itsmesophia

March trip. 2 weeks. 5 friends. mid-20's. from US to HONG KONG (wanted to check out Thailand but I heard there are riots going on) for a few days then to VIETNAM.

1. how is the weather in Hong Kong and Vietnam during mid-march?

2. itinerary in vietnam: saigon for a few days. nha trang for a few days. hue for a night. ha noi for a night. then back to saigon for the remainder. suggestions? comments? i may be jam-packing too much?

3. should we book tours while in vietnam? or here in the states before we leave?

THANKS!!

Kathie

weather: www.weatherbase.com

No need to book tours ahead of time of VN - you'll just pay much more than you should.

How much time do you have in VN? And how are you getting from places to place? You are packing in a lot of destinations, which makes me think you'll end up spending most of your time in transit. There is no use going somewhere for one night. Remember it will take you most of the day to get from one destination to another. So one night becomes - one night...no time for sightseeing.

Let me also suggest that you keep up with the news for the places you are going. Your comment on Thailand makes me think you aren't keeping up with what is happening.

itsmesophia

about 10 days or so in vietnam. and out of the 10 days..2 nights in nha trang. prob fly to the different destinations.

so im thinking no to hue and ha noi?

my travel agent and a friend that just came back from asia told me there was a riot going on in thailand.

Cicerone

I live in Hong Kong and have to say that March is about the worst month we have here weather-wise. It is cool and foggy and generally damp. I usually take a holiday and leave if I can during that month. See weatherbase.com and other websites. That won’t give you fog stats, but it is generally overcast and tends toward fog, even though it does not rain. March is the month when mold grows on everything, and your mirror does not clear up all day from your morning shower. There is plenty to see and do here, and if March is your only month to make the trip, that is fine, but you may have some visibility issues when you go to the Peak, and do things like the Star Ferry.

Vietnam should be fine in March, quite dry and temps are good. I agree you are moving around a lot, and only one night in Hanoi seems like a waste and a long way to travel. Without knowing your interests it is hard to say what to cut out. Hue is very interesting and significantly both culturally and historically, and IMO Hanoi is a prettier city than Ho Chi Minh (it still retains much more of it European character). But you don’t really state what you are interested in. You also don’t mention any of the inland hill areas, like Dalat or rice terrace areas like Sapa, which you may want to visit. That is where some people like to do motorcycle trips or hiking/walking. As I have said many times before, SE Asia is a <i>long</i> way to go to just sit on a beach, and there are prettier beaches much closer to your home. There is nothing wrong with just a beach vacation, but I would not fly all the way to Asia just to take one when there is much more to see and do.

You still may want to re-think Thailand. Much as I like Hong Kong, weather-wise you may be better off in Thailand esp. if you want beach weather (or sun or warm temps). While there have been some demonstrations in <i>Bangkok</i> over the last few days by pro and anti-government demonstrators, I don't that that you could make a general statement that there are “riots going on in Thailand”. Thailand is a fair-sized country. The protests are virtually all limited to the area around some government buildings in Bangkok. A riot to me is a more wide-spread occurrence that affects parts of a city or country. There was of course, the well-publicized closure of the two airports in Bangkok for about a week in late November by demonstrators, which also forced some similar problems at airports in other parts of the country. That certainly inconvenienced hundreds of thousands of tourists, but no foreigners were hurt or even involved at all to the best of my knowledge. These are the things you might want to read about if you aren’t already aware of them. (And if you aren’t, I would also have to express some surprise.) Thailand has had a long history of coups, but no foreigners have ever been targeted or involved as far as I know, and they are rarely violent in any event (and the violence does not involve foreigners), so I would not have concerns on that point. (There is an insurgency which has been going on in southern Thailand near the Malaysian border for like 20 years which is quite violent, but virtually no tourists go there.) I doubt that the airports would ever be closed again, as even the demonstrators realize how much this has hurt the tourism industry, so you may want to re-think going to Thailand.

itsmesophia

thank you for your responses! very helpful.

yes, we are re-thinking visiting thailand instead of hong kong. im sure we wont be 'directly' affected by the demontrations/protests going on..just more concerned about the unforeseen inconvenience/hassle if airports were to close etc...

this will be our 1st time in asia so we want to experience all we can within our allotted time frame. interested in visiting some amazing landmarks, shopping, eating, relaxing etc. don't want to jam-pack our vacation where we would feel rushed. not much into hiking and waking up super early..