Hey there all
my wife and i are plan on attempting to get from hanoi to delhi buy way of bus/train/hire a local to drive us some sections. we are open to suggestions on route.has anyone tried and been successful?
cheers
mick
Reply to this nope but I would love to hear how you go. I know you can get the train up from Hanoi into China. Just make sure you sort your visas out beforehand
Reply to this after a little more research i think we will probably overland through laos,vietnam,maybe cambodia then to thailand. then fly thailand to eastern india then overland through india. india has an extensive rail network though i have been told to only travel on routes that have aircond sleeper carriages. i here the trains can be pretty hectic but i think that's part of the fun of getting to your destination. the leg from hanoi to thailand looks awesome some crazy bus rides and a lots of time on river boats by the looks of it.i was super keen on going to myanmar but the land boarders between there and india are closed to foreigners unfortunately and their airlines are less than safe. not to worry. we're leaving vancouver around mid july and will update our progress when we can looking at spending 3-4 months in that general area
Reply to this those bus rides between Thailand and Hanoi.....
friends of mine took the boat from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang....they had to sit on a plastic chair for 3 days. But I do believe that there is other space to sit as my other friend said it was fine.
The bus from Luang Prabang to Hanoi, very cheap, 24 hours!! Its up and down, left and right, everybodies being sick, you end up having to sit on sacks of spuds etc and its breaks down and the jounrey ends up taking 30 hours. My advice.....fly!! its a bit pricey at $120 but its takes 1 hour!! you gain a whole day + however long it would have taken you to recover
Reply to this cheers for that
will probably still try and overland it some how may be just going from village to village we don't have huge time constraints.keen to really get a feel the countries we're traveling through
Reply to this Re travelling through India; most trains have a choice of air con and non air con sleeper - air con is definitely more comfortable and you get meals too, it's not hectic at all if you travel on A/C 2 (2 berth sleepers) and A/C 3 is fine too; but sleeper class is also ok, depending how much you want to experience; I did a combination of all of those just to vary things. but if you're heading west and into Rajasthan, you can do some of it on buses too, (ie from Agra to Jaipur and then around Rajasthan) which are fine - you can get 'tourist' buses where you get an allocated seat or even sleeper if you want. I went from Varanasi to Agra by overnight train, then Agra to Jaipur, Pushkar, Udaipur, Jodhpur, Jaisalmer and Bikaner all on buses. then I took an overnight train to Jalandhar, changed for Amritsar, and from Amritsar took a bus to Dharamsala, and then a bus to Delhi. All of it was fine and not too hectic, I was a lone female traveller and I had no problems anywhere. If you're heading north to south on trains, opt for A/C 2 for more comfort and quiet, people are less likely to crowd into the carriage during daytime (when you're not entitled to your bunk).
Reply to this It's possible and fairly easy to travel by land between Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, China and some parts of Cambodia if you don't have time constraints. It's better to break the journey in not to long bits.
As Laur4 says, the confort is variable in Laos and Cambodia. Personnally, I have great memories of bus in Laos, not for the comfort but for the landscape. However, I always split the journey in max 9 to 10 hours bits. I once took a VIP bus in Laos. It was equivalent to a second class bus in thailand, but I missed the atmosphere of normal bus : not the same tourists, mot the same local people.
The boat between Luang Prabang and Huay Xai at the Thai border takes 2 days, comfort is limited unless you pay for the VIP boat more than 60$ (including accomodation) instead of 20$. Personnaly, I found the landscape is great enough to forget the wooden seat (take a pillow if you want a softer experience).
China and Vietnam don't deliver visa at the border. Thailand, Laos and Cambodge do.
Trains and bus in China are alright but you need a phrasebook as few people speak English. In general, there is always some one ready to help and up until now, I managed to buy my ticket directly at the counter without going through a travel agency or a guesthouse.
Reaching India through China was my plan but it supposed to go through Tibet and Nepal, which is no more an option as travel restrictions apply to Tibet for the moment.
Reply to this HEY THANKS ALL FOR YOUR HELP MUCH APPREICIATED AND INSPIRING CAN'T WAIT TO GET THERE
CHEERS
MICK
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