Help! whats the better route?
Help! whats the better route?
Hi gappers!
Im planning an 8 week trip around asia, Mostly South East Asia (but also want to take in SK and Japan.
I want to start in South Korea for one week, as i have friends there i want to visit, and from there we were thinking of taking a boat to japan and busing it over the course of a week to Tokyo. Any one have any advice on ferry/bus companies or routes to take ?
After this the plan is to spend 6 weeks between Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and some of Indonesia. The end point is in Bali or Jakarta from where I fly to Perth. The bit in between is where I’m getting confused.
Where is the best starting point? Looking at a map it seems the most logical way to do it would be to fly to Phom Pehn to explore Cambodia for 1 week, then on to Vietnam (HCMC), travel up along the coast to Hanoi (10 days), cross over to Laos (1 week), (Luang Prabang-Vientane) then on to Thailand, travelling down the coast for 10 days/2 weeks, then fly to Indonesia for 10 days.
Or would it be better to start in the north, say Hanoi and travel southwards through Vietnam and southern Laos, on to Cambodia then Thailand and Indonesia.
As time is a factor, are there any places you would you say to skip and others to spend more time in?
Thanks for any help you can give me!
tbh 6 weeks is not enough time to visit all those countries, you would be spending more time on buses than anything else. For example its nearly 30 hours from hanoi to vientiene
but if you insist on it then the first route you said is more logical.
The first route would be more logical but i’m here doing that route at the mo and I can tell you that really is not enough time at all. We’ve been so lazy this trip and missed shit out and it’s taken us…er let me think..maybe 7 weeks (?) to get from Cambodia, up and round to where i’m now sat in Sukothai (a few hours from Bangkok). You can do it, but i’d include flights rather than overland (fly part of vietnam, fly from Hanoi to Vientiane, fly from LP to Chiang Mai etc) to save time.
Also it depend alot on where you stop in Thailand really and your rough plan for Indo? EG- are we talking North Thailand to Bangkok, or peninsular & island etc?
I can’t stress enough how awesome Indonesia is, Yogyakarta (central Java) deserves at least 4 days of your time. I’ve heard Bromo is epic too but we didn’t get round to that!
It would seriously be a good idea if you have to do all that in that time frame to plan in advance- drop me a message if you want help forming a solid plan or any questions (although I don’t get back to the uk until 17th sept so I may not reply straight away)
Now i’ve been to all of them, personally I’d drop Vietnam but really don’t let my opinion (or anyones really) affect where you do or don’t go, everyones different. I just found the Vietnamese to be aggressive and rude, generally unpleasant 80% of the time. Again-everyone is different though!
This would be a bit of a rush but if you really want to see all of these places then you could fly whenever possible. Flights with Air Asia are really cheap, especially if you book in advance, but this can mean having to plan specific dates and stick to them.
If you’re really struggling for time you could always take an organised tour where you will see all the highlights.
Hi gappers!
Im planning an 8 week trip around asia, Mostly South East Asia (but also want to take in SK and Japan.
I want to start in South Korea for one week, as i have friends there i want to visit, and from there we were thinking of taking a boat to japan and busing it over the course of a week to Tokyo. Any one have any advice on ferry/bus companies or routes to take ?
After this the plan is to spend 6 weeks between Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam and some of Indonesia. The end point is in Bali or Jakarta from where I fly to Perth. The bit in between is where I’m getting confused.
Where is the best starting point? Looking at a map it seems the most logical way to do it would be to fly to Phom Pehn to explore Cambodia for 1 week, then on to Vietnam (HCMC), travel up along the coast to Hanoi (10 days), cross over to Laos (1 week), (Luang Prabang-Vientane) then on to Thailand, travelling down the coast for 10 days/2 weeks, then fly to Indonesia for 10 days.
Or would it be better to start in the north, say Hanoi and travel southwards through Vietnam and southern Laos, on to Cambodia then Thailand and Indonesia.
As time is a factor, are there any places you would you say to skip and others to spend more time in?
Thanks for any help you can give me!
There is a ferry between Busan in Korea and Fukouaka - not taken it myself but few friends did when we were there and said it was fine. Company is called Beetle I beleive (yahoo search will give more info). I would not reccomend busin it up to Tokyoy - buses are pretty pricey in Japan. An overnight bus from Mt Fuji to Kyoto cost us like £80 each. Best thing to do would be to get a JR rail pass - this will give you free travel on most railways and speed up your trips so you can fit more in.
Also, if you have not already looked, you may notice that it is pretty expensive to fly in to and out of Japan. If you are looking anf flying from Tokyo you may need to look in to this - might be cheaper to go back to South Korea and fly out of Seoul.
Hope that helps!
Thanks guys for the advice, its really helpful! Looking at it, I’m now thinking,cause of timing, that ill stay more south than originally planned maybe bangkok- siem reap-phnom pehn- HCMC- Da Nang fly to Vientiane/Chiang mai- bangkok- peninsular thailand-Jakarta-Bali. I’m not in any huge rush to see everything this time as I will be that side of the world for (hopefully!) a long time and can revisit at a later date. Any idea how long I would take to overland from HCMC to Da Nang or Hoi An? Id like to spend most of the time in thailand and Indo but would hate to miss out on vietnam and cambodia!
There is a ferry between Busan in Korea and Fukouaka - not taken it myself but few friends did when we were there and said it was fine. Company is called Beetle I beleive (yahoo search will give more info). I would not reccomend busin it up to Tokyoy - buses are pretty pricey in Japan. An overnight bus from Mt Fuji to Kyoto cost us like £80 each. Best thing to do would be to get a JR rail pass - this will give you free travel on most railways and speed up your trips so you can fit more in.
Also, if you have not already looked, you may notice that it is pretty expensive to fly in to and out of Japan. If you are looking anf flying from Tokyo you may need to look in to this - might be cheaper to go back to South Korea and fly out of Seoul.
Hope that helps!
It seems as though its roughly the same when you factor in return journey prices, looking like roughly 250euro either way flying air asia! with regard to the JR pass, can you buy these before or when you get there? Thanks!
hi,
you have to buy the pass before you get in to the country.
