Travel the Mekong countries - Accommodation

ACCOMMODATION

Both Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (Angkor) have international 5-star hotels, as well as medium-range and budget rooms.

Kunming and Chengdu offer good choice of hotels in the 3- and 4-star categories. In other destinations in Yunnan medium-range hotels and guesthouses provide adequate accommodation.

Vientiane has international-standard hotels, as well a good choice of mid-range properties and guesthouses. The best accommodation in Luang Prabang is to be found in small, converted royal residences, while budget hotels are also available. Elsewhere is the country are mid-range and inexpensive accommodations.

Yangon offers a small choice of 5-star international hotels and a wide selection of medium-standard and budget accommodation. A good standard and variety of local accommodation is available in Mandalay, while hotel development, including international-standard properties is ongoing. New hotels are also adding considerably to what were limited accommodation options in Bagan.

Bangkok can lay claim to having some of the best hotels in the world, and there is an extensive range of accommodation in all categories. Major resorts also boast everything from top international-standard properties to budget bungalows. First-class hotels are found in the main provincial centres, while even small towns can provide more than adequate facilities for overnight stops.

Both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh have top-class international hotels, as well as a choice of accommodation in all price ranges. There is less choice, but still a reasonable standard of accommodation in Hue and Danang.

Bangkok International Airport is Thailand’s major gateway and a regional aviation hub, served by direct flights by the worldûs major airlines from Europe, Asia, North America and Australia. Further international fl ights, mainly from Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong, land at Phuket and Hat Yai International Airports in the South and Chiang Mai in the North. A new Bangkok airport is currently under construction and due to open in 2006.

From Bangkok, Thai Airways International (THAI) operates fl ights to Kunming and Chengdu in China, to Phnom Penh in Cambodia, to Vientiane and Luang Prabang in Lao PDR, to Yangon in Myanmar and to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. THAI also has fl ights from Chiang Mai to Jinghong and Yangon.

Private carrier Bangkok Airways fl ies from Bangkok to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, Luang Prabang, Yangon and Jinghong. Also, Bangkok Airways and its partner airline, Siem Reap Airways International, offer a fl ight loop Bangkok- Luang Prabang-Siem Reap-Phnom Penh-Bangkok.

By road, southern Lao PDR can be reached from Ubon Ratchathani, while Vientiane is accessible from Nong Khai via the Friendhship Bridge. In the future, a bridge will link Mukdahan with Savannakhet, giving road access on to Danang in Vietnam. The land border between Thailand and Myanmar at Mai Sai is sometimes open to tourists. Road travel from Thailand to Siem Reap in Cambodia is also possible. By boat down the Mekong, Luang Prabang can be reached from the northern Thai town of Chiang Saen.

For travel within the Mekong countries, domestic fl ights link all major cities. Road travel is a further possibility in many places, one of the most popular routes being Highway 1 in Vietnam, which links Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. However, with the exception of Thailand, road conditions are not generally of international standards.

Given the topographical variety of the Mekong lands, along with an everexpanding tourism infrastructure, opportunities for special interest activities and soft adventure tours abound.

Thailand is, of course, the most developed in this respect and offers an enormous range of action and sporting activities. In the north of the country, trekking, elephant rides, mountain biking, river rafting and four-wheel drive safaris are all available, while scuba-diving, yachting, sea canoeing, and deep-sea fi shing are active options in the southern coastal waters. Rock climbing is also a noted attraction in Krabi. National parks throughout the Kingdom offer scope for discovering Thailand's vast variety of fl ora and fauna, bird watching being especially rewarding.

In the other Mekong countries activities include trekking, bird watching, river excursions, boat trips on the Tonle Sap in Cambodia, and not to be missed, sea canoeing in Vietnam’s Ha Long Bay.