A spare week in thailand?

ripcord

Hi all,

I'm taking a 6 week trip to South East Asia in October. Probably flying in/out of Ho Chi Minh.

For weeks 2 and 3, I will be taking a tour of northern thailand with intrepid tavel starting/ending in bangkok.. (here it is: http://www.intrepidtravel.com/trips/TTSN#overview)

For weeks 4, 5, and 6 I will be meeting friends in Hanoi, and we spend the three weeks travelling through laos, down into cambodia, and finish in Ho Chi Minh.

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what I could do for the first week I'm there? I will fly into Ho Chi Minh and need to be in Bangkok 7 days later for the tour. I want to wait for my friends before I do vietnam and cambodia so we can do them together. I hear thailand south of bangkok is very touristy and most of the activities are beaches which wouln't interest me.

Any ideas appreciated!

Thanks.

Gatica

Around HCMC you'd have the lovely Mekong Delta. Go to the floating market, for example. You can also do tours around the area. Dalat is also not too far away and is supposed to be a beautiful little town that the locals themselves love to visit. It's a train ride away in the south of Vietnam. If you want to venture further you can go up as far as Hue, since you'll be around Hanoi and the Laos/Cambodia with your friends.

ripcord

Hi all,

Need to revisit this as my plans have changed! I'm still taking this 6 week trip to South East Asia in two weeks time. Flying into bangkok + out of Ho Chi Minh.

As stated in OP, for weeks 4, 5, and 6 I will be meeting friends in Hanoi, and we spend the last three weeks travelling through Hanoi, Sapa, Luang Prabang, Ankor Wat, Pnom Penh, Ho Chi Minh.

For this first three weeks I was planning to be in thailand on my own. I have decided not to do the tour, and travel on my own instead. I have no interest in travelling south to the islands, so will probably stay north of bangkok.

I was thinking that three weeks in the north might be a bit much. Maybe I could spend 2 weeks in thailand, and then fly to hanoi for a week before I meet my friends. I could travel to Hoi An and then back to Hanoi. This way I get to see Hoi An (as we would miss it during the final three weeks).

So to summarise , here are my options:

1. Fly to bangkok and spend three weeks between bangkok, chang mai, and other places up northern thailand. Then fly to hanoi to meet my friends.

2. Fly to bangkok and spend two weeks in northern thailand. Then fly to Hanoi a week early. Spend a few days visiting Hoi An, then meet my friends back in Hanoi.

Any opinions?

I need to figure this out now, because when applying for your vietnam visa online, you need to tell them the date you are entering the country. Does anyone know a way I could be more flexible - and get the vietnam visa when I'm over there?

Thanks a mill.

Flynn

not for everyone... but i'd suggest a Muay Thai camp before you give the liver a good thrashing.

Pa Dee

ripcord wrote: »

Hi all,

I'm taking a 6 week trip to South East Asia in October. Probably flying in/out of Ho Chi Minh.

For weeks 2 and 3, I will be taking a tour of northern thailand with intrepid tavel starting/ending in bangkok.. (here it is: http://www.intrepidtravel.com/trips/TTSN#overview)

For weeks 4, 5, and 6 I will be meeting friends in Hanoi, and we spend the three weeks travelling through laos, down into cambodia, and finish in Ho Chi Minh.

I'm wondering if anyone has any suggestions on what I could do for the first week I'm there? I will fly into Ho Chi Minh and need to be in Bangkok 7 days later for the tour. I want to wait for my friends before I do vietnam and cambodia so we can do them together. I hear thailand south of bangkok is very touristy and most of the activities are beaches which wouln't interest me.

Any ideas appreciated!

Thanks.

A bit of jarrin' and ridin' maybe ?

Tipperary animal lover

If your gonna be in Bangkok for a few day you can arrange your visa there through a travel agent or call to the embassy yourself, I think with myvietnamvisa.com you can give a date of your arrival but you don't have to arrive on that date, any time after is fine I'm sure, email them and they'll tell you.
As for your few weeks I'd get out of bangkok after 2/3 days maybe fly over to ko Chang island it's really nice and doesn't have the mass tourists yet!!! You'll find plenty to do up in Chang mai, a week in Hanoi is to much head down to hoi an is a fantastic town, it's one of the places you have to see in vietnam.

keenan110

I'm just back from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Spent a month in Vietnam and it was by far me favourite place. I highly recommend visiting Hoi An, it's such a great place, all the streets are untouched and exactly like they were over 100 years ago!
Other placed to check out would be Ninh Binh which is only an hour train ride south of Hanoi and on the way to Hoi An, the Karst Mountains are amazing there!

I spent a week in Chiang Mai and that was plenty of time to do a trek and see all there is in the city!

ripcord

keenan110 wrote: »

I'm just back from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. Spent a month in Vietnam and it was by far me favourite place. I highly recommend visiting Hoi An, it's such a great place, all the streets are untouched and exactly like they were over 100 years ago!
Other placed to check out would be Ninh Binh which is only an hour train ride south of Hanoi and on the way to Hoi An, the Karst Mountains are amazing there!

I spent a week in Chiang Mai and that was plenty of time to do a trek and see all there is in the city!

Thanks for the info. I'm pretty much set on two weeks in thailand and then one week Hanoi - Hoi An. And then the rest with my mates. To be honest, between bangkok and chiangmai, id say i would have seen enough of thailand. Maybe a couple of days somewhere else in northern thailand.

Everyone I talk to seems to say vietnam is far nice than thailand.