Thailand/Laos/Cambodia

dancer

I am going travelling in 11 weeks (2nd November) with my boyfriend. First stop is Thailand. We will be there for a good 6 weeks (island hopping/chiang mai) but we want to visit Cambodia and Laos also.

Has anyone got any advice on how long we should give ourselves in each place?? Or anywhere is particular that is a must see?? All we have booked is 7 nights accommodation in Koh Phangan for the full moon party on the 10th Nov. Other than that we have nothing booked.

Any advice is appreciated!!! Thanks:)

Shield

Moved from Newbies & FAQ to Travel with redirect expiring in 7 days.

Stinicker

About 5 days is enough in Chiang Mai itself as you will soon get tired of all the temples and stuff. Chiang Mai is a good base to take in a trek for a few nights into the mountains and jungles, this was my highlight of Thailand.

Chiang Rai further north gets rave reviews and I didn't have enough time so it may be worth furthering, you can also cross into Myanmar around the Golden Triangle if you like collecting stamps in your passport.

wallpaper12

If I were you I would do something roughly like this
2 days in Bangkok
7 days in Koh Phangan
Then head over to the other side of Thailand for a week for Phi Phi and Krabi
Fly up to Chaing mai for a couple of days if you are doing a trek I would say 6 or 7 days here
Then head into Laos you have a couple of ways of doing this: Slow boat which takes 3 days and 2 nights, Fast boat 2 days and 1 night and bus which is about 24 hours.
Iv done both slow boat and bus and preferred the bus as the slow boat was just too slow for me. But the bus is not a sleeper bus so its not exactly comfortable and you are on it for 16 hours but I just took a sleeping pill and slept the whole way.
So now your in Laos you can spend 2 or 3 days in Luang prabang
then onto Vang Vieng for tubing etc
From here it makes sense to head down to southern Laos but iv never been but a couple of places to look up would be ThaKhaek, Savanakhet, Pakse and the 4000 islands.
From here I would head into Cambodia and spend maybe 2 days in the capital Phnom Penh.
Then for some more beach time head down to Sihanoukville, lovely place and about a quarter of the price of the islands in Thailand. From here you can head out to almost deserted islands and stay on these for a while.
Then get the overnight bus to Siem Reap to see the temples of Angkor and then bus it back to Bangkok!

Swampy

Get some sleeping tablets in a pharmacy when you get to Bangkok. You will need them for the bus journeys. They can be a nightmare if you cannot sleep.

Other than that, I would go on wallpapers recommendation.

Get up the road

hi,

just wondering what the story is with visas to vietnam cambodia and laos. Ive found a few sites online to buy them but isitbetterto buy at borders on in thailand or online.

Cheers.

Tony10

Get up the road wrote: »

hi,

just wondering what the story is with visas to vietnam cambodia and laos. Ive found a few sites online to buy them but isitbetterto buy at borders on in thailand or online.

Cheers.

Hey.Are you travelling directly from Ireland to Vietnam,Cambodia or Laos? If you are travelling by bus or car through these countries you will get a visa for each country at the border.You get a visa for thailand upon arrival in the airport,but you'll have to look up how long it lasts.When i was there last it was for 30days.If i remember correctly the laos visa was only for 2 weeks(14days) but i can't recall how long the vietnam visa was for, but i'm pretty sure it was longer than the laos visa (as the 2wk visa surprised me at the time).I'm afraid I don't know what the set up is with flying directly to one of the countries you mentioned is.but thought i'd share what i know with you.Happy travels, enjoy!
Most places you book your bus trip/tour with will sort out the visa's on the way, and direct you to proper que's etc. Be careful with your belongings on large buses, I spent 8months travelling SE asia, and it only happened once, but still:While passengers were all in bus, somebody was down in the luggage compartment going through all bags.We only noticed when we got to our destination, and people started finding valuables missing etc.but too late.bus and workers were gone.Only once, but be wary.Keep valuables and money close always.

Stinicker

Tony10 wrote: »

Hey.Are you travelling directly from Ireland to Vietnam,Cambodia or Laos? If you are travelling by bus or car through these countries you will get a visa for each country at the border.You get a visa for thailand upon arrival in the airport,but you'll have to look up how long it lasts.When i was there last it was for 30days.If i remember correctly the laos visa was only for 2 weeks(14days) but i can't recall how long the vietnam visa was for, but i'm pretty sure it was longer than the laos visa (as the 2wk visa surprised me at the time).I'm afraid I don't know what the set up is with flying directly to one of the countries you mentioned is.but thought i'd share what i know with you.Happy travels, enjoy!
Most places you book your bus trip/tour with will sort out the visa's on the way, and direct you to proper que's etc. Be careful with your belongings on large buses, I spent 8months travelling SE asia, and it only happened once, but still:While passengers were all in bus, somebody was down in the luggage compartment going through all bags.We only noticed when we got to our destination, and people started finding valuables missing etc.but too late.bus and workers were gone.Only once, but be wary.Keep valuables and money close always.

Happened to me too this year on a Bus in Thailand from Surat Thani Train station to the pier for the ferry to Ko Samui! I was with a crowd called Songserm, total gangsters and as above never ever leave anything you can't afford to lose in any baggage that will be out of your sight for any length of time. There is a real scum element like this in Thailand preying on backpackers.

wallpaper12

Tony10 wrote: »

Hey.Are you travelling directly from Ireland to Vietnam,Cambodia or Laos? If you are travelling by bus or car through these countries you will get a visa for each country at the border.You get a visa for thailand upon arrival in the airport,but you'll have to look up how long it lasts.When i was there last it was for 30days.If i remember correctly the laos visa was only for 2 weeks(14days) but i can't recall how long the vietnam visa was for, but i'm pretty sure it was longer than the laos visa (as the 2wk visa surprised me at the time).I'm afraid I don't know what the set up is with flying directly to one of the countries you mentioned is.but thought i'd share what i know with you.Happy travels, enjoy!

This is not quite right im afraid.
Vietnam visa cannot be got on the border you have to apply for it in advance. if you are flying into Hanoi/HCMC/Da Nang you can apply in advance for a visa on arrival which you pick up at the airport otherwise the visa has to be already in your passport. Both should cost in the region of 50/60 dollars
For Laos you should get a 30 day visa on the border which costs 35 dollars.
For Cambodia you will also get a 30 day visa on the border for 20/25 dollars.
And yes the Thai visa is 30 days if you fly in but only 15 at land borders

lobes90

Hey, went to thailand for a month last yr with my girlfriend. Don't know much bout cambodia, laos, etc. but a few tips for yer journey. When we arrived in bangkok and walked outside there were men shouting for us to come in their cab.."taxi taxi taxi" get used to it its all you'll hear, jst laugh it off after awhile, but anyway go out of airport and ders loads of cabs down below, its like its underground, der way cheaper. If yer gonna be on a backpacker budget like we were, when ye get to koh samui, assuming ye'll go to chaweng, go to Chaweng Gardens on the main chaweng strip(by macdonalds), its like a 5 star gaf but dey have 8 rooms at the front for 500 baht a night..we were payin 400 baht a night in what was like a prison cell(Coconut Grove) until friends told us they were going there. Full moon party, great nite but you hear so many stories bout the bad things that happen there your kind of edge but its really not that bad, make sure ye jst stay together at all times..be grand! While yer in koh phangang try take a taxi boat from full moon party beach round the cove to had yuan..fukn paradise! Stayed in huts up the mountain, hammocks wild parrots nd monkeys..pure chilled out hippy vibe away fom the madness of it all. We went to koh tao and koh nangyuan too on a day out snorkelling..u'll never see such a clean place as nangyuan, ur not even allowed bring plastic bottles on2 the island. Anyway, going on bout it now wishing i was back der, enjoy!