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I figured why not create a thread dedicated to traveling Asia as there's been quite a few for USA and Europe, but for many Australian's, Indonesia and Thailand are their first international experiences. In the current airfare market, it's possibly more affordable to travel now than it eve has been.

I will be traveling to Thailand for 3 weeks in March/April next week, airfares booked in for less than $700 return with Jetstar. I could have gone full service for around $850-$900 but the gap will be spent on dental work that needs to be done.

I'm still yet to figure out the fine details of the trip, but I want to spend roughly 2 weeks in Koh Samui and I'm hoping to be traveling with a friend (from the States) that I met in Nice when I was traveling through Europe a few months back.

Anyone had some excellent adventures in Bangkok? Spill the beans! What about the other countries? I'll probably hit up Indonesia in the next couple of years to check out Bali, and I'll want to do Vietnam, Korea and possibly Cambodia/Laos at some point. Mongolia as well is supposed to be excellent.

FYI - I'm going to go to Hawaii & NZ this year from May to Sept, just waiting for the cheap ass flights to pop-up! Jetstar has the $300 flights but they're never in the months that I need.

For those of you who don't know me, or didn't keep track with my travels through Europe, you can review where I went and what I did and the pictures I took here: http://www.justinmitchell.com.au
 
chunkychicken said:
I figured why not create a thread dedicated to traveling Asia as there's been quite a few for USA and Europe, but for many Australian's, Indonesia and Thailand are their first international experiences. In the current airfare market, it's possibly more affordable to travel now than it eve has been.

I will be traveling to Thailand for 3 weeks in March/April next week, airfares booked in for less than $700 return with Jetstar. I could have gone full service for around $850-$900 but the gap will be spent on dental work that needs to be done.

I'm still yet to figure out the fine details of the trip, but I want to spend roughly 2 weeks in Koh Samui and I'm hoping to be traveling with a friend (from the States) that I met in Nice when I was traveling through Europe a few months back.

Anyone had some excellent adventures in Bangkok? Spill the beans! What about the other countries? I'll probably hit up Indonesia in the next couple of years to check out Bali, and I'll want to do Vietnam, Korea and possibly Cambodia/Laos at some point. Mongolia as well is supposed to be excellent.

FYI - I'm going to go to Hawaii & NZ this year from May to Sept, just waiting for the cheap ass flights to pop-up! Jetstar has the $300 flights but they're never in the months that I need.

For those of you who don't know me, or didn't keep track with my travels through Europe, you can review where I went and what I did and the pictures I took here: http://www.justinmitchell.com.au
Click to expand...

I've got similar plans in February to go travelling through Thailand, Cambodia and Laos with 2 other mates. Anyone got some good hostels to stay in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Savannahketh, and Phnom Penh? Any must visit places?
 

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Anyone spent any time in Shanghai?

Will be there early next year for an internship, and then later headed to Japan with a few friends. Not sure what to expect in Shanghai though...
 
Go to Bali, there's plenty to see there chunkychicken and really cops a bad rap just because of the Kuta area.. but also check out more of Indonesia, its a great place. Hell, catch a boat across to Lembongan from Bali (30mins) and you'll feel like a world away from the chaos of Southern Bali.

Laos is right at the top of places I've travelled to. Its amazingly scenic. Hire (or buy) a motorbike/scooter and check out the place yourself. Luang Prabang is a place I could continually visit over and over.

Cambodia - check out the coast & islands while there. Not as scenic as Thai beaches but there are still some decent places there, and you'll see a different side of Cambodia. Had some of the best ribs in my life on Otres Beach - completely unexpected but geez they were good. My gf & I got extremely sick in Siem Reap right at the end of our trip to the point where we were in hospital not wanting to sleep at the same time incase one of us didn't wake up again. Missed flights home, lots of stuffing around with doctors bills and travel insurance (well worth getting it on all trips, we've made big claims on 3 of our last 4 trips for these hospital bills & missed flights/extra accommodation, a blizzard in NYC throwing our bookings into disarray, and a big earthquake hitting Bohol in the Philippines 3 days before we were due to fly in). Took a while for us to both get over that fear of being so far from home with no one to help in a time of most need being bunked up besides each other having to remove the IV drips ourselves when they had emptied into our bodies.

Vietnam - the land of the scam it has become. After my last trip there the only place I'd head back to would be Hoi An. It amazes me how different that place is compared to the other big tourist hotspots. People there are beautiful, the food is 10/10, beach life & river life mixed into one, and it just has a general atmosphere that makes it a special place. As for the rest of Vietnam, I've been a couple of times, and the last trip I think it copped a bit of the Laos hangover in that we were on such a high of how awesome Laos was that Vietnam was a disappointment in comparison.

KL & Singapore are places I often crave to head back to for the food alone. I'm off to Penang in March (along with Tonsai in Krabi), and am hanging for the food here too. People say Penang is some of the best hawker type food on the planet.

Mongolia seems like a place like no other on the planet. Go there, and report back please as I'm always interested in hearing from others about new places!


As for your other spots:
-NZ is an amazing place. So much packed into so little over there, and its so close to Australia. I recommend NZ to anyone & everyone.
-Hawaii, I'm not really sure. Its expensive to get to, expensive to stay at. We spent time on Oahu & Maui. Maui is scenic - the Road to Hana is as good as they come. Oahu is split into 2 for me - Waikiki & the rest. We stayed on the North Shore and got to see Pipeline in all its glory a few days (one of those pinch yourself moments for me that I've dreamed of since I was a kid), so quiet up there and trips around the top and east coast are excellent (the east coast is massively underrated). Waikiki though is a concrete jungle with the busiest beach I've ever seen. Traffic is absolutely hell around Waikiki & Honolulu too.
 
I spent around half a year in Thailand.

Bangkok good for shopping.
Hau-Hin and Phuket great for relaxing (certain parts of Phuket anyway).
Pattaya has a really nice bay, it's just mental though, especially at night.
Mostly nice people, food, transport and accommodation is obviously cheap

Went to Bali (South beaches and Ubud), easiest way for me to describe it is like Thailand with worse beaches (some of them were just disgusting) and obviously no big city. People were nice, good laid back atmosphere. Favourite place was probably Ubud, far away from the ciggy butt beaches, just nice forests and sights to see. If I go again I think I'll try and suss out some nicer areas.

Was only in Singapore for only a few days, felt like somebody cleaned up Melbourne and plonked it down in Asia, very nice place.
 
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