Vietnam has a rough and violent history, but has become a real backpackers Walhalla in the last years. The country has a lot to offer, from the high mountains around Sapa to the beaches of Nha Trang. It’s easy to travel around and super cheap, so you won’t break your budget! We’ve hold track of all our expenses so you can get a good example of how much you should budget to travel around in Vietnam for one month.
Motorbiking in Indochina is without a doubt one of the best things to do if you want to explore these countries properly. Buying and selling a motorbike in Vietnam is really easy, and a lot of backpackers are becoming a “motorpacker” when in Vietnam, Laos or Cambodia. This ultimate guide on motorbiking in Indochina will give you all the essential information, so you don’t jump on the bike unprepared. Hit the road, Jack!
Hiking Mount Hua isn’t just a walk in the park. Standing on the edge of the cliff, on a one-foot-wide plank, and looking more than 6000 feet down into the valley isn’t something that everyone would do. There are stories that an average of 100 people die each year from falling off the cliff. We don’t want to be one of them. We’re doing this step-by-step, and every step we take is made carefully. The views are breathtaking! But at a certain point, the plank path stops and the only way to get back is by taking the same route again. But now we need to overtake numerous of scared locals on this narrow path. Is this really the most dangerous hike in the world?
A few weeks ago, there were some problems at the Mongolian border. Because a lot of teams from the previous years have left their broken cars somewhere in Mongolia, all the Mongol Rally teams now had to pay a $6000 deposit upon entering Mongolia. This deposit was for the Mongol Rally teams only. The authorities managed to suspend this rule just a week before we entered, but the organization warned us that we needed to be very friendly and patient because they would otherwise reintroduce the rule.
Entering Kyrgyzstan went pretty easy. Most European nationalities don’t need a visa if they intend to stay less than two months. The border guards of Kyrgyzstan were super friendly. They stamped our passport, we paid for the car insurance and gave them a sticker to put on their locker. They checked the car very briefly and wished us good luck for the rest of the Mongol Rally.
It’s freezing outside and it’s already after dark. There is nothing to see in the far distance. We are literally in the middle of nowhere. If there’s one place where we never wanted to get stuck, then it would be this place. The car just died on a small road, away from the main road, at the height of 4000m. Now we’re facing a really cold night in the car. Luckily, we can laugh about our own stupidities. The Pamir Highway is really testing our car to the max.
It is not so easy to visit a country like Turkmenistan. You better not apply for a tourist visa unless you want to book an expensive guide for your whole visit. It’s much better (and easier) to get a transit visa. However, the problem is that this visa is issued for only 5 days. So you don’t have much time to explore the country, especially when you’re backpacking or cycling across Turkmenistan. The country is very different from anything else. The government is in control of everything and they make sure that you don’t do things they don’t want you to do. Random police checks can happen everywhere, and in Ashgabat, the military is on every street corner to watch every step you take. That’s why Turkmenistan is the seventh least visited country in the world, receiving only 7,000 visitors per year. And we were one of them!