BK-LP-SR Itinerary help please.
 

Evening All. I have to say I have been reading the Asia forum and it's fantastic, very informative, and funny also. So as a newbie here I need a little help on my first Asia trip that I have been planning, well, for 3 years now. I've decided pretty much on the route. And it's like this..

3 nights Bangkok
1 night overnight train
3 nights Luang Prabang
3 nights Siem Reap

Question is, the overnight train to Nong Khai, how easy is that to do? LP seems pretty far away from the last stop, so how easy is it to get there from the border? Or would it be easier just to take the train up to Chang Mai from Bangkok and head to LP from there? Not sure what to do..

The overnight train is not difficult, but it gets you (close) to Vientiane, not Luang Prabang. From Vientiane you'd need to take a plane or a long bus ride to LP. Although I'm a big fan of train travel, I have to say that with this short a trip you're better off flying from Bangkok. Which guide books are you using?

No books yet, all computer stuff. Lonely planet, NC map, travelfish, Frommers, Fodors, Exotissimo, Red Lantern Journeys, Diethelm Travel, and about 100 other travel sites and I often browse many tour operators to get ideas of what they do. I'm patient, and have time. But anyhow, the overnight train is starting to look not so doable. What about taking it to CM and then overland from there? I just don't want to keep flying all over the place ya know?

Highly recommend borrowing some guidebooks (including Lonely Planet for logistics) from the library, or settling in for some serious browsing at your local bookstore. I don't have the relevant books at present (I traded them for others while traveling) but I believe the overland route from CM is to get to the river at Huay Xai and take a boat to LP. I'm all in favor of traveling on the ground, but again, if you only have ten nights, you don't have time to do that. You need more time, fewer places, or planes. Sorry. Actually, three nights isn't really long enough for Siem Reap, you need at least four.

Thanks for the help. I think I will ditch the train and just fly BK air. Well that leaves me with one extra night to add somewhere. Where do you suggest? Add to BK, LP or SR? Or hey maybe HK, as we would most likely fly from JFK to BK via HK on Cathay. Although one night in Hong Kong might be just tiring and a bit confusing.

All three places could easily use more time. I'm not much of a BKK fan, so I would probably add it to SR, as I think you need at least four nights there. I would expect to see some posts here suggesting you cut back to two places - split the LP time between BKK and SR, and I wouldn't argue against that view.

Take a look at the Bangkok Air Discovery pass. It will save you lots of money. You need to fly at least three legs, but your itinerary encompsses that. Look at the website first and get an idea of the flights that you want. then call th 800 number. It's a call center in India, but you can get the reservation. You save some more money by sending a bank check instead of using a credit card.

For the extra day, remember you're going to need a day at the end in BKK to get ready to fly home.

BKK, SR and LP are all wonderful places.

add the day to either bkk or SR....LP could use it too but the others deserve more.....any chance of squeeking out a few more days after spending all that money to fly there??

you must fly to both SR and LP////.. overland with only a weeks trip is way to lengthy....