Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia - Places to go and Visas

Joeyjoejoe43

Hi,

I've just booked flights for Asia and Oz for myself and my girlfriend. We're flying into Singapore early in the new year and we have 5 weeks to travel around Asia before we head onto Melbourne. We want to see Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. So our plan at the moment is to spend a night or 2 in Singapore and then fly to Phnom Penh and from here travel to the following: Ho Chi Minh - Da Nang - Hanoi - Laos - Chang Mai - Bangkok - Phi Phi and Ko Samui - Singapore - Melbourne. So I was wondering:
1) Is there any places in these 4 countries that are totally unmissable.
2) Should we give about a week to each country or do some deserve more time than others?
3) Whats the story with visas? We plan to go Sinapore - Cambodia - Vietnam - Laos - Thailand - Singapore. Would we need to get all these Visas before we go? Are they expensive.

Any feedback would be great. Sound.

breadmonkey

Firstly, I don't want to be nasty but search this forum for "SE Asia" and you will find loads of info.

To answer some of your questions briefly:

5 weeks is no where near enough time to see to all 4 countries. 2 countres would be just about ok. If I were to go back there I would spend at least a month in each.

Vietnam visa cannot be gotten on arrival, you must organise it beforehand either at home or in one of the bordering countries. About E35 I think.

Laos visa on entry for 30 days, can't for the life of me remember how much. You can also organise it beforehand though you'll pay more.

Cambodia: same as Laos.

Thailand, visa on entry, free.

Joeyjoejoe43

Cheers for that Breadmonkey. I have read that Se Asia thread and it was excellent. We'd love to spend a month in each, but the problem is we've only got 5 weeks. So do you reckon we should just go to Laos and Thailand on the way and maybe try to do get Vietnam and Cambodia in on the way back?

breadmonkey

Joeyjoejoe43 wrote:

Cheers for that Breadmonkey. I have read that Se Asia thread and it was excellent. We'd love to spend a month in each, but the problem is we've only got 5 weeks. So do you reckon we should just go to Laos and Thailand on the way and maybe try to do get Vietnam and Cambodia in on the way back?

I'm not sure which to go for tbh but I think picking 2 and 2 is definitely a good idea. You may have seen what I wrote about Laos being a pain in the hole to get around (great place, you just need time). I think if I had to pick 2 it would be Thailand and Cambodia (though I haven't been to Cambodia). If you can afford it, I would advise you to try and fly as much as possible so you get the most out of your time.

gary the great

I just back from my trip, we did thailand, cambodia and vietnam. TBH id skip cambodia, its a complete dump, seriously. Its filty, extremly poor, the people aernt half as sound as the thais, the food is kak, theres constant aggressive begging and you have this constant feeling your about to be robbed (well more so in phenom penh than Siem Reap).

Thailand for me was by far the best of the 3, with chang mai and Phi Phi being the best of the best. I liked Vietnam, even if we were being constantly ripped off, but it was cool. And cambodia i wouldnt return to.

breadmonkey

Interesting. I really must go back to Laos at some stage. Gary, where did you go in Vietnam?

MrJoeSoap

I've only been to Thailand, and I'd really recommend Chang Mai and Phi Phi as well. Ko Samui is alright if you have the time too, but Phi Phi should certainly be given a few days. Bangkok is only really good for shopping and picking up a few cheap gifts on the way home, fairly horrible, smoggy city otherwise.

gary the great

In vietnam we went to hanoi and ho chin min city, i liked the former the best i thought it was a good buzz about the place.

breadmonkey

Did you see the water puppetry in Hanoi? Worst thing I've ever seen. If I had been drunk/stoned I would almost certainly been ejected form the theatre as I wouldn't have been able to contain the laughter!

Joeyjoejoe43

Sound for the comments guys. I had a chat with my sister last night (shes done quite a bit of travelling in Asia) and she pretty much backed up what you said breadmonkey, that is that we'll be just rushing around taking photos of everything, but not really seeing the places at all. So we've decided to just travel around Malaysia and Thailand for the 5 weeks and just chill as much as possible and get to know the locals. She reckons some of the smaller places just outside of the likes of Chang Mai are the best places to go, as the people tend to be more friendly and its more reflective of real Thai living. Roll on January!

MrJoeSoap

Joeyjoejoe43 wrote:

Sound for the comments guys. I had a chat with my sister last night (shes done quite a bit of travelling in Asia) and she pretty much backed up what you said breadmonkey, that is that we'll be just rushing around taking photos of everything, but not really seeing the places at all. So we've decided to just travel around Malaysia and Thailand for the 5 weeks and just chill as much as possible and get to know the locals. She reckons some of the smaller places just outside of the likes of Chang Mai are the best places to go, as the people tend to be more friendly and its more reflective of real Thai living. Roll on January!

Definitely, you can arrange jungle treks in Chang Mai that last 2-4 days, they're well worth it. I'd recommend the SP Hotel in Chang Mai itself.

breadmonkey

Joeyjoejoe43 wrote:

Sound for the comments guys. I had a chat with my sister last night (shes done quite a bit of travelling in Asia) and she pretty much backed up what you said breadmonkey, that is that we'll be just rushing around taking photos of everything, but not really seeing the places at all. So we've decided to just travel around Malaysia and Thailand for the 5 weeks and just chill as much as possible and get to know the locals. She reckons some of the smaller places just outside of the likes of Chang Mai are the best places to go, as the people tend to be more friendly and its more reflective of real Thai living. Roll on January!

Spot on.