Vietnam: Useful tips for your journey
| Subject | Comment |
|---|---|
| Imigration | For travelling in Vietnam you need a passport and a visa. The passport has to be valid at least 6 month over the emigration date. For getting a visa you have 2 opportunities. First you can have a visa stamped in the passport, or second you can have a visa stamped on an additional paper. If you can choose, you should prefer the second opportunity. The reason is simple, in vietnamese hotels you have to leave the passport at the receiption counter, and if they loose your passport they would loose your visa too. Visa in Germany If you don´t have enough time, you should organize your visa in Germany, if you are a citizen of Germany. Therefore you have to write to the vietnames embassy in Berlin. The price is about 128 German Mark (about 65 USD). At first you have to write to the embassy and ask them for a Visa Application Form. They will send it to you within one week. Then you have to fill out this form, add your passport and the visa fee and send it back to the embassy. Attention : for this you have to use a registered letter with enough registration fee and return postage. The visa will be stamped into your passport and it will last 10 days to get your passport back. The adress of the embassy is : Botschaft der sozialistischen Republik Vietnam Königswinterstr. 28 10318 Berlin Tel.: 509 8262 Fax.: 509 9141 Visa in Bangkok A great number of flights to Vietnam are via Bangkok and give you the opportunity for a stopover there. If you want to spend some days in this fascinating city, you can get your visa there. This is the cheapest and fastest way. It will last about 2 days if you do it about a travel agency at Khaosan Road. The price for a visa should be 40 USD. |
| Money | If you go to Asia it´s always very important to think about your finances before the trip. Because it´s a little bit more difficult if you´re run out of money. So it´s important to calculate how much money you will need, and it´s also important to plan in which form you will carry your money with you. How much money will I need If your are economical and stay in budged accomodations and eat in small cafes always, you should be able to get by on around 20 USD per day, lus long-distance transport costs. If you want a little bit more comfort you should budget on around 50 USD per day. How to carry Travellers' cheques and credit cards are accepted in the major cities and towns popular with tourists, and I recommend to carry most of the money in this form. Additional you should take some USD cash in little notes with you. |
| Guide book | The best english-speaking guide book about Vietnam is the Lonely-Planet-Guide "Vietnam". If you want a german one you should take the translation of this book. It´s published at the "Stefan Loose Verlag". |
