$2000. 1 month. Where to go?

Old Sep 16th, 2008, 07:41 AM
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$2000. 1 month. Where to go?

My boyfriend and I are looking to travel (possibly to Asia) next June/July for 1 month. We'd like to rent an apartment, eat yummy food, and not break the bank! We'd like to spend about $2000 total (excluding airfare). Any suggestions for where to go? We're open to cities and small towns alike!
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Old Sep 16th, 2008, 11:50 AM
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This post is far too vague. You have given us almost nothing to go on. We have no idea what your interests are. It would be good for you to do some research on this forum or through travel books and then get back to us with specific questions. Happy Travels!
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Old Sep 16th, 2008, 12:03 PM
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Places that immediately come to mind as affordable are Thailand and Indonesia. $2000 toal (aside from airfare) means $67 a day. I don't know that you could rent an apartment for that amount, but there are homestays in Indonesia and inexpensive guesthouses in Thailand where you could stay and still have enough money left to eat.
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Old Sep 16th, 2008, 01:13 PM
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Thailand is the place. With $2000, you have $67 per day to spend. There are hotels for $30-40 per day that are not complete dumps. The food is cheap and the travel as well. Take a look at sawadee.com for a list of hotels in Bangkok, Chaing Mai, Chiang Rai, Hua Hin that meet your budget.
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Old Sep 16th, 2008, 02:24 PM
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Malaysia is even cheaper than Thailand - and has more varied food.
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Old Sep 16th, 2008, 05:21 PM
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Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia should all be doable on that budget. You just have to sleep and eat at the budget end of the scale. See Lonely Planet's online destination guides for estimated costs.
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Old Sep 16th, 2008, 06:48 PM
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Thailand is my suggestion. Thailand is tourist friendly. If you have never traveled in Asia before Thailand is a good break-in country to start at.

You can get hotels in Thailand in all price ranges from around $20 on up to over $100 a night - all with air conditioning, private toilet/bath, security boxes, cable TV and daily clean up. Fan only rooms and dorms even cheaper!

Transportation is cheap in Thailand compared to America or Europe. You can even travel to other nearby countries like Malaysia or Laos pretty easy.

In June and July you will be in "low season" for hotel pricing. June is the beginning of the rainy season but don't worry too much about it. The rain does not fall all over Thailand at the same time. The rain usually stops in an hour or two and the sun comes out nice and bright. You do not have to be at a beach to get a suntan - Thailand is warm all over.

Good luck.
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Old Sep 16th, 2008, 09:10 PM
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Sounds like an interesting plan. You may want to do some research and think more about what cultures, food, climate, geography, etc might be most interesting to you. I personally would not be too enthusiastic about a month in Japan, but lots of other people find the culture interesting. Also see weatherbase.com and other weather webistes for temperature and rainfall info to again make sure you will like the weather you would be encountering.

I think any of the places mentioned above would make a good trip. However, my personal preference would lean toward Bali. I love the culture, art, music, food, people, geography. It is just a magical place. And it is small, so you could stick with your idea of renting one place and exploring from there. Other places, like Malaysia and Vietnam, are too large to see from one place, but most of Bali can be explored in a few hours’ drive at most, and a lot of it can be seen on foot or by bicycle. (However the east coast of Malaysia in particular is beautiful and would make a nice trip, albeit renting a place IMO is not practical given distances there. But June July are a great time to visit the east coast.). June July are great weatherwise in Bali too, dry and sunny.

With your budget, IMO you are going to have to avoid cities esp. like Hong Kong or Bangkok, as I don’t know that you would find anything acceptable in that range and still have money left for food and transportation. A smaller city like Phenom Penh may be doable, and possibly a place like Saigon or Ho Chi Minh (questionable) but you may not want to rent for a month. The smaller places in northern Thailand may be possible too, but again with distances in that area I am not sure renting in one place for month is that good an idea.

Get the Lonely Planet book for SE Asia and various countries within SE Asia, and also see their website, in particular the Thorn Tree Posts area to get ideas and speak to fellow budget travelers.

For renting flats, I would suggest vrbo.com as a good source. I picked a random one in your price range in Bali (about US$37 a night) that looks lovely, (it even has air conditioning and a pool! I may rent this next time…) and is in Penestanan, an interesting artists village outside Ubud. It is nice to be near, but not in Ubud, which is quite touristy. But the surrounding countryside is lovely, great for biking and walking. See http://www.vrbo.com/145853. Also for Bali, there are higher end places at http://www.laksmanavillas.com/villajemma/index.html. This is a compound of several villas of varying sizes and prices. In Ubud, you might try Kebun Indah, which is a nice place and would be in that budget. It is a series of bungalows and is run by the Cafe Wayan people who have a great restaurant nearby. Lovely pool, very quiet and private. http://www.alamindahbali.com/kebun_indah.htm . They have several other properties, and some of their higher priced rooms have kitchens. However, with some looking, you could find even cheaper accommodations with kitchens (they may not have pools, and I have rented homes there with no running hot water, but certainly perfectly fine places out in the rice fields and makes for a great vacation.); but those mostly you would have to work out when you get there. You may have to check into a hotel for a few days and ask around for homestays. Another suggestion is http://www.baliwww.com/bali/roomfinder/ubudx.htm.

Another different idea would be India, but due to weather issues at the time of your travel (heat and monsoon) I would mostly say to stick with a place in the Himalaya like Ladakh. However, a month there would be very interesting, trekking and other options abound, and you could live on that budget as well.


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Old Sep 18th, 2008, 04:22 AM
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We are 3/4 the way through our year long round the world trip (on a not dissimilar budget).

You really are spoilt for choice. The food in Asia is amongst the best (and cheapest!) in the world. The only place in Asia excluded by your budget is probably Japan. If you are first timers to Asia then Thailand is good but it is becoming more and more "touristy" but Bangkok is still one of my favourite cities. For one month, Vietnam my preference, the food is great, there is lots to see and do and it is still cheap.

For more info, photos and, perhaps a few more ideas, here is a link to our blog - http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog...7260/tpod.html
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Old Sep 18th, 2008, 04:42 AM
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Are you saying that you want to go to just one place and rent an apartment there?

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Old Sep 18th, 2008, 06:47 AM
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Hi,
Rent an apartment or stay with a local family in very small and quiet towns in China would be a good choice. Small cities/towns like Lijiang, Shangri-la(You could see in Mummy 3), in a water town near Shanghai, in Yangshuo(in Guilin), in Terraced field with minority food and very lower fee to a guesthouse(in Guilin), Xingping near Yangshuo around Li River...... Do it by bus and train, your budget is far enough.
See some information here http://www.travelchinaguide.com/cityguides/lijiang.htm or http://www.travelchinaguide.com/sear...&image.y=0#917
Shangri-la:http://www.travelchinaguide.com/sear...++Search++#933

Or another website:http://www.cits.net/citsonlineWeb/sw...omepage_EN.jsp

Wish you a nice holiday.
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Old Sep 18th, 2008, 09:34 PM
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If i were you, I'd spread my wealth around and travel to several different countries rather than staying in one place.

I had a friend come back recently and she had stayed in youth hostels throughout China (didn't know they had so many youth hostels!).

Get a taste of SE Asia or India or China - travel around, enjoy, experience!
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