ask the questions we will try to answer them..

in 6 wks you can roughly cover all of those countries or parts of them...

one question we like to ask is your daily budget for hotels, etc... this helps to shape the scope of a trip

Thanks for the reply. Daily budget will probably be around £30-40 ideally - is this realistic or would more be required?

Take a look at Lonely Planet's guidebooks for info on how much money you need. SEA is a good area for traveling on a budget.

Why are you going back to BKK to fly home and not flying out of Singapore?

For info on traveling by train in SEA - see http://www.seat61.com

that is sufficient but you would be delighted with hotels in the 60-75 range..

Thanks for the help so far. Seat61 is a very useful website!

Will I need a visa for Cambodia? We are planning on being there for around 10 days... is this enough time? and would a visa be required for 10 days?

When we get back into Thailand, we are going to travel down in our own time so southern Thailand and Malaysia, eventually ending up in Singapore. We will then get a flight from Singapore to Bangkok - how much would this flight cost? and should we pre-book it well in advance?

We are heading from Bangkok on to Sydney, to spend around 7 months in Aus, the first 3/4 months working (possibly in a ski resort down south)

Has anyone had any experience of ski seasons in Aus? Please share any info if you have

Apologies for the many questions! Any answers to any of them is greatly appreciated!

Thanks
Tom

Do you already have the BKK-Sydney tickets, because otherwise I don't see any point in backtracking.

Yes, you need visas for all of these countries. Some you can get on arrival, some you can pick up on arrival after arranging for them ahead of time, some you have to get/are better off getting ahead of time. Search here for, e.g. "cambodia visa" or look up the relevant embassy websites.

Are you traveling on a US passport? If so, you won't need a visa for Thailand (you get 30 days visa-free entry when you fly in), or Malaysia or Singapore. You do need a visa for Cambodia, Laos (both of which can be obtained upon arrival) and VN - VN you must get in advance (if you are crossing a land border) or pre-arrange (if you are flying in.

Note that if you re-enter Thailand overland, you get just 2 weeks visa-free entry. Be aware of this as you plan your itinerary.

There are a number of budget airlines servicing this part of the world (e.g., Air Asia, Tiger Air, etc) and in each case, the flights are more expensive the closer you get to your travel date. So it makes sense to buy the tickets once your itinerary is firm.

If you are planning to travel overland from Bangkok to Siem Reap, read www.talesofasia.com so you know about all of the potential hassles and scams.

I agree with Thursdays, if you haven't already purchased your flights to Australia, plan to fly there from Singapore - it will save you time and money.

You will need a VISA for Australia.

We spent a few months months travelling around SE Asia on a budget a few years ago and, although we the UK is our home country ( as your appears to be?) we budgeted on $100 per day for the two of us for accommodation , food, travel etc. the £ was quite strong then , which is no longer the case so costs will have increased but it is still possible to travel cheaply if you are prepared to eat like a local and sleep in hostel or B&B s rather than hotels and you will still get a perfectly good place to stay for <$20 pn, less if you are prepared to stay in a dorm. £30-40 per day for the two of you will be challenging but should be possible, if that is per person then that will be plenty! A higher budget will enable you to see an awful lot more and don't forget that entrance fees can eat into your budget dramatically (e.g. Angkor Wat will cost you $25 pppd plus transport) and it is always nice to splash out a little once in a while.
www.hostelworld.com is a good starting point for budget accommodation and the reviews are pretty honest.

www.travelfish.org is a great resource for backpacking around Asia and it is worth signing up for their newsletter which has regular updates on current issues, accomofdation, transport etc. and some great suggestions for places to go often missed by most travellers.


Travelling overland by train or bus is to be recommended as although it takes longer you do get to see more of the countries, meet the people and it is very cheap in Asia. Air Asia and other budget carriers will get you to some destinations sometimes quite cheaply if booked in advance but other airlines can be expensive.

Flying into Bangkok it is easy to get stuck there for longer than you plan as it there so much to see but it would be a shame to miss out on the many other, arguably more impressive sights, in the region. With 6 weeks, I would plan on spending maybe 4 weeks travelling an overland loop of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos before heading back to Bangkok to get the train down to the south of Thailand and boat, train or bus further south through Malaysia to Singapore stopping at a few island beach locations along the way.

Six weeks sounds like a lot of time but it will fly by! it really really does pay to do your research in advance and at least have an outline plan of where you want to go and how you will get there otherwise you will miss a lot.

Thanks for all of the really useful information so far!

We are also looking at our vaccinations at the moment, can anyone tell me the Malaria tablets that we would require for travelling in these areas?

April 13-15 is Songkran (Thai New Year). Many people celebrate - or just go crazy - by throwing water at everyone in sight. If you're in Thailand during this time, you may want to read up on what is involved so that you're prepared!

There are only limited parts of this area that are malarial-risk. Take a look at www.cdc.gov/travel Also look at the NHS website, Fit For Travel as it has the best malarial risk maps available. If you do need anti-malarials, you have two options for this area: Malarone and doxycycline. Read about the pros and cons of each at the cdc website, and use it to inform your appointment with a travel medicine professional.

Hello, I'm new on the forum and have lived in Thailand for 4 years now. I just noted JohnH's cpmment about songkran and the fact that you arrive on April 14th. It is VERY good to be aware of this and to prepare. If you venture out anywhere- you will get wet! So when you arrive at the airport make sure that camera/phones and electronics etc are in plastic bags. At the airport itself you will probably be ok, but after that... Songkran is a fun time but you do need to just relax into it and enjoy. On the 14th and 15th you will not be able to wander around carrying a 'lonely planet' or other guide book and not get wet.

Many of the Thais in Bangkok go back to their families during songkran and so a lot of the smaller businesses in BK will be closed. On the days preceding songkran (11th-13th) the traffic leaving BKK is horrific(particularly to the NE)- but you are fortunate that you will miss this exodus. After the 15th the Thais flood back to BKK and the traffic is bad in this direction. Just something to be aware of if planning bus travel.

So, my advice to you- when you arrive, drop your bags off at your accommodation, leaving all electronics and paper and just head out into the streets to enjoy.

If you are heading to cambodia from BKK and like the wildlife- then the Khao yai National Park, where I live could make a nice break- for the jungle and the mountains. Alternatively the east of Thailand (Trat) which borders Cambodia is also very beautiful and worth a look.

Your cambodian visa will cost about $20.

Hope this helps

Thanks for all the help so far, everyone has been really helpful!

With regards to the Malaria tablets, looking at the side affects of the Malarone and Doxycycline tablets, it's making our decision quite hard on which ones to go for... if either!

Can anyone help with choosing which ones to go for please?

Also, with regards to money, we want to keep most of it in an account, which we will then access on our travels to withdraw cash as we go...

Can anyone help with reagrds to what account / bank to use, and if using a uk bank account is the wrong way to go, what are our alternatives?


Many thanks

I've never taken doxycycline, but I've taken quite a lot of Malarone and the only side effect I've noticed is that it makes me less attractive to mosquitoes.

I used my uk account. You can get your money from any ATM machine. However, Thailand banks started to charge 150 baht for each withdrawal and that would be on top of what your own bank may charge. There is no really cheap and easy way. I've not tried the preloaded cash cards so can't comment on them. Just bear in mind that in rural areas of much of SE Asia it's still very much a cash economy over credit cards, although ATMs are widespread in Thailand

I use a Capital One online account for travel. No foreign conversion fees, no fees for ATM withdrawals, refund of foreign ATM fees up to $25/month. However, I don't think that's available if you're a UK citizen. You need to check with any and all banks available to you for which has the lowest fees for foreign travel.

While most major banks will charge you US$5 per foreign ATM use, plus 3% of the foreign exchange amount in addition to the local ATM use, there are accounts that are much less expensive.

Many small community banks and Credit Unions do not have high per use charges, and some will even reimburse the fees charged by the local ATM.

Do your research and you can save yourself a lot of money. ATMs are readily available in all of the countries you mention.

Great, thanks for all of the info.
I've looked into the CaxtonFX travel cards, which seem to be pretty good https://www.caxtonfx.com/currency-cards/for-you/getting-your-card/which-card/ has anyone used one of these before?

Again, with regards to the Malaria tablets, I am really stuck between choosing the Doxycycline or the Malarone tablets - can anyone help me?!

Thanks

Yes someone can help you with the malaria tablets = your doctor! Who else know your medical history?

Thanks for that Hanuman

Tom, i havent used the caxtonfx card but it is very similar to the www.fairfx.com cards i acquired several months ago and have been using ever since. The main advantage is the exchange rate used which is better than any I hav seen but they also provide a measure of protection if stolen as they do not provide access to your main account. www.travelex.co.uk also offer a similar card but the rates seem marginally less competitive. I checked the rates today and Fairfx offer marginally better rates than Caxton and Travelex, who offer similar cards.. Fairfx uses the MasterCard wholesale forex rate with a 1.2% charge on its £ card per withdrawal. Many bank cards will use a MasterCard or Visa " retail rate with a 2.75% charge! I was talking with a friend here in Spain last week, I got €1.15 to the £ , he got €1.05 using HSBC!

It is worth acquiring a second card for you or your partner, just in case one is lost or stolen.

tompreston,
Regarding the malarone vs doxycycline decision...of course, the decision should be made with your doctor, but since you're asking, I'll share my experience.

Both my husband and I took malarone on our recent trip to India and had absolutely no side effects from the medication. He had taken doxycycline some years ago prior to one trip and was highly sensitive to sun, burning easily. We were fortunate that our health insurance picked it up, but we had already decided to buy the malarone out-of-pocket. I think it was going to cost us about $150 for a month's prescription.

So the malarone worked out well.