by Bird Eye
But my friend has something to say: The war on Mumbai, the rescue of my family and the re-writing of the media rules care of Twitter
вторник, 2 декабря 2008 г.
Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Dec 2008
No comments.
by Bird Eye
But my friend has something to say: The war on Mumbai, the rescue of my family and the re-writing of the media rules care of Twitter
by Bird Eye
But my friend has something to say: The war on Mumbai, the rescue of my family and the re-writing of the media rules care of Twitter
понедельник, 10 ноября 2008 г.
Whitewater Patagonia and more... as seen on Travel Channel!
 Caution: I do not accept any advertizing bonuses for the placement in the "Amazing Websites" section. Only the gems which amazed me could appear here. It's free. I will be thankful for your recommendations and nominations and will consider with my pleasure any website which amazed you. But I would keep the right to tell only about those ones which, per my opinion, could impress my readers. |
Earth River Expeditions
http://www.earthriver.com/
Things I'm amazed:
One of the intrepid journeys I would participate.
One of the most impressive landscapes I would see.
One of the most stylish designs I would enjoy. The pages just brief with romance and thrill the imagination!
The greatest opportunity to make a virtual adventure if cannot do in real life. Yet.
Things I would change:
I think the volume of flash is annoying, and it could be easily substituted in most cases by simple interactive images. That's exactly the case when desiners crazy of flash forget what for it is dedicated.
Navigation is also too complicated: not obviouse and not intuitive - if I have to think where to click - it's desiners mistake. Regardless how stupid I am.
пятница, 12 сентября 2008 г.
More "Excitement" Than You Have Paid For!
or
What Happens When You Reach the Bottom?
Our world undergoes the sinusoidal principals of periodic declines and climbings. In our days of the global recession when everyone waits when we reach the bottom and start climbing up I would like to share with you the truly unexpected experience. It's hard to believe but there was a case in my life when I got an idea that it's probably not so great to live in periodic world.
It was Bungy Jumping!
It's really interesting to think how strange the trivial or not so trivial things unexpectedly push you to philosophic discoveries. Now I know that whatever could make you philosopher, even the falling with the bullet speed (was it 2 Mach or it's too much?) down to the Earth surface.
- Man, your knees are shaking, - bungy master tried to take the strain off.
- I bet!
Crane raised us up to 75 meters from the sea level. The night lights on the embankment of Turkish resort Kushadasi laid under and in front of us. Ants watched up expecting the next thrilling fun - one more stupid jumper trying to be cool.
- Turn around. Now take your hands off these rails, if you do not jump I will push you.
- No need. I can fly.
No doubts I can. It's easy to die in sight. Especially if there's a huge crowd below.
I spread my hands and jumped in a classic style seen on TV.
My first discovery was:
DISCOVERY 1: "To fall" does not mean "to fly".
Yeh, you rather feel yourself a dropping pickaxe with the stretched out hands rather then a glyding bird with the spread wings.
DISCOVERY 2: You have time to think about if you fall from the high enough altitude.
I thought about one thing: when it will finish?
DISCOVERY 3: No need to worry about your legs.
I was worrying whether my legs will remain with me when the rope will stop my fall. No problem there. It slows down gently. It slows down and you have more extra time to think about.
And that's exactly the illumination moment. The moment when you make your philosophic discovery about imperfection of periodic world:
DISCOVERY 4: Damn, it will pull me up again!
Right, dude, that's exactly the whole idea of Bungy:
TO GIVE YOU MORE "EXCITEMENT" THEN YOU HAVE PAID FOR!!!
From this moment you start enjoying Bungy Jumping again. And again. And again. And...
Of course amplitude reduces and 50 meters are much lower then 75 metres! What we are talking about! It's just a poor 17 storey building! Even nothing to discuss!
And, right, don't forget that all this time you need to look like a cool man not like a sack of shit! Crowd's looking, dude:
DISCOVERY 5: It's a hard job for your legs to keep you in a vertical position.
My calfs remembered my endless jumping for a couple days like after the ice hockey match. My back also remembered how I tried to keep the face up pulling head back as a maniac victim with a knife near the throat!
There are several hundred meter bungy in New Zealand, Africa and other parts of the world. I am not sure that bungy is what should inspire me or you to go there. But, mates, after all of above, being there, would you miss an opportunity to try?
It was Bungy Jumping!
It's really interesting to think how strange the trivial or not so trivial things unexpectedly push you to philosophic discoveries. Now I know that whatever could make you philosopher, even the falling with the bullet speed (was it 2 Mach or it's too much?) down to the Earth surface.
- Man, your knees are shaking, - bungy master tried to take the strain off.
- I bet!
Crane raised us up to 75 meters from the sea level. The night lights on the embankment of Turkish resort Kushadasi laid under and in front of us. Ants watched up expecting the next thrilling fun - one more stupid jumper trying to be cool.
- Turn around. Now take your hands off these rails, if you do not jump I will push you.
- No need. I can fly.
No doubts I can. It's easy to die in sight. Especially if there's a huge crowd below.
I spread my hands and jumped in a classic style seen on TV.
My first discovery was:
DISCOVERY 1: "To fall" does not mean "to fly".
Yeh, you rather feel yourself a dropping pickaxe with the stretched out hands rather then a glyding bird with the spread wings.
DISCOVERY 2: You have time to think about if you fall from the high enough altitude.
I thought about one thing: when it will finish?
DISCOVERY 3: No need to worry about your legs.
I was worrying whether my legs will remain with me when the rope will stop my fall. No problem there. It slows down gently. It slows down and you have more extra time to think about.
And that's exactly the illumination moment. The moment when you make your philosophic discovery about imperfection of periodic world:
DISCOVERY 4: Damn, it will pull me up again!
Right, dude, that's exactly the whole idea of Bungy:
TO GIVE YOU MORE "EXCITEMENT" THEN YOU HAVE PAID FOR!!!
From this moment you start enjoying Bungy Jumping again. And again. And again. And...
Of course amplitude reduces and 50 meters are much lower then 75 metres! What we are talking about! It's just a poor 17 storey building! Even nothing to discuss!
And, right, don't forget that all this time you need to look like a cool man not like a sack of shit! Crowd's looking, dude:
DISCOVERY 5: It's a hard job for your legs to keep you in a vertical position.
My calfs remembered my endless jumping for a couple days like after the ice hockey match. My back also remembered how I tried to keep the face up pulling head back as a maniac victim with a knife near the throat!
There are several hundred meter bungy in New Zealand, Africa and other parts of the world. I am not sure that bungy is what should inspire me or you to go there. But, mates, after all of above, being there, would you miss an opportunity to try?
четверг, 28 августа 2008 г.
Russia Travel Tips: Train Travel
Despite the ugly quality of hotels in Russia, the quality of trains is unExpectedly high.
Train travel was always popular in Russia. And it will remain for a long time in the future. There is a specific romance for Russian soul to travel by train. Every of us lives in more or less limited world and we do not face other worlds very often. Train is a place where we meet people from different worlds, of different occupancies, lifestyles, classes, interests, places. Long talks with strangers you'll never see anymore, the sound of knocking wheels, vast country running outside the window and the early childhood memories, of course, will always attract people.
Besides it's cheap and night trains help to save money on hotels (which cost crazy in Russia).
The quality of the trains is dramatically different depending on price. And the cheap tickets are normally booked several weeks in advance. Expensive class tickets are normally available at any moment. Sales opens 45 days before departure. You cannot book ticket. Only buy. But cancellation policy is reasonable (ask travel agent or locals for your exact trip).
The only problem is that staff never speaks English (Spanish, Deutsch, French), but very often is highly keen in informal Russian. So it's better to travel with local friends or to learn Russian. There are chances to find some passengers speaking English, but do not rely on this too much. Do not get lost during stops on way - no chances to find anybody speaking English somewhere in deep regional Russia between the biggest cities. There are no English signs or notices in Russia. You are in risk to get lost forever. I always recommend you to have mobile contact with local Russian friend or Travel Agent who speaks English (or your native language).
Here we do not discuss suburb trains (which are better to avoid for foreign travellers), but we tell about inter-city trains.
Normally trains in Russia contain many cars (wagons), from 12 to 18. They are divided for different categories. Not all categories are represented in every train, but usually there are always 3 options. There is also Restaurant-Wagon (Vagon-restoran) in the middle of the train.
Regardless of category wagons and trains are normally clean inside but with dirty unwashed windows.
There are different categories of wagons:
1. Sidyachiy (Сидячий) - Seating - the cheapest
2. Platskartniy (Плацкартный) - sleeping in crowd (52 bunks per wagon in sections without doors) - very hot, no ventilation, romantic odour of dirty socks, boiled eggs, fried chickens, salted cucumbers and vodka. Unforgettable experience for truly Russian travel. Most of windows will never be opened.
3. Kupe, Kupeyniy (Купе, купейный) - sleeping in separate cabins with doors (4 bunks per cabin). There is a huge gap in comfort and price between Kupe and lower categories. Very often it is the best option for normal traveller: no luxury and no extream.
4. Spalny (Спальный) - Sleeping VIP. - The best option for the romantic trip with girlfriend. Sleeping cabins of high comfort with 2 wide soft bunks per cabin. Great opportunity for long trip together! Only one disadvantage - price. Sometime higher than flight.
There are also some variations, like 3 bunk cabins on trains running to Europe, but they are not so common.
Trains are also of different categories.
1. Passazhirskiy poezd (Пассажирский поезд) - passenger train - the slowest train which stops very frequently. Low quality interior. Delays sometime. The cheapest price. Cost almost nothing in Platzcart or Sidyachiy class. Mostly they are fine for travel without any problems. But ask local advice before making your decision. Sometime such trains might be not only ugly, but even dangerous. Especially if they are legendary runs from the usual prisoner areas when a crowds of released "ex"-crimes return home. Some of heroes do not manage to complete their journey and are convoyed back. Moscow - Vorkuta is one of such legendary trains. But in almost all other cases it is fine option for cheap travel.
2. Skoriy poezd - (Скорый поезд) - fast train. Excellent trains. Clean. Cheap. Little number of stops.
3. Firmeniy poezd (Фирменный поезд) - brand trains. The best option for VIP travel. These trains are the most comfortable and famous trains. Almost every intercity railway has at least one such train daily. They all bear the individual brand names and are the pride of owning railway. High comfort inside. Air conditioning. Cabin service etc. Like a perfect hotel on wheels (only if you do not select Plazcartny wagon, which are normaly 2-3 per brand train). If you want to travel in Sleeping VIP wagon (Spalny) you normally will find them only here, in firmeniy poezd.
There are also some specific trains like Super-expresses (between Moscow and Saint-Petersburg) and others.
In fact all the railways in Russia belong to semi-governmental company RZD - Russian Railways (Российские Железные Дороги). Football fans know their famous football club "Locomotiv" (which did not win UEFA cups though, yet). However, different sections has separate sub-rulling and are in a kind of competition to each other in terms of quality (not price).
Russia Train Timetable
Moscow - St.Petersburg trains and TransSiberian train from Moscow to Vladivostok are the most popular among foreigners. I hope to have an opportunity to tell about them in more details later.
Train travel was always popular in Russia. And it will remain for a long time in the future. There is a specific romance for Russian soul to travel by train. Every of us lives in more or less limited world and we do not face other worlds very often. Train is a place where we meet people from different worlds, of different occupancies, lifestyles, classes, interests, places. Long talks with strangers you'll never see anymore, the sound of knocking wheels, vast country running outside the window and the early childhood memories, of course, will always attract people.
Besides it's cheap and night trains help to save money on hotels (which cost crazy in Russia).
The quality of the trains is dramatically different depending on price. And the cheap tickets are normally booked several weeks in advance. Expensive class tickets are normally available at any moment. Sales opens 45 days before departure. You cannot book ticket. Only buy. But cancellation policy is reasonable (ask travel agent or locals for your exact trip).
The only problem is that staff never speaks English (Spanish, Deutsch, French), but very often is highly keen in informal Russian. So it's better to travel with local friends or to learn Russian. There are chances to find some passengers speaking English, but do not rely on this too much. Do not get lost during stops on way - no chances to find anybody speaking English somewhere in deep regional Russia between the biggest cities. There are no English signs or notices in Russia. You are in risk to get lost forever. I always recommend you to have mobile contact with local Russian friend or Travel Agent who speaks English (or your native language).
Here we do not discuss suburb trains (which are better to avoid for foreign travellers), but we tell about inter-city trains.
Normally trains in Russia contain many cars (wagons), from 12 to 18. They are divided for different categories. Not all categories are represented in every train, but usually there are always 3 options. There is also Restaurant-Wagon (Vagon-restoran) in the middle of the train.
Regardless of category wagons and trains are normally clean inside but with dirty unwashed windows.
There are different categories of wagons:
1. Sidyachiy (Сидячий) - Seating - the cheapest
2. Platskartniy (Плацкартный) - sleeping in crowd (52 bunks per wagon in sections without doors) - very hot, no ventilation, romantic odour of dirty socks, boiled eggs, fried chickens, salted cucumbers and vodka. Unforgettable experience for truly Russian travel. Most of windows will never be opened.
3. Kupe, Kupeyniy (Купе, купейный) - sleeping in separate cabins with doors (4 bunks per cabin). There is a huge gap in comfort and price between Kupe and lower categories. Very often it is the best option for normal traveller: no luxury and no extream.
4. Spalny (Спальный) - Sleeping VIP. - The best option for the romantic trip with girlfriend. Sleeping cabins of high comfort with 2 wide soft bunks per cabin. Great opportunity for long trip together! Only one disadvantage - price. Sometime higher than flight.
There are also some variations, like 3 bunk cabins on trains running to Europe, but they are not so common.
Trains are also of different categories.
1. Passazhirskiy poezd (Пассажирский поезд) - passenger train - the slowest train which stops very frequently. Low quality interior. Delays sometime. The cheapest price. Cost almost nothing in Platzcart or Sidyachiy class. Mostly they are fine for travel without any problems. But ask local advice before making your decision. Sometime such trains might be not only ugly, but even dangerous. Especially if they are legendary runs from the usual prisoner areas when a crowds of released "ex"-crimes return home. Some of heroes do not manage to complete their journey and are convoyed back. Moscow - Vorkuta is one of such legendary trains. But in almost all other cases it is fine option for cheap travel.
2. Skoriy poezd - (Скорый поезд) - fast train. Excellent trains. Clean. Cheap. Little number of stops.
3. Firmeniy poezd (Фирменный поезд) - brand trains. The best option for VIP travel. These trains are the most comfortable and famous trains. Almost every intercity railway has at least one such train daily. They all bear the individual brand names and are the pride of owning railway. High comfort inside. Air conditioning. Cabin service etc. Like a perfect hotel on wheels (only if you do not select Plazcartny wagon, which are normaly 2-3 per brand train). If you want to travel in Sleeping VIP wagon (Spalny) you normally will find them only here, in firmeniy poezd.
There are also some specific trains like Super-expresses (between Moscow and Saint-Petersburg) and others.
In fact all the railways in Russia belong to semi-governmental company RZD - Russian Railways (Российские Железные Дороги). Football fans know their famous football club "Locomotiv" (which did not win UEFA cups though, yet). However, different sections has separate sub-rulling and are in a kind of competition to each other in terms of quality (not price).
Russia Train Timetable
Moscow - St.Petersburg trains and TransSiberian train from Moscow to Vladivostok are the most popular among foreigners. I hope to have an opportunity to tell about them in more details later.
понедельник, 25 августа 2008 г.
Hot Hot Air Ballooning
This post opens the the new section of the "WildBron is On", which we will call "unExpected Experiences". It's about what I did not mind before I tried.
- I told you, bring a cap, - pilot shakes his head.
- Yeah, but it was too late.
It was a mid summer in Moscow and we took off for our first in a lifetime Hot Air Balloon flight. We had no idea how it is upstairs "outside the airplane cabin". Wishing to be prepared we prepared everything from Pepsi to warm high-mountain dawn equipment. But everything was not necessary at all. All was left in the ground-escort mini-van. Caps (or hat if you prefer) - the only what we needed. And the only what we did not have.
It's not cold in a sky. Of course, if you will take part in the serious flight on high altitudes you find out that temperature drops a degree per every couple hundred meters, but "normally tourists don't fly too high". Sounds like aphorism. Should remember this.
Soon after boarding we understood why Hot Air Ballooning is called "Hot". It's really hot above your head. Besides I found one more disadvantage of being tall (you know I collect all those funny things like obstructed view in a bus when you stay not having seat): The taller you are the closer is the fire.
Balloon is not a toy in a hands of the wind. Or more correct: it is a toy, but pilot can control how wind plays with it. Everyone asks pilot:
-How do you know where we will go?
There is no steering wheel. But the atmosphere is pretty chaotic and damnly whimsical Lady. Changing the height, pilot is able to catch the wind of the required direction. Our pilot was of real Russian aces, owning the 230 km in a day non-stop flight record, but the only small problem he faced - we did not have wind at all. Nowhere. On all heights. After 1.5 hours of hanging we moved ahead just for around 2km.
Another thing which I knew before and wanted to make sure is: There is no wind when you ballooning. Balloon follows the wind and only some unexpected blows break the impression of a quiet whether. I did not have an opportunity to make sure due to calm weather, but pilot assured me that it's true.
Buoyancy control is everything for Hot Air Ballooning. Remembering the difficulties with my underwater buoyancy control during diving I was surprised how professionals can manage this huge inertial body of the hot air. Keeping 5 centimetres above the ground or the tree-tops is not a problem for professionals but another unExpected Experience for passengers.
I'd now want to try it somwhere above NgoroNgoro. Would you?
- I told you, bring a cap, - pilot shakes his head.
- Yeah, but it was too late.
It was a mid summer in Moscow and we took off for our first in a lifetime Hot Air Balloon flight. We had no idea how it is upstairs "outside the airplane cabin". Wishing to be prepared we prepared everything from Pepsi to warm high-mountain dawn equipment. But everything was not necessary at all. All was left in the ground-escort mini-van. Caps (or hat if you prefer) - the only what we needed. And the only what we did not have.
It's not cold in a sky. Of course, if you will take part in the serious flight on high altitudes you find out that temperature drops a degree per every couple hundred meters, but "normally tourists don't fly too high". Sounds like aphorism. Should remember this.
Soon after boarding we understood why Hot Air Ballooning is called "Hot". It's really hot above your head. Besides I found one more disadvantage of being tall (you know I collect all those funny things like obstructed view in a bus when you stay not having seat): The taller you are the closer is the fire.
Balloon is not a toy in a hands of the wind. Or more correct: it is a toy, but pilot can control how wind plays with it. Everyone asks pilot:
-How do you know where we will go?
There is no steering wheel. But the atmosphere is pretty chaotic and damnly whimsical Lady. Changing the height, pilot is able to catch the wind of the required direction. Our pilot was of real Russian aces, owning the 230 km in a day non-stop flight record, but the only small problem he faced - we did not have wind at all. Nowhere. On all heights. After 1.5 hours of hanging we moved ahead just for around 2km.
Another thing which I knew before and wanted to make sure is: There is no wind when you ballooning. Balloon follows the wind and only some unexpected blows break the impression of a quiet whether. I did not have an opportunity to make sure due to calm weather, but pilot assured me that it's true.
Buoyancy control is everything for Hot Air Ballooning. Remembering the difficulties with my underwater buoyancy control during diving I was surprised how professionals can manage this huge inertial body of the hot air. Keeping 5 centimetres above the ground or the tree-tops is not a problem for professionals but another unExpected Experience for passengers.
I'd now want to try it somwhere above NgoroNgoro. Would you?
понедельник, 18 августа 2008 г.
Travel Visa to Egypt: Do you need visa? or How I was deported from Egypt.
This is a short story of how I was deported from Egypt for not having entry visa and what to do to avoid this. Seams strange. But visa matters are always full of stupidity, idiotism and unexpected surprises.
I mostly avoid travelling to the countries with strict visa regulations (except on business trips). This is not because I'm afraid to be refused visa granting (I doubt that it may happen with my travel record and social status), but just because of being too proud to beg for permit to visit not the obviously best places of the world. However since my first visit to Egypt I faced unexpected trouble: "Open & Welcoming" countries are not so Open and Welcoming.
I was going to make a 4 day trip from Moscow to Jordan with overnights in Cairo (to visit the Pyramids). I heard that Egypt has a kind of tricky non-visa status so before I left home I made a phone call to Egyptian Embassy in Moscow and ask them to grant me tourist visa. They were (as all the embassy officers) very arrogant and irritated and did not want even talk to me. They strictly refused to talk about this because:
1) They do not have visa department, stamps, application forms and any other visa facilities.
2) Citation: "Russians do not need visa to Egypt".
I tried to insist but they stopped the conversation.
On my way to Jordan I crossed the Egyptian border with a crowd of Russian tourists and Got my lucky 10 $ (or so) stamp labeled into passport.
After a lovely trip around northern Egypt and across Jordan I was on my way back to Moscow.
The Flight from Amman to Cairo landed at around 2 a.m. - the very deep night. Airport was empty and I was the only passenger with European face on board. So no any chances to mix with the crowd. It was almost unavoidable that I filtered out and taken aside.
The arrogant Egyptian officer had nothing to do in a night time so he had a lot of time to play his role. Our arguing continued for about couple hours, but the short thesises were like this:
- You do not have visa.
- I contacted Egyptian Embassy in Moscow they said I do not need visa.
- They are stupid. I say you: you need visa.
- Do you have Boss above you?
- I am Boss.
- May I call the Embassy?
- You can but they sleep. Tomorrow you will.
- But my flight departs tomorrow at noon. I will spend just some hours in your country. I simply want to sleep at the bed.
- I can let you pass through if you find an Egyptian tourist company which will invite you.
- I have an invitation letter from Sales Manager of InterContinental Hotels we have an appointment for the breakfast and I just want to take a taxi to go to my bed in InterConti
It was absolute true, our company was a GSA of InterConti in Russia and I booked the Pyramis Park Hotel for the special Travel Agent rate and had an appointment and the letter on the official IterConti yellowish paper with the golden letterhead and logo. I showed him a letter.
- It's a fake.
- What makes you think so? This is my business card.
- Anyway. It is not enough. You must have a Travel Agency inviting you.
- Well. Now what?
- I can call my friend. He is a travel agent.
- And how much does it cost?
- 400 US$.
-???? What? Do you have cell or cage where I can wait for my plane and take a wooden bed with insects and killers?
At that time all the people around us (Egypt Air staff, Customs and others) tried to convince that officer that he is too..., that he probably should find better job for tonight, but this only made him more resistant and I was pompously DEPORTED.
Three guards and one slim well-shaped sexy stewardess convoyed me to... Egypt Air's Transit Zone Hotel. I checked-in for both hotel and flight (which should depart at least 8 hours later) my baggage was also checked in for the flight. I spotted a Rack rates on a wall and found that one night stay costs 90US$, but I even was not sure that I have such a huge money.
-How much should I pay?
-Nothing.
-????
-This is Egypt Air's fault. We should not allow you to board the plain and now we have to cover cost of your accommodation.
It was very nice. I would even say it was great! But only one thought about what could happen if they do not allow me to board a plane in Amman made me cold sweating.
In the morning I was woken up just 40 minutes before flight departure and it was exactly enough time to wake up, check out the hotel and pass into the plain. No customs, no baggage check, no queuing - It was like left your home and take your bus to the office.
TIPS ON TRAVELLING TO NON-VISA COUNTRIES
All good what ends good. But I would recommend you couple simple things to help you to avoid troubles in future:
1. If you go to non-visa country via travel agent - it should not be a problem as they arrange all the procedures, pay certain bribes and make friends with right people. So organized groups are legalized. However, you know, there are always dodgy professionals in any industry. Make sure your agreement with travel agent contains clear statement of visa regulations so in case of problem Travel agent will have to cover your costs and moral damage.
2. If you travel independently - you might be potentially in trouble (but this is not a reason to stop an independent travelling). Even if country is definitely non-visa you should not relax and try to think in advance what you will do if it happens with you. You must have an itinerary flexibility, back doors and extra money to solve the problem. In my case I did not plan to stop in Egypt for the long time and in case of border trouble I was planning to hang around transit zone (what finally happened).
3. Very often countries which are commonly mentioned as non-visa destinations are not so in fact. Be careful. Most of non-visa countries just have a "liberal" forms of visas which could be obtained upon arrival. But that's a tricky question: what are the conditions. You should know about this before departure and we will discuss it in further posts in Travel Visa section.
I mostly avoid travelling to the countries with strict visa regulations (except on business trips). This is not because I'm afraid to be refused visa granting (I doubt that it may happen with my travel record and social status), but just because of being too proud to beg for permit to visit not the obviously best places of the world. However since my first visit to Egypt I faced unexpected trouble: "Open & Welcoming" countries are not so Open and Welcoming.
I was going to make a 4 day trip from Moscow to Jordan with overnights in Cairo (to visit the Pyramids). I heard that Egypt has a kind of tricky non-visa status so before I left home I made a phone call to Egyptian Embassy in Moscow and ask them to grant me tourist visa. They were (as all the embassy officers) very arrogant and irritated and did not want even talk to me. They strictly refused to talk about this because:
1) They do not have visa department, stamps, application forms and any other visa facilities.
2) Citation: "Russians do not need visa to Egypt".
I tried to insist but they stopped the conversation.
On my way to Jordan I crossed the Egyptian border with a crowd of Russian tourists and Got my lucky 10 $ (or so) stamp labeled into passport.
After a lovely trip around northern Egypt and across Jordan I was on my way back to Moscow.
The Flight from Amman to Cairo landed at around 2 a.m. - the very deep night. Airport was empty and I was the only passenger with European face on board. So no any chances to mix with the crowd. It was almost unavoidable that I filtered out and taken aside.
The arrogant Egyptian officer had nothing to do in a night time so he had a lot of time to play his role. Our arguing continued for about couple hours, but the short thesises were like this:
- You do not have visa.
- I contacted Egyptian Embassy in Moscow they said I do not need visa.
- They are stupid. I say you: you need visa.
- Do you have Boss above you?
- I am Boss.
- May I call the Embassy?
- You can but they sleep. Tomorrow you will.
- But my flight departs tomorrow at noon. I will spend just some hours in your country. I simply want to sleep at the bed.
- I can let you pass through if you find an Egyptian tourist company which will invite you.
- I have an invitation letter from Sales Manager of InterContinental Hotels we have an appointment for the breakfast and I just want to take a taxi to go to my bed in InterConti
It was absolute true, our company was a GSA of InterConti in Russia and I booked the Pyramis Park Hotel for the special Travel Agent rate and had an appointment and the letter on the official IterConti yellowish paper with the golden letterhead and logo. I showed him a letter.
- It's a fake.
- What makes you think so? This is my business card.
- Anyway. It is not enough. You must have a Travel Agency inviting you.
- Well. Now what?
- I can call my friend. He is a travel agent.
- And how much does it cost?
- 400 US$.
-???? What? Do you have cell or cage where I can wait for my plane and take a wooden bed with insects and killers?
At that time all the people around us (Egypt Air staff, Customs and others) tried to convince that officer that he is too..., that he probably should find better job for tonight, but this only made him more resistant and I was pompously DEPORTED.
Three guards and one slim well-shaped sexy stewardess convoyed me to... Egypt Air's Transit Zone Hotel. I checked-in for both hotel and flight (which should depart at least 8 hours later) my baggage was also checked in for the flight. I spotted a Rack rates on a wall and found that one night stay costs 90US$, but I even was not sure that I have such a huge money.
-How much should I pay?
-Nothing.
-????
-This is Egypt Air's fault. We should not allow you to board the plain and now we have to cover cost of your accommodation.
It was very nice. I would even say it was great! But only one thought about what could happen if they do not allow me to board a plane in Amman made me cold sweating.
In the morning I was woken up just 40 minutes before flight departure and it was exactly enough time to wake up, check out the hotel and pass into the plain. No customs, no baggage check, no queuing - It was like left your home and take your bus to the office.
TIPS ON TRAVELLING TO NON-VISA COUNTRIES
All good what ends good. But I would recommend you couple simple things to help you to avoid troubles in future:
1. If you go to non-visa country via travel agent - it should not be a problem as they arrange all the procedures, pay certain bribes and make friends with right people. So organized groups are legalized. However, you know, there are always dodgy professionals in any industry. Make sure your agreement with travel agent contains clear statement of visa regulations so in case of problem Travel agent will have to cover your costs and moral damage.
2. If you travel independently - you might be potentially in trouble (but this is not a reason to stop an independent travelling). Even if country is definitely non-visa you should not relax and try to think in advance what you will do if it happens with you. You must have an itinerary flexibility, back doors and extra money to solve the problem. In my case I did not plan to stop in Egypt for the long time and in case of border trouble I was planning to hang around transit zone (what finally happened).
3. Very often countries which are commonly mentioned as non-visa destinations are not so in fact. Be careful. Most of non-visa countries just have a "liberal" forms of visas which could be obtained upon arrival. But that's a tricky question: what are the conditions. You should know about this before departure and we will discuss it in further posts in Travel Visa section.
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If you would like to comment on any story on this blog please do. The settings are such that anonymous comments are accepted and will be automatically published un-moderated. However I will delete anything that is defamatory, spam, nonsensical or full of vitriol/personal insults.
четверг, 14 августа 2008 г.
Is Lonely Planet So Lonely?
If you live in the web and don't buy books - you do not need to read this post.
For many many years I was in love with Lonely Planet (don't try to catch me, I'm still in). When I first seen vast shelves of Lonely Planet guides in a small book store on Bondy Beach (Sydney, Australia) in 1996 it was like illumination. Imagine that time: Web does not exist (ok, almost). Russia is underdeveloped country with a huge lack of information about the rest of the world. First Travel exhibitions in Moscow were something like a revolution and first colured pictures of the world beyond the border were the most desired source of knowledge. Heards of informative hungry people attacked every booth with every single brochure, poster of flyer. Students wrote their diplomas basing on those advertising materials. I stopped reading books and read travel flyers and brochires all my spare time. I still keep the vast archive of those materials in my room despite on my wive's permanent complaints. So any little piece of information was like a gem. I remember that Seychelles promotion brochure was hanging on my wall as an icon for my mind escaping. Western people hardly will understand it. I think only Northern Koreans or Cubans are the last people who still wait their time to pass through the same feelings in the future.
Well, the young man deadly hungry of travel information (who earnestly have already had some travel experience) faced that travellers talmuds and his Sydney sightseeing was finished. All my money left in that shop and fisrt dozen of Lonely Planet guides became my friends forever. They went into my bed with me and we were sleeping together bearing out to New Caledonia, Tahiti or Cook Islands.
I loved Lonely Planet for
1) maps
2) exact info necessary to plan any fantastic trip (timetables, transport costs, accommodation costs and choice)
All the technical travel questions had answers in Lonely Planet.
And then, Internet grew up.
The main advantage of Lonely Planet - technical information - became not so actual anymore. I felt like my best friend is in trouble. I think LP itself felt it too and started to develop their online business and non-technical guides (cuisine, medicine, wildlife watching etc).
For me Lonely Planet were the only guides and since now I had to accept that they are not so lonely. I found Eyewitness and Rough Guides.
Now when I want to learn quickly and in details any destination I try to buy 3 guidebooks to answer 3 key traveller's questions:
1. WHAT TO SEE AND WHAT FOR? Eyewitness - for visual presentation - best ever 3D schems, maps, images
2. WHAT DO I SEE? Rough Guides - the best textual content with deep detailed descriptions which you even will not find in the web.
3. HOW TO DO THIS and TO SAVE UP? Lonely Planet - still great source of backpackers information.
Backpacker spirit is what makes LP. Thnk Backpacker - think LP. For many years LP in hands was like backpacker ID. I am not sure (tell me what you think), but I sadly found that the older LP becomes, the less backpacker's spirit they have. Instead of being the guides to "travel for nothing" they become the guides to "travel for "fare" money". Typical mid-age philosophy.
At the end of the day many people will find that LP is now useless due to web and competitors, full of textual content, but I sincerely hope it will not be me. I want to live with that thrilling feelings I had everytime I put my fingers on the next LP book on my shelf which I felt in my early days.
Old friends stay with you. So you are.
For many many years I was in love with Lonely Planet (don't try to catch me, I'm still in). When I first seen vast shelves of Lonely Planet guides in a small book store on Bondy Beach (Sydney, Australia) in 1996 it was like illumination. Imagine that time: Web does not exist (ok, almost). Russia is underdeveloped country with a huge lack of information about the rest of the world. First Travel exhibitions in Moscow were something like a revolution and first colured pictures of the world beyond the border were the most desired source of knowledge. Heards of informative hungry people attacked every booth with every single brochure, poster of flyer. Students wrote their diplomas basing on those advertising materials. I stopped reading books and read travel flyers and brochires all my spare time. I still keep the vast archive of those materials in my room despite on my wive's permanent complaints. So any little piece of information was like a gem. I remember that Seychelles promotion brochure was hanging on my wall as an icon for my mind escaping. Western people hardly will understand it. I think only Northern Koreans or Cubans are the last people who still wait their time to pass through the same feelings in the future.
Well, the young man deadly hungry of travel information (who earnestly have already had some travel experience) faced that travellers talmuds and his Sydney sightseeing was finished. All my money left in that shop and fisrt dozen of Lonely Planet guides became my friends forever. They went into my bed with me and we were sleeping together bearing out to New Caledonia, Tahiti or Cook Islands.
I loved Lonely Planet for
1) maps
2) exact info necessary to plan any fantastic trip (timetables, transport costs, accommodation costs and choice)
All the technical travel questions had answers in Lonely Planet.
And then, Internet grew up.
The main advantage of Lonely Planet - technical information - became not so actual anymore. I felt like my best friend is in trouble. I think LP itself felt it too and started to develop their online business and non-technical guides (cuisine, medicine, wildlife watching etc).
For me Lonely Planet were the only guides and since now I had to accept that they are not so lonely. I found Eyewitness and Rough Guides.
Now when I want to learn quickly and in details any destination I try to buy 3 guidebooks to answer 3 key traveller's questions:
1. WHAT TO SEE AND WHAT FOR? Eyewitness - for visual presentation - best ever 3D schems, maps, images
2. WHAT DO I SEE? Rough Guides - the best textual content with deep detailed descriptions which you even will not find in the web.
3. HOW TO DO THIS and TO SAVE UP? Lonely Planet - still great source of backpackers information.
Backpacker spirit is what makes LP. Thnk Backpacker - think LP. For many years LP in hands was like backpacker ID. I am not sure (tell me what you think), but I sadly found that the older LP becomes, the less backpacker's spirit they have. Instead of being the guides to "travel for nothing" they become the guides to "travel for "fare" money". Typical mid-age philosophy.
At the end of the day many people will find that LP is now useless due to web and competitors, full of textual content, but I sincerely hope it will not be me. I want to live with that thrilling feelings I had everytime I put my fingers on the next LP book on my shelf which I felt in my early days.
Old friends stay with you. So you are.
Travel Thailand - The Shortest Itinerary & Travel Tips
THAILAND
Do not miss:
1) Bangkok and surrounds (Ayutthaya, Damnoen Saduak Floating Market)
2) Northern Thailand (Chiang Mai and night market, Chiang Rai and Golden Triangle, Long Neck Hill tribes near Mae Hong Son, Elephant riding at Pai, 2 day / 1 night rafting at Pai River)
General notes from own experience:
If you ask me I say that it is not worth to drive through all the Thailand as again you will spend valuable time for covering miles instead of good sightseeing.
Islands are worth to stay there and relax but if you are on sightseeing trip I recommend you to forget about islands.
The most recommended way is to arrive to Bangkok sightseeing around Bangkok train or filight to Chiang Mai for sightseeing in Northern Thailand
Recommended itinerary:
DAY 1
Arrive BKK. I recommend you Bayoke Suite or Bayoke Sky hotel. Bayoke suites has only 2 room suites and costs 25-35 usd in average including breakfast for 2 pax. Location is central. Bayoke Sky is nearby hotel the newer one and one of the highest in Asia.
You definitely do not need car in BKK. Take a tuktuk to move around.
Visit Royal Palace. There are headphones with commentary on many languages (including Russian).
After the sunset take a boat to go to canals. It is important to take it in dark time:
1) all the temples are lighted and shine with gold
2) you do not see the rubbish in waters of the river and canals
3) people come back to their homes which form canals and you can see the real life. Unforgettable experience of Thai Venice. You sit in a boat wile people come out to the terraces to handle their home greenery grown right on the terraces. There are no waterfront walls in most of homes so you see what people do inside.
Boats depart from the river banks right near the Royal Palace. Cross the river and go into canals. Then they circle through the canals come into river back and return to the pier.
Day 2
Visit Damnoen Saduak Floating market. No need to comment. It is famous enough and must see.
Again no need to rent a car. We took a taxi for 20 USD for return full day excursion. Every Taxi driver has mate boatsman who take you for boat ride to the markets through the canals.
You can prolong the trip and go to the Kwai River Bridge in Kanchanaburi province after that. I did not visit Kanchanaburi being on tight budget and time.
If you want you can do it on rented car. But no sense to do that.
DAY 3
Visit Ayatthaya. It is the biggest complex of thai architecture. You may take a taxi there but its easier to take two stops by train or 40 minutes ride by bus. Most picvtures from Ayutthaya are the icons of Thailand. Sightseeing of Ayutthaya consists of two parts.
First take a boat to make a circle around the complex for good views of temples and mmonasteries from the water.
After that take tuktuk or similar transport for a 3 hour sightseeing around temples and other attractions.
There is a lot of information about Ayutthaya in Lonely Planet.
Evening
Take a night train to Chiang Mai. Or flight (about 1 hour)
DAY 4
Morning arrive Chiang Mai
Pick up a car
Visit market to buy fruites and food
Drive to Chiang Rai
Stop at roadside canteens for lunch.
Arrive to Golden Triangle
Take a boat ride on Mekong River to the island on Laos territory for souvenirs
Stay overnight in Chian Rai or somewhere else.
Day 5
Drive back to Chiang Mai
(If you feel good you may drive back to Chiang Mai same day 4.)
Overnight in Chiang Mai. Walk around the streets and feel the atmosphere of this colourfull city.
Drop off a car
Arrange program for next days. It is the easiest way to visit local tour agency or ask reception to arrange 2 day package for tomorrow and day after tomorrow. We paid about 150-200 USD per pax for everything.
Visit night markets
DAY 6
Pick up and go to Pai village on the way to Mae Hong Son. The road is very interesting. It goes up to the mountains and stunning landscapes era visible from many lookouts. We started at 5 am so we met sunrise on the way, then we faced strong fog, and finally drove up and saw temperate pine forests – something very unexpected in the land of jungles.
Elephant riding in Pai. Try to make sure that your riding includes swimming with the elephants otherwise it is not so interesting. 1 hour is enough. 2 hours is maximum.
Move further to the rafting starting point and after about 2 hour driving in direction to Mae Hong Son you arrive. Your rafting starts here. Rafting is soft. There are some fun rapids on day two, but this is not extreme white-water rafting. The main purpose of this is to dive into the depth of jungles. You stay overnight in Bamboo sheds swim in the river. The impressions are for the rest of the life – jungles, bamboo bushes along the river banks, waterfalls, rafting mates to chat in the evening etc.
Day 7
Rafting in the first half of the day.
Transport to Mae Hong Son.
Visit Long Necked Hilltribe village.
Return to Mae Hong Son and visit the temple and feed the fishes in the lake.
Flight back to Chiang Mai and then to Bangkok.
Overnight in BKK
DAY 8
Trnsfer or Take a driver with car to go to Cambodian Border. You may visit one of national parks on the way. I did not visit them so I cannot say anything about them. Our transfer cost was 70 USD
Do not miss:
1) Bangkok and surrounds (Ayutthaya, Damnoen Saduak Floating Market)
2) Northern Thailand (Chiang Mai and night market, Chiang Rai and Golden Triangle, Long Neck Hill tribes near Mae Hong Son, Elephant riding at Pai, 2 day / 1 night rafting at Pai River)
General notes from own experience:
If you ask me I say that it is not worth to drive through all the Thailand as again you will spend valuable time for covering miles instead of good sightseeing.
Islands are worth to stay there and relax but if you are on sightseeing trip I recommend you to forget about islands.
The most recommended way is to arrive to Bangkok sightseeing around Bangkok train or filight to Chiang Mai for sightseeing in Northern Thailand
Recommended itinerary:
DAY 1
Arrive BKK. I recommend you Bayoke Suite or Bayoke Sky hotel. Bayoke suites has only 2 room suites and costs 25-35 usd in average including breakfast for 2 pax. Location is central. Bayoke Sky is nearby hotel the newer one and one of the highest in Asia.
You definitely do not need car in BKK. Take a tuktuk to move around.
Visit Royal Palace. There are headphones with commentary on many languages (including Russian).
After the sunset take a boat to go to canals. It is important to take it in dark time:
1) all the temples are lighted and shine with gold
2) you do not see the rubbish in waters of the river and canals
3) people come back to their homes which form canals and you can see the real life. Unforgettable experience of Thai Venice. You sit in a boat wile people come out to the terraces to handle their home greenery grown right on the terraces. There are no waterfront walls in most of homes so you see what people do inside.
Boats depart from the river banks right near the Royal Palace. Cross the river and go into canals. Then they circle through the canals come into river back and return to the pier.
Day 2
Visit Damnoen Saduak Floating market. No need to comment. It is famous enough and must see.
Again no need to rent a car. We took a taxi for 20 USD for return full day excursion. Every Taxi driver has mate boatsman who take you for boat ride to the markets through the canals.
You can prolong the trip and go to the Kwai River Bridge in Kanchanaburi province after that. I did not visit Kanchanaburi being on tight budget and time.
If you want you can do it on rented car. But no sense to do that.
DAY 3
Visit Ayatthaya. It is the biggest complex of thai architecture. You may take a taxi there but its easier to take two stops by train or 40 minutes ride by bus. Most picvtures from Ayutthaya are the icons of Thailand. Sightseeing of Ayutthaya consists of two parts.
First take a boat to make a circle around the complex for good views of temples and mmonasteries from the water.
After that take tuktuk or similar transport for a 3 hour sightseeing around temples and other attractions.
There is a lot of information about Ayutthaya in Lonely Planet.
Evening
Take a night train to Chiang Mai. Or flight (about 1 hour)
DAY 4
Morning arrive Chiang Mai
Pick up a car
Visit market to buy fruites and food
Drive to Chiang Rai
Stop at roadside canteens for lunch.
Arrive to Golden Triangle
Take a boat ride on Mekong River to the island on Laos territory for souvenirs
Stay overnight in Chian Rai or somewhere else.
Day 5
Drive back to Chiang Mai
(If you feel good you may drive back to Chiang Mai same day 4.)
Overnight in Chiang Mai. Walk around the streets and feel the atmosphere of this colourfull city.
Drop off a car
Arrange program for next days. It is the easiest way to visit local tour agency or ask reception to arrange 2 day package for tomorrow and day after tomorrow. We paid about 150-200 USD per pax for everything.
Visit night markets
DAY 6
Pick up and go to Pai village on the way to Mae Hong Son. The road is very interesting. It goes up to the mountains and stunning landscapes era visible from many lookouts. We started at 5 am so we met sunrise on the way, then we faced strong fog, and finally drove up and saw temperate pine forests – something very unexpected in the land of jungles.
Elephant riding in Pai. Try to make sure that your riding includes swimming with the elephants otherwise it is not so interesting. 1 hour is enough. 2 hours is maximum.
Move further to the rafting starting point and after about 2 hour driving in direction to Mae Hong Son you arrive. Your rafting starts here. Rafting is soft. There are some fun rapids on day two, but this is not extreme white-water rafting. The main purpose of this is to dive into the depth of jungles. You stay overnight in Bamboo sheds swim in the river. The impressions are for the rest of the life – jungles, bamboo bushes along the river banks, waterfalls, rafting mates to chat in the evening etc.
Day 7
Rafting in the first half of the day.
Transport to Mae Hong Son.
Visit Long Necked Hilltribe village.
Return to Mae Hong Son and visit the temple and feed the fishes in the lake.
Flight back to Chiang Mai and then to Bangkok.
Overnight in BKK
DAY 8
Trnsfer or Take a driver with car to go to Cambodian Border. You may visit one of national parks on the way. I did not visit them so I cannot say anything about them. Our transfer cost was 70 USD
MALAYSIA from KUL to Thai Border - The Shortest Itinerary & Travel Tips
Do not miss in this part of Malaysia:
1) Kuala Lumpur so called “Golden Triangle” – the very heart of city with Petronas Twin Towers and Menara Tower. Deer park and Bird park (I DO NOT REMEMBER THEIR EXACT NAMES - CHECK GUIDES) right in the city centre.
2) Cameron Highlands
3) Langkawi or Penang (I prefer Lankawi Island)
General notes from own experience:
1) You do not need a car in KUL itself.
2) There are 2 options to drive to the north – By main North-South Highway or by side roads. Highway is just perfect and impressive. You drive very fast but there are always places to stop and rest. It is very picturesque as it do not pass through the settlements. All the way you see either Rainforests or agricultural landscapes with banana, palm or other plantations. There are impressive limestone rock formations and caves just along the highway. Side roads give you experience of local life but slow down the speed to 40-50 km per hour in average. They are of good quality but narrow with jams in some places especially in townships.
You can drive partly via highway and side roads to experience both.
Shortest itinerary from KUL to Thai:
DAY 1 Arrive KUL
Take a taxi to the city (no need to rent-a-car upon arrival as you do not need it in city and taxi is a comfortable limotaxi costs 20-30 usd)
Walk around the city. I like KUL in the night. The Golden Triangle is full of lights.
DAY 2
Sightseeing in KUL
so called “Golden Triangle” – the very heart of city with Petronas Twin Towers and Menara Tower. Deer park and Bird park right in the city centre.
DAY3
Pick-up a car and go to Cameron Highlands
This is must see in Malaysia inspite only some people visit it. The road there is amazing thrilling winding mountain serpentine through the jungles to the strawberry fields, tea plantations and cool mountain air of Cameron Highlands. Stop enroute to see how tea is grown and to make nice pictures of tea plantations. I recommend you to stay in Strawberry Park hotel. It is not the most expensive but very picturesque. Play tennis in Strawberry Park even if you stay somewhere else. They have an amazing tennis court with stunning views of mountains and valleys covered by rainforest canopy. We enjoyed it very much.
DAY 4 leave Cameron Highlands and move to the north. I do not think that you’ll be able to reach Langkawi that day especially if you take in account that you need to take a ferry to go to Langkawi. It is more realistic than you reach Penang late evening if you take toll highway. Island is connected to the mainland by the long bridge so you do not depend on ferry schedules. Penang is less attractive for me than Langkawi. Just one more resort. But it was interesting to visit butterfly farm and we swimmed there and had fun. You may stay for one or two nights at Penang to relax its up to you.
DAY 5 leave Penang.
As an option you may drop a car in Penang and then take a train from Butterworth to Bangkok. Butterworth is a big train station and all trains including express stop there.
If you move by car further north you may go to Langkawi. I like this island it is not too crowded. There are some unforgettable luxurious resorts. Absolutely amazing golf course with tropical exotic greenery. Visit it even if you do not play golf. We went their to make pictures. A lot of small coves and bays and the main advantage is that we fellt ourselves absolutely alone there. May be it depends on season. But we were there in august and this is one of high seasons. Go to 7 Wells Waterfall, but climb there only early in the morning to be alone. We did it at 6 am just upon sunrise. Sunsets are stunning on Langkawi. Mangroves along the coast. Monitor lizards etc. Crocodile farm is the most tourist attraction there but it was curious for me as I so all the types of crocs who inhabit Malaysian waters and bought croc’s egg there.
You cannot take car to Langkawi as it is not allowed normally. So you park it near ferry departure point on mainland and then hire a car on Langkawi. We did like this. Car is obligate on the island as there is nothing to do without car.
Day 6 go back to the mainland and move to the border or take a train to Thailand.
1) Kuala Lumpur so called “Golden Triangle” – the very heart of city with Petronas Twin Towers and Menara Tower. Deer park and Bird park (I DO NOT REMEMBER THEIR EXACT NAMES - CHECK GUIDES) right in the city centre.
2) Cameron Highlands
3) Langkawi or Penang (I prefer Lankawi Island)
General notes from own experience:
1) You do not need a car in KUL itself.
2) There are 2 options to drive to the north – By main North-South Highway or by side roads. Highway is just perfect and impressive. You drive very fast but there are always places to stop and rest. It is very picturesque as it do not pass through the settlements. All the way you see either Rainforests or agricultural landscapes with banana, palm or other plantations. There are impressive limestone rock formations and caves just along the highway. Side roads give you experience of local life but slow down the speed to 40-50 km per hour in average. They are of good quality but narrow with jams in some places especially in townships.
You can drive partly via highway and side roads to experience both.
Shortest itinerary from KUL to Thai:
DAY 1 Arrive KUL
Take a taxi to the city (no need to rent-a-car upon arrival as you do not need it in city and taxi is a comfortable limotaxi costs 20-30 usd)
Walk around the city. I like KUL in the night. The Golden Triangle is full of lights.
DAY 2
Sightseeing in KUL
so called “Golden Triangle” – the very heart of city with Petronas Twin Towers and Menara Tower. Deer park and Bird park right in the city centre.
DAY3
Pick-up a car and go to Cameron Highlands
This is must see in Malaysia inspite only some people visit it. The road there is amazing thrilling winding mountain serpentine through the jungles to the strawberry fields, tea plantations and cool mountain air of Cameron Highlands. Stop enroute to see how tea is grown and to make nice pictures of tea plantations. I recommend you to stay in Strawberry Park hotel. It is not the most expensive but very picturesque. Play tennis in Strawberry Park even if you stay somewhere else. They have an amazing tennis court with stunning views of mountains and valleys covered by rainforest canopy. We enjoyed it very much.
DAY 4 leave Cameron Highlands and move to the north. I do not think that you’ll be able to reach Langkawi that day especially if you take in account that you need to take a ferry to go to Langkawi. It is more realistic than you reach Penang late evening if you take toll highway. Island is connected to the mainland by the long bridge so you do not depend on ferry schedules. Penang is less attractive for me than Langkawi. Just one more resort. But it was interesting to visit butterfly farm and we swimmed there and had fun. You may stay for one or two nights at Penang to relax its up to you.
DAY 5 leave Penang.
As an option you may drop a car in Penang and then take a train from Butterworth to Bangkok. Butterworth is a big train station and all trains including express stop there.
If you move by car further north you may go to Langkawi. I like this island it is not too crowded. There are some unforgettable luxurious resorts. Absolutely amazing golf course with tropical exotic greenery. Visit it even if you do not play golf. We went their to make pictures. A lot of small coves and bays and the main advantage is that we fellt ourselves absolutely alone there. May be it depends on season. But we were there in august and this is one of high seasons. Go to 7 Wells Waterfall, but climb there only early in the morning to be alone. We did it at 6 am just upon sunrise. Sunsets are stunning on Langkawi. Mangroves along the coast. Monitor lizards etc. Crocodile farm is the most tourist attraction there but it was curious for me as I so all the types of crocs who inhabit Malaysian waters and bought croc’s egg there.
You cannot take car to Langkawi as it is not allowed normally. So you park it near ferry departure point on mainland and then hire a car on Langkawi. We did like this. Car is obligate on the island as there is nothing to do without car.
Day 6 go back to the mainland and move to the border or take a train to Thailand.
Travel Vietnam - The Shortest Itinerary & Travel Tips
VIETNAM
Do not miss:
1) Halong Bay
2) Hanoi city old quarter
3) Hue city and temples around
4) Hoi An city - very Chinese Vietnam and My Son ancient ruins.
5) Cu Chi Tunnels - War time catacombs west of Saigon
6) Mekong River Delta
Besides that there are some places less visited by rushing tourists but very interesting. Visiting such places is time consuming but very interesting.
For example Ba Be Lakes. It is number 2 for me after Halong Bay
Forget about beaches in Vietnam – even those most advertised and famous.
1) they are not so nice as they advertised.
2) There are aggressive vendors everywhere. They simply will not let you to spend even couple minutes on your own on the beach. They are really aggressive. They touch you and if you are alone and they are a many they start pushing you laughing on you regardless your behavior. You may smile you cry – everything is useless. They will not let you to enjoy. There are more vendors than foreigners on the beach. We tried some beaches and we never get chance to enjoy. We even stop somewhere in the remote area far from people and settlements and after ten minutes of swimming we got a company of observers (luckily not vendors) who even do not try to hide. They simply come close in front and look at you like in a zoo.
3) It is temperate from subtropical climate in Vietnam so it will not be too warm to swim.
General notes from own experience:
95 % of Vietnamese outside Saigon do not speak any forms of English. You may try to speak Vietnamese but its useless. It is very difficult language due to tones and musical colors. Besides there are so many regional differences so locals even do not understand each other well.
It is prohibited for foreigners to drive a car in Vietnam. May be something changed last years. Check it.
Always watch out of thefts
Take a driver with minivan. No need to overpay for 4WD. Roads are bad, but good enough for normal minivan. We paid 600 USD for 8 day service of driver and minivan. However it is very unusual and cheap price as normally it must be twice higher. As the distance is huge and they must go way back.
I cannot say about all the drivers, but our driver was very very slow. Incredibly slow. You know, I am against crazy driving and do not justify speed driving by any reason. However even for me driving in Vietnam out of Saigon and vicinity is too slow. Our driver could spend all the day to drive 200 km between two nearest cities. From my impression all the cars in central and northen Vietnam move very slow even inspite of empty roads. Roads are really empty of cars. As soon as you move couple hundreds km north from Ho Chi Minh City you can start count cars. Mopeds are the main mean of transport even between cities. Forget about Australian measurements of how much you can drive in a day in Australia and Europe or even Thailand or Malaysia. This is Vietnam.
You do not pay for driver’s food and accommodation. But this is trick. Everytime you go to eat or discuss price of accommodation driver talk to receptionist or to staff in restaurant in vetnamese and they increase price to cover his accommodation or food. We understood it only on sixth day when we arrived to Saigon. All the days before we cannot understand why we pay two times more than Lonely Planet describe. When we understood we simply devided so driver was unable to follow all of us and those who was without driver accompanying negotiated fair price and driver had to arrange his accommodation on his own. This is not a huge money we were ripped by driver – may be extra 100-150 USD, but I do not like when someone considers itself smart enough to make me fool. If they declare it in advance I would ready to pay for driver’s accommodation and food, inspite my income was may be twice higher than his income, however it is not right to support ripping.
Be carefull on or avoid if you are soft traveller Ho Chi Minh Trail – this is the common name for the western areas near the border with Cambodia and Laos. This stripe of land was the most heavily struggled during the War and after that it was prohibited to visit by any foreigners. It is really interesting area beyond the trail, with rugged mountainous landscapes, outstanding views and tons of UXO everywhere. BUT: Despite central government cancelled any restrictions many years ago, local police and military ignore central regulations and keep arresting foreigners. It is not so often in towns (like Buon Ma Thuot or Pleiku) but between the cities it is still happens. We were arrested right between those towns. We stopped to make a pictures of rubber plantation and local officials took the passport of our driver and enforced him to follow to police station somewhere in the middle of nowhere. All the declarations of new regiment set by central government, all the proclamations of embassy phone calls or ambassadors or consuls were useless as none was speaking English there. Army officer (with four stars on a shoulder) tried to take our passports for some purposes, but we closed all the doors in minivan and said that if they want to check our passports they can do it through the glass of the windows. So we showed them passports and they wrote all our passport data. They tried to open doors but not very brave so we fucked them out. We spent about couple hours in closed car surrounded by absolutely lost militaries or policemen (it was not clear) who had no idea what to do and than were allowed to go strait forward to Saigon. What we did indeed.
Some people who consider themselves the highly experienced tough travellers will lough on what I will say furthure, but my position is very simple: Life's too good to be stupid. So I say: Vietnam is badly dangerous from point of view of infectious diseases. You know I am not panic about all this sanitary conditions, I can sleep on ground and eat what I have, but when you on route its much smarter to follow simple safety rules than to break the trip and pay for ignorance during next years or even entire life. If someone will tell you that he visited Vietnam and never faced any health troubles – do not listen him. This is dangerous. This is fact. You simply did not talk to those who had troubles. Some of them cannot say anything now. The most dangerous and easy to get is Hepatitis A. You know consequences.
Advises below are not professional, so don't rely on them. Some medicines may cause side effects. Ask your doctor for more information. Here is just what you should discuss with your doctor (Earnestly most of them have no idea about tropical conditions and deceases so try to find the specialist in this field)
1) Drink and use water from the bottles. We bought 5litre bottles of clean water and washed fruits and drunk it. This is not a 100% guarantee too, but at least.
2) Make a vaccination against Hepatitis. I do not remember which forms are specific for Vietnam we made against 2 of them
3) Take Malaria pills. Lariam or Mephloquin (different names in different countries). It is not a big deal. One pill every 2-3 days. 2 weeks before trip, during and 2 weeks after trip.
4) Keep good collection of drugs. All the drugs must bear English or Latin names to avaoid troubles n customs. I never had any troubles with medications on customs. I never declare them. Sometime you may be too far from doctor who gives you some simple pills as he is less qualified than you. Always keep pain relief and antibiotics for urgent action. I got a fever on Java in Indonesia and it was one of my worst experiences in the life. Couple pills could make me well while I almost died and do not remember most of happenings of that day just because I did not take simple pills with me.
5) We always keep a pack of cosmetic face tampons (cotton pads) and a small bottle of medical spirit. We use it in those cases when we feel unsafe to clean up hands before taking food. Easy and comfortable. I am not crazy. We do not sterilize itself every time we eat. But in many cases in dirty crowdy areas – it’s worth to do. Especially when you are in a car and want to eat something without stopping.
Anyway you never can avoid health threats as you eat out, you drink etc. This is fate, destiny, but we prefer to help our destiny.
Typical shortest itinerary in Vietnam:
You can take a flights between big cities or take a train or bus, but this is another story from technical point of view. The itinerary below is based on private driver. This is the most preferable way to see Vietnam if you want to drive through it.
I recommend to refuse that idea and take a flight between Saigon and Hanoi to save up many days of driving through nothing interesting. You’d better spend those days for driving around North and around South of Vietnam.
But if you prefer to drive:
Here is the shortest possible itinerary. It is very tough and I am afraid your driver will make it longer. Remember that working day of a driver could not be longer than 8 hours and you will negotiate hard to enforce him to drive a distance which seams nothing for you. So I can easily predict that this is too optimistic itinerary.
SOUTH TO NORTH
(I Earnestly prefer vice versa starting in Hanoi and finishing in Saigon moving furthure to BKK or Cambodia)
DAY 1
After crossing border take a taxi to Saigon, but ask him to take you to Cu Chi Tunnels on the way. It will be a small hook and extra payment, but it will save up a lot of time as you do not need to go there especially from Saigon and to spend half day for that.
Cu Chi Tunnels is the best place to touch the history of the last war. It is world famous place and should not be missed. I did not visit it because we visited other famous tunnels in central Vietnam.
Arrive Saigon later afternoon or evening. Find accommodation there and walk around. Lonely Planet can give you more advice on this. I did not find much interesting for me in HCMC though I did not make strong attempts for that. Yura Bendelikov likes HCMC very much. So it’s very personal. For me it’s another one Asian megapolis and that’s it.
Arrange car and driver for tomorrow visit to Mekong Valley. Start searching for the transport to the North. You should talk to 2-3 tour companies and they will ask you a day for estimating the job and price. Give them detailed itinerary and ask them to sign every page of your itinerary and make sure they passed your itinerary to the driver. If you are not lucky with driver you will need it to stop his arguing en route. We had problems with our Vietnamese driver every day. But he was lazy bastard. Another one guy who took us for 2 day trip to Ba Be was just perfect and we made good mates.
DAY 2
Vietnamese people wake up early in the morning before the sun. But as the pay out they close all the restaurants and amusements at 9 pm so last chance to have some food is 8 pm.
Wake up at 5 am go out and you will see something unusual for you. Morning in Vietnam is something unforgettable. Sunrise while people are in active vendoring, shopping, street badminton, gymnastics etc. You’ll like Vietnamese mornings.
Spend this day for driving around Mekong River Delta. Main places to visit:
1) One of floating markets beyond Cantho town
2) Dong Tam Snake Farm (not must but not bad to visit) – many exotic snakes, cuddly deers etc)
3) Monkey bridges. There many places where they are. We took a boat at Ben Tre. There are boats right near the footbridge across Ben Tre Fork of Mekong. Boat take a ride up the river than go into the canal. Ride through canals wich are very narrow just 5-10 meters and sometime bamboo and trees create a green tunnel in this labyrinth of canals. So called “Monkey bridges” one of the main remarkable things of Mekong Delta are built across such canals. Monkey bridges are just a fragile bamboo constructions for foot pedestrians.
4) There is small and very interesting market right near footbridge in Ben Tre. We bought many real Vietnamese things there – not touristy souvenirs – like real straw hats for example. There is a choice of cheap fruits as well. So worth to see.
There are many other things to see which I did not see due to tight schedule but you can make a choice reading LP.
Come back to Saigon in the evening.
DAY3
Leave Saigon early in the Morning. Move to the north. There are 3 roads:
1) Ho Chi Minh Trail – forget - see above.
2) Coastal road – nothing to see
3) mountainous road via Dalat. This is what I recommend you.
Take a drive to Dalat
Stop en route to view
1) Dinh Quan Volcanic Craters
2) Di Linh and nearby waterfalls.
Overnight in Dalat
As I mentioned, our driver was not the best man and broken all the itinerary so we could not visit that portion of the way as cut strait to Saigon. It was pity very much. So I cannot say that I saw it, but from all I know you will not be disappointed.
Di Linh and Dalat used to be the favorite mountainous areas for fashionable outdoor since early colonial times. Mountains and very picturesque landscapes will pay out all the fears of the winding road-serpentines.
Next time I’ll visit it obligately.
DAY 4 AND 5
Proceed to the East coast and then drive to the North.
Dalat – Phan Rang – Cam Rang (this very ex-Russian Navy Base) – Nha Trang – Qui Nhon – Hoi An
THIS IS VERY LONG WAY. And you should push your driver to make it in 2 days. Though if your driver will be better than our one – it may be not a deal at all.
There are no outstanding world famous attractions on this way (except some famous beaches), but there is always something interesting what you can find off the beaten track. This is a sort of exploration – you may find something own. Stop at roadside canteens or villages etc.
Overnight anywhere you are depending on how far and fast you move.
Then overnight in Hoi An
DAY 6
Hoi An is lovely small town. Very Chinese with wooden Chinese houses. This is a world heritage if I remember right. I liked it very much. Yura Bendelikov just felt in love. You are like couple centuries back into the epoch of Chinese expansion to Vietnam. This is a heart of Central Vietnam.
Spend a half day walking around Hoi An then drive to Hue. If you move fast you may visit World famous ruins of My Son. They are also part of World Heritage, but after Angkor and Ayutthaya in Thailand they might be not worth to see. It was interesting for me as it is not very visited place. We found a wild Star fruit tree and picked up a full bag of them. Some ruins are fenced as they are still unsafe due to UXO. The tragedy is that they use to be amazing well preserved, but during the war Americans bombed them and destroyed almost completely. This what the world could not excuse and it was the first global upraise against Americans actions in Vietnam.
Overnight in Hue
DAY7
Hue is a main place to visit in Central Vietnam. I cannot say that I was impressed by Hue, but it was nice to visit. Usually visitors take a cruise along Perfume River to visit temples. We did not take a boat. We took taxis between attractions. The main are:
1) Thien Mu Pagoda
2) Citadel
3) Tomb of Tu Duc
Depart for Hanoi Afternoon.
Proceed as far to the north as you can.
DAY8
Drive all the day to Hanoi.
Arrive Hanoi Late evening or next day before the noon.
Say good buy to your driver.
DAY9
Hanoi walk around the old city and lake. Visit some pagodas. Stay overnight in Old quarter north of the Lake.
DAY 10 and 11
HALONG BAY CRUISE
Keep in mind following:
1) do not take a public tour package. In worst case you will be traveling in overcrowded bus and than take a ride in a big bout with a crowd of passengers staying overnight in the crowded island. In the best case – it will be the same but not so crowded.
2) All packages are return, it means you go forward and back by the same route. It is not interesting.
3) As always – the most interesting things you see off the beaten track.
The best alternative itinerary to visit Halong Bay is what we did:
Early in the morning take a taxi to Haiphong. You remember – the biggest port in Vietnam, built by friendly Soviet specialists in the delta of Red River.
Depart at 5 am as you must arrive to the port before 8 am. You may tike a public van but they are very unreliable and our van late for more than hour. It was a miracle that we got a Boat.
The boat is a hydrofoil Russian “Meteor” which takes you down the river, than out to the sea and finally arrives to Cat Ba - a small fishing town on Cat Ba Island. This is a lovely tiny waterfront town with amazing market where we bought all the necessary food for our 2 day cruise. Just upon arrival to Cat Ba go to arrange a boat for afternoon departure. Walk into all the doors to the left of pier. Ask guesthouses or shops and finally you will find a boat.
ASK FOR PERSONAL BOAT CHARTER ONLY. Starting at Cat Ba and Finishing at Halong City
We paid 70 USD for 2 day personal charter of a boat and we sail wherever we want independently. We selected the best secluded and inhabited island to camp. We avoid any crowds and any tourists at all.
The boat was a 10 meter motor boat (I can call it “barkas” in Russian) if you remember “Beloye Solntse Pustyni”.
Boatman need an hour or two to prepare so you will have a time for visiting market and lunch. Buy the whole Jack Fruit and you will eat it during 2 day cruise with your friends. I like jet fruits very much. It’s very big so 2 day cruise is exactly enough time to finish it.
Afternoon we cruised around islands which are not visited by the crowds of tourists as crowds depart from Halong City and do not head so far to south.
There are pearl farms and water gipsy houses – all is interesting and unforgettable.
We spend a night in a tent on the inhabited island, but there is always opportunity stay aboard.
REMEMBER – it is winter in Vietnam so weather might be cold and sea - rough. Take warm clothes with you.
Next day we were also on our own. Boatman’s know all the main icons and attractions of Halong Bay. Besides you can look through the web and select most attractive for you to ask him to visit.
Afternoon you disembark in Halong City. This is ugly place where all the crowds of package tourists depart for cruises. Prices for charters are incredibly high their and boats are more commercial than in Cat Ba. I do not recommend you to start in Halong City and return there as most people do. Start in Hayphong and finish in Halong City.
There are busses every hour to Hanoi or take a taxi. Bus takes 3-4 hours, taxi is twice faster.
Overnight in Hanoi.
Day 12 departure
However I recommend you to stay one night more to have 1 day for unpredictable troubles. For example you might be out of time due to strong storm in Halong. Or your driver slow down itinerary etc.
ALTERNATIVE RECOMMENDED ITINERARY:
As I told above this is not the most optimal itinerary. As you can see below I cut out Hue and Hoi An because this is what you can scarify. It is very interesting and nice to see but this is not the things which are unforgettable enough to scarify 4-5 days for just stupid driving to cover the distance. If you have time – you may flight from Saigon to Hanoi via Hue with stop there for couple nights and drive around Hue and even soputh to Hoi An to overnight there. I recommend you the following:
Day 1 as above
Day 2 as above
Day 3 as above
Day 4 drive from Dalat back to Saigon via coastal route and Phan Thiet.
Day 5 flight to Hanoi. Walk around. Arrange transport for next days.
Day 6 and 7 visit Halong Bay as described above.
Day 8 and 9 visit Ba Be Lakes National Park. Ask driver to stop at roadside canteens for local food for locals.
Ba Be lakes is the second place which impressed me in Vietnam after Halong Bay. This is a cascade of 3 lakes (ba – 3 be – lake). Area is mountainous. Lakes are fringed with tropical rainforests. Waterfall there is just impressive.
You drive north to Thai Nguyen and then to Na Phac. Turn to gravel road to Cho Ra.
Lonely planet gives perfect detailed info about BA BE so I cannot say better.
You take a boat to visit lakes and waterfall. You may stay in village with villagers in their houses. Talk to the people there. For example near the waterfall. If you fail – there are guesthouses in Cho Ra.
Go back to Hanoi on day 9.
Do not miss:
1) Halong Bay
2) Hanoi city old quarter
3) Hue city and temples around
4) Hoi An city - very Chinese Vietnam and My Son ancient ruins.
5) Cu Chi Tunnels - War time catacombs west of Saigon
6) Mekong River Delta
Besides that there are some places less visited by rushing tourists but very interesting. Visiting such places is time consuming but very interesting.
For example Ba Be Lakes. It is number 2 for me after Halong Bay
Forget about beaches in Vietnam – even those most advertised and famous.
1) they are not so nice as they advertised.
2) There are aggressive vendors everywhere. They simply will not let you to spend even couple minutes on your own on the beach. They are really aggressive. They touch you and if you are alone and they are a many they start pushing you laughing on you regardless your behavior. You may smile you cry – everything is useless. They will not let you to enjoy. There are more vendors than foreigners on the beach. We tried some beaches and we never get chance to enjoy. We even stop somewhere in the remote area far from people and settlements and after ten minutes of swimming we got a company of observers (luckily not vendors) who even do not try to hide. They simply come close in front and look at you like in a zoo.
3) It is temperate from subtropical climate in Vietnam so it will not be too warm to swim.
General notes from own experience:
95 % of Vietnamese outside Saigon do not speak any forms of English. You may try to speak Vietnamese but its useless. It is very difficult language due to tones and musical colors. Besides there are so many regional differences so locals even do not understand each other well.
It is prohibited for foreigners to drive a car in Vietnam. May be something changed last years. Check it.
Always watch out of thefts
Take a driver with minivan. No need to overpay for 4WD. Roads are bad, but good enough for normal minivan. We paid 600 USD for 8 day service of driver and minivan. However it is very unusual and cheap price as normally it must be twice higher. As the distance is huge and they must go way back.
I cannot say about all the drivers, but our driver was very very slow. Incredibly slow. You know, I am against crazy driving and do not justify speed driving by any reason. However even for me driving in Vietnam out of Saigon and vicinity is too slow. Our driver could spend all the day to drive 200 km between two nearest cities. From my impression all the cars in central and northen Vietnam move very slow even inspite of empty roads. Roads are really empty of cars. As soon as you move couple hundreds km north from Ho Chi Minh City you can start count cars. Mopeds are the main mean of transport even between cities. Forget about Australian measurements of how much you can drive in a day in Australia and Europe or even Thailand or Malaysia. This is Vietnam.
You do not pay for driver’s food and accommodation. But this is trick. Everytime you go to eat or discuss price of accommodation driver talk to receptionist or to staff in restaurant in vetnamese and they increase price to cover his accommodation or food. We understood it only on sixth day when we arrived to Saigon. All the days before we cannot understand why we pay two times more than Lonely Planet describe. When we understood we simply devided so driver was unable to follow all of us and those who was without driver accompanying negotiated fair price and driver had to arrange his accommodation on his own. This is not a huge money we were ripped by driver – may be extra 100-150 USD, but I do not like when someone considers itself smart enough to make me fool. If they declare it in advance I would ready to pay for driver’s accommodation and food, inspite my income was may be twice higher than his income, however it is not right to support ripping.
Be carefull on or avoid if you are soft traveller Ho Chi Minh Trail – this is the common name for the western areas near the border with Cambodia and Laos. This stripe of land was the most heavily struggled during the War and after that it was prohibited to visit by any foreigners. It is really interesting area beyond the trail, with rugged mountainous landscapes, outstanding views and tons of UXO everywhere. BUT: Despite central government cancelled any restrictions many years ago, local police and military ignore central regulations and keep arresting foreigners. It is not so often in towns (like Buon Ma Thuot or Pleiku) but between the cities it is still happens. We were arrested right between those towns. We stopped to make a pictures of rubber plantation and local officials took the passport of our driver and enforced him to follow to police station somewhere in the middle of nowhere. All the declarations of new regiment set by central government, all the proclamations of embassy phone calls or ambassadors or consuls were useless as none was speaking English there. Army officer (with four stars on a shoulder) tried to take our passports for some purposes, but we closed all the doors in minivan and said that if they want to check our passports they can do it through the glass of the windows. So we showed them passports and they wrote all our passport data. They tried to open doors but not very brave so we fucked them out. We spent about couple hours in closed car surrounded by absolutely lost militaries or policemen (it was not clear) who had no idea what to do and than were allowed to go strait forward to Saigon. What we did indeed.
Some people who consider themselves the highly experienced tough travellers will lough on what I will say furthure, but my position is very simple: Life's too good to be stupid. So I say: Vietnam is badly dangerous from point of view of infectious diseases. You know I am not panic about all this sanitary conditions, I can sleep on ground and eat what I have, but when you on route its much smarter to follow simple safety rules than to break the trip and pay for ignorance during next years or even entire life. If someone will tell you that he visited Vietnam and never faced any health troubles – do not listen him. This is dangerous. This is fact. You simply did not talk to those who had troubles. Some of them cannot say anything now. The most dangerous and easy to get is Hepatitis A. You know consequences.
Advises below are not professional, so don't rely on them. Some medicines may cause side effects. Ask your doctor for more information. Here is just what you should discuss with your doctor (Earnestly most of them have no idea about tropical conditions and deceases so try to find the specialist in this field)
1) Drink and use water from the bottles. We bought 5litre bottles of clean water and washed fruits and drunk it. This is not a 100% guarantee too, but at least.
2) Make a vaccination against Hepatitis. I do not remember which forms are specific for Vietnam we made against 2 of them
3) Take Malaria pills. Lariam or Mephloquin (different names in different countries). It is not a big deal. One pill every 2-3 days. 2 weeks before trip, during and 2 weeks after trip.
4) Keep good collection of drugs. All the drugs must bear English or Latin names to avaoid troubles n customs. I never had any troubles with medications on customs. I never declare them. Sometime you may be too far from doctor who gives you some simple pills as he is less qualified than you. Always keep pain relief and antibiotics for urgent action. I got a fever on Java in Indonesia and it was one of my worst experiences in the life. Couple pills could make me well while I almost died and do not remember most of happenings of that day just because I did not take simple pills with me.
5) We always keep a pack of cosmetic face tampons (cotton pads) and a small bottle of medical spirit. We use it in those cases when we feel unsafe to clean up hands before taking food. Easy and comfortable. I am not crazy. We do not sterilize itself every time we eat. But in many cases in dirty crowdy areas – it’s worth to do. Especially when you are in a car and want to eat something without stopping.
Anyway you never can avoid health threats as you eat out, you drink etc. This is fate, destiny, but we prefer to help our destiny.
Typical shortest itinerary in Vietnam:
You can take a flights between big cities or take a train or bus, but this is another story from technical point of view. The itinerary below is based on private driver. This is the most preferable way to see Vietnam if you want to drive through it.
I recommend to refuse that idea and take a flight between Saigon and Hanoi to save up many days of driving through nothing interesting. You’d better spend those days for driving around North and around South of Vietnam.
But if you prefer to drive:
Here is the shortest possible itinerary. It is very tough and I am afraid your driver will make it longer. Remember that working day of a driver could not be longer than 8 hours and you will negotiate hard to enforce him to drive a distance which seams nothing for you. So I can easily predict that this is too optimistic itinerary.
SOUTH TO NORTH
(I Earnestly prefer vice versa starting in Hanoi and finishing in Saigon moving furthure to BKK or Cambodia)
DAY 1
After crossing border take a taxi to Saigon, but ask him to take you to Cu Chi Tunnels on the way. It will be a small hook and extra payment, but it will save up a lot of time as you do not need to go there especially from Saigon and to spend half day for that.
Cu Chi Tunnels is the best place to touch the history of the last war. It is world famous place and should not be missed. I did not visit it because we visited other famous tunnels in central Vietnam.
Arrive Saigon later afternoon or evening. Find accommodation there and walk around. Lonely Planet can give you more advice on this. I did not find much interesting for me in HCMC though I did not make strong attempts for that. Yura Bendelikov likes HCMC very much. So it’s very personal. For me it’s another one Asian megapolis and that’s it.
Arrange car and driver for tomorrow visit to Mekong Valley. Start searching for the transport to the North. You should talk to 2-3 tour companies and they will ask you a day for estimating the job and price. Give them detailed itinerary and ask them to sign every page of your itinerary and make sure they passed your itinerary to the driver. If you are not lucky with driver you will need it to stop his arguing en route. We had problems with our Vietnamese driver every day. But he was lazy bastard. Another one guy who took us for 2 day trip to Ba Be was just perfect and we made good mates.
DAY 2
Vietnamese people wake up early in the morning before the sun. But as the pay out they close all the restaurants and amusements at 9 pm so last chance to have some food is 8 pm.
Wake up at 5 am go out and you will see something unusual for you. Morning in Vietnam is something unforgettable. Sunrise while people are in active vendoring, shopping, street badminton, gymnastics etc. You’ll like Vietnamese mornings.
Spend this day for driving around Mekong River Delta. Main places to visit:
1) One of floating markets beyond Cantho town
2) Dong Tam Snake Farm (not must but not bad to visit) – many exotic snakes, cuddly deers etc)
3) Monkey bridges. There many places where they are. We took a boat at Ben Tre. There are boats right near the footbridge across Ben Tre Fork of Mekong. Boat take a ride up the river than go into the canal. Ride through canals wich are very narrow just 5-10 meters and sometime bamboo and trees create a green tunnel in this labyrinth of canals. So called “Monkey bridges” one of the main remarkable things of Mekong Delta are built across such canals. Monkey bridges are just a fragile bamboo constructions for foot pedestrians.
4) There is small and very interesting market right near footbridge in Ben Tre. We bought many real Vietnamese things there – not touristy souvenirs – like real straw hats for example. There is a choice of cheap fruits as well. So worth to see.
There are many other things to see which I did not see due to tight schedule but you can make a choice reading LP.
Come back to Saigon in the evening.
DAY3
Leave Saigon early in the Morning. Move to the north. There are 3 roads:
1) Ho Chi Minh Trail – forget - see above.
2) Coastal road – nothing to see
3) mountainous road via Dalat. This is what I recommend you.
Take a drive to Dalat
Stop en route to view
1) Dinh Quan Volcanic Craters
2) Di Linh and nearby waterfalls.
Overnight in Dalat
As I mentioned, our driver was not the best man and broken all the itinerary so we could not visit that portion of the way as cut strait to Saigon. It was pity very much. So I cannot say that I saw it, but from all I know you will not be disappointed.
Di Linh and Dalat used to be the favorite mountainous areas for fashionable outdoor since early colonial times. Mountains and very picturesque landscapes will pay out all the fears of the winding road-serpentines.
Next time I’ll visit it obligately.
DAY 4 AND 5
Proceed to the East coast and then drive to the North.
Dalat – Phan Rang – Cam Rang (this very ex-Russian Navy Base) – Nha Trang – Qui Nhon – Hoi An
THIS IS VERY LONG WAY. And you should push your driver to make it in 2 days. Though if your driver will be better than our one – it may be not a deal at all.
There are no outstanding world famous attractions on this way (except some famous beaches), but there is always something interesting what you can find off the beaten track. This is a sort of exploration – you may find something own. Stop at roadside canteens or villages etc.
Overnight anywhere you are depending on how far and fast you move.
Then overnight in Hoi An
DAY 6
Hoi An is lovely small town. Very Chinese with wooden Chinese houses. This is a world heritage if I remember right. I liked it very much. Yura Bendelikov just felt in love. You are like couple centuries back into the epoch of Chinese expansion to Vietnam. This is a heart of Central Vietnam.
Spend a half day walking around Hoi An then drive to Hue. If you move fast you may visit World famous ruins of My Son. They are also part of World Heritage, but after Angkor and Ayutthaya in Thailand they might be not worth to see. It was interesting for me as it is not very visited place. We found a wild Star fruit tree and picked up a full bag of them. Some ruins are fenced as they are still unsafe due to UXO. The tragedy is that they use to be amazing well preserved, but during the war Americans bombed them and destroyed almost completely. This what the world could not excuse and it was the first global upraise against Americans actions in Vietnam.
Overnight in Hue
DAY7
Hue is a main place to visit in Central Vietnam. I cannot say that I was impressed by Hue, but it was nice to visit. Usually visitors take a cruise along Perfume River to visit temples. We did not take a boat. We took taxis between attractions. The main are:
1) Thien Mu Pagoda
2) Citadel
3) Tomb of Tu Duc
Depart for Hanoi Afternoon.
Proceed as far to the north as you can.
DAY8
Drive all the day to Hanoi.
Arrive Hanoi Late evening or next day before the noon.
Say good buy to your driver.
DAY9
Hanoi walk around the old city and lake. Visit some pagodas. Stay overnight in Old quarter north of the Lake.
DAY 10 and 11
HALONG BAY CRUISE
Keep in mind following:
1) do not take a public tour package. In worst case you will be traveling in overcrowded bus and than take a ride in a big bout with a crowd of passengers staying overnight in the crowded island. In the best case – it will be the same but not so crowded.
2) All packages are return, it means you go forward and back by the same route. It is not interesting.
3) As always – the most interesting things you see off the beaten track.
The best alternative itinerary to visit Halong Bay is what we did:
Early in the morning take a taxi to Haiphong. You remember – the biggest port in Vietnam, built by friendly Soviet specialists in the delta of Red River.
Depart at 5 am as you must arrive to the port before 8 am. You may tike a public van but they are very unreliable and our van late for more than hour. It was a miracle that we got a Boat.
The boat is a hydrofoil Russian “Meteor” which takes you down the river, than out to the sea and finally arrives to Cat Ba - a small fishing town on Cat Ba Island. This is a lovely tiny waterfront town with amazing market where we bought all the necessary food for our 2 day cruise. Just upon arrival to Cat Ba go to arrange a boat for afternoon departure. Walk into all the doors to the left of pier. Ask guesthouses or shops and finally you will find a boat.
ASK FOR PERSONAL BOAT CHARTER ONLY. Starting at Cat Ba and Finishing at Halong City
We paid 70 USD for 2 day personal charter of a boat and we sail wherever we want independently. We selected the best secluded and inhabited island to camp. We avoid any crowds and any tourists at all.
The boat was a 10 meter motor boat (I can call it “barkas” in Russian) if you remember “Beloye Solntse Pustyni”.
Boatman need an hour or two to prepare so you will have a time for visiting market and lunch. Buy the whole Jack Fruit and you will eat it during 2 day cruise with your friends. I like jet fruits very much. It’s very big so 2 day cruise is exactly enough time to finish it.
Afternoon we cruised around islands which are not visited by the crowds of tourists as crowds depart from Halong City and do not head so far to south.
There are pearl farms and water gipsy houses – all is interesting and unforgettable.
We spend a night in a tent on the inhabited island, but there is always opportunity stay aboard.
REMEMBER – it is winter in Vietnam so weather might be cold and sea - rough. Take warm clothes with you.
Next day we were also on our own. Boatman’s know all the main icons and attractions of Halong Bay. Besides you can look through the web and select most attractive for you to ask him to visit.
Afternoon you disembark in Halong City. This is ugly place where all the crowds of package tourists depart for cruises. Prices for charters are incredibly high their and boats are more commercial than in Cat Ba. I do not recommend you to start in Halong City and return there as most people do. Start in Hayphong and finish in Halong City.
There are busses every hour to Hanoi or take a taxi. Bus takes 3-4 hours, taxi is twice faster.
Overnight in Hanoi.
Day 12 departure
However I recommend you to stay one night more to have 1 day for unpredictable troubles. For example you might be out of time due to strong storm in Halong. Or your driver slow down itinerary etc.
ALTERNATIVE RECOMMENDED ITINERARY:
As I told above this is not the most optimal itinerary. As you can see below I cut out Hue and Hoi An because this is what you can scarify. It is very interesting and nice to see but this is not the things which are unforgettable enough to scarify 4-5 days for just stupid driving to cover the distance. If you have time – you may flight from Saigon to Hanoi via Hue with stop there for couple nights and drive around Hue and even soputh to Hoi An to overnight there. I recommend you the following:
Day 1 as above
Day 2 as above
Day 3 as above
Day 4 drive from Dalat back to Saigon via coastal route and Phan Thiet.
Day 5 flight to Hanoi. Walk around. Arrange transport for next days.
Day 6 and 7 visit Halong Bay as described above.
Day 8 and 9 visit Ba Be Lakes National Park. Ask driver to stop at roadside canteens for local food for locals.
Ba Be lakes is the second place which impressed me in Vietnam after Halong Bay. This is a cascade of 3 lakes (ba – 3 be – lake). Area is mountainous. Lakes are fringed with tropical rainforests. Waterfall there is just impressive.
You drive north to Thai Nguyen and then to Na Phac. Turn to gravel road to Cho Ra.
Lonely planet gives perfect detailed info about BA BE so I cannot say better.
You take a boat to visit lakes and waterfall. You may stay in village with villagers in their houses. Talk to the people there. For example near the waterfall. If you fail – there are guesthouses in Cho Ra.
Go back to Hanoi on day 9.
Travel Cambodia - The Shortest Itinerary & Travel Tips
TRAVEL CAMBODIA
The Shortest Itinerary & Travel Tips
UXO – unexploded ordnance – never step off the roads, tracks or trails even for toilet. This is serious. All the most visited places are safe now, but even temples of Angkor are not completely cleaned of UXO. Never ignore small red sticks on a ground with such short word “UXO”. Keep out of them.
Do not miss:
1) Temples of Angkor.
2) Boat ride through Tonle Sap River from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh.
3) Phnom Penh itself.
Temples of Angkor:
We visited 80% of all temples and the most interesting are:
1) Angkor Wat itself – main and the biggest.
2) Bayon – huge stone faces
3) Ta Prohm – tree roots squeeze the stone walls. Maugli style temples.
4) Banteay Srei – the best preserved reliefs of amazing pink stones.
5) Beng Mealea – the most remote and rarely visited temple. Huge stone remnants of that temple sank in a sea of jungles and are not cleaned yet as area just recently was freed from khmer rebels. You probably will be alone there. Do not refuse local guide who is obligate. Usually we refuse such service, but it is really worth in Beng Melalea. Guide is necessary to avoid dangerous areas with UXO and to visit such parts of ruins which you never visit yourself. This is the first time in my life when I was happy to have a guide.
General notes from own experience:
You do not need a car in Cambodia. You always can take a car with driver for nothing. Much cheaper than rent-a-car. We paid 20 USD for taxi for 4 pax with baggage to take a taxi from Vietnamese border to PhnomPenh. We stoped anywhere we wanted to make pictures. We had an unforgettable fun as there are no bitumen roads in Cambodia. All roads are unpaved. Including main highways. They are just red soil with huge holes, dust and dirt.
Same cost for taxi from Thai border to Siem Reap (Angkor).
We took a fast boat (Russian “Raketa” ) to ride through all the Tonlesap Lake and river Tonle between Siem reap and Phnom Penh. Cost nothing.
So there is no need for car in Cambodia. Any guesthouse, any hotel may arrange driver with car or minibus. For group of 3 -4 pax it costs nothing per person (the cheaper your accommodation – the cheaper all other services provided and arranged - from food to transport). You are free to stop wherever you want and to go wherever you want. Besides drivers are locals and its interesting to communicate to them as well and its worth to listen their advise sometime (not too often).
Forget about hotels. Stay in guesthouses and similar backpack accommodation. You just need to make sure that guesthouse has shower in room or at least has good recommendations in Lonely Planet. Besides you are always welcome to check room first before check-in. If you like it you stay – if not - you go next door. People in such accommodations is a special experience to chat, have some fun, share impressions and get wise advise (much more objective and reliable than you can get from locals who normally do not aware what is beyond their yard fence).
Typical shortest itinerary from West to East:
DAY 1:
Early morning or later before noon cross the border between Thailand and Cambodia. Aranya Prathet on Thai border and Poipet on Cambodian Side.
Take a taxi to Siem Reap (town near Angkor temples). Takes about 3 hours (160 km). Taxi ride is comfortable as taxi cars are specially reconstructed by locals for riding their ugly roads. You will be impressed. Any normal car will die after just couple hundred meters of such ride. My friends and me – we remember those Cambodian taxi cars as the brightest experience of the country. We experienced both bus and taxi. Bus trip is real extream even for me. 8 (!) hours of bumping and dirt into the open windows. Sit infront of me just broken at one moment out of bus floor and jumped on me together with guy sitting on it. the rest of the way i was riding the furious bull jumping and fighting trying to catch myself and to hold the guy infront together with his own sit. Unforgetable fun.
Taxi was very comfortable and just enjoy.
Arrive Siem Reap. Find accommodation. Arrange local driver with minivan to drive afternoon around nearest temples on the same day.
There are temples just nearby to all accommodations and you can visit them just on a first day upon arrival. Bayon and Ta Prhom are the best to plan for today. Afternoon is preferable for nearby temples as morning hours are more for herds of organized tourists. We visited Ta Prhom during evening dawn and stayed there inside till dark fallen down. It was extra mystery on top to mysterious atmosphere of this temple. Wildlife woken up and we were rambling around like Mauglis in a company of monkeys - Banderlogs - shouting non-stop.
Alternatively you can visit these temples before sunset and then go to farewell the sun on special sunset point – this is famous place. There will be a lot of people but its not a problem as view of sunset and temples is unforgettable. Yura did it.
DAY 2
Start that day on a sunrise point. This is another one famous point to view Sunrise with views of temple. I did it.
Then proceed to Angkor Wat Temple. It will take a couple hours to climb around temple rooms, steps etc.
Then drive to remote temples like Bantei Srey and Beng Melalea (they are pretty far to the North East– about 40 km. But its worth. This is something beyond the route. You’ll like it. You know that art and architecture is the last what may cause interest for me. But I really liked reliefs of Bantei Srey. Thrilling experience of wild jungle temple of Beng Melalea is just unforgettable.
Our Driver took 80 USD for two day job, including long drive to remote temples. He worked about 4 hours on a first day. Then he started early before sunrise on day 2 and finished late afternoon, drove around 250 km, and half of them unpaved. First day he drove Landcruiser and the second day it was minivan (while Landcruiser should be more preferable for remote drive as roads around Angkor Wat and nearest temples are the only well paved roads in the entire country but remote temples has only unpaved access, though suitable for normal cars and vans).
DAY 3
Take a ride early in the morning from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh by fast boat across Tonle Sap Lake and Tonle river. About 3 hours. Book it in advance right upon arrival to Siem Reap.
Phnom Penh is interesting to walk around the streets which are also unpaved except some streets along the waterfront. We met an elephant and monkey right on the central street. There are a lot of street vendors and comedians, shopping everywhere, herds of foreigners and locals. Amazing French style cafes, restaurants and patios with Asian cuisine. Be careful and do not take table outside on ground floor. You will be unable to eat. Poor people stay write in front of your table watching at your mouth and begging for food ignoring any attempts of staff to get them out. It is simply impossible to eat in such atmosphere. Sit inside or take a table on a balcony of the second floor. Cambodia is very poor country and very cheap, but we met beggars only on the central streets of Phnom Penh.
We did not have an opportunity to visit Royal Palace but people say its worth to see. Try it and tell me then.
Day 4
Take a morning taxi to Vietnamese Border about 200 km 3-4 hours
You will cross a Mekong river by ferry en route what is remarkable itself.
Cross the border to Vietnam. Bavet village is the nearest on Cambodian side and Moc Bai town on Vietnamese side. Border post itself do not have any settlements there are just 200 meter of neutral side with 2 block posts on both sides.
The Shortest Itinerary & Travel Tips
UXO – unexploded ordnance – never step off the roads, tracks or trails even for toilet. This is serious. All the most visited places are safe now, but even temples of Angkor are not completely cleaned of UXO. Never ignore small red sticks on a ground with such short word “UXO”. Keep out of them.
Do not miss:
1) Temples of Angkor.
2) Boat ride through Tonle Sap River from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh.
3) Phnom Penh itself.
Temples of Angkor:
We visited 80% of all temples and the most interesting are:
1) Angkor Wat itself – main and the biggest.
2) Bayon – huge stone faces
3) Ta Prohm – tree roots squeeze the stone walls. Maugli style temples.
4) Banteay Srei – the best preserved reliefs of amazing pink stones.
5) Beng Mealea – the most remote and rarely visited temple. Huge stone remnants of that temple sank in a sea of jungles and are not cleaned yet as area just recently was freed from khmer rebels. You probably will be alone there. Do not refuse local guide who is obligate. Usually we refuse such service, but it is really worth in Beng Melalea. Guide is necessary to avoid dangerous areas with UXO and to visit such parts of ruins which you never visit yourself. This is the first time in my life when I was happy to have a guide.
General notes from own experience:
You do not need a car in Cambodia. You always can take a car with driver for nothing. Much cheaper than rent-a-car. We paid 20 USD for taxi for 4 pax with baggage to take a taxi from Vietnamese border to PhnomPenh. We stoped anywhere we wanted to make pictures. We had an unforgettable fun as there are no bitumen roads in Cambodia. All roads are unpaved. Including main highways. They are just red soil with huge holes, dust and dirt.
Same cost for taxi from Thai border to Siem Reap (Angkor).
We took a fast boat (Russian “Raketa” ) to ride through all the Tonlesap Lake and river Tonle between Siem reap and Phnom Penh. Cost nothing.
So there is no need for car in Cambodia. Any guesthouse, any hotel may arrange driver with car or minibus. For group of 3 -4 pax it costs nothing per person (the cheaper your accommodation – the cheaper all other services provided and arranged - from food to transport). You are free to stop wherever you want and to go wherever you want. Besides drivers are locals and its interesting to communicate to them as well and its worth to listen their advise sometime (not too often).
Forget about hotels. Stay in guesthouses and similar backpack accommodation. You just need to make sure that guesthouse has shower in room or at least has good recommendations in Lonely Planet. Besides you are always welcome to check room first before check-in. If you like it you stay – if not - you go next door. People in such accommodations is a special experience to chat, have some fun, share impressions and get wise advise (much more objective and reliable than you can get from locals who normally do not aware what is beyond their yard fence).
Typical shortest itinerary from West to East:
DAY 1:
Early morning or later before noon cross the border between Thailand and Cambodia. Aranya Prathet on Thai border and Poipet on Cambodian Side.
Take a taxi to Siem Reap (town near Angkor temples). Takes about 3 hours (160 km). Taxi ride is comfortable as taxi cars are specially reconstructed by locals for riding their ugly roads. You will be impressed. Any normal car will die after just couple hundred meters of such ride. My friends and me – we remember those Cambodian taxi cars as the brightest experience of the country. We experienced both bus and taxi. Bus trip is real extream even for me. 8 (!) hours of bumping and dirt into the open windows. Sit infront of me just broken at one moment out of bus floor and jumped on me together with guy sitting on it. the rest of the way i was riding the furious bull jumping and fighting trying to catch myself and to hold the guy infront together with his own sit. Unforgetable fun.
Taxi was very comfortable and just enjoy.
Arrive Siem Reap. Find accommodation. Arrange local driver with minivan to drive afternoon around nearest temples on the same day.
There are temples just nearby to all accommodations and you can visit them just on a first day upon arrival. Bayon and Ta Prhom are the best to plan for today. Afternoon is preferable for nearby temples as morning hours are more for herds of organized tourists. We visited Ta Prhom during evening dawn and stayed there inside till dark fallen down. It was extra mystery on top to mysterious atmosphere of this temple. Wildlife woken up and we were rambling around like Mauglis in a company of monkeys - Banderlogs - shouting non-stop.
Alternatively you can visit these temples before sunset and then go to farewell the sun on special sunset point – this is famous place. There will be a lot of people but its not a problem as view of sunset and temples is unforgettable. Yura did it.
DAY 2
Start that day on a sunrise point. This is another one famous point to view Sunrise with views of temple. I did it.
Then proceed to Angkor Wat Temple. It will take a couple hours to climb around temple rooms, steps etc.
Then drive to remote temples like Bantei Srey and Beng Melalea (they are pretty far to the North East– about 40 km. But its worth. This is something beyond the route. You’ll like it. You know that art and architecture is the last what may cause interest for me. But I really liked reliefs of Bantei Srey. Thrilling experience of wild jungle temple of Beng Melalea is just unforgettable.
Our Driver took 80 USD for two day job, including long drive to remote temples. He worked about 4 hours on a first day. Then he started early before sunrise on day 2 and finished late afternoon, drove around 250 km, and half of them unpaved. First day he drove Landcruiser and the second day it was minivan (while Landcruiser should be more preferable for remote drive as roads around Angkor Wat and nearest temples are the only well paved roads in the entire country but remote temples has only unpaved access, though suitable for normal cars and vans).
DAY 3
Take a ride early in the morning from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh by fast boat across Tonle Sap Lake and Tonle river. About 3 hours. Book it in advance right upon arrival to Siem Reap.
Phnom Penh is interesting to walk around the streets which are also unpaved except some streets along the waterfront. We met an elephant and monkey right on the central street. There are a lot of street vendors and comedians, shopping everywhere, herds of foreigners and locals. Amazing French style cafes, restaurants and patios with Asian cuisine. Be careful and do not take table outside on ground floor. You will be unable to eat. Poor people stay write in front of your table watching at your mouth and begging for food ignoring any attempts of staff to get them out. It is simply impossible to eat in such atmosphere. Sit inside or take a table on a balcony of the second floor. Cambodia is very poor country and very cheap, but we met beggars only on the central streets of Phnom Penh.
We did not have an opportunity to visit Royal Palace but people say its worth to see. Try it and tell me then.
Day 4
Take a morning taxi to Vietnamese Border about 200 km 3-4 hours
You will cross a Mekong river by ferry en route what is remarkable itself.
Cross the border to Vietnam. Bavet village is the nearest on Cambodian side and Moc Bai town on Vietnamese side. Border post itself do not have any settlements there are just 200 meter of neutral side with 2 block posts on both sides.
General Travel Tips for South East Asia
My friends ask me sometime for advise on what is worth to see in... I think it is worth to put my answers here to make them available to much wider auditorium.
You will probably need to visit Google maps to do not be lost on the way reading this post, but I recommend you to BUY LONELY PLANET ROAD ATLAS BEFORE READING INFO BELOW. It's the best atlas I found for this region (please recommend alternatives if any).
Information might be subjective especially from point of view of recommendations, but at least it is not theoretical and is based on my own experience.
1) My overall favorite countries among those you are going to visit are Malaysia and Cambodia.
2) People:
All people are different so I am not talking about Thais, Cambodians or Malays. I am talking about those people I met. Most hospitable and sincere people I met in Cambodia and Malaysia. Many Vietnamese I met were a bit aggressive and greedy, while others were so nice that i would be glad to make my trip together with them all the way across Vietnam. I also found THAT the further you get off the beaten track in Thailand the nicer people are. But as soon as everything is about travel industry in Thailand people often look at you as at one more pocket, however despite of expectations we met thais who looked at us with even deeper interest and curiosity than we did.
So for us Cambodia and Malaysia are the favorites from point of view of sincere smiles and non-commercial communications.
3) Cuisine – Malaysia and Thai
4) Most unusual atmosphere – Northern Vietnam – something outside of globalization. No advertising at all. Rarely seen cars on the streets and roads. Every third speaks Russian.
5) Wildlife, nature, landscapes etc – Malaysia. Thailand (which we visited) is not so abundoned in terms of wild animals like Malaysia, but there are many interesting places for nature lovers too.
6) Unusual impressive ancient Asian architecture – Cambodia and Thailand.
7) Always try to visit markets wherever you are. Markets are like a door to the local world. You can see what people grow, what people eat, what people fish, what kind of fishes inhabit in nearby waters, what kind of goods and tools people use (sell) in their daily life etc. We try to visit markets everywhere and it is not only experience but the best place to buy best local food for the best price.
8) Border crossings has working hours you cannot cross whenever you want. Check before planning.
ONE SAD BUT MAY BE WRONG NOTE:
I did not check, but it is quite possible that you will not be allowed to rent-a-car and drive through some countries crossing the borders. It is not Europe. At least I could not find a company which allow me to go to Singapore when I negotiated car in Malaysia . In this connection chances to be allowed to go to Thailand, Cambodia etc – are even lower. If it happens, I say that it is even better for you. Malaysia is very different and vast country to deserve a separate visit. We visited Malaysia on a 30 days trip staying at one place for not more than 2 nights and we did not visited even half of what we wanted to see.
You have 2 options how to move between Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur:
* flight – the best offers in 90% of cases are provided by http://www.airasia.com/ – rather new but aggressive and most competitive airlines in Asia.
* train – fast and good quality trains run many times a day from KUL to BKK and cost similar money as flights. Its an experience itself. I like train journeys in Thailand.
You may also take a train to any destination in the southern Thailand where you can pick up your Thai car to drive around Thailand.
http://www.railway.co.th/httpEng/
Good luck
You will probably need to visit Google maps to do not be lost on the way reading this post, but I recommend you to BUY LONELY PLANET ROAD ATLAS BEFORE READING INFO BELOW. It's the best atlas I found for this region (please recommend alternatives if any).
Information might be subjective especially from point of view of recommendations, but at least it is not theoretical and is based on my own experience.
1) My overall favorite countries among those you are going to visit are Malaysia and Cambodia.
2) People:
All people are different so I am not talking about Thais, Cambodians or Malays. I am talking about those people I met. Most hospitable and sincere people I met in Cambodia and Malaysia. Many Vietnamese I met were a bit aggressive and greedy, while others were so nice that i would be glad to make my trip together with them all the way across Vietnam. I also found THAT the further you get off the beaten track in Thailand the nicer people are. But as soon as everything is about travel industry in Thailand people often look at you as at one more pocket, however despite of expectations we met thais who looked at us with even deeper interest and curiosity than we did.
So for us Cambodia and Malaysia are the favorites from point of view of sincere smiles and non-commercial communications.
3) Cuisine – Malaysia and Thai
4) Most unusual atmosphere – Northern Vietnam – something outside of globalization. No advertising at all. Rarely seen cars on the streets and roads. Every third speaks Russian.
5) Wildlife, nature, landscapes etc – Malaysia. Thailand (which we visited) is not so abundoned in terms of wild animals like Malaysia, but there are many interesting places for nature lovers too.
6) Unusual impressive ancient Asian architecture – Cambodia and Thailand.
7) Always try to visit markets wherever you are. Markets are like a door to the local world. You can see what people grow, what people eat, what people fish, what kind of fishes inhabit in nearby waters, what kind of goods and tools people use (sell) in their daily life etc. We try to visit markets everywhere and it is not only experience but the best place to buy best local food for the best price.
8) Border crossings has working hours you cannot cross whenever you want. Check before planning.
ONE SAD BUT MAY BE WRONG NOTE:
I did not check, but it is quite possible that you will not be allowed to rent-a-car and drive through some countries crossing the borders. It is not Europe. At least I could not find a company which allow me to go to Singapore when I negotiated car in Malaysia . In this connection chances to be allowed to go to Thailand, Cambodia etc – are even lower. If it happens, I say that it is even better for you. Malaysia is very different and vast country to deserve a separate visit. We visited Malaysia on a 30 days trip staying at one place for not more than 2 nights and we did not visited even half of what we wanted to see.
You have 2 options how to move between Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur:
* flight – the best offers in 90% of cases are provided by http://www.airasia.com/ – rather new but aggressive and most competitive airlines in Asia.
* train – fast and good quality trains run many times a day from KUL to BKK and cost similar money as flights. Its an experience itself. I like train journeys in Thailand.
You may also take a train to any destination in the southern Thailand where you can pick up your Thai car to drive around Thailand.
http://www.railway.co.th/httpEng/
Good luck
Zdraviya Zhelayu!
Zdravia Zhelayu!
Say again...
Yes, it's not easy to spell and so not easy at all to understand. If you are not Russian of course.
I say literally: "Be healthy!" - the usual Russian greeting. In fact, it is not very usual as normally we say "Zdravstvuite!", what means absolutely the same. However I personally prefer to use "zdravia zhelayu" what sometime scares some people as it is a typical Russian.... military greeting.
This is my kind of protest to the sad "Devaluation of the Ever Greatest Words". It's sad that many important words loose their original meaning and importance and simply jump through in line with other meaningless companions. "Zdravstvuite", "Good Day" - we say so brilliant words but they do not wake our attention becoming a kind of unavoidable duty. Our disparaging goes as far that we even do not enforce ourselves to say Great Words completely and errogantly murmur: "Zdras'te", "G-day" or "Hi".
So sad all what've been said that I protest and greet you with Cheerful & Vivacious:
"Zdravia Zhelayu!"
Ok, now relax! This blog is not about semanthics.
Travel - we go!
Yours Sincerely
WildBron
Say again...
Yes, it's not easy to spell and so not easy at all to understand. If you are not Russian of course.
I say literally: "Be healthy!" - the usual Russian greeting. In fact, it is not very usual as normally we say "Zdravstvuite!", what means absolutely the same. However I personally prefer to use "zdravia zhelayu" what sometime scares some people as it is a typical Russian.... military greeting.
This is my kind of protest to the sad "Devaluation of the Ever Greatest Words". It's sad that many important words loose their original meaning and importance and simply jump through in line with other meaningless companions. "Zdravstvuite", "Good Day" - we say so brilliant words but they do not wake our attention becoming a kind of unavoidable duty. Our disparaging goes as far that we even do not enforce ourselves to say Great Words completely and errogantly murmur: "Zdras'te", "G-day" or "Hi".
So sad all what've been said that I protest and greet you with Cheerful & Vivacious:
"Zdravia Zhelayu!"
Ok, now relax! This blog is not about semanthics.
Travel - we go!
Yours Sincerely
WildBron
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