We are planning on taking our children (aged almost 5 and 8) to Australia via South East Asia. We want to travel from Bangkok to Singapore primarily by train and then fly out to Australia returning via Hong Kong.

We have both travelled through Thailand and Malaysia before but never with our children. We plan to spend 2 months from Bangkok to Singapore. Do you think this is too much? Started to worry that one great beach is much like another when looked at from the sandcastle point of view!

My main question is what immunisations do you think the children need? They are up to date with all usual ones for their age. I am thinking about getting them the rabies jab. Am I going over the top? I remember loads of dogs hanging around and however much I tell the kids not to approach them they don't always listen! Also I understand that you can get rabies from a lick from infected animal - this worries me more as the kids wouldn't even alert you by screaming blue murder.

We want to go to Chiang Mai and into Teman Negra national park in Malaysia although only the touristy bits not really off the beaten track.

We are going around August to October which is rainy season I think? Presumably this means there will be more mosquitoes.

Any suggestions on the best insect repellant for children.

Many thanks!!

PS - Any families doing a similar trip August to December?

Hello! I too will be travelling with my children, ages 8 and 5 then, but from Singapore north through Thailand and SEA. I've been considering rabies vaccines, too. I had them more than 10 yrs ago to go to S. America, and they were too bad. I don't know what the costs are, but at least they aren't painful.

I'll be awaiting more info! Where else will you be going?

Chrislyn

I don't think two months sounds like too long, there are plenty of places to visit other than beaches. You mention Taman Negara, but some of the small towns are nice places to spend a few days just hanging out. We are planning on going from March to June, which is very hot, and rainy towards the end. I've never been in August to that part of the world, but I've been in Thailand in May, which is supposed to be one of the rainiest months. In reality, it was very humid with a major downpour every couple of days, followed by lovely sunshine. I imagine later in the rainy season would be similar. You'll get good deals on guesthouses and hotels.

I'd like to hear what you eventually decide about the rabies jab. I've never had it myself, but I'm keen to give them as much protection from stuff as possible and kids are magnetically drawn to animals. I was hoping to get away with strict instructions to stay away from all dogs, but I'm not sure. I will certainly give them anti-malarials as we plan to spend time in the jungle and whatever side effects they have are no where near as bad as getting malaria.

They should also have hepatitis (can't remember if A B or C) as it's prevalent in Thailand and v easy to catch. Probably also Typhoid and cholera. Urggh, I don't like the thought of putting all that stuff in them, but I guess we should be grateful that we have the luxury of choice when children around the world die from these preventable diseases.

This is always such a tricky question and I do not think there is any one right answer. This is my favorite article on the topic, written by a doctor:
[url]
http://www.mothering.com/articles/growi ... rseas.html[/url]

So far, even though we are into our 3rd year of an open ended world tour, we have not done any vaccines.

We were concerned some before we went into rural Morocco and Turkey, but after much thought and study, we decided we were better off not doing any for any of us. We did take the precautions above and we all have very strong immune systems and rarely get sick.

I happened to get hepatitus over 25 years ago by ( foolishly) eating raw clams in Haiti, but I didn't even know I had it until I was bright yellow & never got sick ( which is actually quite common). Through breast feeding my daughter has natural immunity ( as well as to many other things as I had measles, mumps, chicken pox etc since I was born in the 50's when they gave so many less vaccines).

So we did not have to worry about that, but even for my husband, we felt that the risk of the vaccine was worst than the risk of getting the disease. Those are very high risk vaccines and the disease is not that bad for most & quite preventable with precautions.

That is what one really has to look at and compare, as vaccines also have risks.

There are no easy answers on this, as every choice in this has risk. There are some excellent books on this topic ( listed on my site under books). I am still doing research & still have not decided on what or if to add anything for our time in Africa, Asia and South America.

You don't have to have a disease to have natural immunity to it, so it is worth looking into getting blood titers to see if one has natural immunity to things before getting a vaccine. There are also safer ways to do vaccines and I would look into the books that explain those precautions. There are also homeopathic things that work well.

We have been in areas where there are lots of wild dogs ( Pompeii) and lots of wild cats ( Morocco) running about, but my daughter was taught from a young age, never to touch an animal that she does not know.

Personally, I don't see a reason for rabies shot because you can get it should they get bitten/or exposed and it is equally effective. It is not one that has to be done before hand & you will be near good medical care. Why risk more toxins in a young body if they don't need it?

One is not totally protected by the rabies vaccine either. That is another thing to look at, how effective a vaccine is compared to risks ( but this info is harder to find). Every time, I have ever been in an outbreak of something like chicken pox or measles, it has always been the vaccinated kids who get it.

Vaccinations do not give 100 protection and most have harmful substances still in them. The best protection against disease is good hygiene ( lots of hand washing) and a healthy immune system. ( Sadly, lots of vaccines, due to their poisons, are bad for ones immune system). The younger the child, the more the vaccines, the higher the risks for problems, but even adults who have never had a reaction can get serious reactions to vaccines, many with life long consequences.

There is no accident that today when we give so very many vaccines into tiny baby bodies that there is such an increase in auto immune diseases. There are also tons of money made by promoting vaccines, so follow the money in your research and see who gets rich on promoting them.

Good luck with your decision. Not an easy one, but no one right answer. You might even consider getting it done there, if you go that way, as medical costs are very low there and they have excellent health care in Thailand. I think the most important thing is to do your homework thoroughly.

I would certainly rather my child had a disease like chicken pox (two out of three have so far!) than they were vaccinated against it, but it is important to remember that children die of diseases like malaria every day. These decisions should not be taken lightly, so thanks WT for the link to the research.

In my opinion malaria pills are only really necessary in Thailand/Malaysia/Singapore in the rural areas and if you are planning to be there overnight. The anopheles mosquito (which carries the malaria parasite) is only active at night - after sunset and before sunrise. During the day there is no danger, and there is never any danger in places like Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Kuala Lumpur or the touristy Thai islands. If you go trekking into the hills from Chiang Mai then you may be at risk and also in some of the border areas around Myanmar and Cambodia.

There are millions of dogs running around SE Asia (particularly Thailand) but we never saw any that were aggressive or dangerous. Having said that, all you need is one that is rabid ... My wife and I went to Thailand and Cambodia for 4 weeks in 2006 (see http://PaulKilfoil.webs.com/2006.htm) with our 10 year old son, looked into the rabies shot and decided against it. We had no problems. We got Hepatitis shots, but with hindsight I don't think they were necessary either. We ate food from local vendors the entire time and never got sick. We were careful with the water we drank. Biggest problem we had was the heat.

Enjoy ; your kids will love it.