Southeast Asia on a Shoestring, 16 days of Rush

Made this post for Dillo & Kiky, the plan for my trip in August 2012 (not the right time for SEA mainland, wet season caused my Ha Long Bay became so stormy) starting from Ho Chi Minh City to the north, and going round to Lao PDR (Vientiane) and Cambodia (Angkor Wat, via Bangkok) then to Southern Thailand.

WARNING: No rush, don't follow this itinerary unless you're ready for an ambitiously exhausting trip. The travel system in the mainland has been well established so you can have more flexibility by taking the open-trip buses with many choices in the central backpackers areas. Stop by in every city, explore slowly, sleep for 2-3 days (or more), hit every market and the spots outside the light, talk more to travelers & local instead of focusing to your guidebook. For Indonesian travelers, trust me, mainland is much easier than your own country. I took note for the first days in Vietnam, but soon broke my promise to write further. May those be surprises for you :)

Finally, here's my itinerary (pardon my chaotic grammar, an itinerary should be a plan, but I ruined my plan and here's the replacement - the reality) at that time:

TUE 31 July	HCMC Arrived in HCMC at 7.30 pm, slept at the airport.
WED 1 Aug	HCMC –Na Thrang Take the morning public bus to the city center in HCMC, directly hit the bus counter (they call it travelers cafe) and get the night ticket to Hanoi, departed in the evening. Do the HCMC city tour (see: SEA Trip HCMC for further info) P.S. If you want to take the direct bus to Hue, you should take the morning bus which will skip Nha Trang. Normally they leave at 8am so book in advance.
THU 2 Aug FRI 3 Aug	Na Thrang (03/08: Na Thrang - Hoi An) Arrive at Na Thrang, take a hostel and ate crocodie (super important information), lost the direct bus (due to 1 day prior notice), continued to find anything worth exploring in the city. See: SEA Trip, Na Thrang
SAT 4 Aug	Hoi An - Hue - Ha Noi Arrived at Hue in the midday, explored the Citadel and continue to Hanoi in the evening. See: SEA Trip: Hoi An & Hue
SUN 5 Aug	Hue - Hanoi - Ha Long Bay Arrived in Hanoi in the morning, directly go to the city center and book a 2D1N trip to Ha Long Bay. Slept at the boat. I booked a ticket to Vientiane for my arrival. See: SEA Trip: Hanoi & Ha Long Bay
MON 6 Aug	Ha Long Bay - Hanoi - Vientiane Arrived in the city in the evening. Directly continue to Vientiane by the night.
TUE 7 Aug	Vientiane Long road all day to Vientiane, bring good books and spot good travelers for chitchat partners. Arrived in Vientiane in the evening. Slept in the backpacker area.
WED 8 Aug	Vientiane - Bangkok Explored the city, take a night bus to Bangkok.
THU 9 Aug	Bangkok - Siem Reap Arrived in Bangkok in the morning, directly went to the bus counter and book a roundtrip bus to and from Siem Reap. Departed to SR that day, arrived in SR in the evening. Took evening walk to the night market, slept at SR.
FRI 10 Aug	Siem Reap Exploring Angkor Wat with the 1 day pass.
SAT 11 Aug	Siem Reap - Bangkok Leaving SR in the morning, arrived at Bangkok by midday, explored the backpacker area.
SUN 12 Aug	Bangkok - Phuket Exploring Bangkok, went to Caktucak (JJ Market / weekend market) - a must do! Visit some temples. Booked a bus directly to Phi-Phi, continued via Phuket by night bus (12 hrs)
MON 13 Aug	Ko Phi Phi Arrived in the morning in Phi-Phi Island, seek for accommodation, explored the island, booked for an evening party in a private beach.
TUE 14 Aug	Ko Phi Phi Took a half-day snorkeling trip & hanging around the island.
WED 15 Aug	Ko Phi Phi - Phuket Went back to Phuket, took a bus heading to the airport, stopped by the beach 2 km away from the airport. Continued walking to the airport and spent the night sleeping at the airport.
THU 16 Aug	Phuket – Bali Morning flight to Bali. End of the trip!