THAILAND-CAMBODIA-VIETNAM TRIP

October 15-23, 2008

super excited na ako rito. sa wednesday na ang aming flight. yebah!!!
sa baba ang aming itinerary. flexi ito syempre.

OCT. 15 5pm Airport, NAIA Terminal 3

6pm Check in.

(e-Ticket, Valid IDs, Travel Order, Passport Photo)

PAY: P1600 Travel Tax , P700 Terminal Fee

9pm ETD via Cebu Pacific Flight

OCT. 16 1am ETA Bangkok, Thailand

2am (Airport to Hotel)

SAWASDEE SMILE INN HOTEL (Khaosan Area)

35 Soi Rong Mai, Chao Fa Road, Phanakhon, Bangkok

(INSTRUCT HOTEL STAFF)

check in, transfer luggage at the room

3am HOTEL to PAT PONG

3am – 6am HAPI-HAPI, Night Life, Red Light District

7am Breakfast

8am Train from SALA DAENG Stn (Pat Pong) to NATIONAL STADIUM Stn.

Walk to JIM THOMPSON House.

From JIM THOMPSON House walk to SIAM Discovery Center, Siam Center, Siam Paragon

(May drop by CHULALONGKORN University. WALK down Phayathai Rd/Henry Dunant Rd )

12nn- 1pm Lunch at SIAM Shopping Complex

2pm (INSTRUCT HOTEL STAFF)

check in, transfer luggage at the room

SIAM Stn to Victory Monument Stn.

Walk to Victory Monument.

230pm – 6pm VICTORY MONUMENT Stn to HUA-LAM PHON

Stn.

Walk to WAI TRAI MIT, WAT LANG NEI YI, CHINATOWN

7pm – 12 mn dinner, sight seeing at CHINA TOWN and / or

RIVERSIDE

DINNER CRUISE!!!

CHINA TOWN TO RIVERSIDE

PRINT RIVERSIDE MAP

Back to SAWASDEE INN HOTEL through TAXI BOAT

OCT. 17 12mn – 6am REST at the HOTEL

7am Breakfast

8am – 12nn WALKING TOUR

National Museum à Thammasat University à

Wat Phra Kaeo and Grand Palace

12nn – 1pm LUNCH

1pm – 7pm Taxi to Democracy Monument (From Grand Palace) à

WAt Ratchanadda à Golden Mountain à Giant Swing à Wat Suthat

7pm – 8pm Dinner

8pm -12mn SHEWA Spa

Back to River Side or China Town

Night Market

[NOTE: NOT ABLE TO GO TO RECLINING BUDDHA, ROYAL PALACE, FLOATING MARKET, CANAL CRUISE]

OCT. 18 12mn - 4am REST at the INN

5am TRAVEL TO CAMBODIA

Bangkok to Aranyaphrathet

A: TRAIN

Bangkok	Chachoengsao	Prachinburi	Aranyaprathet	FARE
05:55	07:51	08:58	11:35	48 B

B: BUS

Northern Bus Station (MORCHIT)

First Class = 200 Baht

6am Bangkok – 11am Aranyaprathet

AT ARAYANPRATHET:

1. Take TUK TUK or Motorbike to Rongklua Border Market (7km away) ride costs 80-100 Baht. NOTE: Do not allow a TOUT into the Tuk Tuk.

2. At Rongklua Market, get clearance from both Thai and Cambodian Immigration and Customs.

3. Walk towards the border crossing. Ignore the TOUTS! Do not even acknowledge their existence.

4. Beware of border police trying to make an extra buck on various fees and fines. We don’t need to pay a fine for not bringing yellow fever certificate. Only need to pay the visa fee with the price stamped in the passport.

5. At Poipet border crossing, acquire Visa to Cambodia. Pay $20. Submit one passport photo.

6. Once stamped into Cambodia, take the government shuttle bus from the border to the transport depot.

7. We will be picked up by the taxi provided by the hotel. Pay $45. (You can hitch one more passenger to lower fare.)

8. Travel time is about 4 hours. ETA in Siem Reap is 5pm.

Note: Northern Cambodia is still one of the most heavily mined areas in the world.

5pm Hotel in Siem Reap.

Rest / walk around the area.

Dinner at the Market.

Hire bicycle going to Ankor Wat.

Ask hotel staff the BEST ROUTE going around Ankor Wat.

Ask also the best route going to Phnom Penh: bus or boat. Try to request hotel staff to buy ticket going to Phnom Penh.

OCT. 19 SIM REAP

Ankor Wat

Ankor Thom

OCT. 20 7am Travel To PHNOM PENH (from Siem Reap)

A: Mekong Express (3-5 hr travel)

BUY TICKET in ADVANCE

Fare is US$ 10

B: Speed Boat

Catamaran Service

Along Tonle Sap, SE Asia’s largest inland lake

Fare: ?

AT PHNOM PENH:

Check in at the ANGKORCHEY GUEST HOUSE

30Eo Street 108 (just off Sisowath Quay) Phnom Penh

(016) 646 434; (012) 505 034. Triple A/C room is US $15.

Ask about transportation to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Visa requirements, ask for tips.

12nn-1pm Lunch

Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC)

Overlooking the river

They serve the best burger

1pm – onwards Hire a moto driver US $5 to go around the city

1. ROYAL PALACE AND THE SILVER PAGODA- enter at the Southern Gate.

2. CHOEUNG EK (Killing Fields) – where more than 15,000 people are believed to have been murdered. Look for the Sunken Ground. Some mass graves have been left as they were found. A memorial has been built with a glass containing the skulls and bones of more than 8,000 people. Ask the moto driver to accompany you.

3. TUOL SLENG GENOCIDE MUSEUM (a.k.a. S-21 located at Street 113) – Khmer Rouge’s primary interrogation and extermination center designed to purge anti-Khmer Rouge elements from the New Society of Pol Pot. S-21 was by far the largest and most important Khmer Rouge center. (There were smaller interrogation centers scattered across Cambodia.) All of the classrooms were converted either to tiny prison cells or larger interrogation centers and the upper balconies were covered in barbed wire so that prisoners could not kill themselves by throwing themselves off. The Khmer Rouge were meticulous in their record keeping, taking photos of every new arrival and painstakingly retaining detailed confessions made by prisoners. Many of the photos are displayed in the museum.

4. INDEPENDENCE MONUMENT (intersection of Norodom and Sihanouk Blvds) – also known as the Victory Monument. Built in 1958 to celebrate independence from the French and as a memorial to Cambodia’s war dead.

5. PHSAR TUOL TOM PONG (a.k.a. RUSSIAN MARKET located at the intersection of Street 440 and Street 15) – popular with expatriates and tourists, it’s a must-shop spot.

Dinner at the Market.

Back at the ANGKORCHEY GUEST HOUSE.

Rest.

OCT. 21 TRAVEL to VIETNAM

1. Bus (3-4 hours)

Mekong Express

Fare?

B. Speed Boat along Mekong River to Chau Doc

From Chau Doc, take bus to Ho Chi Minh

Fare: US $15-20

Check in at the Hotel.

Xuan - Spring Hotel

185/34 Pham Ngu Lao Street, District 1,

+84-8-8372115

Accommodation:

Visit Tourist Information Center to get free map

Address: 4G 4H Le Loi St, District 1. Tel (84-8) 822 6033

Places to see:

1. REUNIFICATION PALACE (Location: 135 Nam Ky Khoi Nghia Street) Open daily 7:30AM-11:00AM, 1PM-4PM. Also known as Independence Palace (this is the old name). It is a restored five-floor time warp to the Sixties. Entrance fee is 15,000 dong

2. WAR REMNANTS MUSEUM (28 Vo Van Tan Street) Open daily 7:30AM-12PM, 1:30PM-5PM, last admission 4:30PM. Formerly known as the of Exhibition House of American War Crimes. Displays the cruelties during the Vietnam (American) War. Includes halls full of gruesome photographs, a simulated "tiger cage" prison and jars of deformed fetuses blamed on Agent Orange. Outside, there are helicopters, jets, tanks, and other bits of armament. It's only a block from the Reunification Palace — see the museum pamphlet for a map. Entry 15,000 dong

3. Le Quy Don, just south of the museum, is a 2000 dong/cone soft ice cream.

4. City Hall, end of Nguyen Hue Street. Originally called the Hôtel de Ville and now formally re-branded the People's Committee Hall, it's a striking cream and yellow French colonial building beautifully floodlit at night. No entry, but the statue of Uncle Ho in front is a very popular place for photos

5. Chợ Bến Thành aka Ben Thanh Market, Southwest end of Le Loi, recognizable with its clock tower on the large traffic circle. The largest old-style market in the central district.

6. Chợ Bình Tây in the Chinatown, the more underrated twin of Ben Thanh, selling everything from spices, Chinese medicines, silk, etc.

7. Night Market (just outside of Ben Thanh Market). Here you can enjoy many kinds of different food and drink, and go round to do your shopping as well. Open from 5:00pm (when the Ben Thanh Market closes).

8. Cholon (Chinatown)

9. Saigon Water Park

10. Saigon River

11. Ho-Chi-Minh Museum, Duong Nguyen Tat Thanh, Dist. 4, for your propaganda dose. Open daily 7:30AM-12:00PM, 1:30PM-5PM, last admission 4:30PM, 10,000 dong entry. The museum (in a French colonial era building) near the dock of Saigon shows the life story of the modern day father of Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh

12. Museum of Vietnamese History, at the intersection of Le Duan Street and Nguyen Binh Khiem (just inside the zoo gates). The museum has a fine collection of Vietnamese antiquities, but unfortunately they are accompanied by signage which is both in poor English and full of risible Marxist distortions. Read up on Vietnamese history first or you'll have no idea what you're looking at. Outside, the Botanical Gardens are very nice and a good place for a cheap lunch away from the crowds.

OCT. 22 Whole Day Tour in HO CHI MINH

Cu Chi Tunnel day-trips are tirelessly flogged by travel agencies around Pham Ngu Lao, and can be done as a half-day trip, or as a full-day with a stop at Tay Ninh to see the Holy See of the Cao Dai religion. Tours, including admission, should cost US$4-6

OCT. 23 1am ETD Ho Chi Minh City

4am ETA Manila