marianacardoso

1 day BKK - Siem Reap
3 days Siem Reap
3 days Phnom Phen
1 day Phnom Phen - BKK
4 days Bangkok
3 days side trip to kachanaburi/khao sok?
1 day fly BKK-Vientiane
1 day Vientiane
1 day Vientiane bus ride Luang prabang
3 days Luang Prabang
4 days to get from Luang Prabang to Sapa overland (through slow boats in Nam Ou river and day time bus jouney between Dien Bien Phu and Sapa for scenary)
2 days Sapa
4 days Hanoi

Any input will be welcome. Thank you all very much.

Kathie

You don't need 3 days in PP, IMO, you can cut a day. I'd add it to Siem Reap, but you might want to add it elsewhere. I think Vientiane is worth more than one day. If you aren't sure about your side trip out of Bangkok, why not cut it and add days to your other estimations. Fewer destinations means more time to enjoy and explore in each.

Overall, it looks to me like you have done your research.

kmkrnn

I would add the day to vientienne

thursdaysd

Looks pretty good. I would give some thought to adding a day to Siem Reap - have you read Dawn Rooney's "Angkor"? It will help you decide how many temples you want to see. I, too, would take it from PP.

crellston

I would add a day to Siem Reap.

3 days for Phnom Penh I think is fine.

I see little point in flying to Vientienne for one day just to get the bus to LP I would miss out Vientienne completely, but, if you do want to go, spend a couple of days.

Three days is too long for Kanchanaburi ( avoid at the weekend) and too short for Khao Sok. I would leave this out and maybe add time to Vietnam - see below.

The scenery between Dien Bien Phu and Sapa is spectacular ( at least if you beget a clear day) crossing the passes around mt fansipan was a bit nerve racking! If yo are at all interested in the history of Indochina, I would spend a night in DBP - there are some great sites/ and museums in and around the town.

If you want to do some trekking outside of Sapa, I would add a day there. Alternatively if you have spare days by not going to Khao Sok, consider a side trip from Hanoi to the Mai Chau valley - overnight would be ok but two night better if you want to do some hiking.

Any thoughts on where you might stay en route fro LP to. Sapa?

Prachuap

Far too much rushing around. I do 5 nights in places.

You lose a day travelling remember.

Prachuap

I would skip Vietianne and fly Bangkok to LP.

marianacardoso

Thank you all so much for your help!!!
Might give a day less to PP and add it in SR like Kathie suggested. I already have the Dawn Rooney's "Angkor" book, I bought it in amazon second handed but haven't read it already.

Crellston, I don't want to have a definitive schedule on where I'll spend the night in route. I know things might dont work out as I planned, I guess that's the bad thing about traveling overland... But was thinking maybe about Nong khiaw, Muang Khua and Dien Bien Phu. I'm really excited about that journey. I actually kinda like bus rides, I have an excuse just to sit, reflect and enjoy the views. The four days is just an idea, but my flight dates are already set. I considered Mai Chau but as an alternative to Sapa. Since I want to do that journey overland I decided Sapa was more convenient and I heard the journey to Sapa was more scenic that going via Son La to Mai Chau. I left just two days because I am not that interested in staying in town I heard it's very touristy and was thinking about doing 2d1n trek in an homestay or just go to a market in the area.

I have to be in Bangkok in the middle of the journey because my boyfrind has arranged an internship in the restaurant Nahm and has to be there in those dates, that is why I was thinking about doing a side trip instead of adding those days to vietnam.

crellston

"my boyfrind has arranged an internship in the restaurant Nahm" wow! - I haven't been to Nahm in. Bangkok but have eaten at Nahm in London several times - probably the best Thai restaurant in the world outside of Thailand . That will be some experience.

The journey to DBP sound great and the scenery certainly is outstanding. Some photos I took along the way
http://blog.travelpod.com/travel-blo...2263/tpod.html

marianacardoso

He's really excited and so am I for him!!
Nahm is currently the number 13 in the top restaurants in the world and the number one in Asia. We'll have dinner there the night before we go back home and we also wanna go to Gaggan (number 17 in the list) an indian restaurant in Bangkok.

Your photos are stunning, thank you so much for sharing, it made me and my boyfriend even more exited about it!

Prachuap

A number of people on tripadvisor complained of overly salty dishes at Nahm and couldnt understand the hype.

For me the best Thai food is home cooked meals. In restsurants its about presentation while in homes its about flavour.

thursdaysd

"For me the best Thai food is home cooked meals."

Well, that's such a helpful remark, considering the readers here are tourists. The probability of anyone here getting a home cooked meal in Thailand is slim to none. Get real.

Prachuap

Not really. Some of the tours include homestays or you can to actually make friends with locals rather than just hang out with tourists. Some of the curries I ate up north in villages were better than flashy restaurants.

Usually the expensive restaurants are just charging 5 times more for a pretty table and presentation.

Prachuap

Google Thailand homestay.

thursdaysd

A very few posters here have stayed/might stay in homestays. Far more of them can be found at places like the Mandarin or the Four Seasons or the Royal Orchid.

Prachuap

Well Thailand has that diversity and people can choose. Your claim of tourists not being able to eat home cooked food was false.

Prachuap

The OP even expressed interest in homestays.

thursdaysd

I said: "The probability of anyone here getting a home cooked meal in Thailand is slim to none."

I did not say it was impossible.

You have become tedious.

Prachuap

Slim to none would only apply to people who made no effort.

Lots of Thai tours include village stays and home style cooking.

I dont know why you are getting upset. Its ok to be wrong sometimes.

Have a nice day.

marianacardoso

Nahm is a restaurant where my boyfriend had the opportunity to arrange an internship. Prachuap says people complained about salty food, you should know people will always complain even if it's the best restaurant in the world, not only because of expectations but because everyone has a different taste. They also charge a lot, but doesn't compare of the price in european restaurants of that level, not even close! My boyfriend has had some internships already in michelin stars restaurants and I can say there's a lot of technic involved, hard work and the best of the best ingredients, that's why the prices are so high, and because it's more like an experience than a dinner, has lots of plates, with less food than normal so you can have a bigger experience.

Prachuap, I totally get what you're saying. I'm portuguese and all my favorite restaurants are far away from tourism, very old fashioned with great traditional food. I also know, that they are not in touristy areas and that they just won't even know they exist so they won't get to try them.

Nahm and Gaggan are just two restaurants we want to go to because it's important for my boyfriend carrier and we're sure we'll like it, not as everyday food but as an experience.
This two will be THE restaurants we will go for sure, the rest of the journey we want to get to know more traditional cuisine, street food... but it's also harder to predict and get to know great places.
About the homestays, we won't get to go to north in Thailand where I know there are more chance of doing an homestay. We looked into Mae Khlang Luang Village some time ago but since we wouldn't be in the north we forgot about that.
A place we're thinking of going is to Amphawa: we will stop in Mahachai (Samut Sakhon) where we'll switch trains and I heard it's Thailand's largest seafood port. When we get to Amphawa we were thinking about arranging an homestay there and check out the Tha Kha floating market.
Prachuap, if you have any places you recommend for people interested in food around the places I will stay please share, don't just say they exist and are better.