rivet

Thinking of adding golf to the activity list on a future 3 week trip to South East Asia. Hanuman offered to list his favorite courses and hoping other golfers will chime in.

I think six courses in two countries would be a nice mix with the other cultural opportunities.

Hanuman

For Thailand I really like the following golf courses.

Bangkok: Rajapruek Golf Club, Amata Spring and Country Club and Thai Country Club.
Hua Hin: Black Mountain Golf Club and Banyan Golf Club.
Khao Yai: Toscana Valley -http://www.toscanavalley.com/en/lifestyle/golfcourse.php
Samui: Santiburi
Chiang Rai: Santiburi
Phuket: Blue Canyon and Red Mountain-http://www.redmountainphuket.com/

For China I like Spring City Golf in Kunming. At a high altitude it feels great to be able to drive over 350 yds! I've also heard that the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain golf club is suppose to be nice and near Lijiang - http://www.time.com/time/specials/pa...904001,00.html

rivet

Thanks Hanuman for those suggestions! Will check the websites.

Didn't really mean to tag the thread as China, but not sure if I can change that now. Thinking of Thailand and one other country, with golf destinations as the focus.

Vietnam? Cambodia? Met someone who raved about the Nick Faldo course near Siem Reap. He pointed out that traffic in the major cities made for a long day when considering the length of the round and travel time.

Hanuman

IMO the best courses in SEA are in Thailand. You are quite right about the traffic going to the golf courses around Bangkok but I normally tee-off at around 6.00 AM and there is no traffic then. Golf courses outside of Bangkok does not have any traffic problem.

The golf course near Siem Reap is call the Angkor Golf Resort, quite new I think. If you're visiting Angkor Wat then definitely play a round there.

thursdaysd

I don't really want to encourage still more people to visit Luang Prabang, but flying in yesterday I saw a golf course nearing completion not far from the airport...

rivet

Too late Thursdayd... Laos is already on my radar. I have been enjoying your report and trying to guess your favorite places. Glad to hear there is a new course in progress as that will add Laos to the short list of destinations.

Of course Hanuman. My husband is like you, an early golfer so I guess traffic will not be a problem. I have no intention of hauling clubs across the world so will be content to sleep in take some later tours while he is out on the fairways.

I am curious to see Bangkok as we have not been there for many, many years. I surprises me to read so many from the forum list Bangkok as one of their very favorite cities. I didn't get that feeling the first time we were there so we must have missed something or not spent enough time catching the vibe. Is January the coolest month?

Thursdaysd, could you comment on the amount of French spoken in Laos? Maybe I should be brushing up?

thursdaysd

rivet - don't worry about the French - you'll see some written but more English, and certainly more English spoken. Laos, at least Vientiane and Luang Prabang, has been well and truly discovered (and definitely avoid Vang Vieng!). (For my first visit, when I fell in love with LP, see http://www.wilhelmswords.com/asia2002/index.html - Which Wat? But much of the mystique and magic have fled, although it's still full of lovely buildings (some of them new). But if you're headed to Laos consider making it to Champasak, or taking a boat trip up the Mekong.

I agree with you about Bangkok. Not at all a fave of mine.

Shanghainese

Check out Mission Hills, Shenzhen in China.