Oh thursdaysd, you are so kind to post these links and your experience. While I reflected about them, I think the air travel might be best for us. Although I might consider this on another trip. You are quite the adventurer and traveler. I am so impressed. So I think I will bite the bullet and write the checks! I am feeling better about this trip as it seems no matter what we choose, we will be happy. I can't wait. I took my LP book to work today but no time to glance at it. I will soon post our final itineray and the spaces that still need help. I did email a photographer in Siem Reap who gives private tours and I think we will do a day with him.

Latest update. Sent the okay to Tonkin to book hotels and flights. Still deciding whether to book the land tour parts or just transfers.

Hanoi 1 night: Elegance Diamond

Sapa overnight 2 berth-cabin Sapaly train. the 2 nights in either the ChaPa Garden Hotel or the Sapa Boutique Hotel

Hanoi: 1 night Elegance Diamond

Hoi An: 3 nights at the VinhHung Merchant Hotel thanks crellston!

Luang Prabang 4 nights at the Apsara hotel

Siem Reap 4 nights at the Siddharta Hotel

Then fly to Phnom Penh for that last day, departing at 11:30 PM.

Oops, VinhHung Merchant Hotel was already booked! So Tonkin suggested Little Hoi An on the river.

Also, I thought their land prices are a bit high. For those of you who have been there recently, do these sound high to you or am i just being naive? As I looked at them again, they probably aren't far off. The day of seeing Bac Ha involves over 5 hours of driving and a boat trip.

Airport transfer in Hanoi: 22USD/way x 2 ways = 44USD
- Hanoi city + dinner + transfer to train station with guide: 108USD for 2 persons
- Sunday market tour with guide, driver, breakfast, lunch, boat trip, entrance fee: 160USD for 2 person
- 1/2trekking tour on 14th Oct: 55USD for 2 persons
- ½ trekking tour + station transfer on 15thoct: 78USD for 2 persons
- Extra breakfast at Hanoi Elegance Diamond hotel is 22 USD for 2 person ( on 16th Oct)
- Airport transfer in Hoian: 22USD/way x 2 ways =44USD
- Airport transfer in Laos: 22USD/way x 2 ways = 44USD
- Airport transfer in SiemReap : 22USD /ways x 2 ways = 44USD
- Tour in SiemReap on 26th Oct: 138SD for 2 persons
- Tour on last day on Phnompenh + dinner + airport transfer is: 138USD for 2 person.

Those prices look high to me, but I can't find my invoice from Tonkin to check, and that was 2011. However, there is absolutely NO reason to include those meals!

thanks thursdaysd!

I am planning to go to the same two countries for photography in August...

Seems very expensive to me. E.g. The standard airport transfer is $10 each way http://www.hanoiairportonline.com/public-taxi

The same goes for LP and SR which are probably even cheaper if you just grab a cab on arrival ( many hotels and hostels will even do free pickups if you contact direct.

For your last day in Phonm Pehnh you could arrange a tuk tuk driver for the whole day for around $15 who will take you around all the sights. Leaving around $123 for dinner and getting to the airport ( which will buy a lot of dinners in PP!)

The going rate for a guide and driver in SR is around $50 per day , unless you are talking about a specialist photography tour.

Tonkin prices for transfers and tours are quite high. I certainly wouldn't pay $138 for a tour for two in Siem Reap. The going rate in January was around $60 per day for car, driver and guide. The airport transfers are at least double what you would pay for a cab. We booked the transfers since I wasn't sure how easy it would be to get cabs but they were plentiful and cheap. The only tours we booked from Tonkin were for Hue and the Mekong Delta. You don't need a tour of Hanoi. Decide what you want to see, hop in a cab and go.

Thank you crellston and Marija! I am going to figure out which of these things we can just do on our own. I am planning a separate Siem Reap one day tour with a local photographer, so won't need the SR tour, I think. Plus the taxis seem easy to hire. And I am assuming that guides and drivers are pretty easy to find in LP and SR? From the hotel is the easiest, maybe? The Sunday market tour might be one we'd keep since it does involve a lot of driving and stops and making life easier.

Just booked a one day photography "tour" at the temples with Eric deVries for our first full day in SR. Thought he'd be able to get us to great places for photos! I've never done this before--always wandered off on our own. Should be interesting.

Hotels and flights between countries are now all ticketed. Just working on the daily plans. Cancelled some of the Tonkin-suggestd tours and decided to go with the Sapa sisters in Sapa. Also may try Hanoi Kids in Hanoi. Anyone spend time with them? Reading up on countryside ideas for the areas around Luang Prabang and Siem Reap. Open to ideas.

Loved the Hanoi Kids. Make sure you sign up for the "real" ones, not the imitators. We viewed them not as tour guides, though we did go sightseeing with them, but as an opportunity to get a youthful perspective on life in Vietnam. Go to lunch with them and enjoy the conversation.

patty

How did you book the Angkor tour with Eric? Do you have an e-mail address for him? Does he have a website that lists the tours with prices, etc.??

I love taking pictures so I thought this may be good for me to do for 1 day. We have 13 nights in Siem Reap so I plan to take tons of pics!

Thanks.

Good idea Marija! And chris45ny, Eric has a website with tour possibilities and photos of his work. I emailed him from that. www.ericdevries.com I found his name originally in the LP book on Cambodia. Trip Advisor also had rave reviews for him. Very reasonable compared to other photographers and I really like his work.
Paul Wager is another photographer in Luang Prabang whose work is lovely, but his prices are about 3 times as much.

Not sure if my post is too late or not. If you are looking to join a photo tour in Vietnam, you may check this site out:

http://exploringmekong.com/mekong-tours/photo-tours

But they only cover around the Mekong Delta. Hope this will be helpful for your trip.

Thank you Lane_n. I checked it out but we won't be going that way.