thailand, cambodia, vietnam 3 week tour

It%26#39;s difficult to know where to place this question as I%26#39;m asking about including several countries in a three week tour, but here goes....

My daughter (aged 22) is off round the world.

I (aged 45) have three weeks off work in November.

We%26#39;ve decided to combine the first leg of her journey into my holiday and do a brief tour of the following places:

1. Bangkok (have to do this first as its her first air stop)

2. Angkor Wat (must do for me)

3. Hoi Chi Min City (seems like a likely next stop)

4. Halong Bay (must do for both of us)

Between those locations we%26#39;re easy to please. We both like to immerse in local culture, meet people and eat local food and are happy to take local transport as well as treat ourselves now and again to comfort.

Neither of us are happy joining tour groups.

However, I%26#39;m struggling to calculate how much it would cost us to DIY between countries and find decent advice about how to get from one place to another.

We have a couple of good backpacker books, but they seem to concentrate on one country at a time, rather than explain how to get from one to another.

Any advice please?

Elaine

thailand, cambodia, vietnam 3 week tour

Hi Elaine,

The best travelbook for you would be Lonely Planet SE Asian on a Shoestring Budget (think that is the correct name).... however EVEN BETTER would be the following website : www.travelfish.org

They are brilliant.. they concentrate on all 3 countries you are talking about . Its free to join and you can download guides for particular areas/cities in each place. There are two options - you can download E-Fish for free.. or pay about $3 for some more comprehensive ones. I have most of the E-Fish but recently bought the Vientiane, Laos one and its great! You can print out what you need to take with you and is less bulky than a guidebook!

They have a brilliant accommodation section. Look at the flashpacker and midrange options... unbiased reviews from the authors as well as other travellers. The forum section has great reviews....

There is also a great section called Feature Stories which has brilliant reading on different areas... for example there is about 4 articles on choosing a good Halong Bay Tour - here is one :

http://www.travelfish.org/feature/77

I used this website extensively for planning my trip... they also have suggested itineraries... http://www.travelfish.org/itineraries/

Another website to look at is www.talesofasia.com - this will show you how to do the overland trip from Bangkok to Siem Reap. You can fly (which is expensive), buy a ticket through a travel agent (and endure a trip from hell) or do it yourself (which we did)... You can arrange to get a taxi from the border... A tip : carry USD with you.. and dont pay more than $20USD at the border for your visa.. they will try to scam you but stick to your guns and point to the sign above your head stating it is $20!

You can read about our adventures in Bangkok and Siem Reap at www.travelblog.org/bloggers/reet - there is a blog specifically on getting from Bangkok to Siem Reap.

Feel free to ask any questions if needed

Reet xx