Which one to let go?

It was a little crazy. We wanted to go to a few places in Vietnam and not only go, we wanted to at least spend a night over, not wanting it to be too brief of a stop. Places in consideration was Hanoi, Sapa and visit the Bac Ha market as well, Halong Bay, Hue, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC), Mekong Delta & finally crossing over to Phnom Penh (PP), Cambodia for the flight home. Also that we missed Phnom Penh the last time when we visited the magnificent Angkor Complex in Siem Reap a couple of years ago.

When we booked the ticket to Hanoi in October last year, the only thing we had in mind was - not month end (cos I cant take leave during month ends) and not too near Chinese New Year as things would be expensive. It can only be 2 weeks cos sis can only take 3 weeks off and she has to stay in Malaysia for at least 1 week. I guess lady luck was smiling upon us seeing our determination to visit our neighbouring country up north. March is a great month to travel to Hanoi - not too cold in Sapa but cool enough weather in north of Vietnam and the rain wasn't pouring.

As we booked so early in advance without any planning, we opted for flying in and out from Hanoi but at later stages realise that going back to Hanoi is not very wise, hence taking advantage of the Air Asia promotion in February, we got the free tickets flying back to KL from PP.

With additional option of able to fly back either from Hanoi or PP, there's even more possibilities of itineries. So crazy us came out with not 1 or 2 possible itineries... but instead... SIX!! = ="

There were consideration to drop Sapa and go back another time, or drop Halong Bay (but I'm
reluctant) or drop the Mekong Delta, just take a bus from HCMC to PP. So many possibilities...

The differences of the itineries...

1. Include Sapa (but omit Bac Ha) and Halong Bay but only 1 day in Hanoi and 1 day in HCMC
   
2. Let go of Sapa, spend 2 days in Hanoi and HCMC respectively
   
3. Include Sapa, travels up to Hoi An and back to Hanoi for flight back
   
4. Bac Ha on Sunday but Sapa on Monday (edit: realised there is no market in Sapa on Monday later on = ="), take a bus to Saigon from Hoi An, stopping over at Nha Trang. To Halong Bay first before departing for Sapa, Bac Ha. Omit Danang
   
5. Sapa on Saturday, Bac Ha on Sunday. Travels to Halong Bay thereafter. Take a bus to Saigon from Hoi An, stopping over at Nha Trang. Omit Danang
   
6. Sapa on Saturday, Bac Ha on Sunday. Travels to Halong Bay thereafter. Take a train from Danang to HCMC, not stopping at Nha Trang.

We opted for itinery no 6. Reasons being the connecting bus from Hoi An to Nha Trang and Nha Trang to HCMC is too near, also that the possibility of motion sickness from travelling by bus should we attempt to read

Side note: Little P said I ought to blog it up, when I told her I was at itinery no 6 then :P

Next post on Vietnam 2008