[BenderLives]

we are planning our holiday for this year during mid to late june, and are thinking of Vietnam and Laos.

Can anyone recommend some places to go visit?
any good deals on flights?

found a VISA card special for Hanoi - roundtrip is HKD $1700.

[ontheroad]

Originally Posted by BenderLives

we are planning our holiday for this year during mid to late june, and are thinking of Vietnam and Laos.

Can anyone recommend some places to go visit?
any good deals on flights?

found a VISA card special for Hanoi - roundtrip is HKD $1700.

Luang Prabang, in Laos, is a must see, so is Sapa and Hoi an in Vietnam.

[BenderLives]

no other suggestions?

i thought a lot of you have been there before....and arent some of you from there?

come on...you know you want to suggest something

[Sleuth]

Email John Kerry and ask him.

Here's an anti-recommendation: not Hanoi. Just had someone from work go there and he didn't have much good to say. I'm going in a couple of weeks (for business) and can let you know. I think Ho Chi Ming city is the better city destination.

[IMO]

Vietnam

If the weather suits, kayaking around Halong Bay(or just take a boat and jumping off for a swim or two). Can do a day trip or overnight trips, and loads of boats to choose from if you haven't booked prior to turning up.

If you head down towards HCMC, then depending on if you're interested in historical war sites, then the Cu Chi tunnels are a bit of an experience, especially if you're willing (and small enough) to get in and scramble around.

Also agree that Hoi An's worth the visit, as is trekking in the north, as much for meeting the different tribes as the scenery.

Laos

Plain or Valley of the Jars. Suggest Phonsavan, since that's the largest site, and once you've seen a few fields, that does pretty much give you an general gist of what the other sites are like.

If you have time to kill (because it is in the middle of nowhere), and haven't already been spoiled by the amazing sites of Angkor on a previous trip, then Champasak is the site of a pretty decent sized temple.

Hope that gives you a couple more ideas.

[ontheroad]

One day in Hanoi is enough, but from there, you can take a bus to Halong Bay, where you take a junk to see the scenery; and take the night train to Sapa, where you can spend two days hiking in the mountains. Hue is not bad either, the Forbidden city. Around Ho Chi Minh Ville, you can take a bus to the Mekong delta, where there are nice little boat trips to take. From there you can also catch a boat to Cambodia. If you can afford it, all of this can be done by train using the Victoria Express, they have packages but it's quite expensive.

[BenderLives]

thanks for the suggestions....so far ive narrowed down that we will only be able to do vietnam this trip. we are doing 12 days which will be broken roughly as such:

(after taking into account travel times)

HoChiMinh = 1 day
HoiAn = 2 days
Hue = 1.5 day
SaPa = 3 Days
HaNoi = 1 Day
HaLong Bay = 1.5 days

***thinking of shortening SaPa to 2 days, and making HaLong Bay 2.5 days instead.***


as for those locations...can anyone recommend specific sites to see (based on the amount of time in each location)

[ontheroad]

1 full day junk trip in Halong Bay is way enough, especially if the weather si so so.
Sapa is really worth it, there are tons of treks to do, if you like walking, and side trips as well to local markets where tribespeople sell their stuff. Their costumes are amazing.

[tcliharry]

travel to south of Laos, Champasak, an old temple looks like Wat Angor and Don Det, an island with no electricity except 7 to 10pm. some foreigner operate guest house there, surely a nice place.