Top Things to See in Southeast Asia

* Bangkok. Bangkok is the hub of travel activity for Southeast Asia. You’ll be able to get anywhere you want from here, experience amazing food, find cheap shopping deals, and experience a great night life that will keep you up until dawn.

* Jungle Trekking. No matter where you do it, jungle trekking is a must for any traveler. The area is covered in amazing jungles with a diverse wildlife. Some of the best treks are in Laos and Malaysia, though the ones in Thailand are the most convenient.

* Angkor Wat. One of the greatest human creations, this temple complex is best seen over the course of a few days. Even if you don’t like temples, the place is still amazing to see as it’s a testament to the genius of humanity.

* Full Moon Party. The biggest one day party in the world can sometimes see up to 30,000 people. Party until dawn covered in glow paint and dancing the night away with new friends.

* Learning to Dive. There are many great dive sites around the region. Learn to dive here at a fraction of what it would cost back home.

* Eating in Singapore. Thought Thailand had great food? Try the hawker stalls of Singapore for great eat. Don’t forget to also visit Little India and Chinatown.

* Tropical Islands. There’s more tropical islands in this part of the world to name. Some of the best: Perhentian Islands (Malaysia), Rabbit Island (Cambodia), Ko Lanta (Thailand), Ko Chang (Thailand), Ko Tarutao National Park (Thailand).

* Temple Overload. There’s a lot of everything in Southeast Asia- lots of food, islands, clothes, drinking and lots of temples. You can’t turn a corner without seeing another temple. You’ll get temple overload at some point but visit as many as you can as each is unique to the country and region of the temple.

Edit: This content has been ripped from this site. I'll keep this post active since so many have replied to it. Just wanted to acknowledge the source. - Hydro, Community Manager

Awesome places. Have done and been to all of these. Though these are all common things to do, it's very well worth it.

Beaches

If you're heading to Thailand, don't just go to Bangkok, lay in the beach and soak in the sun in the beaches of Thailand. Beaches like Koh Samui, Phuket, and Krabi are popular. Try the non-touristy beaches for an even better experience, but these 3 beaches are pretty good.

Redang Island is probably the best beach I've been to so far. Did snorkelling and scuba diving there and the colours are amazing! Sand is also very fine there.

great post, informative list. i thought this was a post with questions, but looks like you have all the answers. and i have to agree, if you feel like youre ready to visit thailand now, don't stay in bangkok, there are so many beautiful places out side of the city, not to mention way cooler flagship cities.

oh and malaysia seems to be the next hot spot to check out. tad more expensive than its norther cousin but great deals are to be had.

However no mention of the best place of all Myanmar.

Bagan and Mt. Popa in Myanmar.
http://www.ancientbagan.com/
http://travelhappy.info/myanmar-burma/m ... n-the-sky/

Last time I was there was about 8 or 9 years ago. I really enjoyed my time in Myanmar.

Arguably my top experience in South East Asia was The Gibbon Experience. If you find yourself in that part of Laos I highly recommend it!

Just a quick question. When does the Full Moon Party held?

teena22 wrote:Just a quick question. When does the Full Moon Party held?

I think you've answered your own question just by asking it!

I recommend about 'Sundorban'' world largest Mangrove salty Forrest which is connected with Indian Ocean and bay of Bengal.

Thailand has lots of beautiful beach. There is always a variety on each island if you go looking for it, but below is a quickie summary:

Koh Samui - Large and very touristy (Lamai Beach, Lamai Beach, Chaweng Beach)
Koh Phangan - Haad Rin is beach party central! (Haad Rin)
Koh Tao - Cheapest scuba around and nice small island
Krabi/Railay - beautiful, rock climbing heaven, expensive (Railay Beach, Phi Phi Island, Ao Nang, Koh Lanta)
Koh Phi Phi - gorgeous, small, expensive, great diving
Koh Lanta - large, fairly quiet, Long beach is the best beach
Phuket - busy, loads of package tourists and vacationers (Patong Beach, Karon Beach, Kata Beach)
Koh Pu - very small and quiet, tree house bungalows
Koh Chang - Nice beaches, lots of tourists from Bangkok (White Sand Beach )

The UNESCO heritage sites of Penang and Melaka in Malaysia and Luang Prabang in Laos are must see in the region.

And while most travelers skip the Philippines, my country offers a lot of things to any travelers - beach (boracay), trekking (sagada) and food tripping (binondo in Manila)

What's the price range for diving in SE Asia? When people say diving is cheap in one place, compared to another I've no frame of reference? Does "cheap" sometimes indicate poor gear?

I plan to learn open dive in either Mozambique or SE Asia. So, I'm trying to do some price comparisons.

I learned how to dive at Ko Tao, Thailand for $450- course took 4 days and included 4 dives and a five night stay was included in that price free. Plus we lucked out as my cousin and I were the only ones starting the course just then, so we got two instructors to ourselves! You can read about my experiences here if you're interested, and I certainly recommend the place we did it (Buddha View Dive Resort). No shoddy equipment was seen, though I've heard it can happen on some dive boats.

The trick about diving schools is, like anything else, do your homework. Going to Ko Tao all the scuba schools send people with pamphlets etc wanting you to sign up for their school and be sure to ask specific questions you have ready- most notably ask what the instructor/diver ratio is. Some will claim one-to-eight but then it turns out they do two instructors at once and sixteen people at once- yikes, I can't imagine doing that!