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

ewizabeff

By ewizabeff,
in River Cruising

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Brisbanelionsfan

Brisbanelionsfan

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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.

 

Hi banditoo,

 

Are you by any chance going with Scenic?

We are and just wondered if you are on our ship.

 

Cheers:)

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banditoo

banditoo

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Hi banditoo,

 

Are you by any chance going with Scenic?

We are and just wondered if you are on our ship.

 

Cheers:)

 

Brisbanelionsfan

We will be on Mekong Prestige II third week of Feb. Perhaps we will be passing you on the river?

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OBX Cruisers

OBX Cruisers

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Street food tour - We really like to take food tours. Fabulous one in Stockholm last summer. This one sounded very adventurous! Any concerns re safety of food? Did you feel like you needed to eat all of each bowl or was just a good taste OK? Don't know if I could make it through that many bowls of soup:). Sounded a bit like the Amazing Race.

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  • 2 weeks later...
ewizabeff

ewizabeff

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I was not concerned about the safety of the food while we were on the tour, but when we were choosing places on our own we looked for very hot cook surfaces, the presence of gloves, and some good washing facilities. We didn't eat things that would need to be refrigerated all day, because these stands don't have it.

 

We ate most everything on the street food tour, but it would have been perfectly acceptable to leave food in your bowl, or share portions.

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ewizabeff

ewizabeff

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I did not intend to take a 3-week break, but I ended up taking some time to scour frequent flier availability for our next trip - Christmas 2016 will be in Japan! :)

 

This post chronicles the first full day on a Uniworld itinerary - the Ha Long Bay Pre-Cruise Excursion (if you take this itinerary from south to north, it will be a post-cruise excursion).

 

There was a 4-hour bus ride, visit to a floating village, gorgeous scenery, a quick dip in the bay, and lots of food. More in the post:

 

Hanoi to Ha Long Bay with Uniworld

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lindaa

lindaa

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Thank you so much for the blogs! We are going on the exact trip in November and your insights are so helpful in our planning.

 

Question - on the HaLong extension - were you able to leave unneeded luggage at the hotel in Hanoi and just take an overnight bag since you end up going back there in a couple of days or did you take everything with you?

 

Looking forward to your next supplement! Thanks again!! The blogs are fantastic.

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ewizabeff

ewizabeff

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Thank you so much for the blogs! We are going on the exact trip in November and your insights are so helpful in our planning.

 

Question - on the HaLong extension - were you able to leave unneeded luggage at the hotel in Hanoi and just take an overnight bag since you end up going back there in a couple of days or did you take everything with you?

 

Looking forward to your next supplement! Thanks again!! The blogs are fantastic.

 

Ooooh, good question. This was something I was wondering before the trip. I'll have to go back to the blog and edit it.

 

Yes, we were able to leave all of our luggage at the Intercontinental. My husband and I each just took a backpack with us. It was all we needed.

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ewizabeff

ewizabeff

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jklc123 - we're so glad we did this trip, and that we did it when we were super young and not bothered by the heat, humidity, and other aspects of Southeast Asia that may not be up a mature traveler's alley. :)

 

jpalbany - will you be doing the trip on Uniworld?

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ewizabeff

ewizabeff

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On Monday, December 21, we finally left Vietnam for Cambodia. While only technically day three of the Uniworld itinerary, we'd already been on the road for 7 days, and in-country for 5!

 

We took the optional excursion to the ceramic village, then hopped a flight to Siem Reap. Details (and one of my favorite photos from the trip) in the blog post:

 

Vietnamese Ceramic Village & Flight to Siem Reap

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  • 3 weeks later...
lindaa

lindaa

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My husband and I are loving your blog and are looking forward to the next update.

 

I have another question for you if you don't mind... how strict was Vietnam Airlines carry-on limits? Did they measure and weigh all carry-ons prior to boarding? My bag is an inch too long based on Uniworlds trip document.

 

Thanks for everything! There is not very much info published on this trip any where and your blogs are so amazingly informative and detailed! We really appreciate them - they are so helpful in planning our trip.

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Mark_T

Mark_T

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If it helps, in our recent experience, Vietnam Airlines were not at all strict about the carry-on side of things.

 

They did not measure or weigh them as long as they at least looked to be within a reasonable limit.

 

We did see one or two people with obviously over-sized bags asked to check them, but I doubt an inch is going to get noticed.

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ewizabeff

ewizabeff

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I'm back! This post marks the end of my paper journal....I was having too much fun to keep up, so from here on out, I'll have to reconstruct my memories from Facebook posts, text messages, and photos.

 

This was our first full day in Siem Reap, where did the optional sunrise tour, visited Angkor Wat, and visited a few sites in town. We were busy from 4:30 a.m. until about 4:00 p.m.

 

Sunrise In Siem Reap, Angkor Wat, Village Visit

 

Hopefully it's not another month between updates ... I want to finish writing about this trip before we leave for England in May :eek:

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jpalbny "Live from...." Rare

jpalbny

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Welcome back! Enjoyed your last post. That is the sign of a well-traveled person - you have to rush to finish your last blog before your next trip starts! A wonderful problem to have. Looking forward to the rest.

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OBX Cruisers

OBX Cruisers

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We're on almost the same itinerary with AMA Waterways in March 2017. I have a sun umbrella which provided much needed shade in Egypt several years ago. Sounds like this might be a good thing to take to Vietnam and Cambodia too?? Are there things you didn't need to pack? What has come in really handy? (Or did you cover this in your packing list in an earlier post?)

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