Thailand...south east asia

Karlrove

Hey, can anyone give me the rundown of all the great things to do and places to defo go in thailand,laos,vietnam,cambodia....and if theres any luxurious island s that are brilliant! leaving it general to get as much feedback as possible! Im going with my girlfriend. Thank s for any help!

darrenh

Please go here: www.travelfish.org

v.e.r.b.a.l

Depending on what you're looking to get out of Asia, there are loadsa things to see and do. Here's a few:

Thailand
If its luxurious islands youre after, go straight to Ko Phi Phi. Gorgeous beaches and huge karst cliffs. It's made up of 2 islands, one you can stay on, one you can visit (where they filmed "The Beach") and do some amazing snorkelling. Make sure you stay out at Long Beach. Way nicer than the village. I heard great things about Ko Lanta too, but didnt make it there. Stay clear of Ko Samui, unless you're a 50 year old man after a young Thai girl and a mid-life crisis. Horrible place. Ko Tao is the island for getting your Padi licence.

Koh Sok National Park is in between the 4 major islands in the south (halfway between Krabi and Surat Thani) and is overlooked by too many beach-hungry tourists! Really cool jungle-like national park where you can trek (with wild elephants and tigers apparently, but we didn't see any thankfully!) to see the world's largest flower.

Bangkok is a very interesting city. Lots of cool wats to see and a great integration of local life going side-by-side with the tourist-crazy hub of the Koh San Road. Dunno what the current situation is with how safe it is to go there yet?

Chiang Mai is nice enough. A lot of people do a trek here to see the hilltribes, but from what I've heard its awful. Far from responsible tourism. I advise highly AGAINST going on a tour to see the Long-neck Karen tribe. This was the most awful tour I'd ever done. They don't treat these people as people, rather like an exhibit or human zoo. Horrible. Try to get to see the white temple in Chiang Raised. It's spectacular. Inside is a brilliant mural of good and evil shown by popular sci-fi characters like Neo, Predator etc.

Heard great things about Paul, but didn't get there myself.

Laos
Lots to do in Laos, but we were pushed for time, so didn't get all of it in. Do the 2day slowboat from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang along the Mekhong River. Spectacular scenery and if you get a good group of people, its not boring at all!

Luang Prabang is an amazing place. Give yourself some time here. You can train to be a mahout in an elephant sanctuary, do treks, swim in gorgeous waterfalls, go drinking in a bowling alley (!!) or just relax in a gorgeous town.

You can head south to do the infamous tubing (didnt get a chance to) or to Phonsavanh to see the Plain of Jars and avoid unexploded bombs. There's lots of stuff to do in southern Laos too, but I didn't go, so I can't say.

Vietnam
Loads to do in 'Nam. Hanoi has its culture, you can do a highly recommended trek with the hilltribes in Sapa, spend 3 days in paradise cruising and kayaking Halong Bay. Ninh Binh is a gorgeous place to rent a moped and explore the countryside full of rice paddies, huge karst mountains and tiny fishing villages where the locals row boats with their feet. Not too many tourists around either.

Hoi An is gorgeous. Full of thousands of Chinese lanterns and a lovely cobble-stone old town, its like going back in time. You can see some lovely Chan ruins nearby in the jungle too.

Nha Trans is a lovely place to chill on the beach and heard great things about Mui Ne and its sand dunes. Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) is full of history and you can go to loads of interesting war museums or crawl through the tiny Chu Chi tunnels and fire a machine gun!

Cambodia
Can only give a tiny bit of info on Cambodia. Sihanoukville is the beach area. It's nothing on the sort you'd find in Southern Thailand, but its nice enough on Otres Beach. Phnom Penh is a harrowing place where you can see the horrors of S21 and the Killing Fields.

Siem Reap is home to the.mind-blowing Angkor Wat. Spend 3 days touring all of the spectacular ruins pretending to be either Indiana Jones or Lara Croft. Truly spectacular!

Hope this was some help!

robgti

hi im looking to go where the beach was film'd Ko Phi Phi or something in that area, ko samui was my 1st bet but your not talking good bout it just for a holiday for 10 to 14 days im wondering if you could recommend a nice resort for me and my girlfreind..

thanks in advance

Dublinese

You should get a book call Southeast Asia on a budget, i thought it was really good. It covers the basics things to do and see. And also covers the basics things you need to know in each country.

v.e.r.b.a.l

If you're looking for "The Beach", then its Ko Phi Phi that you're after. The island is split into two separate islands: Ko Phi Phi Don is where you stay and Ko Phi Phi Don is the national marine park where you can visit the beach.

You'll have to get to either Phuket or Krabi to get to Ko Phi Phi. You can organise a boat out to Phi Phi very easily from either place. Once you arrive in Phi Phi, you'll be greeted by the touts who'll tell you that there's only one place left blah blah blah. Don't pay any attention. You don't really want to stay in the village anyways.

Hop on a longtail boat to Long Beach. It's a gorgeous and much quieter beach facing Ko Phi Phi Don. There's some serious budget accommodation towards the far end of the beach called P.P. Long Beach Huts. There's zero frills though! If youre just going on a holiday for 10 days or so to Thailand you could easily afford a swankier place like Paradise Pearl which looked quite nice.

You can organise a trip across to Ko Phi Phi Don to see the beach. You could do an organised tour, but I'd advise against it. From what ive seen they tend to pack tourists on like sardines and then rush through. Instead, organise a longtail boat to bring you across. It costs almost the same, but you get to go on your own at your own pace and go early to avoid the tours. You'll stop off for some AMAZING snorkelling, see "The Beach" in Maya Bay and stop off to see a group of monkeys steal your food on "Monkey Beach". It's a great trip. You can organise it with any of the boat drivers along Long Beach.

If you feel like something a bit more, you can do an overnight stay on the beach. You camp out with about 10 others and have a piss up.

If you want to go into the village, you can do a 30 minute jungle trek that's pretty cool. You climb up hills with ropes, all lit up with fairy lights, past snakes and ghost crabs. Or you could just get a longtail boat!

Phi Phi is overpriced and a bit much to take when you arrive off the boat, but its really worth it!

Sergeant

I am more of a fan of Northern Thailand tbh. Not beside the beach, but so much to see and do. Chiang Mai is a great city, go trekking in the jungle for a few days, swim under waterfalls, try Muay Thai boxing.

Much cheaper than the Islands. While the Islands are a must see, they aren't the only thing to see in that wonderful country.

thebigbiffo

i've been over there twice - both times with the OH so i'm not just on the prowl! samui's not that bad. there are a few beaches outside the main tourist areas such as lamai that are nice chill out areas with cool beachfront huts away from the hustle and bustle and middle aged losers. it can be a good place to start off if you're doing the southern islands such as phi phi - which you can simply hop on a boat to go across to. there's loads of accomodation and amenities and the inland waterfalls etc are worth a look.

all in all, dont discount samui immediately - it's a good place to start from in that area and easy to get to (you can fly into their really cool, hut-like airport cheap enough) but probably more importantly it's easy to get away from too if you dont like it!

darrenh

thebigbiffo wrote: »

it can be a good place to start off if you're doing the southern islands such as phi phi - which you can simply hop on a boat to go across to.

Getting to Phi Phi would involve a boat, bus, boat as they are on oppisite sides of thailand! Not the worst journey but if your on holidays very time consuming. If traveling its no problem. Time is yours.

timo87

if youre going to the south imo you should try to get to a full moon in ko phangan. after doing the whole thailand laos cambodia trip and pi pi and ko phangan were the highlights down south.

One issue is it will take you about a day travelling from pi pi to ko phangan or vice versa. Just my two cents but if i had 10 days down south again id take 3/4 nyts each in pi pi and phangan these were the highlights for us.

thebigbiffo

darrenh wrote: »

Getting to Phi Phi would involve a boat, bus, boat as they are on oppisite sides of thailand! Not the worst journey but if your on holidays very time consuming. If traveling its no problem. Time is yours.

how embarrassing

sorry, was thinking of phangan when writing this, dont know how i got phi phi in my head...but with samui, phagan and ko tao all on the same side it still counts ie. if you dont like samui you'll still a short hop to somewhere else - never been to ko tao although i hear it's alot quiter and more chilled

darrenh

Ko Tao isnt so bad. If your not into diving or drinking its quiet boring though. The beach is about 5 metres wide at low tide and no beach at high tide.