2 weeks - Vietnam and Cambodia, or just one?

[baldrick]

Where abouts are you going?

Snap Although we’ve got 17 days. Haven’t worked out itinerary yet so tips welcome. We’re flying into Ho Chi Minh City and out from Hanoi. We have booked fuck all except flights yet

Er.... We're doing the same, ha!

Arrive hcmc early doors on the 24th, fly to phu quoc on 27th, fly to Hanoi on 29th, home on the 2nd.

I wanted to go to con dao but flights impossible to get unless you're in Vietnam so phu quoc will have to do for a couple of days of beach time. I booked a stupidly expensive hotel though as all the cheap places I wanted were fully booked. I'm not sure how wise that was but I was in a fuck it mood after days of looking and being disappointed

If I had more time i'd probably look at taking the train part of the way to Hanoi (i think the bit between danang and hanoi is supposed to be particularly scenic) and maybe spend more time in the north, maybe Sapa or somewhere else pretty. But as I've never been anywhere hot at Xmas I wanted to maximise time where there would def be good weather.

Thinking about booking a food tour, maybe one in both hanoi and hcmc.

 

[baldrick]

No need for your last emoji.

Spend more time south of halfway.

Fuck Hanoi.

whats wrong with Hanoi???

 

[planetgeli]

Don't mind me. Some people love Hanoi. I loved the rest of Vietnam personally.

Hanoi is the only place travelling around the world where I've been stopped from travelling. The centre belongs to the army/gvt and its a big centre. You can find yourself walking a 2 mile detour to get where you want to get to. This grates with me.

You want beach? Hoi An. Not the main beach. The 'second' beach, out of town. Empty. Yours.

You'll have a ball anyway.

 

[colacubes]

Er.... We're doing the same, ha!

Arrive hcmc early doors on the 24th, fly to phu quoc on 27th, fly to Hanoi on 29th, home on the 2nd.

I wanted to go to con dao but flights impossible to get unless you're in Vietnam so phu quoc will have to do for a couple of days of beach time. I booked a stupidly expensive hotel though as all the cheap places I wanted were fully booked. I'm not sure how wise that was but I was in a fuck it mood after days of looking and being disappointed

If I had more time i'd probably look at taking the train part of the way to Hanoi (i think the bit between danang and hanoi is supposed to be particularly scenic) and maybe spend more time in the north, maybe Sapa or somewhere else pretty. But as I've never been anywhere hot at Xmas I wanted to maximise time where there would def be good weather.

Thinking about booking a food tour, maybe one in both hanoi and hcmc.

We’re a bit ahead of you Fly to HCMC on 14th and home from Hanoi via Hong Kong on 31st. We definitely want to do some trains but that’s as far as we’ve got. Will prob spend a couple of days in HCMC and Hanoi either end but beyond that we’re free of plans. Need to spend this weekend getting our shit together. I’ve organised my jabs, but we need to sort visas as we’re there for over 13 days. It’s all a bit last minute but I’m sure it will be fine.

Also we’re spending 3 nights in Hong Kong on the way there so if anyone has any tips for there they would be most welcome

 

[baldrick]

I haven't looked into the jab stuff if I'm honest What do you need to get?

 

[colacubes]

I haven't looked into the jab stuff if I'm honest What do you need to get?

I can’t remember the list tbh I just told my GP where I was going and they let me know what I needed. I’ve got my appointment in a week so I’ll let you know

 

[Shirl]

No need for your last emoji.

Spend more time south of halfway.

Fuck Hanoi.

What have you got against Hanoi? It's hectic and vibrant and chaotic and full of wonderful people. It's also very different from Hi Chi Minh City.
Both are well worth a visit.

Just seen your other post, I spent quite a bit of time going around Hanoi as my son lives there and I had no problems being stopped or anything.

 

[planetgeli]

What have you got against Hanoi? It's hectic and vibrant and chaotic

Yeah. That mainly. (Too many bikes)

It's also very different from Hi Chi Minh City.
Both are well worth a visit.

This is true.

Have a pic of Hanoi I took that I do love, for balance.

 

[sim667]

No need for your last emoji.

Spend more time south of halfway.

Fuck Hanoi.

I much preferred Hanoi to HCMC.

 

[sim667]

Snap Although we’ve got 17 days. Haven’t worked out itinerary yet so tips welcome. We’re flying into Ho Chi Minh City and out from Hanoi. We have booked fuck all except flights yet

You don't really need to book anything except flights.

If you want any recomendations for places to stay let me know, I stayed at a really nice place in HCMC and Hoi An. I've got a very good recomendation for a private car tour of the DMZ out Hue (as in really impartial too), was a bit pricey (3 of us paid $85 each, but seriously the best day I had in Vietnam despite the subject matter).

Basically get a SIM card for your mobile and use your phone to book places to stay as you go.

The night train from Hanoi to Hue was good, I assume they do one in reverse.

Uber is your freind for getting around.

I really regret not going to Sapa.

Also don't forget you'll need to apply for a visa in advance rather than VOA as you're there for 17 days.

 

[colacubes]

You don't really need to book anything except flights.

If you want any recomendations for places to stay let me know, I stayed at a really nice place in HCMC and Hoi An. I've got a very good recomendation for a private car tour of the DMZ out Hue (as in really impartial too), was a bit pricey (3 of us paid $85 each, but seriously the best day I had in Vietnam despite the subject matter).

Basically get a SIM card for your mobile and use your phone to book places to stay as you go.

The night train from Hanoi to Hue was good, I assume they do one in reverse.

Uber is your freind for getting around.

I really regret not going to Sapa.

Also don't forget you'll need to apply for a visa in advance rather than VOA as you're there for 17 days.

Cheers Sim - all good advice and I might drop you a PM once we've had a bit of a think

 

[sim667]

Cheers Sim - all good advice and I might drop you a PM once we've had a bit of a think

One thing I will say in December it will be quite rainy, I'd suggest making sure you've got ponchos that pack up nice and small. I basically lived in shorts, tshirt and flip flops whilst there, with a poncho to chuck on when it started shitting it down with rain.

 

[baldrick]

Currently trying not to worry about storm Tembin which is due to reach the east coast at some point tonight. Looks like the updated tracking is suggesting it will miss Phu Quoc, which is just as well as we're supposed to be flying there in two days.

 

[Riklet]

In HCMC now. It's great! I am a strong believer in not rushing. So Im still here, even though my friend im travelling with has left for Dalat. 24 hours travel to get here via Bangkok really took it out of me and been enjoying the city and exploring so far (got another friend teaching English here to help me)

I didnt even get a visa, just doing the 15 day visa waiver thing, which as of 2018 means you dont even go to the landing visa/VoA queue, just straight to passport control. Wore a shirt and the policeman SMILED at me.. was surprised.

Meant to be flying out of Hanoi on my last day, back to Thailand, but with all the top tips on this thread I might email this visa agency my mate knows and spend the whole 3.5 weeks of my trip just in Vietnam rather than check out northern Thailand. Cant be arsed to be on buses, trains, tours constantly tbh. Might even stay a week in Dalat if I like it and it's as good for food and chilling as I've heard.

Did anyone do any decent scuba diving in Vietnam btw? Not been for 3 years and im keen to!

 

[Supine]

Diving is a bit shit in the nam. One of the best things I did was cycle from dalat to mui ne. It was amazing

 

[sim667]

In HCMC now. It's great! I am a strong believer in not rushing. So Im still here, even though my friend im travelling with has left for Dalat. 24 hours travel to get here via Bangkok really took it out of me and been enjoying the city and exploring so far (got another friend teaching English here to help me)

I didnt even get a visa, just doing the 15 day visa waiver thing, which as of 2018 means you dont even go to the landing visa/VoA queue, just straight to passport control. Wore a shirt and the policeman SMILED at me.. was surprised.

Meant to be flying out of Hanoi on my last day, back to Thailand, but with all the top tips on this thread I might email this visa agency my mate knows and spend the whole 3.5 weeks of my trip just in Vietnam rather than check out northern Thailand. Cant be arsed to be on buses, trains, tours constantly tbh. Might even stay a week in Dalat if I like it and it's as good for food and chilling as I've heard.

Did anyone do any decent scuba diving in Vietnam btw? Not been for 3 years and im keen to!

I didn't do any diving, I did look into it though, apparently its not great there, but I think you can dive out at Cham Island.

If you go to Hoi An and find a place called the dive bar, they organise diving and snorkelling trips. I didn't actually go to Da Lat because I like Hoi An so much, so no advice for Da Lat.

If you end up in Hue, I know its expensive, but there's a company called Mr Trung's DMZ tour who do private car tours. If you can find a small group of people willing to fork out the cost, I can't recommend the tour I did with them enough, it really was excellent.

The overnight train from Hanoi to Hue was cracking, I assume it goes the other way. Also if you do extend your stay its probably worth heading up to Sa Pa, its one of the places I really regret missing out on my trip.

I've got a few reviews on my tripadvisor profile which might be useful to you -https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/members/446simw

 

[colacubes]

I didn't do any diving, I did look into it though, apparently its not great there, but I think you can dive out at Cham Island.

If you go to Hoi An and find a place called the dive bar, they organise diving and snorkelling trips. I didn't actually go to Da Lat because I like Hoi An so much, so no advice for Da Lat.

If you end up in Hue, I know its expensive, but there's a company called Mr Trung's DMZ tour who do private car tours. If you can find a small group of people willing to fork out the cost, I can't recommend the tour I did with them enough, it really was excellent.

The overnight train from Hanoi to Hue was cracking, I assume it goes the other way. Also if you do extend your stay its probably worth heading up to Sa Pa, its one of the places I really regret missing out on my trip.

I've got a few reviews on my tripadvisor profile which might be useful to you -https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/members/446simw

The train does go from Hue to Hanoi as I did it in that direction. It's a stunning journey if a little scary

 

[sim667]

The train does go from Hue to Hanoi as I did it in that direction. It's a stunning journey if a little scary

I drank beer and instantly fell asleep...... woke up about 15 mins away from Hue.

What was scary?

 

[Supine]

I drank beer and instantly fell asleep...... woke up about 15 mins away from Hue.

What was scary?

The driver had done the same thing

 

[colacubes]

I drank beer and instantly fell asleep...... woke up about 15 mins away from Hue.

What was scary?

Just realised I was getting muddled up. It's the stretch between Da Nang and Hue that was a bit scary. Totally beautiful but the train basically travels along a high single track pass hugging the mountains at great height. Well worth doing it but it made my tummy go a bit wobbly

 

[sim667]

Just realised I was getting muddled up. It's the stretch between Da Nang and Hue that was a bit scary. Totally beautiful but the train basically travels along a high single track pass hugging the mountains at great height. Well worth doing it but it made my tummy go a bit wobbly

Ah does it go over the Hai Van Pass? They were some pretty big hills.

 

[colacubes]

Ah does it go over the Hai Van Pass? They were some pretty big hills.

Yep. Very very big hills

 

[belboid]

We're off to Cambodia in October. Mostly planned already - Phnom Penh, Koh Rong Sanloem, Angkor Wat, and then.....

Not sure what to do, we have four days or so to get back to Bangkok before flying on. A boat down from Siem Reap to Battambang, and then overland, but that also might get really boring (and uncomfortable), so we could go back to SR and fly, but that seems a bit pointless, and expensive. And Battambang may well not be that exciting in fact. [/firstworldproblems]

 

[pesh]

Battambang is a cool place to check out, we had a great time there for a day or 2... check out the Bamboo Railway if you get the chance, It shits all over Southern Rail.

 

[Shirl]

We're off to Cambodia in October. Mostly planned already - Phnom Penh, Koh Rong Sanloem, Angkor Wat, and then.....

Not sure what to do, we have four days or so to get back to Bangkok before flying on. A boat down from Siem Reap to Battambang, and then overland, but that also might get really boring (and uncomfortable), so we could go back to SR and fly, but that seems a bit pointless, and expensive. And Battambang may well not be that exciting in fact. [/firstworldproblems]

I loved Battambang. It's boring if you just hang around town but as pesh says, the bonkers bamboo railway is a must. Also, a trip to the bat caves, there's loads more to it than the amazing thousands of bats. All can be done in a long day but it's well worth going there.
My friend did the boat thing to Battambang last October and it made me wish I'd done it.

 

[Joe Chi Min]

This thread is longer so maybe i’d be better posting here.

So I touched down in HCM but quickly got out of there to Nha Trang. Was alright, nice enough town but not the type of place to quicken one’s pulse. The mud-bath thing just past the Cham pagoda was a great experience though.

 

[Joe Chi Min]

Next was Hoi An which has already been mentioned here so I won’t add anything more. I rented a bike from there though - a place called <ed: no advertising, thanks> - who have garages in: HCM, Hoi An, Hue, and Hanoi. Their thing is you can pick a bike up and drop it at any of their other garages. So I headed north from Hue to check out Kangaroo Bar in Danang and pelt it over the Hai Van pass.

 

[Joe Chi Min]

The Hai Van pass was pretty cool but as the fella in the shop I rented the motorbike from said, it’s mostly popular cos of that Top Gear episode. The real fun is on the Ho Chi Min Road which is in the West part of the Central Highlands. Hue was grey, it pissed it down constantly, and where I slept there was the loudest ‘club’ music that could be heard from the street. From inside my hotel even. I didn’t stay there too long and was off on the road heading into the mountains.

 

[Joe Chi Min]

I went to an abandoned water park which was pretty spooky and then passed through loads of little villages dotted along the road. One of which I purchased a rain poncho from. The scenery got better and better. I got rained off at about 2pm on the first day after driving 4-5 hours and ended-up staying with an ethnic minority family in a place called Thac Anor. The rain didn’t stop until the next afternoon when I reached Khe Sanh which is a border town for the crossing to/from Laos.

 

[Joe Chi Min]

Vietnam just now equalized in the AFF Cup final v Thailand