Perfect Asia holiday - any ideas?

random132

My partner and I are looking to go on holiday at the beginning of November for two or three weeks. We have a tight budget but have found some flights for ~£500 to Bangkok, Bali or Borneo.
We want to travel to a few different places (maybe take backpacks) but needs to be cheap once out there. Does anyone have any suggestions?
I am thinking it is too late to organise Borneo so maybe Bali but not sure if enough to do for three weeks? We have been to Thailand before (Samui and to the islands - which we loved) so could go Phuket and around those islands but prefer somewhere a bit less touristy and may be disappointed after our other visit to Thailand? Like the sound of Cambodia or Laos but my partner dives so isnt too keen.
Any thoughts or advice much appreciated Thank you

BusinessStudent

Flights within Asia are so cheap!

Google Air Aisa, Jetstar and Tiger Airways! - Also use https://www.kayak.com

KimmyCustard

We went to Malaysia in 2005, flew to Kuala Lumpur for 3 nights then onto Langkawi which is an island off the coast of Malaysia. Both were great, Langkawi is a tax free island and very pretty, green and full of waterfalls and caves etc. Monkeys swinging through the trees (plus they emptied the outdoor bar at our hotel one morning!) and they were great fun. Also saw huge monitor lizards strolling about the place. I dont know about the diving cos we didnt at that time but there was plenty to see and do in the 2 weeks we went. Weather will be their winter but very hot, more humid and rainy but v v warm. It was more off the tourist track for us, not built up and not a rip off, people v friendly and smiley, found them nicer than Thai.
We booked with Travelbag and also checked with Expedia who did good deals at that time.
Hope this helps!

Bei

Hi. See if you'll be interested in going to the Philippines. Lots of nice beaches such as Palawan or Boracay. But with your preferences, Bali would be a great choice. Enjoy your holiday! :beer:

DebtSniper

There's some great diving in and around Bali. There are dive sites on the north of the island, including a couple of wrecks.

The Gili islands, just off Lombok have some great sites quite close to the shore. I've seen leopard sharks and reef sharks when diving near Gili Trawangan, and there are sites between Lombok and Bali where you stand a good chance of seeing hammerheads, although you usually need to have logged 50 dives before you can go on those dives.

Thailand has some good diving on its west coast, close to Phuket. I've dived around Krabi and Ko Lanta and there was plenty to see. Further north, towards Myanmar, the Similans are reputed to offer excellent diving, although I haven't dived there myself.

odowdchr

Much as i get bored of Bangkok...it's a bloomin good place to get another flight from and very cheap to Phuket with about 10 flights a day with AirAsia alone.
If you've done the Thai islands before, how Khao Lak? You fly to Phuket, drive North for 90 minutes and you're away from the majority of tourists. Long empty beaches, Similan Islands are more accessible for diving from the pier, then you've got rain forests behind you for a bit of jungle trekking and kayaking.

random132

Thanks so much for all your responses, great help. My bf loves the sound of the diving now in Bali / surrounding islands. However I love the sound of Langkawi, and I havent looked into it but that isnt far from Phuket...decisions! And the more remote areas above Phuket sounds great too! Agh!
My bf wasnt too impressed with the diving in Samui, but i gues we went the wrong side!
I shall let you know how we get on, thanks again all for all the advice and insight! Really helpful especially as we've left it a bit late to decide (as not sure re finances)

random132

BusinessStudent wrote: »

Flights within Asia are so cheap!

Google Air Aisa, Jetstar and Tiger Airways! - Also use www.kayak.com

Thanks, I hadnt heard of Jetstar and Tiger airlines so ill check those out. Although I am a little wary of internal flights....after taking a few questionable internal flights in Vietnam with struggling places (albeit about 6 years ago) we heard that one of the pilots who crashed into the Reunification Palace is still a pilot for Vietnamese airlines!!

Bob_the_Saver

random132 wrote: »

Thanks, I hadnt heard of Jetstar and Tiger airlines so ill check those out. Although I am a little wary of internal flights....after taking a few questionable internal flights in Vietnam with struggling places (albeit about 6 years ago) we heard that one of the pilots who crashed into the Reunification Palace is still a pilot for Vietnamese airlines!!

Jetstar and Tiger are not a problem, used them loads of times. Jetstar are the low cost arm of Quantas for instance. Tiger's largest shareholder is Singapore Airlines and RyanAsia
(RYAN - sound familiar) has 5.5%.

Don't forget your Visas, Cambodia and Laos are easy though.

Doshwaster

random132 wrote: »

Thanks so much for all your responses, great help. My bf loves the sound of the diving now in Bali / surrounding islands. However I love the sound of Langkawi, and I havent looked into it but that isnt far from Phuket...decisions! And the more remote areas above Phuket sounds great too! Agh!

Langakwi and Phuket couldn't be more different.

The charm of Langkawi is that hardly anything ever happens there. Don't go there expecting a party as almost everywhere closes at 10pm - even the taxi drivers go home - leaving just a few quiet beach bars. It is, however, a tax free island so it's great for shopping and the cheapest place in Malaysia to drink. It's probably the perfect place for a romantic getaway or honeymoon.

Phuket couldn't be more different. Busy, noisy and expensive (I found it more expensive than BKK). There are lots of interesting places to visit in the area on day trips but I found the main Patong resort to be tacky beyond belief. Karon, the next resort down the coast, is more relaxed.

I'd also recommend Penang for 2 or 3 days. The beaches are poor but the main town Georgetown has a unique atmosphere - it's a cultural melting pot of Malay, Thai, Indian, Chinese plus a Colonial legacy which mean some of the best food choices anywhere in Asia

random132

I think thats the problem, we want everything on our hols! We would love to go somewhere remote and unspoilt to go snorkelling and relax and explore but then get bored so would like something to do in the evenings sometimes (although some quiet bars or nice restaurants are fine). We loved Koh Tao for example as got a private boat out and visited the nature reserve island etc....but a few days was long enough. But on the other hand we werent amazed by Bangkok (although i know most people love it and we probably didnt spend long enough there to properly judge) but i felt permanently dirty and the busyness was a bit overwhelming.......However I absolutely loved Hanoi!! SOunds like we need to do a multi venue trip!
Im not too sure we would like Phuket as a whole (we did like Samui but we didnt stay right in the centre and we went in dec which i think is the rainy season so i dont htink it was very busy and loved the fact that we could get a moped out and visit different places), but Phuket might be a good base to travel out from. However the 'expensive' comment is very much putting me off as was hoping to book cheap accommodation beforehand and pay minimal for food and carhire etc. we lived like kings for not a lot when we went to thailand but that was three years ago and i guess prices have probably dramatically increased even since then!
I think this is going to boil down to cost!
Thanks again for comments and clarification really appreciate it