Laos & Vientnam & others ??

[threaded]

One of the co-workers at a client can speak, Danish, English, French, German and Vietnamese. He is planning on retiring to Vietnam later this year...

[ImNotFromIndia]

OK - so thinking of taking 9 days off in May and want to do a spot of traveling, thinking of Laos and Vietnam, have people been there, would people recommend going elsewhere ????

9 days ... not enough to do those 2 countries.
I was in Cambodia for 2 weeks, even that wasn't enough. There are more sights to see in Cambodia than in Vietnam, if you are into Historical Monuments etc., Angkor Wat. Plus there is a lovely seaside resort which you could easily kill a few days.

I flew to Phnom Penh, which is the capital, and then I travel from their on the Mekong river on one of those fast boats, for about $22 a couple of years ago.

There are plenty of air-con buses to those tourist places.

It was a very cheap holiday.

[Sockpuppet]

Bit extreme just so you can start analogies....when I was in Nam...

[Epiphone]

Go to Viet Nam. It's lovely, I enjoyed every minute I spent there.

[rootsnall]

OK - so thinking of taking 9 days off in May and want to do a spot of traveling, thinking of Laos and Vietnam, have people been there, would people recommend going elsewhere ????

I travelled around Vietnam and Cambodia for a couple of months about 3 years ago and intended going to Laos but never quite made it. I think Laos is the least developed of the three and I would think 9 days is pushing it to be able to get there and see much, it'll also be pretty rough and ready if you are heading straight out from the UK and haven't had a bit of conditioning in Thailand or Vietnam. Saigon is OK and there are quite a few places within a few hours on the bus, Mui Ne is OK beachwise, if you go a bit further then Nha Trang is a good beach hangout place, you've also got the Mekong Delta a few hours away. It was developing fast when I was there and the accomo and food was very good for what you paid but it was a bit chaotic. Its also a good place for stocking up on clothes, got some OK tailor made suits for 15 quid, shirts a few quid, specs a fiver, etc Cambodia was very good but again a bit rough and ready for a short visit. Have a read of a Lonely Planet or similar, Footprint guides are pretty good.

[MarillionFan]

Laos is very quiet, very much like Thailand would have been 30-40 years ago, though the people are very nice.

You could fly to Bangkok, then Vientiane in Lao and then do the river trip down to Vietnam over a few days.

Alternatively, how about Ankor wot in Cambodia. Thats a great 3 day trip, very cheap and the people are friendly

[n5gooner]

OK - so thinking of taking 9 days off in May and want to do a spot of traveling, thinking of Laos and Vietnam, have people been there, would people recommend going elsewhere ????