Preface to the story of how I traveled to Vietnam.
Part 1.
I didn't want to go to Vietnam.
I did not have plans for Vietnam.
I had long lists of countries where I really wanted and just wanted, and not very much, but wanted. And Vietnam was not on any of these lists.
But sometimes life is so strange that you wonder.
And so, after many of my attempts to travel around the world: after a long epic search for a companion to South America, after the cancellation of tickets to New Zealand, after great hopes to get to the United States and Puerto Rico, I go to Vietnam.
So I need to go there! )
I'm starting to look for information and I understand that Vietnam is an awesome country! You can drive there for a month or two, and always see the new and unusual. And I have three weeks for everything about everything, including the road.
I really wanted a quiet holiday-sea and really wanted to see Vietnam to the fullest, so the route was hidden many times, as a result, threw out everything that "did not fit" or was uncomfortable during the season. The biggest loss was Sapa, my companions categorically did not want her. At this time of year there was even snow.
Remaining:
Ho Chi Minh City-Dalat-Danang-Hoi An-Haiphong-Katba (Halong Bay) -Hanoi-Fu Kuok-Ho Chi Minh City.
5.12-21.12 (16 days)
Everything that is painted blue - flights. In Vietnam, flying was cheap and comfortable.
Road to Vietnam
2.12 (Wednesday) Kyiv-Moscow train 19.38 (on 13.10)
3.12 (Thursday) Arrival at 9.48 Moscow time
16.00 we go to Sheremetyevo airport.
Moscow-Ho Chi Minh City Flight
Flight Moscow-Beijing 1 8.55 (en route 7.25)
4.12 (Friday) Docking Beijing 7.20-20.
30 (11 hours, departure to the city, transit free)
Beijing-Ho Chi Minh City flight 20.30 (en route 5.10)
Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City-Dalat
5.12 . (Saturday) Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City at night 00.41 (flight 5.10)
4.12-6.12 hotel in Ho Chi Minh City (2 nights)
6.12 (Sunday) Flight to Dalat at 11.25
Dalat arrives at 12.15
6.12-7.12 hotel in Dalat (1 night) Crazy House
7.12-8.12 hotel in Dalat (1 night) Melody
Dalat-Danang
8.12 (Tuesday) Flight to Da Nang (8.25) arrives in Da Nang at 9.45
moving to Hoi An (transfer from the hotel)
8.12-10.12 hotel in Hoi An (2 nights)
10.12 (Thursday) We go to Da Nang in the morning
Halong-Hanoi Bay
we fly to Haiphong at 13.10. we arrive in Haiphong at 14.25
10.12 moving to Katba, boat at 16.00
10.12-12.12- hotel on Kat Be (2 nights)
11.12 (Friday) Ha Long Bay
12.12 (Saturday) We are going to Hanoi
12.12-13.12 hotel in Hanoi. (1 night)
Phu Quoc Ho Chi Minh City
1 3.12 (Sunday) Hanoi-Phu Quoc flight 12.30 . Arrive at 14.40
13.12-19.12 hotel in Phu Quoc (6 nights)
19.12 (Saturday) Flight to Ho Chi Minh City 8.40
We arrive in Ho Chi Minh City at 9.40
19.12-21.12 Ho Chi Minh City Hotel 2 nights (late check-out)
The way back
2 1.12 night (night from 20.12 to 21.12) flight Ho Chi Minh City-Moscow.
Ho Chi Minh City-Beijing flight 2.40 (flight 4.50)
Beijing dock ( 8.30-13.45 ) only 5.15 (out of town, free lounge)
21.12 (Monday) Beijing-Moscow flight 13.45 (flight 8.15)
Arrival in Moscow 17.00 Sheremetyevo Airport
21.12-22.12 Moscow 1 night
In the morning we go to Kyiv railway station, hand things over to the storage room and walk around Moscow.
22.12 (Tuesday) Moscow-Kyiv train 18.55
23.12 (Wednesday) arrival before 6.23 Kyiv time.
The trip cost about $ 1.500 per person.
$ 53 visa :
1. $ 8 Invitation
2. Actually visa (single, for 1 month) $ 45
Insurance 175 UAH (about 8 USD) for 1 year:
Insurance is not a condition for obtaining a visa, but it is not good to fly abroad without insurance.
I didn't bother and took for three kopecks from Ukreximbank. You need to open any card there.
To open the card, required:
1. Passport
2. Identification code
3. Details of the company where you work. (only USREOU needed)
4. Passport
5. Money 300 hryvnias. (100 - to open the card and 200 - the minimum contribution to it) From this money insurance is paid.
If you open a currency card, it's even easier - the card is free, the insurance is issued immediately and (if there is a form).
Gold insurance from AIG in Ukreximbank costs UAH 175, in contrast to Privatbank, where such insurance costs UAH 1.271. 22.
In Ukreximbank the amount of the maximum payment is 6.000 dollars, for medical expenses - 5.000, instead of 3.500, as in Privatbank.
Of the disadvantages - in Ukreximbank maximum stay in the country for 1 time - 30 days, not 60.
And does not cover emergency dentistry. I did not find any more difference.
I think that the saving of UAH 1.100 is worth it, it is unlikely that I in Vietnam would treat my teeth urgently for more than UAH 1.100.
One-way tickets for the entire route - $ 615:
1. ticket Moscow-Ho Chi Minh City 411.30 dollars (Air China)
2. Ho Chi Minh City ticket $ 35.86 (VietJet Air)
3. Dalat-Danang ticket $ 52.67 (Vietnam Airlines)
4. Danang Haiphong ticket $ 30.97 (VietJet Air)
5. Hanoi Fu Kuok ticket $ 52.95 (VietJet Air)
6. ticket to Phu Quoc Ho Chi Minh City $ 30.97 (VietJet Air)
Another vehicle I remember is $ 213 per person:
1. Train Kyiv-Moscow round trip $ 150 (full ticket $ 200)
2. Combi ticket in Haiphong bus + boat + bus 150 thousand dong (about 7 dollars)
3. Halong Bay Ship $ 26
4. Bus on the Katba to the 25.000 dong ferry (about $ 1)
5. Ferry from Katba Island to Halong 180.000 dong (about $ 8)
6. Halong-Hanoi bus 125 thousand dong (about 6 dollars)
Transfer to Hrszymin on arrival from the airport $ 20 for 2 people - $ 10 for 1 person (it's very expensive, but it was night)
Transfer from Danang to Hoi An 300.000 dong for three to 10.000 per 1 person (less than $ 5)
We took a lot of taxis, I'm afraid I don't think so.
Two-$ 749 hotels:
1. Ho Chi Minh City Stayed 2 nights? 416097532; sid = d1abb08a4aa262883941d424729cc0ee; dcid = 5 "> Saigon Europe & Spa Hotel $ 81
2. Dalat Stayed 2 nights? 416097532; sid = d1abb08a4aa262883941d424729cc0ee; dcid = 5 "> Crazy House and Melody Hotel 78 $
3. Hoi An Stayed 2 nights% 2A6OosA-416097532; sid = d1abb08a4aa262883941d424729cc0ee; dcid = 5 "> Harmony Hoian Homestay $ 55
4. Katba 2 nights (hotel on the waterfront, I do not remember the name) $ 22
5. Hanoi 1 night Hanoi Royal Palace Hotel 2 24 USD
6. Fu Kuok 6 nights Phu Van Resort & Spa 408 dol
7. Ho Chi Minh City sid = d1abb08a4aa262883941d424729cc0ee; dcid = 5 "> Saigon Europe & Spa Hotel 2 nights $ 81 (late check-out counted as all night)
$ 375 per person
We did not save on hotels.
The main savings were how to get to Vietnam cheaply)
The cheapest tickets to Vietnam, $ 411, at that time were from Moscow to Air China.
UIA offered to take 114 to Moscow and back, but the dates of these two attractions of unprecedented generosity did not coincide. It is clear that I took the ticket Moscow-Ho Chi Minh City immediately, the more I wanted to fly the Chinese, and at the same time to see Beijing)
And here Kyiv-Moscow ...all thought, waited for sale of any, actions or glitches
Waited for the complete cessation of flights.
I was even happy at once - it's good that I didn't get tickets in advance, now there is no hemorrhoids about the refund.
And the question arose - to fly through Minsk (Riga, Chisinau, Istanbul ... ) or go by train? For the price it was one to one — around $ 200 round trip.
This question tormented me for a short time, at work I was told that 1 company train is undergoing border control in Kyiv and Moscow, ie they do not wake up at night. I will say at once - this is not true. More precisely, not quite true, in general, wake up at night and on this train. But then it was a serious argument.
I'm still flying in the plane, and the train is like a house, lay down for yourself and have fun.
Train tickets cost me about $ 150. I have a 50% discount as a veteran of the Battle of Kulikovo in the winter at the Ukrainian railway station.
So, to get to Vietnam cheaply, you need to spend one day in Moscow and one day in Beijing. And back according to the same scheme, but I also had to spend the night in Moscow.
Extra cities and countries are part of the journey, I think, so I chose this path. You can fly with one dock somewhere in Dubai, for example, but it will cost almost twice as much. And in Dubai it is not so easy to get to the city.
At least much more expensive)
Well done Chinese. At the docking station in Beijing, you can go to the city for 72 hours without a visa. It is free. And with long docks, they give a free hotel on the outskirts of the airport or a lounge at the airport.
It is said that Beijing Airport offers its passengers free luggage storage so that they can travel to the city without anything. But, as we did not search, we did not even find a paid storage room. I also read that passengers with special needs (disabled, pregnant women, pensioners) can leave two winter clothes in the storage room for free if they travel through Beijing in transit to warm countries. I also don't know how true this is, I left my warm clothes in Moscow.
But I can say for sure that the Chinese are back to safety. After the frame, they communicate with each passenger, even if it did not ring. And take away lighters. And even matches.
And there is no smoking room at the airport. On the way back, when we did not go out into the city, I did not smoke for almost a day. In principle, I can do without nicotine this time, but there are heavy smokers who suffer without a "dose".
I do not know whether the Chinese are fighting smoking in this way or it increases the security of the country, but they say for a few yuan, any airport employee will take you to a cozy place to smoke and treat you to a lighter) Did not check.
On the evening of December 2, we boarded the train and the journey began.
No, we did not have fried chicken and a bottle of whiskey with us) Therefore, we did not fully enjoy the joy of rail transport) But after a nervous day of work, I gladly climbed to the top shelf and rested.
Ukrainian border guards entered Konotop. It was 10 o'clock in the evening. After crossing the border, we hurried to sleep - experienced people suggested that the Russian border guards would arrive at 2 o'clock in the morning.
Actually, that's what happened and that's why I don't understand the trick with Konotop. And on the way back, this Konotop woke us up at 4 am.
Probably easier in a regular train, where the border control is one after another, do not sleep longer, but at least do not wake up a second time. And the comfort of the train did not like at all. Although, of course, it is worse, but not for that kind of money.
At two o'clock in the morning, Russian border guards asked to open the luggage compartment. But the bags did not touch, why they had that compartment is unclear. Maybe they're watching the faces. Who cares and on what word)
I fell asleep sweetly again, I love trains after all.
In the morning we were in Moscow, decided not to spend energy on sightseeing, we still have to fly all night and walk all day in Beijing, so immediately from the station went to my daughter to take a shower and lie down. I was still repackaging my suitcase because I was carrying a bunch of her things.
I didn't particularly remember the road.
We took the subway, then the bus, I'm like a cat in a bag
We didn't have time to look back and eat what my child ate quickly, as it was time to go to the airport.
It was possible to register online, but when registration opened, we were on the train, and the next day I did not even dare to try. Convenient seats, most likely, have already been dismantled, and I was very afraid that I would not be able to check in the second passenger and we will sit separately. The Chinese site, and especially the mobile application, did not inspire confidence in me. That's why we registered in Sheremetyevo.
Many thanks and good health to the representatives of Air China in Moscow, they gave us a seat by the window. My ID veteran of the Battle of Kulikovo helped for the second time during the trip. It turns out that if you ask, it can work out) I'm usually ashamed, but this time I was advised by my companion. Thank you to her too!
We flew to Beijing in a Boeing 777-200, there are 2 + 5 + 2 seats, it would be very difficult to sit somewhere in the middle of the top five.
We saw how a young girl climbed to the middle place in the top five) Her neighbors slept and she took off her shoes and very deftly stepped over them with her armrests. Jump-jump)
We took off from Moscow at about 7 pm, landed in Beijing at 7 am, and spent only 7 hours in flight. It is easy to calculate that when our morning started, it was 2 o'clock in the morning in Moscow. And so we, at two o'clock in the morning, sleepy, tidy up at the airport and with heavy backpacks go to Beijing.
The whole cycle:
1. Preface to the story of how I traveled to Vietnam < / a>
2. Morning in the middle of the night or Hello, Comrade Beijing!
3. Ho Chi Minh City is a delicious city.
5. Part 5.
What can a day be like if it starts in a madhouse?
Marble mountains.
7. Part 7. The spiritual city of Hoi An.
8. Part 8. Why ruined Mission?
9. Part 9. By air, by sea, by land.
10. Part 10. Must see. Halong Bay.
