foggy27

I will be in Bangkok to attend a business meeting in late February. My wife will travel with me. This is an unplanned trip, with short notice. Because of other obligations, we can only have about 8 additional days on the ground, not counting days for international travel and business meeting. Both of us have visited Bangkok in the past. As such, we plan to use the 8 days to take a "side trip" from Bangkok. We are interested in history (ancient and more recent), culture, and food. So far I have some general ideas:

1) Siem Reap + Luang Prabang
2) Siem Reap + Phnom Penh
3) Hanoi + one of (Halong Bay, Hue, HCMC)

I have been to Angkor Wat and absolutely loved it. But that was many years ago, before I met my wife. We visited Myanmar in 2014 and my wife really likes Bagan. I am fairly sure she will enjoy Angkor Wat equally, if not more. On the hand, neither of us has been to Vietnam. We are very interested in Vietnam, but it does not do justice with only 8 days. Can you comment on:

- If we choose to visit Angkor Wat, is it better to combine it with Luang Prabang or Phnom Penh? I read about burning season in northern Laos/Thailand. Is it a significant concern for LP?
- Now if we decide to visit Vietnam instead, I would want to spend some time in Hanoi. We could include one more destination (2 will probably be rushed). What will you suggest?

Kathie

In late February, you may well have smoke from burning fields in Luang Prabang. So it would be safer to opt for one of the other options. Personally, I'd go for Siem Reap and PP. I just think 8 days is not much for VN. But you could opt for Hanoi and Halong Bay in that time. I wouldn't try to visit two VN cities in the time you have. You could actually spend all 8 days in Hanoi and not run out of things to do/see/experience.

julies

Tet is 2/7 to 2/13, and I have read that things in Vietnam don't get back to normal until about a week after it ends. Just thought I'd throw this out since I am not sure of your dates.

crellston

I would go for Vietnam. 5 days in Hanoi and 3 in Saigon. Both cities have a huge amount to offer in terms of history (ancient and recent), fantastic food and provide a good contrast between the north and south. Lots to keep your interest for the time available. As long as you are going at the end of Feb, things will have got back to normal after the Tet holiday. Personally, I would not bother with Halong Bay in the time you have. Alternatively, if you are planning on returning to Vietnam for a longer trip to Vietnam, save it for later.

I love Phnom Penh but after visiting Angkor for the third time last year, it was a huge shock to see how crowded it had become. Just too many people to make it an enjoyable experience. That said, we were taking my in laws who were very impressed and thought it was worth it, despite the crowds.


There is no way of predicting if, or how much, Northern Thailand, Laos etc will be affect by the burning season. We were in the region in Feb March last year and it was terrible. We have also visited LP in previous years around the same time and had similar issues. I wouldn't risk it!

LancasterLad

West of Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Sangkhlaburi, Three Pagoda Pass. Beautiful, serene, and easy to do.

foggy27

I normally plan a trip with more lead time and more research. Good to know about smoke situation. We are ruling out Luang Prabang for this trip.

I just noticed that:
1) Visa is required for Vietnam.
2) International flight to/from Vietnam is either Hanoi or HCMC, but not central Vietnam.

At this point, we are leaning towards Siem Reap + Phnom Penh, but have not ruled out Vietnam. At least the weather should be moderate in North Vietnam, whereas Cambodia is likely hot. I just have to do a little more research on Vietnam. It is a little surprising that Halong Bay does not get much love from many experienced travelers on this board.

Last time I was in Siem Reap, I skipped Tonle Sap. It was just not appealing to me at that time. Should we allocate time for it? We thoroughly enjoyed our time in Inle Lake when we visited Myanmar. Is Tonle Sap half as interesting, or forgettable?

Thanks for suggesting the other locations in Thailand, and I will keep it in mind.

julies

There is an international airport in Danang in the center of the country. A visa for Vietnam is definitely more of the real deal than for the other countries, but the price has now been reduced to $25. And, with advance application through an online travel agency there are options to get one when arriving at one of the three international airports rather than having to send your passport out to an agency here in the US. We spent a day on a local ferry on BaLong Bay (north of Halong) and thoroughly enjoyed that completely non-touristy experience.

We leave soon for our first trip to Siem Reap and Phnom Penh so will be interested to learn more about those locations. And, it will be hot in January too.

crellston

Tonle sap is interesting but you do need to get away from the tourist trap that is Chong Kneas, the place that most tour operators will try to take you. Some useful info at http://www.travelfish.org/sight_prof.../siem_reap/793

Getting a visa on arrival letter for Vietnam is a simple process that is done online and usually takes 24 hours. Getting the visa itself at the airport is pretty straightforward now the immigration people have finally got their act together.

Halong Bay is undoubtedly impressive, but very crowded these day, a classic example of uncontrolled tourism. Bai Tu Long Bay, as mentioned by Julies, is a better, less crowded option. The downside of either is the journey there and back which is dull, hot and takes around 5 hours each way. A big chunk out of a short trip.

Kathie

Tonele Sap is not one-tenth as interesting as Inle Lake, IMO. It's the one thing I would have cut from our Cambodia trip oh so many years ago.

While there is an international airport at DaNang, there are few international flights, only from a couple of places in SE Asia, so that airport may not be of much help to you.

You must have arranged a visa in advance for VN, but as other have noted, you can quickly, easily and inexpensively get a visa approval letter via email.

foggy27

Thanks to everyone for feedback. It's good to know that obtaining visa is not as bad as I thought. We always wanted to go to Vietnam. It just comes down to whether to do it in this trip, or wait for a separate trip with more time.

Tourist destinations are popular for a reason. Some just do a better job in absorbing the crowd.

zoso

Siem Reap for sure. Easy easy. No visas needed. Pay at airport, bring a couple of passport photos with you,Feb is high season though.Lots of people!
You can add the Elephant Nature park sanctuary. A hr out of Siem Reap.
I go every year.They have two Elephants they have rescued.Its in what's left of the forest. I belive 50,000 acres.
No Chains, No riding....just
2 Free happy Eles....They have simple cabins. I love it.
Food and transportation included!

I've been to Halong Bay 3 yrs ago. To long of a ride took 6 hrs.one way.lots road construction then.It was ok.very much a tourist trap to me.

foggy27

Reporting back:
We decided to spend the time in Cambodia, with 2 nights in PP and 6 nights (5 full days) in Siem Reap. It is my second time visiting Angkor Wat, and it does not disappoint. We enjoyed it, despite the weather (see below). Here is some random impressions that we would like to share:

- Cambodia is very hot in early March. Well we know that beforehand. I am glad we allocated 5 full days for Angkor, intended to cover some minor temples. In the end we had to take it easy, and cover just the main temples + Beng Mealea in 5 days.
- We hired a comfortable A/C car. It cost US $35 a day. Our driver is very nice, and knowledgeable. As part of initial negotiation, we specifically asked for early start and he is fine with that. However he was resistant in driving us back to our hotel for lunch break, as this was not agreed upon. As such we had lunch near the site. This is not ideal, as it was the hottest time of the day and it was difficult to continue sightseeing immediately afterwards. For the first few days, we pretty much called it a day around 3:30pm. Only later when the driver was more relaxed, he told us the concern over high petrol price, and free lunch he got near the site but not in town. Once we understand his concern, we made the adjustment. We continued to have lunch near wherever we were, but went back to hotel afterwards for a rest. The driver picked us up again around 3pm, in exchange for a small “fuel surcharge”. It is much more pleasant.
- Angkor is more crowded than my trip 15 years ago, but not as bad as we feared. I guess December would be worse. It is large enough to absorb the crowd. We had an early start every morning to visit the most popular temple before the big tour bus, and that helped.
- Siem Reap is booming with many restaurants. The quality is uniformly good, and we did not have a bad meal. In contrast, we seemed to have more than our fair share of hit-and-miss in Thailand.

A big thanks for everyone who provided feedback. We will get to Vietnam someday, and I have a feeling we will love it.

Kathie

I'm glad you had a good trip. Thanks for reporting back!