Holiday recommendations wanted for Asia

[SingingWilks]

Hello all

Not being overly well travelled, my husband and I would like to hear your opinions on the below destinations in the Asia region. We're hoping to go away for two weeks in late November/early December and ideally would like to visit interesting sights, in a city or otherwise, in the first week and have a relaxing second week, most definitely involving clear blue sea where you can see your feet when you stand in the water!

We'd be really grateful for any positives, negatives, ideas, tips etc that you may have. There's so much choice and we haven't got a clue as all the destinations look amazing.

Thailand

Vietnam/Cambodia/Laos

Bali/Lombok

Malaysia/Borneo

Sri Lanka/Maldives

Mauritius/Seychelles

Many thanks.

[David A]

Phnom Penh is definitely worth a visit - it's fascinating and surprisingly beautiful, especially at night. Have a drink on the balcony of the ?Foreign Corresponents Club?.

Angkor Wat, just outside Siem Rep further north is pretty stunning.

Saigon is an experience, and well worth a visit. The food in Vietnam is the best in the region for me.

A boat from down the Mekong to the Delta region is really worth considering for a couple of days, but crossing the Vietnam/Cambodia border can be a bit of a hassle that way.

Bangkok is the main intercontinental hub for that region. You'll probably end up transferring through there so you shouldn't miss it. Chiang Mai in the north is a lot less rushed and a lot more Thai.

If you are heading that way, I'd go to one of the islands in the Gulf of Thailand for the beaches. The Vietnamese South China Sea coast seemed to get much more changeable weather. Sihinoukville in Cambodia has a couple of nice beaches, but I believe there's been a big influx of Chinese money to build hotels and casinos since I was there six or seven years ago.

I?d check out the Air Asia website for flights around the region, they were staggeringly cheap a few years ago.

[Huguenot]

Your choice of dates impacts your choice of destinations because of the monsoon periods.

Travelling in November/December the east side of SEA is pretty wet, whereas the west side is drier. This means the the gulf of Thailand can be a pretty miserable experience for diving/snorkelling at that time. You'll need to be booking Krabi and those islands instead.

Heaviest rain is almost exactly the period you've described.

Having said that, I love the rain. So if you don't mind it you'll be fine wherever, although getting around jungle temples such as Angkor Wat can be a bit sticky!

[SingingWilks]

Hi David A and Huguenot. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply, we really appreciate it. We opted for Sri Lanka and the Maldives in the end but the others are definitely still on the to do list so your advice will come in handy. Thank you again.

[Gerryw80]

You could consider Dubai there is so much to see from its state-of-the art- architecture, to adventure places, the wild wadi, safari, The amazing 7-star hotel Burj Khalifa, its beaches, the beautiful mosque and museums, Numerous shopping malls, its ciniplex experience, there is just no end to a memorable Dubai Vacation!

[DaveR]

Funnily enough, I hated Dubai with a passion. For every bit of amazing architecture there are fifty sludge-coloured nameless tower blocks, the beaches can't hold a candle to the best in the Med, let alone in SE Asia, the shopping malls are.....well, shopping malls, and the whole place looks like it has been hit by a tidal wave of international mega-brand outlets - for a coffee you can choose between Starbucks, Costa and Paul! Getting anywhere involves a cab ride down a motorway, and tbh, (perhaps irrationally) I didn't feel great about the fact that every single person in a service job is an African or Asian migrant and all the customers are either Western or Arab.

[????]

...not mentioning wall to wall eastern european prostitutes in most bars at night

[woodrot]

cambodia is teh nuts bludz

[Huguenot]

I hated Dubai too. It's the sort of place you go to kill yourself.

[StraferJack]

and you can't get a good steak

[westalan80]

That strange, must be the first time im hearing anyone DISLIKE Dubai. I was planning on travelling there, now you making me have second thoughts. Its got so many attractions, so many activities you can indulge in aside from the tall skyscrapers and malls, howcome you didnt like it?

[KidKruger]

Of all the places available to travel to in the world I completely fail to see the point of a trip to Dubai.

Shopping malls ? Tall buildings ? Fake ski slopes ?

Try Isaan, Sigariya, Angkor, Perhentian Islands, Kuching, all within the OP's listed destinations.

[Jessie]

I spent three awful hours in Dubai airport on my way back from NZ and that was enough for me. Why anyone would want to go there bewilders me.

[Jeremy]

I dunno... perhaps they like big shops, tall buildings, man made beaches, indoor skiing, and the ciniplex.

[DaveR]

"and you can't get a good steak"

ironically, a very good steak was one thing I did get in Dubai. In a restaurant near the Armani Hotel - some kind of faked up waterfront development. It cost about ?50 mind, but I wasn't paying the bill.

[StraferJack]

but wasn't the steak halal?

Which means the blood you need for a good steak had been drained?

[????]

er come on Straefer next you'll be saying you can't get a drink there.

For the record I didn't actively dislike Dubaii, I found the whole weird culture thing quite interesting - Sort of Las Vegas come Marbella come muslim souk come Bluewater come migrant worker (middle class ex pat western.....builders/waiters- Asian)....prostitutes - eastern european) and hardly an arab in sight quite intersting. I stayed with a mate who was leaving as he'd had enough but had been there since the 80s so had many a tale.

[????]

to be frank, at the risk of offending a few posters I found Singapore far more tepid and plastic and much less dynamic - I was expecting trade history and dynamism a la Hong Kong. But found shopping malls, almost no history (despite trying) and a really, i guess Yuppie/city (ie finance) type culture. Admittedly I wasn't there for long and had no-one ITK to show me the better bits. Next time hey Huge :).

Dubai's a bit mad...like a bit of that.

[????]

...but nothing beats Vegas, eh Harry?

[woodrot]

There is no reason to go to Singapore except to change aircraft

[DaveR]

"There is no reason to go to Singapore except to change aircraft"

...and to be fair, Singapore Airport is fanatastic. Sports bar, koi carp pool, mini rainforest, kids area, excellent airside hotel, free wifi and free charging points for phones, decent food, lots of shops (if you like that sort of thing) and they do a free city tour if you are transiting for more than a couple of hours (which I haven't done, so could be rubbish, but still).

Singapore itself not so interesting, but great food.

"Dynamism" an interesting word for HK - I prefer "completely nuts". But also fun.

[Jeremy]

Hong Kong's OK... lots going on, and it has a pretty unique atmosphere and identity. Not a big fan of the gratuitous love of bling which seems to permeate all these places though.

[Gerryw80]

ok so seems like Singapore and Dubai are out of favourites list. Does anyone prefer going to Veitnam then?

[Huguenot]

Yay! Vietnam

Saigon or Hanoi are both must visits - Halong Bay is great for 2 days also, hill towns, fishing villages, the Mekong delta, beaches, loads to do and see, very nice people

Excellent, excellent!

I live down the road and go every few weeks :)

[Huguenot]

PS. Woodrot's downer on Singapore is personal. It seems to be related to a crippling misanthropy developed during an unsuccessful financial career.

I think he saw me criticising Dubai and it created some sort of Pavlovian spite reflex to have a go at Singapore.

It isn't a holiday destination though, it's a city break. I've just had cousins here for 3 days and they loved it. If they'd been here for 4 days I might have run out of ideas!

It's just a generally well run and somewhat anodyne modern city. Best used as stepping stone and breather to visit some of the more intriguing and stressful areas of SEA - Angkor Wat, Brobudur and volcano hopping, Caledonian Highlands, Palawan and Boracay and on and on... :)