Help me plan 4 weeks in SE Asia starting with Singapore
 

Male, solo from Northern VA.
Will have 1 carry on and 1 backpack.

Will arrive in Singapore in Nov 2023 via cruise ship.

Want to spend 4 weeks total in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and maybe Cambodia or Laos. (I've been to Vietnam already.)
Fly back to IAD (Dulles airport) during last week of Nov.

1) Best bang for the buck hotel?
- I'm Diamond with Wyndham hotels via status match from Caesar's casino but from what i've been reading, Wyndham/Ramada front desk people dont know/care about your status perks. :wow:

2) Best way to go from country to country? Bus? Plane?
- Do i need a visa?

3) Easiest city to fly out of back to IAD?

Thx

Have you tried to use your hotel points to book online or call an 800 number? That should be easy to do.

Hotels? What is your budget? Except for Singapore hotels at your destinations should be relatively inexpensive and if you search w/I Singapore you can find something.

In Malaysia consider seeing Kuala Lumpur, Georgetown and Melaka. Melaka is like two hour drive from KL BTW and KL is a one hour flight from Singapore. You could go Singapore to Melaka and then up to KL.

I can't say much about Thailand, Laos or Cambodia. We did have a port stop in Sihanoukville though the big attraction is Angkor Wat.

I looked at one way air to IAD for Nov. 28th. from Bangkok, Singapore and KL.

Best deal to me is out of Singapore for $1027.00 Its around $400.00 less that the others and is on EVA air which is a very good air line. They all have two stops and if you want one stop then the fare is much much more.

I have no hotel points at Wydham/Ramada.
Diamond status (top status) was a status match from Caesars casino.
You're supposed to get a 'welcome package' and a free suite upgrade with Diamond.
People at FlyerTalk site said they didn't get that.

Budget: I got $50/day in Saigon (Vietnam), which included an awesome hot breakfast. So hoping for that.
The help i'm more looking for is what area of the cities to stay at.

Not going to drive.
Bus to Melaka then bus to KL?

"1) Best bang for the buck hotel?

No idea what the stuff about Wyndham and stays is all about , but the easiest way to book hotels, whether they are luxury 5 star casino hotels or backpacker hostels is to look on www.booking.com or similar and set your parameters for your requirements e.g. prices, facilities, breakfast, refundable etc. You can also usually set location as well but to do that you need to know what countries, cities towns or villages you want to see.

To get to that point you need to determine what it is you want to see and get out of your trip. One month seems like a long time but it is nothing for seeing four countries in Asia. Five countries in four weeks would require a ridiculously fast pace, so much so that you would spend most of your time inside airports, stations or looking out the windows of trains, planes and buses. I would work out what it is you want to see and do and take it from there. Avoid the temptation to pack in too many destinations, you will almost certainly end up wishing you hadn't.

A few thoughts;

1. An interest way to get form Singapore to Bangkok is by train. See https://www.seat61.com/Malaysia.htm#...nang_-_Bangkok for all you need to know. There are lots of places you can break your trip along the way..
2. The train passes close to Penang which is worth a few days, great food and a lot of history.
3. Langkawi has some great beaches
4. Once you get into Thailand you can continue all the way to Bangkok or choose to visit some of the Thai islands for some beach time by bus and/or ferry (easy to do)
5. Bangkok is always worth a few days . A huge amount to do, see, eat drink.
6. From Bangkok you could fly to just about anywhere in SE Asia quite cheaply using budget airlines like Air Asia (they are almost used like buses in the region.
7. Cambodia rewards off the beaten path travel but as you are short on time, probably best just to consider Phnom Penh, a fascinating city and Siem Reap for Angkor Was ( if that interests you)
8. Sticking with Thailand, you could continue north by train or plane to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in the north and maybe get out into the countryside and visit some of the minority peoples villages
9. If you did want to include Laos you could head to the border at Chiang Khong/ Huay Xai and get a boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang

On a completely different tack, you could just as easily spend a month just in Malaysia

On the peninsula

Kuala Lumpur
Penang
Taman Negara
Ipoh
Langkawi

and over on Borneo

Kinabalu
Mulu
Kuching
Sandakan
Kinabantagan River
Danum Valley



Anyway, just a few ideas.

Very good advice from Mr. C!

I agree about the hotel search. Go to a hotel booking website and put in the parameters as suggested and see what you can get. I looked at hotels dot com and filtered in the Chinatown area and a price point of max $120.00 per night and saw several under $100.00. I would imagine hotels in Little India are cheaper too.

Good luck!

1) IDK about hotels. You want to go to Penang
2) low cost regional air carriers
3) probably Bangkok (e.g. one stop via Japan)

for visa questions for a US passport holder, go here:
International Travel (state.gov)

Type the country name into the box below where it says:

Learn about your destination

Then click on Entry, Exit and Visa Requirements

In South East Asia, my favourite country is Laos. To name a few, Luang Namtha, Bokeo Nature Reserve, Tham Kong Lo caves are my favorite places in Laos.

Agree with crellston that four weeks isn't that much time. My first trip to SEA was three months for Singapore, Bangkok and four countries, see: Wilhelm's Words -- Travels Round Asia 2002 (Caveat: Siem Reap and Luang Prabang are much, much more crowded these days.)

Definitely look into taking the train in Malaysia and Thailand. In addition to the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, there is one to the Lao border. The buses in Malaysia are pretty good, too. I am not a fan of Bangkok but it is the major transport hub for the area and you will almost certainly do better flying home from there.