So, my last port of call on my 6 month trip is South East Asia. I get in to Bangkok on June 12th and fly back to England on July 28th. My thoughts for a route are Bangkok to Chiang Mai where I will do a 2 or 3 day cookery course, on to Pai (is it worth going there, someone suggested it to me, what is there to do?) up to Chiang Rai, then down to Vietene in Laos and possibly to Laung Praubang but i'm not sure where else to go, what to do in laos. I would then travel down to vietnam to Da Nang, Nha Trang, Ho Chi Min, Cambodia for sihanoukville, siem reap and phom penh and then on to koh phagnan, ko Tao, Perhentian Islands, Penang and Kuala Lumur. Am I trying to cram in too much for 6 weeks?!
What should I concentrate on? I want to make sure that I'm not travelling for the whole 6 weeks without time to appreciate the places i'm staying at but i do want to see alot! Will I even be able to get around to all those places in 6 week? Ok, its late I'm rambling. Any help you can give me on this would be much appreciated.
Pete
Reply to this It's hard sometimes to get a balance between seeing everything and having enough time to appreciate what you see. If there is a anywhere you could shave off to spend more time elsewhere I would say some of the beach/island destinations. For example, if you're heading to the Thai islands you probably don't really need to go to Sihanoukville. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice place, but probably not a must-see as some of the other places are. Similarly, it isn't really necessary to visit all of Koh Phagnan, Koh Tao and The Perhentian Islands. It would probably be better to focus on one or two of them, have a little longer there and also a little longer somewhere else.
Consider Vang Vieng in Laos, even if only for a couple of days. It's a real party town and tubing there is a great way to spend a day - it also breaks up the long journey from Luang Phrabang to Vientiane.
Maybe take a one day cooking course in Thailand and a one day cooking course in Vietnam. You'll learn a greater range of food and the techniques you learn for, say, a green Thai curry can then be used for many other curries, it's mainly a case of using a different curry paste.
In Vietnam consider staying in Hoi An rather than Da Nang. They're very close together but Hoi An is a much nicer place.
Of course take from all of the above what you want to. The main thing is that you see the places you really want to see, meet great people and enjoy yourself.
Reply to this Excellent, thanks for the advice, I will have a think about vietnamese cookery course. Got any suggestions as to where I could do this? I probably will go to a few less beaches and some go do some more interesting sites. Had heard about Vang Vieng so will defo head there now. Is it true it just used to be a bus stop? but then decided to make it a lil more interesting?
I had only recently decided to go to Malaysia and Vietnam. Before the plan had just been Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. But a friend made some recommendations and completely changed my plans. So am really greatful for extra advice on where to go to!
Should I leave out malaysia completely, to shave off the time or would that be a mistake?
I guess it is really my decision....but i find decisions hard to make!
Reply to this If you decide to head to Hoi An there are plenty of places there to do cookery courses, just walk through the streets, choose somewhere to eat and odds are you'll be able to book a cooking class with them the next day if you like the food. We did one of the budget options there and a more expensive one in Thailand and both were really good.
Malaysia is a lovely place but it might be wise to consider missing it this time around - Kuala Lumpur is cool but pretty much like any other big Asian city, I'm not sure about Penang as I haven't been there.
Reply to this I've booked my flight from Singapore to Bangkok and it gets in at 10pm . I am going to book one nights stay in a hostel but need one I can get to easily from Suvarnabhumi airport and check in reasonably late, that is relatively cheap...any suggestions!?
Reply to this Well I just booked Sukhumvit On Nut Guesthouse.
Hope its good :-)
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