For remote workers booking a desk in Da Nang, Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City who want to know how the money actually leaves their pocket each month.

For groups of tourists and mixed local-and-foreign tables who want to pay their own share in a Vietnamese restaurant without one person fronting the whole bill in cash.

For coffee drinkers who start in the Hanoi Old Quarter and end up somewhere with one ATM and no card machine — which payment method to rely on, and where each one breaks.

A straight comparison of card, cash and QR code payment at Vietnamese spas and massage shops, and why the right answer flips the moment you leave the city.

A numbers-first look at cooking class pricing in Vietnam, from Hoi An's tourist kitchens to a Mai Chau stilt house, and which payment method costs you least at each.

For tourists and long-stayers deciding whether to buy a prepaid massage card, pay each visit, or book the hotel spa — and how to settle the bill either way.

A practical guide to group dinners in Vietnam — what the till can and cannot do, who should hold the bill, and how everyone gets paid back.

For visitors who want to tip properly in Vietnam, keep the right notes on them, and recover cleanly when the money goes to the wrong place or the wrong person.

For travellers who want to tip properly in Vietnam without hoarding dong or hunting ATMs — and who are heading out of the cities at some point.

For anyone renting a scooter in Hanoi, Hoi An or Da Nang who wants their deposit back, their passport in their own pocket, and no argument on the last morning.

Bank cards get declined, transfer apps can't pay market stalls, and local e-wallets take weeks to set up. Here's how the real options stack up for foreigners in Vietnam.

Begin with the one that costs nothing. LocalPay gives you 5GB in Vietnam plus a QR wallet spanning Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines — add a paid regional plan afterwards, and only for the legs it leaves open.

Start with the free one. LocalPay hands you 5GB in Vietnam plus a payments wallet that works across Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines — then top up with a paid regional plan only if your route needs it.

Navigation costs almost nothing. What quietly empties an allowance is the stuff travellers never think to account for — autoplaying video, an evening call home, a laptop on your hotspot.

Maps barely touch your allowance. It's the things nobody budgets for — Reels on a night bus, a video call home, tethering a laptop — that empty a plan early.

Two people built Rounds because they lived through the dread of medical documents they couldn't understand. This is what it does, and why it matters.

Two people built Rounds because they lived through the dread of medical documents they couldn't understand. This is what it does, and why it matters.