Your latest trip fantasy

[Wingy]

I totally agree with Luke re Angkor - it's always hot and steamy by most standards whatever time of year and week after week it gets more crowded with tour buses -'do it while you're in the neighbourhood. Siem Reap is full of aircon lux hotels for a good price - personally I'd also go to Phnom Penh not because it's beautiful, but because it exists..against all odds. Luke's suggestion of Laos I also agree with - LP is gorgeous. Firmly part of the Pancake trail it caters for all - you won't have trouble finding aircon and spas or re runs of friends.

Bill - there's an idea - Tubing on the Nam Song. If you do it, I will pay for a videographer

Southern Thailand another option - Ao Nang works. Not sure of flight schedule nowdays but I have caught a flight from SR to BKK then to Krabi. Thai people are beautiful, and worth meeting on your year in SEA.

October - Sumatra. Go diving in Cubadak. Check out the Mingankabau culture in Padang. It's a different Indonesia again.

 

[billt4sf]

The agency will take care of the hotel bookings for you (and for the driver...

What agency?

 

[Centrals]

Angkor is a MUST for any visitors in SE Asia.
I took the ferry from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap back in 1993 and it was great. A 24hrs slow journey and arriving at Tonie Sap Lake early in the morning was pure magic. Rest/slept on a hammock(own) and watch the world slowly drift-by........

How about East Timor in Oct?

 

[AlMitch]

Vietnam is a great country to visit.
A few days in Ho Chi Min is amazing and then head up to Hanoi and Ha Long Bay.

Angkor is a MUST!! But I'd say 4 full days is about right. Try visit some of the more remote temples, they are much quieter. Definitely get a guide to take you around, the stories they tell and insight they give is brilliant.

 

[billt4sf]

We are looking at Angkor + Luang Prabang in Feb. Ten days should be about right for the combo. We don't need to add Chiang Mai to the mix as we'll be there over Xmas, and anyway I am pretty enlightened as you guys already know.

For Oct still struggling. Many things sounds good but we are low on money and I don't want to dive. Two weeks without the wife at the villa? Hmmm....somehow nothing is jumping out at me to do. Is Bangka good then?

- Bill

 

[eternaljonah]

Tamil Nadu is a large state, there are many sightseeing/cultural stops that are worthwhile but scattered in different places (such as Mahallapuram, Trichy, Madurai, Pondicherry, etc.), so you'll need a private driver from Chennai who will drive you to all these places.
The agency will take care of the hotel bookings for you (and for the driver... until I discovered mine wasn't paid enough to get decent rooms and slept in his car, so I paid decent rooms for him... decent for an Indian driver means less than 10USD per night).

I wouldn't recommand diving the Andamans & Nicobar for you. I don't know whether you could find a aircon hotel, it takes hours to get to the dive site, often on longtail boats they're noisy and really not comfortbale. Add on top you can get currents anytime.

The blind Leading the Blind :-( Been a long time that Long tail boats are not used here in the andamans, The Diving is great and there are very good boats nowadays, there is an abundance of Air con hotels and the Taj is opening soon.

I highly recommend the Andamans and india for diving

 

[Dan]

We are looking at Angkor + Luang Prabang in Feb. Ten days should be about right for the combo. We don't need to add Chiang Mai to the mix as we'll be there over Xmas, and anyway I am pretty enlightened as you guys already know.

For Oct still struggling. Many things sounds good but we are low on money and I don't want to dive. Two weeks without the wife at the villa? Hmmm....somehow nothing is jumping out at me to do. Is Bangka good then?

- Bill

Since you are scrapping the bottom of your money pit, & don't feel like diving, how about taking a short flight to Surabaya and check out: Mount Bromo Tour Package Option | Bromo Java Travel

 

[CrumhornDiver]

I agree with many of the suggestions above.

I really liked Luang Prabang in Laos when I visited in 2010. Utopia was a one-of-a-kind restaurant/bar and worth a glass of juice one afternoon.

Vietnam is a great country to visit. Highly recommend visiting Hoi An with the wife. I would also look for places off the beaten path other than Ho Chi Minh & Hanoi, like Sapa. Ha Long Bay was nice but at bit of a letdown for me. I guess I was expecting more. Pictures did it justice for me.

I'm glad I visited the temples at Ankor (again in 2010), and they were impressive, but I don't think they did as much for me as Bagan.

Bagan, mentioned above, is in Myanmar. There are issues in Myanmar at the moment between the Muslim Rohingya and the Buddhist majority in Rakhine State. I only bring it up because I thought the temples in Bagan were awesome, especially during sunrise & sunset. I got an electric scooter and would rode around for six hours three days straight. I also found it to be much less touristy than Angkor was seven years earlier. You could do a nice 10-day trip between Mandalay, Bagan & Inle Lake. Inle Lake was awesome as well.

Myanmar is developing fast. I'm thankful I got the opportunity to visit Myanmar for 10 days last year. In addition, there was an earthquake last year that damaged some of the temples in Bagan. They are definitely smaller and more fragile than the ones in Angkor.

From a safety standpoint, I don't think the issues in Rakhine are a worry, but they might be from a moral standpoint. The main tourist areas are not in that state, nor do I think the government would let you in Rakhine at this point. No one has mentioned Myanmar, and I think it should at least be part of the conversation. I'm not sure I would go given today's circumstances, but I'm not you.

FWIW, Sri Lanka is next on my list to visit. No specific reasons why.

 

[billt4sf]

I agree with many of the suggestions above.

I really liked Luang Prabang in Laos when I visited in 2010. Utopia was a one-of-a-kind restaurant/bar and worth a glass of juice one afternoon.

Vietnam is a great country to visit. Highly recommend visiting Hoi An with the wife. I would also look for places off the beaten path other than Ho Chi Minh & Hanoi, like Sapa. Ha Long Bay was nice but at bit of a letdown for me. I guess I was expecting more. Pictures did it justice for me.

I'm glad I visited the temples at Ankor (again in 2010), and they were impressive, but I don't think they did as much for me as Bagan.

Bagan, mentioned above, is in Myanmar. There are issues in Myanmar at the moment between the Muslim Rohingya and the Buddhist majority in Rakhine State. I only bring it up because I thought the temples in Bagan were awesome, especially during sunrise & sunset. I got an electric scooter and would rode around for six hours three days straight. I also found it to be much less touristy than Angkor was seven years earlier. You could do a nice 10-day trip between Mandalay, Bagan & Inle Lake. Inle Lake was awesome as well.

Myanmar is developing fast. I'm thankful I got the opportunity to visit Myanmar for 10 days last year. In addition, there was an earthquake last year that damaged some of the temples in Bagan. They are definitely smaller and more fragile than the ones in Angkor.

From a safety standpoint, I don't think the issues in Rakhine are a worry, but they might be from a moral standpoint. The main tourist areas are not in that state, nor do I think the government would let you in Rakhine at this point. No one has mentioned Myanmar, and I think it should at least be part of the conversation. I'm not sure I would go given today's circumstances, but I'm not you.

FWIW, Sri Lanka is next on my list to visit. No specific reasons why.

Excellent suggestions Crumhorn, thank you! I might just pick one of those for my 10 days next month.

- Bill

 

[acidrush]

FWIW, Sri Lanka is next on my list to visit. No specific reasons why.

Theres some really good wreck dives just off colombo. Best time to dive them would be late Feb and March.