VIETNAM
Money &
Cost
Despite what you might have heard, travelling in Vietnam needn't
be much more expensive than in its Southeast Asian neighbours.
By eating and sleeping at the simplest places and travelling on
local buses, you should be able to manage on a daily budget of
$12-15. Upgrading to more salubrious lodgings, eating good food
followed by a couple of beers in a bar, and signing up for the
odd minibus tour would bring it to $25-30.
Vietnam maintains a two-tier pricing system , with foreigners
paying many times more than locals for transport and accommodation.
The system is, however, rumoured to be on its way out, and there
are signs of some standardization of prices, though it will probably
be a while before two-tier pricing disappears completely. For
the moment, it remains something of a grey area and the amount
you pay may well depend on the person you happen to be dealing
with.
Vietnam's unit of currency is the dong, usually abbreviated as
"d" (occasionally "VND"). Notes come in denominations
of 200d, 500d, 1000d, 2000d, 5000d, 10,000d, 20,000d and 50,000d;
there are no coins. The American dollar operates in parallel to
the dong as unofficial tender and most travellers carry some dollars
as back-up for when banks won't change travellers' cheques. Because
dong amounts tend to be more volatile, we've given prices in US
dollars ($) throughout this chapter. At the end of your trip you
can change leftover dong back into dollars if you have an exchange
certificate. At the time of writing, the exchange rate was 22,000d
to £1 and 14,000d to $1.
US dollar travellers' cheques are the easiest method of carrying
money around in Vietnam. They can be cashed at major banks (Vietcombank
usually charges the lowest rates), but often not at banks in smaller
towns. Dong are not available outside the country at present,
though if you take in some small-denomination American dollars
you'll have no problems getting by until you reach a bank. Banking
hours are Mon-Fri 8-11.30am and 1-4pm, though in major cities
you can change cash outside these hours at registered exchange
counters and hotels. A black market of sorts exists in Vietnam,
but is best avoided, especially as the markup is tiny.
Major credit cards - Visa, Mastercard and, to a lesser extent,
American Express - are slowly becoming more acceptable in Vietnam.
You can withdraw cash from 24-hr ATMs (in the Visa, Plus, Mastercard
and Cirrus networks) in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. Even outside
the major cities, banks will now advance cash against cards (generally
Visa and Mastercard) for a small commission.
If you need to have money wired , contact the Vietcombank in Hanoi
or Ho Chi Minh, though some provincial branches can also now handle
telegraphic transfers. Vietcombank has arrangements with selected
banks across the world, including Lloyd's Bank in London; the
Commonwealth Bank in Sydney; the Royal Bank of Canada; and the
Chase Manhattan Bank and Citibank in New York (Vietcombank has
a full list). Payment can be made to you in dong or dollars, but
hefty charges are levied at both ends. Vietcombank and major post
offices also accept the faster, but even more expensive, Moneygram;
again this has to come from a designated bank, but charges are
levied at the sender's end and to collect the money all you need
is the sender's eight-digit reference number.
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