Trip Report: Timeless Wonders of Vietnam, Cambodia & the Mekong (Uniworld) 12/20/15

After 15 months of anticipation, my husband and I traveled this itinerary in December 2015. We added on the pre-trip extension to Ha Long Bay, and also added some long layovers on the way home in Hong Kong and Narita, Japan to get a bit more of a taste of Asia. We took thousands of pictures, and I plan to recount every little bit of it on our travel blog. As each post is finished, I'll post a short intro here with a link (the blog is personal in nature and does not contain advertising, so I believe this complies with all Cruise Critic guidelines). Ask any questions that you have along the way - I'm happy to provide more information!

A bit about us: I'm 33 and my husband is 38, so we were unsurprisingly the youngest cruisers on board. This is our second trip with Uniworld (we did Danube Discovery & Prague in Sep 2014). We did two days in Hanoi on our own, then joined three other Uniworld guests for the pre-trip extension in Ha Long Bay. The official itinerary for our group of 30 included 2 days in Hanoi, 3 days in Siem Reap, 7 nights on the River Orchid as we sailed the Mekong River, and 2 days in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon).

Once I've made it through all of our photos and written up our thoughts, I'll be sure to submit a full review to Cruise Critic in the appropriate place.

For now, let's get started with what we packed, and how that worked out for us: Vietnam & Cambodia Packing List

Looking forward to the next installments

loved the pictures to go along with the text

Loved your first installment. Looking forward to more!

Liz,

Love your blog, great info right off the bat for our upcoming trip to the same area in South East Asia. About those tissues, like in China, better throw them into the provided bucket? By the way, as a Floridian I think 50 - 70 degrees IS cold.

I was wondering when you'd post about your trip! Looking forward to reading more. :D

I was hoping you would write a review of your trip. I enjoy your reviews and always pick up useful info. Thank you.

cant wait to read and see your review!!

Just one suggestion when packing----cross pack. That is half of each persons clothes in each suitcase. Sometimes luggage wants to go to a different airport or not even leave the home airport:rolleyes:. We learned this when only one bag reached Istanbul--of course my undies were in the other bag. Not fun trying to buy new during Ramadan. Bag showed up before we left on our cruise. Pat

Liz,

 

Love your blog, great info right off the bat for our upcoming trip to the same area in South East Asia. About those tissues, like in China, better throw them into the provided bucket? By the way, as a Floridian I think 50 - 70 degrees IS cold.

Particularly in Cambodia, it seemed like the tissues should be thrown in the bucket. There were not always signs, and our guides actually didn't talk about it, so I was a bit afraid that my tour mates were not following the guideline. But they weren't my problem. ;)

My next post is all about getting there - 29 hours of flights! If you're interested in the destination and not the travel, you can skip this one. I had a lot to say, though, because it was our first time flying business class!

Flying Business Class From Chicago To Hanoi For Free

Ewizabeff, you are going to be so spoiled after flying in the front of the plane! We took the plunge and flew business to Australia in 2008, and we were hooked. Glad you enjoyed it so much - no better way to start a great trip than business class! I remember your posts about trying to piece this itinerary together. Glad it was worth the effort!

I couldn't believe the difference. And thankfully, I have enough miles for at least our next 2 trips in business class, and will continue to accumulate more. :)

Next post is up! Our first day in Hanoi included our Uniworld transfer, first hotel, street food, a pagoda and a temple. And then some jet lag.

Arrival in Hanoi - Fight Jet Lag At All Costs!

Loved the stuff about packing, very informative. Having done a trip to this part of the world, I concur with most things, although I agree about the cross-packing. Looking forward to reading about Uniworld since we were on their Nile cruise last October and loved it. And I just refuse to take a laptop on this kind of trip. I content myself with a tablet, or even just my nice big smartphone.

I agree, I had no use for the laptop - but my husband wanted it so he could download and edit photos while we were traveling, so it wasn't a waiting beast for us when we got back home.

Really enjoying your blog posts! And yeah, you'll never be able to go back to sitting in the back of the plane. ;) I've been fortunate enough (and hoarded miles enough) to fly in F and C fairly often on international trips. My husband flew with me internationally in Business for the first time this last year, and I don't see him ever going back to being satisfied with coach. (Good thing he wasn't with me on all of those international First Class flights! :eek: )

And although it may look like the longer way around, I actually flew via London and Bangkok my last time visiting Bali and felt it was less painful than flying the other way around - which was how I usually did it.

Looking forward to more of your report ...

I agree, I had no use for the laptop - but my husband wanted it so he could download and edit photos while we were traveling, so it wasn't a waiting beast for us when we got back home.

Also unless you have a new SD card for each day of the trip, it makes sure that if somehow you lose your camera you will only lose that day's shots.

The next post (these are taking a long time!) is about how we spent our second free day in Hanoi before the start of our Uniworld itinerary. We booked a 4-hour street food tour and explored the Imperial Citadel. And ... videos of all the motorbikes in the street.

Street Food Crash Course in Hanoi

Enjoying the last post very much. Great that you got out and enjoyed the authentic street food. Looks like lots of fun!

I am loving reading your blog, especially the flight and packing details.

What would you say was the average age of your group?

Was Dec the best time to go, or is there a better month?

There were 3 of us 40 and under, and the rest seemed to be mid-late 50's and 60's. There were 3-4 guests in their 70's, and the oldest was 75 (she was quite fit and very independent--participated in all the tough climbs).

Compared to our other Uniworld trip on the Danube in Fall 2014, this was a younger, more active group.

December was a great time to go. November - January is the high season for tourism. It's cool (in comparison to 100+ degree temperatures, so it's still very hot), and dry. We only had one day of rain, and that was on our way to the airport while leaving. Compare that to the rainy season (spring/summer/early fall), when you'll get 1-2 downpours per day.

Thanks for the detailed blog posts, we will be there ourselves next week so it is all useful preparation for us.

Thanks for the detailed blog posts, we will be there ourselves next week so it is all useful preparation for us.

You're welcome; just sorry I couldn't crank them out faster!

They take a ton of work, especially when they have as much detail as yours do. Can't rush them. Looking forward to the next installment.

Great blog Liz. Looking forward to more installments. We head off on our Cambodia/Vietnam trip soon including Siem Reap-Saigon river cruise (different company). Great to read about your adventure in places that we will also be going to.