Thailand - Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand

Jayk69

Ok time has come for me to see part of the world this summer. I don't know where to start with the planning and organising. Leaving in June for for 10 weeks and hoping to get in Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, and the Islands and anywhere else in Thailand.

Now I need your help.

Does anyone know any good websites i can visit, i'm sure alot of people have done this before but need to get as much information as possible.

We are looking at flying into Thailand then started the trip in Loas and working our way back to finish back in Bangkok to fly back home.

Please shed some light

biko

Moving to main Travel forum as it's a more general query.

Previous threads with some info
http://www.google.ie/search?hl=en&q=Vietnam%2C+Cambodia+site%3Aboards.ie&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

whatsyourquota

gapyear.com is an amazing website, will have all the answers you want in the forum part.

Todd Gack

http://www.travelfish.org/ is specifically for South East Asia and is a good source of information about the whole region. The forums are also very good.

www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree is probably the biggest travel forum.

www.wikitravel.org is handy for anywhere, it's usually pretty up to date and a good first source of info for wherever you're going.

Batigol309

Hey planning on doing the same myself for 12 weeks..flights booked to Bangkok and flying to Oz from singapore so going to travel through Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam , Thaiand, malaysia and Indonesia.

Blogs above are good...as is Asia on a Shoestring by Lonely Planet..can pick up the book on ebay

Dean820

www.travelaway.info

Thailand - http://travelaway.info/thailand.html

Vietnam - http://travelaway.info/vietnam.html

Cambodia - http://travelaway.info/cambodia.html

Laos - http://travelaway.info/laos.html

There's information about attractions, health, currencies, legal requirements, maps, etc of each country at the top of the page.

HenryChinaski

Starting in BKK head north to Chiang Mai. Then bus up to the border and cross into Laos. Take the slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang and make your way south to Vientiane. From here then I'd recommend one the of the following two routes. (a) Continue south through Laos down to Champasak and Si Phan Don (4000 Islands) before crossing into Cambodia, or (b) head from Vientiane to Hanoi and make your way south to Ho Chi Min before heading straight north west through Phnom Penh and Siem Reap back into BKK.

Given the fact that you only have ten weeks the latter might be the better option. You'd be missing the south of Laos and while it's very nice down there you're not missing anything particularly important as far as things to see go. Plus it's a long trip down to Pakse (the southern hub) from Vientiane and also if you go the first route you'd be crossing into Ho Chi Min from Phnom Penh and working your way north in Vietnam which is fine ordinarily but ten weeks will disappear faster than you think and having to make your way from Hanoi back to BKK at the very end will be a bit of hassle unless you fly because you'll have to cross through Laos again to get back to Thailand. So yeah it'll be a more fluid run if you skip southern Laos and do the north to south route in Vietnam.

As far as the islands in Thailand go where you go should really depend on what you're looking for. If you want full moon party style partying it's Haad Rin on Ko Phangan and Ko Phi Phi. If you want some more laid back, less wild, safer, nicer environs but with no shortage of craic either, I can make a few recommendations. The Lonely Planet Thorn Tree Forum is the best for getting questions answered. If you want info check out this one.

http://tezza-thailandbeachesandislands.blogspot.com/

I've to run now but I'll throw out some stuff when I think of it.

lcurran1

Hey! Im going to Aus in june for a few weeks then onto thailand, travelling thailand for a few weeks with friends and thats all planned, the only thing is im meeting my boyfriend back in bangkok when my friends go home and staying on for an extra three weeks with him , ill have already done thailand so we were thinking of getting bits of vietnam cambodia and Laos in, thing is we only have three weeks, any advice on how to go about it?

thanks

Jayk69

*BUMP*

Hey thanks a million for the feedback, time is marching closer and if anyone has any info on visa's etc too i would be very grateful. Plan we have is going to fly into Bangkok, then fly straight to Loas, go on the river run then cross into Vietnam I think then onto Cambodia. Just looking to find what the best way to do so. Thailand then for 5 weeks hopefully.

Mixed opinions so far about length of stays in each place.

Laos 5 days
Vietnam 1 wk
Cambodia 2 wks
Thailand 5 wks

Any advice greatly appreciated

whatsyourquota

i thought you had 10 weeks?

Laos deserves at least ten days if not more and not a chance of spending only a week in Vietnam you will need min of 2.
You should cut time from thailand and maybe a week or ten days is enough for cambodia if you are only going to phenom penh and siem riep.

you will get laos and cambodia visas on arrival. you will need to arrange one for vietnam but thats easily done in laos. the thailand one is tricky seeing as your landing here first you will get a 30 day visa which you wont even use and then you will probably cross the border from cambodia and only get a 15 day one. so a double entry tourist visa is your best option for thailand and that can be arranged in the embassy in Dublin

Benny_Cake

I'd plan on spending more than a week in Vietnam,it's a huge country with long journeys between cities. We spent nearly a month there and didn't see everything, coould you knock a week of Cambodia and then it might be more doable? Also, what exactly are your plans for Laos? 5 days seems like far too little time.

catch--22

5 days in Laos isn't going to be enough. Two of those days will be taken up with the slow boat alone.

I'd agree with Benny and Quota and cut Cambodia down to a week. Siem Reap for 3-4 days....night bus to Phenom Penh for a day or so. Vietnam will take a lot more time.

And if you're not looking for a Full Moon style party when in Thailand.....go to Koh Lanta. Stay at Long Beach and at Ozone bungalows. You'll find it hard to leave.

sarkozy

Viet Nam is amazing, but I wouldn't 'do' Siem Reap for 3-4 days. You go for the Angkor ruins, and if you want to explore those for two days, fine, but except for its tiny French colonial town centre, Siem Reap is a dustbowl built around tourism. I would spend more time in Phnom Penh or, which I didn't do, get out of PP and the horrible hawker/rip-off side of things and into the countryside meeting real people. Perhaps do a home-stay with some locals there and in north Viet Nam.

Jayk69

whatsyourquota wrote: »

i thought you had 10 weeks?

Laos deserves at least ten days if not more and not a chance of spending only a week in Vietnam you will need min of 2.
You should cut time from thailand and maybe a week or ten days is enough for cambodia if you are only going to phenom penh and siem riep.

you will get laos and cambodia visas on arrival. you will need to arrange one for vietnam but thats easily done in laos. the thailand one is tricky seeing as your landing here first you will get a 30 day visa which you wont even use and then you will probably cross the border from cambodia and only get a 15 day one. so a double entry tourist visa is your best option for thailand and that can be arranged in the embassy in Dublin

I have from the 6th of June when we fly out till the 18th of August. I think it comes to 9 and 1/2 weeks in all. Think we just wanna do the tubing in Loas and then move on to Cambodia and Vietnam etc. Some great advice so far and thanks a million, keep it coming. Time marching on now and getting stuff sorted. Anyone know of a quick way of getting from Thailand - Bangkok to Laos, Wanna get there as quick as possible cause we fly home from Bangkok. Internal flights have been suggested to me but just wanted tyo see if anyone used this way before and any advice.

Leslie91

Henry has it sorted above. I did this trek but missed out on Vietnam. I travelled from Bangkok up to Chang Mai and then up to the border with Laos and down the Mekong to Luang Prabang. Interestingly Laos disappointed me, the only place worth a look (for me) was Vang Viang. I thought Cambodia was amazing. Thailand everyone knows is a fantastic country to visit, love the people love the food.

We then travelled trip back into Thailand along the coast. Spent some time chilling on Koh Samet after all the roughing it thru Laos and Cambodia. Treat yourself at the end.

Leslie91

Jayk69 wrote: »

I have from the 6th of June when we fly out till the 18th of August. I think it comes to 9 and 1/2 weeks in all. Think we just wanna do the tubing in Loas and then move on to Cambodia and Vietnam etc. Some great advice so far and thanks a million, keep it coming. Time marching on now and getting stuff sorted. Anyone know of a quick way of getting from Thailand - Bangkok to Laos, Wanna get there as quick as possible cause we fly home from Bangkok. Internal flights have been suggested to me but just wanted tyo see if anyone used this way before and any advice.

One thing worth doing is to fly into Cambodia (Siem Reap) from Vientiane. We did this, dodgy plane and all. Overland from Bangkok to Chang Mai and onto the border. I assume u can fly easily from BKK to Chang Mai though.

whatsyourquota

I really think you are making the wrong decision in regards to Laos. It is by far the nicest country of them all, im even going back to visit it properly this year as I only spent 10 days there last time.
If you want to get from Bangkok to Vientiene just get the overnight train. More info on the train at seat61.com

Benny_Cake

If you are set on going to Laos, you can get a flight from Bangkok to Vientiane, or catch an internal flight to Udon Thani (which would likely be cheaper) and get a bus from there to the Lao border at Nong Khai - only an hour from Udon Thani. You need to think about where you want to see, if you want to go to Luang Prabang for example the above advice wouldn't be much good and you would be better off going via Chiang Mai.