Thailand advice

I spent 10 years after retirement spending the winter months travelling in SE Asia, it was easy to travel from country to country, did the overnight trains many, many times and travelled from Singapore to The North of Thailand. Loved the north. In later years we spent most of our time in Laos and Cambodia, after spending a month in Vietnam we vowed never to go back, the food was the best ever and the country people fine but in the towns and cities always ready to rip you off. The Cambodians are lovely people with the best sense of humour and it’s easy to travel around the country using buses. My favourite country is Laos, lovely, lovely people and the only way to travel was by bus. Luang Prabang in the North is a must to visit, a stunning small city. I could go on but suffice to say it’s all easy travel, visas on arrival so carry plenty of visa type photos, atm everywhere.

And we did it all independently with the help of the Rough Guide and a paper map of the area.

Barmeyoldbat that sounds brilliant. Brave too. I envy you. What an adventure. This us the oart if the world I would really like to have visited.

I too preferred the north of Thailand. Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai. From Chiang Rai you can travel up into Laos and take a two day boat ride down to Luang Prabang

I too have spent many holidays backpacking around all the SE Asia countries and loved every day of it. I also have tickets to Vietnam in February for 3 weeks. I have never been there before though my partner has. I have been put off Vietnam in the past as I had also heard that there was more chance of being ripped off. I will reserve judgment until I have been and can see for myself. We have decided just to stay in the south of the country and explore a smaller area rather than the expedition from one end of the country to another. Really looking forward to the trip.

Yes we took that boat many times, once with a just ten year old and the second time with two very young teenagers. The 10 year old spent all her time with the gap year lot backpacking around, she even wanted to share their sleeping accommodation!. We travelled all over the north of Laos, just make sure you have medical insurance if going to either Laos or Cambodia as you will need to go to Thailand or Singapore for serious treatment. Husband had an accident in Laos and needed to travel overland by many days, boat and bus, to get to Thailand for an operation.n on his knee

Barmeyoldbat I’m with you! DD lives in the north of Thailand and we’ve been several times. It’s beautiful, as is Laos. Luang Prabang is one of my favourite places in the world and the boat trip down the Mekong to get there is a joy.

On our last trip we started in Bangkok and couldn’t get away quickly enough from the permanently gridlocked traffic. We went to Kanchanaburi, site of the real Bridge over the River Kwai, and the ancient capital of Ayutthaya before heading north. Both are well worth visiting.

Ayutthaya lovely and worth a visit in Nov or Dec when the hold a festival with an outdoor show amongst the ruins showing the history of the town. Very few Europeans go nearly all Thais. They act out the history using real elephants in the battle, dancers the lot. Health and safety doesn’t exist!

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I would wholeheartedly recommend doing Vietnam and Cambodia!
But Thailand is a big country depending on how long you want to be with your son.
I have been to Vietnam twice and Cambodia once. Both wonderful but Vietnam has my vote and I’d be back if I could.