South East Asia, how much to budget for?

P_1

Alright folks, going to be doing 3 weeks in SEA in July. Will be flying Airasia to KL, then thinking of doing a few days in Penang and Langkawi. Will probably spend the rest of the 3 weeks roughly going Bangkok, Luang Prabong, Saigon, Phnom Penh then back to KL for the flight home.

Just wondering how much to put aside for this trip, the flights are €600 at the moment, was thinking of spening about a grand over there, should that cover hotels/food/trains/boats and leave me with a decent trip?

Thanks.

darrenh

pithater1 wrote: »

Alright folks, going to be doing 3 weeks in SEA in July. Will be flying Airasia to KL, then thinking of doing a few days in Penang and Langkawi. Will probably spend the rest of the 3 weeks roughly going Bangkok, Luang Prabong, Saigon, Phnom Penh then back to KL for the flight home.

Just wondering how much to put aside for this trip, the flights are €600 at the moment, was thinking of spening about a grand over there, should that cover hotels/food/trains/boats and leave me with a decent trip?

Thanks.

Simply, Yes.

dearg lady

Are you planning on taking internal flights? They can push the budget up, and given that you're planning on covering quite a lot of ground in a v short time, you may have to.
day to day expenses tend to be very cheap though, a grand will go a long way in SE Asia.

P_1

dearg lady wrote: »

Are you planning on taking internal flights? They can push the budget up, and given that you're planning on covering quite a lot of ground in a v short time, you may have to.
day to day expenses tend to be very cheap though, a grand will go a long way in SE Asia.

I'm hoping to avoid flying if at all possible. Will be taking sleeper trains within Malaysia and Thailand anyway. Looks like the longest trip will be from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabong, otherwise the busses seem to be 10 hours max. Do these busses go overnight or is it just daytime?

dearg lady

pithater1 wrote: »

I'm hoping to avoid flying if at all possible. Will be taking sleeper trains within Malaysia and Thailand anyway. Looks like the longest trip will be from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabong, otherwise the busses seem to be 10 hours max. Do these busses go overnight or is it just daytime?

excellent, the sleeper trains are a great way to cover ground, and save a nights accomodation!
When I was in laos, there didn't seem to be any sleeper bus options, but I read on another thread here that they have soem now, don't know what routes though.

Don't forget to factor in money for visas too, you'll need to pay for visa for Laos, cambodia, Viet nam deffo, not sure about malaysia. And when I was there, Viet Nam visa couldn't be got on arrival so check that out too.

other than that, have a great trip!

P_1

dearg lady wrote: »

excellent, the sleeper trains are a great way to cover ground, and save a nights accomodation!
When I was in laos, there didn't seem to be any sleeper bus options, but I read on another thread here that they have soem now, don't know what routes though.

Don't forget to factor in money for visas too, you'll need to pay for visa for Laos, cambodia, Viet nam deffo, not sure about malaysia. And when I was there, Viet Nam visa couldn't be got on arrival so check that out too.

other than that, have a great trip!

Aye the sleepers seem the best way to go alright

From what I can tell online you don't need a visa for Malaysia, Loas and Cambodia can be paid at the border I think, Vietman has to be booked in advance by the looks of it, may not be worth the hassle so I may cut out Vietnam and fly Airasia back to KL from Cambodia.

Now time to get saving;)

kraggy

In my eyes there is absolutely no point in trying to cover that amount of ground in that amount of time.

Madness.

keeffe2001

I think the schedule is doable but it would be a bit rushed. See what you feel like over there, you might need to skip someplaces near the end if it gets too hectic.

We lived pretty well in SE Asia on about 800euro a month. The only internal flight we got was from Laos down to Chang Mai because the bus from Hanoi to Laos was so bad that we couldnt face another one

dearg lady

kraggy wrote: »

In my eyes there is absolutely no point in trying to cover that amount of ground in that amount of time.

Madness.

Yeah, I'd be of the same opinion, but I figure different strokes for different folks, some peeps like the whistle stop tour, i couldn't do it myself!

P_1

I think it can be done, can ony get 3 weeks offwork for it and want to see as much of the region as I can

darrenh

It can definitely be done but it is as Kraggy said, Madness.

P_1

I can see where you're coming for alright, it may be slightly tiring alright!

At the moment I'm thinking of doing the following:

Week 1: Sail-rail Dublin-Stansted (Fri), Fly Stansted-KL (Sat), train KL-Penang (Sun), ferry Penang-Langkawi (Tue), ferry-train Lankawi-Bangkok (Thurs).

Week 2: Train-bus Bangkok-Chiang Khong (Sun), Slow boat to Luang Prabang (Mon/Tue), bus Luang Prabang-Vang Viene (Thurs).

Week 3: Bus Vang Viene-Vientiane (Sun), Bus Vientiane-Phnom Penh (Mon), Boat Phnom Penh-Siem Reap (Wed), Fly Siem Reap-KL (Fri), Fly KL-Stansted (Sat), Sail-rail Stansted-Dublin (Sun).

Would that be too much to take on?

darrenh

Thats an awful amount. Why not just do Malaysia and Thailand for 3 weeks. You'l have a far better time.

P_1

darrenh wrote: »

Thats an awful amount. Why not just do Malaysia and Thailand for 3 weeks. You'l have a far better time.

There is a bit too much in that alright, really want to hit Vang Vieng though.

darrenh

Then forget Malaysia and head straight to Bangkok and move on from there. I did what your about to do in 3 months!!

kraggy

+1 on forgetting the islands in Malaysia.

And the way I see it, the only reason you're flying to Bangkok is to get the train to Chiang Kong.

So, why don't you forget about Thailand altogether and when you arrive in KL, spend a night there (you'll be knackered after flight from Stansted, I've done it).

Then, fly from KL to Vientiane with airasia. It's 3 hours by bus to Vang Vieng, then another 6 hours by bus up to Luang Prabang. Then double back down to Cambodia.

I GUARANTEE you, you will want more time in Vang Vieng. You'll be out drinking with cool people you've just met and you'll be saying "ye lucky ****ers, I have to leave tomorrow and ye get to stay here another few days".

You'll also want more time in Siem Reap. You're talking about arriving on a Wednesday and leaving on Friday. That's just nonsense really (in fairness, I only know this because I've been, you haven't so it's not your fault). But believe us, it is nonsense. Arriving on Wednesday, you wouldn't have time to sort out your ticket, tuk-tuk driver etc. AND YOU'D ONLY HAVE A DAY in Angkor Wat. You need more. Not much more, but you do need more. And Siem Reap is a nice town in itself for more than the time you've allotted to it.

Seriously, there is damn all enjoyment to be found in the itinerary you've set out.

K.

PS Don't take whole mushroom shakes on your own in Vang Vieng. Go halfs with a friend.

P_1

At the moment the only must do's are to fly in and out and to go to Vang Viene. Will probably do the night trains to save on hotel money when available so that will deffo be KL to BK and BK to the Laos border. I'm thinking I can save about a week by going BK to Vientiane and then on to Vang Viene rather than going the long way through Luang Parbang.

Sure there's plenty of time before I head over anyway, thanks for all the advice so far.

darrenh

kraggy wrote: »

PS Don't take whole mushroom shakes on your own in Vang Vieng. Go halfs with a friend.

try even a third! I was wasted on a half one. They just pack them with weed anyway. I was in the most stoned state ever. We went for a walk for about an hour and not one out of 8 of us said a word the whole time. It was like we were on a mission. I wish I had a little less though!:D