Backpacking through SE Asia...Tips?

[Incogneto]

Looks like I am heading to SE Asia for 6 weeks....April and 1/2 of May. I am assuming that there are a few world travellers on the site...

Can I get some tips on where to go and what to see? ...and I know about places like Angkor Wat, the Killing Fields and Koh Phangan/Samui. I am looking for some places that I wouldn't know about. What is there to see in Laos? Where are great places in Vietnam? Awesome beaches that are not covered in tourists? Can't Miss Photo ops?

Thanks in Advance.

[normtwofinger]

Spent 6 months in China, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia in 08. PM with any questions.

[Phanuthier]

Travelling or "Backpacking" through Cambodia is really different then a Europe or probably even South America. When you get out of the airport in Cambodia, there's no taxi's waiting to zip you off to your hotel or buses to take you to your hostel (as far as I could see). Quite frankly, there's really no order in Cambodia. As much as it sucks, I'd say you might have to take a (ugg) tour to see Cambodia.

Recommendations, Phnom Penh was really different, like nothing I have ever seen. I've been to some pretty poor places, but nothing nearly as poor as Cambodia; a very 3rd world country, and a huge culture shock and I've been to alot of countries. Obviously as you said, Angkor Wat is a 7 wonder of the world.

For Laos, I have a friend that just went there and that was his favourite of the whole trip. From his pictures, it looks alot like Cambodia to me, and dirt poor.

A cool photo for Angkor Wat, as you walk to Angkor Wat (India design, aka the famous one) on your left there is a man-made pond of sorts. Just as the sun sets, the stone starts to glow a golden colour and using the waters reflection, see if you can grab a picture of the famous building and its symmetrical reflection.

In China, I've been to Guilin and Beijing, both were worth it. I'd love to see Gongzhao and Zhang Zie Zie (did I spell that right?) but I'm not sure if you are going to the region. I hear Gongzhao is a $1 bus ride from Beijing too. There's a few China residents here that can probably give better info then me though.

I've talked to a few travellers of Vietnam (they were all Aussies go figure, how are there so many Aussies everywhere travelling?) and I'm told you can hire someone to take you around on your scooter for a few days for a decent price. Vietnam would definately be worth checking out. (Sorry if I wrote something here without giving any info at all)

I saw some cool pics of some cool cave spelunking in Malaysia, dunno if you are in to that. I would love to try it some time.

Tibet? If I ever had some sort of goal of visiting that special place, Tibet is what I'd like to see. Dunno if thats on your agenda though.

[T@T]

Bring 5 bucks to buy a bride

[redforever]

My sister spent almost 4 months touring Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar, India and Oman. She has a personal journey of her travels on My Trip Journal.

Her trip started in Indonesia and she spent a couple of months there. If you want to follow her journey for 3 ½ months, start here.

http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-61258-pangkajene-sri-lanka-crew-boat-indonesia-local-bira-delayed

Then she embarked for Thailand for a couple of weeks, so if you aren’t thinking of Indonesia, start here.

http://www.mytripjournal.com/travel-61292-nakhon-sawan-chiang-mai-giant-step-temples-time-buddha-myanmar

She has written a journal with tons of info about each area she visited and posted lots of pictures at each location as well.

There are arrows at the top of each page, you can go back and forth that way as well. And if you click on any photo, you can see a slide show of those pictures.

While she was touring, she was in regular contact with her family at home, EXCEPT when she was in Myanmar (Burma). Apparently, that country does not allow American internet sites like yahoo, hotmail and the like, so she could not mail us updates as to where she was or when she was leaving the country.

[DAN0383]

I was in Kuala Lumpur for 2 months back in 2001 or 2000 but I never really got to go anywhere, although the highway leading south to Singapore is pretty much jungle on all sides from what I can remember.

[Ozy_Flame]

Sinagpore is relatively fun if you have a day or two. Check out the cheese of Sentosa Island. Their Chinatown is also worth a walk around.

[Mr.Coffee]

Did 7 weeks and went: Thailand, Vietnam (down the cost from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh), bus to Phnom Penh, flight to Laos, bus to Thailand, back to Laos, flight to Thailand, home. haha.. we sure didn't plan it out very well did we?

Suggestions?? I have a few-

1) This discussion starts and ends with this: http://www.gibbonx.org/ Trust me. You won't find this in Lonely Planet books, because they try to keep it sold on word of mouth (lucky for you I was there). It is unbelievable. You will be there during rainy season, same as me- soooo.... as long as your okay with a bunch of hiking you will love it as it's about as adventurous as you can get. You live in treehouses w/ total strangers and zipline across gigantic canyons in the middle of a jungle. It's a bit pricey but DEFINITELY worth every cent and a blast. Plus you get to play/wrestle with a bear (however he might be an adult now.. sooo... maybe not).

2) In Vietnam, if you are drunk and separated from buddies, and looking for a cab, and then you see one about 5 feet in front of you and a cop asks you to pay him some money and he'll find you a cab; so then you tell him no thats okay there's one right here and then he looks serious and says "NO... PAY ME AND I'LL GET YOU A CAB", and so you do and get a ride home and then 2 chicks follow you back to your hotel and corner you in an alley and begin trying to grab at your crotch saying "Sucky Sucky"... do not take them up on their deal. You may need to use force to get them off of you. Sorry was that a run on sentence?

3) Take malaria medication, and if it happens to be doxicyclin (sp?), and you get a sore throat or it feels like you have a fishbone caught in there, it's the malaria medecine causing esophogenitus (sp?) and you just need to plug through it. If you are taking malarone, its expensive but usually has less side effects I think. If you are taking anything else, you could get some messed up side effects.

4) I'd take a pass on Cambodia, extremely poor and when it rains hard, their streets become rivers of garbage since they don't really have a garbage system it seems. I'm talking strictly about Phnom Penh... I never got to Angkor Wat but heard it was a beautiful place so I'm sure it's worth seeing.

5) Go to Full Moon Party in Thailand. You can try the mushy shake if you want from the left side of the beach up the steps, its a milkshake w/ mushrooms, but I don't think it really works and you'll be loaded off the sandpail-red bull-vodka-coke stuff anyway.

6) I don't do drugs (I guess other than trying milkshakes), not even pot, but if you do, don't when you are over there. Thailand has a huge drug war going on (as in, government trying to deal with their ridiculously problematic crystal meth issue in addition to taking a super hard stance on drugs) and they take it VERY seriously. You can be thrown in jail VERY quickly and it's just an overall good idea to stay away from that stuff period, but especially in foreign countries.

7) Get Lonely Planet books. Huge.

8) Go to Laos and neighbouring countries... they were awesome. Vietnam, awesome. Like I said skip Cambodia but that's just my opinion.. it was a lot sketchier.

9) The ping pong show is insane. I don't want to get into details because it actually is kind of disturbing.

10) Pack light. Honestly, don't get a HUGE backpack like everyone does because you can buy the SAME big travel backpack when you get there for a LOT cheaper. Buy a small bag, take 1-2 shirts, 1 pants for flights to stay warm, 1 shorts, 1 shoes/sandals.. and then prepare to take FULL advantage of the EXTREME cheapness that is SE asia.. when my friend picked me up to go on the trip he said I looked like I was headed to my first day of school not travel for 7 weeks.

11) My 7 weeks, including flight, cost about $7,000 in May/June 2007 and the conversion to Thai baht was about 30-$1CDN. Now mind you I split accomodations with a friend, but many overestimate. We lived quite well. Everything there is so cheap. EVERYTHING.. and everything is up for negotiation.

12) Cabs will charge double for the same distance if more people get involved. This is normal, but try to negotiate cabs down and call their bluff. Tell them no and start to walk away if there are other cabs around and you will get a better price.

13) Buy dress clothes, LOTS of dress clothes, and then store in a locker at an airport until you come home. The storage could get expensive (around $200 or so for 4 weeks) but then you don't have to lug it around. The dress clothes- make sure you get top quality material, and then be sure to check them carefully when you receive them to get what you paid for. You can negotiate unreal deals on clothes. Almost all my dress clothes I wear today are from Thailand and they fit perfectly and look great. In fact it is cheaper, literally, to buy a plane ticket, fly over there, buy the dress clothes that are custom fit and tailored, and come home than it is to buy clothes here in Canada. That is fact. Example- I got an armani suit, 4 pants, 5 or 6 shirts, 2 ties for $500CDN.

I got more good info if you'd like too..I could go on..

[Mr.Coffee]

Oops I guess I'm not done as I just fully read your post haha... but yeah check out:

Chiang Mai (north Thailand), Nha Trang (middle of Vietnam and major tourist destination.. basically the Hawaii for Japanese people and a very nice town).

Hanoi is a cool city in north Vietnam. Lots to see, including John McCain's prison cell when he was shot down and held captive.. trains head out to a neat place called Sapa which is about 30 km's from China border and a neat hilly town colonized when the French were around many years ago so the architecture is strangely European...

Sapa is on the West side of north Vietnam, but on the East, the coast, is a chain of 1000 islands which I cant remember the name right now (a downtown restaurant in Calgary along the CTrain line is named after it though..) anyways its gorgeous and you can stay on a luxury boat overnight on the water and see some caves..


In Laos go to Vang Vieng and Luang Prabang. And then of course, the gibbon xperience as described. Also when you go to gibbon experience, take the slow boat, the fast boat you risk death. Literally.

[Hack&Lube]

Stay away from Asian restaurants.

[Mike Oxlong]

My wife and I spent the summer of 2007 in SE Asia and it was absolutely amazing.

Here's my brief breakdown of what to do and see in the countries we visited:

Thailand - Bangkok is ok to see for a few days. Check out the red light district, and the ping pong shows. You won't likely see anything like that again. The Grand Palace is pretty cool as well. For the most part though Bangkok is just a big, busy, polluted city.

We went to Chang Mai in Northern Thailand and really liked it. We took a private tour that took us 4x4ing up these crazy mountain roads to a remote hill tribe that we hung out with and gave some candy and toys to. From there we did some rafting and elephant riding. It was a 2 day tour and very worth it.

We also spent a week down in Koh Samui which is just really a beach hang out. Cool to go see and hang out at if you just want some downtime.

Cambodia - This was my favourite place by FAR. Angkor Wat is simply amazing. It is the coolest thing I have ever seen in real life. I highly reccomend it. You will be happy you went.

Phnom Pehn was interesting as well. Going to see the killing fields is pretty surreal. There are little pieces of bone coming up through the ground from all of the mass graves.

On the road out to the Killing Fields there is a gun range. We stopped and shot M-16's, AK 47's and I threw a hand grenade as well. Something you just don't get to do in Canada. Apparently they would take you up to the mountains to shoot a rocket launcher as well but that was $200 and I wasn't overly confident of the safety precautions they were taking.

Cambodia is VERY poor but it is well worth the trip. I keep in touch with our tour guide there. He speaks great english, is very knowledgeable about everything so let me know if you want his contact info.

Vietnam - We started in Hanoi which is a huge city filled with millions of scooters. You won't believe the traffic once you get there. There are a few sights to see in the city but I also reccomend taking a tour to Halong Bay. Very beautiful, and you can take a 2 day tour where you sleep on a boat. It's similar to houseboating.

From there we travelled south trying to make our way to Saigon.

Go see the Cu Chi tunnels (not sure of the spelling). This is a huge network of tunnels the vietnamese used to hide underground from the Americans during the war. You actually get to travel through them as well which was coll unlesss you are claustrophobic.

We stopped in a town called Hoi An. I highly reccomend going there as well. It is a small town on the coast that has a great beach. The whole town is made up of Tailor shops that you can get great custom made clothes at very inexpensively. I know the name of a couple of the better shops if you are interested.

Also in Hoi An is an orphanage that we visited. The kids love visitors and it was one of the best things we did on our trip. We brought them some fruit, milk etc... and they were very grateful.

Once you are down in Saigon there is lots to see in the city as well as a tour down to the Me Kong Delta. It was a great tour as well.

I would LOVE to go back there you will have a blast.

One thing to note. All throughout Thailand and Vietnam you can get foot massages and body massages for dirt cheap and they are fantastic. Be careful going to any place that is a "Sauna" and massage. My wife and I awkwardly found out that those places offer FULL body massages. I didn;t seem to mind as much as my wife did.

Have fun!

[Rhettzky]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

Stay away from Asian restaurants.

...and watch out for bears. Damn godless killing machines!

[Incogneto]

Thanks for the tips, folks. I really appreciate it all.

I leave for Bangkok in 6 days, and will be in Phuket in 8 days. Feel free to follow along on my travels on my blog:
http://drunkinasia.blogspot.com

And please continue to add comments, and advice on what I should see!

Thanks again, folks!

[Tiger]

Best thing I ever did was well spending several weeks in SE asia is I only took carry-on luggage. No big back packs, I took one change of clothes, toothbrush/paste, soap, a towel and a camera. Spent three weeks in Vietnam and Cambodia and would not do the trip any differently. Anything you need you can buy there. If i didn't feel like doing laundry I just bought new cloths for two dollars.

Cambodia is a must, you need at least two full days to do Angkor. Angkor Wat is great but some of the other temples were much cooler if you ask me. You must see the sunrise at angkor wat one day, but the next morning start touring the other temples at sunrise because there is absolutely no one there. To find out what to do in Cambodia we just bought a lonely planet guide off I street kid in phenom phen, worked out great. But be prepared for some surreal sites in cambodia, between the killing fields and the prisons, the people with limbs missing from landmines etc. it is an eye opening experience.

Hoi an has some amazing food, and the clothes you can get tailored made are amazing. I got some done at yani (or something like that). Halong bay is great and so was Sapa (we took a night train there into the mountian from hanoi). Seeing uncle Ho was pretty cool in Hanoi, well since I've seen lenin in Moscow I've seen both communist leaders in their tombs.

[Incogneto]

So it sounds like Sapa is worth the trip up there?

[Tiger]

Sapa was great. nice relaxing place up in the mountains, great drive up there, and great hiking in the mountians. If you have enough time you can summit the tallest mountain in vietnam there. I didn't get to do that though. And Sapa is a good jumping point into China if you are going there

[FurnaceFace]

I've only been to Bangkok and Koh Phi Phi so you've got more advice on what to see than I can provide. I'd add the big market in Bangkok is a ton of fun to wander through.

Some general tips:

Whatever bag you plan on taking, pack it up with all your stuff and take a trip on the bus or C train downtown and then wander around downtown with your bag for an hour or so. If you survive this comfortably then you've done well. If not, take stock of what bothered you and try and fix it.

Also the old rule of thumb of cut out a third of your clothes before you leave is a good suggestion. Also whoever said go carry on is correct. I just came back from a 3 week trip to Africa and all I had was a gym bag. Made for easy transport. I'd also say take some clothes you don't care if you toss. That way you'll end up having some room for the souvenir t-shirts and stuff you buy.

This site is a good packing resource. http://www.onebag.com/

Have a great trip and take a huge number of pictures. Buy some extra memory cards for your camera.

[Incogneto]

Originally Posted by FurnaceFace

I've only been to Bangkok and Koh Phi Phi so you've got more advice on what to see than I can provide. I'd add the big market in Bangkok is a ton of fun to wander through.

Some general tips:

Whatever bag you plan on taking, pack it up with all your stuff and take a trip on the bus or C train downtown and then wander around downtown with your bag for an hour or so. If you survive this comfortably then you've done well. If not, take stock of what bothered you and try and fix it.

Also the old rule of thumb of cut out a third of your clothes before you leave is a good suggestion. Also whoever said go carry on is correct. I just came back from a 3 week trip to Africa and all I had was a gym bag. Made for easy transport. I'd also say take some clothes you don't care if you toss. That way you'll end up having some room for the souvenir t-shirts and stuff you buy.

This site is a good packing resource. http://www.onebag.com/

Have a great trip and take a huge number of pictures. Buy some extra memory cards for your camera.

Awesome Suggestions! I have done two backpacking trips in the past, so I have a pretty killer backpack, and this trip is even easier to pack for then the others. Just shorts, T-shirts, and flip flops!

;-)