Traveling to Phillipines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos
so, in late february, the wife and i will be traveling to the southeast asia for a honeymoon/volunteering trip over a 2 month period. i have never been to these countries before, and am open to virtually anything. what can you suggest we do/see/taste/watch/experience?
i should mention that we are travelers and not tourists. so, while we won't avoid touristy type things, we would rather spend most of out time amongst the people and learning their culture and foods. time could be tight to see all of these areas, so any tips or tricks on using buses, trains, planes etc... would be greatly appreciated.
If you enter find yourself in Vang Vieng, Laos tubing the Nam Song river is a must. The town is a party town but is a fun stop if you are traveling down the river to Vientienne.
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Bangkok is a great city with a ton of history and culture. They get a ton of tourists but they all stick to Khao San road and Patpong (sp?). Both locations are fun for night life and an interesting show or two but if you are looking for culture you will likely feel like Leo on The Beach when he heads to the Full Moon party and everyone is drunk.
If you enter find yourself in Vang Vieng, Laos tubing the Nam Song river is a must. The town is a party town but is a fun stop if you are traveling down the river to Vientienne.
If you find yourself in Vang Vieng, do not spend your days there watching Friends and Family Guy reruns with the Australian backpacker crowd. There's some attraction to walking down to "party island" in the evening, grabbing a hammock overlooking the river and ordering a few joints or a bag a weed (it's actually on the menu), but it's just depressing during the day. Rent a scooter (preferably a Japanese one) and ride north as far as you can. The people are ridiculously friendly, the scenery is beautiful, you won't see another tourist, and the food is delicious if you just stop anywhere that you see a crowd. At most of the restaurants, there won't be a menu or any choices to make other than your beverage. They make one thing, and they make it well (often, but not always, a delicious pho-like soup). I've traveled a lot, but my scooter rides in Lao are some of the most fun times I've ever had. Lao really is a awesome place as long as you don't spend all your time with Australians while you're there.
Also, I can't recommend the sleeper train from Vientiene (technically Nong Khai just over the border) to Bangkok highly enough.
Last edited by gargamel; 12-03-2012 at 12:16 PM.
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If you find yourself in Vang Vieng, do not spend your days there watching Friends and Family Guy reruns with the Australian backpacker crowd. There's some attraction to walking down to "party island" in the evening, grabbing a hammock overlooking the river and ordering a few joints or a bag a weed (it's actually on the menu), but it's just depressing during the day. Rent a scooter (preferably a Japanese one) and ride north as far as you can. The people are ridiculously friendly, the scenery is beautiful, you won't see another tourist, and the food is delicious if you just stop anywhere that you see a crowd. At most of the restaurants, there won't be a menu or any choices to make other than your beverage. They make one thing, and they make it well (often, but not always, a delicious pho-like soup).
great advice, thank you. do you think trying to make it to luang prabang is too far for the scooter for a day trip?
I loved Cebu in the Phillipines. Bohol Island is a short Ferry ride from there. It is where the Tarsiers (worlds smallest primates) and Chocolate hills are located. There is also a really neat Lunch River Cruise there.
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I loved Cebu in the Phillipines. Bohol Island is a short Ferry ride from there. It is where the Tarsiers (worlds smallest primates) and Chocolate hills are located. There is also a really neat Lunch River Cruise there.
To add to this. Not sure how you guys are travelling, but we stayed At the Shangri-La on Mactan Island (right beside Cebu) and it had fantastic snorkelling right off the beach (big reef right there). Basically rent the snorkel gear and go in the water.
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Any island with an airport on it is not going to be your cup of tea.
ie) Koh Samui in Thailand is just a large tourist trap disguised as a scenic island. Koh Tao is much more relaxed, laid back, not as touristy and dirt cheap.
If you do the border crossing over land from Thailand to Cambodia (we did on our way to Siem Reap / Angkor Wat) you will want to get the hell out of Poipet Cambodia as fast as possible.
I've been all over the world and Poipet has the most crippling/depressing poverty I've ever seen.
great advice, thank you. do you think trying to make it to luang prabang is too far for the scooter for a day trip?
I'd ride from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang one day, stay over night, see the monk procession at sunrise, then head back. You could get there and back in one day, but you wouldn't have much time to see anything there or make many stops along the way. You'd still get to take in the scenery and see kids running to the road to wave and yell "sabaidee" at you, but I wouldn't have wanted to miss those restaurants.
And if you ignore my Japanese scooter advice and cheap out on a Chinese model, you may not make it all the way to Luang Prabang. Though having a whole village of people cheerily trying to fix my scooter despite having absolutely no idea what they were doing was fun too.
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To add to this. Not sure how you guys are travelling, but we stayed At the Shangri-La on Mactan Island (right beside Cebu) and it had fantastic snorkelling right off the beach (big reef right there). Basically rent the snorkel gear and go in the water.
we think we will 'rough it' for the most part, but treat ourselves to an occasional nice hotel for a night or two.
Any island with an airport on it is not going to be your cup of tea.
ie) Koh Samui in Thailand is just a large tourist trap disguised as a scenic island. Koh Tao is much more relaxed, laid back, not as touristy and dirt cheap.
If you do the border crossing over land from Thailand to Cambodia (we did on our way to Siem Reap / Angkor Wat) you will want to get the hell out of Poipet Cambodia as fast as possible.
I've been all over the world and Poipet has the most crippling/depressing poverty I've ever seen.
Koh Chang is also a great island that isn't a complete tourist trap. lots of great restaurants, locals are quite friendly, and there is some good nightlife to be had as well. you take the ferry from a town called Trat which is just off the Cambodian border, so if you're heading that way i'd highly recommend it
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so, in late february, the wife and i will be traveling to the southeast asia for a honeymoon/volunteering trip over a 2 month period. i have never been to these countries before, and am open to virtually anything. what can you suggest we do/see/taste/watch/experience?
i should mention that we are travelers and not tourists. so, while we won't avoid touristy type things, we would rather spend most of out time amongst the people and learning their culture and foods. time could be tight to see all of these areas, so any tips or tricks on using buses, trains, planes etc... would be greatly appreciated.
Don't spend much time in Bangkok when you arrive. Come back in mid-April (13th-15th) for the Songkran festival (Thai New Year). It is incredible, basically a giant water fight all over the country with tons of cool celebrations. We were in Bangkok for it and it was one of the true highlights of my trip. Just pure joy for everyone involved.
Vang Vieng was awesome and the float is an incredible expereince with the ziplines and rope swings but is not worth more than two-three days given your short time frame. I can second what gargamel said about not getting caught up lazing around in the pillow filled restaurants watching dvds and drinking Lemon ice shakes. We ended up in Vang Vieng after a rough travel stretch on our trip and ended up spending a few too many lazy days tubing/laying around. In retrospect, it was a waste of a few days. A quick in and out will be fine.
Vietnam was easily my favourite country in SE Asia but will be tough to really check out well if you want to do Thailand in any kind of depth. If I were to make a recommendation, I would say make sure you start in the south (Saigon) and work your way north to Hanoi. The difference between the two cities is incredible, Saigon is so modern and liberal (by comparison), Hanoi has much more of an "old Vietnam" feel to it. It was really cool to experience the difference as you head north. We took advantage of the sleeper trains to maximize our travel time and cost here.
We hired a tuk tuk driver to do a 3 day tour of Angkor Wat when in Cambodia. In hindsight, it was probably a day too much. By the end, the temples all started to look the same and after we saw all the "highlights" on day two, the smaller ones suddenly didn't seem as impressive (dumb I know) . Two full days is perfect if you are there early both days. Also, don't forget to check out a floating village. It's a really cool experience. Couldn't help but laugh as we float by on our longtail boat and we pass a floating home where the kids inside are sitting there watching wrestling on their generator powered tv. If you are looking for beaches that aren't quite as touristy as in Thailand, I know many people who said Sihanoukville was just as nice, cheaper and a bit more authentic than many of the tourist trap beaches in Thailand.
You will have a great time. Make sure to take advantage of the pho in Vietnam and all the incredible curry dishes in Thailand, not a week goes by that I don't still crave their authentic cuisine. What a treat.
I'll post more if anything worth mentioning pops to mind.
we think we will 'rough it' for the most part, but treat ourselves to an occasional nice hotel for a night or two.
My now-Wife and I too had the mindset to "Rough it" but as we found, there was awesome hotels for 10-13 dollars US a night that had clean rooms/linens and not as many " Annoying kids" (We were 24 when we went) It was easy to find the party and really nice to have a clean quiet room.
Highlights for us -
- 3 day homestay in Sapa. We were able to work in the rice paddies with our host family. Driving an waterbuffalo for a day is something else
- Luang Prabang had some unbelievable scenery, we ended up doing alot of scooter rides from here. Amazing riverside "bars" - warm beer for the most part. Really quiet and fun to try and talk to the locals.
- 3 days of partying in Vang Vieng is something else.
- Get some clothes made in Hoi An - my wife had her wedding dress made for 50 dollars overnight.
- Ankor Wat - Siem Riep is an amazing town, not just for Ankor, but there is tons to do around it. We took a private tour of the floating villages, small town markets. Amazing.
Like anyone who has been to S.E Asia, I can go on and on. Eat in as few restaurants/bars as possible, eat in the markets/on the street/ in peoples homes as much as possible. Rent scooter whenever you can/feel comfortable.
We also found that we had alot of luck of hiring a local "Guide" and they would end up taking us to their relatives farm/buisness for a behind the scenes look at life, instead of going through a travel agency.
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If your route takes you through southeastern Thailand, I'd plan to spend a few nights in a beachside bungalow on Koh Chang for somewhere around $30 per night. There isn't a lot of culture there, but there are some cool warerfalls to see, it's peaceful during the day, and the shisha bar on White Sand Beach is fun at night. (edit: I see it took me too long to type this on the iPhone and Hemi-Cuda beat me to it, but now you have 2 recommendations for Koh Chang)
My main advice for Bangkok is to eat as much street food as possible, ignore the guide book, and go to whatever hole in the wall restaurants have the longest lines of locals. That's true everywhere, but due to the amount of tourists in Bangkok, your chances of getting a bad meal there are relatively high if you don't choose wisely. Also, the city has earned its reputation for hedonism, but you wont really notice the sex industry unless you go looking for it. Having said that, Soi Cowboy (featured in The Hangover 2) may be worth a quick stroll at night just for the spectacle of it.
Last edited by gargamel; 12-03-2012 at 01:10 PM.
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Traveling to Phillipines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos
Though having a whole village of people cheerily trying to fix my scooter despite having absolutely no idea what they were doing was fun too.
