RTW Trip 6-7 months in Asia

Hi! I am a Vietnamese. So, I am able to give you some advices about my country. If you travel to Vietnam, you should visit Ho Chi Minh, Hanoi which are the biggest cities. Ho Chi Minh is noisy and busy and Hanoi seem to be more peaceful. Besides, Da Lat, Ha Long Bay, Hoi An are also interesting and beautiful places. Reply to this

Hello, I like China very much. Although there are indeed two problems - the language and the size of cities and the country. This means you need to plan, to avoid long trips or being lost in a 5 million people city and not being able to read the signs. It is in general cheap to travel in China, it is very organized, very modern and there is no extreme poverty (that you see at least) and people are friendly. Young people usually know a little English and they are interested to practice, so you can get some interaction with the locals. Older people may offer you some food or drink but usually can't communicate.

The best places are the ones without too many western travelers, Guiyang is one of my favourites, Kunming (and Yunnan in general has lot's to offer though Dali and Lijiang are completely geared towards tourists but especially the latter is still worth the trip), Changsha in Hunan province sees few westerners, and Hunan has some spectacular scenery in Zhangjiajie and pretty little Phoenix town. Actually these cities and places are fairly close as China goes and traveling round here for a few weeks will be fairly relaxed and you will experience a lot. Scenery is beautiful in this part of China. You could add Yangshuo and Guilin, though the amounts of tourists there with all it entails really put me off. No chance of meeting any locals...

Another area to visit is round Shanghai, Hangzhou is popular but has lot's of interesting paths in the area around the lake, Shaoxing is very popular among Chinese tourists and a lovely place to spend a couple of days. Suzhou is famous for its garden, and in the surrounding area are several water towns. The Huang shan mountain is also fantastic, and fairly easy to reach. You could also add Nanjing, the old capital city. Except for Shaoxing and the water towns the cities are BIG a few million people each so it is good to maybe book a hostel before or at least have a few addresses (written down in Chinese script) to find your way more easily, taxis are cheap and mostly the drivers are honest. Shanghai is worth visiting for a day or two though this is the city where you will be sick and tired of hawkers, touts and scammers approaching you all the time. This is of course because so many tourists go there (same goes for Guilin area).

Xian with the terracotta army is a city I like a lot, but the surrounding area isn't very attractive.

Bali is a place everyone should visit, though keep out of the tourist places and try to get to the villages. It has among the most beautiful landscapes, interesting culture and very friendly people.

Enjoy your trip. Reply to this

I'd put a couple of other countries on your list as well like Laos, Malaysia, Cambodia and Borneo. We spent 2 months in Malaysia and Malaysian Borneo. 1 month in Vietnam, 10 days in Cambodia, 4 weeks in Thailand. I think the best thing with travelling to Asia is, dont plan too much in advance. Just have an idea where you are going to spend the first week and then add on to the trip from there. Flights can be booked cheap and easily as well as train/coaches. Just take it as it comes, you may plan on spending 3 weeks in a country and find out you want to stay more/less but have already made other plans. Reply to this

That is quite a list - are you planning on skipping any countries? In my opinion you are biting off way more than you can chew here, you would spend 90% of your days on busses just to cover that distance in 7 months. I understand where you are coming from, I want to go everywhere too but you cant do it all in one trip. And you shouldn't, you will miss more than you will see. I spent 6 months in SE Asia on my first RTW, starting in Malaysia, Borneo, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and finishing in Thailand again and it still left me looking for more. Last time I traveled I spent 3 months in the Phillipines (one of my favorite countries) and I am going back there in a month or two. People say 6 months in India alone is just scratching the surface, I spent a month there and really only covered two cities. If I were you I would narrow it down to a region where you could do a loop by land or sea starting and ending in the same place, that way you could get a cheap round trip ticket. Take it slow, dont overplan, leave yourself flexible so that if you like a place you can stay as long as you feel like it. There is nothing like the feeling of being free to stay or go as you please. Feeling pressure to move on because you have to fit a whole list of things in takes a lot away from the experience of traveling. Reply to this

Hi my friend!
I'm from Vietnam.
Vietnam is beauty country - That's my country 😉 - Welcome to Vietnam. In here you can visit so many place. I know some where as : Hanoi, Sapa, Halong bay, perfume pagoda.... I live in the Northern of Vietnam so I don't know some where in the South. :D
If you need some informations about the Northern of Vietnam, I will recommend for you. 😊

Tuong. Reply to this