BootsnAll Travel Community

Hello people, would greatly appreciate your advice on my trip! Heading off to SE Asia alone in July for 2 months, with hopefully (still saving) a budget of £2000.
will be flying to Bangkok, this is the basic plan I got for the trip;

-----------------------------------------------------------

Bangkok- North East Thailand
*1 Week*

overland to


Laos Vietvien a few days

overland to

North Laos Luangpragnang + Vang Vieng, surrounding areas
*2 week

overland (Thanh Hoa, via Sam Neua)
or fly back to vietviene to fly to

Hannoi, Vietnam Surroudning areas,
*2 week

fly to

Ho Chi Minh

overland (OR Fly directly from Hanoi)

to

(Phnom Phenn) Cambodia
*2 week

to Siem Reap
*2 week

to Battambong by boat or bus direct to Sisophon

back over boarderline to thailand in (Aranya Prathet) 1 week

then to bangkok from there.

--------------------------------------------------------

So a few questions;

Firstly how hard is it to planning the bus rides to do the Laos/Vietnam crossing Via Sam Neua, Ive read you will generally be deterred from doing it, allthough I've seen there are some (pretty expensive looking) tours that do it, so surely doing normal bus can't be that hard? (Please don't tell me to just fly because at the moment I'm determined to do it overland unless it is going to be pretty much impossible)

Will the crossing from Laos into Vietnam even be possible during the rainy season?

How much of a hindrance is the rainy season going to be on traveling in SE Asia in general, what are the worst places for flooding etc?

How hard is it to get a Vietnam Visa in Laos?

Is this too much for 2months? I'm vaguely considering leaving out Vietnam altogether to spend more time in the Laos Cambodia/Northern Thailand, but I would really still like to experience Vietnam aswell.

I know I had a few other questions but I can't think now arg but any other advice/ideas/things that I should consider changing/doing/avoiding etc would be greatly appreciated, Cheers!

Edd.

Welcome to the boards, Soundbuoy.

It seems like we have been going over many similar itineraries lately, so please read up as much as possible and use the search function.

It would be a shame to miss Hoi An and Hue, so please reconsider flying from Hanoi to Saigon. The train is the way to go.

I have picked up Viet visas a couple of times in Phnom Penh. It's easy there.

The bus from Phnom Penh to Battambang is the way to go. Make sure to take the bamboo train in Battambang. I don't know what I would do in Siem Reap for two weeks, but I like Phnom Penh to be there a couple of weeks easy. I would suggest spending more time in Vietnam.

Hi thanks for the help! Had been doing a bit of searching and I know this looks like a similar thread to a few others but havnt been able to find out a few things, mainly how hard it is to get a Vietnam visa in Laos & whether the Sam neua crossing will be open during the rain season & what the viable overland alternatives are? If anyone has any information from recent travels would be much appreciated

so how important is doing the loas vietnam at the Sam neua crossing. it would really simplify your trip if you went from northern thailand into loas, then made your way down to Vientiene, where I know plenty of people got there vietnam visa's (I had already got mine in bangkok). from here there is a bus to hanoi, no problems, (except for the craziness of traveling between laos and vietnam). I agree with static about missing out on the middle of vietnam, though with doing all of this in 2 months, you have to skip some. also with static, siem reap is a couple of days at best, of all the cities in cambodia, I found this one the easiest to be sick of, spend your time at ankor and that's really all you need. I think I would cut out some of the cambodia time and devote it to laos. But mostly leave it open. you will find out what you need to do along the way. Because I got my visa for vietnam in bangkok, I was kinda tied to my plans a little. for your trip, it would be no problem to figure it out on the go. good luck, can't wait to get back to asia.

Hi Soundbuoy, we are planning a similar route at roughly the same time and we also want to complete as much of it overland as possible.
From all accounts northern Laos is pretty rough at that time of year so as shanti suggested we are planning to cross over from Northern Thailand into Laos and make our way down to Vientiane and cross into Vietnam from there.
Sorry I don't have first hand experience (yet), just what I have been able to gather through scouring through the various travel forums
Hope you have a great trip, may see you on the road!

soundbuoy you and just about everyone else on these boards inquiring about a trip around SEA does the SAME route...try searching the boards with searches like "trip through SEA, SEA itinerary," or just SEA, or south east asia...

you have the basic idea down...there are some other places you can go like halong bay, vietnam, denang, hoi an...bangkok thailand, chiang mai, chiang rai thailand...etc...

do a quick search...

I went from Laos to Vietnam via the Sam Neua crossing a couple of years back - it seemed a bit of an adventure then and took a couple of days to get from SN to Hanoi.

Its no problem getting to the border on the Laos side (only a few hours from the city), but the 'problem/fun' came on the other side. oh, and there wasnt any accom near the border so unless you sleep out and cross early the next day you will have to get as far in to vietnam as you can after you leave Laos.

There were no busses that i could find that went from the border (vietnam side) to hanoi. I ended up getting backies on private motorbikes (basically hitching with the addition of a few well placed dollars!) for about a day - just hopping from one town/village to the next, basically as far as the rider was willing to take me.

I got a policeman to take me for about 4-5 hours which broke the back of the journey, but the other trips were about an hour at a time. I think i was negotiating between 50cents and a dollar for each 10 Kilometers back then.

The border is also quite out in the sticks and they werent used to tourists (i saw 1 other westerner that day) - but they were open to negotiation about my visa which didnt start for another couple of days. all it cost was a few tangerines, some razorblades and a book. Sweet. Fortunately, the copper didnt ask to see my visa later on that day

I ended up staying in this longhouse in the back of beyond overnight after the first day (i still have absolutely no idea where it was and we got there around midnight) but i always had the feeling that i'd have somewhere to stay - since there werent really any other tourists about and i seemed a bit of a novelty, everyone was willing to help out. We even stopped of for tea along the way in someones house (a relative of one of the riders) which was interesting.

On the second day, all i remember is waking up and being surrounded by ducks and paddy fields, and being pointed toward a small bus depot. The journey from there to Hanoi was about 4-5 hours i think.

So it can be done and it is a bit of fun - i recommend it!

Thanks for all the info and replies! I think as regards to the sam neua corssing im just going to have to play it by ear, I really want to go to luang phabang in laos, so im going to see where I can progress from there. I may miss it out if either the crossing its going to be impossible for the time of the year or if thats the case and theres no other alternative to getting into vietnam from Luang without back tracking? thanks for the report on your trip on the sam neua crossing sounds like a proper adventure!

way too much for two months.Vietnam sucks and the only good thing is the scenery yet your skipping it. Don't skip the middle....hoi an and the surrounding area is its best part. spend more time in thailand's north and throw in some beaches too.

For two months, consider 3 weeks in thailand, 3 laos, 2 weeks cambodia..gives you enough time to enjoy each place.

^^hmm thats something to consider its hard though because I have heard a few counts of people really disliking vietnam and the same amount of people who have really enjoyed it, I suppose no matter how muhc I plan things will change when I get over there and it all depends on who i end up hooking up with, how much im liking where I am etc, Im definitely seriously considering missing out hanoi and going straight to the middle though. As for beach life I've realized ive missed any out on my trip wheres some good coastal towns that I logistically will be able to visit without wasting too much travel time?

quote:

-----------------------------------------------------------

on the way from cambodia to bangkok, theres quite a few places to stop for some fun in the sun.

Making plans is a waste of time, but its fun, so carry on.