SE Asia

jadie

Heading off to Thailand,(northern) Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam in 3 weeks. Have the train to Chiang Mai booked from Bangkok but that's it. Any suggestions for quietish place in Bangkok to stay the first night? saw reccs for Rambutturi Inn on some old threads, but want someplace else.

Also, anyone been on the slow boat crossing over to Laos recently? am a bit freaked out it will be overcrowded and dangerous. If anyone has any other recommendations/tips would love to hear them. am a bit anxious as travelling on my own. Any other peeps heading over there at xmas?

bungaro79

stayed in the asia hotel when i was in bangkok and it was nice and quiet, on the sky train too. its just down the road from the mbk centre too which is worth a look.

highlights were angkor wat, cu chi tunnels and elephant trekking. i'm assuming you know that you'll need your visa for vietnam in advance, you can get all the rest at the borders.

jadie

thanks, planning on getting my vietnam visa in Cambodia. Had a look at that hotel but the cheapest room is 50 euros, looking for something more budget

Stinicker

jadie wrote: »

Heading off to Thailand,(northern) Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam in 3 weeks. Have the train to Chiang Mai booked from Bangkok but that's it. Any suggestions for quietish place in Bangkok to stay the first night? saw reccs for Rambutturi Inn on some old threads, but want someplace else.

Also, anyone been on the slow boat crossing over to Laos recently? am a bit freaked out it will be overcrowded and dangerous. If anyone has any other recommendations/tips would love to hear them. am a bit anxious as travelling on my own. Any other peeps heading over there at xmas?

I stayed a few nights in the "Ibis Nana" which is just off Sukhumvit on Soi 4 and is on the same street as the infamous Nana Plaza whore joint.

However it is a nice enough hotel and my room was quite with no noise problems, there was a complimentary shuttle to the Nana BTS skytrain which would be a ten - fifteen minute walk normally. You are right slap bang in the middle of the party/naughty part of Bangkok but the price was okay at between €25 to €35 a night for pretty standard no frills rooms. Obviously not to everyones taste but the walk back to that hotel at night was an eyeopener and not for prudes!

I read on another forum that the overnight train to Chiang Mai was not running at the moment due to damage to the train line due to the recent floods, did that trip last February and it was pretty cool, check up your information to see if the train is running or not!

killbillvol2

I'm guessing you're only staying one night in Bangkok before hopping on the train to Chiang Mai.

Some friends of mine stayed in this place a few months ago before getting the train. I met them there and I liked the look of the place.

Might be closer to your budget and it's at the train station. It's also right at a metro stop if you want to explore.

jadie

killbillvol2 wrote: »

I'm guessing you're only staying one night in Bangkok before hopping on the train to Chiang Mai.

Some friends of mine stayed in this place a few months ago before getting the train. I met them there and I liked the look of the place.

Might be closer to your budget and it's at the train station. It's also right at a metro stop if you want to explore.

That's exactly what I'm doing,booked the ticket last week directly through thai railways. All I want to do my night in Bangkok is sleep off the jetlag and get to a chemist for malaria tablets and sleeping tablets! will check that place out, thanks

killbillvol2

jadie wrote: »

That's exactly what I'm doing,booked the ticket last week directly through thai railways. All I want to do my night in Bangkok is sleep off the jetlag and get to a chemist for malaria tablets and sleeping tablets! will check that place out, thanks

There's a Boots in the airport which charges normal Thai prices for meds - might save you a bit of time.

6ix

Just coming towards the end of a 10 week trip in South East Asia on the way to Oz. You see and do so much it would be impossible to write it all down here but if you have any specific questions I can try to answer them if I have time/wifi available...

Re the slowboat - I was on it about 8 weeks ago. It's totally fine if a bit slow (obviously). It's not all wooden seats like people say, it's just bus seats on a boat. It was fairly crowded but everyone gets a seat. The first day was good fun, sipping on beer Lao while enjoying the scenery and the company. The second day dragged a bit if I'm honest - the scenery gets a bit repetitive and I think if you're getting toward the 14 hour mark on any transport then it'll always seem laborious!

You'll meet plenty of people on the slow boat. We met some people there for the first time that we've been meeting again and again throughout Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. Don't worry about travelling alone either - I was travelling with a friend but I'd say 40-50% of the people we met were lone travellers. You're never alone, you'll always have someone to go for dinner or a beer with!

Other random tip - I really enjoyed the Easy Riders trip in Vietnam - basically you ride a motorbike (accompanied by a guide) for a few days into Rural Vietnam. We did a 4 day, 600km trip from Nha Trang to Buon Ma Thout, Dalat and then Mui Ne. It was a really cool way to see the country and get away from the coastal route for a while.

JayC5

Hey 6ix,

What's the sleeping arrangements on the slow boat? - and what sorta budget did you have for your trip (if you don't mind me asking..!)


Cheers


J

6ix

I'm presuming you're going south from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang - that's the most common route...

There's no sleeping on the boat - it stops on the evening of the first day at the halfway point - a village called Pak Beng. There you'll find a variety of basic, but fine accommodation. You just take a wander up the main street of the village and there are plenty of guesthouses and people trying to get you into theirs. We had a look at one which was a real ****hole but we gave it a miss. We crossed the road and found somewhere else which was a lot nicer for the same price. I think it was only €2 a head for the night.

In terms of budget, it really depends what you want to do. For a 10 week trip of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia & Vietnam you could probably get by on around 2500, or even less if you don't want to do activities. E.g the Easy Riders trip cost $45-50 a day which is a lot of money over there but includes you accommodation & entrance fees to sights etc. If you do the PADI Open Water Diving course somewhere it'll cost a couple of hundred euro... Any treks/trips will eat into your budget but I'd be of the opinion that those experiences are usually the highlights of the trip and are well worth doing.

Also the islands in Southern Thailand were the most expensive part of the trip for us in terms of accommodation/food. Northern Thailand/Laos/Vietnam/Cambodia are all very cheap in terms of living costs.

pat1981

BANGKOK NOORIE
178/7 Soi Wutthiphan, Ratchaparop Road
Tel: (02) 2523340,2510723-4,2514439
Fax: (662) 2542766

Highly recommend the motorbike in Vietnam thing aswell.. You can do it yourself and it will be a lot cheaper.

jadie

thanks for all the replies. The easy riders trip sounds great, but motorbikes aren't for me. 6ix any trips/places you went to which you wouldn't recommend? will be pushed to see everything esp in Vietnam

I'd skip Hue and try make it to Sa Pa instead. It'll be cold but it's beautiful.

1stimpressions

I've been living in BKK for two years ask me if you have any particular question on Thailand that the guidebooks don't answer. If you like most you don't stay more than the one day in BKK (which is a crying shame IMO) you might want to stay near the train station that will bring you North. The area Hua Lumphong is the Chinatown area and would be cool for a walk around before you crash if thats all you are doing in BKK. Staying in Sukhumvit or Kao San road just to sleep is not worth the extra time or money.

jadie

thank you, am going to stay by the train station alright. was in Bangkok before for 4 days so saw a good few sites,hence just the stopover this time. I have been looking into flights in Vietnam to save time and am suprised at how expensive vietnam airlines are, was hoping to fly from Hue or Da Nang to Hanoi and the fares are over a 100 euro. already paying 80 to fly hanoi-bangkok for my return flight:(

doriansmith

Have you checked other airlines? Jetstar usually have cheap flights in vietnam. I flew HCMC to Hanoi for about 50 quid a couple of months ago.

Type in pacific airlines into Google and you'll get the Vietnamese jetstar site.. Saved bout 40 dollars a flight before over.the regular jetstar.

jadie

I did look at Jestsar, the vietnam site too. They don't fly Hue to Hanoi and from Na Thrang the flights have completly sold out for the third wk of feb. bummer.

6ix

jadie wrote: »

thanks for all the replies. The easy riders trip sounds great, but motorbikes aren't for me. 6ix any trips/places you went to which you wouldn't recommend? will be pushed to see everything esp in Vietnam

In Vietnam, like ABG said, skip Hue. Not a whole pile to do/see. Saw the tombs etc in a day and had a good night out there but that's about all. Hoi An is a much nicer place. Also, I'd skip Mui Ne. There are plenty of beach towns in Vietnam, I'd choose Nha Trang over Mui Ne... It has cool-looking sand dunes though.

In Laos I'd skip Vientiane. It's the capital and an important transport hub, but I'd spend as little time there as possible. It's not unpleasant... just a bit boring.

jadie

yes, not planning more than a night at Vientiane and might skip Vang Vieng altogether as have done all that tubing lark elsewhere before. Was actually considering Mui Ne over Nha Trang as heard it was less busy/more chilled out so that is interesting to hear now. Of the three trips, Halong Bay, Mekong Delta, Sapa which one would you skip if you had to

Mekong but it's not an easy choice.. Sapa and Halong really have the dramatic scenery that gives them the edge.

6ix

The Nha Trang/Mui Ne thing is probably just personal choice to be fair.

Mui Ne's orientation just annoyed me - it's basically a 15km stretch of road along the beach with shops/guesthouses and resorts stretched along the road. It's not that it's a big place at all, but it's just all spread out along one stretch of road. You really need to get taxis/rent a moped to get around, unless you want to chill out in the vicinity of your hostel/guesthouse. In our case there was very little in the way of restaurants/activities near where we were staying so we were always having to travel a few km just to eat etc. That said if you want a quiet place, Mui Ne is certainly that.

Nha Trang is easier to navigate on foot. It's definitely more of a party town too, although there are only 2/3 busy bars, the rest of the town seemed fairly quiet (in early Nov). Careful of the pickpockets at night if you do go.