2024 Vietnam and Cambodia

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All photos for this trip can be found in our
2024 Vietnam and Cambodia Photo Album
Some are also shown in our weekly blogs.

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During the early fall of 2023 we decided we wanted to do "something different" for a trip. So we cancelled plans for a return to Oaxaca Mexico and started planning a trip to Vietnam and Cambodia. We decided a good way to get introduced to "life in Vietnam" was to go on a foodie tour. We found a 12 day Intrepid Group tour that sounded right up our alley so signed up for it. Then started planning around that.

We came up with this basic itinerary:

1. Drive and ferry to Vancouver. fly Air Canada Vancouver - Seoul then Asiana to Hanoi.
2. A couple of days in Hanoi to get over jet lag etc.
3. A 12 day food tour travelling from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh City.
4. After a couple of extra days in Ho Chi Minh City fly to Siem Reap, Cambodia to visit the Angkor Wat complex.
5. Return to Vietnam for about 2 weeks on our own with no specific plans at the outset. Decide as we go.
6. Fly Bamboo Airlines Hanoi - Tokyo then Air Canada - Vancouver
7. A couple of days with our friend Marian in Vancouver then drive and ferry home to Courtenay.

Everything went pretty well according to plan. While on the food tour in Hoi An, central Vietnam, we decided to return to Hoi An for 6 days after leaving Cambodia. We also planned a luxury 3 day 2 night excursion out of Hanoi at the end of our trip so we booked two nights in Hanoi then the 2 night excursion followed by 2 more nights in Hanoi.

Meanwhile our flights home changed when Bamboo Airlines essentially went out of business. Air Canada rescheduled us to fly Hanoi - Bangkok then Bangkok - Vancouver. This rescheduling gave us an extra day in Hanoi as our original 1:00 AM flight out of Hanoi changed to 8:30 PM the same day. We just had to leave our stuff at the hotel while we did some last minute sightseeing until around 4:00 PM for our arranged ride to the airport.

Our food tour was organized by Intrepid Tours. It turned out that there were only seven others signed up so along with our guide we were a relatively small group of eight. Details of the food tour are included in our weekly posts.

While staying in Hoi An with our food tour group we decided to return to Hoi An after we leave Cambodia so made arrangements to stay at the same hotel and booked the appropriate flights. From Hoi An we returned to Hanoi to finish the trip.

Here's our weekly posts...

Week 1: Courtenay to Hanoi, Vietnam
Week 2: Hanoi to Hoi An, Vietnam
Week 3: Hoi An to Siem Reap, Cambodia
Week 4: Siem Reap to Hoi An, Vietnam
Week 5: Hoi An to Hanoi, Vietnam
Week 6: Hanoi to Courtenay

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