Top Ten Asian Destinations
 

Conde Nast and Travel and Leisure have their Gold List- now its time for Fodorites to weigh in on their picks. Top 10 Asian Destinations. Criteria: Hotels, Restaurants, Sights,
Overall value for the US dollar. Number your picks from 1 to 10 next to the destinations below ( yes I know there are other destinations- buy hey this is my thread after all!). I will tally the results after this has been up for a while:

Bangkok
Hong Kong
Singapore
Sydney
Bali
Shanghai
Beijing
Kaula Lumpur
Hanoi
Tokoyo

It will be interesting to see the results but I do have a few comments on your list, Bill:
1. Isn't Sydney in Australia?
2. With the exception of Bali, why are all of the top destinations cities? I would list Thailand as a top destination.
3. Since I am going to India in February, I was disappointed to see nothing from there. I would think that with top hotels, great sights and good value for the dollar it might stand a chance.
4. From what I've heard and based on your criteria, I'm surprised Singapore made the list.

Sorry if this sounds more like a critique of your list than anything else.

Jerusalem would have to be up there.

Jerusalem is in what Asian country?

having lived there, i prefer georgetown. great sushi. :)>-

Kuranosuke...Did you go to Thanying restaurant and how did you like it? I had cuttlefish with crispy basil and a great red sauce there and it was fabulous. I can't remember the other dishes I ordered, but that dish I've had at all three Singapore locations and two Bangkok locations.Happy Travels!

Jerusalem is in the Asian country of Israel.

http://www.graphicmaps.com/webimage/countrys/as.htm

guenmai; yes, i went to both the thanying at the amari(or amara) hotel, and the thanying express at the food court in takashimaya. i was going to post my report later, however, since you asked, here it is.

thanying express was excellent, as we had the stuff chicken wings(the best i ever had), tom yum kung, spring roll, and the green curry with beef. the beef in the curry was excellent, and so the the curry. i thought i was smart, and ordered the curry thai hot, and i emphasized thai hot. boy, the curry nearly brought me to tears. it was hot, but not that hot that i couldn't finish it.(next time, i will only say thai hot once). the meal was just great. i didn't even bother to walk around the food court once i found texpress.

now, as for the restaurant in the amari hotel, well, our appetizers were great, and so was my red curry, however, we also ordered the green curry, and the other curry which was described as "authentic thai curry". we found these two curries to be a bit too runny, not having a thick enough curry gravy that we are used to. we understand that the authentic curry had no coconut milk. i guess we were expecting something different from these two curries, however, overall, it was a pleasant experience.

i haven't been to the one in bkk, however, it is on my todo list on my next visit.

i've got a few other reports on restaurants in bkk and jp, so as soon as i organized myself, i will post them.

Bill, you aren't having much success in getting people to repond to your question. It seems this group is too rebellious to do a ranking!

I find the destinations so different from each other it's hard to respond.

ok here goes mine...different of course:

city value rest. shopping
for sights
$ overall

bangkok 1 1 1
did you expect anything different from me?

thailand 1.5 4A 4.5

hong kong 5B 2 2

hanoi 3 6 4

bali (city state) 2 3 3

singapore 5A 5 5

beijing 4A 4 6

K/L 4B 7 7

Toyko haven't been there
but everything is
very expensive..

shanghai haven't visited

sydney little interest

Bob, I don't understand your system for reporting... except for Bangkok! (which, as you know, I agree is wonderful!) Can you tell us what the three things are that you're rating?

kathie...i agree with you...i made it all in nice cols. but fodors printed it a different way...

take my numbers...they are actually in 3 cols...col #1 is value for money...col 2 is rest., sights, overall....and col #3 is shopping

maybe that will help...makes me mad as i spent quite a while lining it all up...

Even if Israel is in Asia how can it compete with any of the cities listed ? By most people's geographical understanding Israel is in the Middle East.

Sorry didn't address the OP's list. I've not had the good luck to visit all of the places listed. Perhaps I should list them in order of where I'd like to visit;

Bannkok - I adore Thailand, (going again shortly)
Hanoi - Fascinated by Vietnam (going for the first time shortly)
Sydney - Have friends in Oz to visit.
Shanghai/Bejiing - Got to be China as a whole.
Kuala Lumpar - If only to see how religion effects things.
Singapore - SHOPPING
Tokyo - Never been
Hong Kong - Been and hated every second.
Bali - Been there and been bored.

I don't like my hometown,Bangkok!
My Top 10 --
1 Kyoto
2 Hong Kong
3 Beijing
4 India
5 Sri Lanka
6 Nepal
7 Bali
8 Thai beach
9 Angkor Wat
10 Guilin

Sydney being included in a list of Asian destinations would interest the politicians and opinion makers who figure the country must engage with Asia, and be part of ASEAN. And maybe they are right - where exactly does it fit in else?

To rhkkmk who says Sydney is of little interest. Love to know why ..

I like games so will play, but can't rank in terms of hotels/restaurants. It's not what interests me. If your reason for going somewhere is that it has a good hotel, especially if the culture of the country in which the hotel in situated is very different from your own, then I guess you might miss out on some amazing places!!

My criteria - overall environment, vibes, people, culture, sights. How happy and/or stimulated I was while I was there.

1. Sydney (lots of good hotels, etc)
2. Himachal Pradesh (amazing scenery).
3. Siem Reap (too many chain hotels but Ankor Wat is breathetaking
4. Perhentian Islands (no airport, no resorts).
5. Hong Kong (mega vibrant).
6. Kandy
7. Baku Nat Park, Sarawak.
8. Xian
9. Bangkok
10. Calcutta.

Come on, folks - mrwunrfl's post about Israel obviously was tongue-in-cheek. Surely we don't need those little smiley-faces against the message (or the inane "lol") to indicate that it's a joke?

Unfortunately this forum is statistically insignificant, and the small number of readers who've been to all ten of the cities listed make it even more so. Not to mention the even smaller number who've sampled enough hotels and restaurants in each city to cast a worhtwhile vote.

ALL: Did I mention that the first person who actually follows my instructions and ranks the ten destinations listed gets an all expense paid trip for two to their number one destination? Is there any one out there that can follow directions? Thank goodness you guys are not determining the presidency!

Here's my list:
1.Bangkok
2.Kyoto
3. Hanoi
4. Burma
6. Bali
7. Northern Thailand
8. Hong Kong
9. Luang Prabang
10. Shanghai

Oh, my list has to come from the OP's list? Ok:

1) Tokyo
2) Bali, Beijing, Hong Kong
3) all the rest, as I've never been to those places

About my no. 1 pick:
Hotels - Tokyo has hotels and there are hotels & ryokan all over Japan.
Restaraunts - Japanese & other food
Sights - As Tokyo is the major gateway to Japan, then all of the wonders of Japan are easily reachable from there.
Overall value - Expensive but good value, IMHO, because of location.

Tokoyo- expensive/good value- says oxymoron to me.

Ok, how about if I said it this way?: Tokyo is high priced but good value. I am saying that it is worth it.

Ok we have one vote for Tokoyo.

Re: India -- it's a fabulous destination. Don't worry,you'll have a terrific trip. I just couldn't come up with a specific city there that I would put in my top 10 although thinking aobut it I could see putting Rajasthan in place of Luang Prabang.

Kuranosuke...Glad you liked Thanying...I'm hungry just reading your post!Remember, Thanying is royal court cooking so maybe that makes it different than regular Thai food. One of the chefs at one of the Singapore ones used to cook for the royal family. Next time try the fried cuttlefish with the crispy basil and spicy red sauce....to die for! Oh, did you notice that there's a new Indochine restaurant in Singapore? It's right outside, at street level, in front of either Ngee Ann City mall or the one next to it...I forget. I haven't tried the new branch as I always eat at the Club Street one. Happy Travels!

Bill, I'm absolutely terrible at following instructions, but I'll try to respond in the spirit of the survey. I feel I only have enough data (multiple visits) to rank or rate 6 of your destinations. Like Bob, I'll give three rankings for each city: hotels & restaurants; sights; value for the US$

Bangkok 1, 1, 1
Bali 3, 2, 2
Singapore 2, 5, 5
Hanoi 6, 4, 3
Kuala Lumpur 4, 6, 4
Hong Kong 5, 3, 6

These rankings don't capture how I feel about these destinations. Hong Kong, for instance, looks low because the hotel rooms tend to be small and expensive and the dollar doesn't go very far in comparison to other parts of SE Asia, but it's a wonderful city.

bravo kathie...bill do you need the spelling of my name for the tickets??

bob

Ok-- I'll do it again with ratings
1.Bangkok - 1-1-1
2.Kyoto -4-1-2
3. Hanoi- 3-2-2
4. Burma -1-1-4`
6. Bali -2-2-2
7. Northern Thailand - 2-1-1
8. Hong Kong - 2-3-2
9. Rajasthan - 2-1-4
10. Shanghai - 3-2-4

Bob - you have to read my posting carefully- I asked if I had mentioned that- I did not actually promise it!

Where is Tokoyo ... can i get there with Quantas ?

My list

1 - Hong Kong
2 - Sydney
3 - Bangkok
4 - Melbourne
5 - Langkawi
6 - Baan Boran (Northern Thailand)
7 - Kuala Lumpur
8 - Singapore
9 - Istanbul
10 - Jaipur

SidB gets the Gold Star for following directions exactly as requested. Thank you Sid!

Actually, SidB didn't follow your instructions because he combined Beijing and Shanghai. Everybody else had stuff not on the list, including rhk who listed "Thailand". Below is the first list that follows the instructions.

4 Bangkok
2 Hong Kong
6 Singapore
5 Sydney
3 Bali
10 Shanghai
8 Beijing
9 Kaula Lumpur
7 Hanoi
1 Tokoyo

mrwunrfl: attaboy, you got it. now go treat yourself to that safeway special. :-).

for guenmai; thanks for the explanation on the royal court thai cooking. no wonder it was different. will try the fried cuttlefish next time i am in bkk. didn't notice the indochine outside the amara, but did go to the one in bkk. i had my best experience there. will post later.

Thank you, thank you, kuranosuke. I am very proud. You are going to lose your bet unless we go 1 for 3 to finish the season, right? Not looking good. You saw the 6-4 score, I suppose.

mrwunrfl; i thought it was a baseball game. 2 fg and 2 safeties, how boring. hai, might lose bet. i think the winable game might be against indy next week. got to squeeze. maybe horse racing is easier. but already have too many vices, don't need another one now.

Since when is Istanbul part of Asia. That's a bit like saying New York is in South America. Not taking geography lessons from George Dubya Bush are you ?

I took the decision to combine the Chinese cities as I don't know enough about the country to make an educated statement. I wonder whether any of the posters have actually visited all of the destinations, AND spent sufficient time there to make a reasonable judgement.

Well, part of Istanbul is in Asia, isn't it? It's the entry by kuranosuke (georgetown) that is in South America. No matter, neither was on the original list. SidB, you also didn't "number your picks from 1 to 10 next to the destinations". [-X

That is an index finger that the smiley is holding up, right?

Perhaps I should list them in order of where I'd like to visit;

Apparently this wasn't clear enough.

Oh and Turkey is applying for membership of the European Union. I don't think Asian countries are eligible.