Post by wanderlustfoodie on Jan 17, 2014 14:54:52 GMT -5
3 days in HCMC is too long, imo. I love almost every place I visit and I did not love it there. I would do an overnight boat down the Mekong one of those nights. I know you're doing a cruise in Halong Bay, which is gorgeous, but they are very different experiences. The trip we took down the Mekong was awesome. We went with this company and had a great time. www.lecochinchine.com/
We visited the Cu Chi tunenls, too.
In Siem Reap we stayed at the Raffles and were very pleased with it. Friends have stayed at the Aman which opened recently and they also liked it. In Siem Reap, we also did a day trip where we took a boat on Tonle Sap Lake to these villages on stilts and spent a day with school-children, which was an incredible experience. And the temples are as amazing as you would expect. We really enjoyed some of the lesser visited ones, like Ta Keo, Ta Prohm, Banteay Kdei, Banteay Samre, and climbing to the top of Pre Rup.
Siem Reap is amazing, we loved it. We stayed in a little boutique hotel and it was fine, we could walk to the night market and we hired a driver to take us to the Angkor Wat. But I highly, highly recommend going to Beng Melea - it was amazing. It is a day trip and SO worth it!
Go to Laos, I'm telling it it is BEAUTIFUL there! So much nicer than Vietnam. Vietnam was smoggy and gross with a horrible language barrier. I would scrap Vietnam altogether and hit up Laos instead. If you're going to Halong Bay, don't do the bicycle tour on Cat Ba Island. You're given run down bicycles with no helmets. My MIL crashed there going down a hill, her brakes didn't work right and she had to spend 2 weeks in the French Vietnamese hospital in Hanoi with broken bones and popped lung.
Back to Laos, if you ever go check out Vang Vieng, you can go inner tubing down the Nam Song River.
There's also the Blue Lagoon and Phoukham Cave
Look at the beautiful countryside! Blue skies!
This is the waterfalls in Luang Probang....a must see.
Really look into Laos, it's like Thailand without the crowds.
Well, as I said, I already purchased flights to Vietnam....but thanks?
Yeah, Some of these replies are way out in left field, since you said you're flying into HCMC and out of Hanoi. Hong Kong? Sure, it's close by global standards but makes no sense on this trip.
Don't worry, you've got a lot to work with with and you won't regret Vietnam one bit.
Definitely hit up the Cu Chi tunnels outside of HCMC, and Angkor Wat outside of Siem Reap. Major cities don't excite me that much, so I agree that 3 days in HCMC is too long. That said, I really like Phnom Penh and the S21 prison there (and killing fields outside of town). I also really liked the "Hanoi Hilton" prison, though I forget its real name. (It's hard to like these awful places, but I found them incredibly interesting).
You know what I would do? Have a look at some package tours in Vietnam/Cambodia/Laos and see where they go. I find it's a good way to find out what are the cool places to see. Then do a little research on each stop, and see if it's a place you're interested in going. From there you can design your itinerary. I'd check out G Adventures, Intrepid and Contiki since those are the only 3 I really know!
@wise_rita, thank you! That's a really great idea and I'm definitely going to do that. My comment was directed towards the PP that said Vietnam was smoggy and gross and should be skipped altogether. Not exactly helpful when I already have flights. I'm glad you enjoyed Vietnam!
False, false, false!
I did a day trip on Halong Bay and thought that was sufficient to see it. I feel like 2 nights could be better spent elsewhere, or a single night instead. Unless you've really got your heart set on that specific trip. It really is an incredible place.
There is a boat that goes from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, and is probably the most logical way to get between the two.
I did a day trip on Halong Bay and thought that was sufficient to see it. I feel like 2 nights could be better spent elsewhere, or a single night instead. Unless you've really got your heart set on that specific trip. It really is an incredible place.
There is a boat that goes from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap, and is probably the most logical way to get between the two.
Re: Halong Bay, there is a splurgey junk boat cruise I first learned about from a nextie's blog (the blog is Katie in Prague, but I forget her screen name!). It really looks right up our alley and gets incredible Trip Advisor reviews.
Thanks for all your help, I really appreciate it. This is our first big international trip outside Europe, and I feel slightly out of my element!
That's @publius. She can come in and tell you how it was.
I took her advice in New Zealand at a B&B and was not disappointed!
If you do decide to go to Sa Pa, just be warned it's a really long journey. I think door to door it was around 16 hours each way. Not to say that it's not worth going, because I really do think it is. It's beautiful out there and it's unlike other parts of Vietnam, but it requires an over night train plus a few hours in a car (up a really winding mountain 1 lane road) or at least this is how it was when we went in 2009.
We had 1st class (sleeping car) over night train tickets from Hanoi and the conditions were still a little rough. None of the toilets in the train car were working the entire trip. It was a little questionable if the sheets were changed and the provided pillows smelled a little funky.
We hired a driver who picked us up at the train station to drive us to Sa Pa and it was totally worth it. It was 3-4 hours in the car, on this really narrow road, in the dark. There's no way I would have wanted to do that on my own.
Not trying to discourage you from going, just wanted to let you know it's not a picnic getting out there.
While you're in Hanoi, take a day trip to Perfume Pagoda. It's a hike, so be prepared for that, but it's beautiful. Phnom Penh was an great visit, because we visited both the palace and S21, the genocide museum. Two very different experiences that are well worth it. S21 is a difficult place to go, though, because it isn't just a museum. It's the actual school that was turned into a concentration camp.
I haven't been to Vietnam, but I have been to Cambodia.
In Siem Reap, we stayed at the Pippeli Pensione and really liked it. I thinks someone else mentioned it already, but make sure to do the floating villages when you are there.
I liked Phnom Penh, but I didn't love it.
I also loved Laos. There are flights between Siem Reap and Luang Prabang in Laos, so you might want to look into that as an option for your extra days.
After reading all these suggestions, I really want to go to Vietnam now.
I also loved Laos. There are flights between Siem Reap and Luang Prabang in Laos, so you might want to look into that as an option for your extra days.
We're 95% sure that's what we're gonna do that now. I'm so glad I asked here, Laos wasnt even on our radar before.
I don't know if you saw the pictures on my blog but if you do Luang Prabang make sure you get up early one day and do the alms for the monks. It was amazing.
I love Vietnam, have been there twice in the last 4 years and each time have fallen more in love with it. We tend to avoid a lot of the touristy things when we travel, preferring to find roadside bars to people watch at and explore off the beaten track ventures, but there are a couple of touristy things in Vietnam that I would say are a must do - make sure you visit the War museum in HCM, I walked out in tears. Also book the night bike food tour. Its an amazing way to experience the crazy motorbike scene in Ho Chi Minh and expand your palate by trying different foods. We did the night train up to Sa Pa and I thought it was worth it but it does take 3 full days to properly do the trek so it may not be worth it. We love Hoi An. Rented bicycles and spent two days just exploring the area, I found the food there much more unique as well. In Hanoi make sure you go to Quan an Ngong for food exploration. Markets were a bit of a waste of time, on our second trip we completely avoided the big markets preferring to find smaller local markets.