Thailand/Laos/Cambodia/Vietnam

sebastianlieken

Hi all,

I've got a travelling itch that needs to be scratched and i'm thinking south east asia as in the title (no perticular order). I'm looking to spend around 6 months travelling and am kinda looking at doing 4 of those in south east asia, one in oz (sister lives there) and then another in nz (my other sister is there).

Now the thing is, Ideally I would be looking at getting on a plane in July next year. (work / lease / I can get a 6 month career break)

July/August/September/October in Thailand/ Laos/ Cambodia/ Vietnam
Nov/Dec in Oz/Nz

Are these the crapiest and monsooniest times of the year for me to go? Am I better off holding off for a couple of months and plan my trip for some different months? I'm flexible enough AFTER July next year. I'd just rather go as soon as I can.

youcancallmeal

If possible it might be a better idea to wait a few months and do your trip the other way round. Start in Nov/Dec and go to NZ and Oz and then hit South East Asia after Christmas. Weather will be lovely then and no monsoons. You'll also get the chinese new years in which can be great experience if you happen to be in Vietnam at the time?

Blingy

Spent July aug and part of sept in 2006 in Thailand vietnam Cambodia Malaysia and Singapore and had lovely weather. Couple of hours in Bangkok with monsoon type weather on a couple of days but many days with fab weather lying on the beaches of Phuket, phi phi etc. didn't do the east coast islands of Thailand and maybe that's why we had better weather. Did east coast islands of Malaysia though and it was fab.
Just do some research-tripadvisor, lonely planet etc and see what others are saying. Monsoon season doesn't mean place shut down just means you might have an hour of rain and then sunshine again. Vietnam is FAB would love to go back!!

sebastianlieken

Thanks for the replies to my concerns, they're a bit more confidence inspiring.

I could push back a few months... but you know, itchy feet n' all that. Is the weather really that bad? I mean, I wouldn't mind an almighty thunder storm and shower for an hour, and then the sky to clear up again. As long as there are a few good sunny spells in there for me to wander about in shorts and a tshirt and go for a swim at some pretty beach somewhere and lie in the sun.

That's a pretty good idea with starting in oz/nz, it would be nice to be with family for christmas/new years and it will be epic weather over there. Personally though, i'd rather do south east asia first, and then go to oz and new zealand. hmm

I really dont mind a heavy thunderstorm at all... I guess the only thing i'm sceptical of is the sky being overcast the whole time. we get enough of that here in ireland and it bums the hell out of me.

youcancallmeal

sebastianlieken wrote: »

Thanks for the replies to my concerns, they're a bit more confidence inspiring.

I could push back a few months... but you know, itchy feet n' all that. Is the weather really that bad? I mean, I wouldn't mind an almighty thunder storm and shower for an hour, and then the sky to clear up again. As long as there are a few good sunny spells in there for me to wander about in shorts and a tshirt and go for a swim at some pretty beach somewhere and lie in the sun.

That's a pretty good idea with starting in oz/nz, it would be nice to be with family for christmas/new years and it will be epic weather over there. Personally though, i'd rather do south east asia first, and then go to oz and new zealand. hmm

I really dont mind a heavy thunderstorm at all... I guess the only thing i'm sceptical of is the sky being overcast the whole time. we get enough of that here in ireland and it bums the hell out of me.

Nah from what I've heard and seen monsoon weather isn't that bad at all, completely manageable even if it is incredibly warm and humid. I only recommended Jan-April because thats when I did it. Don't know how old you are but you will also see a lot of college students over the summer holidays in July and August if that's something you want to avoid?

sebastianlieken

youcancallmeal wrote: »

Nah from what I've heard and seen monsoon weather isn't that bad at all, completely manageable even if it is incredibly warm and humid. I only recommended Jan-April because thats when I did it. Don't know how old you are but you will also see a lot of college students over the summer holidays in July and August if that's something you want to avoid?

Yeah, i think monsoon season could be manageable. Gonna be 26 next month - bring on the students (the sexy ones )

Graham_B18C

Currently on the last week of a 3 month trip through Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia. Between early June - early September.

The only places that had standout bad weather have been North Vietnam for about 2 days, edge of a Typhoon hit while we were there. And while in Phi Phi it rained for about 2 days non stop although the weather the day before and after were glorious.

Other than that it's been pretty much as described with an hour of rain here and there.

As a side note I'd recommend trying to get in Malaysia, it'd be a toss up between Vietnam and Malaysia as my fave country of our trip. And in 4 months you'd have plenty of time! Especially if you're into wildlife, they're worlds ahead of anywhere else I've seen in Asia at conserving places for their very diverse wildlife

sebastianlieken

Graham_B18C wrote: »

As a side note I'd recommend trying to get in Malaysia, it'd be a toss up between Vietnam and Malaysia as my fave country of our trip. And in 4 months you'd have plenty of time! Especially if you're into wildlife, they're worlds ahead of anywhere else I've seen in Asia at conserving places for their very diverse wildlife

Thanks for the info Graham, very insightful!

regarding your side note, I do like my wildlife and would be very keen to throw the auld hiking boots on and go for a dander through the jungle

I'll check out Malaysia. I was also having a look at Borneo aswell... research research research :pac:

Graham_B18C

When I say they've great wildlife conservations, I was talking about Sabah in Borneo. In Semporna as I type (place is a dump!) but the only reason we're here was to go diving in Sipadan. Done it today and it was amazing, another island tomorrow then Sipadan the following day again. I absolutely love this place. There's so many sharks, turtles and barracuda that you stop looking at them after a little while!

Went white water rafting in Kota Kinabalu which was great fun, climbed Mt. Kinabalu which was torture, Turtle island was great fun and we done a night jungle walk the other night and saw a Western Tarcier (that little dude in the "I fcuking love this stick" meme)!

Seriously, this place is awesome!

Edit: I didn't put that stupid winkey smiley above my post intentionally!

sebastianlieken

You already winked. You can't take it back now!

I've never done any diving before, I assume you already had a bit of experience before you jumped into the water with a bunch of sharks and barracuda?

The white water rafting, Hiking, and Jungle walk sound epic. I'd be well up for that sort of thing. I'll be making a note of the place names.

cheers for that, question for you (seeing as you're there at the moment), how's the budget? Don't answer if none of my bee's wax, or send an IM if you prefer. I'd just like to get an idea what to expect re: the money situation.

I'm thinking £1000 per month? (€1160 per month) I can aim higher no worries, I'd just like to know what is realistic.

Graham_B18C

First dived in Thailand about a month ago! Done 9 dives there to get ourselves licenced to 30m. Something I couldn't recommend enough for when you're in Thailand.

On budget, genuinely, I'd say we've been spending around €1500 each a month (maybe slightly more for the trips in Borneo) but we ain't holding back, everything we've wanted to do we've done. We've stayed in mid range places, always in a private room, air con in 95% of places, really nice hotel in KL, one or two nights in fancy bars (sky bar and the likes), etc...so we've been a bit posh at times. But we don't see ourselves doing this again any time soon.

It could be done for less than €1000 a month but I'd say with 1200 you'd be laughing. You didn't mention travelling with anyone so are you going solo? If so then you'd be staying in dorms to make friends and the likes so it'd be a good bit cheaper than us.

If you've any questions about any of the places I've mentioned then feel free to PM me, I'll be no use for Laos as we skipped it!

sebastianlieken

Ah okay, so I can just give it a go over there?! nice one...

Budget wise, cheers for the heads up - sounds like you're splashing out here and there! nice one. That kinda budget would be pretty managable for me, I probably wouldn't be too fussed on always having private rooms or going to nice bars/restaurants. I'd be travelling by myself and the idea is to just bring a backpack with the essentials and stay in dorm type hostles where I can. I'd probably stay in nicer places from time to time just to get a bit of space back for a while though.

regarding the travelling itself, did you fly one way into bangkok and just get trains everywhere whenever you felt like moving on? As in, you just pay for the train whenever you want it or did you pre-purchase one all-encompasing ticket?

What about getting to Borneo? Did you book that flight while still in ireland?

I'm trying to figure out what the best plan of attack is to organise flights aswell.

Graham_B18C

When we left Ireland we had a flight from Dublin to Bangkok, Bangkok to Hanoi and Singapore to Brisbane booked.

All internal travel can be booked while in Asia. Busses and trains in Thailand and readily available but around full moon time the trains fill up heading from Bangkok to the islands. Bus tickets can be bought on the day of travel easily though. If getting the train in Bangkok get your ticket in the station, it'll cost about 60 baht from Koah San to the train station but it'll save ya a few quid rather than paying a travel agent for the pleasure. Also organise your Vietnam visa while in BK, cost us 2500 baht to get a 30 day visa the following day, would cost 2000 if you can wait 4 days (we weren't staying in BK that long and 4 days in all is more then enough in BK IMO)

Busses are stupidly cheap in Vietnam, all can be booked the day before for an overnight bus. Kinda scary but comfy and as I said cheap! It costs $45 to get a bus from north to south Vietnam (3000 km!) and you can get on and off wherever ya like. Hoang Long busses cost a bit more and are run by the government, they're a lot better though.

In Cambodia it's busses everywhere, small country in comparison to Vietnam and Thailand so you can do day busses easily. Best company is a crowd called Mekong Express (you can also get this crowd from HCM to Cambodia), they generally cost a couple of Dollars more but well worth it IMO, comfier busses, more reliable and there's always a hot Cambodian hostess type person on them (the one we had from HCM was insanely hot!)

In Malaysia we flew pretty much everywhere with Air Asia, the earlier ya book em the cheaper they are, even check yourself the price difference of a flight for tomorrow and a flight for two months from now. We got a bus and ferry from Krabi (Thailand) to Langkawi (Malaysia) but then flew from there to KL (brill city!), then a flight to Kota Kinabalu (west Sabah), then a flight to Sandakan (could of gotten a bus cheaply though, roughly 40 Ringgit ~ €10) then a bus to Semporna (if you're not diving, don't go here), then we're flying from here to Singapore via KL. The best way to gauge the prices is to price the flights for a few months from now. Use both Skyscanner and airasia because a lot of airasia's deals don't pop up on Skyscanner!

Best way I find for booking flights when you don't know when or where you're gonna be is give yourself x amount of weeks in a country, realistically you'll need a lot more time in Vietnam than Cambodia so take it into account. Tis also handy having some things booked because it gives some kind of structure to the trip!

Oh, and we only decided on Borneo while in Cambodia about 6 weeks ago! So we booked all our stuff for here in the last 5 weeks or so.

youcancallmeal

youcancallmeal wrote: »

You'll also get the chinese new years in which can be great experience if you happen to be in Vietnam at the time?

This is the crappiest time to ever visit Vietnam.. Bad weather in the north and half the non-tourist stuff closed for days at a time. Most non-VNese try to get out of the country.

Theresalwaysone

Deleted User wrote: »

This is the crappiest time to ever visit Vietnam.. Bad weather in the north and half the non-tourist stuff closed for days at a time. Most non-VNese try to get out of the country.

Just adding a plus one to this.

You'll be bored outta yer mind after one or two days. Nothing really to do around this time.

sebastianlieken

flip, i've been looking at the weather the past few days a bit more now and realising just how much and how often it's raining. It seems almost prohibitive.

I wonder if instead of doing July/August/September/October in south east asia (and November/December in Oz/Nz), am I better off doing October/November/December/January, and February/March in Oz/Nz.

Feckin monsoons. I don't want to wait over a year like. It's making me want to just pack up my things and go now - alas, I can't.

VinylJunkie

I'm just back from 3 weeks in Thailand, the weather was lovely, rained a handfull of times nothing bad at all.

I done Bnagkok - Koh Lipe - Railay Beach - Phi Phi - Phuket (Kata Beach) - Chiang Mai - Bangkok. I'd go back tomorrow if I could, hopefully looking at a similar trip as yours for next year. Used Air Asia for Bangkok - KOh Lipe (using the island transfer), Phuket - Chiang Mai & Chiang Mai - Bangkok. For the sake of 50e an 2 hour flight trumps a 20 hour bus journey.

Graham_B18C

VinylJunkie wrote: »

I'm just back from 3 weeks in Thailand, the weather was lovely, rained a handfull of times nothing bad at all.

I done Bnagkok - Koh Lipe - Railay Beach - Phi Phi - Phuket (Kata Beach) - Chiang Mai - Bangkok. I'd go back tomorrow if I could, hopefully looking at a similar trip as yours for next year. Used Air Asia for Bangkok - KOh Lipe (using the island transfer), Phuket - Chiang Mai & Chiang Mai - Bangkok. For the sake of 50e an 2 hour flight trumps a 20 hour bus journey.

That's all good for a three week trip but for a 4 month trip it's very different. Not only is the bus your transport, it's your hotel for a night too

VinylJunkie

Oh yea completely agree, I was more saying the weather over there for the last 3 weeks was absolutely fine, no issues even though a quick check on weather sites before I went had me fearing the worst.

Graham_B18C

While I was in Asia I could check Accuweather and it'd say there's a storm outside and I'd look out the widow and not a cloud to be seen!

hedgehog2

Graham_B18C wrote: »

Currently on the last week of a 3 month trip through Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia. Between early June - early September.

The only places that had standout bad weather have been North Vietnam for about 2 days, edge of a Typhoon hit while we were there. And while in Phi Phi it rained for about 2 days non stop although the weather the day before and after were glorious.

Other than that it's been pretty much as described with an hour of rain here and there.

As a side note I'd recommend trying to get in Malaysia, it'd be a toss up between Vietnam and Malaysia as my fave country of our trip. And in 4 months you'd have plenty of time! Especially if you're into wildlife, they're worlds ahead of anywhere else I've seen in Asia at conserving places for their very diverse wildlife

While I agree there is some conservation ongoing in Malaysia/Burma,the vast majority of the local population could not care less about conservation and it is a very tiny minority of locals and foreign personnel who are trying to reserve the massive damage that has occured in Malaysia and Malaysian controlled Borneo.
Asia as a whole really have such a poor track record of conservation and unfortunately a lack of empathy for animals really came accross to us from the people in Borneo.
It really is about big business from palm oil and Borneo as a whole while it had some nice spots it is nothing like the documentaries would let you believe in fact the majority of the island has undergone huge legal and illegal deforestation.
Vietnam on the other hand you expect over popluation and crowded streets so your not really that surprised to see it.
I was shocked at the destruction in Borneo and how they treat even the street dogs,other countries Thailand/Lao treat these animals far better and throw them scraps etc.
In Borneo they would let them die openly and this really unsettled us.
I would put Vietnam/Lao/Thailand far ahead of a repeat holiday mainly down to the friendliness of the locals,the food and the customs.

cooker3

Fwiw money wise. I don't think I spent more than 500 euro a month in any of those countries in 3.5 months there.
Borneo which I did for 6 weeks, separate from above, I likely did but not by all that much I would guesstimate. Really awesome place so 2nd what Graham is saying. If you can fit it in then do it.

sam keane

Hi,
I'm looking for some advice on two things.
1. Vietnam guided tour, 10 days or so
2. Full moon accommodation ( I hear most place are kips or very expensive)

rightyabe

Sorry for piggybacking but do you need a visa for a 8 day stay in Thailand?

Theresalwaysone

sam keane wrote: »

Hi,
I'm looking for some advice on two things.
1. Vietnam guided tour, 10 days or so
2. Full moon accommodation ( I hear most place are kips or very expensive)

1.There is a tour run from Hanoi Backpackers Hostel called 'The Buffalo Run'. Its very good. A mate of mine runs it, just to declare my interest in the recommendation.

It runs from Hanoi to Hoi An. Takes in all the sights and there is some cool hidden stuff along the way.

2. You hear right. Most places in Haad Rin anyway. There is a place called Shiralea backpackers in the north east of the Island. Run by a kiwi. Its fantastic but very far out of the way for Full Moon.

I'd recommend Sea Gardens for Full Moon as its clean, cheapish and right beside the beach. Its the South End of the Full Moon beach. Its basic but clean. There is no real bar and no real restaurant just bungalows and rooms really.

There is a host of places to stay. Dont expect the world and you won't be disappointed.

Theresalwaysone

rightyabe wrote: »

Sorry for piggybacking but do you need a visa for a 8 day stay in Thailand?

Yes but whichever way you get into Thailand for an 8 day stay, land or flight, you can get a visa on arrival at no cost.

Gatica

really? I think when we went we didn't even have to get a visa on arrival. We queued up, but then were told to just go to passport control. No problems in/out.

Theresalwaysone

Gatica wrote: »

really? I think when we went we didn't even have to get a visa on arrival. We queued up, but then were told to just go to passport control. No problems in/out.

hmm... I guess its a visa on arrival in that you get a visa stamp in your passport when you arrive. You fill out the immigration card and present it to the immi officer and he gives you the visa stamp.

Semantics really.

If you just walked through with no stamp then I'd say thats unusual.

Gatica

yeah probably something like that. I just think in the airport they actually had a section where there was a sign saying visa on arrival, and we thought we'd have to queue there for it but were then redirected by staff. That's why I thought it might not have been a visa at all.

Mr.Prodston

Well about this time last year coming into Thailand we just had to fill the visa-docket thing in at the border crossing. It looks like a plane/train ticket basically. Then you just get your stamp and it's all free for Thailand.

Also I wouldn't try to squeeze Vietnam into 10 days, guided or not. Either take the North or the South. I was there for about 18 days and it was very much a rush. We ended up only having 24 hours in Ho Chi Minh.

sam keane

sam keane wrote: »

Hi,
I'm looking for some advice on two things.
1. Vietnam guided tour, 10 days or so
2. Full moon accommodation ( I hear most place are kips or very expensive)

i would reccommend seaflower bungalows, about half hour from full moon party, but great cheapp acc. right on the beach, two bars and minibus/taxi to party and back.

could say enough about this place, we loved it!!!