laverendrye

On the Viking trip there are no mountain roads whatsoever. You will have two long bus rides: one from HCM City through the delta to My Tho to board your ship (about 2 hrs) and one from Kampong Cham to Siemabout (about 5 hours). The terrain in both cases is absolutely flat. If you take the add-on from Hanoi to Halong Bay once again the road is through flat countryside.

Your planned additional trip could certainly include mountainous terrain and roads.

sum

Perfect. Thank you so much. It was the only thing I was worried about.

lajolla

I am just considering this trip for FEB or MAR 2013. Great posts and Laverendrye, , excellent information. We are well traveled but not in SE Asia, mostly Europe, eastern & western. Would you consider this a difficult trip physically d/t weather, the cruise or bus travel? It sounds like a lot of long bus rides. Was it a big advantage to take river cruise vs.just land trip. Has anyone done both? Thanks!

HappyTrvlr

We did the AMAWaterways trip last year, same itinerary. Weather in the fall was very hot and humid.In regard to the boat trip, I do not know how you would access the river villages without the boat.Other than in Pehnom Penh , I never saw a hotel, few restaurants, snack bars.
The difficulties were in boarding and embarking from the tender boats, often on planks to the "docks" on shore so not due to AMAWaterways but local conditions.. We had very high water conditions so lots of planks without railings ( found the same conditions in Bangkok last fall during rising waters). So very rugged at times. We only had one long bus ride, 5 hours and after dreading it, it was wonderful as we got to see the rural countryside. This was an amazing trip and I recommend you go sooner than later.

laverendrye

I am in my seventies and didn't consider this a difficult trip physically. There are some challenges, as HappyTvlr has pointed out, in transferring from the ship to smaller boats and in climbing mud embankments. However the ship's crew was always very helpful in assisting passengers on these occasions. You also need a certain amount of agility when climbing through the ruins at Angkor, but again I wouldn't consider it difficult (and I climbed the central tower at Angkor Wat.)

As for the weather, it certainly is hot and when I was there at the end of March and beginning of April it was starting to approach the really hot weather (plus 40C) of summer and the humidity was always high. However even though I don't come from a hot climate (central Canada) it was by no means unbearable. Hanoi was certainly cooler than Cambodia and southern Vietnam. If hot weather is a problem for you then February would be a better time to go.

The bus trips were not a problem at all. The buses are modern air-conditioned tour buses and the countryside is interesting. This should not be a concern.

I can't comment on a land tour versus a cruise, but the 7 nights on the Mekong were marvelous and I absolutely would not have missed this experience.

sum

We are doing the Viking cruise and then 10ish days around Hoi An, Danang, some of the mountains west of there and Hue. Any thoughts on a reputable guide/service for this?

dillon2some

We have finally gone under the year mark for our trip - we leave in Sept 2013. Gotta say, the support we're getting from VRC this time (we previously traveled with them to China) is not that great. The person working with us sends very short emails and we are not getting the details we would like. Oh well.... Just purchased our tickets on Delta; not as much as we expected. We will be flying on Korean Air (co-share with Delta) on our return leg. Has anyone flown with them before? Kinda strange, you can't reserve your seat on their planes until 30 days prior to your flight. On Delta, we were able to pre-book Economy Comfort seats for the outbound leg. Since we will be mailing in our visa applications, any advice on the timeframe they should be submitted?

southeastern

Took about 3 weeks for us to get visas. Heard Korean line is good from a friend that used it for Thailand. We are booked for Dec. 20. Will try to give a report when we return.

sum

We are also getting close- mid March. What did you take for malaria? Did you have any side effects?

Kathie

Do consult with a travel medicine professional about anti-malarials and vaccines. We took Malaron, have never had any side effects, but everyone is different.

thursdaysd

I also took Malarone with no side effects, but had problems the one time I tried Lariam, but Kathie is right. Do a search for "travel clinic" in your area. My last trip I used Passport Health, which seems to have locations all over: http://www.passporthealthusa.com/

sum

Thank you! I live out in the middle of nowhere, so I just passed the Malarone name on to my doctor. When I typed my zip into the Passport Health site, it almost asked if I was kidding.

sum

Leaving soon! How did you handle the tipping for tours and the Viking staff?

Elainee

It would be wonderful if you visited the www.plf.org to see how to effectively give to the poor children of Cambodia. In fact, it would be even better if you shared this information with your tour friends,. We all want to give, to help, but often do not know how. So we give some to whomever we run into and appeals to us. PLF is a wonderful charity run by people we know. Donating (a little, $10, or a lot) could be the best part of your travel experience. I and my family have been gratified by our experience with them for more than 10 years. They now make it possible for more than 2000 kids to go to school.

sum

Thanks, Elainee. We do a lot of giving and will check out your suggestion, but I also would like to find out how to specifically tip the Viking staff and guides. Apparently the tipping process is different for Vietnam, and I would like to know how it was done by someone who has done it!

sum

Elainee, the link goes to an error message. Do you have another one?

Marija

Should be www.theplf.org. It's an amazing organization!

sum

Thank you!

romeosc

laverendrye thank you for your wonderful information!

We are looking at going on Jun 30 2013 cruise.

We went with Viking in China and loved their personal touch!

sum

And yet another question as our departure date closes in. We have made dinner reservations in Saigon, of course based on recommendations from here. How long will it take to get through entry into the country assuming our paperwork is in order?