For my planning of the Oct/Nov trip I have found several specialised agencies. One of them is Diethelm, also mentioned in LP and in other guide books, and located in BKK. According to the mails I receive, Diethelm offers about the same service of other good agencies, but is considerably cheaper, up to 15-20 per cent. Any experiences with Diethelm? Is there a catch that does not appear from the mail contact I have with them? Or are they just sharper priced than a few others?

Sorry. I forgot to mention what the trip actually is: BKK-Luang Prabang-Vientiane-Hanoi-HCMC-Phnom Penh-Siem Reap/Angkor Vat- BKK - 18 days

They are definitely reputable and do a great deal in the area. Are you planning on taking one of their package tours or are you asking them to just book hotels and air? I used them years ago pre internet and they were excellent. However, with the internet and the advice on this forum I think you can do it just as well and for less money if you do it yourself.

fyi---i saw their van in LP last month and will say that it is a late model van..

My travel agent set up my trip to Thailand (2002) through Diethelm and for the most part I was very happy with them.

The only complaint I had was a guide in Bangkok who preferred to conduct his other 'business' on the phone rather than act as my guide.

On the plus side I had an excellent guide in Chiang Rai, and when I did return to BKK I had a much more personable guide although unfortunately by that time my trip was just about over.

I think that unless you have specific information, it is just sheer luck that determines which guide you will get, and I think 2 great ones out of 3 is not bad.

The cars were very comfortable (yes, late model), and transitions (airport-hotel-city-airport) were seamless.

Thank you all. So they seem to be good. Glorialf, they are actually going to work out the entire trip, not only the hotels and flights, but also land transport, etc. It is for us the first time to those countries, VN, Laos and Cambodia and with 18 days available, we cannot spend too much time on sorting things out while there. The programme is tailor made, my wife and me travel alone, not in a group. Do you think it can be done easily by yourself, without an overall agency?

Are you going to have a guide and driver while there? If so you will have to book that through a local agency.

I'm sure you can do it on your own but if this is your first time and you want some assistance Diethelm is a good choice as they work in all the countries.

But do let us help you in your itinerary, amount of time in each place, hotels etc. Don't just take their advice. Even when you are doing a private tour with them they tend to try to just give you the standard itineraries, hotels etc. There might be many better places to stay.

We used Diethelm in Cambodia - Phnom Pen and Siem Riep/Angkor and were very pleased, particularly with our guide in Siem Riep.

Thank you very much for the offer to run through the itinerary with me, Glorialf. Here is what they propose, after some input I had already given. I must say, I have above all doubts about Halong in one day. Is this really feasible?
28/10 BKK-Luang Prabang, afternoon visit
29/10 LP - Pak Ou – LP
30/10 LP – Khuangxi falls – LP
31/10 morning in LP, LP – Vientiane and afternoon visit Vientiane
1/11 Vientiane – Hanoi, visit Hanoi
2/11 Hanoi
3/11 Hanoi – Ninh BInh – Hanoi
4/11 Hanoi – Halong – Hanoi ( I have serious doubts whether this is actually doable)
5/11 Hanoi – HCMC, afternoon HCMC
6/11 Cu chi Tunnel + afternoon HCMC
7/11 HCMC – Cai Be – Vinh Long – Can Tho
8/11 Can Tho – Cai Rang – Soc Trang (Bat Pagoda) – Can Tho
9/11 Can Tho – Long Xuyen – Chau Doc
10/11 Chau Doc – Phnom Penh by speedboat + afternoon PP
11/11 PP – Siem Reap + afternoon Angkor
12/11 Angkor
13/11 Angkor
14/11 morning Angkor + afternoon back to BKK

By plane : BKK-LP-Vientiane-Hanoi-HCMC and PP- Siem Reap-BKK

They take care of a guide and of car transport as well

and here are the hotels they propose.
Luang Prabang - Villa Santi
Vientiane - Lao Plaza Hotel
Hanoi - Sunway
HCMC - Majestic
Can Tho and Chau Doc - Victoria
PP - Sunway
Siem Reap - Angkor Century Resort

Is the Sofitel Metropole in Hanoi not a better choice? You think it would be considerably more expensive?

They insist in Diethelm that a day trip from Hanoi to Ha Long Bay is feasible. Can anybody give me an idea how much time is required to get there and back, in pure transport terms? Just to see how much time is then actually left for the visit itself. Thks

You can do Halong Bay in one day but it's a long day. To be honest I don't think you need more than 3 hours cruising around. If you've been to Guilin it doesn't compare and I think it's gotten much more touristy since I was there. Looking at your itinerary I think doing it in one day is a good idea.

I have not been to the places you're going to after Saigon so I don't know if they are worth ir or if you would be better going to Hue which is fascinating or somewhere else in Vietnam.

Make sure you go to the Killing Fields when you're in PP. In many ways it is as important to see as the wats of Angkor .

We left out Hue and the Da Nang area on purpose, because of the weather conditions one can expect in that area Oct/Nov. Rain, rain, rain, not what we are really looking for. We'll take in Central Vietnam on another trip, no worry. How do you view the rest of our itinerary?

Looks good. The rain actually is another factor for halong bay -- it is not a great thing to do in the rain.

Should we then be expecting a lot of rain on the rest of our trip as well, traveling from 28 Oct to 14 Nov?