can anyone suggest or give us some advice on if we should go china or tour indonesia we have about 3 1/2 weeks and fly in and out of singapoure.

thanks craig&Ry

China is going to be bitterly cold and Indonesia is going to be seriously wet (however, ask Darkher about it, he's currently in Indonesia - and it's rainy season).

We arrived in Indonesia (Jakarta in Java) - in January, thinking that the wet season just meant we could get around with an umbrella.

We flew out two days later when the whole of Java nearly vanished underwater.

China will be the middle of winter so not great either.

You could go to Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, or the west side of Malaysia.

I would choose this last one - the weather will be great, KL is a cool city, you can visit the Cameron Highlands, see the lush tea plantations, and eat strawberries after a trek through a tropical jungle, then maybe pop down to Singapore and visit the Zoo, which is amazing. You can feed Manatee's there and say hello to a group of Orang-Utans

Thanks for your advice, after a few days looking around I think this is going to be our new itinerary in sea.

Singapore
Kuala lumpur
Taman Negra
Penang
Ko Samui
Ko Tao
Ko Nang Yuan
Chiang Mai
Bangkok
Back to Singapore for flight to Johannesburg,

Can anyone give us advice on this route and or recommend any stops of different places along the way.

Any help appreciated

Yes, your itinerary looks ok. Not overly heavy.

For Malaysia you may want to check some of these sites:

www.pulau-pangkor.com
www.my-island-penang.com
www.malaysiavacationguide.com

Peter

depends on where in China you want to go. In the south it wont be too bad. really this year was cold but more so than usual. In Guangdong provence you could make do with a leather jacket most of the time. Occassionally this year it was long johns weather but last year I didnt bother. Along the coast it is generally warmer and HaiNan Island is much warmer. Places like Chengdu (Panda country will be cold but usually not not much below zero. Still the winter gives you a different view to people who come in summer. Of course if you come from Nova Scotia or somewhere where you are used to the cold then maybe its no problem.