wkwb42a

I have recently planned trips to Africa and South America with the excellent advice of Fodor's members, and I have always posted a trip report. Now my husband and I are interested in SE Asia for January, 2013. We have only about 2 1/2 weeks for this trip. We will depart from Newark airport, and perhaps we will begin with a 2 day short visit to Hong Kong. (We can get a taste of HK, and hopefully we'll be a bit recuperated from the long flight when we arrive at the next city).

I know it's an ambitious itinerary, but we are good travelers, and we are hoping for an overview of the highlights of this area, since we don't know if we'll return there. We would like to visit Bangkok and Chiang Mai, Ho Chi Min City and Hanoi (possibly Halong Bay too), and Siem Reap. Is January the best time to go to SE Asia?

I've read some of the wonderful trip reports here. Is there one recommended travel agent who can coordinate and book our plans in all of these countries? For example, it would be great to have someone help with the flights. What would be the best order to visit these places? We would also like to be met upon arrival in each place. Since we prefer to travel
on our own (not a tour), we would like to arrange for guides also.

Thank you all very much in advance for your help.

Kathie

January is a fine time to go to SE Asia. However, you have an itinerary that means you'll spend most of your time in airports. You have 2.5 weeks, maybe 17 days total, and you'll lose perhaps 2 days on your flights to Asia. Thus, I'm guessing you have 15 days on the ground in SE Asia.

You've listed 6 or 7 destinations. This would mean you'd spend two nights (which is only one day) at each destination. If you are only going here once, why not make sure you get a chance to experience the places you want to visit.

What are the most important experiences you want from this trip? Prioritize! I'd suggest that Cambodia plus VN OR Cambodia plus Thailand would be a good option for the amount of time you have. Do you have guidebooks yet? Buy or borrow guidebooks for each of the countries you want to visit. For Angkor, get Dawn Rooney's book, Anfkor: A Guide to Cambodia's Wondrous Temples. She will tell you that it takes three full days just to see the major temples at Ankor, you'll want more time if you are especially interested.

No need for a travel agent for this, you can book it all yourself on the web once you have a realistic itinerary. You really don't need guides any of the places you've lsited except you may well want a guide at Angkor. You can opt to have a hotel car meet you at the airports or a car service, though at some places it makes little sense to do so as the taxis are so easy and cheap. If you can tell us your budget for hotels per night, we can make good recommendations for you.

yestravel

We did a 9 week trip to the area in Jan & Feb 2012. We were in BKK and Chiang Mai as well as Siem Reap during January this past year. In Feb we visited Hanoi and Halong Bay and Saigon. (Have not been to Hong Kong). What I found when trying to plan a trip to many of the same locations u went to was that it was very hard to hit optimum weather for all the locales since the climate varied so much. As a result N.Vietnam was drizzly, foggy and coolish most of our time there. We loved Halong Bay but drove out there in a light rain and saw the Bay in a mist--was still beautiful.

For our VN travel we used Tonkin which has been recommended on Fodors and thought they were very good to deal with. Nhung was responsive and very helpful. Their rates consistently beat what we could find on our own. She booked some air for us, arranged for guides and some pick ups at the airport and train. I know they also can book in SR, but not sure about Thailand.

Our TR is still evolving but we have written up Thailand including BKK & CM and Siem Reap at this point. U can pick thru it to find the info on the areas u plan to visit. http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...ia-odyssey.cfm
Enjoy your planning!

Craig

Having visited SE Asia on 2-1/2 week trips several times since the year 2000, I can tell you that you absolutely cannot expect to visit 6 or 7 destinations. Thailand is a great introduction, however and Bangkok is a great starting point. While Hong Kong is interesting, I would skip it entirely. From Bangkok you can access Hanoi, Siem Reap Cambodia, Luang Prabang Laos, Bali and many other places.

January is not a bad time to visit SE Asia. It is cooler and it rains less but it will still be very hot compared to New Jersey and will require some adjustment. in Hanoi and Halong Bay it may be much cooler with more rain. Check out Luang Prabang. An Itinerary of Bangkok, Chiang Mai (which is not one of my favorite places), Siem Reap and Luang Prabang might work in your time frame. I have not been to HCMC but that is another option...

rhkkmk

personally i agree with the others--cut down..

VN is fab and i suggest you keep it to a ntrip by itself.

i'm guessing you have HK listed because you have a deal to fly there, if not i would fly into bkk.

i would do bkk, CM (if you must--i don't like it either, but most do) and siem reap (3-4 days required for best viewing).
this would be a wonderful and varied trip..

pick your hotels carefully as they can make all the difference in asia. most of us prefer the river hotels in bkk, but there are many choices... establish an hotel budget and try to stick to it. Jan. is high season. many of the expensive hotels are amazingly affordable.

i love the anantara in bkk, as well as the peninsula, marriott mayfair, four seasons, hyatt, sheraton grande and many more. look on their websites as well as at www.sawadee.com www.asiarooms.com www.agoda.com for pre-paid discounts.
HK, BKK and other asian cities are a good place to use hotel points if you have any...

we can help you with flt info...

i like tonkin travel in VN as well.

wkwb42a

Thank you all so very much for your advice and offers to help with flight info and hotel choices. You make a good point about prioritizing, and we are trying to eliminate some places. I think I can skip Halong Bay. Also, I may eliminate Chiang Mai. Maybe then we'd have a bit more time in BK. BTW, is there a place near BK where one can visit with elephants, as long as the ellies are treated humanely?

I think we'd fly into BK, next Siem Reap, then Hanoi, and Saigon, (don't know which order), last a couple of nights in HK (on the way home). I hope this possible itinerary is better.

Tonkin Travel sounds good. I will check with them and see if they handle Thailand too.

Again, many thanks!

sf7307

Wk, we also like to pack in a lot when we travel to new places. Last March, we took a 22-day trip to SEA, of which 2 days were flying to and from. We had 5 nights in Hanoi, 2 in Hue (flew from Hanoi in the evening), 3 in HoiAn (drove from Hue), 2 in Saigon, 4 in Siem Reap and 4 in Hong Kong. It was a very good introduction. We'll do Thailand another time.

crellston

wkw - here is a link to the Intrepid tours website which you may find useful in planning a trip:

http://www.intrepidtravel.com/trips/TKSKCverview the link itself goes to a Vietnam/Cambodia trip covering the highlights and lasting 18 days - probably a few days longer than you have, but you could easily drop Halong Bay and or Hue or Hoi An and that would give you a pretty decent insight into the two countries. If you use the search facility (top right you will get lots of variations of style and content of trip.

Intrepid do mostly small group tours but do individual trips if asked. I always DIY trips to Asia but with the time you have availble I can see why a pre-arrnged tour would seem attractive (if more expensive).

Nothing wrong with packing a lot in and you can reduce some of time wasted in airports and transit by careful flight scheduling (doesn't always work!).

Given the schedule you are now considering, if you look at teh map on the Intrepid site, you will see that it probably works better if you fly into BKK and then connect directly to Hanoi, get over your jet lag there and then work your way southwards back to Bangkok for a couple of days and your homebound flight.

I know of there are a number of elephant places around Bangkok but I doubt that any treat the animals humanely. The only place I would consider visiting is http://www.elephantnaturepark.org/ which is close to Chiang May.

Craig

Your itinerary will give you a good introduction to SE Asian cities, if that is what you are looking for. I would not use Tonkin for Thailand - they are really just a local agency (based in Hanoi).

rhkkmk

for thailand you really do not need outside help--its very easy on your own.

i do not know about the elephants near bkk, but i am sure there is a place... there is one place near kantchburi and another near hua hin..

how about doing the trip in the order you have written, flying into bkk and out of hanoi..

united would be a good carrier to look at in this instance or cathy pacific..

rhkkmk

or korean

Kathie

I also would not go to an elephant place near Bangkok. Only the elephant nature park or the Thai Elephant Conservation Center near Chiang Mai or the outpost of the TECC at the Anantara at the Golden Triangle would be ones I'd be willing to go to.

Your second itinerary is much better, though still busy. Use Tonkin for the VN portion, if you wish, but arrange the Thailand and Cambodia portions yourself.

rayong

Your second itinerary looks more realistic, it still wastes a lot of time on internal movements. I would just do Bangkok, Ankor Wat and Hanoi, in that order.

wkwb42a

Thanx very much to all again! Yes, what we are seeking is a good intro to these cities. (We took a look at Intrepid, as suggested, just to get some perspective). So now I think we have the order: BK, Siem Reap, Hanoi, Saigon, and just a couple of days in HK on the way home. Is it better to have more days in Hanoi or Saigon, or same amount of time in each city, (to do the basic sightseeing)?

I will email Tonkin just for Vietnam. Maybe they can book flight to Siem Reap? Also flights btw all cities in Asia?

Again, thanks very much.

Kathie

You will want more time in Hanoi than in HCMC. I note that you have perhaps 17 days and while you have cut down the number of stops, you still have 5 - too many for your short time. I'd suggest you cut either Hong Kong or HCMC.

If you are flying from Bangkok to Siem Reap, you have just one choice of airline: Bangkok Air. You can make that reservation online. If you choose to have Tonkin make some arrangements for you, they could book a flight from Siem Reap to Hanoi (I believe it has a stop in HCMC) and they can book hotels. If you choose to keep HCMC in your itinerary, fly from Siem Reap to HC MC and spend a couple of day s there before flying to Hanoi, that will cut your transport time a little.

yestravel

It is very easy to book flights online. I know that Tonkin could book flights into Siem Reap -- or at least they could last year.
I would spend more time in Hanoi than Saigon. Although I was surprised at how much I liked Saigon.
Just wondering if u have factored in jet lag. We also flew from the East Coast to BKK and between the heat and jet lag, found that the first couple days we were a bit draggy. It wasn't awful jet lag, but it did effect our energy level for a few days.

wkwb42a

Thank you all once again. I have contacted Mrs. Nhung at Tonkin, and we are exchanging emails.

We prefer to fly on United, and from Newark, if possible. It seems that on United (or their codeshares), we can only fly to BKK through Tokyo. I guess we can live with that. Alternatively, if we change the order of our itinerary, we could fly to Saigon initially through HK; but we will also be leaving from Saigon in order to get a free stopover in HK on our way home. United doesn't service Hanoi. So we are considering flying Newark to BKK, and Saigon to HK to Newark.

So we are looking at BKK, Siem Reap, Hanoi, Saigon, HK. I know that Saigon and next Hanoi is better; but we can't fly out of Hanoi on United.

I am making some progress. United Awards Desk suggested that I watch and check their routes for changes, etc. Also, I have been reading guide books and of course TRs.

Thanks so much for your advice.

yestravel

r u flying using UA miles? If so, have u considered flying on one of their partner airlines?

wkwb42a

Yes, we are hoping to use miles. We have alo checked their codeshare airlines. Thanx.

yestravel

I found using the new UA site (which is the Continental site) very easy for booking on UA Star Alliance partners. It gives u a view of the flights on Star Alliance partners. In June/July 2011 we were able to book our flights using miles for our January/February 2012 trip. Wasn't the perfect itinerary, but it got us there and back. Thai air was fantastic to fly on. Good luck!