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My girlfriend spent some time in the Philippines working on Malaria. She basically said what you guys did; Manila is pretty poo poo and full of guns and malls, the food is pretty bad, but Palawan was amazing.
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Feb 18, 2010 11:48
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Be Depressive posted:If you want to add something to the first post - Seconding what Sheep-Goats said. Taking antibiotics won't do anything for virus infections such as colds, it will just cause an increase in antibiotic resistant bacteria. Plus, how do you know the antibiotics you are buying are legit? Counterfeit drugs are a major problem in South East Asia.
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Mar 7, 2010 13:23
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moflika posted:Dumb question, but it's annoying me at the moment: How easy is it to find cheap rear end umbrellas around? Should I bother bringing a light rain jacket? I took a compact umbrella with me when I went to SE Asia, I didn't need it much but it hardly took up any space so it was fine. Th only time I really needed it was when I was in Kunming (South China), it rained non-stop for about 3 days and was quite cold so I was in trousers and warm clothes with an umbrella. Also Da Lat in Vietnam was quiet wet and I needed it there. Don't bring a coat though, it's too bulky and too warm. Also ATMs are everywhere, don't worry about taking loads of money. I went travelling in 2007 and there were loads, I imagine there are even more now.
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Mar 12, 2010 12:08
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Drudkh posted:I would like to do 2 months in SE asia this year. I'd second what ReindeerF said. If you leave the Philippines out you will probably find travelling easier and less stressful. Since the first three countries are all close to each other, you can easily travel between them. Also travelling around an island nation like the Philippines will take longer. Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam have loads to see, so a few weeks in each would be fine. As for travelling solo, I haven't done it myself but from talking to others I'd suggest staying in hostels, specifically those that have good reviews online from fellow solo travellers, and that have a bar/communal area to meet people. In hostels I've been to, people would generally go and visit temples etc. during the day, and then head to the bar in the evening and meet some people, then head out for the night. That way you also might pick up people who want to spend the day with you. Me and a friend met a solo traveller at the hostel bar, and ended up going round the city with him. A lot of other people I've spoken to even found travelling buddies, people who were going the same route. If you stick to Thailand/Cambodia/Vietnam I reckon you'll meet lots of people heading in the same direction as you.
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Mar 25, 2010 15:44
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Fox1 posted:Is there anywhere in BKK where I can get good deals on flights home (UK). I've only ever booked online, I don't know if there are deals to be had buying in person etc. Make sure you go to the legit airline office. When I was in Bangkok and Hanoi trying to arrange flights there were soooooooo many other 'offices' that basically copied the logos. You could get flights, but they were more expensive, and I wasn't too trusting of them. I actually got my flights in the airport in the end as I was only doing a short journey and didn't need it in advance.
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Apr 9, 2010 21:46
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freebooter posted:I've heard that amongst travellers in SE Asia today Vietnam tends to be unpopular compared to the other countries, and I'm interested to here if that's widely true, because it's certainly how I feel now. I can't quite put my finger on it. The Vietnamese seem to lack any kind of intuition or lateral thinking, which makes it much harder to communicate across the language barrier than usual; the customer service is terrible; there are blackouts every second day and nobody seems to care (as opposed to Kampot, Cambodia, where they actually used problem-solving skills and bought generators); the traffic is horrendous... I dunno. Am I just a whiner? I've definitely heard from other people that Vietnam is the lowlight of Indochina, if not all of SE Asia (personally I hated Thailand far more). To be honest, Vietnam was the least favourite of the countries I've been to in Asia (Singapore, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Japan, Indonesia). I didn't experience any blackouts, and not sure what you mean about intuition, but I definitely agree on the customer service/attitude side to it. Buying things and just carrying out day-to-day business was a lot more stressful than other places and we encountered a lot of hostility toward us. Apart from an amazing tailor in Hoi An and a really cool guide in Halong Bay we didn't really meet any people who were friendly to us. Also we encountered some racism too, which definitely soured things. My girlfriend is of Indian descent and they really had a problem with us. I don't want to sour anyone's view of the country though, there were lots of amazing sights and I did really enjoy large parts of it. I think it's just the attitude to us that coloured my opinion. Also we got scammed as soon as we landed in Ho Chi Minh City, and had been travelling for a while since then and were just a little sick of being hassled and ripped off. Indonesia on the other hand was absolutely awesome, the people were so friendly and welcoming, on every island we went to. Definitely one of my favourite places in the world. edit: thinking about it got me all nostalgic, so here are a few photos!  Click here for the full 800x532 image. The roof of our breakfast gazibo thing on the beach at Gili Air. Sitting out facing the beach eating banana pancakes was awesome.  Click here for the full 559x800 image. Long exposure of the Gili Air beach at about midnight. This was my tenth attempt as it was really dark and I couldn't see a thing.  Click here for the full 800x532 image. A woman picking shellfish (I think) in a lagoon on Gili Air. I really like Gili Air, it was peaceful but had a good selection of places to eat/drink. Met some cool people too.  Click here for the full 800x532 image. Us sitting at the back of a local bus going out of Yogyakarta. Later on it absolutely pissed it down and the bus leaked like crazy.  Click here for the full 800x532 image. An orangutan called Siswi on the jetty at Camp Leakey, along with a ranger. We got to the jetty first so it was just me, my girlfriend, this orangutan and the rangers for about an hour.  Click here for the full 800x532 image. Some local kids in the canals of Banjarmasin, Borneo. I went on a bit with a local guide and the boat driver, and the kids just went nuts, they all wanted to high five me and were shouting and cheering, it was great. Go to Indonesia! Lady Gaza fucked around with this message at 21:49 on Jul 5, 2010 |
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Jul 5, 2010 21:17
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What do you guys do for guide books? I try to avoid them as much as possible, but find it's handy to have one on me. I've found that Lonely Planet are getting increasingly poo poo these days, they all just seem to be full of outdated information and don't really cover areas apart from the places you could easily find out about online. For example, the Indonesia one was quite informative for Yogyakarta, but the sections on Flores and Borneo were so poo poo. Some parts of the Flores section in particular hadn't been updated in 5 years. What's that about? Also some info on Jakarta was out of date too; you would think that the section on the capital would always be updated.
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Aug 18, 2010 18:05
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I really miss the bia hoi in Vietnam 
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Sep 2, 2010 11:41
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TheLizard posted:What's the easiest way to get from Bangkok to Siem Reap? It seems like a major hassle to go overland and BKK-REP is something ridiculous like $350 round trip. I was thinking of flying into Phnom Penh and taking a bus or taxi from there. This was years ago but I flew with AirAsia for like £20 from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, then got a bus (5 hours I think?) for a few dollars to Siem Reap. Didn't do it on the same day though.
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Sep 2, 2010 13:28
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Klogdor posted:So, I'm currently in kuta (bali) and this place is .. a bit touristy. thinking of moving on to either jakarta or yogyakarta. thoughts on those places ? jakarta seems easier to get to, but yogyakarta seems like a more interesting place... From Bali you can get a boat ride to the Gili islands; there are three and you can choose which one to go to in order to suit your tastes. Trawangan is touristy and loud, Meno is basically deserted and really quiet, and Air is inbetween. I went to Air for four days, it was really great. Also I had no problems flying from Bali to Yogya, it's a common destination so there should be a few flights a day. At least one a day for sure.
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Sep 29, 2010 12:23
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Klogdor posted:quick report on jakarta : man I'm bored. went to the old dutch colonial part of town today, was nice but only for an hour or so. yogya next! I didn't find Jalan Jaksa too great to be honest. Everything looked shut to me, and the places that were open were quite seedy.
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Oct 7, 2010 17:23
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I was in SE Asia for 3 months and took some of those lightweight travel trousers with me, and after a while I was absoultely fine wearing them walking around in mid-30 degree heat. I'm from the ever-mild UK and I got used to the heat after a while.
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Nov 18, 2010 16:34
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DNova posted:Good to know. Which trousers are you talking about specifically? The ones from REI? What's REI? I just bought them from a travel shop on the high street, can't remember a brand but those things are fairly generic. They're quick-drying and also can be converted to shorts (never did that too as it wasn't the best look).
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Nov 18, 2010 19:00
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superwofl posted:Booked a flight to Bali this morning, fly out on Friday night. Will be in Indonesia until the 25th of Feb. I think I'll get outta Bali straight away, not sure where I'll go yet though. I was thinking Sulawesi, maybe Lombok/Flores/Timor...or maybe even Papua. When I went to Indonesia I didn't go to those places apart from Bali (went to Java, Gili Islands and Borneo), but friends of mine said Sulawesi and Flores were fantastic. Much more off the beaten track. Apparently snorkeling/diving in Sulawesi is amazing.
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Jan 26, 2011 13:39
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You could fly to Kuala Lumpur, it's the AirAsia hub and they fly to Phnom Penh for about $100 I think.
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Mar 8, 2011 14:42
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Pompous Rhombus posted:You gotta watch getting dinged for extra bags going from a normal international flight to Air Asia. Probably cheapest to fly to BKK and take Air Asia from there. Overlanding is cheap but a PITA and extra costs like meals, getting ripped off at the border, etc often equalize things. True, I hadn't thought of that. When I was travelling my bag was under 12kg so I didn't even come close to the limit for the short haul flights. If he's got a light bag too he hopefully should be OK. We ended up flying from Singapore to Bangkok as it was only about $20.
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Mar 8, 2011 15:56
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