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Showing posts from January, 2023

Hoi An - An ancient Town

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We started from Marble mountain  at 5.30pm to reach Hoi An by 6pm. Sunset in Da nang was approximately at 5.30pm odd, so it was already dark. The most part of road from Marble mountain to Hoi An is parallel to coast line and beaches.  Photo credits -  Google maps Hoi An -  ancient town (formerly known as Fai-Fo) dating back to 15th centrury, the Chinese, French, Japanese traders and merchants settling here and building unique town.This is a Unesco heritage ancient town. The famous wooden bridge by Japanese architect (even though very small) and  Ancestral houses are the beauty of town. Upon reaching, we had a traditional Vietnamese dinner, (Here people have there dinner very early, near to sunset, and breakfast at 6.30-7am in the morning. They are early risers and that's the reason everyone was happy fit and slim.)  Yellow and brown colour houses/ shops maintaining uniformity along the road, the river, boating, shopping bamboo soveniers, conical hats (You need to bargain a lot, the

Da Nang -“Mouth/ opening of the river” - Sea Food Paradise..

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Da Nang - Day 1 in Vietnam  Da nang Airport We boarded Vietjet flight from Ahmedabad to Da Nang on 24th Dec 2022 at 10pm. We arrived at Da nang International airport early in the morning approximately at  5am. Vietname is 1.5 hrs ahead of India. Arrival area was crowded as two flights from India arrived almost same time, one from Ahmedabad and other from Delhi. There were long queqes for immigration check.  Immigration -  A valid passport with E-visa were the two important documents to show and get passport stamped. It took almost 45minutes to get our turn. Entry port must be same as mentioned in the E-Visa or else it can be troublesome.  Baggage - After immigration check, we went ahead towards, baggage claim, Free trolleys can be easily found nearby the baggage carousels. There was no display of the belt on which the baggage will be delivered, but luckily only one belt was running and we could find our baggage in no time.  Customs -  After collecting baggage was the Customs. As we had

Vietnam - Our Plan of travel

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 As said previously, we had booked our to and fro flights through Vietjet as  Ahmedabad - Da nang (Central Vietnam) Da nang - Hanoi (Internal Domestic flight) Hanoi (North Vietnam) - Ahmedabad After going through lots of negative reviews about Vietjet, we kept our fingers crossed. We had heard about  a lot  of  flights   cancellation from multiple locations in India by Vietjet, so we decided to keep mum about our teavel plan. And we were sure to go from Pune to Ahmedabad as it was Indigo flight which we were pretty sure of. We kept a road trip from Ahmedabad for a week as plan B 😀.  Or just in case Vietjet cancels flight from Ahmedabad, they'll give the credit note or adjust the passangers in another location flights So we even thought of that option as well as a plan C.   Full to Filmy Though 😁😄 But lucky we were like said above , the Chirstmas holiday season is high season, the flight was fully booked with on time departure and before time arrival in Da nang!!! We did a lot of

Vietnam -Weather, Best time to visit places

Vietnam -Weather, Best time to visit places By region North Vietnam (Hanoi, Sapa, Ninh Binh, Mai Chau, Ha Long Bay) The best time to visit north Vietnam is from October - early May with the most pleasant months being from October - November and February - May. In the far north (Ha Giang, Sapa) temperature can drop to -0°C in December - January. Wet season in the north is from late May - September and you can expect sporadic heavy rain. Central Vietnam (Hue, Hoi An, Danang, Quang Binh, Quy Nhon, Phu Yen, Nha Trang) The best time to visit central Vietnam is from late November - August with the most pleasant months being from January - May. It can get really hot during Jun - August with average temperature being 35°C. Wet season in central Vietnam is from September - early November and there might be occasional flooding. South Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh City, Mekong Delta, Phu Quoc, Con Dao, Mui Ne) The best time to visit south Vietnam is from late October - April, with the best months being No

Vietnam Blog by Sami

 Content  Vietnam - General Information Vietnam - Things to know   Vietnam - To get there from India Vietnam - Visa and travel insurance information Vietnam -Weather, Best time to visit places Vietnam - Our Plan of travel Destinations Da nang My Khe beach  Son Tra Island Lady Budhha ,  Marble mountain  Hoi An - An ancient town  Ba Na hills by cable car Golden Bridge French Village Sun world amusement park Ha long bay  SaPa Cat Cat Village walk Fancipan Mountain Peak Ninh Binh  Hanoi Old quarter city tour 

Vietnam - Visa and travel insurance information

  VISA Information-  Some of the European and Asian countries, Visa exemption is available. Please refer below website for the same.  Vietnam Visa Requirements | Vietnam Tourism For Indians, we need to apply for E-Visa very easy and online. Beware!!! There are many fake websites and agents for Visa to Vietnam.   But the official website is   E Visa official website Vietnam   Note- The website needs updation and we experienced that the server does not respond after Vietnamese working hours.  Vietnamese visa is a kind of travel documents granted by Vietnamese competent authorities, providing permission to travel to and enter Vietnam. An electronic visa (E-visa) is one of visa types issued to foreigners by Vietnamese Immigration Department via electronic system. Vietnam E-visa is valid for maximum of 30 days, single entry. How to Apply for Vietnam's e-Visa: Step 1:    Prepare the required materials:  One 4x6 passport photo in .jpg format with a white background, without glasses. One p

Vietnam - To get there from India, Visa and travel insurance information

India - Vietnam International Flight booking Next step was to book flights. After going through,  Skyscanner  and  Easemytrip  as well as  Vietjet Aviation  , came to know that mainly it is well connected by  1. Vietjetair  2. Air Asia 3. Cathay Pacific 4.  GoIndigo  to start its operations very soon.  For us it was convinient to book from Mumbai as it's near to Pune but considering the economical and direct option, we opted for Ahmedabad as departure city with  Vietjet Aviation  which started its operations in December 2022.  We booked flight tickets through  Easemytrip  as it is very efficient and convinient. Morever  Vietjet Aviation  website is not very user friendly and need a lot of IT systems updation.  (It does not have online web check in as well) We had our onward journey from Ahmedadbad - Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC/ Saigon) on 24th Dec 2022 and return from Hanoi to Ahmedabad on 31st Dec 2022 so that we can cover most of the South and North Vietnam. We considered one domestic

Vietnam - Things to know

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Currency in Vietnam -  The currency of Vietnam is the Vietnamese Dong (VND). Some places they do accept USD.  Vietnamese Dong (VND) is very devaluated against US Dollar (USD). It starts with 5.00VND  1,000, 2,000, 5,000, 10,000, 20,000, 50,000, 100,000, 200,000 and highest 500,000 Vietnamese dongs note. Don't confuse between 20.000VND and 500.000VND even though they look the same.  Photo Courtesy -  https://www.vietnamonline.com/az/bank-notes.html While going from India, we converted INR into USD and carried them as converting USD to VND is easy, can be done in any bank, Jewellery shop, travel company offices or in the hotel you stay in.  Credit Cards and ATMs We carried VISA and AMEX cards. You won’t have a problem finding ATMs. Most ATMs accept Visa cards, but you might struggle to find one that accepts Cirrus and Maestro cards. Language:  The official language in Vietnam is Vietnamese, along with it many local/tribal languages are spoken there.  Ask for English speaking guide fo