Asian Itinerary
 

Please help with this suggested itinerary for mid Feb, 2008.

5 nights in Hong Kong which include two nights in Macau. Spent three nights in May and plan to return if I can arrange the air schedules.

5 nights in Hanoi which includes one night at Halong Bay.

2 nights in Hue.

3 nights in Saigon.

3 nights in Siem Reap.

3 nights in Chiang Mai

6 nights in Bangkok.

At this time this is rough plan. I will be e-mailing Vietnamstay for their thoughts also. Actual number of nights may change depending on air schedules.

You will be doing a lot of moving around. Is this what you want?

If it were me (and it isn't) I'd cut one location. I'm not fond of Chiang Mai (though some people are), so I'd cut it and add one or two nights to Siem Reap and another night to either Hanoi or Hong Kong.

I think it's worthwhile to really do your research on Angkor to decide how interested you are. It takes a full three days just to see the so-called major temples. We spent a week there, saw more than two dozen temples and would have liked more time there. I always recommend Dawn Ronney's book, Angkor. In additon to lots of info about the temples, she gives several different itineraries for seeing the temples (which to see if you only have two days, three days, five days, etc). Angkor is such a stunning expereince, make sure you give yourselves enough time.

i too would cut chiang mai...

i would cut saigon by one nite also...

i would add one to SR

and i would go to halong bay for a day trip...

Just an FYI, Chinese New Year will be celebrated from February 7– 9 in 2008. Tet is being celebrated in Vietnam around the same time. IMO it’s a great time to be here with all the celebrations and the fireworks, etc, but can be a hard time to travel around as airports can be crowded. You may also find restaurants and smaller shops to be closed for a week or more after the offical public holidays, I think this will be the case much more in Vietnam, but I have not been there for Tet, so can’t say for sure.

You may find going to Macau crowded, most likely not too bad as this is a huge family holiday (it would be like going to the casino on Christmas), but I would probably avoid Macau on day 3 of the Chinese New Year holidays when people are not so much with their families at that point. You might go the first day, it is unclear to me if you would find casinos open then (if that interests you), again it would be like casinos in Vegas being open on Christmas (are they?). You would most likely find most restaurants and most shops closed on that day in Macau (all of Hong Kong is shut down that day other than hotel restaurants).

Thanks for the imput. Any other suggestions? Is anyone familair with a guide named Huong in Hanoi? My friend used her in May and said she was outstanding.

I believe the casinos are open year round in Macau.

It'll be interesting to see how hotel rates will change in Macau, when the 4,000-suite Venetian open late this year.

Not into casinos. Going to see the real sights.