anyone traveled through cambodia, laos, vietnam? thinking about doing this when i have the month of august off. i don’t have a ton of money to spend… where do i start planning this? is it best to fly into bangkok, trip around kaohsan road for awhile and make the travel plans there since there are zillions of travel agents who specialize in just that?
words from the wise would be great.
[quote=“bushibanned”]anyone traveled through Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam? thinking about doing this when I have the month of august off. I don’t have a ton of money to spend… where do i start planning this? is it best to fly into Bangkok, trip around kaohsan road for awhile and make the travel plans there since there are zillions of travel agents who specialize in just that?
[/quote]
Your biggest problem is lack of time, but there are things to do to speed things up without resorting to flying.
To save time, it might be best to get your Lao and Vietnam visas in advance in Taiwan, if possible. I have no idea of the possibility of that, however.
It’s best to fly to Bangkok. Bangkok is probably the best place to begin any Southeast Asian journey, and a plane ticket from TPE to BKK is cheaper than flying into either Cambodia or Vietnam. If you don’t have your Lao visa, get it in Bangkok. You could also get your Vietnam visa in Bangkok or wait until you get to Phnom Penh to do that. A travel agent on Khao San Road can get your visas for you at an expedited speed for a higher price. You can get the Cambodian visa issued on the spot at the border of Thailand & Cambodia.
Once the visas are sorted out, travel overland from Bangkok to Siem Reap. For details, I highly recommend visit the following site: http://www.talesofasia.com/cambodia-overland.htm (NOTE: Forumosa for some reason insists on capitalizing the C of Cambodia in this URL - for it to work, it must be a lower-case c). I would also highly recommend avoiding the Khao San Road bus, and instead travel by yourself. It’s not difficult, and you will not regret it.
Spend a few days in Siem Reap exploring the temples of Angkor. I would recommend staying an entire week, but if time is pressing, stay 3 days. (Angkor tickets: $60 for 7 days; $40 for 3 days; $20 for 1 day).
Then go to Phnom Penh. You have 2 options: a fast boat that will get you to Phnom Penh by lunchtime (about $22), or a slow, bumpy bus that will take 9 hours (considerably cheaper). There are some interesting things to see there. If you decide to get your Vietnam visa in Phnom Penh, you can spend a few days exploring the environs while your visa is being issued. Phnom Penh is definitely worth a visit.
Next, take a bus to Saigon. Then explore some of Vietnam, and then cross the border into Laos. You will definitely want to see Luang Prabang. Then you could go south to Vang Vieng and Vientiane, and cross the border into Thailand and return to Bangkok. Or, you could visit Phonsavan, then return to Luang Prabang and take a river boat trip up the Mekong to the northern Thai-Lao border, then explore the Golden Traingle area, before heading back to Bangkok.
There are a lot of possibilities, and by doing this you should be able to see a good deal in a month’s time.
Have a great trip!
Chris-
thanks! i really appreciate you taking the time to write such a thorough response. i will definately take your advice and suggestions.
cheers
jen
My (female, 45 years old, journalist, doesn’t speak much Engliish) Chinese friend from Beijing would like a companion for travel to Cambodia. She asked me but I can’t take the time out. If anyone is interested, please contact me by personal message.
[quote=“bushibanned”]Chris-
thanks! I really appreciate you taking the time to write such a thorough response. I will definately take your advice and suggestions.
cheers
jen[/quote]
No problem.
Another thing: When you apply for your Lao visa, you should let them know which border crossing you plan on going through to enter Laos.
You can get visas on arrival at the Friendship Bridge at the Thai/Laos border and probably most other crossing points.
For sure don’t miss Laos and particularly Luang Prabang. It is a gorgeous little haven and a great place to just hangout. And as you mentioned not wanting to spend a lot of money, ideal for that. Decent guesthouse rooms for US$5-7. Great coffee for US50 cents, large bottle beer (Taiwan Beer size) for US80 cents, good western meals for US$5. And shopping; a night market that runs and runs and runs through the middle of town with great textile and other buys. Can’t wait to return.
Vientiane is nice too as a laid back town with some easy but interesting sightseeing to do. And the locals are so mellow. If you go stay at the Dragon Lodge Inn, the best guesthouse in Vientiane and the owner, Peter, will bend over backwards to help you plan your trips around town.
chris,
spent most of this morning checking out that website you recommended. great source of info.
i have a month but it’s hard to guage all the travelling time. for example, Phnom Penh to Saigon: how many hours?
Saigon to Luang Prabang: again, how many hours?
and then from Luang Praban back to Bangkok? just looking at the maps on the lonelyplanet website… ah, i just don’t really have an idea of the distances between these different places in terms of hours or days even.
my friends told me when they went to Siem Reap from Bangkok, they left in the morning and were there by late afternoon, early evening.
i get the siem reap to Phenom Pehn… 2 hours on the fast boat. will definately take that over a nine hour bus ride. so, following your well thought out itinerary, it’s the last part of the trip that i need help gauging time.
thanks again 
[quote=“bushibanned”]chris,
spent most of this morning checking out that website you recommended. great source of info.
I have a month but it’s hard to guage all the travelling time. for example, Phnom Penh to Saigon: how many hours?
Saigon to Luang Prabang: again, how many hours?
and then from Luang Praban back to Bangkok? just looking at the maps on the lonelyplanet website… ah, I just don’t really have an idea of the distances between these different places in terms of hours or days even.
my friends told me when they went to Siem Reap from Bangkok, they left in the morning and were there by late afternoon, early evening.
I get the siem reap to Phenom Pehn… 2 hours on the fast boat. will definately take that over a nine hour bus ride. so, following your well thought out itinerary, it’s the last part of the trip that I need help gauging time.
thanks again [/quote]
If you go from Bangkok to Siem Reap by yourself, you will get there by mid-to-late-afternoon; if you take the Khao San Road bus, you won’t get there until well after dark. We arrived about 3:30pm, having started from the Mochit Bus Station in Bangkok at 7:30am.
From Phnom Penh to Saigon is a journey accomplished within one day; perhaps only half a day, since the cities are not that far apart. I’ve never done that journey, but I heard it’s interesting and not difficult.
From Vietnam to Laos, well, I don’t know. I’ve never done that. You should reserve a couple days in your itinerary to do that. It would be best, after leaving Saigon, to travel to and explore an area of Vietnam not far from the Lao border crossing.
Once inside Laos, travel is slow. From Luang Prabang to Bangkok will take at least 2 days - one to get to Vientiane and another to get back to Bangkok. You may even need an additional day to arrange transportation back to Bangkok.
You can, if you’re brave enough, take the fast boat (6 hours) from Luang Prabang to the northern Lao-Thai border, and then catch a bus to Bangkok from northern Thailand. The gueshouses in Chiang Khong, the Thai border town, have a lot of travel info. That may be the quickest way (barring flying) to get back. If you do this, wear earplugs, as the fast boats are very loud. Be forewarned that they are not the safest things to ride in. Every year there are some fatalities. They do provide crash helmets and life jackets for your safety.
I think I will do this same trip in December.I have one question.Do you get a stamp in your passport if you enter Laos.If you dont,its ok,but I will like one to fill up my little Eastern Bible.
I would skip Cambodia if I were you. We also had one month for those three countries, but ended up spending way too much time on the road. It can be really slow to travel around if you’re on a tight budget and can’t afford to fly. The countries are larger than I thought. I would go for Laos and Vietnam if I were you, unless you’re really interested in old tempels, which is the only thing worth seeing in Cambodia.
I agree that one month is way too short for those three countries, but I completely disagree about skipping Cambodia. Cambodia’s a beautiful country, definitely worth visiting. Old temples??? Are you nuts? Angkor Wat is amazing. I definitely plan to return there some day. When shooting a movie there Angelina Jolie was so impressed that she bought a house in Battambang province and reportedly visits regularly.
But if you’ve only got one month you might want to just tour Vietnam, from top to bottom. Vietnam is a very long country with a lot to see and a month is definitely not too long. For a month in Vietnam, I would fly to Hanoi, take a train to hte mountains of Sapa, a trip to the surreal Halong Bay, then head south by train all the way to Mekong Delta, stopping at nice beaches and cities along the way. So many beautiful sights and great food – Vietnam is probably my favorite country in SE Asia.
Laos and Cambodia are both great too, but I think you could do both of them in a month more reasonably. Fly to Bangkok and go from there.
More info here:
forumosa.com/3/viewtopic.php?t=7 … ht=vietnam
forumosa.com/3/viewtopic.php?t=6 … ht=vietnam
forumosa.com/3/viewtopic.php?t=6 … ht=vietnam
forumosa.com/3/viewtopic.php?t=1 … ht=vietnam
how long ago did you visit Angkor Wat?
sure, it is a wonderful place but you have to share it with a couple of thousand japanese. 5.30 in the morning and I thought there would not be so many people up there… nope, wrong.
I think it’s better to save Angkor Wat for when you have money to fly there. There’s a rumour the reason the ro ad is so bad is that they want people to take the plane. I’ve heard many ppl say the roadtrip from Bangkok to Angkor Wat is the worst one in Asia.
On the other hand, someone said they will restrict the access to some parts of the temples (maybe happened already?) so it might be worth to visit now.
One reason I didn’t like Cambodia is that I didn’t feel as safe there as in for example Laos. And it’s still a very poor country with a terrible history. I really felt like a rich tourist, a walking dollar bill.
1999
Road schmoad. I took the boat from Phnom Phen and I loved it. Sure the roads suck, but I wasn’t expecting a Taiwanese tour, with aircon bus and Chinese restaurants.
I agree, with the history of genocide, landmines, poverty and desperation, it can be a little scary at times. Which is part of the thrill. You lived right? If you want safe go to Disneyland. I found it to be very beautiful, exotic and extremely moving seeing the incredible hardships the people endured.
The road from the Thai border (not Bangkok) to Siem Reap (site of Angkor Wat) was the worst road in Asia, but apparently it’s a lto better these days. That road was one fot he highlights of my SE Asia trip. But there’s plenty of other ways of getting into Cambodia. From Bangkok get the boat to Ko Chang and then on to Sihanoukville, or from Phnom Penh (sp?) get the boat up the Tonle Sap to Siem Reap.
When I was there 6 years ago Cambodia was my favourite out of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, and it still would have been without Angkor. The South coast is cool - Sihanoukville, Campot, Kep - hire a scooter and cruise along there - then up Bokor mountain to the ghost town of the old resort there, which also happens to be a national Park - that was the highlight of any travelling I’ve ever doe anywhere (almost dying there helped 
).
If you want to ‘skip’ one, skip Laos, skip Thailand, skip Vietnam (there’s a country where you really spend a lot of time in travel - it’s so long), but don’t skip Cambodia.
Brian[/b]
[quote=“mingliang”]
I think it’s better to save Angkor Wat for when you have money to fly there. There’s a rumour the reason the ro ad is so bad is that they want people to take the plane. I’ve heard many ppl say the roadtrip from Bangkok to Angkor Wat is the worst one in Asia.[/quote]
They must have taken the Khao San Road bus.
Sure, it’s a bumpy, rocky, dusty road that gets quite muddy in the rainy season, but that’s part of the fun!
If you have 2 weeks in Cambodia what’s the best way to split the time between Phnom Penh, Angkor Wat and Sihanoukville if your main activitiy is partying (after seeing temples, nature reserves and killing fields)? I was thinking 5, 3 and 6 days respectively.
I wasn’t that impressed by Phnom Penh, and Siem Reap depends on how much time you want to spend at Angkor - perhaps best would be a 3 day pass (if they still do it like that) and take the middle day off. Then you have to factor in travel time, which depends where you’re coming from and going to.
If it was 14 days with 3 taken out for travel, I’d go: PP 3, SR 3 and 5 for Sihanoukville and the surrounding area.
Brian