South East Asian (DIY) Tour

[port80*]

^Sis, yan pala yung nakita ko last year, hindi yung Thai Airways   Ang kulit ko pero if you want to save money, plan your trip such that you can fly Air Asia in between countries.  Ang laki ng tipid, lalo kung makatiyempo ka ng sale nila (na lagi naman meron).

For our 15-day trip last year, we spent AUD1700 (roughly USD1600) per person, excluding shopping money and our airfare to and from Perth, Australia (which was about AUD1K for the two of us via Jetstar). 

Anyway, our itinerary was Perth- Singapore - Langkawi - KL - Siem Reap - Ho Chi Minh - Bangkok - Perth.  It wasn't really tipid as in backpacker mode, we flew in and out of most countries due to time constraints.  Everything's in my blog (except the Bangkok leg which I never really got around to writing because I'm soooo lazy) including pics of our hotels and what tours / activities we did, etc. so you get an idea of where we indulged / scrimped on. 

[badmonkey]

^Thanks sis! I appreciate your feedback!

[neeners]

badmonkey: Yung Asean Pass ng Malaysia Airlines, double check mo muna kung kasama na yung taxes dun. Last year kasi when I inquired, di pa kasama yung mga tax (it was only $199 then).

There's a number of low cost carriers in the region. Air Asia ata ang pinaka extensive. You can get pretty low fares if you book ahead or kung naka swerte ka at may promo.

As to where to go (from Singapore), my favorites are Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia

[two_zero]

sis ask ko lang from singapore plane lang ba papunta ng cambodia and thailand? pwede bang ibus ang cambodia or vietnam?

if i want to visit cambodia san mas malapit yun sa thailand ba or singapore?

sorry sis i dont have any idea talaga eh,

[neeners]

Lei-dy! Kamusta na?

Ang pinakamalapit sa Singapore is Malaysia (north) and Indonesia (west, south). Puede kang mas bus or train from SG to Thailand, but it would take you 2 days. Kung sa SG ka mag start ng trip, better to fly to Thailand nalang (or if you're going to Cambodia, fly straight to Siem Reap nalang).

Cambodia is bordered by Thailand in the west, Laos in the north and Vietnam in the east. Puede lang mag bus to and from Cambodia to those countries, but the minimum time it'd take you to travel by land is about 7 hours (2 hours from Siem Reap to the Thai border, then another 5 hours by bus to Bangkok)

Ano ano ba mga plano mong puntahan? May ticket ka na?

[two_zero]

yes nina meron na kong ticket eh, i dont want to include malaysia sa travel ko sa singapore kasi 5days naman kami ng friends ko sa malaysia and malaysia lang talaga trip nila.

i have ticket na sa singapore pero matagal pa naman sa august pa tamang tama sa national day ng singapore gusto ko lang magplan na ng travel kasi, i want to stay longer sa singapore mga 3-4days tapos plan ko magvisit ng iba pang country sayang naman kasi kung malapit na diba, im thinking indonesia or thailand eh, san kaya mas ok nina? pero sa mga nareresearch ko pinakamalapit is indonesia right?
if i go naman sa thailand gusto ko na rin puntahan ang cambodia hehe...

ano ba magandang place sa indonesia? okay ba magshopping dito? kasya ba ang 30k of i do sg and indonesia lang for 6days? libre naman house ko in sg hehe

[neeners]

Kayang kaya na yung 30K for six days in SG and Indo. I can't really comment about Indonesia because last na punta ko dun was 1995 pa, and it was to Jakarta. Ang pinaka malapit sa SG are Batam and Bintan islands (ferry lang going there).

Thailand and Cambodia... parang better kung separate trip sila. Sakin kasi bitin ang 2 days sa Thailand and 3 days sa Cambodia. Better stick to countries closer to SG para mas may time to appreciate the places you visit. If you're going to Malaysia, I highly recommend going to Malacca. You can go there on your way to KL or on your way back to SG from KL.

By the way, when in August are you going? I'm going to be in Singapore and Indonesia in August as well

[badmonkey]

HELP!

If start ng journey ko is BKK and ending then is BKK, ano yung mga nearby countries na pwede kong puntahan sa tour na ito? I only have one week to do it and I want to spend two days per country with a budget of 30thou. Is this possible?

The budget will be used only when I start my journey. Yung fare ko sa pagpunta at pag-uwi to/from Thailand, hindi kasama sa budget yun.

I know iba-iba ang gusto ko gawin sa mga post ko. I'm on the planning to stage and hindi ko pa talaga alam kung san ako pupunta.

[two_zero]

nina august 7-10 ticket ko pero mageextend ako until august 13 or 14 bibili na lang ulit ako ticket pauwi, gusto ko kasi talaga pumunnta ng indonesia or thailand eh, if indonesia naman borubodur gusto ko, bahala na kung san ako mapunta indonesia or thailand nagtry kasi ko may promo tiger airways 1500 lang sg-bkk so mura na yun diba. kelan travel mo? baka magkita tayo dun.

 

[blueapple]

same query tayo sis badmonkey.

MNL-BKK-MNL din kami on july 29-aug 5.

initial plan namin is BKK-Cambodia. not sure kung possible pa isingit ang Ho Chi Minh.

[iluvescadasport]

sa mga may balak mag Laos, I can suggest a general itenerary. Yun ginawa ko kasi na itenerary (but hindi ko sure if effective kasi next year pa ako pupunta hehe) is MLA-KL-Vientiane-Vang vieng-Luang Prabang-Vientiane-KL-Mla. All in all around 10 days na yan. Travel from one province to another almost 12 hours, and masadvisable is day time kasi maganda daw scenery. I posted that itenerary sa tripadvisor and virtualtourist.com, and so far the feedbacks I got from other travellers is ok naman, doable naman yan. KL-Vientiane Round trip is via Air Asia. Tapos Mla-KL roundtrip is via cebu pacific.

yun lang, hopefully nakahelp ako sa mga future travellers out there

[neeners]

badmonkey & blueapple: As iluvescadasport mentioned, you can go to Laos from Thailand. Kung ayaw mong mag backtrack, you can fly to Luang Prabang from Bangkok (Bangkok Airways nga lang, medyo mahal around Php 8000 ang one-way ticket, but so worth it), then from LP work your way down to Vientiane, then back to Bangkok. LP to Vientiane is about 8 hours, then Vientiane to Bangkok is about 10 hours. Maganda ang mountain scenery in the route from LP to Vientiane,  but sobrang maliko ang daan. If you're prone to motion sickness, take a Bonamine or Dizitab before boarding the bus.

Another country you can visit is Cambodia. If you're traveling overland, allot about 8 hours for travel. Ang travel between the two countries is during the day lang.

two_zero: Nye, di tayo mag aabot. Mga August 20 pa ako punta ng Singapore until the end of the month. Check mo sa Air Asia kung magkano ang fare going to Yogyakarta (Borubudur) from Singapore. Nakabili ako sa kanila last year nung nag sale sila. Mura nga yung 1,500 na fare to BKK. Round trip na ba yan or one-way lang?

[riandrew]

wow, leidy and nina are here! hello calaguas buddies!

leidy, fly ka nalang to thailand. nabasa ko kasi sa PEX, number 1 yung indonesia sa "1 time destinations only (meaning di na interesting balikan)" kasi overrated lang.  sayang di ba, so Thailand ka nalang. abang lang ng promo sa airasia. 

pramis sa May ka-careerin ko na aralin yung SEA trip namin. 

[blueapple]

badmonkey & blueapple: As iluvescadasport mentioned, you can go to Laos from Thailand. Kung ayaw mong mag backtrack, you can fly to Luang Prabang from Bangkok (Bangkok Airways nga lang, medyo mahal around Php 8000 ang one-way ticket, but so worth it), then from LP work your way down to Vientiane, then back to Bangkok. LP to Vientiane is about 8 hours, then Vientiane to Bangkok is about 10 hours. Maganda ang mountain scenery in the route from LP to Vientiane,  but sobrang maliko ang daan. If you're prone to motion sickness, take a Bonamine or Dizitab before boarding the bus.

Another country you can visit is Cambodia. If you're traveling overland, allot about 8 hours for travel. Ang travel between the two countries is during the day lang.

two_zero: Nye, di tayo mag aabot. Mga August 20 pa ako punta ng Singapore until the end of the month. Check mo sa Air Asia kung magkano ang fare going to Yogyakarta (Borubudur) from Singapore. Nakabili ako sa kanila last year nung nag sale sila. Mura nga yung 1,500 na fare to BKK. Round trip na ba yan or one-way lang?

tnx sis neeners! kung BKK-Cambodia kaya pa ba sa dates namin, july 29-aug5, dumaan ng HCMC?

[two_zero]

chyng and nina go pa rin ako sa calaguas tagal pa naman eh anniversary pala natin yun hahaha... pero mauuna ako sa inyo dun dadaan kasi ko caramoan nyan. kita na lang tayo paracale hehe...oo nga thailand or indonesia bahala, pero kung thailand hay naku nangangati paa ko trip ko umalis this may talaga...

[neeners]

^ Leidy, kung mag Thailand ka, be sure to bring shopping money! And yes, abang abang ka ng sale ng Air Asia (may sale nga ata sila ngayon...)

blueapple: Bangkok to Siem Reap is about 7 hours, then Siem Reap to HCMC is about 12-14 hours overland (not sure, I haven't tried this route before). Puedeng gawin pero try to fly para ma-maximize yung time niyo.

Kung madaling araw dating niyo sa BKK, stay at the airport until about 4am then head straight to the Morchit bus station for the bus going to the border. Ang dating niyo sa Siem reap mga noon or after lunch. Mag city tour kayo, then Angkor [textspeak!] in the late afternoon to buy tickets and watch the sunset. Following day, one whole day sa Angkor. 3rd day, travel to HCMC (not sure if there are night busses). 4th & 5th day, explore HCMC. Day 6 fly to Bangkok

[blueapple]

tnx sis neeners!

how about this:

july 29 - ETA bkk 2300
july 30-31 - BKK
aug 1 - to siem reap, city tour
aug 2 angkor [textspeak!]
aug 3 - to ho chin minh
aug 4 HCM city tour
aug 5 to BKK
   ETD 2340   

possible kaya to?

[port80*]

^Sis, there's not much to see in Siem Reap city tour so if you can, make the temples tour 1.5 days.  For August 3, the earliest bus trip from Siem Reap will pick you up from your hotel at 6AM but if you're unlucky and there are only a few passengers, even the supposedly direct SR-HCM will detour to Phnom Penh and change buses so that can take the whole day.  We did that last June but as there were only 6 of us passengers direct to HCM, we ended up arriving at HCM 8PM or so already.

Are you flying from HCM to BKK?  If so, that'll leave you more time to explore HCM. 

Your itinerary is very hectic and you'll spend a lot of your time just traveling in between countries.  It's doable but my concern is that you'll not be able to really explore.  We spent 3 days each in those countries last June but were still too exhausted and there was still so much we didn't do and see.

[blueapple]

tnx sis port80! actually i already read your travelblog very informative. tnx tnx

we might fly from HCM to BKK.

discuss ko pa sa mga kasama ko baka concentrate na lang kami sa BKK-Siem Reap kapag [textspeak!] talaga kaya  

[neeners]

Better nga for you to concentrate on two countries nalang. There's more to do in Thailand and Cambodia naman besides the shopping and temples