Asia - Asia stopover suggestion for college students

My best friend and I are planning a ski trip to Japan for December 2008-January 2009. We will both be 21. I am using a A* Award to get from the US to Japan (NRT), and as part of that I am allowed one stopover. We plan on spending 3-5 days in this city at the beginning of our trip, approximately December 18-22 2008. My friend is paying cash, so a cheap destination from NRT is ideal (but we can make something work).

We have been considering the following places, but are open to other suggestions:
BKK
SIN
TPE
HKG
PEK
PVG

We will spend time in Japan after about 7-10 days of skiing and return about January 11, 2009. Ideally, the destination should be affordable for an American, but with the dollar getting weaker daily, I'm not holding my breath. We enjoy food, culture, and the outdoors. Nightlife and safety are important. That being said, we do want to stay in a city environment. We will stay in a hostel or inexpensive hotel. We will also have ski equipment with us, but will try and find a locker or baggage service where we can check it.

This will be our first trip to Asia (save the transfer from NRT-HND for a flight and overnight in OKA for me), so we are open for anything.
Thanks for the help.

Bangkok's Khao San Road, along with zillions of similar minded, college aged travelers. By staying just a couple of streets away you can have a much nicer experience. Or, you can stay on KSR itself for the full treatment.

And it's easy enough to escape upcountry or even to Lao for cheaper living.

Lao is where I'd go if you want cheap. I enjoy it and just got back from BKK and Lao. I'm in Asia often and in all the places you mention. China is nice but getting up there in prices due to olympics now. Not sure if prices will go back down or not much.

Most of the places you list are not cheap. I mean hong kong, singapore and others... wholly cow... even my company has a hard time accepting some of the prices in some of these places.

I like Shanghai right now, I really like Thailand, but I'd hit Laos or Vietnam before the others. How many college kids can say they've been to Lao??? BKK you've got a million backpacker college type kids in and out.

SIN is kinda boring and you'll have already had your fix of clean, functional Asian cities in Japan.

BKK is a blast, Kao San Road is a great place to stay just crawling with other travelers. It's very easy to meet other people from around the world to spend the day with and go out bar hopping at night.

HKG is another fun city that's a bit crazy and has a bit of sensory overload.

Personally I'd recommend BKK.

Lao is where I'd go if you want cheap.
...but the OP was asking about a stopover, and Laos isn't a feasible option for this on *A (or any other alliance, for that matter).

I'd also have to chip in for BKK. It's cheap, fun, reasonably safe, very easy to get to on *A, and totally different from Japan.

Weather wise, best place is Bkk and fairly reasonable in price. You can get solid 3 star hotel for $50, even with weakness of dollars.

HK is also good in Dec/Jan, not hot/humid but more expensive.

Beijing is cold, will be polluted and tough to see Great Wall. But other sights open and won't be as "crowded". Reasonable 3 star places available.

Depends on what you guys are into.....first time wouldn't suggest Taipei, Singapore or Shanghai. They'll still be there for your next visit.

Go to library or Borders, thumb through Lonely Planets or Moon Publications for each of three above....

IMHO

I think Bangkok offers the most variety for tourists of college age. Khao San Road is very popular with the young tourist crowd, but almost any area near a Thai university (and there are tons in Bangkok) has plenty of fun places where you can better mingle with younger Thai people. I've had great fun at the student-oriented restaurants near Ramkhamhaeng University - inexpensive food, lots of beer (of course) and more guitar-strummers than you can shake a stick at it. The entertainment complex in the RCA (Royal City Avenue) area is very popular with the under-30 Thai crowd, but tourists who look like backpackers will stick out like a sore thumb as Thai usually wear their more fashionable clothing when going out clubbing. For gays, the Lamsalee area in Ramkhamhaeng is very popular and is a very nice change from the usual venues.

If you staying in the Bangkok KSR area, all you have to do is walk over by Phra Sumen Fort by the river to get away from the majority of the tie-dye crowd and be in more proximity to Thai university students. Harder to get banana pancakes in the little cafes there, though...

If you get disgusted with KSR, just get a $4 bus, with one connection through Khorat, from Bangkok's Morchit bus station upcountry to some place like Phimai or Nang Rong.

The relatively "close in" parts of Lao like Vientiane or Vang Vieng can be all too similar to KSR.

Really a better source for this sort of information than FT, though harder to follow a coherent thread, is http://thorntree.lonelyplanet.com. Don't believe everything you read (there or here).

...but the OP was asking about a stopover, and Laos isn't a feasible option for this on *A (or any other alliance, for that matter).

I'd also have to chip in for BKK. It's cheap, fun, reasonably safe, very easy to get to on *A, and totally different from Japan.

Perhaps I used the wrong terminology. As part of my C class *A award, I am allowed to make one stop for a few days in my itinerary. As we plan on being in Asia for 3-4 weeks total and skiing for about 10 days, we figured it might be nice to see Japan (and ski) later on in the trip (as there will be more snow). As I understand it, I can pick any city that is served by *A in the Asia region to go, but please correct me if I am wrong. If the city we select is served by a LCC from TYO, that would be ideal, as my friend is paying cash.

Thanks for all the help thus far. We are meeting in January in Denver for this year's trip and will get everything set then.

As we plan on being in Asia for 3-4 weeks total and skiing for about 10 days, we figured it might be nice to see Japan (and ski) later on in the trip (as there will be more snow). As I understand it, I can pick any city that is served by *A in the Asia region to go, but please correct me if I am wrong. If the city we select is served by a LCC from TYO, that would be ideal, as my friend is paying cash.
There are no LCC flights to anywhere from TYO. Flights to BKK can be quite reasonably priced though, especially if you manage to avoid the New Year's crush.

There are no LCC flights to anywhere from TYO. Flights to BKK can be quite reasonably priced though, especially if you manage to avoid the New Year's crush.

Thanks for the info. We are going to be spending the bulk of our time in Hakuba (Nagano area). I suppose we could fly into NGO, but its much farther than from NRT according to maps I've looked at. Are there any LCCs from NGO or KIX? We are going to decide our destination and itinerary in the first week in January, will let you know what we decide before making final arrangements.

Good that you are using *A. You should check out Japan air pass and/or Asia Air Pass. You must purchase these air passes with UAL before departing for Japan. Japan air passes cost only US$100 per flight between any cities so that you could go to Okinawa if you like. Japan air pass and Asia Air pass are two different programs. You use Asia passes to see where you want to go. Forget Singapore or BKK...

Keep in mind that China now requires a $100 tourist visa for all Americans. Not a lot of money, but just a cost to keep in mind.

If I were you, I would use BKK as the destination. It costs the same amount of UA miles as flying to Japan, and you can fly US-Japan (as a stopover) and then continue on towards BKK before flying back to America. I like to get the most miles out of my award travel.

These days, everyone and their cousin has been to Thailand, but its super-cheap and you will really get to meet loads of backpackers from around the world. Not to mention enjoy heaps of cheap delicious thai food!

There is no visa necessary for you to make a reasonable visit to Thailand.

If I were you, I would use BKK as the destination. It costs the same amount of UA miles as flying to Japan, and you can fly US-Japan (as a stopover) and then continue on towards BKK before flying back to America. I like to get the most miles out of my award travel.


Thats what we were thinking. I am using miles in C, he will pay cash. We want to hit Japan on the second half of the trip (more snow :D) and do BKK or where ever else first. Is doing the "stopover" in the second part of the trip a problem?

I wouldn't stay in Khao San Road if you go to Bangkok.

If you check a Bangkok map out, take a look at a street called Soi Kasemsan 1, right next to National Stadium skytrain station, and opposite MBK centre). There are quite a few good, cheap (maximum Khao San Rd price) guest houses. But location-wise, you are dead-centre of Bangkok.

Here's a review of one place in that street (and photo). Not my review, just found it on Google (although my old Landlady when I lived in an apartment building in that street also, I think, owned Wendy House as I had to go there once to pay rent).
http://photos.igougo.com/travelcontent/journalEntryLodging.aspx?ReviewID=1202901

If you happen to want to go to Khao San, just around the corner is the canal (Khlong), where you can get a canal boat ferry from Saphan Hor Chang (Elephant Head Bridge) for 5 baht that takes you to Golden Mount temple on Rachadamnoen Road, which - if you stroll along for 10 minutes gets you to Khao San anyway if you need to see it. That's also one of the more interesting ways to get to the old town to see nearby Wat Pho (big reclining Buddha), and Wat Phra Kaew (temple of the Emerald Buddha) inside the Grand Palace.

I live in Bangkok, and personally prefer Hong Kong (the grass is always greener), and Singapore (for buying gadgets). But HK is wayyyyyyyyyyy more expensive, SIN is a little boring and sterile), and Bangkok is much more a multi-Asian environment than HKG, SIN, TPE, PEK etc. and really really cheap even if the $ exchange rate sucks right now.

^^

Thanks for the info. We are going to be spending the bulk of our time in Hakuba (Nagano area). I suppose we could fly into NGO, but its much farther than from NRT according to maps I've looked at.
They're roughly the same:

http://www.vill.hakuba.nagano.jp/e/access/index.html

Are there any LCCs from NGO or KIX?
There are no real LCCs from anywhere in Japan, even domestically. :td:

I don't personally love BKK like some other people do, but I think it would be a good stopover for college students.

Personally, though, I'd go with Hong Kong. Not a ton to do, but it is gorgeous and the food is really good. It's really just a really fun place to be. It's pretty close to Japan. It can be either really expensive or really cheap, depending on what you make it.

I don't personally love BKK like some other people do, but I think it would be a good stopover for college students.

Personally, though, I'd go with Hong Kong. Not a ton to do, but it is gorgeous and the food is really good. It's really just a really fun place to be. It's pretty close to Japan. It can be either really expensive or really cheap, depending on what you make it.

Hi there,
I agree, I was in HKG in the first half of September and I had a blast.
Kowloon is where it's at. They do have an excellent subway system that is not that difficult to understand.
The Hong Kongers are generally friendly.
I was touched by the kindness of some strangers there who approached me and asked if I needed help with directions thinking that I had lost my way.
I do agree that it can be a little pricey but if you plan right you will have a great trip like I did.
The MTR does offer tourists passes that allows unlimited trips and I believe prices starts from HKD50.

Bangkok is cool too. I've enjoyed my trip everytime I have been there.
And you can move around from there and go to places like Chiang Mai,Chiang Rai or the islands like Kho Pangan, Krabi and resorts like Phuket.
They have plenty of budget options like LCCs, rail or ferry services.

Look it up online at yahoo.com or any search engines for HKG and BKK and they will list out PLENTY of sites that will help you along the way.

Have a good and safe trip.
Cheers!