South East Asia Solo Tips/Advice

The Red Lad

Hi Guys,
So basically i plan to travel s.e.a in 2015 and just looking for as much advice as i can get. I am a 20 year old male and this will be my first time backpacking and travelling solo. I work full time but i will be able to take 2/3 months off next year to do this trip i just have a few questions...

Regards what airline to use id be flying out of Dublin but could go from London if there is better options?

Would i need 2 months or 3 months or possibly 10 weeks and if so a budget for those lengths, i plan to do a lot of activities.

Language barrier?would it be too difficult or is there much english spoken over there?

And possibly a sufficient route and places/experiences other people enjoyed while over there

Also i would be going autumn 2015 what is weather like at this time

thanks in advance

Challo

Solo is the way to go! Absolutely no problem meeting people in South East Asia. 3 months is a nice amount of time to travel around. I had a budget of about 1000/month and it was perfect. I'm sure you can do it for more or less but I was a typical backpacker - some western meals, some local meals, guesthouses and hostels, nights out, sleeper trains, the usual.

Best bet is to fly in and out of Bangkok, do a loop around. I guess some airlines like Emirates fly there via Dubai - use flight search engines or try USIT and Trailfinders. You can get all visas on arrival except Vietnam - you get one on the way like in Thailand or Laos if you hang around one town for a few days which you will.

I loved: Luang Prabang in Laos, Hoi An in Vietnam, Siam Reap & Angkor in Cambodia and Pai in Northern Thailand. Might be worth buying Lonely Planet South East Asia on a shoestring book to start your research or look at travel blogs online of the area to see what you might be interested in.

Autumn is a great time of year to go, that's what I did anyway and don't remember any rain really. Everyone speaks English. Enjoy

Ed_Stephens

I wouldn't say everyone speaks English, it really depends where you go and how far off the beaten track you go but in the touristy spots enough English is spoken just try and speak slowly and keep it simple. Thailand is probably the most tourist friendly with regards to infrastructure and ease of getting around , Bangkok is a great city and a great regional hub, Chiang Mai and one of the islands like Samui or Phuket would be a good place to start. Cambodia is a great place too but years behind on infrastructure - there are no trains and the national highways are one lane in each direction at best. Although it is cheaper than Thailand for most stuff. You will need a visa in advance for Cambodia and Vietnam, not sure on Laos. Thailand will let you in for 30 days with a visa on arrival. Change money over there and don't be afraid of street food.

Routes - Definitely via the middle east with Etihad or Emirates, quick turnarounds and nice airlines. Fly to Bangkok and do maybe 2 weeks in Thailand. Get back to Bangkok but use Don Muang airport to get to Cambodia as it's a lot cheaper with Air Asia to Phnom Penh. From there get to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat and maybe Sihanoukville. From there you can easily get to Vietnam which is a big country and will take soe time to get around.

Challo

You definitely don't need a visa in advance for Laos. Not Cambodia either if you're flying in or entering from Laos or Thailand.

AirAsia is a cheap Ryanair-ish airline around that region by the way, might be worth a look.

eagerv

Also worth looking at flying to Kuala Lumpur and then using Air Asia, or MAS for further flights. Etihad and Emirates go to KL, often cheaper than Bangkok.

Air Asia are ok, but Malaysia Airlines feed and water you on flights over 90 mins. And are often similar prices to Air Asia on local flights.

Im off in that direction in less than two weeks....

Ed_Stephens

Challo wrote: »

You definitely don't need a visa in advance for Laos. Not Cambodia either if you're flying in or entering from Laos or Thailand.

AirAsia is a cheap Ryanair-ish airline around that region by the way, might be worth a look.

Your visa requirement does not depend on what country you leave from, it depends on what passport you hold. Your options for Cambodia are either an evisa which helps you skip the queues which you can apply for online or you do a visa on arrival which can be very disorganised where you have to queue again once you receive your visa. Evisa costs 37 dollars and this is the site.

https://www.evisa.gov.kh/ContactInformation.aspx