Vietnam Vietnam is a Southeast Asian country, bordered by China, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Hanoi is its capital city and Ho Chi Minh is the largest city. Vietnam has a population of almost 10 million. Vietnamese is the official language and the Vietnamese Dong (VND) is the country currency (1€ = 26.697,24 VND as of May 26th 2018). General considerations A visa is required to enter in Vietnam for the majority of foreigner countries. The process starts with an online applica

We live in a connected world. We are used to have access to Internet at every moment during the day. While traveling this is not an exception. We need to plan our trips, book accommodation, search for good restaurants and bars, share photos and impressions with friends and families, among other things that require data. Nowadays is extremely easy to find mobile data solutions for a short period of time through prepaid cards available in most of the countries. Most of data pla

Laos Laos is a Southeast Asian country, bordered by Myanmar, China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Vientiane is its capital city. Laos has a population of about 7 million. Lao is the official language and the Kip (LAK) is the country currency (1€ = 9.832,59 LAK as of June 6th 2018). General considerations A visa is required to enter in Laos for the majority of foreigner countries. It is possible to apply for a visa on arrival valid for 30 days. When you arrive at the airport

Cambodia Cambodia, officially known as Kingdom of Cambodia, is a Southeast Asian country, bordering Thailand, Laos and Vietnam. Phnom Penh is its capital city. Cambodia has a population of about 60 million. Khmer is the official language and the Riel is the country currency. However, for the majority of the transactions the US dollar is the currency accepted and the Riel (KHR) is only used for the small change (1 USD = 4.000 KHR). In fact, most of the ATMs will provide dollar

In total, we spent 20 days in Cambodia. Once again, we will share some financial information about our stay in the country. The total amount we spent during this period of time was 1.330€ euros for both of us. The cost timeline was as follows. Most of the times, we were below our daily budget (65,76€ for the couple). The initial high expenditures are related to the flight price from Mandalay in Myanmar to Siem Reap in Cambodia, and also the visa costs. The above average days

In total, we spent 11 days in Laos. Let's share some financial information about our stay in this country. The total amount we spent during this period of time was 856€ euros for both of us. The cost timeline was as follows. Most of the times, we were below our daily budget (65,76€ for the two). The initial high expenditures are related to the flight price from Hanoi in Vietnam to Luang Prabang in Laos. However, we found Loas an extremely expensive Asian country, specially be

The Philippines are known for the beautiful landscapes. Yes, it is completely true. The country is composed by more than seven thousand islands of beautiful landscapes that rise from the ocean horizon and that are breathtaking. However, more than that, its people, the Filipinos, play an important role on this experience that is travelling across the Philippines. Listed below are our top 3 experiences while visiting the Philippines. 1. TAO Expedition TAO Expedition was by far

In total, we spent 23 days in Myanmar. As we did with the previous countries we visited, we will share some financial information about our stay in the country. The total amount we spent during this period of time was 1.174€ euros for both of us. The cost timeline was as follows. Most of the times, we were below our daily budget (65,76€ for the two). The initial high expenditures are related to the flight price from Bangkok, in Thailand, to Yangon, in Myanmar, and also the vi

The world is every day more and more technologic. Even while traveling. During our (already) long trip around Asia we have been discovering and experiencing some useful mobile apps for different purposes. We believe they can facilitate your experience and help you to take the most of it. However, we will not be focused on the trendy and well known apps like Booking.com, Airbnb, HostelWorld, Google Maps, Uber, Skyscanner, Momondo, Notes and so on. We believe nowadays most peop

Money is always an important issue, but especially while traveling across different countries as each country has its own currency, so the needs to widraw money will differ and be constant. Probably, for safety reasons, you cannot take with you all the money you will need for the whole trip. You will have to withdraw money or use debit/credit cards, which is not always possible. The bank fees related to this type of transactions tend to be extremely high, including sometimes

After spending a week in Malaysia, we will now share some financial information about our stay in the country. In total, we spent 7 days in this country, in two different cities: Penang and Kuala Lumpur. In total, we spent a total amount of 634 euros. The cost timeline was as follows. Comparing to our daily budget, we performed well, being below budget most of the time. The peak costs that can be seen during the first day is related to the flight prices, since we took three f

Malaysia Malaysia is a country located in Southeast Asia with a population of about 30 million people. Malay is the official language of this mainly Islamic country. The Malaysian ringgit (MYR) is the official currency (1€=4,83 MYR as of January 23rd 2018). General considerations For a stay up to 30 days, Portuguese citizens do not need a visa to enter in Malaysia. For longer stays, the visa should be applied in the Malaysia Embassy in Portugal. Weather conditions may vary si

After spending some amazing days in the Philippines, it is now the time to share our financials in the country. In total, we spent 21 days in the Philippines if you count with the departure day. We spent a total amount of 2115 euros, while visiting 5 different places in this country. The cost timeline was as follows. Conversely to India and Sri Lanka, in the Philippines we spent more than our daily budget most of the times. In general, and for the Asian context, The Philippin

Since we have finished our second country visit, Sri Lanka, it is now the time to share our financials. In total, we spent 20 days in Sri Lanka. However, the 5 last days we spent in a town called Dehiwala with the company of our Buddhist Monk friend. For this reason, since we did not incur in significant expenses, we will exclude these 5 last days from our financial analysis. We spent a total amount of 890 euros, while visiting 9 different places in Sri Lanka. The cost timeli

There is a saying about India, which goes more or less like this: One either loves it or hates it but never stands in between. We definitely stand with the first part. Of course India will always be India and like any other country it has its own characteristic traits. The cows will always be sacred; the trash will always be there; the food will always be spicy; the people will always have that intense look towards you; the contrasts and poverty will always be extreme and the

Budget control is always crucial on a trip, especially when you are travelling for a long period of time in a budget way. For this reason we decided to set a daily budget for our trip and make a register of every expense since the very beginning. As it was said in our article “How to put our world in a bag”, we found a very useful app (Trail Wallet), which has been helping considerably in this daily budget control. Taking the assumption that we will be travelling for a whole

Travelling is not only about breath-taking beaches, amazing trekking paths, being dazzled by new cultures, meeting new people. People, faces and smiles like no other you will ever meet and experiences everyday something new that arise from facing the unknown. People have a tendency to go on and on about how easy it is to travel, nevertheless besides nice pictures and fancy stories there are always hard times. Travelling is also waiting long hours, missing trains, sleeping in

We are writing these following lines with no more than fifteen Indian sunsets on our eyes. Nonetheless, when it comes to travelling, time tends to be an incorrect measure. Experiences and intensity actually create a far more accurate barometer. Although we have only stayed 3 days in New Delhi, it was one of the most intimidating experiences we have ever faced. Our accommodation was in the middle of Paharganj, a crowded and poor area of the city. After a 20-minute taxi from th