Thailand & Vietnam recommendations

[donthasslethehoff]

Hi - I don't normally go on this board, but I am traveling to Thailand and Vietnam the second week of April for work. I plan on flying into Thailand 2 days early to explore. I am likely going to be staying at one of the Marriotts close to downtown. Can anyone recommend must see things in those 2 days? I will only be there for 3 days and the 3rd day will be all work then flying into Vietnam in the evening. 

I will have 3-4 days in Vietnam doing work things likely until 5-6 at night. Can people recommend night activities?

Thanks!

[just]

Flying into Bangkok? If so, I loved the Grand Palace and Wat Pho and they're right by each other, so make for a good shorter day. Eating at Chinatown at night was my favorite part of the trip by far. We were staying in Chinatown so ate there most nights (except Monday when it's 'closed'), but the first night we did a food tour that was a lot of fun. Eating at some of the food halls were also a great non-intimidating way for us to enjoy the food while we were acclimatizing and looking for AC.

[neonpink]

When I went out site seeing I took a boat ferry from Wat Arun down to the Grand Palace and Wat Pho. It was a pretty way to get to see both areas.  Don't buy a tourist ferry ticket buy one from the main ferry ticket booth and it's about 15 baht.  

My other recommendation is head up to one of the rooftop bars. The skyline is really cool and some of roof bars are amazing. Not my photo but the view from the roof of the  hotel I stayed at while there. 

[neonpink]

Also for me Bangkok was the hottest place I've ever been. I went in May. It was a combination of the humidity and heat that roasted me out. I live in a city where 100 degrees in the summer is normal with a lot of humidity. Bangkok felt like a hot yoga class all the time. I ended up following the locals and wearing skirts to be cooler with bike shorts underneath.

So bringing me to the metro system and sky train cars have AC and they are great to get around. Traffic is brutal. Also in front of the Grand Palace the post office has AC. My friend almost passed out from the heat and I brought her there to cool down.

[rupertpenny]

Yes, which cities? The Grand Palace and and Wat Pho are definitely worth doing. The last time I was there I did a food tour with Bangkok Food Tours and it was great. I also took an interesting canal tour a few years ago, but I unfortunately can't remember any of the details. My general advice is to get a foot massage every day. 

Also, if you will be in town for Songkran (April 13-15) that is probably going to affect your plans. I haven't been in Thailand during Songkran, but I have been in Cambodia and Malaysia for it before and there was a lot of traffic and small restaurants closed down. 

I've also been to Da Nang, Nha Trang, and Hanoi so let me know if you're going to any of those. I don't have any HCMC recs unfortunately. 

[donthasslethehoff]

Mar 5, 2019 19:59:52 GMT -5 rupertpenny said:

Yes, which cities? The Grand Palace and and Wat Pho are definitely worth doing. The last time I was there I did a food tour with Bangkok Food Tours and it was great. I also took an interesting canal tour a few years ago, but I unfortunately can't remember any of the details. My general advice is to get a foot massage every day. 

Also, if you will be in town for Songkran (April 13-15) that is probably going to affect your plans. I haven't been in Thailand during Songkran, but I have been in Cambodia and Malaysia for it before and there was a lot of traffic and small restaurants closed down. 

I've also been to Da Nang, Nha Trang, and Hanoi so let me know if you're going to any of those. I don't have any HCMC recs unfortunately. 

My bad. Flying into Bangkok. Will get there late at night on the 5th Friday. I have the 6th and 7th to explore. Staying at the JW Marriott. 

I fly to Ho Chi Minh at around 6pm on the 8th and I am there until the morning of the 11th. I am hopefully going to get some time to go out and explore at night on the 9th and 10th. 

[wildrice]

I haven't been to Vietnam. I would check out BKK tours in Bangkok (that's the name of the company). Someone else here recommended them to me, and they were wonderful. We did a city tour which took us to the main sites (multiple Wats, the grand palace, etc) as well as a cruise down the river and a couple of great places to try some local food, a flower market, etc. We also did a side trip to Ayutthya, which was really neat - we also went with BKK tours for that. Of the two I'd choose the city tour as my top choice but both were worthwhile.

We didn't do a whole lot else. We did go to their huge Sunday market (I can't recall the name off the top of my head). It sounds like you'll be there on a Sunday, so I'd check it out if I were you. We didn't buy much but there is a bunch of street food and it's neat to see. We also went to Koh San road for dinner one night, which was not really my jam but kind of neat to see - it's popular with backpackers and it's very busy and kind of gritty. Dinner was street food, nothing fancy.

I loved Thailand. I'm sure whatever you do you'll have a wonderful time! Vietnam is high on my list for "someday" as well.