This is what I wrote last year when someone mentioned going to SE Asia:
I’ve been to Vietnam a couple of times and at other separate times to Cambodia and to Laos. All more than 10-15 years ago so I don’t know if I can give useful advice but I had a great time in each of them in different ways.
Luang Prabang in Laos is one of the most chilled places I’ve ever been and my wife and i agree that of all the places we’ve been together that’s the one we’d most like to go back to. On that hol we got the sleeper train from Bangkok to Nong Kai on the Thai-Laos border, had a couple of days in Vientiane, went to a resort on the river In Vang Vieng and then up to Luang Prabang. When I posted about that hol on here years ago someone else had explored more in Laos and been to places like Plain of Jars and other less-travelled places. Way they described their hol made it sound even better than the one we had.
Cambodia was Siem Reap/Angkor only but was utterly fantastic. Sunrise at Angkor Wat or the Baray each day, exploring the temples after that, back to the hotel to nap and lounge by the pool In the middle of the day and then back out for sunsets at various spots. We didn’t go to Phnom Penh but my mate was there last year and really enjoyed the atmosphere of being in the city, said the selection of restaurants and bars was incredible. He enjoyed it more than a friend who was there a few years earlier and went to S21 by himself on Christmas Day.
For Vietnam, I’ve only been to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi, on different trips, but loved both of them. Vietnamese people have a reputation for not being the most welcoming and smiley towards tourists but i found people i encountered to be straightforward and decent. Had maybe my best-ever New Year in Ho Chi Minh.
Hoping to go back to all three countries, especially want to go to Da Nang and Nha Trang in Vietnam Apparently each country saw the Chinese tourism market increase hugely in the years pre-pandemic, which will now be picking up again and give a different vibe to what I experienced
