Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia trip report 2013

[Cousin Orville]

Okay... we got our backpacks yesterday... which means we are almost at the GO mark (we leave in 19 days!). I need to know if I should toss one of the gray duffles we got on other trips into our suitcases or if they magically show up again on this trip. We always pack a just in case bag... and DH is looking at what to toss in, or if he can rely on having one of those just in case.

I love your trip report... I'm really getting excited!!! Now... I just have to plan the down time in Hanoi

One duffle will be delivered to each room.

As far as Hanoi, I'd suggest finding a restaurant on trip advisor for the free evening and plan on just walking around the lake or parks with the rest of the locals.

 

[DisFan10]

Mosquitoes aren't bad, but it's probably a good idea to use some repellent when in Laos and Cambodia.

In Laos all meals are provided by ABD. We ate in town at the Coconut Garden when you first arrive in Laos. I enjoyed it. They had a good coconut ice cream for desert. Dinners were both at the resort. They set up a buffet pool side the first night and the food was very good. They call it a barbecue, which I think is just ABD code for buffet. They did have an area where they grilled to order some dishes. I think they may have been cooking pho to order as well. I can't quite remember. I do recall they had a good Pad Thai. I don't want to give ABD a complete pass on their buffets. I would have preferred to order off a menu and have it cooked to order. However, compared to the buffet we had on our France ABD which was terrible, this was much better. The second night was JA night. For the adults it was beer tasting in the resort dining room. They offered a couple of Lao beers - both good. Then we ordered dinner off the menu, which I prefer. I think I rememeber getting a Thai curry dish which was quite spicy but very good. Lunch the 2nd day was a prepared sack lunch. What can i say.... Considering where we were that day, I'm guessing there just weren't any other options.

Yep, I know what you're saying about the AbD buffets and sack lunches. All we got was a sack lunch (sandwich, chips, apple, soda) when we arrived in Paris. Paris!! The culinary capital of the world!! I thought we were traveling on the Wyoming trip or something...

The soda in a bag looks like fun, but is it still cold? Or lukewarm?

Looking forward to your next installment!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Yep, I know what you're saying about the AbD buffets and sack lunches. All we got was a sack lunch (sandwich, chips, apple, soda) when we arrived in Paris. Paris!! The culinary capital of the world!! I thought we were traveling on the Wyoming trip or something...

The soda in a bag looks like fun, but is it still cold? Or lukewarm?

Looking forward to your next installment!

A sack lunch in Paris?! Now that is an embarrassment. We had our mediocre buffet in Versailles right next to Gordon Ramsay's restaurant. Really? Charge a little bit more, contact the top restaurants on tripadvisor and make it work. ABD should be aiming to be the best family luxury travel company. The Abercrombie and Kent for families. And good food is key. Anyway, the food in SE Asia was for the most part very good, so I should probably stop ranting for now.

My son says it wasn't ice cold, but it wasn't warm either.

 

[DisFan10]

A sack lunch in Paris?! Now that is an embarrassment. We had our mediocre buffet in Versailles right next to Gordon Ramsay's restaurant. Really? Charge a little bit more, contact the top restaurants on tripadvisor and make it work. ABD should be aiming to be the best family luxury travel company. The Abercrombie and Kent for families. And good food is key. Anyway, the food in SE Asia was for the most part very good, so I should probably stop ranting for now.

My son says it wasn't ice cold, but it wasn't warm either.

Yes, we ate our sad sack lunch at the Trocadero. While the view was nice, I was puzzled as to why we weren't having lunch at a boulangerie or something. I totally agree that good food is key to a great vacation and AbD definitely needs improvement in this area.

We also travel with Tauck and they offer many more meals where you can select from a regular restaurant menu. It's nice not to have buffets all the time.

By the way, are you a professional photographer? I love the way you frame your shots and the variety of subjects/scenes.

 

[Cousin Orville]

By the way, are you a professional photographer? I love the way you frame your shots and the variety of subjects/scenes.

Thanks. No, not a photographer. I appreciate the compliment though.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Day 9 Luang Prabang

OMG this was an early day. We had to wake up before dawn to feed the monks. The monks get all there food for the day (mostly rice) donated to them by the visitors. I believe they can have other meat, etc delivered to them later on, but for the most part this is it. ABD provided us with canisters of sticky rice which you pull piece out and drop them into the monks bowls as they pass. At first I was thinking this would be a slow solemn experience. Not so. The monks move fast. It was like Lucy and Ethel wrapping chocolate. Most of the rice made it in the bowls. Some rice might have flown elsewhere in trying to get it into each passing bowl. Eventually my DS and I got into a routine where he and I would alternate bowls getting every other one. It was an experience. I met a monk from Thailand here on a mission or vacation. Anyway he was taking photos of his fellow Thai monks giving rice to the Lao monks. As an interesting aside you may see from the pictures, our group kneeled while giving the food. By custom only women need to kneel, men can kneel or stand. That’s why you see our group kneeling and the Thai monks standing.

Afterwards was an optional hike up Mt Phousi. It’s about 300 steps (or certainly felt like it), it was hot, and we still had pants on (knees covered required for feeding the monks). Many on our group did the hike. Some did not. No biggie. It’s a beautiful view at the top, but it’s not life altering.

Later we headed out to the Living Land farm. Here we learned all the steps of growing rice and other important things you need to know if you decide to give it all up and move to a Laotian farm. Some of our group braved the rice paddies. Most didn’t. You definitely had not think too much about what was in the mud and just enjoy it. When in Loas... (They do wash off you legs afterwards)

We ate lunch and swam out by the waterfall and natural pools. It was ridiculously beautiful. That evening was JA night. I think they watched The Jungle Book - very appropriate. Adults had beer tasting and you could order off the menu. A great night.

 

[DisFan10]

Hi Cousin Orville,

Great photos as usual! What an interesting day of once-in-a-lifetime activities.

How long did you guys spend handing out food to the monks? Did you stay until all of the rice was given away?

About how long does it take to hike up to Mt. Phousi? For those who chose not to go, where did they wait or did they have an alternate activity?

You were very adventurous to wade into the rice paddy. But I'm sure that was quite an experience! Was lunch served at the farm? What did you guys eat?

 

[figmentfan2009]

Does the night market have bugs like the one in Beijing does? DS wants to sample more of the creepy crawly food and I want to set expectations for him.

 

[WDWMaggie]

Hi there! Thanks so much for all of the great info!

Quick question for you...did ABD assist you in getting your Visa for Vietnam? I see the link to the website, but I'm curious if you did this your self or if ABD did it for you.

Thanks!

 

[figmentfan2009]

I'm asking DH where we sent to for ours. Disney doesn't really do much to help (at least they didn't with us) get your Visas (not Vietnam or China when we went there). We sent our applications to a company that walks them into the consulate and picks them up and handles that whole end of it. The alternative is to deal directly with the consulates.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Hi Cousin Orville,

Great photos as usual! What an interesting day of once-in-a-lifetime activities.

How long did you guys spend handing out food to the monks? Did you stay until all of the rice was given away?

About how long does it take to hike up to Mt. Phousi? For those who chose not to go, where did they wait or did they have an alternate activity?

You were very adventurous to wade into the rice paddy. But I'm sure that was quite an experience! Was lunch served at the farm? What did you guys eat?

Feeding the monks probably took 20 min. We stayed until all our rice was handed out. Each person was given their own container - maybe a small cookie jar size. It was an optional experience, but it's so worth it.

Phousi took about an hour I'd guess hiking up and back down. The optional alternative activity was enjoying air conditioning at the hotel. The bus then comes back to the other side of the mountain/hill where you climb back down. When you first arrive in Luang Prabang and go to the museum, look across the street. Those are the stairs to Mt. Phousi. The stairs give you a pretty good indication of the level of activity.

They served rice snacks at the farm. Lunch was later near the waterfall. It's a bit of a driver to the waterfall. They were preordered sandwiches. Nothing fabulous, but it was fun being out in the country.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Does the night market have bugs like the one in Beijing does? DS wants to sample more of the creepy crawly food and I want to set expectations for him.

Brave guy. No, I didn't see any bugs or really unusual things for sell in Luang Prabang's night market. I looked a bit for fried tarantulas in Cambodia - a local favorite, but didn't see any. However, we didn't hit up Siem Reap's night market, so maybe they had them there. Vietnam has a few odd things in their markets. Sea Horses. Larvae. The store on the Mekong (see my pic with the Python) has snake wine if he's older. Otherwise just looking at the bottles with snakes and scorpions inside I guess is kind of cool. Never saw scorpions on a stick or anything like that, but I'm currently on a diet so I wasn't looking carefully.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Hi there! Thanks so much for all of the great info!

Quick question for you...did ABD assist you in getting your Visa for Vietnam? I see the link to the website, but I'm curious if you did this your self or if ABD did it for you.

Thanks!

No, you're on your own. But I think it's easy. I live near a consulate so I just went there. Otherwise I'd use one of the online companies figment was talking about. ABD does handle the visas for Laos and Cambodia. No worries there.

BTW keep in mind most guests just need a single entry visa (that's what we had). However, if you are flying back into Vietnam at the end of the trip you need a multiple entry visa. I'm sure that's obvious, but I'd hate for anyone to make a silly mistake.

 

[DisFan10]

Feeding the monks probably took 20 min. We stayed until all our rice was handed out. Each person was given their own container - maybe a small cookie jar size. It was an optional experience, but it's so worth it.

Phousi took about an hour I'd guess hiking up and back down. The optional alternative activity was enjoying air conditioning at the hotel. The bus then comes back to the other side of the mountain/hill where you climb back down. When you first arrive in Luang Prabang and go to the museum, look across the street. Those are the stairs to Mt. Phousi. The stairs give you a pretty good indication of the level of activity.

They served rice snacks at the farm. Lunch was later near the waterfall. It's a bit of a driver to the waterfall. They were preordered sandwiches. Nothing fabulous, but it was fun being out in the country.

Thanks, Cousin Orville. That alternate activity to hiking up and down Mt. Phousi sounds mighty tempting. Especially if the weather is unbearably hot and humid! LOL

By the way, I'm writing this from the JW Marriott Hotel in Lima, Peru. This is technically Day 1 of our Tauck Bridges "Mystical Peru" trip, but it's a free day with nothing planned. We'll meet our fellow travelers at breakfast tomorrow morning. Complimentary WiFi in the room is a new perk that Tauck is offering this year. Have you visited Peru before?

 

[Cousin Orville]

Thanks, Cousin Orville. That alternate activity to hiking up and down Mt. Phousi sounds mighty tempting. Especially if the weather is unbearably hot and humid! LOL

By the way, I'm writing this from the JW Marriott Hotel in Lima, Peru. This is technically Day 1 of our Tauck Bridges "Mystical Peru" trip, but it's a free day with nothing planned. We'll meet our fellow travelers at breakfast tomorrow morning. Complimentary WiFi in the room is a new perk that Tauck is offering this year. Have you visited Peru before?

No, I'd love to go though. Peru was a top contender for next yr. I decided on China. At some point in the near couple years I'll go. Have a great trip!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Day 10 - Fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia

Today was one of the longer travel days. The first reason for that is it's the longest distance. The second reason is the plane takes off from Luang Prabang and touches down in Pakse in southern Laos to pick up more passengers. It wasn't too bad, we arrived in the early afternoon. All the other flights were with Vietnam Airlines. This was with Lao Airlines - surely one of the more unusual carriers out there. Due to timing we had our lunch on the plane.

Once we arrive we quickly picked up our Angkor passes. I believe they are good for a week if you are staying longer. Then we headed to the Sofitel. This was for many on our trip their favorite resort. It was beautiful. They often had a musician in the lobby playing traditional Cambodian music. The grounds are expansive and are beautifully landscaped.

After we had settled in, we met up again in the lobby to head out to a gondola ride. Again, as you can see from the pictures, it's beautiful. You cruise around one of the wat's moats. You can't see much of the ruins from the water, but it was a relaxing experience. I'll add a couple more pictures a little later once I get them uploaded, but for now enjoy:

 

[sayhello]

Beautiful!

Sayhello

 

[Cousin Orville]

Spoiler warning.... In the next post and particularly whenever I post Day 11 (should be soon) there will be a couple of surprises. Everything on the trip is pretty well outlined in the itinerary. No huge major surprises. However, a couple of unexpected things occurred. My guess is anyone following this trip report would be interested, but just in case anyone out there only wants to see pictures associated with the listed itinerary - stop here.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I have a few more pics of Day 10

So imagine you're relaxing on your gondola down the moat with the Cambodian jungle to the left and right. You're sipping on wine and eating crackers. Somewhere buried in the foliage are the ruins of civilization long ago. And suddenly...

The wine gondola appears for refills. Maybe it's just me, but I thought that was pretty cool. Whoever thought of that touch... thumbs up.

At night we went on our own the Cuisine Wat Damnak. I highly recommend it. The food was seriously on par with a Michelin starred restaurant. And honestly I've had more forgettable Michelin star meals. At $26, this is the bargain of the century for fine dining.

I know the pictures of us in the restaurant are kind of boring, but I don't have too many posted pics of my dad. Plus, hopefully it shows you can feel fine to dress relaxed or take your kids here. Awesome restaurant. Do yourself a favor and make a ressie.

the pool back at the resort...

 

[sjlsk8r]

Thanks for the trip report!! We leave tomorrow for a few days in Hong Kong before our trip starts on July 8. Just wondering, did you need adaptors for charging cameras or computers? If so, did you ferry them there or before you left and were they different in each country?