BootsnAll Travel Community

Hey guys,

What's the best way to travel between the following places?

Hong Kong <To> Guilin, China
Guilin, China <To> Beijing, China
Shanghai, China <To> Osaka, Japan
Tokyo, Japan <To> Phuket, Thailand
Phuket, Thailand <To> Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok, Thailand <To> Singapore
Singapore <To> Manila, Philipines

It would be nice to travel cheaply between these places but at the same time I don't mind paying an extra few bucks for transportation that would be more convenient/effective in getting me from Point 'A' to Point 'B'.

Any suggestions between these routes?

quote:

Hong Kong <To> Guilin, China

Train to Guangzhou, catch a bus or train from there (I recommend train; it's a long haul).

Guilin, China <To> Beijing, China
Oh god. Fly. If you want to see some interesting stuff in between, take the train to Guiyang and explore southern Guizhou then fly Guiyang-Beijing. Or fly to Xi'an, stop there, fly to Shanghai, stop there, and train (10 hours) to Beijing. It all depends on what you want to see and how much time you have.

Domestic flights in China are DIRT CHEAP and the only reason not to fly is if you want to see something between two stops.

Shanghai, China <To> Osaka, Japan
There's probably a ferry.

Tokyo, Japan <To> Phuket, Thailand
Fly via Bangkok, then take the bus. Or fly to Singapore, there's probably a direct short flight to Phuket.

Phuket, Thailand <To> Bangkok, Thailand
Just take the train or bus!

Bangkok, Thailand <To> Singapore
There are a million choices. That sounds like fun so I'd go overland.

Singapore <To> Manila, Philipines

Cebu Pacific Air and Philippine Air (Air Philippines?) both have awesome fares. You can do it by ferry via several islands in Indonesia if you want to go by sea. I'm not sure where the sea route into Indonesia goes into the Philippines though, and I suspect it's Mindanao, parts of which are not safe.

channamasala:

THANKS VERY MUCH for the feedback. I've copied everything down and will use your references along the way as I book my transportation.

Couple of question though...

Hong Kong <To> Guilin, China

Is there no direct train or bus from Hong Kong? Do all the trains/buses connect in Guangzhou? My final destination is actually Yangshuo [where I spend 2 nights] so I would much rather prefer a direct route.


Finally, where do you suggest I book my air/sea/land transport for all of the routes I mentioned? Is a travel agency the best place to start? Any websites I can look into?

Much thanks!

For most budget airlines in South East Asia check their own websites. There are sites and travel agencies to check in China but the prices are regulated, so I think that the airlines's own websites would be good.

Also some more suggestions:

Shanghi>Osaka
Ferry Info One-way from around $160, takes its time.
Flights are around $600+.

Bangkok<>Phuket
Nok Air, One-Two Go, and Air Asia all offer flights for $25 although overland can work, too.

Bangkok>Singapore
Tiger Airways and Air Asia would be the cheapest from $50+.

Singapore>Manilla
Cebu Pacific will get you there for $80 some other airlines use "nearby" Clark Airport.

quote:

Originally posted by Brambles24601:
Singapore>Manilla
Cebu Pacific will get you there for $80 some other airlines use "nearby" Clark Airport.

Yes, Clark adds one more thing to sort through -- about a 2 hr. bus ride from Clark to a Manila mall (the former airbase is a couple hours north of Manila). Not difficult or expensive, but it justs adds one more transport hassle to deal with. Try to get Cebu Pacific so you can fly straight in to Ninoy Aquino Intl Airport.

AirAsia flys into Clark. I *think* Tiger does to.

quote:

Is there no direct train or bus from Hong Kong? Do all the trains/buses connect in Guangzhou? My final destination is actually Yangshuo [where I spend 2 nights] so I would much rather prefer a direct route.

They all connect in Guangzhou. Remember HK is a specially governed zone (don't get me started on my opinions about this) and while it is technically "China", it's treated as though it's an international destination in terms of transport, visas and customs.

Guangzhou is less than two hours away and the train is fast, clean and efficient so don't worry about this. You may have to change stations, again, just take a taxi, they're used to foreigners in Guangzhou.

You can fly, but it'll cost three times as much or more from HK as from Guangzhou. Though now that I think about it, I'm not even sure there's a direct flight!

The train from Guangzhou - Guilin is really long. At least 20 hours if I remember. There is a bus but I believe it picks up and drops off in a Guangzhou suburb.

Though I do recommend that you stop off on the way to some of the very worthwhile destinations near the two, if you're on a schedule I know it can be hard in a big honkin' country like China. I found Yangshuo to be relentlessly touristy. It's that way for a reason; the scenery is nothing short of stunning.

quote:

Finally, where do you suggest I book my air/sea/land transport for all of the routes I mentioned? Is a travel agency the best place to start? Any websites I can look into?

Air: Always, always, always look at airninja.com before booking any airfares. They suss out the budget airlines that major travel websites and agencies ignore. Local consolidators, especially in HK and Guangzhou, are great for cheap tickets. I used to have a 'contact' in Guangzhou for dirt cheap air tickets but haven't spoken to her in years; I'll see what I can do to find her again.

I can't help you with sea travel...except usually you can get along just buying at the port office. If you decide to take the ferry to Guangzhou, which is a great alternative to the train, this is how you do it.

For land travel, just show up and go. The only time this doesn't work is over Chinese New Year in China. If you will be in China between February 1-10 next year, beware that you aren't likely to get a seat to ANYWHERE at this point. For Chinese trains, you should be able to get out of Guangzhou alright, but otherwise try to book a week in advance if you can. If not, you can still generally get some sort of seat though it may take a little wheedling. Trains in China are famous for being crowded.

If you are leaving for SE Asia from Guanxi into Vietnam, I can't help you much. If you are going overland via Kunming, you can arrange many flights on SE Asian airlines from there as many airlines have offices in Kunming (Royal Thai and Yunnan Air are right near the famous Camellia Hotel. There are others as well). You can buy your overnight bus ticket to a town near the border (where you take a shared van to the actual border) that day or possibly the night before depending on the service you want. Cheapie local bus - same day. Deluxe bus - can buy ahead. Camellia Hotel, if you stay there, can help with this. From there, it's easy to buy-and-go, though take care that through Laos, the longer bus rides often have just one departure each day (ie Luang Namtha-Muang Sing, or Luang Namtha-Luang Prabang), often leaving early in the morning. I don't know about Vietnam.

I do recommend again, if you are going that way, stopping in Xishuangbanna to have a look around. It's quite nice.

Hey guys, MUCH THANKS for the advice/references/websites.

I'm going to start looking into the websites later today.


Cheers!

Well... I'm astounded.

It seems making an online booking for air, sea and land transport in Asia is a practice that requires all the patience in the world, if even that.

Up to this point, I have not one booking processed, and I have literally spent days going through the various websites and booking forms, which is a task on its own considering the extremely poor translated text found on these websites, most of which is impossible to understand and/or comprehend.

When you finally get beyond the incomprehensible text, you would think that you might be able to book a flight or two. Of course, that would be too easy. Supposedly the only travel consolidator for Asia that accepts foreign payment on the web as well as one of the larger airlines have some sort of bug on their payment pages as both servers cause a crash and unsuccessful payment. Therefore, the booking is there, but payment is not processed. Worst of all, both of these reputable companies have thus far, failed to reply to my inquiries regarding these situations.

I prefer having my transport methods secured ahead of time but since Asian websites make this a complicated proccess, would the above arrangements be difficult to arrage on the spot? Will I be forking over a lot more money for doing it all last minute? I have a tight travel schedule between each destination, am I risking availability on some of these routes? Anything else I can do to secure transport ahead of time?

Finally, I know this is a long shot but because the ferry from Shanghai to Osaka does not fit into my schedule [I cannot afford to lose 2 days to the ferry and the ferry departs on a day that I cannot depart on], is there any other option than paying $600 for air? Is there some sort of a discount airline or alternative to getting to Osaka even slightly cheaper?

Any help is greatly appriciated.

there are a million different budget airlines and websites...it does take patience...just take a deep breathe and then remember where you are going and how cool it will be...for the osaka route from shang...check out cathay pacific, JAL, Air nippon, china air, eastern china airlines

What websites are you using? I know a lot of the ferry websites to-from Japan are difficult to use and domestic Chinese air carriers can be tough to book on, but any site you see through airninja.com should work just fine. Also Google for discount air ticket consolidators in Japan; that's how I got my cheap flight to Taipei. The one I used does all business via email, they speak English and it all got sorted out very quickly and painlessly. I am trying to remember who I used to pass along the link...it was a long time ago!

quote:

Originally posted by Eppyboy:
there are a million different budget airlines and websites...it does take patience...just take a deep breathe and then remember where you are going and how cool it will be...for the osaka route from shang...check out cathay pacific, JAL, Air nippon, china air, eastern china airlines

"Serenity now" ...hehe.. you're right... in the end, it will no doubt be worth all the pain and hassle.

Truthfully speaking, I've been having much better luck this week. Got a couple bookings done with Air Asia, VERY EASY AND HASSLE FREE, Jetstar, likewise EASY AND HASSLE FREE and one with Cebu Pacific Air over the phone. Booking with Cebu Pacific Air has been a nightmare though. Online payment was a no go so I took the liberty of booking over the phone, wasted almost the entire calling card by being on hold and when I did complete the booking, no e-ticket was ever sent out. I've already asked them TWICE for it and they keep saying they will send it and it's been days and they still have not. Not cool. I have to call Air China next as their website is also giving me payment problems. All that aside, the bookings are moving along.

Thanks for the airline list. I'll look up the Shanghai-Osaka route on those airlines. So far the cheapest I've found is $600 CAD. Ouch!

quote:

Originally posted by channamasala:
What websites are you using? I know a lot of the ferry websites to-from Japan are difficult to use and domestic Chinese air carriers can be tough to book on, but any site you see through airninja.com should work just fine. Also Google for discount air ticket consolidators in Japan; that's how I got my cheap flight to Taipei. The one I used does all business via email, they speak English and it all got sorted out very quickly and painlessly. I am trying to remember who I used to pass along the link...it was a long time ago!

Yeah the ferry websites were hard to navigate around. Chinese carriers also. But you're right, AirNinja has been amazing for comparing discount airlines. I'll do as you say and google for discount air ticket consolidators. Hopefully I'll be able to find something for under $600CAD.

Thanks for your help.

quote:

Phuket, Thailand <To> Bangkok, Thailand

Fly. The time it takes to travel by bus can be painful. I do recommend though that you start your Thai adventures in BKK as arranging flights and paying for them to and fro can be very cheap.

Bangkok, Thailand <To> Singapore

Same as above.

quote:

Originally posted by hayden:
Phuket, Thailand <To> Bangkok, Thailand

Fly. The time it takes to travel by bus can be painful. I do recommend though that you start your Thai adventures in BKK as arranging flights and paying for them to and fro can be very cheap.

Bangkok, Thailand <To> Singapore

Same as above.

Yeah I opted to fly this route after reading somewhere that it takes like 14 hours to get from Phuket to Bangkok.

I'm having a difficult time finding reasonably priced flights from Tokyo to Phuket. They're all outragously expensive. Even a connection in Bangkok doesn't bring the price down. Anyone have suggestions for this route? Perhaps connect in Philipines or elsewhere?

if you can't be bothered with getting the train from hong kong via guangzhou to guilin then there are direct flights but they are expensive (dragonair). However a cheaper option is to get the ferry from Hong Kong (China Ferry Terminal in TST) to Shenzhen Airport (HK$120, 50 mins) and fly from there. You then get all the benefits of cheap flights in China (I know China Eastern have a direct flight from Shenzhen to Guilin). It is approximately 1.5hrs to Yangshuo from Guilin by taxi. check out this website for info on yangshou. www.yangers.com

quote:

Originally posted by angrylittlesoldier:
if you can't be bothered with getting the train from hong kong via guangzhou to guilin then there are direct flights but they are expensive (dragonair). However a cheaper option is to get the ferry from Hong Kong (China Ferry Terminal in TST) to Shenzhen Airport (HK$120, 50 mins) and fly from there. You then get all the benefits of cheap flights in China (I know China Eastern have a direct flight from Shenzhen to Guilin). It is approximately 1.5hrs to Yangshuo from Guilin by taxi. check out this website for info on yangshou. www.yangers.com

I looked into China Eastern and they don't have any flights from Shenzhen to Guilin, which is odd because on their website it states that they do fly this route. Luckily the Eastern Airlines rep advised me that China Southern flies from Shenzhen to Guilin and I was able to make a booking through their LA office (website did not locate the flight for some odd reason).

Do you know if I can book the ferry from HK to Shenzhen in advance?

Interesting - I flew with China Eastern last Easter. They must have stopped that route.

I think you can book in advance via their website. If not, don't stress as you can definitely book in advance at the terminal so just nip down there during the few days you have in HK.

http://www.turbojet.com.hk/eng/schedule/prd_2.html

The Hong Kong ferry departs from the Hong Kong/Macau Ferry Terminal on HK Island (Sheung Wan - 5 mins from central) to FuYong (which is the terminal from Shenzhen Airport. The Kowloon ferry departs from the China Ferry Terminal in TST.

Alternatively you can either get the train from Hung Hom to Shenzhen (this will then involve a lengthy taxi journey to get to the airport)or a coach (from Wan Chai).

quote:

Originally posted by angrylittlesoldier:
Interesting - I flew with China Eastern last Easter. They must have stopped that route.

I think you can book in advance via their website. If not, don't stress as you can definitely book in advance at the terminal so just nip down there during the few days you have in HK.

http://www.turbojet.com.hk/eng/schedule/prd_2.html

The Hong Kong ferry departs from the Hong Kong/Macau Ferry Terminal on HK Island (Sheung Wan - 5 mins from central) to FuYong (which is the terminal from Shenzhen Airport. The Kowloon ferry departs from the China Ferry Terminal in TST.

Alternatively you can either get the train from Hung Hom to Shenzhen (this will then involve a lengthy taxi journey to get to the airport)or a coach (from Wan Chai).

Awesome! Airfare from Shenzhen to Guilin is costing me $105.90 USD. Journey from HK would have set me back $244 CAD. Minus the cost of the ferry, I'll still be saving around $100 CAD.. that's a lot of Chinese beer.

I'm looking for a cheap way to fly from Laos to Cambodia. Any suggestions?

quote:

Originally posted by firsttimer_1980:
I'm looking for a cheap way to fly from Laos to Cambodia. Any suggestions?

Start with this site:
http://www.airninja.com/

Departures from:
Luang Prabang
Pakse
Vientiane - Wattay

Arrivals into:
Siem Reap

There's also these sites:
http://www.elong.net/
http://english.ctrip.com/
http://www.farecompare.com/