The Vietnam-Cambodia-Thailand Trip

Disclaimer: This is more of a "whatever comes to mind" kind of writing than a technical writing. This is also just to summarize my experience. Not intended to be a reference for those who plan to travel to the same places I traveled.

My first ever out of the country travel is an experience I wouldn’t forget.

Months of preparation - of course, I had to prepare because my bank account does not allow me to travel whenever I want, so I had to save money.

When Cebu Pac announced a Seat Sale last year, I patiently waited to book a promo ticket from MNL-HCMC (P800) and BKK-Manila (P2000) -good deal, eh? I decided of doing it with the international flights first, so I would get pressured in pursuing my first ever out of the country travel.

Then months later, I booked the domestic flight Dvo-Mnl roundtrip for only P2000 - it pays to be patient to get these wonderful deals.

The Travel Plan

I made my own IT based on the blogs I read about SEA Trips. I also made sure I get extra money in case the impulsive me would take place. Instead of preparing P40k, I prepared a total of P50k which was around 1k usd. With the help of google.com, I was able to finalize my wonderful IT- which was not used, by the way. I’ll explain later.

I also booked the hostels that I would be staying in in advance through booking.com. Yes, you read it right. Hostels – I preferred this since I was travelling alone and would love to meet new people, too, in the room, with the same purpose – to travel. The good thing about this site (not sure with others) is that it allows you to book with your credit card but would not actually charge your card. They will only ask for your card as a confirmation that you are sure about staying in their place. You can pay cash upon arrival.

I was afraid of getting off loaded. I was afraid of not achieving my travel goal as planned.

Horror stories of getting offloaded have been one of my most read blogs. Terrible stories. Imagine, you prepared for your trip, booked everything, filed for leave at work, and end up staying at home. You see how terrible that is? The only thing I did was to prepare everything, including documents that would show my employment status. List of documents I prepared:

1. Printed Itinerary

2. Printed Flight Tickets – including the return flight

3. Printed Hostel booking confirmation

4. Certificate of Employment – with compensation

Among these things, only my return flight was asked from me by the immigration officer.

Recap:

1. Book plane tickets

2. Book accommodations

3. Print necessary documents

4. Prepare your money in USD before flying

Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

I arrived at HCMC around 12MN Local Time. I had to line up at the immigration to get my Passport stamped – as we all know, Ph Passport holders don’t need to get Visa to most of the countries in Southeast Asia.

Bought a local Sim – available at the airport for $8. One thing that you have to remember is that INTERNET IS LIFE when travelling solo, specially in a country where English is not widely used.

I used Grab so I can be where I wanted to be.

I stayed at Vintage Hostel in Bui Vien -I recommend this place as it is very cheap and very convenient. Bui Vien is also called Backpackers st. so you would see a lot of foreigners around. Check them out at Booking.com if you want to know their updated room rates.

I mentioned earlier that none from my IT was followed – this is true. I did not even mind checking it as I was not sure if any of those are worth the visit.

On my first day, I just rented a motorcycle for 3 hours and the driver showed me around. I just wanted to get a feel of what HCMC is all about.

Basically, that's what happened on my first day.

Here are the things I did the following days at HCMC:

1. City tour (whole day)
2. Mekong River Tour (whole day)
3. Watched a show at Saigon Opera House
4. Went to a bar with hostelmates
5. Watched a water puppet show
6. Saigon Skydeck

Total days: 5
Spent: $300 - I was spending beyond my budget. You can definitely trim this down.

War Remnants Museum

Heineken Bar

City View, Saigon Skydeck

I honestly forgot the name of this place

Mekong River

Saigon Opera House - with the performers

Some people I met - hostelmates

Fudy and Kartik

Alex

Phnom Penh, Cambodia

This is a 7 hour bus ride from HCMC (Mekong Express). It was a smooth one. I just spent a night here because the place to be is Siem Reap (7 hours more - Giant Ibis). I also did not go out for a walk as I did not have to courage. I heard a lot of bad stories about the place. So...

This guy who works at the hostel I am not recommending is a Manny Pacquiao fan. Here, when you talk about Philippines, they will definitely tell you how much of a fan they are of Manny.

Siem Reap, Cambodia

When you hear about Cambodia, you would definitely think of Angkor Wat. It was mind blowing and overwhelming at the same time. I could not think of any other words to describe the place. I'll share some pictures later.

Siem Reap is, according the people I met, much safer than Phnom Penh. They have wonderful places. My hostel (which I am also not recommending) is just a few walks away from the Pub Street and Night Market.

Say, keep a budget of at least $10 a day.

When I went to Angkor Wat, I rented a tuktuk for $15. Yeah, expensive because I was alone. I did not try going there with other people (package deals) because I wanted to experience this beautiful place at my own pace.

For 2 days in Siem Reap, I was able to do the following:

1. Siem Reap City walk - $0
2. Angkor Wat
Tuktuk- $15
Angkor Wat (1day) - $37
3. Kompong Phluk Floating Village - $15 (with lunch)

City Walk

Angkor Wat and other Angkors

Kompong Phluk - Floating Village

Bangkok, Thailand

I had dollars in my pocket before travelling to Bangkok. I did not expect that I would be needing Baht on hand. So when we arrived at the Bus Terminal in Bangkok, there were no money changers. I had a hard time communicating with the people around. So I decided to ride a cab and ask the driver to drive me to Khao San Rd., one of the most touristic roads in the city. Before arriving at the place, I asked the driver to stop over a money changer - which he did not understand. I then thought of withdrawing money from an ATM machine since there's no way for me to pay him in dollars (not sure if he would have accepted it).

It took me forever to explain what I wanted to happen along the way. It was crazy. My point is, you have to prepare for the worse. English is quite a challenge.

For 5 days, I was able to:

1. Visit the grand palace and the neighboring temples

2. City walks - Khao San Road, Chatuchak Night Market

3. Rode skytrain

4. Rode through their wonderful subway

5. Floating Market

6. Samphran Elephant Ground and Zoo (not recommended)

7. Siam Paragon

8. Sleeping train (going to Chiang Mai)

I decided to go to Chiang Mai, north of Thailand, to experience a more legit culture that is not very accessible in Bangkok. The sleeping train was amazing! It was a 14-hour ride from Bangkok and I would have done it again going back if I had enough time.

Chiang Mai, Thailand

I never regretted having Chiang Mai as my final destination in this crazy trip. The mountains, the elephants, food, cool music, night markets, temples. I couldn't be happier!

For 3 days in Chiang Mai, I was able to:

1. Visit King and Queen Pagoda

- I was able to try their delicious coffee, met some locals, stepped on the highest mountain in Thailand and Burma.