Holiday Withdrawal Symptoms......Tell me where you're going?

basil92

PompeyPete wrote: »

Last weekend I was messing on Skyscanner, looking for a bit of Winter inspiration.

I saw good vfm flights to Bangkok in February with Emirates, and didn't hesitate @ £395 pp [+ a bit of cash back] return via Emirate's hub in Dubai.

Got the 1335 flight from LGW on 2 February, arriving at 1235 the following lunchtime, with a 3 hour stopover in Dubai. Plan is...

- 3 nights hotel v.close to the Chao Phraya River. Staying at either the New Siam Riverside, or New Siam Palace View.

- 0745 train to Kanchanaburi [Bridge over the River Kwai + Hellfire Pass. 3 nights in the area...

http://www.seat61.com/Bridge-on-the-River-Kwai.htm

...been before, so it's familiar. Stay at the Sky Resort.

- train back to Bangkok. Stop overnight.

- Fly to Vietnam [Hanoi] with Nok Air. Already booked.

- 14 nights in the North of Vietnam [possibly a few days in Quy Nhon on the central coast. No accommodation booked yet, but have found loads of well located possibles.

- Fly back to Bangkok with Nok Air for last 3 nights, with probably a night at Ayutthaya, the old capital of Siam.

- 27 February. Fly back to UK.

Happy travels.:)

Very very jealous, sounds great. :cool:

I am determined to get to Vietnam in the next few years:o

Leanne1812

lady1964 wrote: »

We've booked Bayview Resort but have been looking at The Holiday Inn resort & Lone Pine today. The Holiday Inn is a similar price to the Bayview with Lone Pine being a bit more expensive. We can cancel the Bayview but if we book either of the other two, we can't so I just need to be certain.

Bayview is less central but it appears there is a regular bus that we can use to get to the centre of Batu Ferranghi but the other two ore more walkable......

I haven't looked into,the Georgetown options as yet. We don't go until February so just looking at other options at the moment.

ETA: the one I'd love to stay at is the Rasa Saying but it's twice as much as the Bayview & Holiday Inn.

I've stayed at the Holiday Inn & the Parkroyal ( next door) to it. I'd say the Parkroyal was the better hotel. With holiday Inn there are 2 wings, one is the tower block across the street & the beach wing. Their best rates will almost certainly be in the tower block. My last visit was more than 10 years ago though so things may have changed. Both hotels are in the heart of Batu Ferringhi.

My sister lives in KL and is usually in Penang with visitors every year. The last couple of visits have been at the Rasa where she got club rooms for £100 a night through travelbag. If you like a few drinks & the club perks such as afternoon tea it might be worth the extra.

littlereddevil

lady1964 wrote: »

We've booked Bayview Resort but have been looking at The Holiday Inn resort & Lone Pine today. The Holiday Inn is a similar price to the Bayview with Lone Pine being a bit more expensive. We can cancel the Bayview but if we book either of the other two, we can't so I just need to be certain.

Bayview is less central but it appears there is a regular bus that we can use to get to the centre of Batu Ferranghi but the other two ore more walkable......

I haven't looked into,the Georgetown options as yet. We don't go until February so just looking at other options at the moment.

ETA: the one I'd love to stay at is the Rasa Saying but it's twice as much as the Bayview & Holiday Inn.

I've stayed at the Bayview and walked into town every night, it wasn't too far for me. Lone Pine is nicer than the HI and has the advantage of free shuttle in to Georgetown.
Batu is just one long main street, great if you want to sunbathe all day and go out at night.

Leanne1812

No holidays on the horizon for me yet but I am mooching. Possibly a visit to my sis in KL later in the year with a side trip to the Philippines. We've been to a few places in asia but never the Philippines yet. Any recommendations much appreciated.

I was in Mauritius last month and whilst we had a lovely time I have no desire to return. Nice beaches & hotel but a heck of a journey for a beach break. Lovely friends we met in Borneo two years ago suggested a meet up so we went for it. Still, it's off the bucket list now.

littlereddevil

Mauritius is one of the few places I haven't been, and have often wondered about it

Leanne1812

littlereddevil wrote: »

Mauritius is one of the few places I haven't been, and have often wondered about it

I wouldn't say don't go but it was essentially a beach holiday. 24 hours door to door ( Glasgow - Mauritius, stop over in Dubai) which was just too much. I suppose our holidays usually include cultural/historical sightseeing and Mauritius just didn't seem to excite us enough to warrant a return.

If you want to chill & not do much if anything then perfect but still too far to travel for that in my opinion.

DUKE

littlereddevil wrote: »

Mauritius is one of the few places I haven't been, and have often wondered about it

I quite enjoyed Mauritius, we were able to travel around easily by bus, taxi, & you could get a driver to take you around for about £40 a day. However, there were lots of rather unfriendly people at our hotel, but we wont mention any nationalities here.

Doshwaster

lady1964 wrote: »

Bayview is less central but it appears there is a regular bus that we can use to get to the centre of Batu Ferranghi but the other two ore more walkable......

I haven't looked into,the Georgetown options as yet. We don't go until February so just looking at other options at the moment.

ETA: the one I'd love to stay at is the Rasa Saying but it's twice as much as the Bayview & Holiday Inn.

I stopped in the Bayview a few years ago. It's OK - but it's a big hotel so it can get very busy and is popular with coach tours. It is walkable to the "centre" of Batu Ferranghi (though it doesn't really have a centre as it's a basically a long strip of bars, hotels and restaurants) but remember it can get very hot and humid during the day. The beach is OK but not as good as elsewhere in Malaysia because of the pollution from Georgetown.

I preferred Georgetown itself as there was more to see and do andI'm not really a beach person. There I splashed out bit and stopped in the Traders (which I think has changed its name since) which is well placed for the night markets. Depending on how long you are going to be in Penang it might be worth popping over the Langkawi or a day or two for a change of scenery.

lady1964

Doshwaster wrote: »

I stopped in the Bayview a few years ago. It's OK - but it's a big hotel so it can get very busy and is popular with coach tours. It is walkable to the "centre" of Batu Ferranghi (though it doesn't really have a centre as it's a basically a long strip of bars, hotels and restaurants) but remember it can get very hot and humid during the day. The beach is OK but not as good as elsewhere in Malaysia because of the pollution from Georgetown.

I preferred Georgetown itself as there was more to see and do andI'm not really a beach person. There I splashed out bit and stopped in the Traders (which I think has changed its name since) which is well placed for the night markets. Depending on how long you are going to be in Penang it might be worth popping over the Langkawi or a day or two for a change of scenery.

Thanks, this is really helpful.

Tbh, I'm starting to think I may have booked certain things without doing enough research, which is most unlike me. I was wondering if I should have booked Langkawi instead of Penang but flights to Penang are booked & we can't change them. We have 7 nights in Penang so I don't think we'll add a trip to Langkawi as we'd have to go back to Penang anyway for our flight back to KL. I think I'll look into staying in Georgetown for a couple of days either on arrival or at the end of the Penang stay.

We're not massive fans of the beach usually, I don't mind a walk along the beach but generally speaking, we tend to lay by the pool. I was thinking more of the walk of an evening or late afternoon unless we have a sightseeing plan.

I think I'll continue looking at changing hotels anyway, thanks again, information received is so,helpful :beer:

littlereddevil

We stayed at Park Royal last time, I didn't like it.