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beach_bum
Joined: 07 Jul 2009
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 Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 6:29 pm Post subject: Help with travel plans.... |
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Hi all,
I was hoping somene with some experience of travelling around South East Asia and/or India might be able to help me out with a few questions I have.
I'll be leaving next August- I know its ages away yet but have to start getting money in order and making plans to get excited about!
Myself and my girlfriend will be travelling together. We have no problem staying in any accomodation- hostels, bungalows, whatever- as long as its reasonably clean and if its crazy hot we'll prob need aircon- we're Irish, not built for the heat!  We're good for using public buses and doing tours ourselves- dont need handholding! We're pretty good for trying out local foods and that too!
Anyway, we really want to visit Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia (peninsular-we've been to Malaysian Borneo before), Singapore, Myanamar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and finish up with some time in India before flying home from India.
I understand this trip is a big undertaking- thats why we want to try and start organising it soon. We want to see al the sights along the way and we're into diving, hiking, trekking, rafting- all outdoors stuff. Also enjoy chilling on beautiful beaches....like everyone!!
How long would people reccomend travelling in each of the above countries?
We were figuring Singapore, Hong Kong, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh will probably only be a few days stop each- what are peoples thoughts on this?
Any idea on what sort of a daily budget we would be looking at for a trip like this? 1,000euro a month be overshooting it?
Thanks in advance for any help or replys. Really hoping someone can help us out! Cheers! |
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mellinger
Joined: 21 Jan 2007
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| Posted: Mon Oct 25, 2010 7:30 pm Post subject: |
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Just a heads up on one of the places you are hoping to visit.
Bhutan sounds like a great country and it's beautiful from the photos I've seen of it, but if you are trying to stay on a budget, it may be hard for you to visit Bhutan for any amount of time.
Bhutan charges $200 a day to visit the country. Now, this is all-inclusive, and you can plan your own trips with this $200 a day, but it's still $200 a day. Plus, that is the minimum that you have to pay, it could be more depending on what you want to do.
So, if you do want to go to Bhutan....great, because it looks wonderful, but you may want to be budgeting in a whole lot more money.
As for Nepal, you may want to just stop in there for a few days, but if it were me, I'd maybe tag on a week or so, to at least be able to do a small trek to see some of the Himalayas. It's a relatively cheap country to be in, so it's not a budget breaker to do a small trek there. If you aren't the trekking type, you can still go to some hill stations outside of Kathmandu and get a decent view of the Himalayas. |
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runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
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| Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 12:57 am Post subject: Re: Help with travel plans.... |
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| beach_bum wrote: |
Anyway, we really want to visit Hong Kong, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia (peninsular-we've been to Malaysian Borneo before), Singapore, Myanamar, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and finish up with some time in India before flying home from India.
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I spent a week in Nepal and didn't think it was nearly enough, and I didn't even plan on doing trekking or anything. I spent a few days in and around Kathmandu and then a couple of days down south in Chitwan.
I'll definitely go back at some point as it's an amazing country. If you want to do any trekking (and there are loads), you'll obviously want quite a bit more time.
On the opposite end of the spectrum I spent a day and night in Singapore and it was enough for me. Doubtful I'd go back.
Spent a bit over two weeks in India going Delhi-Agra-Jaipur-Pushkar-Udaipur (my favorite)-Jodhpur-Delhi. I actually only spent about one full day in Delhi as I thought it was the scariest, most disgusting place I'd ever been in my life. The day after I left is when they had those bombs going off around the city (Sept. 2008), a few bombs found in places I'd been the day before so I definitely didn't rush to get back for my flight out.
I'd probably plan at the very least 16 or 17 weeks for that trip, but probably a lot more if you're into diving, trekking, beach-lounging, etc. And I would think 1000 Euro a month would definitely cover it, though as mentioned you'll have to adjust quite a bit for Bhutan. |
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alwaysbeclosing100
Joined: 07 Feb 2009
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| Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 1:29 am Post subject: re |
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unless you can get in on some type of NGO or academic/education visa Bhutan is very expensive.....
Burma is an awesome country. Just came back from there..... |
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beach_bum
Joined: 07 Jul 2009
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| Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 7:00 pm Post subject: |
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Great stuff- thanks everyone for your helpful replies- much appreciated!
This is gonna take a good bit of research Im guessing as we're trying to hit so many dfferent locations but at least we have plenty of tme to figure things out!
Runtheguantlet: Did you think 2weeks was enough time in India?- Did you get a good taste for the country- see alot, etc? We were thinking more like 2months minimum in India as obviously so much ground to cover! Is India as cheap as people say? Did you spend much in2weeks? (If ya dont mind me askin! )
Bhutan sounds expensive- anyone any tricks on getting around the visa situation?- Is there many NGO'sthere that you could sign up to work with for a few weeks or anything?
Definitley going to give Nepal moretime- was under the impression it was expensive but delighted to hear that I was wrong- going to do some treks there for sure- relatively tame ones mind....anyone any reccomendations/experiences?
Has anyone any thoughts on Bangladesh or Myanamar?
Whats a good lenght of time to stay in Hong Kong?- a week?- less?
Thanks again for all your help! |
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D.D.
Joined: 29 May 2008
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| Posted: Tue Oct 26, 2010 11:06 pm Post subject: |
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I travel very slow, for instance I spent 12 years in Australia studying working and traveling. Now I have a good idea what living in most Aussie cities is like. I am now in my third year of traveling China.
I would have to say that trip would be a 1-2 year trip or even more for me to get a feel of all those places.
The average person would need 6 months to do all that. How much time do you plan on spending on your trip?
Why do you need to pack so many places into one trip.
India gives a six month visa and that is a good amount of time for India. Thailand gives 30 days I think and I always feel I need more. Hong Kong is expensive and 4 days is enough. 3 months nepal if you like trekking. Two days Singapore. Not sure of the other places but I would make Thailand. Cambodia ,Laos a separate trip for about 4-6 months. |
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runthegauntlet
Joined: 02 Dec 2007
Location: the southlands.
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| Posted: Wed Oct 27, 2010 12:37 am Post subject: |
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| beach_bum wrote: |
Runtheguantlet: Did you think 2weeks was enough time in India?- Did you get a good taste for the country- see alot, etc? We were thinking more like 2months minimum in India as obviously so much ground to cover! Is India as cheap as people say? Did you spend much in2weeks? (If ya dont mind me askin! )
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Totally depends on what you want to do and see. I've met people that have spent two weeks to a year and they all have different opinions on how much time is necessary.
Two weeks was enough for me to see the things I wanted to see. Far too subjective to really advise people on. I personally detested India and wanted to get out as fast as I could.
But you're right, it's a huge country, distances are enormous and transportation can be very slow. So if there's a lot you want to see, plan accordingly.
No, for me I didn't think India was as cheap as people mentioned (Nepal, on the other hand, was the cheapest of the 40 odd countries I've been) but it wasn't really expensive either. Surely you can get by on a pittance if you want, but rooms can get nasty if you go too cheap.
I spent just over 800 USD on my two week trip in 2008, but I 'splurged' on transport (driver and car) for my first week. Definitely can be done for much cheaper. |
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