Southeast Asia forum

Hi Sair83

Personally I think you are trying to cover too much distance. I would decide what are your must sees and maybe consider flying a few sectors to give you more time on the ground. I think from your itinerary your holiday will be spent mostly inside buses - these are all long countries - roughly 1000 kms, that's a lot of land travel which is very time consuming. You won't get the feel of a country from the inside of a bus or train.

In 11 weeks I spent 11 days in Chiang Mai; a week in Luang Prabang; 4 days on Don Khon - 4 thousand islands;5 days in PP; 5 days HCMC; Siem Reap 5 days; 4 days Ko Lipe; 10 days in Georgetown, Penang - all mainly by bus or boat. I think you need a rough skeleton with lots of flexibility - then if you find somewhere you really like you can spend more time there - if you find somewhere less interesting then move on to the next place on the agenda.

If you follow your itinerary I think you will be exhausted and need a holiday when you return home - remember less is more. If you don't get to see everything you want this time round it gives you an excuse to go back again.

Just my thoughts

Travel well

Marian

Hi Sair83,

Wow, I'm exhausted after just reading that plan!

A few suggestions/pointers:

a) I'd allow an extra night in Kanchanaburi or skip it entirely.
b) Sukhothai has no train station, so you'll need to bus it from there to Chiang Mai
c) I'd overnight in Chiang Khong rather than Huay Xai -- no reason,, just like it more
d) If you want to break the Vientiane to Pakse trip at one place, the better option is Tha Khaek so you can do the trip to Kong Lor Cave -- but you'll need to give an extra day to Tha Khaek to be able to do so
e) Given your schedule, if you're not up for a triple heart bypass by the time you reach Pakse, I'd suggest skipping the day-trip to Tad Lo and Bolaven and instead get a good book, go sit by the river, drink cold beers and eat BBQ fish -- it;s good -- really... thank me later ;-)
f) Unless you really need the beach hit, I'd skip Sihanoukville, add an extra day to Phnom Penh and give the other to Tha Khaek.
g) You've got one night in Saigon... I've give it at least two...
h) It's a common thing that people try to see too much in Vietnam -- I think you need to drop a destination or add two days.
i) Back in bangkok, I'd fly to Phuket rather than bus and train combo -- it will be far faster, and not cost much more.
j) I'd skip Penang - just no time
k) Give an extra night to KL of Melaka

The plan you have looks good on paper, but once you're on the road -- especially in laos and Vietnam, things never go as planned. I'd look into Bangkok Airway's Discovery Airpass and also check out AirAsia for cheap airfares to save you time without costing too much.

Be sure to look at the suggested itinerary section for pointers on how long it takes to get around the place.

Have fun planning!

Thanks everybody.

Somtam2000 - I've change my itinery as per your instructions. However, I'm not sure what to do about Vietnam.

I can't really add anymore days, unless I get rid of Kanchanaburi in Thailand.

So - in your opinion, would it be best to remove kanchanaburi from my itinery and add the extra 2 days in Vietnam, or get rid of one destination in Vietnam?

If the former, where should I add the 2 days, and if the latter, which destination do you suggest I cut out?

And add the extra two nights in where?

1 in Hanoi, 1 in HCMC?

Let me add.. I'd give another day to KL - what a cool city!

Hi Bronita

I arrrive in bkk on 5 october and leave for luang prabang on 8 october - when will you be in luang prabang? I will leave Luang Prabang on 12 for the northern part of my adventure - and return on 29 October ready to return to ChiangMai on 31.

Let me know if you are interested in catching up for a beer Lao or some food.

Doug