Hello Everyone!

I am writing to ask for advice, recommendations, and tips for an upcoming trip.

My boyfriend and I will be travelling to Vietnam - landing in Saigon and spending 2 weeks to travel up north until Hanoi. Then off to Luang Prabang (in Laos) for 5 days and Cambodia (siem reap and phnom phen) for 6 days and then 9 days in Thailand (Phuket and Bangkok)

We are budget travellers and are in need of accommodation, please help! Thanks

All you destinations are best to visit during the cooler months(November - January). To cut cost you should travel by land as much as possible or try and book early on one of the low cost airlines(Air Asia, Nok Air, Orient Thai etc).

For accommodation use the online reservation sites such as Sawasdee.com, Agoda etc. I strongly suggest you search for trip reports on the destinations you intend to travel and you might find a report from someone that suite your style.

Thank you Hanuman! We will be travelling from late November and returning just after Christmas. What do you reckon the weather will be like?

I have booked all the flights already and think i've got good deals. I just need to find out how to travel from SIem Reap to Phnom Penh by land and cheap and safely!

Thanks for the accommodation website, if anyone has stayed at any places in the cities mentioned please tell me about your reviews! Thanks

The weather should be good with a slight chance of rain for late November through to Christmas. The more northerly you go or the higher up the elevation the cooler the temperature will be. Expect it to be cool to cold at nights and warm during the daytime for Luang Prabang but for Bangkok, Siem Reap and the other destinations you've mentioned the temperature should be warm to hot BUT with less humidity than the rest of the year. Overall pleasant weather!

The Anantara Sathorn hotel Bangkok is on sale for unheard of rates from $40/night for a Premier Room (430 sqft) on the Jetsetter.com website. Sale will end in 6 days. The hotel offers free shuttle tuk tuk to the Chong Nonsi BTS Station which is located about 500m from the hotel.

I regularly go to Siem Reap. Will be there in 3 weeks time for 8 nights. Try www.shiningangkor.com

E-mail them for prices.. Nice and clean. Not in the heart of Siem Reap, but,2 km from the city. It will my third stay there in 14 months, so, they must be OK.

I was in Siem Reap in January, 2011. Actually prefer the rainy season. Still hot either way, but, in January, its the dry season,and not as nice. Thats why I am going back in September to see it when its green.

For weather info, I use www.weatherbase.com

It will be less hot in Nov/Dec., but it's hot year round, though Hanoi and LP will be cooler.

When you say budget travelers, how much per night are you willing to spend? Everyone's idea of budget is different.

Returning just after Christmas makes it sounds like you'll be in Phuket at Christmas. That is absolutely the busiest and most expensive time of the year there. And many Phuket resirts have a mandatory Xmas eve dinner that is quite costly. SO when you are looking at places, choose one without the mandatory dinner.

www.asiarooms.com www.hostelbookers.com

though usually find my best deals boots on the ground

www.theangkorguide.net cheap good Angkor info

Happy Travels!

The cheapest way to travel from SR to PP is by bus. The Mekong Express is considered the best and it leaves at 7.30, 8.30 and 12.30. Cost is $10 and it takes 5-6 hrs over a good road with one stop along the way.

I found asiarooms.com to be the best for hotel reservations and pricing. Never one problem over nearly 7 years!

Sawasdee kha

Kathie thanks for the info about xmas in phuket! We definetly will be there for xmas so I'll look into booking proper accommodation now. When I say budget-because we'll essentially be paying for a hotel for just over 30days ideally some nights I'd like to have $20 stays and when I'm tired of roughing it out spend $100/night. It's just not feasable for us to spend $3000 on accommation for a month - looking at saving as much money as possible on accommodation and spending it on food and travel instead!

Thanks everyone for all your comments, Scotters I'll be taking your recommendation for the bus ride and everyone else! Thanks heaps!

Also, are there good safe ways to travel on land from city to city in vietnam and laos and cambodia during the night????

Two good websites for budget travellers in the region are:

http://www.talesofasia.com/ and http://www.travelfish.org/

www.hostelbookers.com is a great site for accommodation although in many places you are visiting it is perfectly possible just to turn up and find somewhere (exceptions would be xmas and possibly Luang Prabang)

With the the exception of overnight train travel in Vietnam or Thailand I would not travel overland at night by bus or car. Bus travel in these places is well developed and easy to arrange. Most guesthouses and hotels will do it for you at minimal or no cost.

If you are really on a budget, Fodors may not be the best website to get advice, but a great inexpensive place in Siem Reap is
http://www.earthwalkers.no/index.php
very clean, wonderful staff, you can book car and driver from there and great location.
with fan $15 / with air $20

In Luang Prabang. THe Merry guesthouse was across the street from where I stayed (which I would not recommend) but it was very popular and the rates are around $30 a nite for two.
you can walk to town from here easily.
http://www.hostelworld.com/hosteldet...093#facilities

I meant that I would not recomend the place I stayed. Everyone seemed to like the Merry Villa

Emlolita, you would be far better off posting your query on either travelfish or Tripadviser. The weather when you are travelling is cooler, but it is high season.
I would suggest the Riverside Guesthouse in Luang Praband. This is a nice place and is in the quiet part of town - the Nam Khan side.

To answer another question - bus travel in Lao is safe.

We just returned from 5 1/2 weeks in Cambodia and Laos. (I am working on my trip report.) We traveled by bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap on Giant Ibis. This is a fairly new company, new buses, AC, hotel pick-up, 1 brief rest stop, 1 lunch stop, about 6 hours, $12.We were able to book seats online prior to leaving the U.S. The road was in good shape and the driver was good.

The original post is 18 months old but anyone interested could consider, in no particular order:-
Grand Hotel Saigon
Salute Hotel Hanoi
Sawadee Guest House Luang Prabang
Ta Som Guesthouse Siem Reap
Spring Guesthouse Phnom Penh
Lemongrass Hotel Phuket
Roof View Place Bangkok
All priced $US 15-US50 a night (double)and all clean and comfortable in our experience. Happy travels!