Hi,
Before booking your ticket, wait and see if the situation in Thailand is resolved. Your trip is still quite some time away, so it may be by then. If it is not, leave out Thailand.
I suggest talking to your airline / travel agent, and finding out the cheapest / best route.
It will probably be Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, or Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand. Then to Malaysia from Thailand.
If the situation in Thailand is not resolved, the best route will probably be Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, or Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia.
There are flights between Thailand and Malaysia, and Australia.
One place definitely worth seeing is the temples in Siem Riep in Cambodia.
Take United States dollars for Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos. You can also withdraw US dollars from ATMs in selected large cities, not in many other towns. Find out where they are before you travel.
If you go for budget accommodation, in most places you should be able to get accommodation for US$10 to US$20 a night. In a few places you may need to pay more. If you allow US$10 per day for meals, you should have enough. A bit extra for traveling and general spending. If you allow US$50 per day, you should have enough. It depends a lot on what you do, and how you spend your money. Some people spend less. Some people spend more.
Read up on the internet about the scams in those places. Some people will try dishonest methods to get your money.
Continue reading up on the forums, and ask questions about anything you want to know.
I just bought a pacsafe stashsafe 100. You wear these around your waist. You can lock your money in it, and lock it around your waist, or to a solid object. For example, you can lock it to the bed in a hotel room while you are sleeping.
If you come across a person / people with similar interests, you may get together and travel with them.
Use common sense, and be careful.
Most of all, have fun.
Does the two months include Australia? Budget accommodation is Australia is not $10 or $20 dollars - allow AUD$30 per night. Some hostels in Sydney cost more - then again you do pay for location.
How long do you plan to be in Australia? It's a bit difficult offering advise on what to see if we don't know where you intend to go.
For Malaysia, I went to Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Cameron Highlands and Malacca. I went to Cambodia for the temples of Angkor, so stayed in Siem Reap.
The Jonker Street night market in Malacca is very good and it's held on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
The night markets in Batu Ferringhi (Penang) are held every night - I swear I never saw so much genuine fake designer label handbags in my life.
The Cameron Highlands is where the Malaysian people go to escape the heat and humidity. Tea plantations are there, forest walks and treks and some hiking. I stayed at Tanah Rata - nice place and the biggest town in the Highlands.
Thanks for the advice! I've been to South America once, but that was with friend and I'm excited about going on my own, but also a bit nervous so I just want to make sure I have a good idea of where I'm going and what I'll be doing.....just so it has some structure to it!
@ Araluen : The 2 months would be for South East Asia and from there I'm going to Australia for a year or so. I have a fair idea of where I want to go in Oz, it's just SEA that's got me a bit stumped. I want to get the most from my 2months there and I have been reading the website www.travelindependent.info for advice but just wanted a bit more info from other people so I could compare!
@aus89 : Yeah I have been keeping an eye on that, I don't mind if I have to cut Thailand out on the way, it'll give me an excuse to go back!!! I've spoken to some of the travel agents here and not all of them are very helpful, or maybe I'm just getting them on a bad day!! Your info has been helpful though. And I'll have to have a look into buying one of those pacsafe things!
Cheers
Hi,
I am going to Oz in October of this year and am planning to do 2 or so months in South East Asia. I would like to do Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Malaysia.
I have no idea what would be the best route to take? I have been trying to make a one and I just can't figure the best route out. I have no particulare direction or order, I'm open to all suggestions
I'm a 22 yr old female traveller who will be travelling on my own. I am looking for advice on the safest routes and one where I will see as much of the countries as possible.
I would also like to know what are the must see places. Alot of my friends have been but they were there for piss ups and they were in large mixed groups, whereas because I will be on my own I'm going for the sights and all that. (of course I will be looking to go to a full moon party and still do a bit of that type of stuff!)
Also what kind of money I'd be looking at spending. And whether or not fitting in all the above countries is a bit ambitious.
Am generally looking for advice on all aspects of travelling because I'm pretty clueless.
Cheers
US dollars is convenient in AE Asia.
We did malaysia = thailand- lao- cambodia-vietnam.
US dollars is convenient in AE Asia.
We did malaysia = thailand- lao- cambodia-vietnam.
US dollars is the main currnecy used in Cambodia but not in Malaysia. The currency used there is the Ringgit which is around 30 cents. MYR3 = $1.00. (roughly)
2 months might be a bit tight to get through all the countries......a suggestion would be to leave malaysia out, spent most of the time in vietnam, lao and cambodia and then spent last few days in thailand.
one idea for a route would be to start in vietnam at Ho Chi Minh City and work your way up the coast to the north and cross into Lao, travel south and into cambodia and then cross into thailand.
vietnam is a fantastic country to travel in.....easy to get around...has a good tourist bus service and is very cheap. you can get rooms in ok hotels for 6 to 8 euro a night...food and drink is very cheap. must see's/do's are the mekong delta (try book with a homestay with local family), chu chi tunnels....both these depart from HCM city. Most backpackers in vietnam either start in HCM and travel north or Hanoi and go south. a lot of the tourist site are along the coast. Dalat is a nice relaxed town 3 hours north of HCM up in the mountains...great place to go on a motorbike tour of the countryside..you can book 3/5 days trips to really go off the tourist trail. along the coast you have na trang which essentially is just a party city on the beach and then hoi an (one of my favourite places) a fantastic relaxed town famous for tailoring. In the north of the country ha long bay is the main attraction...while it is stunning it is way over touristy and getting polluted. you could easily survive on 25/30 euro a day in vietnam.
there are some very nice towns in lao worth visting, luang prabang is prob the best..great place to relax. the main touristy site in lao is the town of vangvien..famous for river tubing, is guarenteed to be packed with backpackers who arrive there to spend a drunken day or 8 flaoting down the river and stopping at the 6 bars along the way....great fun (did it for 1 day) but can be dangerous and tourists have died doing it. Lao is a little more expensive than vietnam in particular getting buses which can be much dearer in comparison.
Ankor wat is the greatest attraction in cambodia, it is stunning and you could spend a couple of days exploring the vast ruins.
in terms of travel advice....i met plenty of girls travelling solo and as long as your any way socialable you shouldnt have a problem...remember there are plenty of other solo backpackers looking for travel buddies/someone to share a room with.
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