Travel to Asia

[natejj]

I know buddy made a thread on China, but this is a bit more broad. A friend and I are thinking of spending 3-4 weeks in Asia next year, traveling around, going on adventures, seeing the nightlife, stuff like that. Problem is.... Asia is HUGE. I have NO IDEA where to even start planning an itinerary for us. Spend 1 week in china? Is Japan worth hitting up? I figure if we had 28 days, and spent 5-6 days per country, we could hit Japan, China, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia?

Do you guys think that's biting off way too much? Is $3k enough for a trip like this? Hostel's of course.

Or if anyone has backpacked Asia before, throw out your suggestions, any advice is or stories are much appreciated.

[maxomilll]

3k is enough for that amount of time for sure, depending on how expensive japan is. but i think 5 countries is a bit optimistic... I spent almost 3 months in Asia, hit thailand cambodia vietnam and indonesia, and that was almost to much for that amount of time. Granted I did spend a month in Bali.
you may feel rushed, which will take away from you trip.

In the 3 months i spent about 4k.

[natejj]

Originally posted by maxomilll
3k is enough for that amount of time for sure, depending on how expensive japan is. but i think 5 countries is a bit optimistic... I spent almost 3 months in Asia, hit thailand cambodia vietnam and indonesia, and that was almost to much for that amount of time. Granted I did spend a month in Bali.
you may feel rushed, which will take away from you trip.

In the 3 months i spent about 4k.

Yeah I'm thinking drop Japan, Laos and Cambodia. Keep it simple, and see more of a few countries. 12 days in China, 7 in Thailand, 7 in Vietnam.

Where are the best beaches, and whats the weather like in February/March? Is there a rainy season to avoid?

[maxomilll]

Im pretty sure rainy season starts around september..or its just ending... cant remember. Best beaches are south thailand on the islands, crazy parties to. Ko pi pi, is a sweet little island. No motorized vehicles, its super small. And the beach where they shot the movie the ''beach'' is there.

Vietnam, if you like wind surfing, Munie is a cool town.

If you end up in bangkok, go to an infamous ''pingpong'' show... you'll come back with stories.. Im not really recommending this. But you will come back with stories. :barf:

Cambodia for sure see Ankorwat.

[CHICHARITZHI]

Originally posted by natejj
I know buddy made a thread on China, but this is a bit more broad. A friend and I are thinking of spending 3-4 weeks in Asia next year, traveling around, going on adventures, seeing the nightlife, stuff like that. Problem is.... Asia is HUGE. I have NO IDEA where to even start planning an itinerary for us. Spend 1 week in china? Is Japan worth hitting up? I figure if we had 28 days, and spent 5-6 days per country, we could hit Japan, China, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia?

Do you guys think that's biting off way too much? Is $3k enough for a trip like this? Hostel's of course.

Or if anyone has backpacked Asia before, throw out your suggestions, any advice is or stories are much appreciated.

3k u can buy land in vietnam..:D

$3000 = 54,286,572 VND that's a lot man..

[davidI]

I'd suggest you spend the entire 3-4 weeks in one or maximum 2 countries. I've been to Thailand 5 times for a total of 3 months and still have more to see. I've spent 3 weeks in Vietnam and it was not enough. I spent 2 weeks in Laos and it was not enough. I've been to Cambodia twice for a total of 3 weeks and it was not enough. I spent 10 days in Japan and barely scratched the surface. All I'm saying is don't spread yourself thin or you won't really have much time to "get into it" if you know what I mean. You don't want to spend half your days in planes, trains and automobiles. It's also nice to sleep in the same bed for more than a night or two.

For a first time Asia trip, I'd recommend hitting Thailand for 2 weeks in the South, 1 week in the North, and 1 week in Northern Laos (www.gibbonx.org or just hit Vang Vien and get retarded drunk on the river for a few days).

The weather should still be fine in February, though I'm not sure about March. For the South of Asia I like going in Jan/Feb. I love Angkor Wat in Cambodia as well so it would be another great option for the week, but it can be a tough overland trip and flights are expensive from Bangkok. You could also venture into Myanmar - it would be rather eye-opening and more off the beaten track.

Once you've narrowed it down a bit more I can recommend an itinerary for you.

[93VR6]

I just spent one month in vietnam, two weeks in cambodia and two weeks in laos, now i'm on my final month in thailand.

3k should be fine, I have been here for about 2 months and a week and I have spent 4k not including flights.

I would really reccomend going to Vang vieng in laos and go tubning, it's ridiculous get drunk on cheap buckets and they have waterslides that launch you into the river or ziplines or swings, it's pretty cool.

Vietnam is by far the cheapest of the countries in question, close second goes to cambodia, I was averaging about $4 a night for a room and about $10 in food, but thats about as cheap as it gets so dont get too excited.

Enjoy your time there, it goes way faster then you think.

[cooperS]

go to nha trang in vietnam, nice beach and cheap hotel rooms.
you only need 2 days for ho chi manh city

food are cheap for thailand, vietnam and china. so the only thing you probably spend you money is on going on day trips or tour. just make sure you bargain.

weather will be around 27 - 30 degrees during late feb/ march in vietnam and thailand. for china, it depends where you go. Bejing/ Shanghai are just like winter here in calgary but Southern China is around 20 - 25 degrees.

[Dumbass17]

5-6 days per country is pretty impossible dude, you're going to find places you'll never want to leave. don't forget to factor in travel time. you can spend the better part of a day just traveling.
if i were you i would decide if you want to be around china/japan or if you want to be in SE Asia. i was just in SE Asia for 2 months and could've easily spent 6 more

[eblend]

Dropping Japan...thats a new one, usually it is the country most people want to go to due to the technology and actual modern living vs most other third world countries.

Anyways, 3 years ago I travelled to 7 countries in 7 weeks.

Japan
Korea
Malaysia
Hong Kong
Phillipines
Thailand
Singapore

From those countries, Japan was by far the best (been there 3 times since..). One week per country is plenty, some places you probably wouldn't want to spend more then 3 days...so you can add those days to other countries.

I spend 10 days in Japan and spend 1 week hopping to a new city every morning (shinkansen trains are crazy fast way to get around) and the rest of the time in Tokyo.

Thailand I thought was pretty lame, mind you I only stayed in Bangkok, not much happening in that city that was interesting to me.

Phillipines I stayed in Cebu, awesome snorkeling and ocean, but other than that, just a bunch of poor people struggeling to survive.

Hong Kong is awesome and definately can spend a week in there.

Korea I was only in Seoul for 4 days, but was awesome as well, DMZ tour is a must.

Singapore is cool to visit for a few days, but few days is all you would need to see everything if you try to be busy.

Malaysia was cool, neat things to see and do, but still, 3-4 days is enough.

I don't know if they still offer it, but Cathay pacific had an all asia pass which allowed you basically for one price fly to as many asian cities as they service. I think they had like 27 in total or something. I paid just over 3k for all the flights with the asia pass. The only thing that changes from the base price is the airport fees, so the more cities you go, the more different fees get added, the base stays the same.

All in all for 7 weeks, all in I spend about 9k, this is staying in Hostels and not spending lavishly.

I don't recommend you hit up China this time around, as mainland China is huge! It definatelly deserves it's own trip just by itself, that is why I am leaving for there next Thursday :D Hong Kong you should hit up, China is a whole different ball game.

Also, alot of the countries you mentioned require a Visa (vietnam for sure, as well as China) so don't forget about that. Maybe you have different interests, but hitting up some poor ass asian counties isn't something I think of first then thinking of where in Asia to go. I definatelly want to go there sometime, but they are not on my priority list.

[ornamental]

if you only have 3k for trip and flight and 28 days. you cant go wrong with S.E. asia. yoú'll live like a baller and its so easy to get around.
china and japan are a wee bit confusing/costly but there a excellent choice for a different trip

[timdog]

i'm going to vietnam in 6 weeks and some of you just managed to get me suuppper stoked

[Dumbass17]

Originally posted by timdog
i'm going to vietnam in 6 weeks and some of you just managed to get me suuppper stoked

if you go to Ha Noi and stay at hostels. go to central backpackers. they bring in a keg of beer EVERYNIGHT at 8pm and it's free til it's empty. good small hostel in a good location

enjoy

[kaput]

.

[gsrrr]

If you're looking to travel around a bunch of countries in SE Asia, look into flying with low cost airlines. e.g. AirAsia, TigerAirways, JetStar, etc.

I recently did a Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam, Thailand 28 day tour. I flew using AirAsia and JetStar. Flights are super cheap. As low as $40 for some short flights, and $150 for the longer ones.

Just know that with low cost airlines they ding you for everything. There are extra charges for food, water, checking in luggage, etc. Also if you miss a connecting flight -- even if it's the airline's fault you are out of luck.

My itinerary was mostly planned by figuring out which places AirAsia could take me.

[timdog]

Originally posted by Dumbass17


if you go to Ha Noi and stay at hostels. go to central backpackers. they bring in a keg of beer EVERYNIGHT at 8pm and it's free til it's empty. good small hostel in a good location

enjoy

thanks for the advice, I'll check it out! I am pretty sure we will be in Hanoi, but are pretty much playing it all by ear. do you have any other vietnam recommendations? I really want to see Ha Long Bay and my wife will want to see Nha Trang (total opposite ends, I know). Aside from that, I've heard Ho Chi Minh is good, but not really sure what else to check out. we'll only be in Viet for about 2 weeks. Is Hue any good? on a side note does anyone know the best way to get to Vietnam (likely Hanoi) from Hong Kong? I dont want to go through China on the train as I dont want to have to cough up the $100 or whatever for a Chinese visa when I am just passing through.

[timdog]

p.s. sorry to the OP for hijacking

[Dumbass17]

Originally posted by kaput
^You just took at least 5 years off my life :(

OH? why is that?


timdog:

i can't remember if hue was good but i'm 80% sure it was. Ho Chi Minh was ok but you will go nuts there after 3 days. there are alot of horns constantly beeping and it's just madness with scooters and people. i don't recall seeing anything of great significance. nha trang was nice and we got custom tailored suits made in hoi an if shopping is your thing, or your wifes, you may want to check that out as well.
you may want to check out Sapa as well, i missed out on that...

[Machi]

Originally posted by timdog
thanks for the advice, I'll check it out! I am pretty sure we will be in Hanoi, but are pretty much playing it all by ear. do you have any other vietnam recommendations? I really want to see Ha Long Bay and my wife will want to see Nha Trang (total opposite ends, I know). Aside from that, I've heard Ho Chi Minh is good, but not really sure what else to check out. we'll only be in Viet for about 2 weeks. Is Hue any good? on a side note does anyone know the best way to get to Vietnam (likely Hanoi) from Hong Kong? I dont want to go through China on the train as I dont want to have to cough up the $100 or whatever for a Chinese visa when I am just passing through.

Book a flight on Vietnam Airlines/Air Asia from HK->Hanoi... they have flights daily.

I haven't been to Hue or Nha Trang so can't give any advice for those cities but Nha Trang is mostly a resort town I believe. I would recommend Ha Long Bay for sure, it's around 1.5hrs outside Hanoi and there's always buses going out there. Try to negotiate prices so you don't get ripped off though. Ho Chi Minh is a neat place to check out (war tunnels, nightlife, etc) but it's probably SUPER HOT and humid right now, you won't want to do anything outside lol


Originally posted by Dumbass17
Ho Chi Minh was ok but you will go nuts there after 3 days. there are alot of horns constantly beeping and it's just madness with scooters and people.

This applies to most countries in Asia.. LOL

[Dumbass17]

yes true^^ but i found HCMC to be unbearable haha

[timdog]

cool, thanks guys

[kaishen]

budget airlines departing from Singapore

airasia
tiger airways
jetstar
valuair

[toyboy88]

Thread jack, but...

Anybody ever done those "student" tours for SE Asia? I'm talking about the companies like "Free and Easy" and the likes...

For those of you who have done a tour like this, would you do one again? And if so, which company would you recommend?

Cheers! :D

[timdog]

after doing some research it seems pretty hard to find a way to get from Hong Kong to Hanoi Vietnam for less than like $350 a person (one way). that seems steep. does anyone have any tips? none of the budget airlines that Kaishen mentioned above offer flights between those two locations, or from hong kong to anywhere in vietnam for that matter. the train is an option but you have to go through China which means $100 for a visa per person apparently.

[Euro838]

If you want to go to Hanoi via Hong Kong, you should book straight to Hanoi or Ho chi Minh and have your travel agent make Hong Kong a stop over for x days.

If you book straight to one of those above cities, it's usually less than booking a separate flight to Vietnam. Mind you that if you are flying from Canada, you'll have to choose like Air Canada or Cathay Pacific which may have higher fares to HK than like China Airlines or something.

For example, Calgary to HK may be like $1400 all-in on AC or Cathay, but if you flew to Vietnam, probably only cost you like $1500. But at the same time, you might be able to fly China Airlines for like $1100 all-in to HK but they don't service to Vietnam so you'd have to book separately.

[iCreep]

Originally posted by timdog
after doing some research it seems pretty hard to find a way to get from Hong Kong to Hanoi Vietnam for less than like $350 a person (one way). that seems steep. does anyone have any tips? none of the budget airlines that Kaishen mentioned above offer flights between those two locations, or from hong kong to anywhere in vietnam for that matter. the train is an option but you have to go through China which means $100 for a visa per person apparently.

Just for reference sake, when i went from hk to bali, i had to create my own flight/ connection flight. We had to stop in KL for like 6 hours and then fly to bali and we had to do the same for our way back. Cost us $500 cdn all in.

[Machi]

Originally posted by Euro838
If you want to go to Hanoi via Hong Kong, you should book straight to Hanoi or Ho chi Minh and have your travel agent make Hong Kong a stop over for x days.

If you book straight to one of those above cities, it's usually less than booking a separate flight to Vietnam. Mind you that if you are flying from Canada, you'll have to choose like Air Canada or Cathay Pacific which may have higher fares to HK than like China Airlines or something.

For example, Calgary to HK may be like $1400 all-in on AC or Cathay, but if you flew to Vietnam, probably only cost you like $1500. But at the same time, you might be able to fly China Airlines for like $1100 all-in to HK but they don't service to Vietnam so you'd have to book separately.

:werd: it will most likely be cheaper to fly that way with a stop over in HK. Otherwise you could keep checking sites like http://www.zuji.com.hk (Travelocity) or http://www.lastminute.com.hk , I'm seeing prices of $350-$400 for round trip HK<->Hanoi... I would avoid going through China though because it's such a hassle, especially if you won't be staying there.

[A|pine]

Multiple entry is 100 I believe, it is 50 for one time.

[timdog]

thanks but unfortunately i have already booked the HK flights several months ago, it probably wouldnt be worth the fees to get it changed. and yeah i am trying to avoid going through China at all. thanks for those deal sites I will check them out. Ideally I would want a one-way flight from HK - Hanoi, and then another one way flight to maybe HCMC - Denpasar Bali. Then a couple weeks later I need to figure out how to get back to HK from Bali. the trip wasnt very planned hah.

[Dumbass17]

Originally posted by toyboy88
Thread jack, but...

Anybody ever done those &quot;student&quot; tours for SE Asia? I'm talking about the companies like &quot;Free and Easy&quot; and the likes...

For those of you who have done a tour like this, would you do one again? And if so, which company would you recommend?

Cheers! :D

i was going to do that man..i was very close to booking one but then decided to go on my own. it is alot cheaper to do it yourself and it's so easy to meet people. i had a half-assed itinerary planned otu to get me started and it changed as soon as i met some people the first day in my hostel in bangkok. just book your flight in and giver!

[Jerms]

Thread jack again,

So I tried searching Thailand in the search menu but not many threads came up on it.

So in November, I'm headed to Hong Kong then going to Thailand for 7 days, in which we fly into Bangkok. I've never been anywhere in SE Asia before and I have no clue what to expect. There's about 6 of us going from Hong Kong and it'll be all our first experience.

Where are the places to go? What is there too see? What's there to besides party and lay on the beach?

How much is food, hotel/hostel etc? I just want to hear from local experiences before I search it up on google.

Thanks!

[Machi]

Originally posted by Jerms
Thread jack again,

So I tried searching Thailand in the search menu but not many threads came up on it.

So in November, I'm headed to Hong Kong then going to Thailand for 7 days, in which we fly into Bangkok. I've never been anywhere in SE Asia before and I have no clue what to expect. There's about 6 of us going from Hong Kong and it'll be all our first experience.

Where are the places to go? What is there too see? What's there to besides party and lay on the beach?

How much is food, hotel/hostel etc? I just want to hear from local experiences before I search it up on google.

Thanks!

I haven't been to Thailand myself, so I can't give any advice on that but first time to SE Asia for you guys? my advice would be to always carry toilet paper and hand sanitizer! LOL