Fodor's Travel Talk Forums - Asia destination suggestions

How long are you spending in Hong Kong? There are trips you could take like overnight to Macau and hikes in outlying areas that would be good to do if you have a few days. October is the beginning of the great weather in Hong Kong, esp the later in the month you go, so take advantage of it.

If you have 4 days or more for Hong Kong and then a week to spend elsewhere, I would first say go ahead and spend the whole time in Bali. October has a little rain, but not bad especially the earlier you go in the month, and in any event, the island more than makes up for it. If you are concerned about the political situation, read some of the US State Dept warnings for Thailand, Malaysia and Hong Kong as well as France and Italy. Thailand has a lot of unrest, esp in the South, and there are extremist groups in Bangkok as well. None of this should alarm you or make you change your plans, my point is that Bali is not really any more unsafe, IMO, than any other place.

If Bali is out for you, then much as I love Bangkok, if you are already going to be in Hong Kong and if you have never been to mainland China, I would suggest you go to Beijing and possibly Xian, Kunming or Shanghai (in that order of preference.) 3-4 days in Beijing and then 3 days in one other city would be a good mix. My only caveat is that if your trip is the first week in October, DO NOT go to China, as it is a national holiday for most of that week and things will be extremely crowded. Otherwise, October is cool dry great weather in most of China and not crowded.

If you decide to go to Thailand, I would go to Bangkok and as you aren't interested in beaches, maybe go north to the Chiang Mai area. Alternatively, there are day and overnight boat trips up and down the Chao Phyra from Bangkok. I have not done this but have done some research on it. The Bangkok Marriott Resort & spa (on the river) has a lovely rice barge called the Manhora Song which I believe does overnight trips. They also have a very nice dinner cruise. Take a look at marriott.com , or phone or fax the hotel at tel 66-2-476-0022 Fax: 66-2-476-1120. Please bear in mind that October is the first or second rainiest month in Thailand.

As an alternative, an easy 2-3 day trip from Bangkok would be to go to Cambodia to see Ankor Wat. Again, a good chance of rain especially early in October.

Vietnam would also be quite rainy in October, especially early in the month, especially places like Hue and the Da Nang areas which can flood. You could also go to Bangkok for 3-4 days, and then just go to Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh for the remaining time.

I love Malaysia, but it is a lot about beaches and the weather is not great in October as it is the start of the monsoon season. A possibility on the west coast would be Penang and Malacca which are interesting, smaller and have good size bits of colonial areas left and rainfall is a bit lower on the west coast in October. You could also go into the hill areas inland from Kuala Lumpur for cooler temps, but there is rain in October inland as well. Also, Ramadan this year begins on October 16 and ends in November. This may affect availability of flights and opening hours of restaurants and tourist sites. I am not a fan of Kuala Lumpur as there are many other interesting cities in Asia. I would go to Singapore over Kuala Lumpur.