3 gold domes, with the floor made of marble from Langwaki. It’s interesting that below the center dome is a vault. Take a closer look and you find out inside the black metal grill are names of the dead soldiers in wars recorded in microfilm for posterity. Don’t forget to look up at the ceiling and see the emblems of the regiments serving during World War II and the Emergency.
Backpacking Malaysia is an amazing experience, and this is useful tips I draw from my first trip to the Muslim country in Southeast Asia.
Transportation
Airplane
– AirAsia is a Malaysian low-price airline, so that it should be the first consideration to “hunt” for cheaper tickets. Ticket price approximately ranges from 1 million to 1.5 millions vnd as your luck.
– VietjetAir sometimes also sells tickets abroad at the price of 0 vnd. This airline tickets to Malaysia usually cost about 1.5 to 1.7 millions vnd. Notice: These prices include toll, tax, and visa fee.
Bus
During this journey, I mainly used bus to move from airport to city center or between cities. Actually, I didn’t use this mode of transport in inner cities. At ground floor of AirAsia airport, there is a bus ticket counter to Kuala Lumpur Sentral. It costs about 11 RM (ringgit – Malaysian currency) and takes about 1.5 to 2 hours duration.
To move from Kualar Lumpur to others provinces (for me it’s Malacca), I took tram to TBS. And from here, it was easy for me to find bus ticket. Thanks to good traffic condition in Malaysia, the trip was extremely quick and smooth.
Tramcar
To take the tram in KL, you obviously need a tourist map. You can ask for one at the airport. However, mine was taken from Sentral market information counter, which is not far from China town. To learn more about using the map, read Southeast asia transportation guide
Taxi
I just took a cab once in Melaka when it is out of bus. Malaysian cab is just like “xe ôm” (motorbike taxi) in Viet Nam. We have to haggle or we over-pay. Normally, the price of 1km is approximately 1USD. Use google map to estimate the distance before taking the cab so that you will know the most reasonable price to bargain. The better of your negotiation, the cheaper you have to pay.
Bicycle
Riding bike in Melaka was such a fascinating and economical experience. The hostel I stayed charged me only 5 RM for one bike, and I could use it whenever I wanted until I checked-out. Bicycle for hire ranges from 5-20 RM, depend on the owners and kind of bike you hire. You should ask particularly as some people charge the price according to the duration.
Remember, in Malaysia (so is Singapore), people go on the left side of the road. So please, when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
Destinations
Here I just list briefly some main places, please check my journey diary for more details!
1. Kuala Lumpur
This is the city with fascinating Muslim construct and surprisingly modern. Those buildings can cause your neck hurt if you want to watch the whole of them (just kidding)! There is Sentral Market, where you can find so many delicate souvenir, which you can’t help buying! Beside, taking a tram in Kualar Lumpur was a strange experiment to me, I could feel the hurry of the urban on each route.
Malaysian are greatly hospitable, if they see you just like an idiot when they are trying to help you with your direction, they will take you to the place you want if it isn’t far from there without asking for anything. I had a great impression with Malaysian since this trip. Food here tastes well, too. I don’t know whether it is just because I chose to eat Chinese food or not. Last but not least, my other impression about this city is it has a lot of crows.
2. Melaka (or Malacca)
Maybe this place was the most adorable and affectionated city in my journey: everything was inexpensive, the atmosphere was cool and fresh, there was a poetic hill with the structure of many culture displayed on the architectures. When evening has set in, you can walk to the waterfront, sit there, have some drinks and enjoy your life.
The most salient feature of Melaka is China town, every night, take a walk here and you can see many interesting things. In the morning you can comfortably live your dream lately on your bed because the stores are not open until 9 or 10 am. There is no reason for not living lazy one day in life!
If you feel hungry, just go to the market, you can easily find out many seafood, Thailand food, Indian food… which certainly will satisfy your appetite. Otherwise, if you feel boring, the shopping malls here will always welcome you with the price that can turn you to a shopaholic!
3. Johor Baruh
Muggy and cramped. I just had about 5 transit hours and stayed at my seat watching the station, because the time was not enough to go for a troll here. According to the information that I read, Johor is famous with many artificial amusement park, and some fruit-tree farm 80km distant from city centre to the East.
To what I perceived when sitting at the Center of Johor Station, this city is quite similar to VietNam, torrid, complicated, insecure, definitely different from TBS station in Kualar Lumpur.
Accommodation
Honestly, I love hostels in Malaysia. We live in a very nice private room in Kuala Lumpur for just $11, and every thing is neat and clean, air-con worked well.
Jalan Jalan, guest house we stayed in Melaka was also a good choice where it provides a digit code pass door (well security), bicycle for $2 and however long you stay there, you can ride one you rent. There’s also a guitar so you can play some works as you like.
Things should bring
Lock and Plug
There are 2 things you definitely have to buy if you forget to bring: lock (to lock your locker or room if your locker, or room don’t have the lock, it help you save your money for hiring) and plug to convert two-pin plug to 3 – pin plug. Malaysia and Singapore use the different kind of socket in compare with Vietnam. You just search on google the world “Singapore socket”, there will be some description of this posted by overseas students.
Clothing
I thought that I would visit some religious constructs so that I brought along long pants, which I finally realized that was unneccessary. At those places, you can hire the pants with a really low price (just ranged from 10 – 20.000 vnd/ pairs). Your job is just put it on, enjoying you visit, then simply put them back to the owner.
Malay and Sing’s weather are basically similar to Viet Nam’s, which is sunny, hot and muggy, rainy. Therefore, shorts and sandals are the most suitable and comfortable. long-sleeved shirts/T-shirts will also be needed if you are afraid of sunburnt. You should probably fold a jacket along with some socks in you backpack.
For all the time you have to sit on the transportation and all of them always turn on the air conditional system, your jacket will help protect you from thermal shock when you get off. In addition, some areas in Malay such as Cameroon or Borneo, which are near Brunei, are quite cold because there are plateaus and primeval forests. But, as my thought, clothes in Malay are inexpensive, so that we can buy there, no need to carry too heavy.
Sneakers should be considered because most of your moving time, you will go on foot (to the tram station or go sightseeing). Don’t forget to bring a cap/or hat because of scorching sun, and an umbrella just in case it would rain. (an umbrella in Malay costs about 4 Singapore Dollars – estimate 65.000Vnd).
Beside you should bring along a small backpack to convenient to take a walk. A large one contain clothes, personal stuffs so that quite heavy, we should put it at dorm. Precious things such as passport, camera, cash, phone, should always be by your side.
Time zone
One of the differences that I could clearly recognize was the time zone. For the first time in my life I saw the sky at 7p.m were as bright as 5p.m in Viet Nam, some time I lost my feeling about time. To contact with your family, you can easily calculate Vietnamese time by minus 1 hour in Malaysian time. For example, 7p.m in Malaysia is 6p.m in Vietnam.
The difference lead to many funny story. The first morning in Melaka, I have a short talk with the native man after enjoying my breakfast. He said that people here just began to open their store from 9a.m. A little voice in my head immediately said that people here were so lazy. But that was just my mistaken. When I woke up the next morning, I had my answer: 7-8a.m in Malaysia was as dark as night!
Budget for Reference
The amount of money that I spent in Malaysia is as same as in Vietnam, but it became double when I was in Singapore. At the time I travelled, exchange value of currency was:
1 RM~5.200 vnd
Kuala Lumpur
– SIM 3G: 20RM/500Mb
– Bus fee from airport to KL Sentral: 11RM/ person.
– A Big Mac combo: 13RM
– Tram ticket: 1-4RM according to length of the route
