Holiday trip ideas

London Geezer

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Hello guys!

I will finally be travelling to Asia for the first time this summer. I'll be flying to Shanghai and back after 20 days. The idea is to fly off somewhere else - Bali, Indonesia for sure, but I'd like at least one more place to see before going back to Shanghai for a couple days and then back to London.

I was thinking Vietnam, which seems like a good combination with China and Indonesia.

Any ideas would be very welcome.

Thanks!
 
I was in Southeast Asia recently :)
I can tell you hands-down, from mine and my wife's experience, that Bali was by far the worst disappointment of the whole trip.
It was the least authentic place we visited. Everything seemed way too plastic, way too tourism designed.
It seems to me that the whole island became a tourism resort, but without the proper investment towards infrastructures to accommodate the huge influx of tourists.
In the central areas near the hotels where we stayed (Ubud), the roads are dirty, the sidewalks are cramped, the traffic is stuck everywhere, filled with old cars and bikes that have obviously let their filters rot, so the air stinks of carbon monoxyde..
We did enjoy the strolls around the rice fields and those are certainly beautiful, but it's not really "worth the trip around the world" beautiful.

After Ubud, we stayed near the beach in Nusa Dua, but the beach isn't really breath-taking (I can think of better beaches here in Portugal.. though that's a luck that not everyone shares..). Plus, the area seemed infested with mosquitoes so we had to be very careful and avoid leaving home after the sunset.


As for the rest, everything was spectacular in its own way. We started with Ho Chi Minh in Vietnam, then Siem Reap in Cambodja to see Angkor Wat, then Luang Prabang in Laos, one afternoon in Bangkok, then Bali and ended up in Singapore.

If I had to suggest a general idea for the trip, we heard wonders about a Mekong cruise where you start in the north of Thailand, then through the river you visit some places in Laos (Luang Prabang included), Cambodja and Vietnam. All during the river cruise.
 
Hello guys!

I will finally be travelling to Asia for the first time this summer. I'll be flying to Shanghai and back after 20 days. The idea is to fly off somewhere else - Bali, Indonesia for sure, but I'd like at least one more place to see before going back to Shanghai for a couple days and then back to London.

I was thinking Vietnam, which seems like a good combination with China and Indonesia.

Any ideas would be very welcome.

Thanks!

It's a pretty big continent, which makes your question difficult to answer without knowing what sort of experience you're looking for. But I've always wanted to visit Japan, and Kyoto in particular:

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=off&um=1&q=Kyoto&btnG=Search&oq=&tbm=isch&gws_rd=ssl

I think those pictures do a fine job of explaining why.

In the central areas near the hotels where we stayed (Ubud), the roads are dirty, the sidewalks are cramped, the traffic is stuck everywhere, filled with old cars and bikes that have obviously let their filters rot, so the air stinks of carbon monoxyde..
We did enjoy the strolls around the rice fields and those are certainly beautiful, but it's not really "worth the trip around the world" beautiful.

After Ubud, we stayed near the beach in Nusa Dua, but the beach isn't really breath-taking (I can think of better beaches here in Portugal.. though that's a luck that not everyone shares..).

Sorry to be pedantic but CO is an odorless gas. Since it also happens to be very toxic, I thought I'd point that out, just so people don't assume that they're safe because they can't smell anything.

But I concur about the big, wide, beautiful beaches of fine sand in Portugal.
 
You're right. My thoughts was, fun and clubbing in Shanghai, then exploration, adventure, beaches elsewhere. I'd love to go to Japan but not sure I can fit it with Indonesia and the southern parts.
 
Bali is terrible, Vietnam is great the ppl in north vietnam are pretty in your face though. My fav place is Laos but you can't really fly into it easily, it looks like lord of the rings fantasy landscape in parts, and the people are really mellow. Though if you're going in summer watch out
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ho_Chi_Minh_City
july 32degrees 83% humidity = heat index 49degree's
 
You're right. My thoughts was, fun and clubbing in Shanghai, then exploration, adventure, beaches elsewhere. I'd love to go to Japan but not sure I can fit it with Indonesia and the southern parts.

Osaka is only a 2.5 hour flight from Shanghai, with some planning you could see all the obligatory Kyoto tempels and one of the awesome firework festivals in just 2 days. From Japan you could fly to east asia which shouldn't add that much traveling time. Osaka to Bali is actually faster than Shanghai to Bali. Thailand takes an hour or two longer but that's because I don't think there are any direct flights from Japan to Thailand.
 
if time is your concern, choose Japan over Indonesia. In Japan you also can go anywhere with good transportation. Indonesia have bad transportation.

btw i read a few months ago theres a nice park in japan airport that not many foreigner knows.

EDIT: here it is
http://en.rocketnews24.com/2014/05/...le-gardens-are15-minutes-from-narita-airport/

EDIT
i jsut read -> "free WiFi (still a relatively rare occurrence in Japan)."

is that true? O_O

in indonesia its like free wifi everywhere (on malls, eating places, mini-market) and there's a bunch of people buy nothing hogging the mini-market seatings :p
last time on netherlands they also have city-wide free wifi.
 
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You guys are really making me pine for an Asian trip next year (once my work holidays have reset). I just got back from Thailand (Bangkok, Phi Phi and Krabi with a side trip to Siam Reap) and was planning the US East Coast next year but I'm so tempted just to go back to Asia.... maybe I'll win the lottery and can do both. Will have to start playing first though, hmm...
 
i jsut read -> "free WiFi (still a relatively rare occurrence in Japan)."

is that true? O_O

in indonesia its like free wifi everywhere (on malls, eating places, mini-market) and there's a bunch of people buy nothing hogging the mini-market seatings :p
last time on netherlands they also have city-wide free wifi.

That is because there is 4G coverage everywhere and unlike certain other countries Japanese providers don't completely rip you off when it comes to data subscription prices. They rip you off in many other ways but data isn't too bad. The big providers offer 7GB a month for 4000 to 5000 yen. Most people pay less because they are on some kind of family plan or they have it packaged with a land line connection or whatever.

Until last year some plans even had unlimited data. For about 2 years I used over 200GB a month on my 4G pocket wifi for just 3900 yen :LOL:

Anyway I doubt city wifi back in Holland actually covers all the suburbs and the roads between cities so unless you don't being without a data connection from time to time 4G is the way to go. Since Japan is a pretty big place and lots of people commute between cities 4G is pretty much required.

Edit: Just checked and these days you can get 8GB of data for just 30 euro a month in Holland. WTF is everybody still complaining about prices?
 
Edit: Just checked and these days you can get 8GB of data for just 30 euro a month in Holland. WTF is everybody still complaining about prices?
8GB is like...nothing, though. Ok, you can stream music all day long, and surf Facebonk on your cell, and even fit in some youtube cat videos, but tether your phone to your PC and if Steam rolls up an auto-update then you're instantly screwed. :p

@London-boy If I was to go to mainland Asia (such a ridiculous term, as it spans such a huge area), I'd like to visit one of those amazing jungle temples, like Angkor, but there's a bunch of others as well I believe.
 
Sorry to be pedantic but CO is an odorless gas.

I stand corrected :) Nonetheless, the smell of old exhaust pipes is pretty much everywhere in Ubud, so taking a walk around that area makes you feel like you're losing years of your lungs' lifetime every minute.
The thing with Bali is that every traveling agency seems to recommend it as a great place for beach vacations. It's not.
South and Central-American beach resorts like Mexico's Riviera May and Dominican Republic's Punta Cana, are so much better and so much cheaper for beach vacations.

As for orangpelupa's suggestion, we did see if we could go to Lombok instead, but there's no direct flight towards the island so we'd need to lose another day or so to get there by boat, not to mention the hotels are more expensive.

When we went to Japan, we rented a 4G MiFi. Best decision for the trip we had. Problem-free internets with great performance everywhere except Yakushima (the island with a primordial forest where Miyazaki sent his drawers and photographers to replicate it for Mononoke Hime).

@London-boy if you decide to travel to Japan instead of Southeast Asia, they have very cheap and frequent flights towards the smaller islands. Okinawa seems to have good beaches and it's pretty far south (sub-tropical) even though it's only a ~3h30m flight from Osaka. During summer, you'll get a steady 26-28ÂşC temperature, which is great for sunbathing.
We were very inclined to go there in March last year, but the temperatures aren't so good during that time of the year, so we went to Yakushima for the natural beauty instead.
 
Probably it is already done. But nevertheless, I would recommend Russia, because huge parts of it are in Asia. Russia is pretty awesome and interesting country, especially the far eastern ends.
 
Wow I forgot about this thread. In the end I'm going to Shanghai (on the new Virgin Atlantic Dreamliner, upper class, which I'm almost more excited about than the whole trip in itself as I'm a total plane geek) for a few days, then down to Thailand with friends, tour a couple of weeks then back to Shanghai a couple of days then back to London.

So unfortunately, no dong slapping in Vietnam.

LB if you do go to Vietnam, walk into a shop and slap your dong on the counter.....
 
Wow I forgot about this thread. In the end I'm going to Shanghai (on the new Virgin Atlantic Dreamliner, upper class, which I'm almost more excited about than the whole trip in itself as I'm a total plane geek) for a few days, then down to Thailand with friends, tour a couple of weeks then back to Shanghai a couple of days then back to London.

So unfortunately, no dong slapping in Vietnam.

Sounds awesome! Recently got back from a couple weeks in Thailand myself and it's a completely different world. Have fun!
 
It also means you guys won't see me here for about three weeks, from next thursday. I know it's difficult but I'm sure you can do it. It will be alright.
 
I was in Thailand for about 4 weeks in March. Had fun, good food. Spent 6 days in Bangkok and 3 weeks in Koh Samui. Nice Island and fun to drive around with a scooter. Enjoyed Bangkok too, it was my first time in Asia. Just came back from a trip from USA too. Spent a month there. Among other things I visited the Boeing Factory in Seattle where they build those planes you are taking. A huge frigging factory. They didn't allow any photographing though.
 
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Actually, there is no need to take photos there. There is nothing so interesting to be shown, I think National Geographic and probably Discovery show enough films about these factories. :)

Yeah, I agree that it is very pleasant to enjoy the tropics, and the tropical paradise in South Asia.
 
I was in Thailand for about 4 weeks in March. Had fun, good food. Spent 6 days in Bangkok and 3 weeks in Koh Samui. Nice Island and fun to drive around with a scooter. Enjoyed Bangkok too, it was my first time in Asia. Just came back from a trip from USA too. Spent a month there. Among other things I visited the Boeing Factory in Seattle where they build those planes you are taking. A huge frigging factory. They didn't allow any photographing though.

Though they only put the pieces together these days right? And not so well if you have to believe some... I've had a tour of the factory in Japan that makes the wings for the 777.

I'll be going to Koh Samui in September, only 5 days though. Yay for Japanese holidays.
 
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