Albertwilliam

Does anyone know of travel agents in the LA area who are knowledgeable about Cambodia and Laos

croker

Hi Albert, I dont know of anyone in LA. But Tonkin Travel in Vietnam are excellent.

Approach_Guides

Although not in LA, we used Exotissimo. We highly recommend using local guides as you get the best local advice, the best prices AND support the local economy. A win-win for everyone!

Exotissimo (based in Bangkok) is an excellent travel agent, with offices throughout SE Asia; even if you plan to book your hotels/transportation yourself, definitely employ their guides, all of which had an excellent command of the history of each city/site we visited.

Have a great trip! Cambodia, especially the temples of Angkor, which were influenced by Buddhist and Hindu religious architecture in other parts of the world, are simply incredible.

thursdaysd

What do you want the TA to do? Both countries are very easy to do on your own.

gearsau

Do it on your own. Have done 4 trips to Siem Reap and one to Phnom Penh in past 11 months and did it all myself.

I did a lot of research on the net to find accomodation and transport details .
This is a good site : http://talesofasia.com/cambodia.htm

Albertwilliam

Thanks everyone. As far as what we want the TA to do, we will be staying in several places - Chiang Rai, Luang Prabang, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Kep - and wanting to leave very soon. We wanted to lay out our itinerary, suggest accommodations we like the sound of, tell them when we'd like to fly between places and when we'd like ground transport, and have them do the leg work of making hotel reservations and travel arrangements etc.

We would like to find someone who is flexible enough to work that way rather than just have them try to give us something from their tour book.

As for local guides I imagine we will be able to arrange them there if and when we think we need them.

gearsau

Re Phnom Penh.. I spent three days there last July. In my opinion, two would have been sufficient.

Have down 4 trips to Siem Reap, and that is where the most interest is for me. You need at least three to four days to investigate the temples. Any less, and its too rushed.

Its the hot dry season there now BTW. I was over there about 3 weeks ago for 6 nights / 5 days .

thursdaysd

And I'm in Luang Prabang right now, and it's the hot season here too. Pleasant at night and until about 10:00 in the morning, but definitely too hot for me the middle of the day.

You have little choice in air carriers for that route and might just as well make the reservations directly with the carriers. Ground transport? You might want to buy train tickets ahead of time (I used http://www.thailandtrainticket.com/ for tickets from Bangkok to the Lao border) but buses and cars are usually booked a day or two before you need them. And if you're going to pick the hotels yourself, again, why would you not also make the reservations?

Smeagol

Because some times they get better prices. I normally do all my own reservations BUT tonkin got me airfares and prices at some of the hotels I was staying at in VN way cheaper than I could. Therefor I got them to book the ones they could get cheaper and sorted out the others myself.

thursdaysd

"and have them do the leg work of making hotel reservations and travel arrangements etc." - you're suggesting doing rather more of the work yourself, Smeagol. (Most of the places I stay at don't discount to TAs, or if they do it's at places like agoda and asiarooms)

Smeagol

My point is that sometimes they can get a better deal. I enjoy doing the research but did take advice off TT in Vietnam. I like to do my own research but like most people here I also want to save a few £££. So to me it's a no brainer. Not sure why people think it's such a big deal to use TAs either occasionally like I do or all the time, each to there own.