South East Asia has a huge amount to offer as a luxury destination and visiting Indochina will make for a memorable holiday. Traditional luxury destinations such as Thailand’s Islands or Singapore are still great but my current pick is Indochina, one of my favourite parts of Asia with an enormous amount to offer as a luxury destination.

Indochina is the colonial name for what is now Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Their colonial legacy saw Indochina, suffer through decades of war and repression during and after WWII In the last ten years though the region is finally, after decades of destruction followed by more years of neglect,is finally emerging as a luxury destination for the more adventurous holiday-maker. The French weren’t very good at the boring bits of colonisation i.e. governance and infrastructure but they did leave behind two wonderful legacies: architecture and food. The French who visit Vietnam claim that the baguettes ubiquitously available for breakfast throughout the country are better than the those available in France today, probably because they are not mass-produced.

For the luxury traveller options are developing rapidly in all three countries. Old hotels are being renovated beautifully and new luxurious one’s being built by overseas investors. Prices tend to be quoted in US$, to which many of the local currencies are pegged. This is not only handy because you don’t have to keep your kip/dong/bhat straight - but if your investments are in other than US$ you know what good value you will be getting.

South East Asia’s gateway cities are generally: Hong Kong, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. You arrive and depart by some of the world’s newest and best designed airports and get the option of flying in the lap of luxury with airlines such as Singapore Airlines which is currently of course offering the new A380 offering effectively private cabins in first class. The flight time to the main destinations of Indochina from any of these cities varies from 30 minutes (Bangkok to Luang Prabang, Laos) to nearly 2 hours (Singapore to Hanoi)

One of the things with Indochina is that thanks to the Americans the road and surface transport infrastructure is completely stuffed,or as the tourist brochures will have it: undeveloped. Vietnam is a long narrow country which you will know if you have visited New Zealand can be difficult to maintain a decent infrastructure even with a good economy. Vietnam hasn’t yet had time to fix their infrastructure. Cambodia and Laos have have even worse roads : both were more heavily bombed than Vietnam during, what is known locally as the American war, so are only now starting to develop a real roading system. However Laos, Cambodia and southern Vietnam share a wonderful alternative: the Mekong River. The compact distances make flying an excellent option with frequent flights connecting Hanoi, Danang (central Vietnam for Hue and Hoi An), Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) as well as Siem Reap (Angkor Wat), Phnom Penh, Laos’ gem Luang Prabang and its capital Vientiane.

Indochina’s Top Luxury Destinations

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

The huge city/temple complex is probably the number one reason why most visitors come to Cambodia. To even briefly explore the ruins takes at least three days: an air conditioned taxi and guide are both essential. The complex is best seen from the air: it’s so huge and to date still mainly un-excavated so that it is impossible to understand the scale of the area from the sky. Close up though you will marvel at the skill of the artisans. Unfortunately the whole complex bankrupted the visionary King Suryavarman II who had it built in the early 12th century. The complex was lost to the jungle for centuries which explains its remarkably well-preserved carvings. There is even a huge ancient swimming pool, unfortunately still under renovation!

A word to the wise :Angkor Wat is the only site worth seeing in town (its actually a few kilometres out of town). Siem Reap is rapidly turning into a typical cheap, tacky Thai resort town, where you are more likely to find bad food than anywhere else in Cambodia. Choose one of the excellent first class hotels available in the area and give Siem Reap itself a miss.

Luang Prahbang, Laos

Laos, the self- proclaimed “land of a million elephants” has the dubious distinction of being the most bombed country on earth. And Laos wasn’t even involved in the Vietnam conflict. America had agreed with the Thai authorities for bomber not to return with unused ordinance after their “reconnaissance” missions over Vietnam. Unfortunately southern Laos was in their flight path. Luckily for the tourist industry though Luang Prahbang is in the northern part of the country was not. Luang Prahbang is the former royal capital which is a completely preserved, but still living town which alternates gorgeous temples with French colonial architecture in a way that works incredibly well. The monks still walk through town at dawn every day to receive the offerings from the locals, and tourists, which is their only food for the day. It it not at all surprising that the entire town is a UNESCO World Heritage listed. What is more surprising is that you will find some of the very finest French restaurants in Asia here as well. Within walking distance of the nightly markets where the local hill tribes sell their handicrafts. Luang Prahbang sounds like a made in Disney tourist experience but it is actually authentic – just a little off the beaten track: just not over-run, yet.

Luxury River Cruising.

River travel never stopped being a day-to-day option in this part of the world and now a new generation of purpose built luxury craft are starting to run on the Mekong and her tributaries. Luangsay Cruises offers a luxury cruises at both ends of the country. From/to northern Thailand’s Houey Xay to Luang Prahbang is a 2 day journey (boats don’t travel at night because of river hazards) with an overnight stop which will allow you to continue on to the Golden Triangle area of northern Thailand. The same company offers a new trip in southern Laos from Champassak to the 4,000 Islands area very near the Cambodian border. All through the southern part of Laos the Mekong is the border between Thailand and Laos. It is very odd to sit on the Laos side and see the bright lights of Thailand. Laos is still a poor country with limited infrastructure outside of Vientiane and Luang Prahbang but the people are charming and friendly and option of cruising is a very comfortable alternative. The Mekong river is not particularly wide so you’ll get a great view of both countries as you cruise by.

It is also possible to take a luxury cruise all the way from the Mekong Delta near Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) all the way to Siem Reap near Angkor Wat in western Cambodia via Cambodia’s capital Phnom Penh on the way. Pandaw River Cruises offer luxury Mekong River cruises on their purpose built fleet of luxury boats. It’s an eight day leisury cruise from Angkor to Saigon: you will want at least 3 days at each end as well so its not a short trip: but an amazing way to see some truly remote and interesting country in luxury. In comparison the fight is less than two hours!

Angkor aerial view photo credit: All other photos: vacation tips