Budget Travel to Vietnam and Cambodia
My recent trip abroad taught me a whole new experience in budget traveling. Despite visiting two countries simultaneously, I did not go overboard with my budget limit, I even managed to save.
Budget limit: Php12,000 Actual amount spent: Php9,678.00
Budget Travel is always possible if you stay focus with your budget plan, just prepare your itinerary concisely and set your limit, and, yes, don't cheat with your budget plan. When you create a budget, put an estimated amount for each item so that you have an idea how much amount to prepare and how to work things out while waiting for the schedule of your trip.
Saigon (one night): Lan Lan 2 Hotel
Address: Ben Thanh, Quan 1, Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam
Phone: +84-8-3822-7926
Each bed can accommodate two persons
Php720.00 for each per person, per night
Lan Lan 2 is a 3-star
hotel and located just across Ben Thanh market and closer to the best
attractions around Saigon: Notre Dame cathedral, Central post office,
Independence palace. Amenities and freebies include cable television, electric kettle, hair blower, refrigerator, free wifi, telephone, pair of slippers, bath towel, face towel, bottled water for each person, free breakfast, toiletries: shampoo, toothbrush
kit, bath soap and shower gel. Very clean and elegant room and accommodating staff.
For below expenses, I used the conversion rate of .0025 Vietnamese dong (VD) per one Philippine peso. If you want to convert VD into US dollar, selling price of dollar currency in Vietnam and Cambodia is Php50.00
VISIT AGODA SITE HERE TO SCORE HOTEL DEALS LIKE WE DID.
VISIT AGODA SITE HERE TO SCORE HOTEL DEALS LIKE WE DID.
VD
|
Php
|
|
DAY 1-Saigon
|
||
Travel
from airport to Ben Thanh
|
5,000
|
12.50
|
Hotel
accommodation-1 night
|
720.00
|
|
Lunch-full
meal
|
61,000
|
152.50
|
Snacks
at the Independence Palace
|
10,000
|
25.00
|
Entrance
fee to Independence Palace
|
30,000
|
75.00
|
Siklo
ride from Ind.palace to hotel
|
150,000
|
375.00
|
Grocery
(toiletries, food, drinks)
|
45,000
|
112.50
|
Total expenses for Day 1
|
1,472.50
|
For the above itemized expenses, you might notice I did not include my breakfast and dinner, it's because I brought food from Manila, good for breakfast on the day of our arrival and dinner, but if you don't want to bring packed meals, you may allocate budget for your breakfast and dinner for day 1. Take note also that there's no item for a city ride except for siklo, it's because we just walked on foot while visiting attractions.
Important reminder: In Saigon, siklo ride is a lot expensive and if you want to try this ride for an experience make sure you make a clear arrangement with the siklo driver to come up with a reasonable fare, we were not able to negotiate clearly with the 3 drivers (I guess, the right term is---there was a miscommunication) because we're extremely tired to think about arrangement. If you hate walking around the unfamiliar streets, choose taxi instead, flag down rate in Vietnam is only VD12,000 - Php30.00, there's an additional VD3,000 (Php7.50) per kilometer.
Important Tip: When crossing the border or when traveling to another town/province in Vietnam or Cambodia, make an arrangement with the hotel receptionist to buy you a bus ticket, this is more convenient because the arrangement includes free pick up at the hotel with no additional charges.
Phnom Penh city (two nights): Hotel Luxury world
Address: #35 Street 200, Sangkat Boeung Rang, Khan Daun,
Phnom Penh city, Cambodia
The actual room we occupied at Hotel Luxury world
Php720.00 each person per night
Hotel Luxury world is 3-star
hotel with freebies and amenities similar to Lan Lan 2 hotel (minus electric kettle). They have nice
and accommodating staff, the location is just within the city. For travelers who may want to buy dollar currency or Cambodian currency, there's a western union nearby, around two blocks. Unlike in Lan Lan 2 hotel, at Hotel luxury world, you are required to present a meal coupon when availing the free breakfast, you can get it from the receptionist.
US$
|
Php
|
|
DAY 2-Phnom Penh City
|
||
Bus
fare (Capitol Tours bus)
|
825.00
|
|
Hotel
accommodation-1 night
|
740.00
|
|
Tuktuk
ride from bus stop to hotel
|
1.5
|
75.00
|
Dinner
– along the city road
|
1.5
|
75.00
|
Total expenses for Day 1
|
1,715.00
|
Siem Reap city (one night): Rithy Rine Angkor Hotel
Address: #0509, Wat bo village, Siem Reap city, Cambodia
Phone: +85-5-12-237-456
The actual room we occupied.
We paid Php550.00 each for one night. Pretty cheap rate isn't it? You can avail this rate too, just make your reservation at AGODA SITE through this LINK
Rithy Rine Angkor hotel is also a 3-star hotel located at Wat bo village, this area is closer to Koulen II restaurant and souvenir shops. It has wonderful staff, I was so touched with their kindness, very pleasant! We spent dinner at Koulen II restaurant, Rithy Rine staff recommended it to us, they also arranged our reservation at the restaurant.
US$
|
Php
|
|
DAY 3-Siem Reap City
|
||
Bus
fare (Sorya bus)
|
10.00
|
500.00
|
Hotel
accommodation-1 night
|
520.00
|
|
I
bought pinipig on the road
|
1.00
|
50.00
|
Tuktuk
ride from bus stop to hotel
|
1.5
|
75.00
|
Dinner
– Koulen II restaurant
|
13.00
|
650.00
|
Tuktuk
ride at night
|
1.33
|
66.50
|
Total expenses for Day 1
|
1,861.50
|
US$
|
Php
|
|
DAY 4-Siem Reap, Angkor, Phnom Penh
|
||
Tuktuk
ride to Angkor complex – One day
|
10.00
|
500.00
|
Angkor
Pass for one day tour
|
20.00
|
1,000.00
|
Bus
fare going back to Phnom Penh
|
8.00
|
400.00
|
Stop
over meal – Sieam Reap province
|
1.00
|
50.00
|
Tuktuk
ride from bus stop to hotel
|
1.40
|
70.00
|
Hotel
accommodation – 1 night
|
740.00
|
|
Dinner
|
1.00
|
50.00
|
Total expenses for Day 1
|
2,810.00
|
US$
|
VD
|
Php
|
|
DAY 5- Phnom Penh and Saigon
|
|||
Bus
fare going back to Saigon
|
10.00
|
500.00
|
|
Taxi
to Ben Thanh market
|
30,000
|
75.00
|
|
Dinner
in front of Ben Thanh market
|
50,000
|
125.00
|
|
Taxi
to airport from Ben Thanh market
|
45,000
|
112.50
|
|
Total expenses for Day 1
|
812.00
|
VD
|
Php
|
|
Souvenir Items shopping
|
||
Saigon
|
584,000
|
1,460.00
|
With this amount, I already
bought:
1
embroidered casual bag
4
embroidered cloth pouches
1
mini sling pouch with embroidery
2
cloth coin purses
2
T-shirts with nice embroidery
3
metal key chains
3
magnetic holders
2
ceramic figurines
|
||
Siem Reap city
|
$5.00
|
250.00
|
With this amount, I already
bought:
1 T-shirt
2 magnetic holders
1 glass miniature
|
||
Total amount I spent in shopping
|
1,710.00
|
Expenses in both Vietnam and
Cambodia
|
Php
|
Hotel
accommodation (4 nights)
|
2,750.00
|
Food,
transportation, entrance fees, others
|
5,138.50
|
Shopping
|
1,710.00
|
Tips
– hotel service staff (carrying bags)
|
80.00
|
Total expenses for this adventure
|
9,678.00
|
Airfare/transpo/requirements
|
Php
|
Round
Trip airfare (Manila-Saigon-Manila)
|
8,575.00
|
Travel
Tax
|
5,138.50
|
Terminal
Fee (NAIA only)
|
1,710.00
|
Departure
- Fare from the city to airport
|
153.00
|
Arrival
– Fare from airport to Taft (bus)
|
20.00
|
Taft
to Mandaluyong (MRT)
|
20.00
|
TOTAL
|
15,616.50
|
Grand Total for this 5-day
foreign trip
|
25,294.50
|
IMPORTANT TIPS/GUIDE/REMINDERS:
When visiting Vietnam and Cambodia:
- Do research online what attractions you prefer to visit.
- Learn from other travelers' experience by reading reviews/sharing online
- Prepare your itinerary ahead of time
- English is not widely spoken in both Cambodia and Vietnam, so write the address of each destination and hotels in a piece of paper and show it to the locals.
- If you want to cross the border and need to buy a bus ticket, just tell the receptionist of your hotel, they will be the one to make an arrangement with the bus company, there’s no additional fee with this as this is part of their service. What made this arrangement very comfortable is that it includes free pick up at your hotel without additional payment.
- Bus companies going to and from Cambodia and Vietnam provide free bottled water for each passenger and one wet tissue. All bus facilities have comfort room and television. Other bus companies have free wifi on board.
- When visiting Cambodia, make sure you bring US dollar instead of Cambodian currency, most stores and establishments there prefer US dollar than their local currency.
- Siklo (similar to a trisikad in the Philippines) is very expensive, if you want to experience this ride in Vietnam, make sure you make a clear negotiation with the driver how much you will going to pay before embarking on a ride.
- In Cambodia, means of transportation is Tuktuk (similar to tricycle in the Philippines), normally the fare is only $3.00 for a single ride within the city, this rate is not per head, it’s the total payment for a single ride, so you can divide the amount among yourselves if you're with a group. If the destination is far, they will collect $5.00 for the ride.
I have only one regret with this trip, we're not able to cross Thailand when it is just 7 hours away from Siem Reap city. Actually, when we first created our itinerary we never thought of visiting Cambodia because our initial plan was to visit Da Lat in Central Vietnam and Hoi An in the North but travel time to these places is the same as crossing Cambodia, thus we revised our itinerary and decided to include Angkor Wat, too late we already booked a round-trip ticket.
For a smooth trip and to make most of your time visiting Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, you may either choose to enter Saigon then cross to Cambodia via Phnom Penh then to Siem Reap and exit in Bangkok or vice versa.
WANT TO GET THE PRICE RATE SIMILAR TO THESE HOTEL DEALS FOR YOUR NEXT ADVENTURE? VISIT AGODA SITE HERE TO AVAIL HUGE DISCOUNT!
READ THE REST OF OUR ADVENTURE HERE
To give you an idea how we prepared our itinerary for this trip, here's the actual time table:
Plan/Date
|
Destination/Place
|
Time
|
Transportation
|
DAY 1 – Jan.2, Friday
|
SAIGON, VIETNAM
|
||
Arrival from Manila
|
Tan Son Nhat airport
|
12:30am
|
|
Rest
|
Airport
|
1:00-7:00am
|
|
Breakfast
|
Airport
|
7:00am
|
|
Travel from airport
to Ben Thanh
|
Ben Thanh market
|
7:30am
|
Bus #152
|
Lan Lan 2 Hotel
|
Across Ben Thanh
|
||
City leisure around
Saigon
|
|||
(we were not able to
visit all the attractions listed in our original itinerary: History Museum,
Jade Emperor pagoda, War remnants museum and Suo Tien amusement park)
|
Public parks
Notre dame cathedral
Central post office
Lunch – Diamond Plaza
Independence Palace
Back to hotel
Dinner
|
9:30am
10:30am
11:30am
1:00pm
3:00pm
6:30pm
|
Stroll, walk, siklo
ride
|
DAY 2 – Jan.3, Saturday
|
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA
|
||
Breakfast – Lan Lan
2 hotel - free
|
7:00am
|
||
Free pick up at the
hotel
|
8:30am
|
Bus shuttle
|
|
Depart for Phnom
Penh
|
9:00am
|
Bus
|
|
Arrival
|
Phnom Penh city
|
5:30pm
|
|
Travel to hotel
luxury world
|
5:30pm
|
Tuktuk
|
|
Check-in hotel
|
5:45pm
|
||
Dinner
|
7:30pm
|
||
DAY 3 – Jan.4, Sunday
|
SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA
|
||
Breakfast – Hotel -
free
|
7:00am
|
||
Free pick up at the
hotel
|
8:30am
|
Bus shuttle
|
|
Depart for Siem Reap
|
9:00am
|
Bus
|
|
Arrival
|
Siem Reap city
|
5:30pm
|
|
Travel to Rithy Rine
Angkor hotel
|
5:30pm
|
Tuktuk
|
|
Check-in hotel
|
5:45pm
|
||
Dinner
|
Koulen II restaurant
|
7:30pm
|
Tuktuk
|
Back to the hotel
|
9:30pm
|
Tuktuk
|
|
DAY 4 – Jan.5, Monday
|
SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA
|
||
Depart for Angkor
complex
|
5:10am
|
Tuktuk
|
|
Destination 1:
|
Apsara ticketing
|
5:20am
|
Tuktuk
|
Destination 2:
|
Angkor Wat
|
5:30am
|
Tuktuk
|
Destination 3:
|
Angkor Thom
|
7:40am
|
Tuktuk
|
Destination 4:
|
Ta Phrom Temple
|
9:30am
|
Tuktuk
|
Back to hotel
|
Rhity Rine hotel
|
11:00am
|
Tuktuk
|
Free pick up
|
11:30am
|
Pick up shuttle
|
|
Depart for Phnom
Penh
|
12:30pm
|
Bus
|
|
Arrival
|
Phnom Penh city
|
8:00am
|
|
Travel from bus stop
to hotel
|
Hotel luxury world
|
8:10pm
|
Tuktuk
|
Check-in hotel
|
8:25pm
|
||
DAY 5 – Jan.6, Tuesday
|
SAIGON, VIETNAM
|
||
Breakfast – hotel free
|
7:00am
|
||
Free pick up shuttle
bus
|
8:30am
|
Shuttle bus
|
|
Depart for Saigon
|
9:00am
|
Bus
|
|
Arrival
|
Saigon
|
4:00pm
|
|
Travel to Ben Thanh
market
|
Ben Thanh market
|
4:10pm
|
Taxi
|
Shopping
|
Ben Thanh market
|
4:25pm
|
|
Dinner
|
Around Ben Thanh
market
|
7:00pm
|
|
Travel to airport
|
8:00pm
|
Taxi
|
|
January 7, Wednesday
|
Fly back home
|
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