Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia trip report 2013

Cousin Orville

Inventor of Air Cooling
Joined
Aug 27, 2000
I'm currently in Hanoi about to fly over to Laos. The trip so far has been everything I was hoping it would be. ABD seems right at home in balancing the exotic character and sometimes chaos of Vietnam with the comforts of great hotels, a fun group of group of adventures and great guides. We're a little over half way through the trip, not yet to Angkor Wat, and I can already highly recommend this trip. I'll do my best posting some pictures, but I will probably need to wait until I get back before doing the bulk of my uploading.

I'm traveling with my Dad and my 8 yr old son. My DW could not make it this trip. Once we get back it's a quick turnaround and my DW and I are off to the Med with on a DCL cruise with the kids. Too much time off for my wife.

We arrived in Saigon on Sat morning. Walked around a bit. Learned how to crossed the streets through all the motorcycles. There are very few lights which stop traffic. The traffic just weaves together at intersections. And crossing takes a leap of faith, but its very doable. The motorcycles just weave around you. Most of the first day was just getting over jet lag. The Sheraton is centrally located and is very nice. We lucked out and had a great view overlooking the Saigon River.

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Yay! Looking forward to more of your Report! Glad you're enjoying the trip! Is Jennae one of your Guides? I've been following her reports on Facebook.

Sayhello
 
Pre-ABD Saigon

The first full day we hired a private guide to take us around Saigon. He wanted to show us the the Old, the Current, and the Future Saigon. So we started the day at Benh Tay Markey - a very local wonderful market. We didn't see any other westernerns there. (There's a more touristy, but fun market that we hit tomorrow). Also toured the Jade Emperor Pagoda and Chau Ba Thien Hau temple both which our guide goes to with his family. He had us burn an incense ring to wish good luck to our family.

Later we went back to the city to tour most of the major attractions in HCMC. One of which was the old CIA building where the last helicopters (famously photographed) took off from. Definitely off the beaten path as you have to have a guide to enter the now govt office building. Even then our guide had to encourage the guard to look the other way. But up to the roof we went for better or worse.

Afterwards we headed across the river to see the new Saigon -new housing developments etc. Finally we had some Pho for lunch excellent tour. Pics to follow.
 
Day 1 Saigon

Nothing is really planned the first day. We met our guides in the afternoon, but otherwise the day is completely free.

We had really seen most of the city on our private tour yesterday (aside from what was planned for ABD). My ds still wanted to see Notre Dame up close, go inside the Reunification Palace and buy a tee shirt. So we hit the first two and then went over to Ben Thanh market which is the big tourist market. Notre Dame took less than 5 min to go inside for a peak. Reunification Palace, where the North Vietnamese tanks rolled through the gate and affectively ended the war, was interesting for and worth a look. The upstairs has the game rooms and lounges right out of the 70's. That and the downstairs shooting range and surveillance rooms are right out of Bond movie.

For dinner we went to an area that used to be an opium factory now converted into a local hotspot. We actually ate there twice. Last night for for Vietnamese and tonight for French fusion. Very picturesque. Great food.

Again I'll post some pics when I get to decent WiFi.
Which for anyone going, the wifi has been good so far at the hotels. In Saigon it's only free in the lobby, but in the other hotels, there's free access in the rooms.

Tomorrow is our first ABD day of touring.
 


Thank you for putting up this trip report. We are in the process of booking our flights for next April. Would you recommend having a few days pre the adventure? Would you have missed anything really special that is not in the tour if you arrived on the day it started? ( no jet lag to deal with as it is a fairly short flight for us)
 
Thanks for posting this review. Looking forward to hearing about the rest of the tour.
 


Thank you for putting up this trip report. We are in the process of booking our flights for next April. Would you recommend having a few days pre the adventure? Would you have missed anything really special that is not in the tour if you arrived on the day it started? ( no jet lag to deal with as it is a fairly short flight for us)

You don't see a lot of Saigon city on the Adventure. We stopped at the War Remnants Museum and that's it. Later you go out to the Mekong and the Cu Chi Tunnels, but that's outside the city. The first day of the ABD is free to tour around. We flew in in the morning and were pretty jet lagged the first day and did vey little. The next full day was our private tour. Then the first day of the ABD we did a bit more on our own. We also mixed in some down time and swim time. That worked wel for usl. So, I think 1 extra day assuming no jet lag would be ideal.
 
ABD Day 1 - Saigon on your own

As mentioned before, we toured around on our own today hitting HCMC highlights we missed yesterday. After sightseeing in the morning, we met out guides - Jennae and Henry. Both terrific ABD guides. They outlined the game plan for the next day or so and then we went to hit the pool. BTW, they have a great lounge for guests of the hotel always stocked with free sodas, finger food, wifi, etc. So, we rested around the pool. For dinner was the old opium factory converted into 4-5 restaurants around a central courtyard. We ate At Hoa Tuc which you can find on trip advisor.

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Really enjoying your posts. We are taking the same trip in January and can't wait! How did you find your private guide in HoChiMinh?
 
Really enjoying your posts. We are taking the same trip in January and can't wait! How did you find your private guide in HoChiMinh?

I found him on the trip advisor forums almost by accident. There's not the plethora of info out there on private guides in Saigon as there is in Europe, so it was a little roll of the dice. Anyway, he's excellent and has been one of my best private (non Disney) guides anywhere. His name is Bao Loc and his email address is privatevietnamtourguide@yahoo.com.vn
 
Day 2 - Down the Mekong

This morning we met together as an ABD family for the first time. Jennae and Henry discussed the trip a bit and off we went. Took the coach down to the Mekong and boarded a sampan. As you can see form the pics, it's really a different world - and entire community living on the river. Just like everything we'll see on this trip it's beautiful. We stopped off at a local workshop to watch them make popped rice (think local rice crispy treats), rice paper, and try snake wine for those that were interested -when in Rome...

Afterwards we continued down the river and stopped off at a wonderful place for lunch overlooking the Mekong. Very Adventurelandesque except this is the real deal. Food was great. I have to say the food on this ABD has really been wonderful. Much of the food on my France ABD was disappointing, and I wrote a lengthy comment on the post ABD questionnaire. The food on this ABD has been wonderful throughout. In fact there's a couple of places where they let you choose which hotel restaurant you want to go to and let you order off the regular menu. I've been very impressed.

So back on the boat we went and back to Saigon. At dinner we ate at the Bitexco building - 51st floor. Beautiful overlooking Saigon at night. I had actually thought about taking my son there earlier pre ABD but didn't have time. A pleasant surprise.


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Just curious - do people tend to still use Saigon as the city name? Or is Ho Chi Minh City the more popular?
 
Hi Cousin Orville,

Great photos and trip report! Can't wait to see more. We're going on this trip next April.

Can you post a pic of Jennae and Henry? How was the weather? Was it as hot and humid as Houston in the summertime? Did you have any issues with mosquitoes?

And I agree with you about the disappointing meal plan that AbD offers in France. We were typically still hunger after the so-called meals and we had to go find a "real" dinner at a local restaurant. :lmao:
 
Great pics!

So, did you try the Snake wine? If so, how was it?

Sayhello
 
Something the PP posted made me wonder about the climate. If I recall correctly, the rainy season starts in another month or two - right? Or is it already here?

Also, about the mosquitoes, did you have to get (or were you advised to get) anti-maliara pills for this trip?

One more thing, hot & humid? I'm recalling some fairly steamy days but maybe I'm wrong - it was over 40 years ago.
 
Day 1 Saigon

Nothing is really planned the first day. We met our guides in the afternoon, but otherwise the day is completely free.

We had really seen most of the city on our private tour yesterday (aside from what was planned for ABD). My ds still wanted to see Notre Dame up close, go inside the Reunification Palace and buy a tee shirt. So we hit the first two and then went over to Ben Thanh market which is the big tourist market. Notre Dame took less than 5 min to go inside for a peak. Reunification Palace, where the North Vietnamese tanks rolled through the gate and affectively ended the war, was interesting for and worth a look. The upstairs has the game rooms and lounges right out of the 70's. That and the downstairs shooting range and surveillance rooms are right out of Bond movie.

For dinner we went to an area that used to be an opium factory now converted into a local hotspot. We actually ate there twice. Last night for for Vietnamese and tonight for French fusion. Very picturesque. Great food.

Again I'll post some pics when I get to decent WiFi.
Which for anyone going, the wifi has been good so far at the hotels. In Saigon it's only free in the lobby, but in the other hotels, there's free access in the rooms.

Tomorrow is our first ABD day of touring.


We've stayed at the Sheraton Saigon before and I know they have both the hotel and a more upscale Tower. Did you guys get rooms in the Tower?
 
Hi Cousin Orville,

Great photos and trip report! Can't wait to see more. We're going on this trip next April.

Can you post a pic of Jennae and Henry? How was the weather? Was it as hot and humid as Houston in the summertime? Did you have any issues with mosquitoes?

And I agree with you about the disappointing meal plan that AbD offers in France. We were typically still hunger after the so-called meals and we had to go find a "real" dinner at a local restaurant. :lmao:

I'll post some pics of Jennae and Henry on some of the upcoming days.

As far as weather, it's hot and humid. Very similar to Houston or Orlando in the summer. For the last two weeks it's probably been a bit cooler but more humid. Some days have been great. For some perspective, I almost never go to WDW in the summer because of the heat, crowds, and often walking outside for an extended period of time. It's just not my thing. This has been a much better experience for me. I think it's a combo of touring mostly in the morning rather than mid afternoon, lack of high crowds or lines, often more shade, and you're just seeing new and interesting things. A lot of afternoons/evening you'll want to change to fresh clothes. Another guest on the trip felt that touring Rome in the summer was worse, due to the endless walking and lack of shade. I'd agree with that.

No issues with mosquitos, and no we were not recommended to take anti malarial pills. We used bug sprayed a precaution in Laos and will use some in Cambodia (just arrived).
 

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