Laem Chabang

[bunzo]

We are considering a cruise that spends two days in Laem Chabang. My research tells me it is a very large port and little else that is 100 km from Bangkok.That seems like a long trip(in that traffic!) to do more than once and I am wondering if I am missing something about the port aside from Bangkok.I'm also curious about Sihanoukville Cambodia. I understand excursions go to Angor Wat from there. Is there anything else(we visited Angor Wat last year) that I am not getting...thanks vw

[CtheW0rld]

you'll probably get better answers by post and searching on the asia boards section of CC. very very very few HAL cruises visit that part of the world.

 

if i ever had a chance to visit angor waht, i wouldn't miss it.

[rafinmd]

IMHO, unless there are things I don't know about, I'd strongly recommend booking a tour with an overnight. If HAL offers one, great, otherwise a private tour might be your best bet. I embarked there on the Queen Victoria and Bangkok had a lot to offer, but I saw little to impress in Laem Chabang.

 

Roy

[Naomi2]

We stopped at Leam Chabang on the Volendam last year. The first day we went to BangkoK and had a fabulous tour with lunch at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel and a cruise where the huge fish were jumping out of the water to nibble on the bread we were feeding them. We also saw a 300' all gold Buddah that took your breath away, a number of streets packed with outdoor florists making all kinds of flower arrangements and a Palace that was so colorful it could have been made out of Legos.

The second day we went to the Nong Nooch Cultural Village and saw the most amazing singers and dancers as well as Elephants that played soccer, baseball, and painted pictures. They also stepped over and on people who were lying on the ground. It was fabulous. (the people survived) Then we went to a garden that looked like fantasy land. The plantings were surreal. Don't miss Leam Chabang. The ship tours are worth every penny at this stop. Yours, Naomi2.

[USN59-79]

I think it is great that some cruises spend two days at some of the major ports such as Laem Chabang. You can go online and reserve a hotel room in Bangkok fairly inexpensively and do your own tour there. As for going to Angkor Wat from Sihanoukville, HAL has a three day two night tour for $2600 double occupancy where you meet the ship in Singapore. While I would like to see Angkor, I think we will do it in conjunction with a week or two in another country like VietNam. The HAL thing seems like a lot of money for a kind of rushed two nights in Cambodia IMHO.

[CaveDiving]

We will be on the Grand Asia that stops for two days in Leam Chabang in October.

 

Karen and I usually spend the first day in Pattaya which has some really interesting local shopping and unique restaurants. I plan on getting a couple of sport jackets made there. I got a few last year and the summer weight wool is a great weight for the dining room on the ship. The tailer we use has a great selection of fabrics. The jackets were only $100 each compared to $250 in Hong Kong and $600 from the Hong Kong tailor that came on the ship.

 

The ship runs a bus to Pattaya and the first day I order the jackets in the morning, we walk around the shops, have a great lunch and a second fitting in the afternoon. The next day I go scuba diving in the morning and pick up the jackets in the afternoon.

 

Last year it was kind of dangerous in Bangkok. Earlier this year it was really bad with riots in the streets and people getting killed. I don't know how much better it will be in October.

Scott & Karen

[Court's DH]

Regarding Sihanoukville: We were there three years ago, and I asked a tuk tuk driver to get me to Wat Leu. Seems like it's a little bit off the beaten path - there weren't any other tourists, and I liked that a lot. The driver then said something along the lines of "if you like cloisters, I can show you the one where I grew up." He gave me a tour and introduced me to the monks - which was even more interesting. Then he drove me to one of the beaches - very nice, too.

 

Some of the pictures I took in Sihanoukhville:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all, the experience made this my favorite port of the whole cruise. There may not be gazillions of palaces and tons of gold plated whatnots - but I felt like I saw more of "Cambodian reality", as opposed to what tourists are supposed to tick off their travel guide's checklist. The kindness of the people and the glimpse of "real life" made it just the more fascinating to me. So my recommendation would be: Get a tuk tuk and ask the driver to show you around - Sihanoukville may well surprise you!