Silversea versus land trip in Vietnam and Cambodia

[eabrams]

Can anyone give me a comparison of seeing Vietnam and Cambodia by sea or land. It looks like the ports are far from the sights.

[Dreps]

I'm not sure what cruise you may be looking at, but I can tell you that last year we took a Regent cruise that cruised Vietnam. Only Hanoi was a considerable distance from the port. Ho Chi Minh City and Hue (Chan May) were not that far. What we did was that upon disembarking in Bangkok, we flew to Siem Reap and spent several days touring Angkor Wat before returning to the States. It was incredible. We have just returned from Egypt (Cairo and Luxor) and Jordan (Petra). They were great, and I think Angkor Wat rivals anything we saw in the Mideast.

[Hobar]

the good thing about the ship is you return to luxury every day whereas the cities outside of saigon and Hanoi,while picturesque are not as sophisticated as hotels you may find in several chinese cities.it's less developed outside of the main city.

 

though hanoi is a two hr ride, there are great tour or vans.get a few couples and split it.

 

you will love saigon and the people. walk around the city, several blocks in either direction.they are safe and you will find great restaurants although you may be the only ones speaking english.the people like english speaking people and they bear no ill will towards americans. they did win the war,after all.

 

be prepared to see the ravages of war with beggars and people who were maimed.it is extremely disturbing.but then again, victims of war usually are.

 

no.not a political statement.

[Dreps]

I think the trip from Hong Gai to Hanoi is more like three hours, though we took an excursion that used a helicopter one way to cut down on the total travel time. It was neat, but pricey.