Itinerary Help- Thailand and Cambodia

Old Jan 2nd, 2014, 06:57 AM
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Itinerary Help- Thailand and Cambodia

Hi all,

I'm hoping to make it to Thailand/Cambodia this year. I'm not sure at the moment if my boyfriend will be joining me (in the process of relocating/selling his business), or if I'll be solo.

Right now I'm thinking-
Bangkok - 3 days (any day trips I should take?)
Fly to Chang Mai - 2 days
Bus to Chang Rai-- 3 days (wanting to go on a Golden triangle tour, border crossing at Myanmar&laos)
Fly to Cambodia (from where?) --3 days, see Angkor Wat

I'd like to stay in nicer hotels, especially if I'm by myself, but nothing too pricey! (Less than $100USD/day, the lower the better!)

Things I would like to include on my trip:
An ethical elephant encounter (was able to do this in Zambia, loved it)
A cooking class
A not-to-strenuous hilltribe trek
One day to sit by a body of water and get really tan (silly, yes, but after living on the coast my whole life, and being landlocked for the last 5 years, I need to sit on a beach!).-- this would be great but not 100% necessary.
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Old Jan 2nd, 2014, 08:40 AM
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Three days in Bangkok won't even cover the major sites in the city, so I don't recommend a day trip for your very limited time.

If you are interested in hilltribes, be aware that you would need to hike far into the hills and spend an overnight in order to see any hilltribes living in traditional ways. Plenty of agencies in CM will take you to a "village" you can drive to, but the locals will be mostly interested in selling you bric-a-brak, and you will get no sense of their traditional life.

I also want to recommend against the 3 country tour at the Golden Triangle. For Laos, you are taken to a group of tables set up to sell to tourists. The goods are very poor quality, most made in China. You will have no sense of the culture or the lives of the people. In Burma, you are taken to a border town (much like going to Tijuana, if you have been there), but you will get no exposure to the culture. You will just have people trying to sell you sub-standard goods at prices far too high.

You are better off staying in Thailand and taking a tour to Doi Suthep. Actually, I recommend hiring a car and driver rather than taking a tour.

For elephants, you have two choices in the CM area - The Thai Elephant Conservation Center near Lamphang or the Elephant Nature Park.

Choose the things that are most important to you, and plan your itinerary around those.

To fly to Cambodia, you will need to return to Bangkok.

For beaches, what time of year will you be traveling?
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Old Jan 2nd, 2014, 09:53 AM
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Bangkok is a huge city and if you've never been to Asia before,it may take 3 days to get over the jet-lag and sensory overload. Unless you are a huge history buff, you will get your fill of temples and waking up at dawn to take a day trip may not be your best use of limited time.

From CM to Siem Reap,you could consider going through Luang Prabang in Laos. (direct flights ~$200 per leg) Laos is changing quickly, but with it being more isolated, its a bit easier to get a feel for its culture. I got reluctantly dragged to it by my gf, but the elephant encounter in LP was pretty amazing. We paid more for what appeared to be the most "ethical" company and it was still only $60pp for a couple hours on an elephant with a mahout & a kid to carry our lunches/take pictures.

I know Angkor is something to see and probably the most famous site in the region, but keep your expectations in check. Understand that the site is composed of dozens of ruins scattered around a very large area, like maybe 60 miles to drive to all of them. I'm sure some people can spend a full week touring all the ruins of the various temples, but I don't think you need to feel ashamed to hire a driver to take you around to a few of the more famous ones for a day, maybe two. SR is an odd mix of Cambodian poverty alongside some major international resort style hotels. The number of little kids selling postcards and trying to pull-off scams outside of the main temple is a bit disgusting.

You can take a day trip out of Bangkok to a place like Cha-am to get some beach time. Or if you had more time to spend in Cambodia, I'd recommend the beach town of Sihanoukville, but its a pretty long bus ride from SR.

Unless you are staying at the real fancy international hotels, I think you may have a hard time spending $50 a night. Descent accommodations with private bathroom and ac can usually be had for $20, so for double that you should get a pretty nice place.
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Old Jan 2nd, 2014, 10:18 AM
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I'd go to Luang Prabang, Siem Reap, and Bangkok on a short trip like yours. You can get a discovery pass on Bangkok air to reduce the cost of flying as they go to all three cities and they fly direct from SR to LP (with a pit stop in Pakse).

Depending on the time of year, you can find nice hotels in LP for about $50, very nice inns or guesthouses in Siem Reap for $20-$50, and lots of good places in BKK for under a hundred (make sure you are close to a skytrain station to keep things simple). If you end up going solo, LP & SR are both places where it's easy to find someone to share a driver for a day.
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Old Jan 2nd, 2014, 05:15 PM
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Yeah with 3 days, stay in Bangkok. Ton to see in that time. I spent a while in Siem Reap, and please don't be deterred to go there. There is a fair amount of poverty (really not so much compared to surrounding villages), but even so the people are always kind and pleasant, in my experience.

As I see no other recommendations, I'd recommend to do your cooking class in Siem Reap. In the middle of Pub Street you'll find Le Tigre de Papier. The first part of the class is actually going to the market and buying the ingredients. Then you come back to the restaurant and make the meal with tons of help. A really nice break from Angkor.

For a beach, I'd also say Sihanoukville is really great (the farther out the beach you pick, the more quiet and less party-going it is. Otres beach is the best for nice, peaceful beach-bumming). But, like previously mentioned, it is a pretty long bus-ride (though I did a sleeper bus so not that bad in the end.)
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Old Jan 3rd, 2014, 01:26 PM
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Thank you all for the suggestions!

I will definitely be looking into the Discovery pass on Thai airlines, that sounds right up my alley!

I am thinking of going in October, will it still be rainy then? Should I suck it up and go in November when the crowds have set in?

I'll look into the beaches in Cambodia as well, thanks for the tips!
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Old Jan 3rd, 2014, 02:31 PM
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October is the worst time to find beaches that have dry weather. November has better weather and it isn't too crowded.
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Old Jan 4th, 2014, 10:52 AM
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Bangkok is so awesome. Can't say enough about it. The food is amazing!

3 days in SR is a lot, considering you have such a short trip overall. Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom is cool, but don't think it's necessary to see much of the other temples, unless you're into that kind of thing. After the first 2 temples, they all look the same. 1-2 nights in SR is all I would recommend in SR. Just need 1 full day to do the temple tours. And I recommend hiring a driver and tour guide, which most hotels will do for you.

If you plan on going to Sihanoukville, I would highly suggest flying there from Siem Riep. You do NOT want to take that drive for 7 hours. Spend the extra $100 and save yourself time and anxiety from the Cambodian "highways". Sihanoukville's sunset is beautiful, esp at Queenco hotel. It's off the main strip, but it's quiet, and the restaurant next door is delish. Good luck and have fun on your trip
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Old Jan 4th, 2014, 11:02 AM
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If you aren't very interested in temples, then one day is enough. (although given the expense and time involved, I'd say If you aren't interested in temples, then why go?)

Get a copy of Dawn Rooney's book, Angkor: A Guide to Cambodia's Wondrous Temples to prepare for your visit. The book will help you decide how much time to spend there. It takes three full days just to visit the so-called major temples. We spent a week there and would have enjoyed more time.
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Old Jan 6th, 2014, 05:46 AM
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Very interested in temples, I'm happy to pay the cost to only go for 1-2 nights in Cambodia, as I can't imagine getting *that close* to Angkor and not seeing it!

Thank you for all of your help!
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Old Jan 6th, 2014, 06:50 AM
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If you are very interested in temples, do stay at least three full days. Get a copy of Dawn Rooney's book as soon as you can as it will help you decide how long to stay in Siem Reap. For those of us "very interested in temples" a week wasn't enough. Going for 1 or 2 nights makes no sense for someone with an interest in temples. Two nights is only one full day.
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Old Jan 6th, 2014, 09:05 AM
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I agree regarding staying 3 nights in siem reap. You should also try to go to tonle sap lake to see the Vietnamese people living on the lake. It is an extremely interesting 1/2 day outing.

You can hire a tuk tuk once there or your taxi driver from the airport is likely to offer his services. We had a guide and taxi, but personally, despite the heat, we loved the open air feel of the tuk tuks and felt like we got a better glimpse of the people along the way to the temples. Our guide tended to drone on endlessly and while he was extremely knowledgable and nice, if you are prepared and read up on the temples prior to your trip, you can better spend your time soaking up the beauty of the temples and the surroundings, photographing them at your leisure. In retrospect, we would have preferred going in our own.
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