smartcookie

Hi,

I just booked my trip to Asia for Nov 16 -Dec 9, 2007 for 3 weeks. Could someone please help with figuring out the number of days needed in each of the following places? I'm 25 and generally like to walk the city and sightsee during the day and go out at night when I travel.

Here are the cities:

-Bangkok (have 3 days planned)

-Phuket (planning to check out Krabi, Ko Phi Phi etc quickly; planned 5 days. How far is it to Krabi? By bus is best?)

-Angkor Wat (2 days set)

-Ho Chi Min City (4 days set)

-Hong Kong (3 days set)

Also, what airlines has the best fares for Ho Chi Min to Siem Reap route?

Thanks for your help!

p.s. I am using the Bangkok Air Discovery Pass for 5 flight legs if anyone needs more information on how to book this. They do accept credit cards now, but charge 5% for that. I'm planning to pay with a money order and pick up at the local Los Angeles office. And I'm flying to Asia using EVA Airlines from LAX through Taipei.

KimJapan

Slow down and stay longer in Thailand and Angkor Wat and forget about HCMC and HK for this trip. It's way too much flying around for only 3 weeks. You might do
3 days BKK
4 days Siem Reap
8 days divided between Phuket/Krabi/Phi Phi
4 days Chiang Mai
3 days BKK

You also might consider spending more time north and eliminating the beach areas...depends what your interests are.

smartcookie

Thanks for your response! I kind of like hitting up as many places as possible and have done it before in other parts of the world. The only part of the trip that I'm hoping to be relaxing is the first 5 days in Phuket where I'd like to spend most of the time on the beach. It sounds like doing both Krabi and Phi Phi islands is too much, so I'll pick one of those. Do you think doing 3 days in Phuket and 2 in Phi Phi Ley is a good idea? I'm going to Ko Samui afterwards and Ko Tao for the Nov 24 full moon party (so Nov 23-27).

I have a friend in HK and I'm flying back to US from there, so definitely have to end up there, but only going there for 2 nights since I want to spend more time in other parts. Also, having been to many places around the world, I think I just want to do Agkor Wat quickly in 2 days. My interests are mainly to spend more time in Ho Chi Min since it's the only city in Vietnam I can fit as well as beaches of Thai islands. Not as interested in devoting too much time to Bangkok and HK. I'm planning on doing the north of Thailand in another trip.

I can't seem to find a way to book a flight from Ho Chi Min to Siem Riep online since both Vietnam Airlines and Royal Khmer Airlines are not letting me search for this route. Do you know of a way to do this?

Kathie

Your itineray insures that you will be able to check off lots of places and that you'll not expereince any of them. If you only want to glimpse Angkor Wat, don't bother going. It's an expensive trip if that's all you want from it.

Asia lends itself best to slow travel. If you don't slow down, you'll never get the flavor of each place. It's not like traveling in Europe or the Caribbean.

If you have to go to Hong Kong, I'd cut HCMC. If you are really interested in VN, plan it for another trip. You should spend a couple of weeks in VN to get a flavor for the country.

Kathie

By the way, you lose most to all of a day each time you change locations. So I suspect that when you say "2 days" or "3 days" it really means one day or two days. Don't count your arrival or departure day in any place as a day there. Consider anything you get to do/see/experience on an arrival or departure day to be a bonus.

rhkkmk

i won't lecture you but i would like to...all the comments above are correct...but i see your point also...
asia is not europe or america where you can do tons of things in one day, you must move slowly....plus its hot as hell even in december

personally i see two mistakes right away....2 days at angkor is not enough....3 would be minimal....4 days in saigon is too much...i would either skip it or do two there...

i think 5 days in bkk is a must

i would stay only in and around phuket...skip krabi and phi phi, or go to krabi and skip phuket....same with phi phi....one place only!!

plus your 21 days is realy only 18 or 19 with flying etc...and even less with the inter-asia transfers...

i personally would want more in HK also...5 days...

i would go directly to the beach upon arrival to rest and regroup....then back up to bkk....then to hong kong...
i would skip angkor and saigon...thus i would spend about 5 days in each place....a far nicer trip...

rhkkmk

just to be smart....i would say do your trip and watch the cookie crumble...sorry, couldn't resist...

smartcookie

haha. puns are always welcome

Thanks to both of you for your help. I'm rearranging my itinerary now based on this feedback and feedback from some other friends. I got pretty excited that I could use the Bangkok Airways Pass for most of the places, but it looks like some of those stops are not going to work.

Just to clarify, the days I am posting are full days and 22 days take into account the lost time in travel (it's actually 24 flying from California).

You've been a great help and I hope you can help me figure out the following couple of things.

- I want to skip Saigon altogether now and go to Hanoi and Da Nang/HoAn instead. Would I be able to use the ASEAN hip hop pass to fly Siem Riep-Hanoi-Da Nang-Phnom Penh? What airline pass is best used in conjunction with Vietnam/Cambodia flights?

- A friend recommended to make a stop in Phnom Penh. Worth it?

- I've heard from a person or two that the Full Moon Parties tend to have a very young crowd, under 21. We're 25-26, with rigorous full-time jobs etc, but definitely like to have a good time as well. Will we hate it? Is it worth going to Ko Samui/Ko Phangnan side for it since the weather might not be that great either?

- I heard that Phuket is somewhat expensive and touristy. In general, we'd prefer going to islands/beaches with a younger 24-28 backpacker crowd rather than families. That's why I was thinking it might be better to go to Phi Phi Ley for most of the time in that area. Thoughts or suggestions based on this?

The new itinerary I'm thinking about now would be (probably still too much and I'd love recommendations on what to skip based on this):

Phuket - Bangkok - Angkor Wat - Hanoi - Da Nang - Phnom Penh - Hong Kong

smartcookie

p.s. I would rather go to Vietnam than Cambodia, so if I had to skip, I'm thinking it would be Bangkok-Hanoi-Da Nang-Hong Kong for the latter part of the trip.

How's the weather in those cities in Vietnam end of November, beginning of December? Hanoi is somewhat chilly, right? What about Ho An?

LeighTravelClub

If you are going to do Phi Phi then you really want a minimum of two nights, but three would be better. You refer to staying at Phi Phi Ley.....this is not possible, I suspect you mean Phi Phi Don.
If you have eight days in this area, I would split it between Railay at Krabi and Phi Phi.

KimJapan

Still way too many stops. You will lose at least a 1/2 day in travel time each time you change locations....pack up and check out of hotel, go to airport, check in at least 1 hour before flight (though international 2 hours before), wait for flight to depart, fly, land (add immigration and customs if you change country), collect bags, go to next hotel and check iin. Do this 6 times not including flights to and from home, and you've easily spent 3 full days of your 22 in transit without counting the 3 you already lost getting to and from Asia. And that's assuming the best possible flight schedules that allow you to travel early morning or late afternoon/evening. Flights can easily be delayed or cancelled, robbing you of even more time. A tour of airports is not what you intend I don't think.

On Friday, we leave for a month (29 days starting from day 1 in Singapore) in Singapore, Siem Reap and Thailand...we are doing 5 changes of location in addition to our flights from Japan to Singapore at the beginning, and from Bangkok to Japan at the end. (NGO - SIN - rep - bkk - hkt - cei - bkk - NGO) Even that is a lot of moving around for the time allowed. We considered adding Luang Prabang this time and decided against it for time reasons.

Asia is not like Europe...at all. It's a place to slow down. Things can and do go wrong. You see and experience more if you slow down, too. It's also not really a "walk and sightsee" kind of place...for one thing, it's hot. For another, there is often no place to safely walk...when there are sidewalks, they are used as space to set up shop, park, or if they don't have sellers or cars on them they aren't fit for walking either. Hong Kong is an exception and has areas that are quite pleasant to walk around...we did a lot of walking when we were there.

Luckily, taxis and tuk tuks and motos are easy to use to get around. If this is your first trip to Asia, I'd recommend even more strongly cutting it to 4 destinations in your 22 days...you can always very easily add in a day trip or even an overnight somewhere on the fly, but once you've committed to a flight schedule you are kind of stuck with it unless you are prepared to eat the cancellation/change fees and cost of rebooking.

glorialf

I agree with everyone else. your itinerary means you will experience nothing except airports. I would consider going to only a total of 4 places. No more.

Kathie

Phuket - Bangkok - Angkor Wat - Hanoi - Da Nang - Phnom Penh - Hong Kong This one makes no sense logistically.

Try this one: Phuket - Bangkok - Angkor - Hanoi - Hong Kong This one is still more moving around than I would like, but logistically it does work.

As far as beaches are concerned, choose one and stay there. Phi Phi or the quieter beaches of Phuket or Krabi would likely suit you.

The Full Moon parties ... well, if you enjoy socializing with drunk adolescents listening to techno-trance you'll love it. Otherwise, skip it.

rhkkmk

i like the very last suggestion the best and think it would work the best for you...

home, bkk,phuket directly, bkk, SR, hanoi, HK or something similar

Kathie

A couple of other thoughts for your planning.

Consider the visa costs. Cluster each country's destinations together. (for instance Phuket - Bangkok - Angkor Wat - Hanoi - Da Nang - Phnom Penh - Hong Kong would require you to buy two Cambodian visas). Remember that you must have your VN visa in hand or pre-arranged or you cannot get on the plane to VN.

Consider using budget carriers rather than an airpass.

Do you have your guidebooks yet? They will help with logistics as well. I like the lonely planet guides, and I always recommend Dawn Rooney's book, Angkor.

smartcookie

Thanks guys once again. You're the best I'm going to try to do the following based on your suggestions and talking with a couple more friends. I think we're going to skip Ko Samui side altogether. I hear Phuket has plenty of nightlife. We'll add a few days there to be able to do Phi Phi islands and Phuket, no Krabi.

Phuket-BKK-Hanoi-Siem Reap-Hong Kong

It seems to work best to fly from Siem Reap to Hong Kong, since then I can use the BA Pass BKK-Phuket, Phuket-BKK, Siem Reap-Hong Kong since that last flight is expensive on its own. That way, those 3 legs should be $250 or so with taxes I believe.

I'm trying to find flights BKK-Hanoi on Air Asia as I read here that one-way could be $80-100. The only flight I am able to find for Hanoi to Siem Reap is $228 on Vietnam Airlines. Are there any low cost airlines that handle this route?

Thanks again!

KimJapan

That looks MUCH better.

It is very cheap to fly BKK - HKT - BKK so the Discover Airpass may not work to your advantage in this case. Check the price of flights on Air Asia, Nok Air, 12 Go...then compare with the pass prices, and be sure you include tax and surcharge on top of the $55/$90 prices.

I'm finding fares on Air Asia for BKK - Hanoi at about 3000 baht right now for November. Are you checking their website? www.airasia.com

lcuy

Hi SM- I'll let all the other's good advice stand, but just wanted to let you know about my daughter's experience at the Full moon parties on ko Pha ngan. They stayed at the Sanctuary, near the party, but in a bit quieter location, so they were able to walk to the FM parties and then walk home. The boats at the end of the evening are very, very crowded and she felt they weren't safe. They actually enjoyed the experience, but only for a part of the night.

smartcookie

Thanks Kim and lcuy! We decided to skip the Full Moon Party this time given everyone's feedback. We'll stick to the Phuket side where the weather is great at this time.

It looks like the BA pass makes sense right now given the itinerary since the total for 3 legs came to $256 US including taxes. It looks like just flying to Hong Kong from either Hanoi or Siem Reap would cost that much when I looked, and since I'm flying back from HK, there is no way for me to avoid it.

I did check my dates for BKK-Hanoi flight and the fare is 2900-3600 Bat one-way depending on which day I fly, so $89-105 US or so. Not bad and I will probably do that, though waiting on some responses from travel agents I've emailed through recommendations here. I still can't find anything cheaper than $228 for Hanoi to Siem Reap flight. Might have to suck it up and do that if the travel agents don't come through with a better deal...$330ish+$256 for all those legs is not bad anyways and is actually cheaper than my original plan with more BA pass flights. But this way my itinerary is better

smartcookie

Btw, here's the itinerary with dates in case it can help someone else plan a 22-day trip:

Nov 18 Arrive in Bangkok 2am, leave for Phuket 7:55am

Nov 18-Nov 26 Phuket/Ko Phi Phi
Nov 26-Nov 30 Bangkok
Nov 30-Dec 4 Hanoi
Dec 4-Dec 7 Siem Reap
Dec 7-Dec 9 Hong Kong

*I can't fly to Hong Kong on Dec 6 since there are no flights on that day on BA, but HK is not top priority on my list anyway.