Southeast Asia forum

A little expert help on Itinerary through Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam

Firefly07

newbie
Posts: 1

My boyfriend and I are just finalising our travel plans. We fly into KL at the end of March, Traveling up north through Thailand. We then plan to Cross into Laos through Chiang Khong and get the slow boat down the river (obviously dependant on if the boats are running Mid to late April!). We will propably head down to Vientiane and from here I'm quite keen heading down to the Konglor Caves. What we cant decide on is where to go from here and where i was hoping you guys could advise?

Originally we were going to keep heading south and travel into Cambodia, taking in Angkor, The killing fields, Battambang and Phonm Penh into Vietnam - However, there seems like quite a bit of looping about traveling down to Phonm Penh then up Riem Reap, round and back down to Phonm Penh ready for the border crossing.

We was wondering does it make more sense to backtrack from Konglor Caves back to Vientiane and cross into Vietnam to Hanoi, head down Vietnam, Crossing into Cambodia up to Phonm Penh, Siem Reap, Battambang crossing back into Thailand.

If anyone has any advice I would really appreciate it, I feel like Im changing my mind every two seconds at the moment as I dont know what to do for the best!!

Thanks Peeps :)

#1 Posted: 1/3/2010 - 17:49
gingermark

longtail driver
Posts: 9

Hi there,

Just to say the bus from Vientienne to Hanoi is supposed to be hellish, and if you do go that route you will miss out on some of Southern Laos, which is great (I especially liked Si Phan Don - 4000 Islands - staying on Don Det was fun and it is linked to a quieter island you can cycle to, so best of both worlds, although they are both pretty quiet. Ahem).

From memory Siem Reap to Phnom Penh took about 6 hours on the bus if that helps.

#2 Posted: 3/3/2010 - 10:49