snra232

We are planning a 3 week vacation with a 6 and 9 year old for end of Nov, beginning of Dec. My husband is Indian and we have all been to India 3 times before, so traveling with kids in SE Asia is not new to us. We are not interested in seeing all the sights, so much as just experiencing interesting places at an easy pace. Here is the itinerary I have come up with, but I am looking for your advice and comments:
3 nights Hong Kong, to visit friends and get over jet lag a bit
1 night Ha Noi (don't think there is much in the city to interest us
except water puppets)
1 night Ha Long Bay
travel to Hoi An/Hue (what is the best way to do this ?)
1-2 nights Hoi An/Hue
1 night HoChiMinhCity (again, not too interested in the city in general)
2 nights Mekong Delta
2 nights Angor Wat
3-4 nights Bangkok
4 nights Thai beach resort

too rushed ? transportation issues ? We are probably ok with at
least one train ride (should be interesting for kids, and they have
survived Indian trains before). Also, we will be in BKK for Dec 5 (King's bday) - is this going to be an issue ? Thanks so much!!

Kathie

Too rushed! It takes most of a day to get from one place to another, so two nights is just one day. Especially with kids, you'll feel like you spend all of your time packing and unpacking. One night in Hanoi means you'll have time for the water puppets and that's it.

You need to cut several stops to make this at all enjoyable. Consider the places you most want to see and devote your time to those places.

Angkor, for instance, takes a full three days just to see the major temples. Do some research to see how interested you are in Angkor. If you are interested, 3 full days won't be anough (we spent a week), if you have no interest in the temples, skip it, as it's an expensive stop. If you just want the kids to have some exposure to the temples, I'd still scheudle a minimum of three nights so you have two days to see a few of the temples. The best book on the temples is Dawn Rooney's book, Angkor: A guide to Cambodia's Wonderous temples. You are welcome to look at our photos at www.marlandc.com

You might simply cut Hue and Hoi An, and choose between Hanoi/Halong Bay (Hanoi is a fascinating city) or HCMC/Mekong Delta, then spend a bit more time in your chosen place.

Your Thailand time looks fine, 3-4 nights is enough time for a sample.

You know your kids - will they be ok moving every other day? Will they be happier to settle in for a few days? For myself, I prefer not to make stops of fewer than three nights (two full days), and longer if possible.

Smeagol

there are WAY more interesting things i Hanoi than the water puppets (IMHO)
I think your itinerary is VERY busy and not sure you will actually SEE/experience anything(apart from coaches, airport terminals et). Kathie as always has sound advice. If you are not too interested in seeing anything why not just go to one place then for the whole duration? that way you could have a more relaxing time with your children.

snra232

Excellent- this is exactly the feedback I was looking for- thank you so much for helping! How do you think this itinerary would be:
3 nights Hong Kong
3 nights Hoi An/Hue
2 nights HCMC
2 nights Mekong Delta
3 nights Angor Wat
3-4 nights BKK
4 nights Thai Beach Resort.

Maybe we can even do the Mekong Delta as excursions from HCMC ? Is it close enough that we can make day trips , or should we go and stay there to enjoy it ? We don't have any intention of seeing all of Angor Wat,,, I think it is massive, and I don't know how many temples the 6 and 9 year old will really want to see.

Kathie

That is certainly a better itinerary. You'll be on the go all the time. Just make sure that's ok with both you and your kids.

Smeagol

Shame you are mssing out Hanoi but i guess you can't fit everything in (although whilst i thought HCMC ok i LOVED Hanoi but then that's just my opinion.). Celebrating the kings birthday in BKK will be great and shouldn't present an issue.

Flights between HL and VN are expensive so you may have to switch things around a bit as i would imagine it would be easier to fly HKG to SGN (HCMC)or at least direct than to Hoi an. (as an alternative Viva Macau do very cheap fares from Macau to SGN (which is only a short ferry ride from Hong Kong)

Smeagol

That should say flights between HKG and VN

mohan

3 nights Hoi An / Hue is still too rush. You can rent a driver from HoiAn to take you to Hue for about US$50 or vice versa. In my case, even I insisted I didn't want any stops but the driver stopped anyway for his pho and bathroom and he tried to make me go shopping with him. I am trying to say sometimes things don't happen according to your plan and there is not much you can do about it. I don't know what a 6 year old would make out of HoiAn and Hue so I would suggest skip those places and spend more time in HK which is much easier to navigate than Vietnam. Also Dec could be rainy and very cold in the coastal area like HoiAn and Hue. i was there last year in Nov and I was freezing and couldn't swim even the swimming pool in the hotel was georgous. Macau is nice, I would spend 2 days/ one night there, eat some curry crab or any Portuguese influenced cuisine and egg tarts and steamed cooked milk (your kids would love that) and catch a cheap flight to Saigon the next day.

mohan

By the way, the curry in macau is very different from the Indian curry. It's more of a hint and not really spicy.

rhkkmk

i think i would cut out delta based on most people's report... i might add another day to angkor and the rest to thailand

snra232

This forum is so great. Thank you all so much for all your help and comments. I haven't used one of these before, and it is such a great way to get personalized help. Thank you.

That said, you have convinced me to drop Hoi An/Hue, spend more time in Ha Noi and less in HCMC, and to try to streamline the moving about. Here is my latest idea:

3 nights HK (we have actually been here before, it is really more of a social call, than touring)
3 nights Hanoi , day trip to Ha Long bay ?
3 nights Angor Wat
2-3 nights HCMC/Mekong Delta (friends of ours highly recommended the delta, so I am curious what reports you have heard)
4-5 BKK and environs
4 beach

Smeagol

Much better, although do Hanoi then SGN or visa versa otherwise you will need toget a multiple entry visa into VN if you do AW in between.Although how about (and it pains me to say this because i LOVE bkk so much) drop a day in BKK and add to AW so you are not rushing so much. You could do a day trip from there then to Tonle Sap lake?

Kathie

I agree with Smeagol, make the order HK, Hanoi, HCMC, Angkor, BKK, beach. You won't need a multi-entry visa and flights are more readily available from HCMC to Siem Reap than from Hanoi to Siem Reap.

It's a long drive from Hanoi to Halong Bay. My advice is to either do an overnight or skip it. As a day trip you and your kids get to spend 6 + hours in a car - not a treat for anyone.

People have mixed feelings about the Mekong delta. Do a search on this board for reports on the Mekong Delta. (You'll want an advanced search so it doesn't just search titles, and choose VN as the tag). My impression is that the cheap tours are the ones that get the bad reviews. A more customized tour will take you off the busiest tourist track. Since you are visiting the Mekong Delta, I see no reason to visit Tonle Sap when you go to Siem Reap (Here's a place that many people either consider the highlight of the trip or the worst place!)

This trip is taking shape!

krgystn

I agree with the above that you should do an overnight on Halong Bay. There are many stay aboard ships that do this tour.

Also, when in Saigon, you should absolutely do the day tour of Mekong. It is a long day (leave at 7 or 8am, back at 6 or 7pm), but well worth it. You need 3 nights in SGN for this.

I would drop one of the BKK nights and use it on the islands-- there is so much to see.

krgystn

i forgot to mention that 3 nights in Siem Reap is perfect; you get to see plenty without being rushed.

barefootbeach

We really enjoyed our one night cruise on the Bassac along the Mekong Delta. There were several families with children aboard. This was one of our highlights.

Kathie

I, too, think you are better off with an overnight on the Mekong Delta. A day trip won't be as interesting.

crosscheck

Check out the Angkor Victoria in Siem Reap - great pool scene for kids and adjacent to the huge, kid-friendly royal park. The weather was ideal in December. I would say you definitely don't need 3 full days to see the temples with kids (and our boys were older). We stayed that long, but added a school visit and a floating island tour. Are you planning any elephant encounters?

HLester3

Hi. I just wanted to give you the opposite view of many of the other posters on this board. I believe it is purely a matter of personal preference about how rushed or unrushed someones itenerary is. On previous trips I have listed my itenerary and people said my itenerary was way to rushed and that I wasn't going to see anything except on the way by. I decided to keep my original itenerary and we had a wonderful trip. My husband and I frequently travel with our now 8 year old twins. Our travel philosophy is to see more places instead of staying in one place for too long.
We only stay 2 or 3 nights in one place and move on to someplace else. If we like someplace, we make plans to return and stay for a long time on another vacation. Some places we wished we had more time, but others we were happy to be out of there.
I think it is much different traveling with younger kids, like yours. There is no way that your kids are going to last touring temples for 3 days. To them, they all look alike. We went to Ankor when the kids were 6 and were there for 2 nights. We had 2 full days. We spend a couple hours at the temples and went back to the hotel to swim during the hot part of the day. They had a great time and voted to add it to our trip itenerary this summer. This time my daugther heard about a horse stable that offers rides to the temples, that she really wants to do.

My only suggestions would be to check out some of the beach resorts in Cambodia. I recently saw an article on them in Budget Travel and they looked like an interesting alternative to Thailand. They did not fit into our schedule this time because they are about 3 hours from the nearest airport and we are spending our beach time in Malaysia.

Good Luck.

Smeagol

HLester3 totally agree, as you say its all a matter of opinion, thats why people ask on here so they can gather all the various opinions and decide for themselves. I am in the don't rush it camp but i do realise this isn't for everyone.(and not everyone will have the option or inclination to visit at a further date)
Anyhoo, always to good to have different options on this forum.