Hello fellow travellers. I am in need of some advice. I have a flight booked to Melbourne where im staying with a friend for 4 weeks, then staying a week in Sydney, then from Sydney I plan to go to Asia and travel through. My rough itinerary is as follows (in order):
Malaysia (1 week)
Thailand (5 weeks)
Cambodia (1 week)
Laos (1 week)
Vietnam (1 week)
China (2 weeks)
Japan (2 weeks)
Philippines (3 weeks)
Indonesia (4 weeks)
Would anyone recommend not going to all these places in one go? Im starting to think its a bad idea, as Indonesia has valcano activity which I dont want to mess up my plans and not be able to go to certain areas of Java. I also think China may take longer to get across than I first anticipated, as most places id like to be are very far from each other, and wonder if its worth going to them all. is china something you should think about as a separate trip, and to have longer there? would it be better if I were to split the trip into two? im thinking malaysia, thailand, cambodia, laos, vietnam, then prehaps go back to Australia for a week or two, get my bearings and plan a bit, then head to Indonesia, Philippines, China and then Japan? i am also on a budget, but its a healthy budget, and id like to visit the main sights while travelling.
Ive been planning to go travelling for over a year now (albeit not planned very well as you can tell), so id like to do everything i want.
Will i have any issues with visas when entering the above by land (apart from Malaysia and Japan)? as ive read some only give you 14 days instead of 30 (by air)
i appreciate any help, as ive gone overload on information from reading up on places and cant find all the info in one place for general Asia travelling and im starting to tear hair out
thanks in advance
Marc
Reply to this Hi Marc - you will need to organise visas for Vietnam, China and Cambodia. Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia are Visa on Arrival countries. Not sure about Laos or Japan or Phillipines as its been 20 + years since Ive been there. I organised visas online for Cambodia before I left via E Visa (would highly recommend for cambodia) and Vietnam (useless waste of money, just get your VOA there. In Indonesia get your 30 day visas then you will find heaps of visa agents to organise extensions if you need them (be aware, Indonesian customs seem to like pinging you 200,000RP for each day overstay) and check that with the other countries - you may find it easier to do a border run than try and organise extensions. By a border run I mean eg leaving and zipping over a neighbouring countries border before re entering and getting another 30 days.
Your Itinery (really, who needs them, a rough idea is good enough - you may find you dont particularly like a country so theres no rule saying you have to stay for the time you allocated, you may love another country and want to see more so flexibility is the key) sounds pretty fine to me.
Are you a surfer or diver? just wondering about the 4 weeks in Indonesia. A lot of indo islands are pretty much the same, I personally prefer Thai islands for lazing around but each to their own. I have found unless you want to do some of the more remote indo islands (eg Komodo and West Papua) I have got bored staying on one island for too long. I prefer to island hop staying about 4 or 5 days at a handful of nice islands but again, you may find you love Indo more than anywhere else. I wouldnt worry at all about the volcano or tsunamis or earthquakes. The sunda arc that Indo sits above is always and will always be very active....if we worried about what may happen we would never leave our homes. You may put off going at the moment because of the volcano and wait ten years to go and find yourself shake rattle and rolling in an earthquake.
Have fun, go with the flow, you seem to know where you want to go and have a healthy enough budget to do it so just enjoy and dont stress too much!
Reply to this hi, thanks for the reply!
so if i enter via land to Vietnam/China/Cambodia i need a visa in advance? from reading up on websites they say you can get visas upon entry... so is that for flying in only? my friends have been out there and not had to get any in advance for Cambodia or Laos, and that was across land from Thailand
im not a surfer or diver, how ever i do enjoy both time to time. im more a photographer/artist :D
i was planning to go with the flow, but spanners keep getting thrown in the works, so thats why i ask these questions now, it may alter my plans you see so need to get ontop of it before I go
cheers
Marc
Reply to this Thailand is only visa on arrival if your staying less than 30 days but you have specified 5 weeks, you have to apply for an extended visa for that amount of time, that is what my partner and i are doing when we go there for 2 months in march.
happy travels :-)
Reply to this yeh i understand that
cambodia i can do if i fly in on arrival
vietnam i can pay $30USD and get it done online
china is looking like £100GBP, but if you fly to Hong Kong you get 180 days free??? that - i do no understand
Reply to this I will be the person who recommends not going to all of these places in one go.
Not a fan of the "whole country in one week" trips. Take those weeks and add them to other countries.
Two weeks in China is ok as long as you don't spend more than a couple hours each in beijing, shanghai, hong kong, dali, lijiang, xian, etc etc. It is a large amazing place. Take some time there.
you have like 20 weeks. it looks like you are really interested in thailand and indonesia. I would do something like 6 weeks in Thailand. Make a visa run to angkor and surrounding areas for a week (I live in Cambodia and wish you'd stay longer but you don't seem that interested. fair enough) during that time. 6 weeks in Indonesia (I dunno the visa issues)(include some malaysia in this time or add on). The other 7 weeks split up among those places you seem to want to go but I know absolutely nothing about like japan and the phillipines.
Make China a trip on its own. Or don't if you just want to say you were there.
To summarize, my biggest advice is go slow. Take your time. In all of these countries you will see amazing things. Give yourself a chance to enjoy them before rushing off.
Enjoy your travels
'sheeed.
Reply to this Hey
If you're planning to see Vietnam in a week, you are going to have to decide which area to visit. It's a very long country with slow transport and I would say, impossible, to see in a week unless you are only going to travel and not actually stay anywhere.
You could choose to focus on the North (Hanoi, Halong Bay and perhaps down to Hoi An) or the South (HCMC, Mui Ne and Dalat) in a week.
Alternatively, Sheeed has good advice - cut out some countries and spend longer in others.
Your Vietnam visa on arrival letter costs about $30. You then need to pay about $20-25 at the airport for the stamping fee. If you are planning to go in overland, you had better check that you can get a visa, as you didn't used to be able to.
Hong Kong is on a different visa system to China. You can stay in Hong Kong for 180 days for free but if you want to go into China you need to buy a Chinese visa. It's related to it's ex-colonial status.
Reply to this Ok thanks for the help guys. those dates were only rough, and it does change on a daily basis the more i research etc.
i think i might leave China off the list at the moment and possibly Japan. Indonesia and Philippines i am reserved about as i read there is also high risk of malaria out there?
this would leave me with Malaysia (KL and Ipoh), Thailand (phuket, BKK, Chang mai), Cambodia (siem reap/PP) and Vietnam (Ho Chi Minh, Dalat, Hue, Hanoi). im trying to sell my car which isnt getting much interest so may be cut short to those countries anyway.
and yes i agree 1 week in Vietnam wont be enough. ive been reading up and you can get Vietnam and Chinese visas from Phnom Penh or Bangkok, so thats ok. i would do it now but im not sure when i will arrive, and not sure which website to do it on as im sure there are a few dodgy ones out there
Reply to this Hi Marc,
Laos was an easy visa. You can get it at the airport as you enter the country. One of our favorite countries.
If you go to Bali we recommend you going up to Lovina Beach to see the dolphins and Ubud is a must. They are worth the trip.
In Thailand we loved Kanchanaburi-- (The River Kwai) We had a great time taking a cooking class here. We had a great time at the Blue Star Guest House.
In Malaysia take the time to take a long boat to the Taman Negara National Park.
Happy Travels
Reply to this thanks for all the input, i appreciate it. the long boat in TN N.Park sounds good
i think im going to split the trip in two. go to west Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, then Hong Kong. id like to go to Phhilippines and Indonesia after but thats funds permitting
i seem to be all set apart from the Malaria tablets, which are going to be about £100 for a months worth of Maralone 😞
i intend to use them in Palawan-Philippines and Labmok-Gili Islands in Indonesia. The rest are low risk on the fitfortravel website (Java and Bali, Cebu, Bohol and Siquijor, i have the main injections covered, but they wanted extorsionate fees for the rest. so im not planning to do any trekking, jungles etc. ive managed to find most info i needed on here which is good - high% DEET bug spray and bed nuts are a must
Reply to this Gili Air is a beautiful island - and close enough to enjoy the other islands. Also love Chang Mai and Kanchanaburi. Have you considered foregoing the malarone (side effects incl. nausea and wierd dreams/night terrors) and substituting with doxycycline antibiotics for all your travel time?
All travel doctors will tell you that you need antimalarials because as you have found out they cost a pretty penny. I have only ever used antimalarials once and now just continually take doxy wherever and whenever I travel. At the moment you are more likely to catch Dengue Fever in Indo than malaria..its RIFE at the moment. If you havent had them dont bother with rabies shots either. Not worth the cost.
Reply to this im not sure to be honest, i have mental health problems so the nurse advised Malarone as they have the least side effects, wierd dreams being low on the list compared to other tablets.
my trip schedule is changing on a daily basis right now as my funds arent totting up as i had hoped. as of today i may just visit Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia and Hong Kong, so i wont need them.
Reply to this Doxycycline
IS an antimalarial. You have to take it for a full month after you leave a malarial area, otherwise it's useless though.
It's a lot cheaper.
Reply to this thanks Kris/Kate. is every topic im reading you seem to have the best information lol
so glad i found this place and signed up, otherwise i might not have been so prepared
Reply to this Firstly, I must declare that I've lived in China for 24 years my suggestion.
2 weeks is too short for China. You see.
at least, you need to spend 4 days in Beijing, 3 days in Shanghai,3 days in Xi'an. and 3 days spent on the way.
Even that you spend 13 days as what I said, you just went to 3 cities out of China
except for Hongkong Tibet and may other cities.
Maybe, you can visit one or two cities of China first.
If you were come to Shanghai, you can contact me.
I'm an undergraduate student, while doing some part-time job, so you only need pay 1/3 of those
travel agencies who spend big money on advertising and salaries.
I will lead you to some places of real interests, different from those places full of foreign tourists and dealers.
Reply to this 
