Hello Everyone,
This is a continuation blog of my previous one for our Indochina Travel blog series, some travel essentials and tips you'll need to know when traveling to Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand.
Travel Essentials: Sim Card & Currency Exchange
We landed at Noi Bai International Airport at 7 AM, a 3.5-hour flight from the Philippines to Vietnam. In the airport, we bought a cellular sim card for internet data connection that we will be going to use during our stay in the country for 13.8 USD.
There are a lot of stalls that offer sim card, money exchange, and transportation services in the airport but among all of those we chose to buy a Sim card in the Viettel stall, because compared to MobiFone which sim card price is at $15, their exchange rate is way much better, too.
Nevertheless, we only bought the sim card and asked to have the change of our $20 dollars to Vietnam Dong so we would have some money for bus fare going to Hanoi City. That is because the exchange rate in the city is way much better, as per research prior to our travel- research is a must, to get the best deal and get ahead of everything.
Exchange your local currency to USD
From our country, we exchange our Philippine Peso for USD- this is a must, and you should know this when traveling to these Indochina countries because the currency that they'll accept for exchange to their currency is very limited, when I say limited I mean that they will only accept USD, and oh! bring 100 USD bills as much as possible because the rates will matter, the lower the denomination of your USD bill the lower the rate that they'll give you.
I live in Cebu City, PH, and as per recommendation the best money exchange shop in the city is located in Raintree Mall, but due to my limited time, the only accessible money exchange counter I scouted for the best rate is at Metro Ayala money exchange counter, their rate is as good as my bank's rate, while it is more convenient because they will only ask an ID when exchanging currency unlike my bank, they will ask a passport (which I didn't bring that time), a travel itinerary (if the purpose of exchanging money is for travel), and worse is I should be exchanging in the bank branch where I opened my account. I am referring to my bank which is BDO, whilst I am not sure if the other bank has the same protocols when exchanging Php to USD.
Exchange your USD to VND in Hanoi Jewelry Shop, to Laotian Kip in the City, to THB in the borders
Prior to our trip, we saw some content on social media that the best to exchange USD to Vietnam Dong in Hanoi City is in jewelry shops- and true enough, their rate is way much higher than in the airport and other money exchange shops in the city!
We exchanged our dollars to a jewelry shop in Hanoi City named Thanh Ngan at 24,370 VND/dollar compared to the best rate in the airport it is insignificantly better, as the airport's rate is at 24,280 VND/dollar, which the former is the best option when you exchange a significant amount of USD.
We attempted to change USD to Laotian Kip in Hanoi City, but we failed, they don't exchange USD to Laotian Kip. While our options were very limited and it was so challenging to exchange money as there were no shops along our way traveling by sleeper bus from Hanoi City Vietnam to Vientiane City Laos, Jovy grasped the opportunity when a woman offered to exchange her 20USD to Kip in the bus stop eatery- this also serves as our security LaoKip-cash.
As we arrived in Vientiane Southern Bus Terminal, we were expecting a money exchange counter, but there was none! Instead, a taxi driver approached us, and aside from a ride to our accommodation we also asked him to bring us to a money exchange shop. However, it was not a money exchange counter where we exchanged our USD but a woman that he knows, and I tell you- her rate was way much higher than in Google or the Forex app that Shiela downloaded on her phone! We got a 22,030 LaoKip/USD rate, which we believed that the woman was a local trader, buying and selling stuff, given the demography of Laos, I assume that they trade with Thailand and Vietnam.
While in Thailand, we did exchange our USD in Nong Khai border and in a local money exchange counter in Bangkok.
Jovy and 
Travel Essentials - Connectivity & Communication: eSIM vs SIM Cards
We used local SIM cards during our stay in Vietnam, it went well, the connection was fast and reliable for the four of us sharing data connection through a mobile hotspot until we ran out of data on the second day. To find out, the subscription we got at the airport was just good for one day, so we bought another SIM card in Hanoi City which is relatively cheaper. The airport rate is $13.8 or 335,065 VND for 3GB while the city rate is at 300,000 VND for 5GB. Sim card and currency exchange services are available elsewhere in the streets of Hanoi.
However, we found a better option a more economical one for our data connection which is using an eSIM. It costs us around 91USD or 5,099 PHP to avail the ESKIMO eSIM in Klook for 30GB already (lesser GB of data also available for lesser cost) and the eSIM is already ready to use to any other countries, even aside from the countries we visited in Indochina. We consumed 26GB for our 3D2N in Laos and 5D4N in Thailand for the four of us which usage is social media browsing and uploading photos and videos and necessary apps during our travel.
I actually struggled to install the Eskimo eSIM at first but their chat support has been very helpful and quick to help me in the installation process. By the way, not all smartphones are compatible with this eSIM, my Huawei phones is not compatible so I used my iPhone 13Pro instead, check the list of compatible models before purchasing.
Travel Essential: Transportation
Hanoi City, Vietnam
Mainly, there are two efficient and comfortable means of transportation in Hanoi: Bus and Grab car services. For our transfer to the city, we opted for a Bus transfer which cost us 50,000 VND around 100 PHP or around 2 USD only. There are buses just outside the airport and operators calling for passengers, just make sure to read the bus signages right that says “Hanoi City Center”. It took us an hour bus transfer to get into the city.
We also used Grab car services when we strolled through Hanoi City center, the price is also cheap and competitive. From P Bat Su Street to Hanoi City Center it only costs us 86 Php or 1.5 USD.
Vientiane City, Laos
In Vientiane City, we mostly strolled by foot as we just had a temple run throughout the City. But we also tried to ride TukTuk vehicles which cost us an average of 25,000 Kip per ride or around 1 USD or 60 Php.
When we had our Patuxay- The Victory Monument to Mekong River night market transfer, we also took advantage of the free ride of the new app called Kok Kok Move. We believe that they are still in their launching stage so they offer free rides over the City- something you can take advantage of if you visit Vientiane City.
Bangkok, Thailand
Train, Grab Car, Bolt Car, and Bus transfer are all reliable and convenient, something I really appreciate during travel as transportation would really save the itinerary!
Any of the above, are on time and reliable, however, for City transfers, Bolt Car is the most competitive in terms of pricing and comfortability, and Train transfers in terms of time and schedules as Bangkok city traffic is worse at the peak hours. For inter-province transfer, Bus transfer in Thailand is reliable, convenient (cool ACs), and on-time, we have proven this during our transfer from Bangkok to Pattaya.
If you are planning a trip to these countries, and you still have questions, you can drop them in the comment section or comment on my social media accounts contents at The Strolling Mind on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and Tiktok.
Stay tuned for our Indochina Travel Blog on my next posts.
About the Author
Hi! I am Kim- The Strolling Mind.
I love to travel, I have been traveling in my beautiful country- Philippines, and some Asian countries, as well. My pleasure to share them here in Hive.
I believe that our mind is so powerful that anything we think is anything we can reach and achieve.
It is our mind that'll lead us to where we are heading to, so....