GRAND INDOCHINA AND THAILAND
19 days

For those who want to experience adventures, this  19 -  day trip through Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam may exactly be what you are looking for. Long lines of saffron robed monks on their alms round at dawn, verdant green of Vietnam paddy fields, warmly smile of the Thai people; all the small day-to-day things will make this an unforgettable trip. Not count the wondrous lands of Angkor Wat, the Grand Palace, the amazing limestone seascape of Halong Bay or big elephant safari will wow you too. There’s an abundance of things in Southeast Asia waiting to be explored.

TOUR PROGRAMME IN SHORT of GRAND INDOCHINA AND THAILAND

FULL ITINERARY OF GRAND INDOCHINA AND THAILAND

DAY 1    Bangkok Arrival    Meals: Breakfast 

Welcome to Bangkok! When you're arrival at Bangkok international airport, your guide will greet you and escort you to the hotel. The driving distance is approximately 45 minutes. Check in hotel and leisure

DAY 2    Bangkok Full Day Hightlights    Meals: Breakfast  

Today, enjoy a full day city tour including the Royal Grand Palace, the nation’s landmark and most praised royal monument in Thailand, the enclosed and dazzling Wat Phra Keo with its revered Emerald Buddha, the Golden Chedi, the Pantheon of the Chakri Kings and the Eight Coloured Towers, all are must-see highlights in Bangkok. It is considered to be a living example of classical Siamese Court, being the former residence of the kings of Thailand.
Next, you’ll visit Wat Pho – the first centre of public education and ‘Thailand’s first university’ where you will find mural paintings, inscriptions, and statues placed in the temple-educated people on different subjects such as literature, warfare, archaeology, astronomy, geology, meditation. You’re then offered the Thai traditional massage with a 30-minutes treatment as an excellent break after a morning tour.

In the afternoon, experience a trip along the bustling Chao Phya River and the quiet Klongs (canals) in a long tail boat. The tour shows you more scenes of life by water, more local traditional way of living that totally away from all the high-rise and modern buildings of Bangkok City. As we gently pass Thonburi residential areas, a stop will be made at the “Temple of Dawn” (officially named Wat Arun). Next, visit the Flower and vegetable market that closed to the Chao Phraya River, this part brings you to a rural piece of Bangkok where there is a vast selection of all kinds of flowers, orchids and tropical flowers. You also see how the merchants create very special flower garlands. This Bangkok day ends at the Golden Mountain. Photography is permitted in the Royal Palace Grounds and in the compounds of the Emerald Buddha Temple, but not inside the buildings.

Note: Please dress respectfully by not wearing sleeveless, shorts or sandals, when visiting the Grand Palace and temple complex.

DAY 3    Bangkok - Chiang Mai - Half Day Doi Suthep And Meo Hill Tribe    Meals: Breakfast

After breakfast, you will check out the hotel and then transfer to the airport for flight to Chiang Mai. The flight time is approximately 1hour and 15 minutes.
Arrival Chiang Mai, our guide will meet you & escort you to the hotel.
This afternoon tour features a scenic through the most historic areas of Chiang Mai, including a pass through the old city walls, city gates and moat. The drive continues into Chiang Mai’s tourist attraction area, the local market, foreign consulates, government buildings and ‘Tapae Gate’ before heading to the acclaimed temple Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, home to a holy relic of the Lord Buddha and considered by many to be the most sacred Wat in northern Thailand.
It was built by King Gue-Na in 1383 and situated 3,500 feet above sea level, this temple offers an interesting challenge as it contains a flight of over 300 steps to reach its top level.
On top of the summit, visitors will see find a panoramic view of the city then visit the primitive Meo Pui village, a community known for its unique culture and colorful costumes.

Note: Please dress respectfully by not wearing sleeveless T – shirts, shorts or strapless sandals, when visiting the Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep

DAY 4    Chiang Mai Full Day Elephant Safari & Rafting    Meals: Breakfast  

Today, visit the elephant which is Thailand’s working pride and one of national symbols. There’re about 3000-4000 wild elephants left in Thailand at the present. Elephant ride remain a very important mode of jungle transport as it beats any other animal or machine for its ability to move through a forest with minimum damage although logging is being banned in Thailand. For many years ago, these animals were trained to use their skills by moving lumber and serving as a mode of transport in the jungle area. Over the past decade later, these giants of the forest have been protected in various conservation camps. This journey through the countryside brings you to Chiang Dao Elephant Conservation Camp. You will find elephants at work during a half-hour presentation, taking their morning bath. You’ll ride on elephants for one hour to trek into the surrounding forest. A thai set lunch will be served at the camp. After lunch, a leisurely cruise on a bamboo rafting along Ping River to the raft station will be made before heading back to visit Orchid Farm and hotel.

DAY 5    Chiang Mai - Bangkok - Ha Noi (Capital Of Vietnam)    Meals: Breakfast 

 After breakfast, check - out hotel, you will be transferred to the airport by guide and car for flight to Bangkok, then connecting flight to Ha Noi. The flight time is approximately 1hour and 30 minutes.

Welcome to Vietnam! Please be sure your visa should be pre-arranged, or your visa-on-arrival letter is in your carry-on luggage. Please go to custom desk as your first point of entry into the country and present these documents for visa upon arrival.

Your private vehicle and guide transfer you to hotel for check in. The driving distance is approximately 45 minutes.

DAY 6    Hanoi Old Quarter Tour    Meals: Breakfast 

The city tour begins with a visit to the Ho Chi Minh Complex which features the life of Ho Chi Minh, the nation’s founder. At the complex, visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, where the nation’s founder’s body is preserved (closed on Monday, Friday and through October - November), the colonial Presidential Palace, originally the French Governor Office and a fine example of French architecture in Hanoi, and the rural style Ho Chi Minh’s house on stilts where Ho Chi Minh lived and worked. Stop by one of Hanoi’s icons, the One Pillar Pagoda, built in the 11th Century in dedication to Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara or Buddha of Compassion and reminiscent of a lotus blossom rising from a pond. Continue to the Temple of Literature, known as the first university of Vietnam built in 1070 by the Ly Dynasty to honor Confucius, sages and outstanding Vietnamese scholars.

Afternoon, continue the tour to one of the following museums of choice namely the Museum of Fine Arts, the National Museum of Vietnamese History, the Museum of Revolution, the Museum of Military History or the Museum of Ethnology. Next, head for Hoan Kiem Lake, the center point of Hanoi whose name “The Return Sword Lake” originated from a legend of a sacred sword and home to a rare endangered giant turtle species and visit Ngoc Son Temple on the lake. Take a one-hour cycle tour of the Old Quarter of Hanoi with its ancient streets representing traditional trades from the past. Finish the tour at the Thang Long Opera Theatre with a traditional Vietnamese water puppet show.

DAY 7    Hanoi - Halong Overnight On Boat - Unesco World Heritage    Meals: B,L,D 

Morning pickup at 8:00 AM from your hotel for transfer to Ha Long Bay, which is about 160 km or 3.5-hour drive away. The transfer is approximately 3 hours. You will see some rural areas of the Red River Delta with plenty of chances to take photos of Vietnamese farmers working in paddy fields and you may stop on the way to admire the local scenery.

Arrive in Ha Long City at 11:30 AM and check in aboard the booked junk right after the welcome drink is served. Start cruising while having lunch on board and enjoy the mighty bay view. Ha Long Bay meaning Descending Dragon Bay in Vietnamese as legend has it that it was where a holly dragon landed down from sky. The bay, famous as one of the world’s wonders and heritage sites whose formation dates back 500 million years, consists of around 2,000 karst islands and islets scattered over an area of 1,553 km2.

After lunch, take a short trek to a nearby summit for a panoramic view of the bay dotted with golden sails, go swimming on a quiet beach or sunbath on the sundeck. Later in the afternoon, you will visit an interesting fishing village with an opportunity to interact with local people who have been living in the bay for almost three generations. An optional kayaking trip is available weather permitting. Back onboard enjoy a lavish dinner and enjoy the bay view at sunset. Spend a night on board.

DAY 8    Ha Long - Hanoi - Da Nang - Hoi An    Meals: Brunch 

In the morning, refresh your body and mind with a Tai Chi exercise on the sundeck at the break of dawn. Have tea and coffee onboard and continue exploring Ha Long Bay sailing across its 2000 islets and visiting some of its major highlights. Normally, check out at 09:30, have a buffet brunch while cruising back to shore. Disembark at 11:00 AM to transfer to Hanoi capital.

Free at leisure until meet our guide then transfer to airport for flight to Da Nang. Flight time is approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes.

Arrival Da Nang airport, you are transferred to Hoi An town by private car & guide. The transfer from airport to hotel is approximately 30 minutes. Check in & relax

DAY 9    Hoi An Full Day Ancient Town    Meals: Breakfast 

Today, transfer about 40 km West of Hoi An to visit My Son Sanctuary, another UNESCO-recognized world heritage which was once a religious center of Cham people where royal ceremonies and burials were performed. The site now is a colony of partially ruined Hindu temples from the total of 70 constructed by Cham Kings between the 4th and the 14th Centuries in dedication to god Shiva. It is regarded one of the foremost Hindu temple complexes in Southeast Asia and is often compared with other temple heritages of Southeast Asia such as Angkor in Cambodia, Ayuthaya in Thailand or Borobudur in Java.

In the afternoon, discover the charm of Hoi An recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, is now a peaceful town of exceptionally well-preserved architecture, lifestyles and traditions. The town exemplifies a fascinating fusion of cultures between Vietnam and the outside world including China, Japan, Thailand and the Philippines. Your sightseeing will include the iconic 400-year-old Covered Bridge with a small temple attached to one side as a prominent example of Japanese architecture, the Museum of Trade Ceramics which is an elegant Vietnamese style wooden house built in 1858 showcasing antique ceramic artifacts, the 200-year-old Tan Ky House typifying an ancient Chinese merchant residence, the Ong Temple built in 1653 by Chinese settlers to worship Guan Yu, an ancient Chinese general whose character stands for loyalty, bravery and justice and the local market vibrant with colors and activities. Return to your hotel

DAY 10     Hoi An Cooking Class - Biking Tra Que Vegetable Village    Meals: Breakfast    

Morning meet our guide at your hotel and transfer out to a local market where you meet another guide from the local cooking school. He will take you on a tour through the market to learn about the ingredients to be used in your recipes and daily Vietnamese menu. After the market, we board a boat to ride along the Hoi An river for about 25 minutes, watching local fishermen casting nets as part of their daily routine. Arrive at a small township and enter the cooking school. The class starts in an open-air pavilion by the river under the instruction of an experienced chef. You today have a chance to observe, practice and sample a typical lunch in Vietnam. After lesson, have a good lunch cooked the local style to your own taste. Enjoy it yourself.

In the afternoon, ride a bicycle to a local farm in Tra Que village. You will take a trip around the vegetable garden and join the farmers in preparing the land and fertilizing it with seaweed from the local lake. We continue doing something such as: raking the ground, sowing, watering greens, picking greens and many more gardening activities will be made.

DAY 11     Da Nang – Hochiminh (Sai Gon) - Half Day City Tour    Meals: Breakfast

Morning, free at leisure until transfer to Da Nang airport for flight to Ho Chi Minh City
Flight time is approximately 1.5 hours.

Meet your driver for an airport transfer with a private vehicle and guide. The transfer distance is approximately 30 minutes

Afternoon, we start the tour with a visit to the War Remnants Museum which features a comprehensive collection of the machinery, weapons, photos, and documentation of Vietnam War with the both the French and Americans and the Reunification Palace which was the former residence of the President of South Vietnam until end of April 1975. Move on to Cho Lon or the city’s China Town where you will visit the Jade Emperor Temple (Phuoc Hai), a rare Taoist structure in Vietnam built in 1909 in dedication to the Lord of Heaven. It’s filled with smoky incense and fantastic carved figurines and still buzzing with worshipers, many lounging in the front gardens.

DAY 12     Full Day Mekong Delta Tour (My tho & Ben Tre)    Meals: Breakfast    

Today, you will be picked up and travel past miles of flat rice fields, along a bustling road to the Mekong Delta, the world’s largest delta and Vietnam's largest rice bowl.

On arrival in My Tho City, board a motorboat and navigate through intricate canals while observing the local daily life up close as well as the landscape of waterways and lush islands. Land on Thoi Son Island where you can listen to Southern traditional music performed by native artists. Next, you will change to a paddle boat to cruise through the narrow canals and visit households with traditional occupations of home-based coconut candy and rice-wine making. Continue travel by motorized boat to another island to visit a bee farm and taste tea with fresh honey from the beehives and enjoy fresh fruits. On the return to My Tho, stop to visit the Vinh Trang Pagoda, a prominent local Buddhist structure built in 1850 with a unique architectural mixture of Vietnamese, Roman, Chinese and Cambodian styles characterized by a highly ornate façade. You might enjoy a lovely lunch at a local Vietnamese restaurant. At the end of the tour, you will find the way back to Ho Chi Minh.

DAY 13     Hochiminh - Siem Reap    Meals: Breakfast 

Meet our guide & driver at the hotel lobby then transfer to airport for flight to Siem Reap. The flight time is approximately 1 hour.
Arrive at Siem Reap International Airport, please go to custom desk as your first point of entry to get visa-on-arrival into the country and pay stamping fees directly by cash to custom office there.

Transfer to hotel with a private vehicle and your guide. The driving distance is approximately 30 minutes.

DAY 14     Angkor Thom & Angkor Wat Tour    Meals: Breakfast  

Today, visit to the antique capital of Angkor Thom, built in the 12th century: the South Gate with its huge statues depicting the churning of the ocean of milk, the Bayon Temple, unique for its 54 towers decorated with over 200 smiling faces of Avolokitesvara, the Phimeanakas, the Royal Enclosure, the Elephants Terrace and the Terrace of the Leper King.

After a short your rest, you will visit the most famous of all the temples on the plain of Angkor: Angkor Wat. The temple complex covers 81 hectares and is comparable in size to the Imperial Palace in Beijing. Its distinctive five towers are emblazoned on the Cambodian flag. This masterpiece is considered by art historians to be the prime example of classical Khmer art and architecture. Angkor Wat’s five towers symbolize Meru’s five peaks - the enclosed wall represents the mountains at the edge of the world and the surrounding moat, the ocean beyond. End of day take a relaxing stopover at Prasat Chrung visiting Tadev Hole and temple with the best Sunset. Return to your hotel and end of the tour

DAY 15     Siem Reap - The River Of The Thousand Lingas - Luang Prabang    Meals: Breakfast  

Today, deep in the jungle, a visit of Kbal Spean will be made. Kbal Spean is known as the river of the Thousand Lingas and highly recommended. The rocks of the river have been carved during 11th and 13th Century, which gives it a magical touch. Next, drive to Kbal Spean in 1h15 on a good unpaved road and climb-up to this extraordinary site of the Thousand Lingas before heading back to Siem Reap in the early afternoon. We don’t recommend this tour during dry season as there is no water in the river.

After tour, transfer airport for departure flight to Luang Prabang – Laos.

Welcome to Laos! please go to custom desk as your first point of entry to get visa-on-arrival into the country and pay stamping fees directly by cash to custom office there then guide will pick you up outside and transfer to the city for check in.

Your private vehicle and guide transfer you to hotel for check in. The driving distance is approximately 30 minutes.

DAY 16     Luang Prabang Full Day City Tour    Meals: Breakfast  

Morning, explore Luang Prabang including the former royal temples, Wat Visun where one can see the Biggest statue, Wat Xieng Thong the most beautiful temple in Luang Prabang with its mosaic decoration and the former royal carriage. Next, visit the Museum (former king’s palace).

Afternoon, continue a visit at Photisak silver shop, and Minority Art centre. You also learn how different type of minority groups in Laos, their ways of living, and their survival. End of tour, climb up Mt Phousi overlooking the city of Luang Prabang before passing by the night market. Back to your hotel

DAY 17     Luang Prabang - Pak U Cave & Khuang Si Waterfall - Vientiane    Meals: Breakfast 

Morning, take a traditional wooden boat upstream to visit the famous cave of Pak Ou. The cave locates just right on the cliff; it’s a very impressive and stunning sight. Inside the cave, there are more than one hundred Buddha images which have been brought by local people since the early 14th century when the cave was found. On the way, stop shortly at Ban Muang Kham, which specializes in river weed making. Next, a stop will also be made at Ban Xanghai where you can enjoy the taste of the local rice wine. Lunch will be served on the terrace facing the Nam Ou River (lunch not included)

After lunch, drive to Kuang Si Falls, located 30 kilometers south of Luang Prabang. The many tiered waterfalls have scooped out small basins of turquoise color. You can cool off with a refreshing swim in the pools and hike around the falls if wanted. Return to Luang Prabang and on the way back a stop will be made at one of the local villages.

You are free at leisure until transfer to the airport for flight to Vientiane. Flight time is approximately 50 munities. Arrival Vientiane, you are transferred to hotel for checking in

DAY 18     Vien Tiane Full Day City Tour    Meals: Breakfast 

Meet at hotel, explore Vientiane including some main temples such as Vat Ho Prakeo used to be the house of the Emerald Buddha and Wat Sisaket crossing the street and where more than ten thousand of Buddha images are being placed. We continue to Pratuxai, it was Arc the Triumph of France. Afterwards, climb up to the top to get a great view of the city. End the tour with the visit to Golden Stupa, well known as That Luang Stupa and believed to contain a relic of Lord Buddha.

Afternoon, we continue to visit Lao Revolutionary Museum where you’ll learn and get to know what happened during the French colonial time, and during the reign of the King Anou and Chao Fa Ngum. Visit Ban Nong Bouathong the weaving village, to get to know how people feed worms for the silk and lots of the Lao textiles.

DAY 19     Vien Tiane Departure    Meals:

Today you are free until meet our guide & driver then transfer to airport for flight departure