Travelling in Asia, advice on route

Conrad83

Ok so im heading off travelling early next year plan on heading to Asia for 2 months approx (tbc) and then onto Oz..

Am trying to plan my Asia route at the moment and am looking for some advice trips.. Firstly is it better to get planes/trains/buses throughout Asia? Ive heard most people bus & train it and dont bother with the flights at all, i dont mind the buses and trains but wouldnt be keen on being stuck on 1 for 26 hours...

Also the route i am thinking is flying into Bangkok then go down to the islands for a few weeks on the beach then prob head back up to Vietnam, Hong Kong, Laos & Cambodia then fly over to Oz.. is this route practical?

Any advice appreciated thanks!

idontknowmyname

I did a few months in asia last year, we were tight on funds so decided to skip vietnam/laos and cambodia.

Flights are your best friend if you have to travel long distances. AirAsia is by far the best and safest, must have travelled on them at least 10 times. We got a one way ticket from Macau (it's an hour boat then to HK) to Bangkok, 3 hour flight and only cost €35.
When we got to Bangkok we wanted to head north to Chiang Mai, we got the overnight sleeper train up (12 hours)- big mistake. We found out after that we could have gotten a flight for the same price and it was just over an hour flight. We flew back down to Bangkok.

If you're planning on going to Malaysia, I highly recommend the Perinthians, you can get a train from Hat Yai in Southern Thailand to something Kolok near the border, then walk the 1km to the border, get a taxi from here to Khota Bharu.arrange your boat ticket and off to Kuala Besut you go. There's no ATM's on the island but some of the diving schools accept credit cards for a small fee.

preddy

Im planning a similar in SE Asia next year over 2 months and we decided something like:

Fly to Hanoi train up to Sapa and then down the coast to HCM, then either fly or train accross to Cambodia see Angkor Wat etc(Boarder crossing over land might be hassle so prob fly) , then fly to either Sinapore or Kuala Lumpar and train up to thailands Islands stopping in Pennang on route.

We decided to tour first and then finish on Thailands beaches before heading home
Heres the map of trains in tha area
http://www.seat61.com/Map-SEAsia.htm

jackbhoy

idontknowmyname wrote: »

When we got to Bangkok we wanted to head north to Chiang Mai, we got the overnight sleeper train up (12 hours)- big mistake. We found out after that we could have gotten a flight for the same price and it was just over an hour flight.

Yeah but did the train journey not give you more opportunity to meet locals and see a bit of the country? Always puzzles me when people go travelling but then fly around from city to city trying to avoid travelling as much as possible. Understandable if you have few weeks but not if you have months, so many people I know see travelling as a race to get stamps in their passports or increase that ridiculous % of world seen thing in Facebook but totally miss point of visiting and actually experiencing other countries/cultures.

Not saying you do this btw, just something that seems rampant amongst my travelling mates.

I think boats/bus/trains, while not as comfortable or fast as flights, give you much more insight into people/places you visit, plus you can see people and landscapes slowly change as you move from place to place. With flying you get in a generic plane like anywhere in the world, sleep for a couple of hours and get off in a whole new country/city having no concept of what's changed in between.

idontknowmyname

and what exactly are you going to see on an overnight train?? when there's long distances to be covered and you don't had a huge amount of time left to do them, you have to pick the key places to go and just get to them. We weren't budget backpackers like a lot of people. we drove squashed into a mini bus with 8 other people from Surat Thani to Hat Yai, we were the only tourists and no one spoke english. We did 8 weeks in Asia- most of that was in Japan and Thailand. We spent 4 extra days on the Perinthians so only had 1day to get to Singapore so we could get ourselves ready to go home.

jackbhoy

idontknowmyname wrote: »

and what exactly are you going to see on an overnight train?? when there's long distances to be covered and you don't had a huge amount of time left to do them, you have to pick the key places to go and just get to them. We weren't budget backpackers like a lot of people. we drove squashed into a mini bus with 8 other people from Surat Thani to Hat Yai, we were the only tourists and no one spoke english. We did 8 weeks in Asia- most of that was in Japan and Thailand. We spent 4 extra days on the Perinthians so only had 1day to get to Singapore so we could get ourselves ready to go home.

As I said in my post a) I wasn't aiming comment at you b) I understand people flying when travelling to time constraint. Think you'll agree that you don't need to explain your methods of travel to me, was just hinging about one of my pet hates, apologies if insulted you!