There are a number of posts on this issue and also of the "scam orphanages" and well intention ed as you are I would avoid them
I do not know where you are going in cambodia but in much of the country health care is very basic and if you are prepared to spend your time in the smaller towns or villages then your skills and help might be appreciated at local health centers but just for a quick visit then forget it
Grab car/ Taxi – Comfortable Da Nang transportation
Grab car is a popular app used in Da Nang due to its convenient and quick features. Besides, it helps you save a bit of money in comparison with taxis. You can easily get a Grab on the streets as long as you have the app ready in your smartphone. However, it requires an Internet or data connection to use this app. Therefore, before traveling to Vietnam, remember to check the information about mobile data packages. Thanks to the exact pinpointing in pickup and dropoff locations, you can avoid communication problems. Moreover, you can pay by credit cards if having a Grab ride.
If using Grab causes lots of troubles for you, taxi is also a good choice. There are many brands in Da Nang. Some popular names are Mai Linh in green (+84 236 356 56 56), Tien Sa in yellow (+84 236 379 79 79) and VinaSun (+84 236 368 68 68).
Da Nang taxis are equipped with a reliable meter so you don’t need to worry about the scam. Furthermore, they’re available everywhere from the airports, train station, to the hotels, attractions, etc. Hence, it takes no effort to catch one. Nevertheless, you should write down the destination to show the driver if you can’t talk Vietnamese. There are many drivers can use English but it’s a little, not enough to communicate smoothly. One more thing to remember is that you should pay in cash because there are few taxis fitted to accept credit cards.
Bus – Friendly Da Nang transportation
To encourage the citizens to use public transportation, the authorities have provided modern buses and improved the services as well. Besides, the city also has subsided bus routes with only 5,000 VND/passenger/turn to get around in the urban area. Thanks to this, travel by bus brings a pleasant experience for customers.
Opt for the bus is the cheapest way to transport. However, it takes longer time and consumes more effort in getting to a place and waiting for the bus. For the subsided bus routes, the service starts from 5 AM to 9 PM with a frequency of 10 minutes per trip in peak hours and 20 minutes per trip in off-peak hours. They’re Route 05, 07, 08, 11 and 12. For more information about the routes, let’s visit the DanaBus website or use the smartphone to download the app.
Additionally, you can use the Google Map and its schedule explorer to locate exactly the nearest bus stop and the arrival time of the bus. It helps your journey more convenient.
Motorbike – The best way to see the city
Motorbike is the most popular Da Nang transportation and also the best way to see the city. Riding a bike brings to the most exciting experience of discovering the city. However, in case this is the first time you’re in Vietnam and not familiar with vehicles like motorbike, it’s very risky to ride a bike. The local traffic is not like in your country that requires many skills to control a bike. You have to good at situational awareness, reflexes, balancing, guts of steel, etc. So if you’re not ready, don’t risk your life.
Renting a motorbike is quick and easy so there are many shops around the city. Even more, you can hire a bike once you arrive at the airport. There are two kinds of motorbike including the manual and automatic one. The automatic bike is easier to handle and it’s more comfortable to travel in the urban area. If you want to explore Son Tra Peninsula or challenge with Hai Van Pass, choose the manual kind for going uphill. Note that check the bike carefully before hiring. The average price to rent a bike for a day is about 130,000 VND.
Grab bike/ Motorbike taxi – Popular Da Nang transportation
If you don’t know how to ride a bike but still want to explore the city like locals, Grab bike or motorbike taxi is a great choice on a budget. Grab bike is a special service in Vietnam compared to other countries. Locals usually use this service because it’s cheap and convenient. To say about its operation, it’s the same as Grab car but you will go by bike instead.
Not like traditional motorbike taxi, Grab bike offers a better way to travel in the city. It can locate exact locations and show a clear price for your booking. Referring to the motorbike taxi, it’s the origin of Grab car in Vietnam but now it’s not popular as it used to be. It gives you a more true and unique local experience with the elder drivers. However, you have to bargain the price and sometimes, you can be fall in a scam. Hence, if you want to have a go, know the destination and the price before hopping on a motorcycle taxi.
Private car – For a day trip or family
In case you travel in a group or with your family, a private car is the best way to have a day-trip. Despite that, you should rent a car service with a local driver instead of driving by yourself because the Vietnam law and traffic condition is different. To arrange a private car, you can ask help from the accommodation or contact the rental companies by yourself. Here are some trustworthy units that you can consider.
If you go on a day trip or plan to go somewhere out of Da Nang, remember to tell the operator beforehand. Moreover, always ask for the price before confirming the booking. You can even negotiate the price with them. When hiring a private car, provide some information like pickup time, location, the destination of your trip, etc. Even more, on the way, you can arrange the operator to visit some other sites. Overall, travel by a car is more comfortable than other vehicles. It’s also a safe Da Nang transportation. However, when it comes to the price, it’s suitable when you go outside the city with many people.
Cyclo – Unique experience in traveling
Cyclo is known as transportation served for tourists sightseeing than a daily vehicle. It is a unique pedal-powered reclining chair that usually seen move along the Han River. With a relaxing speed, you can watch the beautiful scenes along the road. It gives you a totally different feeling compared with other transportations. It likes an unwinding activity that you can travel from place to place while watching people passing by and enjoying the surroundings. Hence, when going by cyclo, it’s about a cultural experience than a Da Nang transportation.
Southeast Asians in general are very friendly and respectful and peaceful people. However there's a huge amount of variation, and the poorer a certain population is, the more smiles you will see and more genuine friendliness. If you go to places like Bangkok where people live modern lives, you'll see a lot of people stressed out, unhappy, etc.
In general I find the Thais to be the most "mixed-bag" some super nice, while others are very rude. The poorer nations are never rude, but Vietnamese for example can be aggressive, unlike Burmese or Cambodians. Vietnam may not be the best country to go first, I suggest go to at least 2 countries.
The countries are very different from each other.
The other thing about Asians, is that tricking people and scams is in fact a huge thing there, so you're right to be concerned, but you can be safe by reading up on this stuff, for example the Filipino card game scam, the Cambodian orphanage, the foreigner with a sob story, the Pagoda english lesson, the Cyclo drivers in Vietnam, the tuk tuk driver gem shop tour, etc.
Once you know them all they will not be able to trick you, so just read up and then don't be afraid, it's a very interesting part of the world.
I've found genuine over-productions and slight seconds of various items on Ben Thanh market. (SriLlanka BTW is another great place for over-productions). You need to examine seams, stitching and material carefully to distinguish from knock-offs as the devil is in the detail. Take note that sometimes the genuine article is sold un-branded, if this is unimportant to you huge savings can be made.
Yup, that was the initial outcome of my research too until I started emailing these companies and pretty much got similar responses as below:
"Dear Sir/ Madam,
Thank you for contacting us!
Please be advised that according to policy of Vietnam Immigration Department, citizen of Lebanon is listed in special list of the policy of Vietnam visa. Therefore, Lebanon passport holders are only allowed to apply for tourist Vietnam visa with validity of single entry in less than 15 days with the approval cost of USD 190/ person.
In addition, in order to issue Vietnam visa for these citizens, the Immigration Department request the proof your return ticket to Vietnam, the scan copy of your passport, your accommodation reservation, and your visa or residence card of the country you are living (if you are not temporarily living in Lebanon) and visa to other countries where you have visited (if any).
To apply for Vietnam visa, you can refer to our applying page https://evietnamvisa.com/apply.html to submit a visa on arrival application online. Then you should complete visa approval fee and send us above requirements via email. After receiving your payment and adequate visa requirement, we can start to process your visa request. For Lebanon passport holders, it takes 12 business days to process your visa request. Recently, a huge number of foreigners in Vietnam, a big percentage of Lebnon passport holders are included, are found to violate the immigration law of Vietnam, only 90% of visa application of Lebanon passport holders are accepted"
This is all great to hear, especially the part about the lack of pervasive scams in Vietnam. I think the blogs on which I read about this were written by younger backpackers whose travels were focused in Vietnam's tourist centers (e.g., Sa Pa, Hanoi's Old Quarter, etc.). They may have generalized from their experiences in these places to the country and culture as a whole, which is unfair. I could care less about being overcharged by 5000 dong (~$0.25) for a plate of food. What I want to avoid is a culture, like I experienced in some parts of India a decade ago, where every other transaction turns into a big hassle, and many attempts to talk to someone disintegrate into an attempt to sell something. One thing that really appeals to me about Vietnam right now, beyond the wonderful scenery and back roads for motorbiking, is that the hotels seem like very good value, even relative to Indonesia.
What I'm coming to realize is that there are just too many great places to visit, suitable for my tastes, in the region for a single summer. I'll have to plan to do several trips to the region. I was also told today that there are thriving jazz and creative music scenes nowadays in Bangkok and Chiang Mai, which were not really well developed when I was there long ago, and I want to go check them out. But where to start? I'm not sure. It's great though to have many good options.
Yes in the less developed, less visited countries in the region the laws are always vague. This may give the incorrect impression that countries like Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar have less stringent rules than say Thailand, but I would caution against such an assumption. The reality is that as I've stated, some of these countries hold drones at the airport and since baggage scans are universal in Yangon and Vietnamese airports (in contrast to Thailand), it's much easier for them to be detected. I think that the laws governing their use in these countries hasn't been developed yet (except in Thailand) but expect things to be tightened considerably in years to come. This also explains why if you go to the Drone Traveller website, the information on how to legally fly a drone in Thailand is so much more detailed than for all these other countries.
I believe that you shouldn't have problems entering Cambodia with a drone, but to avoid unnecessary worries, I'd advise flying into Thailand and traveling to Cambodia by land. This is because the law in Thailand is quite clear: although you are supposed to get a license and insurance to fly a drone, there is no law that says you need to have these to bring a drone into the country. As long as you don't fly it no one cares. Customs certainly has no problems with tourists bringing in drones. Also, even without the license and insurance, as long as you fly it only in remote areas away from large cities, airports and other sensitive places with the permission of the owner where you are launching the drone from, you shouldn't have any problems either.
Since no checks are made when entering Cambodia by land, you won't have any problems getting your drone into the country.
You will find more info on motorcycles renting, routes and tips, on a motorcycle forum, dedicated to motorcycle enthusiast and adventure travelers. Most people on this forum and other travel forums, as tourist/foreigners, dont use a rental vehicle, car or moto, to get around SE Asia.
I suggest renting locally, and not the whole time. Riding a moto in the rain or hot sun, in traffic, cargo trucks, and crazy drivers, farm animals in road, people, children, for 4 hours to go 100KM is what you need to consider...
I was in Myanmar for almost 4 weeks, and rented a Moto in Kalaw, Inle Lake, Bagan, Mandalay, and Hsipaw. Mainly day trip of exploring. I would not rent a moto in Thailand, seen to many bad accidents. Laos I rented in the south and Bolevan area doing a huge loop. Vietnam I have rented in Sapa, Ninh Binh, Hoi An, Nha Trang, Doc Leth, and Saigon/Mekong. Cambodia no thanks.
Keep in mind Myanmar has some strict enforcement of where a foreigner can go, due to both security reasons for your safety, and also military sensitive areas by the Govt. Road Blocks/check points with guards will check your papers and turn you back.
The other factor you need to consider, is the risk of motorcycling is already a dangerous mode of transport, regardless of how capable you are on a motorcycle, I assume you have a motorcycle license back home? Otherwise, SE Asia is not the place to learn.
The reason being, is the rules of the road in SE Asia are nothing like the west, the main rule is, the biggest vehicle has the right of way, period, so cargo trucks, trucks, cars are will not have any issue cutting you off, running you off road, or forcing you off the road. No shoulders are the norm.
The other major concern is medical care, you will be injured if you go down on a moto, and you will be miles from a clinic, that maybe has a doctor with 20% of the training as the west, and maybe a x-ray machine. You will be loaded into a taxi, not a ambulance, to the nearest clinic or hospital. Many people die, just getting 3 hours to a hospital. Then you will be lucky to even have MRI or Cat Scan even luckier, unless in the capitals. Trauma treatment, and surgeons in Myanmar would be the bottom of the list of emergency care. You would nee d to Medi evacuated to Bangkok, which cost about $150,000, do you have that? If not, your stuck in Myanmar and a GoFundMe page...
So, if you ride a moto, you need to wear a good full face helmet, and and a jacket with a back protector, boots, and gloves. Keep in mind its hot, humid and raining often in the tropics too.
Get Travelers Medical Insurance, with Primary care of $100K, and Evacuation Insurance of $500K, to get you to western care, and also back home. You can not board a commercial flight with medical condition. Most policies dont cover motorcycles though, and if they do, you need to hold a valid motorcycle license both home country, and the country you are riding the moto in.
So think twice about renting a moto. Also, Thailand is right hand drive like UK, not left hand drive.
#1 cause of death for foreigners in all of Asia, is moto accidents.
#②
Anyway, you have several options to go to Sam Neua from Ha Noi ---
①by hired car from Ha Noi to Na Meo border(to Sam Neua from Lao border is by other transport after crossing borders)
②by bus or train from Ha Noi to Thanh Hoa + "direct bus" from Thanh Hoa to Sam Neua via Na Meo/Nam Xoi border
*≪direct bus≫--daily service
*it departs from Thanh Hoa"West" bus station
*departure time is around 08:00am in the morning
*required time is about 10 hours from Thanh Hoa to Sam Neua including meal time and the time for border crossing
*arrives Sam Neua 17:30～18:00pm
*be careful of agressive overcgarging by bus studds---if you take a bus without buying your bus ticket at the bus station, they 100% surely overchare you in the bus later!!--it's very common in Vietnam-- anywhere and any route and any bus regardlesss long or short distance.
③bus or car from Ha Noi to Mai Chau + by hired car from Mai Chau to Na Meo border(→Sam Neua)
but i'll explain ①&② only here because ③ is complicvated for travelers who take this route for the first time.
↓
■in case you hire a car(with driver) thinking "money is not object for you" ---
I show you 2 diffrent routes to go to Sam Neua by car.
△from Ha Noi to Sam Neua via Mai Chau & Na Meo border
☆from Ha Noi to Sam Neua via Thanh Hoa & Na Meo border
↓
△Ha Noi→(Road.AH13=NR.6/134km + NR.15/5km via Hoa Binh)→Mai Chau→(NR.15A/71km)→Tong Dau junction(=Nga Ba junction) on NR.15A→(Road.217/90km)→Na Meo/Nam Xoi border→(NR.6 in Laos/82km via the entrance of Vieng Xai village=54km from Nam Xoi Lao border)→Sam Neua---Total:382km
☆Ha Noi→(NR.１/159km)→Thanh Hoa→(NR.15/110km)→Dong Tam junction on NR.15A→Road.217/90km)→Na Meo/Nam Xoi border→(NR.6 in Laos/82km)→Sam Sam Neua---Total:441km
(look carefully maps below)
＊map-1---this map shows Ha Noi to Mai Chau & its distance
https://www.google.co.jp/search?ei=D8EnW_Yai4LyBYuakKAI&q=Map+of+Ha+Noi+to+Mai+Chau&oq=Map+of+Ha+Noi+to+Mai+Chau&gs_l=psy-ab.12..33i22i29i30k1l5.69946.74495.0.77009.16.13.0.0.0.0.447.1704.0j2j4j0j1.7.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..9.1.445....0.89FLM_rubXs
＊map-2---this map shows Ha Noi to Thanh Hoa & its distance
https://www.google.co.jp/search?ei=jLYnW-WeI4K28QWP446ABA&q=Map+from+Ha+Noi+to+Thanh+Hoa&oq=Map+from+Ha+Noi+to+Thanh+Hoa&gs_l=psy-ab.12...13757.19384.0.22290.13.13.0.0.0.0.152.1696.0j13.13.0....0...1c.1.64.psy-ab..0.0.0....0.qixxdqo_m18
＊map-3(Pu Luong map)---this map shows Dong Tam junction on NR.15A & Road.217 (3 directions: Thannh Hoa & Mai Chau & Na Meo border)
http://www.mappery.com/map-of/Pu-Luong-Nature-Reserve-Map
＊map-4---you can check a route from Mai Chau to Na Meo border(NR.15A + Road.217) via Dong Tam junction on NR.15A in this map.
https://www.spiceroads.com/tours/vietnam_laos/itinerary
(for going to Mai Chau from Ha Noi, normally not use a route via Thai Binh but use a route via Hoa Binh(Road.H13= NR.6 + NR.15 from Tong Dau junction(=Nga Ba junction in another name) on AH13/5km to/from Mai Chau town.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
■in case you take bus or train from Ha Noi to Thanh Hoa + take "direct bus" which runs from Thanh Hoa to Sam Neua---
≪route≫
Ha Noi→(by bus on NR.1 or train)→Thanh Hoa→(NR.15 + Road.217 from Dong Tam junction) →Na Meo/Nam Xoi border→Sam Neua
*you need to spend 1.5 days(half day + full one day) as below.
↓
*the 1st day---Ha Noi to Thanh Hoa by bus or train leaving Ha Noi around noon or early afternoon (around pm）---better!
*the 2nd day---Thanh Hoa to Sam Neua taking direct bus between Thanh Hoa and Sam Neua and cossing Na Meo/Nam Xoi border in daytime(during their buisiness time) *Tong Dau junction=Nga Ba junction(one more its naming)
---Bus from Ha Noi to Thanh Hoa takes about 4 hours and you can take it at ＜My Dinh bus station＞--7 km west of Old Quarter or ＜Southern bus station="Ha Noi Giap Bat"--9 km south of Old Quarter.
---Train from Ha Noi to Thanh Hoa also takes about 4 hours
(to be continued #③）
If you want to see both Hoi An and Halong you would have to take two flights, which would leave you in Hanoi at the end to fly back to Bangkok, but it gives you very little time if you split the trip this way, probably better to spend the four days in either central Vietnam and fly out of Da Nang, or North and fly out of Hanoi, or do the Mekong Delta as others said. 4 days can easily be spent in any of those regions. Both the delta and Hanoi are going to be hot and humid, while central vietnam should be more pleasant. Vietnam is very safe just be aware of the scams and careful with traffic.