2months in Asia-how would you spend your time?

CountryWise

I know this is a bit of a cheeky ask as there is tonnes of information in many many threads but thats just the problem I cant make heads nor tails of it as their is so much so made my own thread.

Quite simply heading to Oz in March/April and will have 2 months in Asia before i arrive and I was wondering if anyone who has done similar would be good enough to give some advice on how best to spend the time.

Im thinking using Thailand to start with anyway and then on into Vietnam,Laos Cambodia the usual but not sure exactly how to divide the time up in those places, Thailand sounds amazing(for the most part) and i would like to spend a good deal of time there but not sure how much time I should spend on the different islands, which islands need more time than others etc.....which islands have the most activities? anyones experiences appreciated!

breadmonkey

I went to Thailand, Laos and Vietnam over a 9 week period and, although I saw a huge amount by doing that, if I was in your position I'd spend the entire time in Thailand and just take it nice and slow.

mrDuke

hey im doing that exact same thing, leaving on the 23rd, lol, im interested in replys, im most looknig forward to going to vietnam and visiting all the historic war sites, havent done much reading yet but im sure theres a wealth of things to see.

CountryWise

Im going for around a year but im strongly considering just buying a one way ticket to Asia and booking it as i go from there so I can stay in places longer if i wish, will airline prices be excessive if i do it this way?

A few friends of mine booked round the world flights and regretted it as they are tied to a schedule and have to complete it in 12 months!

Ian-101-

Hey, I'm doing the exact same thing at the end of April, just gonna get a one way ticket to bangkok, spend about 2 months floating around the indochina region, then make my way to singapore and get a flight to Auz from there.

Haven't really looked into what to do and see too much as im sure its easier to plan all that when your over there, talking to other travellers will help you decied what to see i feel.

Get "southeast asia on a shoestring" by lonely planet, it has everything you'll need to know.

Have you booked your tickets yet? What did you go for RTW or one way? Also how much / where you got them etc?

CountryWise

Ian-101- wrote: »

Have you booked your tickets yet? What did you go for RTW or one way? Also how much / where you got them etc?

I havent booked anything yet, just signed up for my jabs yesterday and will probably fill out the Oz visa form tomorrow.

Probably fly into Bangkok myself too, was thinking of stopping in Bangalore on the way to Thailand but India is such a vast country it would be a shame to go there and only see one city considering there is so many sites to see but havent booked anythign anyway yet.

Im presuming internal flights in Thailand and stuff are quite cheap?

I heard a good thing about the Oz visa that i didnt know, even if i apply for it today it doesnt start till I enter the country....and its only €113 which is quite cheap too i thought it would be alot more!

Ian-101-

CountryWise wrote: »

I havent booked anything yet, just signed up for my jabs yesterday and will probably fill out the Oz visa form tomorrow.

Probably fly into Bangkok myself too, was thinking of stopping in Bangalore on the way to Thailand but India is such a vast country it would be a shame to go there and only see one city considering there is so many sites to see but havent booked anythign anyway yet.

Im presuming internal flights in Thailand and stuff are quite cheap?

I heard a good thing about the Oz visa that i didnt know, even if i apply for it today it doesnt start till I enter the country....and its only €113 which is quite cheap too i thought it would be alot more!

Haven't even thought about jabs. Do you have to get that sorted much in advance? How much it costing you? What kind of jabs are needed.

From what i've read the internal flights are cheap enough.

Yeah the after you get issued the visa you have 1 year to enter the country and after you enter you have one year untill you have to leave.

Im trying to create a budget for all this but no idea where to start. Thinking 10K for everything (all flights / visa's / spending) and thats for 14months traveling throught southeast asia, auz and new zealand. (hoping to do some work in auz too)

CountryWise

Ian-101- wrote: »

Haven't even thought about jabs. Do you have to get that sorted much in advance? How much it costing you? What kind of jabs are needed.

From what i've read the internal flights are cheap enough.

Yeah the after you get issued the visa you have 1 year to enter the country and after you enter you have one year untill you have to leave.

Im trying to create a budget for all this but no idea where to start. Thinking 10K for everything (all flights / visa's / spending) and thats for 14months traveling throught southeast asia, auz and new zealand. (hoping to do some work in auz too)

Ya jabs are pretty much a must unless you want to risk coming home after a week, try www.tmb.ie for prices and you can also book an appointment and it explains what jabs you need for certain areas, i think you need them about 6 weeks in advance or something probably get away with 4.

As for budgeting I have no idea either but I hope to work for 6 months in Oz to supplement myself a bit, other than that hoping to take 5-10k.

CountryWise

Anybody got some Visa advice for Thailand and its surrounding countries, from what i can gather i can get the usual tourist Visa uopn entry to Thailand and stay 30 days and possibly extend this by a further 15 days if required, is this correct? is it ok to leave it all till i get out there as visafirst seem to charge alot for something you get when you arrive?

and what about visa's for surrounding countries?

S.M.B.

You can arrive into Thailand without a visa and you'll receive a 30 day visa exemption stamp. You might need to prove that you're leaving the country within those 30 days though by pre-booking any flight out of Thailand. This can all be avoided by just getting a tourist visa from the thai consulate in Ireland.

http://www.thaiconsulateireland.com/

€40 for a single entry tourist visa and €80 for double entry.

You can get a 30 day Visa at both the Laos and Cambodian border so no need to worry about those countries.

You can't get a Visa at the Vietnamese border so most arrange that in Bangkok which can take a few days. You'll have to give a date on when you expect to arrive in Vietnam and your 30 days start from that date regardless of whether you're in Vietnam or not.

CountryWise

S.M.B. wrote: »

You can arrive into Thailand without a visa and you'll receive a 30 day visa exemption stamp. You might need to prove that you're leaving the country within those 30 days though by pre-booking any flight out of Thailand. This can all be avoided by just getting a tourist visa from the thai consulate in Ireland.

http://www.thaiconsulateireland.com/

€40 for a single entry tourist visa and €80 for double entry.

You can get a 30 day Visa at both the Laos and Cambodian border so no need to worry about those countries.

You can't get a Visa at the Vietnamese border so most arrange that in Bangkok which can take a few days. You'll have to give a date on when you expect to arrive in Vietnam and your 30 days start from that date regardless of whether you're in Vietnam or not.

Thats really helpful thanks:)

CountryWise

Has anyone booked it all themselves.......Visa's ,Travel Insurance, Flights into Asia without TrailFinders/Usit etc? they seem to add a bit of extra money(understandable) to get the visa's and stuff for you but surely it dont make a difference to book it alone?

asti_mivec

Hi OP,

It really depends what you want from your time in SEA. I split my ticket that I booked with trailfinders so that I flew out to Bangkok and got my flight onwards from Hong Kong and travelled overland between the two so that I could see as much as possible in my time there.

I personally would split the time up with maybe 3 weeks in Thailand, maybe 4-5 days in Cambodia, 1-1.5 weeks in Laos and then spend the rest in Vietnam where you can travel from HCMC to Hanoi or vice-versa depending on where you enter/ want to fly from. you can get a bus pass between these two places in Vietnam very cheap and hop on/ hop off at every stop at your own discretion so you can see the wonderful country that is Vietnam. In Thailand with 3 weeks you could have a few days shopping/ partying etc in Bangkok, then head north to see the hills in Chang Mai etc and spend a while down south on the islands to chill. If you want to dive or something allow extra time for down south.

Cambodia and Laos are very different to the other two and although amazing in their own right I found I only needed a couple of days in Siam Reap seeing temples of Angkor and then went to Phnom Penh (sp?) for a few days, both were amazing but I personally felt that only a few days in each were adequate! Read up as much as you can and decide where you want to see most is my best advice though.

Hope this helps.

Regarding another question somebody asked about visas, I would organise it yourself as the price charged by trailfinders et al is a bit over the top I felt. There is plenty of info out there about getting visas for pretty much any country in the region and it is quite easy to arrange on your own.

Cheers

S.M.B.

CountryWise wrote: »

Has anyone booked it all themselves.......Visa's ,Travel Insurance, Flights into Asia without TrailFinders/Usit etc? they seem to add a bit of extra money(understandable) to get the visa's and stuff for you but surely it dont make a difference to book it alone?

You shouldn't have any problems doing it yourself.

bribren2001

asti_mivec wrote: »

Hi OP,

It really depends what you want from your time in SEA. I split my ticket that I booked with trailfinders so that I flew out to Bangkok and got my flight onwards from Hong Kong and travelled overland between the two so that I could see as much as possible in my time there.

I personally would split the time up with maybe 3 weeks in Thailand, maybe 4-5 days in Cambodia, 1-1.5 weeks in Laos and then spend the rest in Vietnam where you can travel from HCMC to Hanoi or vice-versa depending on where you enter/ want to fly from. you can get a bus pass between these two places in Vietnam very cheap and hop on/ hop off at every stop at your own discretion so you can see the wonderful country that is Vietnam. In Thailand with 3 weeks you could have a few days shopping/ partying etc in Bangkok, then head north to see the hills in Chang Mai etc and spend a while down south on the islands to chill. If you want to dive or something allow extra time for down south.

Cambodia and Laos are very different to the other two and although amazing in their own right I found I only needed a couple of days in Siam Reap seeing temples of Angkor and then went to Phnom Penh (sp?) for a few days, both were amazing but I personally felt that only a few days in each were adequate! Read up as much as you can and decide where you want to see most is my best advice though.

Hope this helps.

Regarding another question somebody asked about visas, I would organise it yourself as the price charged by trailfinders et al is a bit over the top I felt. There is plenty of info out there about getting visas for pretty much any country in the region and it is quite easy to arrange on your own.

Cheers

hey thanks asti_mivec, thats really helpful, most useful info i got in a long time.

Flynn

CountryWise wrote: »

Im going for around a year but im strongly considering just buying a one way ticket to Asia and booking it as i go from there so I can stay in places longer if i wish, will airline prices be excessive if i do it this way?

A few friends of mine booked round the world flights and regretted it as they are tied to a schedule and have to complete it in 12 months!

hey, ya you should be able to do a one-way job on SEA... my girlfriend is over at the mo' teaching and she's met a few people doin the one-way thing.. I think it's only possible in SEA though.. i plan on doin a RTW trip and as i'm heading west first there isn't a hope of doing it one-way it would work out to be so much more expensive.. flights are cheap as chips in asia