Viet nam - Da Nang and crazy new life in Asia !

What will you get to know in this article ?

Apps and websites, which can be useful for your trip : 

GRAB (something like Bolt or Uber - cheap, lowcost transport in Asia)

https://evisa.xuatnhapcanh.gov   (Online visa)

KIWI /Scyscanner (to search the flights) 

"What do you need to know before traveling/moving to this dynamic, affordable country and city full of impressive skyscrapers and bright lights?" 

1. You Need a Visa: Before traveling to Vietnam, you will need a visa, which you can get online HERE. The easiest option is to apply for a tourist visa, which is valid for 3 months (90 days). Here are the steps you will need to apply for visa !

   A: Valid Passport - Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months after the date of entry into Vietnam.

   B: Photo - This step is easy; just take a photo and upload it in the required format.

   C: Filling out the Form - You'll need to provide your name, date of birth, information about your planned trip: date of entry, place of stay (you can simply enter the hotel address), etc.

   D: Fee - A 30-day visa costs approximately €25, a single-entry 90-day visa (you cannot leave the country during these 90 days) costs approximately €25, and a multiple-entry 90-day visa (you can travel outside of Vietnam during these 90 days and return without issues) costs approximately €50. You will pay the fee online with a credit card in US dollars.

   TIP: If you have a Revolut account, first convert the money to dollars before entering your card number.

   E: Waiting Time for Visa - The processing time for visas can take 3 to 5 days. You will receive a notification about the visa issuance via email, and you can then download them.

   F: Print the E-Visa - You will need to have your visa printed for entry into Vietnam.

   TIP: If you are flying with different airlines, check the visa requirements for the countries you will be traveling through, as you may be required to leave the visa-free zone and check in for your next flight in that country (read our article - Journey to Vietnam). You can check the visa requirements for individual countries HERE.

2. Vaccination: There are no mandatory vaccinations for entry into Vietnam, but if you want vaccinations, it is recommended to get vaccinated for: Typhoid fever and Hepatitis. If you plan to stay in rural areas, also consider: Japanese Encephalitis and Rabies. 

3. Weather in Vietnam: Vietnam has two main seasons: the dry season and the rainy season. These periods vary slightly depending on the geographical location of the city. The dry season is approximately from January to April, and the rainy season is approximately from September to January.

4. Vietnamese Dong: Exchanging money is definitely more advantageous in the country, but NOT at the AIRPORT. They usually offer the worst exchange rate there. In Viet nam it is primarily used cash. If you have the opportunity to pay by card, take advantage of it, as it is more beneficial than paying in cash. Withdrawing from ATMs is most advantageous at TP and VP ATMs (the fee is €6 - TatraBank, which is still quite disadvantageous).

TIP: Withdraw the largest possible banknotes (€100, €50, €200) in your country. For exchanging these banknotes, as the exchange rate is better than for smaller denominations (€10, €20, €50). Always check the exchange rate via Google or a bank and make your decisions based on that regarding where to exchange your money.

TIP: Open a REVOLUT account and also order a physical card. For withdrawals up to €200 per month from such an account, you won't pay any fees.

5. Water: Tap water in Vietnam is not safe to drink. Alternatives include filtered water, bottled water, or boiled water. Tap water is safe for washing and cooking.

Why Vietnam ? 

Our goal was to find a country with low living costs, good healthcare, an attractive culture, beautiful nature, and low crime rates. We also considered Portugal, but we wanted to go outside of Europe and experience something completely different. We thought about Nepal, but the healthcare there is at a very low level, and Thailand has relatively high sexual crime rates. Therefore, Vietnam was the winner! 

Why the city Da Nang ? 

When making our decision, the environment was of course important to us. Da Nang is home to some of the most beautiful beaches in Vietnam, such as My Khe and Non Nuoc. These beaches are known for their fine sand and clear water, making them ideal for swimming, sunbathing, and water sports. On one side, Da Nang is surrounded by the sea, while on the other side, it is bordered by beautiful mountains (Ngu Hanh Son, Ba Na Hills), where the famous Golden Bridge with its giant hands is located. In addition to nature, Da Nang is rich in culture and history. In short, this city has it all: stunning nature, gastronomic and cultural experiences, and even modern architecture in the form of numerous bridges and towering skyscrapers. For a better idea, check out our Instagram and the video "We moved to Da Nang".

What will you need to do after the arrival to the airport ? 

When leaving the airport, your backpacks will be scanned, and you will find yourself in completely new world of exotic palm trees, heat and many lights. On the outside part of the airport, you will also find currency exchange services. Here, we exchange a small amount of €50 (as mentioned earlier, the exchange rates are bad—1 million 200 thousand VND) and call a taxi through the Grab app, where we take a quick selfie, choose our payment method: cash, enable location tracking (highly recommended—this way, the driver can easily find you even at the crowded pick - up points), and enter the address of our destination.

The taxi does not come directly to the airport; you need to cross the road to the "park," where you will find the parking lot (keep an eye on the driver's location in the app).

Note: In the app, you can order a scooter or a car. The scooter is cheaper but can only carry one passenger. We ordered a car and wait for our ride. The price is about 91,000 VND (€3.50), including the airport fee (if you are picked up from the airport and then leave within 10 minutes, you must pay 9,000 VND (€0.30) when you depart; in case your driver has to wait longer, the fee will increase). Payment is straightforward—there's a barrier that stops you, and you give this amount of money to the driver, who hands it to the lady at the window.

Our driver doesn't speak a word of English. He uses Google Translate for communication. We watch everything around us in amazement. The traffic here is crazy; everyone is honking, overtaking each other, and everyone and everything rides on the scooters: children, elderly people, bricks, dogs, stalls, etc. There are huge glowing buildings; on one skyscraper, there's the flag of Vietnam, and on another, a whale. We cross a wide river on the Dragon Bridge, everything is lit up, and there's a vibrant atmosphere all around.

After 15 minutes, we turn off the main road into a quieter street, where we notice a large Pho restaurant on the corner, and the whole street  lined with shops and restaurants. We pay and get out. We enter the reception, excited to see our hotel room, which we booked through Booking.com—Sunflower Hotel 2 — a hotel 600 meters from the beach, for 2 people, 7 nights, with a sea view, for just €27. 

Accommodation in Da Nang or the surprise that awaited us at the hotel after a 40-hour journey!

At the reception, there was a receptionist who didn't speak English, so he used a translator to inform us that we had booked a 2-hour hotel. YES, we had reserved an hourly hotel, which meant that for each of those 7 nights, we could only stay for 2 hours. Exactly what we wanted to hear after a 40-hour journey! We could have sworn it wasn't mentioned anywhere, but upon rechecking, we found a comment and review warning to be careful since the price applied to an hourly hotel. The receptionist suggested that we cancel the booking and make a new one (this time for a "regular" room) through Booking.com. However, we weren't willing to do that at the moment, as we saw it as a business tactic to charge us double for the accommodation (even though we hadn't prepaid, Booking.com reserves the right to charge the card listed on their site). So, we booked the room for 2 nights directly at the reception, which cost us 400,000 VND (€14).

TIP: Always check the type of hotel when booking, at least when you are travelling to Vietnam ! 

In the end, we stayed at the hotel for one more night (so 3 nights together) and were quite satisfied. The room was spacious, with two double beds (I don´t understand why people, who order hourly hotel need 2 separated beds...HA HA ) air conditioning, two bottles of water, a minibar (paid), and a private bathroom stocked with small soaps, a toothbrush, toothpaste, a comb, and toilet paper (which isn't common in Vietnam, as they typically use a water hose next to the toilet for hygiene). There was no promised sea view; instead, we looked out onto a construction panel (and were woken up one morning by drilling).

The reception also offered snacks (beer, water, coffee) and a currency exchange service. The receptionist who worked later spoke English, but the exchange rate was poor at 1 EUR = 25,000 VND. The beach was really close (a 10-minute walk), and the surrounding area was well-equipped with affordable restaurants, shops, and coffee spots. It was a great location! If you want to get this kind of fails hot and fresh follow us on our Instagram @duotravel_monkeys ! 

Housing/Renting in Da Nang or how Negotiation Works also in This Area, and Real Estate Agents Look Like They're 12 Years Old ....

Before arriving in Da Nang, we were advised not to look for a rental before getting here, due to the dynamic market and the frequent scams. We searched for a place to rent through various Facebook groups: HERE, HERE, HERE, and many other similar groups. These groups post numerous ads for apartments and houses of various sizes. We focused on 1-2 bedroom apartments, meaning a separate bedroom from the living room/kitchen. After looking through several ads, we set a maximum budget of 6.5 million VND (approximately €238 per month). The cheapest options were studios, where the bed, kitchen, and "living room" are all in one room, which we think is only suitable for one person. The price of a studio is around 5.5 million VND (approximately €200 per month).

Most of the rental properties advertised in these groups are located in the Sơn Trà district (the area closest to the beach). We responded to about 15 ads, either through Messenger, comments, or WhatsApp. Our experience was that replies came within a few minutes, and it didn't really matter which ad you responded to since the people posting the ads are usually real estate agents. You just need to tell them what you're looking for, what your budget is, whether you have pets, children, how long you plan to stay (NOTE: very few rentals are available for less than 3 months), what location you prefer, and when you can move in. The real estate agent will then send you a lot of apartment options that meet your criteria.

We found an apartment in less than two days. On our second night in Da Nang, we responded to ads and scheduled a viewing for the next day. We planned our route and set off on a 10 km adventure in flip-flops and sandals (NOT RECOMMENDED). We saw about 8 apartments. All of them were equipped similarly: free Wi-Fi, a washing machine, a kitchen (with hot plate for cooking, we didn't see stoves anywhere), a range hood, cabinets, a table, chairs, a couch, a TV, a bathroom with a shower, a balcony, and weekly cleaning. The cost of utilities: electricity - 3,800/4,000 VND/KWH (around €0.00014), and water - 50,000 VND per person per month (around €1.80).

The differences were minimal but important. One apartment was large but on the ground floor, which increases the chances of various pests inside (cockroaches, ants, lizards) and less privacy (you could shake hands with passersby through the window). Another apartment was small and old. Another one had a sea view but was in a resort area, so prices were adjusted for tourists. We liked the duplex apartment the most – it had a bed (mattress) on an upstairs loft within the apartment. Downstairs was a pull-out couch, a TV, a small bathroom, and a spacious balcony with the kitchen – YES, the kitchen was on the balcony, covered, with sliding doors. The location was further from the beach, but we really liked the apartment. It also had 24/7 security (a policeman stood by the door at all times). But so far we really didn´t notice any dangerous situation or people, we feel very safe in this city. 

The apartments were being shown to us by one real estate agent (she looks like she was 12 and she was using translator to communicate with us), but while we were waiting for her, we noticed an office where they also rented apartments. We messaged the real estate agent, and he showed up shortly (of course, on a scooter) and sent us apartment offers, including this duplex. He offered it to us for the same price as our agent – 6 million VND (about €219). We were sitting, having a beer, happy that we found an apartment (we had decided on the duplex), so we had nothing to lose and asked if he could give us a better deal. He reduced the price to 5.8 million VND (about €211).

In the meantime, more offers came in, and we decided to check out two more apartments. One of them became our new home. The decision came down to the location (7 minutes from the beach) and a better price of 5.2 million VND (about €190), which we also negotiated down from 5.8 million VND.

The next day, we moved in. We arrived with our suitcase, where we were met by the landlord (an older man who lives on the ground floor – with absolutely no knowledge of English), the real estate agent from the previous day (the best English-speaking person we've met so far), and a young woman who prepared the contract. The contract is for a fixed term in two languages (Vietnamese and English). It specifies the exact dates of the rental period, the owner's details, and our details – passports, addresses, ID numbers, etc. When moving in, you pay one month's rent plus a deposit equal to one month's rent. The landlord will register you with the police, so you don't have to do it yourself. 

Check out our Instagram @duotravel_monkeys, where we have the video about how we were looking for the apartment and what fails and embarassments met us on the way ! 

The cleanliness standards here are lower but bearable. Our one-bedroom apartment, with a couch, kitchen table, large kitchen, rice cooker, tiny bathroom, large bedroom with a TV and sliding doors, air conditioning, and a balcony, was cleaned up by us. We're still battling ants a bit. We believe we will have a great time living here. 

Food and drinks in Vietnam

Asian cuisine is famous worldwide, and Vietnamese cuisine is no exception. Throughout the city, you can find a wide variety of restaurants, ranging from the most modest to upscale establishments. Naturally, in the more luxurious places, you'll pay a bit more.

TIP: Always eat and drink at places where you see locals! They know best where to find the tastiest and most affordable food in the area.

Tap water is not safe for us to drink, so we recommend buying a water filter or bottled water. The most cost-effective option is a 20-liter jug, which costs 55,000 VND (about 2€). The jug is refundable at 25,000 VND (about 0.95€), meaning the actual cost of the water is 30,000 VND (about 1.05€). However, tap water is safe for washing and cooking.

They have various kinds of coffees here, but so far we've only seen iced coffees. We recommend trying the SALT CREAM coffee, Milk coffee, and Egg coffee. If you enjoy black coffee without sugar, it can be quite challenging to find it, at least in the coffee stalls (we haven't tried it in a restaurant yet); here, they usually serve you sweetened iced black coffee right away (without asking). We recommend buying coffee at these stalls, as they are the cheapest, and the coffee is really delicious. You can also enjoy it with a traditional sweet or savory dumpling. For black coffee, you'll pay around 10,000 VND (about €0.37), and for milk coffee, you'll pay about 15,000 VND (€0.55). 

For dumplings from Kung Fu Panda, you'll pay between 9,000 VND and 13,000 VND, depending on whether you choose sweet (green-coconut, purple - tasteless, yellow - we're not sure what was in it, but it was tasty) or savory (meat + egg) options.

Pho soups are available on every corner, and again, it depends on which restaurant you enter. We had Pho for 30,000 VND (about €1.10) and 40,000 VND (€1.46), so don't be tempted by Pho priced at double or even 100,000 VND. Soups (like everything else) are consumed with chopsticks (noodles, meat - everything in the soup), and the water from the soup is gradually sipped directly from the bowl.

Seafood restaurants are also very popular here. We visited one such place on our very first evening. To give you an idea, it wasn't a typical restaurant but a Vietnamese - style eatery. The chairs and tables were directly on the concrete, and the restaurant was covered by a sort of gazebo. There were aquariums with live fish, crabs, shrimp, shellfish, and various other sea creatures. As we sat down, a cockroach passed  around our feet. We ordered rice with shrimps and beer. We were served by children aged 13 to 17 (it was around 11:00 PM).

As a complimentary treat, we received peanuts, but they weren't roasted like the ones we eat here — they were a bit wet. During our visit to the restaurant, we experienced a street singer without an arm, who went from restaurant to restaurant, played loud music from a speaker, sang, and then came to ask for money. Street vendors tried to sell us various fruits, and we also found out that instead of choosing from the menu, we could pick directly from the aquarium—pointing at a sea creature, which would then be prepared for us. The food was average, and as we later found out, a bit expensive. For 2 TIGER beers (300 ml) and 2 portions of rice with shrimp, we paid 200,000 VND, which is about €7.

We also tried food directly at the markets—at the largest market in Da Nang, Con Market (which is a daytime market), and at the night market in Son Tra. We can't tell you the names of the dishes — we pointed to pictures or the food itself. However, we do know that we ate oysters and clams for 40,000 VND (about €1.46).

At the markets, all goods are cheaper, including cooked food, and prices are negotiable. We managed to negotiate the price from 50,000 VND to 40,000 VND. Prices can often be negotiated down to half. The food at the market was truly excellent! There is a prevailing chaos and hustle. All the vendors call you to their stalls and try to sell you their products. We also had ice cream here, which was made right in front of us in their special way. It cost us 30,000 VND (about €1.10).

We do have livestreams every Saturday on our Instagram @duotravelmonkeys so you can follow us and see this things in real time ! Join us and get to know Viet nam in an autentic, raw way ! 

On the beach, we drank coconut water straight from the coconut, which cost us 30,000 VND (about €1.10). We also had it on the very first evening while walking along the beach. The beach comes alive in the evening—there was a DJ and dancers. 

The coconut was opened in front of our eyes with a machete, and they gave us straws to drink from it. The taste of fresh coconut water is incomparable to that of boxed coconut water. We highly recommend trying it. The taste of sugar cane juice is very similar, with 500 ml costing 20,000 VND.

It's quite difficult to find draft beer; usually, bars will only serve canned 0.33 L beer. This costs about 15,000 VND in stores and around 20,000 VND (approximately €0.70) in bars. Popular beers here include Saigon, Tiger, and Huda, but you can also find Budweiser (which is more expensive). If you do find local draft beer (Huda), a 0.5 L costs about 55,000 VND (approximately €2). There are also Happy Hours here, usually from 3 PM to 6 PM. 

In stores and at markets, you can find various unusual foods for us, such as fried worms, whole frozen chickens and roosters (with their heads), water snakes, and sweet pastries filled with shredded chicken (which we accidentally tried), as well as century eggs or thousand-year eggs (which we also tasted). These are eggs preserved whole (in the shell) in a mixture of lime, clay, ash, salt, and rice husks. It's a local delicacy. It tasted quite good; the yolk had a creamy consistency, and the egg white was green. You should definitely give it a try! 

Check out the video on our IG about first shopping in Vietnam and how many things you can buy for 48 € HERE. 

Traffic in Viet nam

If you've ever thought that Italians drive crazily, the traffic in Vietnam will quickly change your mind, and you'll start to view Italians as good and safe drivers. Asia is a completely different ball game. Here, traffic rules are almost nonexistent. Don't expect stop signs, main roads, the right-hand rule, passing only on the left, or respecting pedestrian crossings or traffic lights—forget it! Here, the real bosses are those riding scooters, which is almost everyone.

As a pedestrian, you often have to walk part of your route on the road while facing oncoming scooters, cars, and sometimes even trucks. Don't expect that if you're standing on the sidewalk in front of a crosswalk, someone will stop for you to cross—no, you must just step into traffic and maneuver between scooters and cars. You have to be extremely focused. And when you are happy, that you found the traffic lights, the green for you      doesn´t mean anything, still expect the scooters, ignoring the lights and simply going their way.

As we mentioned earlier, we use the Grab app, and since riding a scooter is cheaper—29,000 VND (about €1.05) for one ride for one person compared to 90,000 VND (about €3.50) for a car (even though we have to order two scooters, it's still cheaper than taking a car)—we decided to give it a try. I must say, it's an adrenaline rush to be part of this busy roads and crazy traffic.

Let me describe our experience: we ordered a Grab, entered the pickup point, and a scooter arrived. We showed the driver on our phone that we were the ones he was picking up. He gave us helmets, we hopped on, and off we went! Several times we braked suddenly, squeezed through gaps we didn't think were passable even for pedestrians, overtook on the right and left, and encountered about six scooters at an intersection, maneuvering while honking every five seconds. It's a real adrenaline experience!

However, when you see the locals relaxing on their scooters, not holding on, with their legs swung to one side and kids in their arms, it's amusing to think how stressful this traffic is for us. Of course, at few moments, it was completely enjoyable for us too, especially when we passed over the brightly lit Dragon Bridge.

If you're planning to ride a scooter for the first time, make sure to wear proper shoes (not the flip - flops), sunglasses (it protects you from the wind and sand), and feel free to sit close behind the driver and hold on to the handles (there are handles in the back of the scooter for this purpose). Do not extend your legs down or stretch them out; keep them in the designated area, and try to lean gently with the driver. Otherwise, just stay still, sit steadily, and you can maintain a slight forward lean throughout the ride. Most importantly, trust the driver, even if they don't seem like they know what they're doing—they do! They've probably been riding scooters since they were born! When you place your trust in your driver, you'll enjoy the ride even more. Check the video below for better idea ! 

What has surprised us the most in Vietnam so far?

Although the streets and roads are very busy and loud, all the apartments we looked at were located 1-2 alleys (200 - 400 meters) from the main roads and were surprisingly very quiet. It's a completely different world behind the apartment doors compared to the outside.

In Vietnam, there are sidewalks, but that doesn't mean, that you as a pedestrian, will be able to walk on them easily. It's very likely that you'll have to step off the sidewalk several times during your journey, whether due to parked scooters, restaurants, stalls in the way, litter from trash bins on the sidewalk, or sometimes the sidewalk just disappears in front of your eyes. Be careful where you step, as there are many places with holes in the sidewalk, or broken glass, etc.

Cars and scooters park everywhere! We weren't too surprised that they park on the sidewalks, but that they also park in the ground floor of residential buildings?! Right in the apartment or in the hallway of the apartment?! That surprised us quite a bit! I can't imagine parking my scooter in my living room.

Besides scooters, there's almost always a restaurant, a small shop, or a scooter rental in every entrance. Sometimes even right in the kitchen at home.

You'll never understand how small chairs can be until you come to Vietnam. Since every household wants to have its own restaurant, the individual restaurants need to fit next to each other, so the chairs and tables look like they were just brought from a playroom or kindergarten.

Marcel bought a Nike sports T-shirt for 70,000 VND (approximately €2.60) at the market.

The beach here is beautiful, sandy, and long. Dogs are not allowed on it, and it's relatively clean, with pleasantly warm and very clear water. There are no jellyfish, sea urchins, or other monsters to make you hesitate about swimming. Since it's the rainy season and dangerous currents can occur in the sea during this time, there are red flags almost everywhere, and swimming is only allowed in designated parts of the beach where a lifeguard is on duty. We've only gone swimming once so far, and there were really big waves, with several people learning to surf on them.

Closer to the center is the Dragon Bridge—a 660-meter long, six-lane bridge. Every weekend (at 21:00) and on holidays, the dragon changes color and breathes fire and water. It's a major touristic attraction. We were a bit disappointed, but we still recommend going to see the dragon; after all, how many bridges in the world have something like this? 

We were also doing LiveStream from this event, you should follow US so you will not miss other interesting events like this :) !

It seems , that  Vietnamese don't drink hot coffee, which is why it's very difficult to find a regular cup. They mainly sell small cups and glasses.

The cleanliness standards are lower. It's not a complete disaster or anything too disgusting, but the streets are not exactly the cleanest, with trash often scattered around boxes, and you can commonly see cockroaches and rats (we only saw them at night). However, it is still manageable.

Cleaning is included in the monthly rent. It's common for the apartment owner to arrange for cleaning once a week, at any time you agree upon. This really surprised us!

In these five days, we only saw 3 ambulances, and that was very close to a hospital!

What completely blew us away, as ex- smokers, is the price of cigarettes, which start at 10,000 VND = €0.55. We don't know if this is why almost everyone smokes here, and people often don't even finish their cigarettes.

We managed to experience all of this and even more in just five days! We will gradually be adding more articles, videos, and reels! In case of any questions, feedbacks or anything else please contact us on our Instagram @duotravel_monkeys ! 

We are looking forward to hear from you !