I’ll note some quick information for travelers who wish to travel from Ho Chi Minh city to Vientiane by bus. The bus will depart at Ho Chi Minh city, go through Hoa Lu border checkpoint (Vietnam) and spend a half day in Cambodia, until they reach Stung Treng border crossing station to Laos. The on-bus time is approximately 28 hours. Bike transportation will very harsh, so it’d better take a bus to Vientiane and rent/buy a bike to travel across Laos. I saw many ads selling bike mostly everywhere in Laos, most of them are from Vietnam. Okie, this is the main point: We only found ONE bus driving DIRECTLY…

Bargain is simply like a game of negotiation, where you take advantage of all reasons to down the price and enjoy the victorious feeling somehow. Some tips for you to win the seller in markets: 1. Is it bargainable? Try to bargain in a fix-price supermarket is a useless idea, so you can ask whether sellers accept bargaining. Most countries in southeast asia allow bargain as a culture. 2. Half-price/ wholesale price The very first price seller give you worths a fortune, mostly. You can estimate these stuffs by comparing to similar ones in your hometown, by your instinct, your buddies’ hints,… then bargain for it, Another way I usually…

Warning: These simple packing tips may save you tons of time and frustration ! Travelling is awesome, but exhausted, especially when you have to change constantly hostels to hostels, these places to those places, on trains, planes or open bus,… And your “house” is your backpack. So if you know how to pack well then everything is easy. Otherwise, it’s hell when you have to put stuff in-and-out dozen of times (and sometimes forget something ->  too bad). You will do this quite often so this is actually an important skill but few travellers admit. Whether you are beginner backpackers or travelling for years but never notice packing problem, this…

Read this carefully or you lose your value travel money on trips. Some basic concept you need to know Currency: Most of the countries have their own currency and you cannot use the other kinds of dollar there so you have to exchange your money (Vietnam law only allows people to use ONLY domestic currency (Dong) so the payment in USD is illegal). Some regions (like EU) use a common dollar, it’s quite handy because there’s no need to exchange money. You save not only time but an amount of exchange fee. Some countries where people accept multi dollars, you need to do research what kind of dollar can be…

These final checklist before boarding will be sure you get a well-prepared trip. Passport This is the most important document right? Indeed, when you just travel overseas. If you’re Vietnamese, you can summit for a passport for 200,000 dong and it takes one week, then you can receive at the office. Visa It depends on your target countries. If you travel to visa exemption countries then no need to add it to the list. For Vietnamese passport, you can travel around Southeast Asia region at no cost, except for Timor East. Credit/ Debit cards Remember to bring them because most of the time we can have quick money from ATMs.…