Thailand Vacay - need side trip suggestion Laos or Cambodia?

[deee_wreck]

Ticket Booked (nov 6-29)
Travel Clinic tomorrow
Buying my backpack in the next week.

Flying into BKK Nov 7th in the pm.

My buddy and I, are debating a side trip to either LAOS or CAMBODIA.

I've been told by others :

"...depends on what you're looking for... cambodia is slightly more developed, more historical sites and temples, laos, more nature-y and cave tubbing (if the water level isn't too high. i liked both, in different ways... if you're looking for nicer cambodia, if you're going for back packing, laos"

I need VISA for either one, so need some more input to see which one to grab. Where is the consulate to get either VISA in Calgary?

Will Thailand be party enough that i'll want quiet Laos to relax, or is the parties in Cambodia a totally different affair ??

are there Land mines still in Cambodia?

Which is easier to travel through or tie in with my Thailand trip. If i do northern Thailand, then Laos is easier, and vicer versa?

Surfing thru travelfish.org lots of sample itinerary, just cant makeup my mind.

Any comments, suggestions, trip advice much appreciated.

[lint]

I did Cambodia. Just Siem Reap to do the temple thing (Ankor Wat, Jungle Temple, etc). 5 days was too much temple though. We had a tour guide/driver in Siem Reap so no fear of land mines. Visa you get when you enter the country. You have to pay to get in, and then pay to get out. Dumb. Rest of our trip was in Phuket. No partying in either place though, so no help there. Seemed to be plenty of nightlife in Phuket though, with lots of European tourists.

pm JWL for some Laos info. She was just there last year and could probably answer some questions.

[n1zm0]

phuket!! then catch the $80 CDN air asia flight to Kuala Lumpur

I doubt anywhere you're going to go in Cambodia will have landmines around unless you run into the jungle in a drunken rage lol, i'd be more freaked out about rural Laos, you know how much munitions were dropped there on the HCM trail during the american-vietnam war?

[thrasher22]

Originally posted by n1zm0
phuket!! then catch the $80 CDN air asia flight to Kuala Lumpur

I doubt anywhere you're going to go in Cambodia will have landmines around unless you run into the jungle in a drunken rage lol, i'd be more freaked out about rural Laos, you know how much munitions were dropped there on the HCM trail during the american-vietnam war?

I stopped in a town in rural Laos (although pretty much everywhere is rural) where there were so many dud missles laying around that they made canoes out of them for fishing...
I wouldn't worry about landmines there either. Its a cool place to go if you want to see somewhere very few tourists go.

[Perceptionist]

I recently spent about 10 days in Laos and a week in Cambodia while backpacking through SE Asia.

Laos really impressed me with how beautiful of a country it is. The mountains and landscape between Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng is amazing. Just outside of Luang Prabang is the best waterfall I've ever seen, and you can climb right to the top and walk across it. If you like to live on the edge and party then don't miss out on tubing in Vang Vieng. Two of the funnest days of my 4 month trip were spent drunk tubing in Vang Vieng.

I found Cambodia to be a very cultural experience. The Angkor Wat temples were really impressive and definately worth spending two days exploring. The tuktuk driver / tour guide that we hired from the guesthouse also took us out into rural Cambodia and we ended up donating a bunch of notebooks to little kids in a schoolhouse. It was a really great experience. Then there's also some memorials from the genocide that happened in the late 1970's that were worth seeing and learning about. As for landmines, I don't think it's something to worry about if you're sticking to the cities and tourist areas.

For Visas, both countries you can buy them at the border when you enter.

[JWL]

PM me if you want to read my travel blog.

Basically, we crossed the Laos boarder through Northern Thailand (Chiang Khong) and stayed in Huay Xia (everyone spells this differently) for a day before doing some backpacking and ziplining through the Laotian jungle. Went back to Huay Xia and took the speed boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang and stayed there for few days.

Out of all the places that I've travelled to, Luang Prabang is the one place that I would want to go back to. I absolutely loved it - the people were so friendly! Oh, and it's super cheap there. A bowl of soup noodles and a bottle of BeerLao was $1!

[mdeluxe]

I would rather try to make my way to Bali.

But I hear Laos was a pretty cool place to go to. As for me I spent a month in Thailand, and it was a great time.

[deee_wreck]

Alrighty, so narrowing it to both!

Tentatively 4 days in Laos and 2 days in Cambodia, 1 day to fly, and the rest in Thailand.
Skipping Phuket, friend just passed thru on his way back said its ridiculously expensive.

So now time to narrow it down to the Thailand itinerary.

- BangKok
- Chiang Mai
- Ko Samui / Lamai
- Ko Pha Ngan / Chaweng
- Krabi
- North Thailand


Any suggestions on length of stay in each ?
or which to pass?
or any i've forgotten?

Which locations do not have airports to fly out of?

[mac_82]

Try to time your trip to Koh Phangan with the full-moon party. It is by far the best party out of the no moon, 1/4 moon, 1/2 moon, 3/4 moon parties.

Also you don't need more than 2-3 days in Bangkok. It is really just a big city with some shopping and sites to see. The muay thai stadiums are awesome though.