Please Critique This SEA itinerary
 

Hi! For the next six months i am traveling around the world. I'm very excited about this trip. One of the many places i will be visiting is South East Asia. Below is my itinerary. If you can provide any suggestions to polish it up, please do. Are there any places i should visit or not vist? Thank you ahead of time for your input. :) <BR>Deion <BR> <BR> <BR>Bali, Indonesia <BR>Kula Lumpar, Malaysia <BR>Cameron Highlands, Malaysia <BR>Phuket, Thailand <BR>Ko Samui, Thailand <BR>Ko Phangon, Thailand <BR>Ko Tao, Thailand <BR>Hua Hin, Thailand <BR>Bangkok, Thailand <BR>Seim Reap, Cambodia <BR>Angkor Wat, Cambodia <BR>Phnom Penh, Cambodia <BR>Saigon, Vietnam <BR>Nha Trang, Vietnam <BR>Tuy Hoa, Vietnam <BR>Da Nang, Vietnam <BR>Hue, Vietnam <BR>Hai Phong, Vietnam <BR>Hanoi, Vietnam <BR>Vientiane, Laos <BR>Bangkok, Thailand <BR>

Bali: visit Ubud and Mt. Kintamani <BR>Phuket: Nai Han beach is still very nice. <BR>Koh Pha-ngan: Pronounce it right: Most tourists pronounce it as if it's "Phan-yang," but you'll do fine if you think of it as Phang-an. "Ph" is pronounced like the first p in paper. (I read/write Thai, so believe me.) I was there in 1998. It's quiet, if you go anywhere but the big rave beaches. <BR>Hua Hin is nice, with lots of great seafood. I like to pamper myself at the Sofitel there. Don't forget that it's an easy return to BKK by train. <BR> <BR>Good idea to skip Java these days.

I think you have included many touristic sports of this part of the world. If you can add some days in Penang/Malaysia would be nice. <BR>You can cross Laos/Thai border from Vientiene back to Nong Kai by The friendship brige and use Train service back to bkk. <BR>Welcome to Asia.

I would add Philippines and Honk Kong and delete Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia

I would leave off Cameron Highland and go up to Penang, it'll make a big contrast from you see in Kuala Lumpur. You can then catch a train to Thailand, Phuket is only a short hop. Enjoy your trip.

Most of your trip sounds fantastic! Just a few notes and clarification for you on Cambodia and Vietnam: <BR> <BR>Seim Reap is the town from which you'll visit Angkor Wat. The town itself offers little of interest, but the temples of Angkor are magnificent and worth a couple days stay in Siem Reap. <BR> <BR>In contrast, Phnom Penh is pretty depressing and there's little left of its former beauty. But you'll need to go through PP to get to Siem Reap so it will probably need to stay in your itinerary. <BR> <BR>Da Nang is definitely worth missing. The Vietnamese are very proud of the Cham museum there, but you can visit it as you pass through the city. I would strongly suggest visiting HoiAn, which is about a 20 minute taxi ride (about $10 if you bargain well) from Da Nang. It's a lovely little town and you can take day trips from there to My Son and beautiful Cham ruins in the surrounding hills. <BR> <BR>You might check out the following website. It has a lot of good information about this wonderful part of the world. <BR> <BR>http://www.datacomm.ch/pmgeiser/ <BR> <BR>Feel free to email me directly about Vietnam. <BR> <BR>Bon voyage! <BR>

Hi Deion <BR> <BR>I also agree with Harriet - ANGKOR WAT is a must. In 1998 we were flying with <BR>Bankgok Airways from Bangkok direct to <BR>Siem Reap (hope the flight is still in use). At Siem Reap we stayed at the Hotel Angkor Village (hotel built in Khmer Style with excellent food). At that time we travelled also to Laos (Go to Luang Prabang, which is a quiet place with lots of things to do) <BR>Have a good time <BR>Bruno

since you're in indonesia, why not spend some time on java. you can fly directly from bali to yogyakarta. yogya is the center for arts and crafts in java -- batik, dance, gamelan, shadow puppets, mask carving. it's also near two 8-9th century temples -- borobudur and prambanan. borobudur especially is worth the trip. <BR>in vietnam, don't skip saigan (ho chi mihn city). <BR>also, you might want to squeeze in singapore, for a dose of chinese culture. <BR>if i had to edit anything out, i'd go easier on malaysia, skip kl altogether. on the whole, indonesia has much more to offer than malaysia. <BR>

By all means, strike Danang off your list! It's an armpit if ever there was one. However, just south of Danang is a very beautiful little town called Hoi An which is definitely a must-see. Trust me, everyone who has been to Vietnam comes back with Hoi An as one of their top memories. Quaint, not too touristy, FANTASTIC food, great beach near the town. Oh, and if you can, try to spend a pretty good amount of time in Hanoi. It' one of my favourite cities in the world, and I hope its latent charm wins you over. <BR>I agree with the first writer that a lot of the sites you are planning to go to are the very touristy spots. These are fine if you like all the creature comforts and tourist trappings, but they may not necessarily give you the best impression of South-east Asia that you could have. I've been to Thailand four times, for example, and have never thought about going to Phuket and probably never will. Who knows? Perhaps that's your thing. But if you really want to get a sense of these cultures, try something a little different, like a trek to some less common place. I can bet it will be what you remember much more than the traffic jams of Bangkok or the beaches of Bali. <BR>Good luck on your travels!

Don't forget Burma. It is a fantastic country, safe to travel in and the prople are one of the most friendly in SE Asia. The temples in Bagan are on a par with those in Cambodia

I think you may need to add a couple of days in Luang Pra Bang the cultural city of Laos, and it is very nice from what i have seen on TV documentary.It is going to be my destination some days in the near future.

please put Singapore in your list! I'm a Singaporean and u must come here to see this vibrant and spotless cosmopolitan city! <BR>where else can you find a city that bans chewing gum and canes you if you spray graffiti?!

Just so you don't think Singapore is a basket-case, chewing of gum is not banned just the sale of gum. I assure you that you may see people chewing gum- just less than usual as it is not sold in Singapore. <BR>But I agree with dipsy- spend a day or two here- there's no other city like it in Asia.