1

From Ha Long Bay to Siem Reap is quite a step. Bus to Hanoi (only 3 hours), train to HCMC (24 hours), bus to SR (15 hours). You could fly HAN/REP (Siem Reap) for $300, quite a whack, but better than two solid days of difficult surface travel. Or for $120, you could go HAN/BKK and take surface transport the rest of the way (about 5 hours).

Another possibility, if you have the time, is to break it up. From Hanoi, go to Hue, then Danang/Hoi An, then HCMC, then the Delta, then PP, then Battambang, then SR. Each step is short enough to be pleasant and you see huge swathes of both countries.

2

Oh, great! Thanks for the reply. For that second option, breaking it up, how long do each of those sections take? I'm assuming they are by bus as well?

Thanks!

3

There is a bus from Hanoi to HCMC, but you're better off on the train. Hanoi to Hue by train is 15 hours. Bus or train to Danang is 2 hours, and then a half-hour each way to Hoi An. About 10 hours Danang to HCMC. You can (and I think should) take sleepers for the train rides.

There are innumerable paths through the Delta. I took a bus to Chau Doc that was about 8 hours, but we stopped at every crocodile farm and candy factory on the way (which was fun), and then a 3-hour boat to Phnom Penh. From PP to SR is about 6 hours (I think) by bus, then 2 hours by taxi to the border and 5 hours by bus to Bangkok.

I've done (as you can guess) each one of those legs at least once and enjoyed it, but doing them right after another might get a little wearying. You might consider snipping of part of the north by flying VTE to DAD (Danang) or even right to SGN (HCMC), about $250. Or you can skip the center part by flying HAN/SGN, about $75.

4

TO EmmaPS

Vientiane - x2 days
Luang Prabang - x3 days (maybe +couple days for an elephant tour with Tiger Tail)

Mai Chau - x3 days
YOU CANNOT enter Vietnam at the Mai Chau border (you can only exit). The gate from Luang Prabang is Dien Bien Phu. Then you take a bus DBP-Hanoi BUT you are going to need an intrepetrer to explain to the bus driver that you want him to stop you AT THE CORNER of the main raod and the raod to mai Chau, which is at 3 km from the corner. If you have time, you do it in 2 days ; DBP-Son La, then the next morning visit of the penitentiary (very interesting) and same for the Bus Son La-Hanoi (check if there are buses Son La-Mai Chau, though I doubt).
Hanoi - x4 days

4 DAYS IN HANOI are too many; 2 full days are enough, so go can do something super ; Luang Prabang-Muang Kha BY BOAT (1 day) and then minibus MK-border-DBP

Ha Long Bay - x2 days
Siem Reap - x3 days
Ko Chang - x3 days
Train back to:
Vientiane (fly out to Bali on the 3pm flight)

5

Amazing, thank you!

I guess the next question is, with the epic trip from Siem Reap from Ha Long - worth it?
Or better just to stick around and explore more of Vietnam?

6

Angkor is absolutely unique in the world ! Along cruises are 2-days ones (progams depart from your hotel in hanoi and bring you back to the hotel - for detailed infos, open for example www.orientalbrige.com, all the pages Halong, and then direct flight Hanoi-Siem Reap

7

If I were you I would have flown into VTE and out of PP or SR or Bangkok, is it possible to change your flight? If not I would stick to Vietnam and Laos. I think you have underestimated the travel time, even VTE to LP will take 10 hours. Also no trains in Laos.