trip to Thailand & Vietnam

P

Patrick K

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trip to Thailand & Vietnam

Can anyone with experience of travelling to Thailand (and possibly Vietnam) suggest some starting points for me to plam my 2 month trip for this summer.

I looked at www.ebookers.com and the cost of a return flight to Thailanld for July - August period is about €1150 so I'm thinking it will make more sense to fly cheaply to London with Ryanair and then get a flight to Thailand from there.

Any info appreciated.
 
By starting points are you referring to where to fly from/with etc...?

Or are you referring to where's good to go?

If the latter...haven't been in Vietnam yet :(

But my advice on Thailand is...don't stay too long in Bangkock. 2-3 days is loads of time IMO.

Koh Samui is lovely. A must. Chaweng is where you want to be.
Koh Pha Ngan is great too. Avoid the full and half moon parties (unless you're into being out of your tree and having people shitting outside your hut at night)!!! Haadrin is cool though.
Krabbi is nice too (Andaman coast)
Koh Phi Phi is nice for snorkelling and diving. Bit claustrophobic though. Try to get a nice hut. Very hard!!
Forget Phuket. It's a complete hole.

Watch out for those lady boys!!! They're everywhere. One of them took a fancy to me one night in a 7Eleven and I only went in for M&M's!!!
Another one wanted my drink one night. When I gave it to him/her (excuse the pun) he/she showed me all his/her...em...bits!!! Very disturbing :\

Pay for air conditioning.

Piggy.
 
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Be very careful using Ryanair for connections. They can cancel or delay without liability (read the Terms and Conditions on their tickets).

Most of Pigger's advice on Thailand is good but Phuket, while being a tourist hole does have very plush resort hotels and the best seafood you will find in the country. If you fancy having it in a campsite and having 10km of beach to yourself there is a little place mentioned in the Lonely Planet which is run by a very nice family on the beach close enough to the airport there. For weirdness try Ranong and Koh Chang (sp?) on the Myanmar border. You can sometimes hear gunfire as the Thai police battle it out with smuggler gangs. Haven't been to Nam since the war.
 
Re: .

Agree with Piggy about Ko Samui. I loved it. But I wasn't mad about Ko Pa Ngan. About two days is loads in Bangkok, preferably on the way home, if you plan on doing a bit of shopping. I really enjoyed Ko Samet for relaxing. And get to Chang Mai if you can. And look around for accomadation. A couple of times we got really dodgy places, but moved the next day and got some fab places. Buy a mossie net once you get there. And bring a duvet cover to sleep in, much lighter than carrying a sleeping bag which you don't need, but you can get inside the duvet cover for those dodgy beds. I always bring a crappy one when I travel and then dump it on the way home to make room for shopping!
 
BANGKOK

I disagree about BKK... it`s one of the most fascinating cities on the planet. Either you hate it or you love it. There is almost nothing between.

I would recommend Chiang Mai and the surrounding mountains for a few days.

Munnork Isalnd also is a fascinating place. It`s a private island with an amazing beach. It has a small private low-key resort on it... the only place to stay there, and comes with meals incl.

If you go down, best way would be Phuket, by Boat to Phi Phi... and from there to Krabi. From there maybe to Trang, and then over to Samui.

For flights try trailfinders. I am sure they will be able to help you. 01-6777888, I think. I never pay more then 700 Euro from Dublin.
 
thailand

Northern thailand was my favourite, particularly a small town called Pai (3 hours north of Chang Mai). If you can ride a motorbike (€3 / day to rent) you'll love touring around this part of the country. If you can't, wear a helmet! Also Laos is not far away. Spent a couple of weeks in a beautiful place called Maung Noi (Not in the lonely planet guide!). Come to think of it I'd try and spend more time in Laos than thailand; its chaper and beautiful and the people are friendly, but avoid the tourist route along the Mekong.
I disagree about aircon. Get used to the heat with the fan on full asap. This will extend your budget and you will be able to visit places that don't have A.C. Also you'll get used to it in about a week. If you were going for a short 2 week holiday obviously you should then avail of creature comforts.
 
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