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SE Asia: help!
Lurker here: DH and I are planning a trip in November for our anniversary, his birthday, and probably our last baby-less trip. We have decided on SE Asia, with a main focus on Thailand. There isn't anything we're necessarily dying to see... so what are your recommendations??? This will probably be the only time in our lives we're in Asia, so we want to take 2 weeks to explore all we can. We're hoping to stay under $2k once we get there.
Any place specifically in Thailand we should go? (we were thinking Chiang Mai, for sure)
Beaches: do you recommend Phuket, Bali, Borneo, or Langkawi (or something else?)
Should we hit Singapore or KL? HCM City? What places in SE Asia are "must-go's"?
I know this is super broad, but we're really trying to get it narrowed down. I'm more into culture/adventure, DH is a little more beachy, so we're trying to get a mix of both. We don't mind traveling between cities/countries, although DH is a little less adventurous than I am, so we don't want anything too wild and crazy.
Thank you!
Re: SE Asia: help!
I studied abroad in Thailand during college. I think Chiang Mai, Bangkok, and Phuket (Ko Phi Phi island also) are to-dos. Also I highly recommend Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
I personally was not too fussed with Thailand (only been to Bangkok and Pucket though). For SE Asia I love HCM City, and the rest of vietnam (although that would take the full 2 weeks). I also enjoyed the trip we did from Bangkok to Siam Reap to Phnom Penh to HCM City, that took us around 10 days.
I also love Singapore, but probably wouldn't recommend it for a once in a lifetime trip to SE Asia. It is however a great intro to Asia if you've never been.
There are direct flights between Bangkok and Siem Reap, so you should be fine. I completely agree with PP, Angkor Wat is really worth seeing.
You can get there super easy, Bangkok Air has a direct flight to Siem Reap that is short. I also can not recommend Luang Prabang, Laos, enough, also a short direct flight from Bangkok on Bangkok Air. It is one of my favorite places.
St. John, USVI
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.
Mark Twain
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Absoultely agree with all this. Vietnam is amazing, very closely followed by Laos, but Thailand seems to be American Asia for some reason. If you go definitely go to Angkor Wat and Luang Prabang is one of my favorite cities in the world, but 2 weeks isn't enough time to fit it in.
Thank you everyone for the info! Esp the blog posts. From looking at everyone's suggestions, we're thinking Bangkok/Chiang Mai and Angkor Wat for sure. Would you bother with going to Borneo or Bali? Or stay somewhere in Thailand instead? (looking for beach days for DH). I like the idea of the klotok overnight tours in Tanjung Puting park (not beach, but I love monkeys/orangutans). I've also heard good things abotu Kota Kinabalu.
As far as flights go, how much should we expect to pay to get from Bangkok to Siem Reap? It looks like ~$240 RT, does that sound about right?
We could travel anywhere from Sept-Nov (and maybe even Dec)... what month would you suggest with those destinations in mind?
Again, thank you all for your help! I only know one other person who has been to SE Asia, and she went about 10 yrs ago.
TBH, Bali's beaches aren't that great when compared to other beaches in Thailand, Vietnam, the east coast of peninsular Malaysia, and Borneo. I wouldn't go all of the way out there from Thailand (it's a 4 1/2 hour flight) unless you specifically wanted to see Balinese culture and temples and the like.
Since it's probably a once-in-lifetime trip I'd try to make the most of it by staying within a close geographic proximity of Thailand (Vietnam, Cambodia, possibly Borneo) and not wasting time by taking long flights to other places.
I know you said you wanted to see wildlife. You can do that in Borneo, but things are pretty spread out. Seeing the orangoutangs or the proboscis monkeys or going to the beach will probably take a full day each, so I'd give yourself more than a couple days there. Also, some of the better islands and beaches are on the other side of Sabah from KK, so the more time you have the better. If you want to go there I'd go in early November at the latest because the monsoon season will be starting shortly thereafter. It's completely doable from Bangkok (and shouldn't be too expensive at all) because Air Asia (budget airline) flies direct from Bangkok to KK twice a day.
I loooooved Koh Samui when we went last August. From there, we did snorkeling day trips to Koh Tao and Angthong Marine Park.
We'd love to go back but I keep thinking that there's too many places in the world to go to the same place twice. That trip makes me want to rethink this!