Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia trip report 2013

[Cousin Orville]

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?

So exciting! Enjoy. I brought an adapter just in case, but did not need it. All the hotels have universal outlets which fit American plugs.

 

[sayhello]

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?

I would not wait to buy adaptors there. Usually, in the other countries, the adaptors you find are to adapt their plugs to ours. I think you'd really have to search to find adaptors to adapt our plugs to theirs (which is what you need). Some hotels might have them, but I would not want to have to rely on that. I find amazon.com has tons of really good adaptors, once you know what you need, but that's not going to help you at this point! Try Radio Shack if you have one around you.

ETA: I was just informed by ABD that the Southeast Asia trip does not require *any* adaptors at all! The hotels all use the same 110 outlet as here in the States. Same goes for the China trip! That is so nice! One less worry!

Sayhello

 

[chattadisser]

I stumbled upon your TR and have been lurking for a few days now. I LOVE it! The pictures are so beautiful and it is so interesting to read about all the activities on the itinerary, especially how they are tailored for the kids.

Normally this is a trip that would have never been on my radar but after reading your TR I can say it is defiantely on my list! How many times in your life will you be able to stand in a rice field in Laos???

Quick question - How have you prepared your son for the long flights and to "go with the flow" (for lack of a better term) with the different cultures? I'm wondering if it is actually benefical to take kids when they are younger and more adaptable rather then wait till they are older to take these longer trips? I'm sure your son has a unique perspective on the world due to his travels!

Christine

 

[Cousin Orville]

I stumbled upon your TR and have been lurking for a few days now. I LOVE it! The pictures are so beautiful and it is so interesting to read about all the activities on the itinerary, especially how they are tailored for the kids.

Normally this is a trip that would have never been on my radar but after reading your TR I can say it is defiantely on my list! How many times in your life will you be able to stand in a rice field in Laos???

Quick question - How have you prepared your son for the long flights and to "go with the flow" (for lack of a better term) with the different cultures? I'm wondering if it is actually benefical to take kids when they are younger and more adaptable rather then wait till they are older to take these longer trips? I'm sure your son has a unique perspective on the world due to his travels!

Christine

Thanks for the kind words. We travel a fair amount with our kids, so at this point they're used to 8-9 hr flights. Even though our flight to Saigon was much longer, honestly it wasn't that much worse. I packed his pajamas, iPad mini, and headphones and he was fine. So, I guess I would suggest working up to such a trip for kids. Start off with Europe before Asia. I definitely think traveling with young kids is a good thing. They get an understanding at a young age that the world is bigger and more diverse than what they may have previously thought. And it gets them used to traveling and long flights. I notice you have younger kids. I also have a 3 yo and 5 mo old. We've taken Disney European cruises in the past (and have an upcoming one), and that's great for kids of all ages. They get a taste of Europe in the morning and they can come back to a more familiar piece of Disney in the afternoon and evening.

 

[Cousin Orville]

Day 11 Siem Reap part 1


When the ABD first began, our guides asked everyone what they were most looking forward to on the trip. The most popular answer by far was to see Angkor Wat. Some trips and itineraries have that one key landmark that pulls you into the idea of traveling around the globe and arranging an entire vacation to see something remarkable. It’s what above all convinces you to go. An ABD weenie so to speak. Maybe Machu Picchu for Peru? Pyramids in Egypt? Well Ankor Wat was our weenie, and we had arrived.

A caravan of tuk tuks was waiting to pick us up. We headed off to Angkor Wat. There are many temples in the immediate area. Angkor Wat is the most famous, but we’d see 2 others that were very different and still equally impressive. Angkor Wat was first. Angkor Wat seems to know how dramatic it is. You arrive in front, but can only see a long bridge passing over the moat and the surrounding but impress wall. You have to cross the bridge, enter through the wall and only then can you see the expansive grounds and the temple itself. It is very impressive.

We toured around the grounds and inside the temple with our hop on guide. Afterwards we headed back to the front to have a pow wow about our next activity. We were to have an Amazing Race style treasure hunt on our tuk tuks between the next two wats - Bayon and To Prohm. I won’t go into any details, but suffice it to say everyone loved it. Even the tuk tuk drivers were into it - speeding along. It was so much fun. We didn’t get many pictures. We certainly didn’t get first place. There were some impress, fast teams. We had a blast. Bring water. You will need it.

More to come in part 2...

In the lobby of the Sofitel

Gavin insisted on setting up this picture of him "floating"

Always with a smile

Angkor's swimming pool

The room where you slap your chest and hear it echo...

Preparing for our "amazing race"

Now in To Prohm!

And in third place!!!!

 

[Cousin Orville]

Day 11 Siem Reap part 2


Lunch time. The guides took us to the Foreign Correspondence Club of Siem Reap. With a little Disney magic we arrived just before the heavens opened up and it rained. Cambodia gets so hot in the morning, but then like clockwork it rains for an hour or so and it cools off. The weather in the late afternoon and evening was quite nice. After lunch we went back to the temples for another highlight. Midway through the trip the rumors started to fly that we would not be doing the horseback riding as stated in the itinerary. Rather we just might be riding elephants instead. Everyone was very excited about this prospect. Once we arrived in Cambodia, Jennae made the official announcement that, yes, we would be doing elephants. Awesome. As a note for future ABDers, apparently they are working on the logistics of taking 40 ppl on elephants. Our group was about half that size so it was easier for us to go all at once. Larger groups would likely be split - there are only so many elephants. I would be surprised if it doesn’t get worked into the official itinerary for next year.

After we got back and rested a little we decided to return to Angkor Wat to get some pictures in the late afternoon sun. Didn’t stay too long. We then headed back for a swim which felt awesome. The farewell dinner was that night - a beautiful poolside dinner. Nicely done, ABD.

 

[GAN]

Great Trip Report -fantastic photos also. Thanks for sharing!

 

[CaliBear]

what an amazing trip! Thank you for sharing!

 

[sayhello]

Oh, wow! The elephant ride looks wonderful! Such a unique experience! (And I guess they worked it all out, because I just checked, and this year's itinerary definitely says "Elephant Excursion" now! )

Sayhello

 

[Cousin Orville]

Day 12 Siem Reap

All good things come to an end...
Our flight was in the early evening, which gave us the morning to explore on our own. Yesterday's Amazing Race style treasure hunt was awesome, but true to AR fashion you had to rush through the temples. Very little time for pictures etc. So, today we headed back to the Bayon temple and Ta Prohm. So Bayon is the temple with the huge faces and Ta Prohm is the temple that's over grown with the jungle. They're both amazing, and I enjoyed them as much as Angkor Wat itself. Henry was nice enough to organize tuk tuks and took us and a couple other families on a tour of them.

After the temples we had lunch at the Sugar Palm - a fairly well know Khmer restaurant. Very casual. Highly recommended. Then it was back to the resort. It rained very heavily in the afternoon, but cleared up before we headed out. We said our goodbyes. Always very sad.

I hope my photos and trip report have helped shed light on what this tour and SE Asia are all about. It's an amazing ABD. My DW and other kids unfortunately were unable to make it this time. On the other hand, I'd love to come back in a few years and take them as well. As far as suggestions for future travelers, I would look into arriving in Saigon a couple of days early as we did. I think that works well for getting over jet lag and seeing Saigon, which you don't really see on the ABD. Also consider Ha Long Bay. I did not see this, but guarantee you the next time I'm in Vietnam, I'll make time to go see it. If anyone has any questions, certainly feel free to ask.

 

[DisFan10]

Hi Cousin Orville,

Thanks for posting this Trip Report and sharing your experiences. Your photos are amazing! They look like professional marketing shots for AbD. We are really looking forward to this trip.

 

[DebMA]

Wow--so much to take from here in planning our own trip in a few months. Thank you for sharing!

 

[benhungto]

You should visit Phu Quoc island, amazing beach and forest

 

[nitmavis]

So glad I stumbled on this trip report. I didn't know ABD did Southeast Asia. I'm from Laos and someday would like to visit. However, my DH would prefer to never leave the U.S. He may change his mind if he knew the trip was by ABC. I think he'd feel safer.

Thank you for sharing a great trip report!

 

[DCPhotoGal]

I know it's been several years, but I just went through your trip report for ideas for our upcoming trip. Thanks for sharing your experiences! Looks like much of the itinerary has stayed the same (except the minor shift of flight times that they made after we booked our trip). We are headed there in August.

 

[Cousin Orville]

I know it's been several years, but I just went through your trip report for ideas for our upcoming trip. Thanks for sharing your experiences! Looks like much of the itinerary has stayed the same (except the minor shift of flight times that they made after we booked our trip). We are headed there in August.

Honestly, we’re pretty close to pulling the trigger to redo this trip with my DW and all my kids. It’s one of my favorites!

 

[lovetotravel]

I enjoyed this trip report as well and have booked it for next year.
Would you suggest a post night at Siem Reap?

 

[DCPhotoGal]

I enjoyed this trip report as well and have booked it for next year.
Would you suggest a post night at Siem Reap?

We haven't gone yet but I will comment about the flights. We found it very tricky to book the flights for this trip and ended up having to use a second airline/ticket to make it work (this was due to Singapore Airlines and United having a problem with their codeshare agreement). We ended up with 2 pre-days in Singapore on the way in because we had to switch to a local airline so I built in a little time in Singapore as a buffer in case our trans-Pacific flight is delayed. On the way home our flight doesn't leave Siem Reap until 3:55pm so I think we'll have some time that last morning to explore even though we don't have a post-day per se. So you may want to decide on your pre- and post days based on the flights you are able to get and their timing.

 

[lovetotravel]

Yes, I am trying to research flights and have found it challenging. Thanks for the prenight suggestions! I think 2 pre-nights is a good idea. Last night at Siem Reap does provide the room until 6pm so that is helpful for later flights.

Please let us know about the trip. I am planning on doing laundry as others have suggested during Hoi An and Laos hotels. So I would love any feedback. Thank you!

 

[AddictedtoTravel]

We did this trip in 2016 and it is by far our favorite. I have also considered doing it again as well. For flights we booked round trip to Saigon/Ho Chi Minh and booked a separate flight from Siem Reap back to Saigon to hop our flights home at the end of the trip. We stayed for an additional 4 nights in Siem Reap and loved it. Each day we rented a tuk-tuk to take us to different temples/sights. It was incredible.

Update: My daughter reminded me that we did this trip in 2014 ....time flies....