Bangkok-Chiang Mai-Luang Prabang-Siem Reap

[kaylie]

Any thoughts on the number of nights in each of these places? This is where I'm at right now:

2 nights Bangkok (we land at 11PM on the first night, so it's really one full day)
3 nights Chiang Mai 
3 nights Luang Prabang 
2 nights Siem Reap 
3 nights Bangkok

We're fast paced travelers, so hoping to minimize downtime and we'll be taking direct flights between each city. We'd like to mix some cultural activity with some adventure/nature activity. It's possible I'll be 3-4 months pregnant when we do this, which might limit some of the "active" stuff we would normally do. 

[frlcb]

Minus Chiang Mai that is about the time we spent in the cities, and it was good. We may have done 3 in Siem Reap. Check whether you need anti malaria meds, we took them while we were there but as far as I know none are safe during pregnancy

[kaylie]

Thanks frlcb, that's a great point about malaria. It looks like LP might be the only place we would need it, but opinions are mixed on the internets. I'll see my doctor before we TTC, so if it's a problem we'll just hold off until after the trip. We'd be going during dry season, so we might be fine.

[kpol]

We just left Siem Reap last weekend and spent 3 nights, 2 full days there. It was he perfect amount of time for us. We got in late but made day one sunrise at Angkor Wat, relaxed by the pool, then Pub Street and The Lane in the evening. The next day we did an ATV thing through different villages that ended up taking up most of the day. I'm not super adventurous but had a great time on the tour.

Last time we were in Thailand, we did two full days in Bangkok and that was plenty. We are traveling from Asia so we get templed out pretty quickly. Definitely schedule some time for cheap foot massages!

[hazel]

We were in Luang Prabang for 3 nights and that was enough for us. I honestly wished we had just stayed there 2 nights and stayed in Vang Vieng an extra night. (Although I see you're not going there as you're taking direct flights between places).

We were in Siem Reap for 3 nights and I thought it was a good amount of time.

[frlcb]

Feb 7, 2015 10:05:04 GMT -5 kaylie said:

Thanks frlcb, that's a great point about malaria. It looks like LP might be the only place we would need it, but opinions are mixed on the internets. I'll see my doctor before we TTC, so if it's a problem we'll just hold off until after the trip. We'd be going during dry season, so we might be fine.

Cool, just wanted to mention it! I know a lot of people are gone not taking them there but we were advised to, so who knows!

[Deleted]

Of your itinerary, I've been to Bangkok twice and Chiang Mai once. I think 3 nights in CM is perfect. We had a great time in Chiang Mai. 5 nights total in Bangkok might be too much, it wasn't my favorite city. I haven't been to Siem Reap, but based on the other suggestions I might consider taking a night from Bangkok and adding it to Siem Reap.

We did not get any shots or malaria pills, and we were there for 3 weeks including rural areas.

[kaylie]

Feb 7, 2015 21:13:44 GMT -5 @travelbug1210 said:

Of your itinerary, I've been to Bangkok twice and Chiang Mai once. I think 3 nights in CM is perfect. We had a great time in Chiang Mai. 5 nights total in Bangkok might be too much, it wasn't my favorite city. I haven't been to Siem Reap, but based on the other suggestions I might consider taking a night from Bangkok and adding it to Siem Reap.

We did not get any shots or malaria pills, and we were there for 3 weeks including rural areas.

Great to know about CM. 

Have you done any day trips from Bangkok when you've gone? I saw tours to Ayutthaya and the floating market that looked good, but wondered if they would be worth it. It's really four days we have there total and I think we'd only spend two exploring the city, so we'd have time for two days in the surrounding area if I left the itinerary as is. 

[Deleted]

Feb 7, 2015 21:22:35 GMT -5 kaylie said:

Feb 7, 2015 21:13:44 GMT -5 @travelbug1210 said:

Of your itinerary, I've been to Bangkok twice and Chiang Mai once. I think 3 nights in CM is perfect. We had a great time in Chiang Mai. 5 nights total in Bangkok might be too much, it wasn't my favorite city. I haven't been to Siem Reap, but based on the other suggestions I might consider taking a night from Bangkok and adding it to Siem Reap.

We did not get any shots or malaria pills, and we were there for 3 weeks including rural areas.

Great to know about CM. 

Have you done any day trips from Bangkok when you've gone? I saw tours to Ayutthaya and the floating market that looked good, but wondered if they would be worth it. It's really four days we have there total and I think we'd only spend two exploring the city, so we'd have time for two days in the surrounding area if I left the itinerary as is. 

We didn't do any day trips outside the city.  We did spend the majority of one day at a Thai cooking class called Amita Thai which I highly recommend.  A driver picks you up at your hotel, transfers you to a boat, and it's about a 45 minute canal ride to a traditional Thai compound for a cooking class.

[toutsuite]

Re malaria pills - if you have the option - I had better success with the daily ones (Doxycycline) over the ones you take once a week (Mefloquine I think?). I had zero side effects with the Doxy but the Mefloquine gave me the most bizarre dreams and insomnia. All around it was like living in a cloud before I switched. The Mefloquine you need to start taking two weeks before exposure to a region with malaria, so that would give you enough time to see whether you had any side effects. Doxycycline I actually had to take while pregnant for malaria prevention.

I used to be breezy about taking/not taking the malaria pills, but I have see a few people come down with malaria to now be a believer in them. Nothing that would put a bit of a damper on a trip than a little bout of malaria.

Your itinerary looks awesome. I don't have experience with LP but I do the others. If you need recommendations on where to go or places to stay let me know. Otherwise enjoy - it will be a once in a lifetime trip to some beautiful places!

[kaylie]

Thanks everyone. I'll definitely ask my doc about the malaria pills. We've taken Malarone before with zero complications, but I don't think that one works in SE asia. We're actually going to the travel doc soon to get current on our typhoid vaccines, so I'll have a chance to ask then.

[Alyssa]

Feb 7, 2015 12:33:25 GMT -5 hazel said:

We were in Luang Prabang for 3 nights and that was enough for us. I honestly wished we had just stayed there 2 nights and stayed in Vang Vieng an extra night. (Although I see you're not going there as you're taking direct flights between places).

We were in Siem Reap for 3 nights and I thought it was a good amount of time.

Yes!  I honestly liked Vang Vieng more.  But I do think Luang Probang was nice too.  Check out the waterfalls there, the water is a mily turqoise color.

[kelley182]

I wouldn't stay in Bangkok that long. We stayed there for 2 nights and it was plenty of time for me. I enjoyed the temples but everything else was just too much and a bit too unsafe feeling for me.

We didn't bother with malaria pills but we only went to Bangkok, Chaing Mai and Krabi.