BootsnAll Travel Community

Hello all!

A friend of mine and I are spending the entire spring semester of 2009 in Thailand on a study abroad program and we plan on staying after the program concludes to visit other parts of southeast Asia. Neither of us have been to Asia before (the closest I've been is Fiji), but I have solo (i.e. sans parents) international budget travel experience elsewhere.

We're thinking we want to stay around a month and do Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia. Question number one: are there any easy-to-get-to, off-the-beaten-track places to check out that won't necessarily be in my Lonely Planet's "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring" guide? Any on-the-beaten-track places that are skippable?

Question number two: If we decide we also want to go farther south and do Malaysia, Indonesia, and Singapore, about how much extra time would it take? Our only deadline we have is when our money runs out (it is indeterminable at this point how much money we'll have by then--these are preliminary plans), though I don't think we want to be gone more than one and half to two months. Our goals in seeing these countries would be to get an idea of the culture, landscape, religion, etc. We're not thrill-seeking types nor do we want to spend all our time on beaches, but neither do we want to spend all our time in museums, etc. So I guess the question is, how long would it take to see Malaysia, Indonesia (any part that easy/cheap to get to), and/or Singapore for tourists looking for a happy medium of activity and learning?

Third, once we get a general itinerary, should we worry about booking accommodations, or is it enough to have a list of places to crash and hope that one has a vacancy? Is there any compelling reason NOT to book in advance (I have the sneaking suspicion that our parents will want us to have confirmed plans).

Thanks in advance!

First off, March / April is the hottest part of the year in Bkk, (40c), but the water splashing festival (Songkran) is fun, from what I've heard.

You'll need a month for EACH of Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia.
Ninh Binh (Tam Coc caves), 100 miles south of Hanoi, is under rated. Nha Trang I thought was over rated.

Don't miss Luang Phrabang & plain of jars in Laos. I've only been to Angkor Wat in Cambodia, but you need a week there to see everything. I had a 3 day temple pass for $40US. It might be $50 by now, but worth it. Check the "Tales of Cambodia" website, for up to date info on the state of roads / travel tips.

Peninsular Malaysia has good roads, & can be done in about 9-10 days. Fly from Penang to Medan & head to Lake Toba, or the oranghutan reserve at Bohorok. Singapore is only worth a day or 2. Indonesia will requirea full month. 2 months if you have the time. Everything is dirt cheap there. Use 'ANS' busses on the Trans Sumatran Hwy. I saw several overturned cheaper version, long distance busses, back in the 1990's. Check out Borobodur & Prambanan in Java. Bromo Volcano is also great. Bali & Lombok too. Stay in Ubud for culture.

On your fairly tight schedule, I'd leave Vietnam out of the plans. It's sort of dull compared to Thailand, which I hope you'll spend some time/weekends seeing first, and it's a looong country that takes much time to travel through. Here's what you can do:

Travel directly from Bangkok to Laos/Vientiane and travel on the Mekong south towards Cambodia. This way you'll have the "worst" over with in the beginning of your trip, meaning the part where people are poorest and the conditions are most basic. That's easier to handle at the beginning of a trip than towards the end of it, at least that's my opinion.

About Cambodia, the one great thing about it is Angkor Wat, so spend your three day pass in the temple area wisely. Experience and see everything slowly, otherwise you won't be able to really properly digest what you're seeing. The people of Cambodia are also exceptionally nice, so maybe you'll like going to a village somewhere and stay with them for a few days.

Find a cheap flight out of Cambodia (from Siem Reap by Angkor Wat or from the capital, Phnom Penh) to Malaysia or Singapore. Start looking at http://www.whichbudget.com/en/ . Go to Kuala Lumpur and see it, take a day tour out of the city to the Batu Caves, especially if there's a religious festival going on. (Google it, and you'll see why.) From Kuala Lumpur you can go to Singapore by a selection of most comfortable buses. They're really nice, not too expensive and it doesn't take much longer than flying. A stop in Melaka is also worth considering.

Singapore is a big city, the same way Bangkok is. Spend time there if you want to. The zoo is really worth visiting, no matter what you think about zoos in general.

From Singapore you should be able to find cheap flights to Jakarta on Java or to Bali, and get a cheap flight back to Singapore again from the other one. The distance between Bali and Jakarta (or the other way) can be travelled cheaply, and there's LOTS of interesting places to stop in between. You can easily spend weeks and months there, but look it all up and decide what you want to see. From Singapore you can find a plane or take the 24hour train back to Bangkok and fly home (assuming you have a ticket for that already).

You shouldn't book any accommodation ahead. Most places that are reasonably priced can't be booked on the Internet anyway, and in that part of the world it is really nice to have a flexible schedule, so that you can stay a few days more in those places you fall in love with.

Happy trails,

Bjørn
http://bjornfree.com/

Ok, thanks guys, this helps a lot. Now I have direction.

We'll definitely see Thailand, as our program takes place there (Chiang Mai, specifically) and we'll be staying for five months--I don't know exactly where our excursions will take us, but I know there are some. And if the excursions turn out to not be so great, I'm sure we can take weekends off here and there to see places (heck, we might do that anyway!).

So it sounds like we should stay longer if we can. As I said, our only real deadline is the beginning of the next semester, in late August, and how much money we have, so maybe if we just don't buy anything from now until then we'll be good. :-)

Well, thanks again, guys, this gives me a good starting place!

Should you decide to enter Cambodia from Thailand avoid the Poipet border crossing and fly direct to Siem Reap on one of the budget airlines. Quicker and avoids the border hucksters. If you've booked accommodation in advance your landlord will have someone there to meet you at the airport. He doesn't want you to be poached by some other guesthouse.

Otherwise, unless its Tet or similar there's never any need to book in advance in South East Asia. There's always something.

Rambutan mentions "Tales of Cambodia". I think it's actually "Tales of Asia" and is excellent. Gordon Sharples, the bloke who runs it also has a guesthouse in SR ("Two Dragons?") and it is good.

It'll be very hot so plan your Ankor Watting for mornings and late afternoons and evenings and relax during the middle of the day. If you can afford it look for a guesthouse with a pool (SR only).

At that time of year avoid water transport as Tonlee Sap levels will be very low. The ride up to Battembang will be horrendous and elsewhere you'll be below river bank level and will only see a lot of dirt banks.

And do hire a guy with a moto somewhere to take you around the the villages and the fields.

When you decide where you're going purchase something more detailed that "SEA on a Shoestring"

I wouldn't write off Vietnam as the second poster did. There's lots to see and the travelling is both easy and inexpensive.VN has been flavour of the decade for tourists, Saigon is now a Bangkok wannabee and the cheaper "tours" are very much sausage factory stuff, but if you look closely you'll find plenty.

Singapore, pleasant, safe, great food, superb zoo, but imagine your local shopping mall and business precinct with a few more asian faces and you've got it.

Indonesia. Enormous, diverse. You'd need quite a few weeks to do it any sort of justice.

My opinion: With only a month, or even with two months, you could fill your time very profitably in Indo China alone, and the travelling is probably less expensive there, too. The peninsula and the archipelligo could wait until next time.

Forward planning isn't really all that important. Read up on your areas of interest form a rough plan of attack and just take off.

The budget airlines now operating are comprehensive in their coverage and inexpensive and the countries you mention are all user friendly for travellers.

Enjoy your trip.