Trip Report Vietnam Phan Thiet-Mui Non-Ho Chi Minh City-Hanoi November 2011
The trip is once again organized by our own efforts and risks, not for a group, which is why it is wonderful.
A flight by Aeroflot from terminal D to Hanoi, A330 is an excellent board, the only thing we advise you to worry about the places off board in advance (when buying tickets, if the fare allows you to choose a place), fly decently in time and bad places can spoil your nerves and mood. Aeroflot also has paid seats with more legroom in the economy, something around $ 40 per person one way, but this is according to the situation, i. e. either pay in advance for them or ask about loading the board during check-in for the flight , if not high, then it is quite possible, as in our case, to take a full row of four seats together and have a great sleep during the flight.
Arrival in Hanoi.
Our compatriots, just like not ours, are lovers of queues and crowds, therefore, upon arrival, they stand in a large queue at the window where they issue some local immigration forms and carry out related procedures until you meet with the border guard (respectively, separate queues for booths), we don’t know what about citizens other countries, but our citizens staying for up to 14 days for tourism purposes immediately to the border guard without any forms. We saw people standing in that very line to understand what was in vain. Unnecessary "bonus" after a 9-hour flight.
Flight to Ho Chi Minh.
We planned to connect for 2 hours, but since the Aeroflot was a little late, we had about 70 minutes left. It was enough for us, because the transition between international and domestic arrivals is located in the same building (terminal) at a distance of 5 minutes walk maximum.
About the flight, we chose jetstar (jetstar. com) due to price considerations.
This is a low-cost airline, an alternative to it is Vietnam Airlines, they are much more expensive. We paid about $ 200 per person, (for a round-trip flight) on neighboring dates it was possible to meet 150). When buying on the site, we strongly recommend choosing the option of reserving a seat in advance, it costs about $ 3 per person for a one-way flight. We strongly advise you to take the first row, those places on the left side of the cabin, maximum legroom and comfort, it is also better to pay for luggage in advance (cheaper than at the airport) and be sure to pay attention to the luggage weight norm, for an excess of 10 kg we were charged 18 Doll.
Immediately get ready for the fact that, as we learned later, as a rule, poor Vietnamese fly with a jetstar, they are not evil, but with purely their own understanding of the culture of behavior in society, many are sure that they have the gift of passing through obstacles through and through, in case this fails the skill, as it was in our case repeatedly, to apologize or somehow show that they regret what they have done is also not customary, here, apparently, another gift is already working, the nature of which we did not have time to study. In this regard, once again, we strongly recommend the first row and be sure to place the seats on the left.
We also advise you to get ready for the idea that this is just a two-hour flight without any service, food (included in the cost of the flight, you can buy something for money, we have not tried it) the board is rather shabby (Boeing 737). In general, the flight corresponds to the price.
Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City, transfer to Mui Ne.
At the exit from the terminal of domestic airlines there is some kind of tourist office where we took a transfer. There were such options: $91 for a passenger car (all cars in Vietnam are decent, a lot of fresh ones, all with kander) and $95 for a minivan. We took a minivan and ended up having a great ride, each sleeping in a separate triple seat. Taxi drivers at the terminal offered the same passenger car for $120.
The ride is really at least 5-6 hours as it is written in most reviews, endless mopedists, speed limits favor this.
Hotel Romana resort and spa.
Booking. com offered us a villa with a sea view, with breakfast, for $84 per night, while the hotel offered it for $175. This predetermined the choice. There was a desire to take a villa in the Victoria hotel, it was offered for $ 215 per day. Let's say right away that if we take into account the cost in Romana from the counter, i. e. 175 per day, then we must definitely take Victoria for 215. Victoria is definitely the best, we would even say the only best hotel in the resort.
Romana and Victoria have in common a secluded location (these hotels are 3 minutes drive from each other), away from the local walking street. We don’t want to offend anyone, but if you like something like that, fly to Turkey or Egypt, save a lot of money and time on the road.
Walking street is a rather dirty place strewn with boutiques with cheap and low-quality fakes, all kinds of food with Russian names, this is essentially not Vietnam. I wonder if there would be 156 million people in Romania, would such resort places be strewn with inscriptions in Romanian? !
By the way, the expensive five of the famous Anantara chain stands on the same street, but this is probably one of her most unsuccessful projects. The hotel is expensive, but in itself is not worth the money that is asked for it, hotels with such prices cannot stand in such places.
Returning to Romana:
-good and beautiful territory;
-quite friendly staff;
- more or less decent English only at the reception (if you want to use the room service, call the reception directly);
- with some reservations, a normal restaurant with an average cuisine in our opinion and decent enough food prices, alcohol prices are adequate;
- ironing is very inexpensive, but it is not of very high quality, but quite acceptable in resort realities;
- there was a sufficient amount of living creatures, a mouse lived in our villa, large flying cockroaches periodically came across, there was one frog, but in general everything was fine in this regard; the only minus that is very significant for us is the evening midge (nevev villa, respectively), it is not visible / not heard, but it bites everything. . Buy something to protect against them, it brings out in earnest;
- in our villa the air conditioning was noisy at night;
- there are no complaints about the pool at the villa in terms of water quality;
- TV did not turn on, we do not know;
- the refrigerator worked, everything is ok;
- normal breakfasts;
- cleaning is normal, I would even say satisfactory. They have one peculiarity: if you ordered something from food, then they put the dishes from under it next to the entrance to the villa, which, most likely, according to the plan, should be removed by other services, the set of which has not yet begun. We have all stood for a week, periodically replenished.
- the beach is not stone, as for some reason they write in other reviews, it is sandy with a smooth entrance to the sea. We do not know how it is in other months, but at the end of November the sea is not calm, there are waves. Towels, sunbeds - free of charge.
- the local spa is pleasant enough, but the prices are high for Vietnam, which is probably why it was almost always empty when we passed by. We used it once, when we got burned, we did a wrap.
Basically, we went to the spa, which is a minute away from the hotel (its appearance is not presentable, compared to the hotel, but the quality of the massage is the same for the price three times lower) who needs it, we can give contacts. By the way, there is a good steam room;
- wifi. We needed it for work, and here, of course, the main disadvantage is that it is only not at the reception, they say that it is still in the restaurant, but our iPads did not find it there. There is nothing in the room.
Next to the reception there is a small room with two stationary computers and wired normal internet;
- as a result, $ 84 is an adequate price for this villa with breakfast, the villas themselves are quite shabby, compared to villas in the same Victoria.
Tip for buying food/drinks outside the hotel:
We went to the coop mart, which is located in Phan Thiet (about $ 6 for the cost of a taxi per way one way), this is a traditional supermarket where locals are bought, just be prepared that there are a lot of them.
There we drank water, beer, fruit, etc. In principle, you can go there once at the very beginning, the price tag for everything is very attractive.
As for restaurants, or rather a restaurant outside the hotel, it is definitely the best / with excellent service, decor and, most importantly, brilliant cuisine (it may well not upset the bellies of those who are used to A. Novikov's restaurants or, say, the Ginza project) is the restaurant at the Victoria Hotel. Good selection of Aussie/French/Italian etc. wines, there is a menu with both Vietnamese dishes and a western menu (there is also a good Australian lamb though at the right price, different pastas, French onion soup, gazpacho) Gorgeous desserts, we tried everything .
We met the chef, a very interesting Vietnamese who speaks good English, which is interesting, he has been running this restaurant for the entire 15 years that the restaurant has been operating.
What is also very important: the restaurant is located on the veranda in close proximity to the sea, which only adds to the romance.
We dined there every night, paying $70-$120 for a dinner for two, never regretting a single cent.
General advice on taxi drivers / transfers: everything is inexpensive, but we often took a taxi, there are taxi drivers who allegedly do not have change and they do not understand English, although they could understand until the moment of payment, there were also those who, with a straight face, gave less change (although they don’t “squeeze out” much), so keep it with you exactly for the calculation, and for tea “to taste”.
Transfer Mui Ne - Ho Chi Minh City hotel.
We found the contact of a Russian-speaking guide who makes (not he does, but through him) this transfer for $ 85 (although not by minivan, but by station wagon), if necessary, we can also give a contact, maybe he will make the same price for transfer from Ho Chi Minh City.
Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City. Ngoc Mihn hotel
One day was enough for us. Notre Dame, of course, is not close to being a candle to its Parisian namesake, the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum is much inferior to the Moscow one, they say that the Chinese one (the latter was not seen).
Hanoi airport/departure.
Nothing special, just an airport. Duty free: modest, but all you usually need to eat. There are no boutiques, there is one multi-brand (Burberry, bally etc. ) with Moscow prices. There are a lot of stalls with souvenirs, everything is expensive, magnets are from $1.5, so it's better to take care of it in advance if necessary.
There are a lot of impressions from Vietnam, but let everyone have their own and strong ones like ours, we just wanted to write one more report that is most useful from the point of view of practicality.
We hope our essay will be useful for you.
Keep in touch,
Zakhar and Dusya.
