Sunday, January 01, 2006
A Quick Visa Run to Hanoi, Vietnam
I recently needed to get a student visa made and decided to take one of Air Asia's new routes to Hanoi, Vietnam. The following is an account of my experiences...
A Note about Vietnam and Visas
Vietnam requires most people to obtain a visa before arrival; some that are exempt from this requirement are Scandinavian countries and Asian countries; You should check if not sure though. I, unfortunately, wasn't exempt and had to go to the Vietnamese embassy in Bangkok on Wireless Road. The most convenient way to do this is to go to the Phloen Chit Sky Train station. From there, a quick ride on a motorcycle or a couple hundred meter walk (turn left when going away from On Nut) will get you to the embassy. Once there, fill out the form, hand it in, pay the ฿2500 for the tourist visa, and give them your passport. You can then pick it up the next day from 4PM (the embassy's hours are 8AM - 11AM and 1:30PM - 4:30PM (I think)).
Running Total: ฿2500
The Flight
As with all Air Asia flights, the price included but one thing - transportation - and that's exactly what was supplied; the flight was on time, uneventful, and a good deal (I got a round-trip ticket for ฿5100). The flight from Bangkok to Hanoi is about 1 hour 50 minutes and the one that arrives at Hanoi at around noon provides plenty of time to get to the Thai Embassy.
Running Total: ฿2500 + ฿5100 = ฿7600
Arrival at Hanoi
The airport in Hanoi is fairly nice compared to some other airports in the region and processing through immigration was fairly quick. Upon exiting, I decided to get a taxi since I wasn't sure about how much time I had until the Thai embassy closed and got one for US $12 (Vietnam is similar to Cambodia in that US dollars are used there as if they were the country's own currency but less so than Cambodia - tourist related things all ask for dollars and the embassy will only take them). The trip from the airport to the actual city is about 30 minutes and offers some fairly depressing sights; the general look of Hanoi's outskirts is that of intermixed poverty and industrial development.
Running Total: ฿2500 + ฿5100 + $12 = ฿8080
In the City
The actual city of Hanoi looks fairly interesting...
The general look is that of many 3 - 5 story buildings that look slightly old with the occasional French looking one for variety
My hotel, the HOANG CƯỜNG, was very near here on NGUYỄN THÁI HỌC. I chose it mainly since it was a couple hundred meters from the Thai embassy and it wasn't too expensive - $15 per night for a small room with an even smaller TV (undoubtedly the smallest TV I've ever seen in a hotel).
Running Total: ฿2500 + ฿5100 + $12 + $30 ($15 x 2) = ฿9280
Many of the upper levels of buildings are similar to this
The Traffic
One thing most people are likely to notice is the traffic; it's chaotic and dominated by motorcycles - I've never seen anywhere else with more of them being used than Hanoi
Communism
One thing that adds quite a bit to the visual appeal of Hanoi is the look of communism. On many of the streets you're likely to see everything from banners displaying the hammer and sickle, people dressed in clothes that just scream Russia (I went when it was cold), and even statues of Lenin:
Paintings usually looked pretty communistic too
Guards too
Food
I mainly ate only at little places down side roads; they were cheap ($0.50 - $0.75) but, unlike in Thailand, merely edible. The one tourist type place that I went to was the Ȏ Sin restaurant which specializes in snake...
The menu
The grilled rib
A display
The owner
My grilled cobra ribs was about $5 so...
Running Total: ฿2500 + ฿5100 + $12 + $30 ($15 x 2) + $5 + $5 (for all other food) = ฿9680
Tourist Type Places
I went to Hanoi to get a student visa made so didn't really try to go to too many places. I mainly just went to kill time. Here's where I did end up going (by hiring a motorcycle guy to drive me around all day for $12)
A war museum
A temple
Ho Chi Minh's house
A pagoda
Conclusion
Overall, I thought Hanoi was moderately interesting but not overly so. The architecture was rather boring, the food bland, and everyone out to get as much money from foreigners as possible. I'm glad I went once but a second trip certainly doesn't sound appealing.
As for other costs
Return trip to airport: $20
Thai student visa: $60
Airport tax: $10 (I think)
Totaling $90
Total: ฿2500 + ฿5100 + $12 + $30 ($15 x 2) + $5 + $5 (for all other food) + $90 = ฿13280 or, rounding up for errors or things left out, $350 ($290 minus the visa)
A Note about Vietnam and Visas
Vietnam requires most people to obtain a visa before arrival; some that are exempt from this requirement are Scandinavian countries and Asian countries; You should check if not sure though. I, unfortunately, wasn't exempt and had to go to the Vietnamese embassy in Bangkok on Wireless Road. The most convenient way to do this is to go to the Phloen Chit Sky Train station. From there, a quick ride on a motorcycle or a couple hundred meter walk (turn left when going away from On Nut) will get you to the embassy. Once there, fill out the form, hand it in, pay the ฿2500 for the tourist visa, and give them your passport. You can then pick it up the next day from 4PM (the embassy's hours are 8AM - 11AM and 1:30PM - 4:30PM (I think)).
Running Total: ฿2500
The Flight
As with all Air Asia flights, the price included but one thing - transportation - and that's exactly what was supplied; the flight was on time, uneventful, and a good deal (I got a round-trip ticket for ฿5100). The flight from Bangkok to Hanoi is about 1 hour 50 minutes and the one that arrives at Hanoi at around noon provides plenty of time to get to the Thai Embassy.
Running Total: ฿2500 + ฿5100 = ฿7600
Arrival at Hanoi
The airport in Hanoi is fairly nice compared to some other airports in the region and processing through immigration was fairly quick. Upon exiting, I decided to get a taxi since I wasn't sure about how much time I had until the Thai embassy closed and got one for US $12 (Vietnam is similar to Cambodia in that US dollars are used there as if they were the country's own currency but less so than Cambodia - tourist related things all ask for dollars and the embassy will only take them). The trip from the airport to the actual city is about 30 minutes and offers some fairly depressing sights; the general look of Hanoi's outskirts is that of intermixed poverty and industrial development.
Running Total: ฿2500 + ฿5100 + $12 = ฿8080
In the City
The actual city of Hanoi looks fairly interesting...
The general look is that of many 3 - 5 story buildings that look slightly old with the occasional French looking one for variety
My hotel, the HOANG CƯỜNG, was very near here on NGUYỄN THÁI HỌC. I chose it mainly since it was a couple hundred meters from the Thai embassy and it wasn't too expensive - $15 per night for a small room with an even smaller TV (undoubtedly the smallest TV I've ever seen in a hotel).
Running Total: ฿2500 + ฿5100 + $12 + $30 ($15 x 2) = ฿9280
Many of the upper levels of buildings are similar to this
The Traffic
One thing most people are likely to notice is the traffic; it's chaotic and dominated by motorcycles - I've never seen anywhere else with more of them being used than Hanoi
Communism
One thing that adds quite a bit to the visual appeal of Hanoi is the look of communism. On many of the streets you're likely to see everything from banners displaying the hammer and sickle, people dressed in clothes that just scream Russia (I went when it was cold), and even statues of Lenin:
Paintings usually looked pretty communistic too
Guards too
Food
I mainly ate only at little places down side roads; they were cheap ($0.50 - $0.75) but, unlike in Thailand, merely edible. The one tourist type place that I went to was the Ȏ Sin restaurant which specializes in snake...
The menu
The grilled rib
A display
The owner
My grilled cobra ribs was about $5 so...
Running Total: ฿2500 + ฿5100 + $12 + $30 ($15 x 2) + $5 + $5 (for all other food) = ฿9680
Tourist Type Places
I went to Hanoi to get a student visa made so didn't really try to go to too many places. I mainly just went to kill time. Here's where I did end up going (by hiring a motorcycle guy to drive me around all day for $12)
A war museum
A temple
Ho Chi Minh's house
A pagoda
Conclusion
Overall, I thought Hanoi was moderately interesting but not overly so. The architecture was rather boring, the food bland, and everyone out to get as much money from foreigners as possible. I'm glad I went once but a second trip certainly doesn't sound appealing.
As for other costs
Return trip to airport: $20
Thai student visa: $60
Airport tax: $10 (I think)
Totaling $90
Total: ฿2500 + ฿5100 + $12 + $30 ($15 x 2) + $5 + $5 (for all other food) + $90 = ฿13280 or, rounding up for errors or things left out, $350 ($290 minus the visa)
# posted by Zek @ 12:24 AM 
