Vietnam / Cambodia / Thailand next year

PompeyPete

richardw wrote: »

Are you saying that if there aren't direct non stop flights from your preferred airport then you just wouldn't bother travelling?

No. I rarely get direct non-stop flights to SE Asia.

And I just wouldn't fancy the risk of missing my connecting flight in Paris or Amsterdam, and therefore waste hours getting nowhere. Ditto on the return trip.

PompeyPete

Doshwaster wrote: »

That sounds like a fun route. I'm starting to think about my 2014 SE Asia trip so I'll certainly put that in my ideas bank.

If you've only got your usual couple of weeks then you'll be spending too much time in trains and long distance buses to get the most out of the trip. Cambodia itself deserves 2-3 weeks.

Doshwaster

PompeyPete wrote: »

If you've only got your usual couple of weeks then you'll be spending too much time in trains and long distance buses to get the most out of the trip. Cambodia itself deserves 2-3 weeks.

That's the problem. I usually have about 16 days to play with which means 3 or 4 stops along the way. If I took any more time off work then I wouldn't have a job to go back to - although sometimes I think that wouldn't be such a bad thing...

PompeyPete

It's easy enough to fly into BK in the morning, change airport to Don Muang, and get the afternoon Air Asia flight to Phnom Penh(PP). Flight takes an hour, Visa on arrival @ US$20. Tuk tuk to your hotel @ US$7, drop you bags, and you'll have time to get to the Happy Hour (1700-1900) at the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC).

At the end of your trip fly out of Siem Reap back to Don Muang, or even better if you've got time cross overland at Poipet into Thailand, and get the 6 hour 3rd Class train back to Bangkok (Hualamphong). A ticket cost 48 bahts (£1). It'll be one of the highlights of your trip.

bylromarha

PompeyPete wrote: »

It's easy enough to fly into BK in the morning, change airport to Don Muang, and get the afternoon Air Asia flight to Phnom Penh(PP). Flight takes an hour, Visa on arrival @ US$20. Tuk tuk to your hotel @ US$7, drop you bags, and you'll have time to get to the Happy Hour (1700-1900) at the Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC).

Save even more time and get an e-visa before travelling into PP. Nothing like the feeling of walking straight past a large queue of people waiting for at least an hour to complete official paperwork.

I'd go to Blue Pumpkin on Riverside over FCC any day, but all personal preference Blue Pumpkin is my happy place :j:j:j

richardw

bylromarha wrote: »

Save even more time and get an e-visa before travelling into PP.

Yes, we did that and were in the hotel pool within an hour of landing.

PompeyPete

VOA took less than 5 minutes on our first trip, and no more than 15 minutes our second (last March). If you've wasted the extra US$5 on an e-visa you've still got to queue at Passport Control, and by the time I'd got my VOA there was no queue, so the time saving is fairly minimal. An hour (max) tarmac to hotel (by tuk tuk).

PP airport is relatively peaceful, and you'll be unlucky to have more than one aircraft landing at the same time.

If you look on the TA discussion forum for Cambodia you'll see that the regulars, almost without exception go for VOA as against an e-visa, when arriving by air. There's lot of threads on the subject on TA.

Have a pen handy on the aircraft. You should be given 3 very similar looking forms to fill in. They need to be handed in in the Terminal Building, in this order....

- Visa Application, which is the first place you should head for in the arrivals building. Hand the form over with your passport and US$20.

- Immigration Form. For when you pass through Passport Control (almost next to the Visa Desk)

- Customs Declaration Form, after Passport Control.

Once you're through there's Fixed-Price taxi and tuk tuk counters, and somebody flogging Sim Cards.

I've not been to the Blue Pumpkin so can't comment on it, but the 2nd Floor balcony in the FCC has great views out over and along the river, and down to the chaotic traffic on Sisowath Quay. I'd only use the place for the Happy Hour though as the normal prices are a bit steep.

Doshwaster

PompeyPete wrote: »

I've not been to the Blue Pumpkin so can't comment on it, but the 2nd Floor balcony in the FCC has great views out over and along the river, and down to the chaotic traffic on Sisowath Quay. I'd only use the place for the Happy Hour though as the normal prices are a bit steep.

Yup, the FCC is a fantastic place to hang out and people watch during happy hour but otherwise there are other bars in the area which are cheaper and with more happening. There's a really good one next door to the FCC which I can't remember the name of that does absolutely lethal cocktails for a few dollars.

maggiesoup

PompeyPete wrote: »

VOA took less than 5 minutes on our first trip, and no more than 15 minutes our second (last March). If you've wasted the extra US$5 on an e-visa you've still got to queue at Passport Control, and by the time I'd got my VOA there was no queue, so the time saving is fairly minimal. An hour (max) tarmac to hotel (by tuk tuk).

PP airport is relatively peaceful, and you'll be unlucky to have more than one aircraft landing at the same time.

If you look on the TA discussion forum for Cambodia you'll see that the regulars, almost without exception go for VOA as against an e-visa, when arriving by air. There's lot of threads on the subject on TA.

Have a pen handy on the aircraft. You should be given 3 very similar looking forms to fill in. They need to be handed in in the Terminal Building, in this order....

- Visa Application, which is the first place you should head for in the arrivals building. Hand the form over with your passport and US$20.

- Immigration Form. For when you pass through Passport Control (almost next to the Visa Desk)

- Customs Declaration Form, after Passport Control.

Once you're through there's Fixed-Price taxi and tuk tuk counters, and somebody flogging Sim Cards.

I've not been to the Blue Pumpkin so can't comment on it, but the 2nd Floor balcony in the FCC has great views out over and along the river, and down to the chaotic traffic on Sisowath Quay. I'd only use the place for the Happy Hour though as the normal prices are a bit steep.

great info, thanks!

bylromarha

PompeyPete wrote: »

VOA took less than 5 minutes on our first trip, and no more than 15 minutes our second (last March). If you've wasted the extra US$5 on an e-visa you've still got to queue at Passport Control, and by the time I'd got my VOA there was no queue, so the time saving is fairly minimal. An hour (max) tarmac to hotel (by tuk tuk).

PP airport is relatively peaceful, and you'll be unlucky to have more than one aircraft landing at the same time.

You've been very lucky.

Our friends live out there and meet us from the airport. They have a lot of visitors from all over the world, so do a lot of airport runs collecting people - 1 a month at least.

They advise everyone to get e-visas as they've had to wait for people needing to queue for over 1 hour to complete the paperwork $5 is peanuts to pay to be assured you aren't wasting time queuing.

Plus when you walk straight off the plane with a e-visa, there is no queue at passport control, as everyone else has gone to fill in their paperwork. If you're part of the filling in paperwork crowd, you're part of the passport control queue.

I'd much rather pay extra $5 than chance joining a long queue - or even a 15 minute queue, but each to their own I guess.