Budget travel | Around Asia: Southeast Asia under Rs 1 Lakh, your journeys are in your hands

Golden Bridge, Vietnam (Photo: Sandip Roy via Unsplash)

The amount of information that is available on travelling to Southeast Asia as well as to many other countries can be overwhelming.

That’s not only because of the quantity of websites and digital material that is out there. It’s also because there is a lot of conflicting information, some of which can be misguiding and can lead to wasting and losing a lot of precious money and time.

For every piece of information online, there is an equal, opposite one. But here’s how you can navigate the world wide web — and subsequently the world itself — to plan a budget trip around Asia without losing sleep over it.

Book a low-cost flight

The cheapest direct flights from India to Southeast Asia include those that are headed to either Da Nang, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, or Bangkok. If you book one of these a little in advance and on time, it will be about as cheap as a flight to Abu Dhabi, which has also grown as a popular transit tourist point between the East and the West over the decades for the same reason. Some of these flights are for as low as Rs 5,000–10,000 for a one-way trip.

If you are flying to any other country where flights remain a bit costlier at the moment, such as to Japan, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand or even Europe, go via one of the above destinations and explore it from there, where you can fly cheap, or simply take a transit flight that will give you an airport halt for a few hours at one of these above cities. This will make your total fare at least 50 per cent cheaper than flying directly.

To see the cheapest flights available, never go to an airline or travel agent’s website first. Instead, visit google.com/flights and see all the available flights for a particular destination for the next 11 months from today when you navigate on the date tab. When you select a date where a flight in your budget is available, you will see a list of web agents, and you can choose which one to buy that flight ticket from.

Get your visas through the closest VFS (Visa Facilitation Services) Global office

Most embassies take a lot more time to process your visa and are not approachable for queries. And the most transparent and accurate information about the documents you need to submit is provided by the VFS offices. The VFS office staffers also give you walk-in appointments and take the minimum amount of time that the application takes to be processed. They also charge only the minimum fees, so you can save on paying more charges to an agent. Some Southeast Asian countries like Thailand offers visa-on-arrival to Indians. But you may want to get the visa formalities and procedures completed before landing to save time and trouble.

The beginning, middle, and end

Multi-city flight routes can be cheap if you select the right stops. Always choose a route such that you can move in one direction before you fly back home from your last destination and such that you do not have to waste time or money going back and forth the same way. This also means you will be able to book flights with minimum transit-time waiting.

So, let’s say, you are backpacking through Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan, and South Korea. You should ideally book your first flight from your city in India to Da Nang in central Vietnam, then use the train or bus to travel from Da Nang to Ho Chi Minh City in south Vietnam, and explore both parts completely before moving ahead. After you do so, you can take a flight northwards to Kaohsiung City in the south-west, use the public transport (bullet trains and buses) in Taiwan to travel from Kaohsiung to Taichung and Tainan or Taipei City in the north, and then fly further north from Taipei to Japan.

The cheapest flights to Japan all land and depart at Tokyo, so you may not want to fly in or out of other Japanese airports. Once you fly from Taipei to Tokyo, you can use the local buses in Japan if you have some additional time on hand, which is considerably more economical than even the stylish “Shinkansen” — otherwise known as Japan’s bullet train.

Cover Tokyo and north Japan, then head southwards to Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and Fukuoka by bus or train, en route via Kobe and Osaka and other places in central Japan. From Fukuoka in the south, you can take a three-hour ferry to South Korea, explore Busan and Incheon, and then fly on a cheap airfare back to Hanoi in Vietnam. You can take the bus or train to travel from Hanoi to Da Nang, cover the upper/northern countryside of Vietnam, and then finally fly back from Da Nang to India.

Such a route will make it the cheapest, and will also optimise your time the most as you will cover everything and never have to repeat a destination during the same trip, and you will waste minimum airtime on flights or in transiting at airports.

Note: Avoid booking a multi-city flight route on the same PNR number though; you may find cheaper airfares if you search for each flight journey from one place to another individually. This will also enable you to reschedule or cancel a flight without having to amend the entire route.

Plan your internal itinerary before you fly

Once upon a time, the only continent you could navigate by road or rail was Europe, what with the unlimited local EUrail pass. But today, it is possible to do so in Asia as well. However, the real budgeting needs to be done while navigating internal transport.

Private cars as well as taxis in foreign countries, such as in Japan, can be exorbitantly costly. That’s the reason why it is essential that you plan your internal route thoroughly before you arrive there. In Japan, the more affordable buses and trains are luxurious, and almost every spot on the map in the country is only a few steps away from a local subway metro station, making it wholly possible to skip taking private taxis altogether, provided you travel light and have planned your schedule properly.

There are other ways, though, to cut down on your costs while travelling locally in any country, what with taxi apps also operational in many countries. The most popular is Grab, which is around 50 per cent cheaper than local metered taxis in Southeast Asia, and is currently available in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines. Even cheaper than the Grab taxi is the Grab bike, which is ideal for solo backpackers on longer outstation routes as well.

Search for flights, best and cheapest routes on rome2rio

To see all available public transport in a region, log on to rome2rio.com and/or download the app on your phone. The site uses Google maps to help you navigate all forms of public transport around the world. You can enter any two destinations in the world and see all the available transport options that you need from one place to another with exact locations provided, from local buses to trains — and even water transport, routes, including boats and ferries — as well as estimated Uber fares and local taxi fares.

There are many apps that you can download to find food of your taste as well as tourist information. Some of these include the HappyCow app, where you can see local restaurants around you that offer cuisine according to your dietary preferences. Other useful sites for recommendations on tours, restaurants, buses, trains, and hotels include tripadvisor.com, where you can also get help/guidance on its community forums for any problem that you may face as a tourist, from visa information to entry requirements and bus bookings as well as hostels and local tours.

Finding a roof

If you are travelling solo, book a hostel dorm bed. Budget hostel accommodations can be found on booking.com and hostelworld.com as well as on tripadvisor.com and agoda.com, all of where there are thousands of user reviews and ratings for you to cross-check the property on. Hostels are the cheapest, and the best in terms of the way they provide local info. Unlike more formal hotels, most local information (such as cheap buses and no-entry-fee performing arts shows) are all much more accessible through backpacker hostels, besides it being a great way to meet other people. There are many top-rated hostels in India and Southeast Asia as well as Japan that are extremely clean, have a pool and bar on the premises, lockers to store your belongings, and also have a 24-hour front desk where you can seek help at any hour.

Many backpacker hostels also provide a great breakfast in the bed/room price, which includes hot tea/coffee, fruits, egg, and depending on their kitchen facilities, other dishes such as waffles and pancakes, too. This can be particularly useful if you have a long day ahead as well as if you don’t want to waste time searching for food at the beginning of the day. You can also buy and keep flavoured and readymade tea/coffee packets of your choice with you in your bag, and use their hot-water kettle services to make a hot drink of your choice whenever you wish.

The concept of the “pod” initially started in Japan before it spread to Europe. A typical “pod” comprises a bed, a writing table, storage space and, depending on the prices and services, has some additional facilities, too. Hostels and pods usually have shared bathrooms and offer free Wi-Fi.

Many hostels also offer slightly costlier private rooms, so if you are backpacking with friends and family, or as a couple, or if you have a higher budget and need more privacy and space, booking a private room in a hostel (rather than in a business hotel) has many additional advantages.

Pack light, pack right
Hostels and backpacker zones also provide cheap and quick local laundry services (around Rs 105 per kilo in Vietnam). So, take only a few pairs of clothes with you. That way, you can refill a fresh and clean stock of clothes into your suitcase every two-three days while you live out of it for a long period of your travel time. What’s more, if you have only seven kg of hand luggage, you can also search for and book the no-baggage flights that are even cheaper than the usual ones.

Be safe

• Always book a Grab car/bike from the Grab app on your phone. Avoid running cabs, particularly in Vietnam, where there have been reports of tourists being fleeced by cabbies who charge unaware tourists four times the local fare, and also because their meters are often rigged. When you land at the airport, get a cheap local SIM card that can be recharged for a month, download the Grab app, add your card to it, and go to the Grab pickup point.

• Always keep a two-pin adaptor with you to charge your devices, as most sockets in Southeast Asia do not support three-pin plug points. This is something you can buy for cheap in most local markets. Keep one with you in advance so you are not left stranded without being able to charge your phone or laptop.

• Keep a power bank; never be without the phone or the internet. Get a local SIM card, so that you can always remain connected to the internet even when you are not in a Wi-Fi zone. Always keep international calling activated on your phone too, so that you can dial a local or international number in an emergency when there is no way to connect with help on WhatsApp. Being stranded without being able to make local calls in an emergency can lead to a risky situation.

• Keep your cash and passport and devices and bank cards locked in your hostel locker or hotel room when you go out or into crowded areas. Always ensure that the hotel/hostel that you book provides a safe or a locker. Keep only essential cash or cards with you when you go out.

• Do ample research on the phone and on the internet before booking a hostel or a hotel, besides inquiring whether they have all the necessary facilities that you need. Find out the location of the hostel, whether they accept cards or cash, whether they have locker facilities, and always make a call on the hotel’s listed number from India once to make sure the hostel/hotel is genuine. This will also help you to know whether the staff speaks English, as you may need language assistance at times.

• Avoid taking foot/body massages in night markets around Thailand in particular. Many of them are soft sex joints. Unaware tourists often find themselves having an experience they had not expected, such as having their wallets flinched while they are getting a massage or being touched or handled in a sexually provocative manner. Make sure you have a recommendation for the massage parlour from your hostel or from TripAdvisor or other websites, read the Google reviews, and always go to a place that’s listed on Google.

• Be careful of people who offer to take your phone and click your picture around tourist sites — they usually want to sell something to you and, in some cases, they might have intentions to misuse your device or flee with it.

• Always go to a trusted ATM rather than withdrawing from random, local ones. Before withdrawing cash from an ATM, first check if it is working. Sometimes some ATM machines in Vietnam do not work, and money gets deducted from your account and no cash is dispensed. Do a test withdrawal for a small amount, even if you have to pay an extra transaction fee. Withdraw small amounts from local ATMs. This will ensure you do not land up with a large, unsuccessful transaction that does not get reversed into your account, if the sum you tried to withdraw was too huge and it failed. Foreign exchange counters at airports and other shops still deduct a large transaction fee compared to the transaction fee levied at the ATMs and during online card payments, and there are many places that still accept only cash in Vietnam, so manage your money/cash safely and well.

• Never carry around ATM cards with you that have too much money in the bank account they are linked to. The ATM cards that you carry with you on the trip should have only about as much money as you need during your trip, and the one out of those with the least and the immediate funds is the only one you should carry with you when you go out, while the other backup card/s with the extra funds should remain in your hostel/hotel safe or in your locked suitcase. The cards linked to bank accounts that have all your funds should be kept locked back at home in India and should never travel with you.

• Keep ample time at the end of your trip for a COVID-19 test so that you get the results well on time before for your flight back home. Before boarding a flight back to India from Singapore, Japan, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, or Thailand, even if you were just transiting there, you will need to show a negative COVID test result that is not older than 72 hours. And you will also have to fill out the Air Suvidha form, where you will have to upload the soft copy of the test result. Take the test at least 48 hours before your flight to India if you are in or if you are transiting via one of the aforementioned countries. Find a public hospital to take the test in, which will be cheaper than a private hospital where the charges can be very high.