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Finalizing Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand itinerary

Finalizing Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand itinerary

Old Apr 30th, 2004, 07:55 PM
  #21  
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I also meant to mention that some of the Bangkok thai restaurants recommended on this forum (e.g., Harmonique and Lemongrass) are very reasonably priced; $10 for dinner if you don't have wine.
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Old Aug 12th, 2004, 12:04 PM
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travelersusan I would like to find out about your trip logistics, flights you took and how many days you spent in those places. Hopefully you could post a reply here.
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Old Sep 18th, 2004, 03:29 PM
  #23  
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Comet,
Sorry it took so long for me to get back here. Hopefully, you will still see this.

We had an absolutely amazing time. Thank you to everyone who gave us advice on this trip. Reading my first post, I can?t imagine how much we had originally planned!

Travel throughout Vietnam and Cambodia was relatively easy. We bought all of our tickets as we went from place to place, and never had any trouble getting the flights we wanted. The only time we couldn?t get our first choice, was our trip from Hanoi to Hue. We wanted to take the overnight train, but the soft sleepers were sold out, so we had to fly instead.

Here is a very brief summary of our trip. Please feel free to ask any specific questions?..

Day 1: arrived in Hanoi late at night. Checked into Win Hotel.
Day 2: explored Hanoi during the day, took the night train to Sapa (Sapa trip was organized through Handspan).
Day 3 ? 4: trekked for 2 days through the villages. Did a home stay in Ta Van village. Night train back to Hanoi. (The night train was much better than I expected!)
Day 5: day in Hanoi, back to Win Hotel.
Day 6 ? 8: trip to Halong Bay with Handspan. Slept on a boat the first night, kayaked all day on the second day, and slept at their base camp the second night.
Day 9: Flight to Hue. Explored Hue ? mainly the citadel.
Day 10: motorbike tour of Hue (which was incredible!) Then hired a car to drive us to Hoi An. Stopped at Marble Mountains along the way.
Day 11 ? 12: explored Hoi An ? spent the majority of time at Cua Dai beach.
Day 13: took taxi to Danang ? stayed at Furama resort for the day, before our evening flight from Danang to HCMC.
Day 14: ? day Cu Chi tunnels tour, then spent the rest of the day in Saigon
Day 15 ? 16: 2 day Mekong Delta tour
Day 17 ? 20: Siem Reap
Day 21: This was a long day! Flew from Siem Reap to Bangkok. Had about 10 hours to explore Bangkok, and then back to airport to catch flight to the States.


We decided not to spent any real time in Bangkok ? I know it is a great city, but I?m sure that I will get back to Bangkok at some point in my life. We wanted to fully experience Vietnam while we were there, and not rush ourselves too much. I am still interested in visiting the beaches of Thailand, as well as northern Thailand, so I will do Bangkok then.

I realize this is incredibly brief - please let me know if you have any specific questions.
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Old Sep 18th, 2004, 06:03 PM
  #24  
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Thanks for posting your report! I have a few questions - how did you like the Win Hotel? How much did you pay for your tickets to Siem Riep and then onto Bangkok (we'll be doing the same thing). What was the highlight(s) of your trip?
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Old Sep 19th, 2004, 07:55 AM
  #25  
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hi,
Thank you for posting your trip report. I, too, have a question about the Win Hotel since I have booked 5 nights there (we're taking lots of daylong excursions), and would like to know your experience.

I'm glad you got the flights you wanted. Did you figure that you were travelling, for the most part, during low season? (I've already booked and paid for everything in advance b/c I'll be in region mid-NOv to mid-Dec., which everyone says is high season,.
thanks. Am just wondering in case I go in future.)

Look forward to your reply.

Ellen
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Old Sep 19th, 2004, 12:28 PM
  #26  
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jnp - we loved the Win Hotel. We stayed in a large $30 room the first two nights, and then a much smaller room the third night - I can't really remember exactly how much - maybe around $15. This was the night we had hoped to take the overnight train to Hue, and since it was sold out, we had to stay at the Win one more night and fly to Hue the next morning.

The men at the Win were so incredibly nice. We left our bags when we went on our overnight Sapa and Halong Bay trips. In fact, we left for the Sapa trip, and they didn't even ask us to pay for the first night until we got back!

The flight from Siem Reap to Bangkok was $150. We bought these tickets from a travel agent in Siem Reap, and this seemed to be the average price that we were quoted.

If I had to pinpoint a highlight, I guess it would have to be Sapa and Halong Bay. Hiking through the villages was amazing. You could walk for hours without seeing another tourist. They are in the process of building the roads out to the villages, and I wonder what the impact of this will be. Once it is easier to access the villages by car, I can image that tourism will increase dramatically. I'm glad I got to see it when I did. Kayaking in Halong Bay was great as well, and after this first week, it was nice to just lie on the beach near Hoi An for a few days. If there were any place to skip, it would be Saigon. I'm glad I went, but really have no desire to go back. Saigon was a great city, but travel to the Mekong Delta consisted of a LONG 2 days. If anyone is restricted on time, I would suggest concentrating on the North, instead of the South. And finally, Siem Reap was another highlight, but in a completely different way.

Ellen - Initially, I was a little worried about booking as I go, but everything I read about Vietnam in July/August said that it wouldn't be a problem. So yes, since it was the low season, we decided that we would be ok. And once we got there, and got the hang of everything, it really was easy. We might have spent a few extra hours overall booking these tickets, but it was worth it in case we wanted to change our plans as we go. In fact, I don't think any of our flights were even close to being sold out. The only flight we were advised to make a fews days in advance (Siem Reap - Bangkok) wasn't even sold out. If we were there in the high season, I probably would have booked more of the flights before we left.

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Old Sep 20th, 2004, 04:37 AM
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HI travelersusan

Sorry, another follow-up question for you. How did you find the weather in Vietnam and Cambodia in July and August?
Lots of rain?

Thanks
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Old Sep 21st, 2004, 02:06 PM
  #28  
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It was definitely hot, however we lucked out regarding the weather in Vietnam. We were told that the week before we were in Sapa it rained nonstop. However, when we were there it was actually very nice. It did sprinkle a bit in the morning, but then cleared up and was sunny the majority of the day.

We were also told that kayaking in Halong Bay would be too hot - that it was much hotter the week before we were there. But it also was very nice. Yes, it was hot, but not unbearable.

Even though it did sprinkle a bit almost every day (usually in the early morning) it wasn't a big deal, and certainly didn't stop us from doing anything.

Now Cambodia was a different story. It was HOT HOT HOT. Then, from about 2:00-3:00 pm it POURED everyday, then it was just hot again.

I am from Texas, I love the hot weather, and I was still hot. However, we never let the heat or rain prevent us from doing anything, and I would go back in a second if I could
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