Help suggest vacation destinations for Asia. Thanks!
Jan 17, 2014, 5:03 am
#16
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Jan 17, 2014, 6:16 am
#17
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Jan 17, 2014, 6:55 am
#18
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I have a business meeting in Hong Kong in Feb and I wanted to take a few days off after and visit somewhere in Asia. I'm pretty open, but anything fairly close to Hong Kong via flight, tropical, outdoor activities, wildlife or cultural significance. beaches and diving/snorkeling would be a plus. So far, I'm thinking about Palau, Saipan, Sandakan Malaysia or Bali. Any suggestions would be very welcomed and I'll update when we actually go. Skyteam flight from Hong Kong and return would be preferred (not a deal breaker though). Dates of travel: Feb 22-27/28th.
Thanks everyone!
Thanks everyone!
Feb 3, 2014, 2:13 pm
#19
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Hi Guys. I decided to go with Langkawi Malaysia. I'll post some pictures and thanks for the help and suggestions!
Feb 3, 2014, 9:45 pm
#21
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I decided to go with Langkawi Malaysia.
Feb 6, 2014, 3:21 am
#24
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The only thing I didn't love about Langkawi were the mosquitoes. Even with 50% DEET I was struggling to keep them off. I've never been bitten as much in my life (with the exception of a friend's garden here in HK which seems to be mozzie central). So make sure you take some serious repellent with you. Other than that, it's a lovely island to visit.
Dec 26, 2018, 1:59 pm
#25
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Luang Prabang, Laos is a little jewel of a city, ancient and beautiful. Some lovely small hotels and great food. You could combine it with Siem Reap/Angkor Wat in Cambodia.
If you go to Malaysia, think about including Melaka and/or Penang.
A little farther afield, Sri Lanka is spectacular but merits more than a few days.
If you go to Malaysia, think about including Melaka and/or Penang.
A little farther afield, Sri Lanka is spectacular but merits more than a few days.
Dec 29, 2018, 12:34 pm
#26
Join Date: Jun 2018
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A bit dated, but I was reviewing some threads and came across this. We recently spent a few days in Luang Prabang Laos and it was one of the best experiences of my life. As you described, a lovely small city with many temples, set in a lush tropical landscape. The food at the night market was great, and there were many quality restaurants as well. The people and culture were a pleasure to spend time getting to experience.
Would be great if u can share your itinerary
Dec 31, 2018, 1:08 pm
#27
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Sure. It was a bit complicated as we like to move around a lot!
2 nights in Hong Kong. We arrived in the morning and we spent the day walking around the city. We visited the Man Mo Temple and the old police station, used the longest escalator in the world and had some great food. The second we spent time on the Kowloon side and visited the Wong Tai Sin Temple (very beautiful). We also had high tea at The Peninsula hotel (most expensive thing we did in Hong Kong). We then watched the city lights show from the Kowloon side and took the white star ferry back to the Hing Kong side. Hotel: Renaissance Hong Kong
2 Nights Ha Noi Vietnam. We spent a couple days exploring the Hanoi old city and enjoying the amazing food! We also took in the water puppet show and enjoyed watching the traffic from terrace bars and restaurants. Hotel: Hilton Hanoi
2 Nights Nin Binh and Tam Coc Vietnam. We took a car a few hours south to the countryside of Nin Binh. In Tam Coc we rented a scooter and drove around for a couple days. We took a long boat ride with a traditional Vietnamese rower (traditional, the rowing is done with your feet). We also walked around the Hoa Lu temples, which was nice. We parked at couple roadside restaurants and had great lunches and dinner for less than $4 US! We stayed near the Mua caves, and this was not worth the time to see. We also hiked up the dragon mountain, which was very difficult and not really worth it, other than the views of Tam Coc and the river. Hotel: Mua Caves Ecolodge
2 Nights Phu Quoc Vietnam: This is a small island of the southern coast of Vietnam and Cambodia. We diverted our trip because of a typhoon in the north, so we missed Ha Long Bay, and instead took a flight to Phu Qouc. Very small place, but the resort we stayed in was by far the best hotel experience I've ever had. The JW Marriott Phu Quoc was amazing, we didn't want to leave.
2 Nights Luang Prabang Laos: This was a highlight of the trip. As mentioned above, beautiful small city and very safe. We loved the night market and walking around the older part of town. We found the Laos people were extremely warm, welcoming and friendly. The food was great, and most places we went to did not have any crowd. We spent a day hiking with elephants through the jungle and learned how they are rehabilitated. It is not good to ride elephants, so please avoid riding them and instead opt for a hike with them. We were able to feed them, pet them and allow them to be comfortable walking with us. MandaLao Elephant conservation enabled this experience and we learned a lot. Hotel: Satri House. This hotel was amazing, and it's in an old colonial house. I was there on my birthday and the hotel surprised me with a cake.
3 Nights Siem Reap Cambodia: We came here primarily for the Ankor Wat temple area and several are spectacular! Take the time and walk around Ankgor Wat, most people just took pictures in the front, but we walked by ourselves and enjoyed the area. Bayon and Ankgor Tom was amazing, and we also had the time to visit many of the smaller temples. You do get a bit "templed out", and it's a lot of walking and climbing! We hired a Tuk Tuk driver named Sambath and he was amazing. Always had a cold towel and a cold drink ready after each temple (email: [email protected]). At night we went into Siem Reap itself and spent time around pub street. There are a lot of restaurants here and a lot of pubs. This is also the only area in any place we visited that we were approached with offers of illegal activity, and there were a lot of beggars and street con artists around! Siem Reap was the only area we went to were we felt uncomfortable, and on one night were actually surrounded by several individuals very quickly, who I would assume intended on robbing us (I moved us out of the situation very quickly). We spent an evening at dinner with an Australian couple that were robbed the day before in Siem Reap (a backpack was stolen, along with passport). One additional note about Siem Reap and even the Angkor Temple areas, you will be accosted by people (included young children many times) constantly by people either trying to sell you trinkets, or just simply beg for money. Street hawkers are everywhere and they are aggressive! It was still an amazing opportunity to see Angkor, but just be prepared for the never ending onslaught. Hotel: Model Angkor Resort. Nice hotel with great pools and good service. They had a very hard time getting my credit card to work upon check out, and actually ended up charging me 5 times! They fixed the issue though, but it made us nervous as we were only down to so much cash at this point and had already lost one credit card due to fraud charges while there.
2 Nights Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. If you have never been to Kuala Lumpur, its a large city, but very clean, nice and easy to get around in. They don't have Uber, but they have a similar service called Grab which worked perfectly. We spent time walking around the city, and enjoyed a rooftop drink facing the Petronas Towers. We also went to the bird park as I enjoy birding and it was very nice. Kuala Lumpur is a great city to spend a couple days in, and the airport is easy to navigate. Hotel: Renaissance Kuala Lumpur. Beautiful hotel with walking distance to the Petronas area and several other shopping.dining/nightlife options. It's very close to the train station as well.
I hope this helps!
2 nights in Hong Kong. We arrived in the morning and we spent the day walking around the city. We visited the Man Mo Temple and the old police station, used the longest escalator in the world and had some great food. The second we spent time on the Kowloon side and visited the Wong Tai Sin Temple (very beautiful). We also had high tea at The Peninsula hotel (most expensive thing we did in Hong Kong). We then watched the city lights show from the Kowloon side and took the white star ferry back to the Hing Kong side. Hotel: Renaissance Hong Kong
2 Nights Ha Noi Vietnam. We spent a couple days exploring the Hanoi old city and enjoying the amazing food! We also took in the water puppet show and enjoyed watching the traffic from terrace bars and restaurants. Hotel: Hilton Hanoi
2 Nights Nin Binh and Tam Coc Vietnam. We took a car a few hours south to the countryside of Nin Binh. In Tam Coc we rented a scooter and drove around for a couple days. We took a long boat ride with a traditional Vietnamese rower (traditional, the rowing is done with your feet). We also walked around the Hoa Lu temples, which was nice. We parked at couple roadside restaurants and had great lunches and dinner for less than $4 US! We stayed near the Mua caves, and this was not worth the time to see. We also hiked up the dragon mountain, which was very difficult and not really worth it, other than the views of Tam Coc and the river. Hotel: Mua Caves Ecolodge
2 Nights Phu Quoc Vietnam: This is a small island of the southern coast of Vietnam and Cambodia. We diverted our trip because of a typhoon in the north, so we missed Ha Long Bay, and instead took a flight to Phu Qouc. Very small place, but the resort we stayed in was by far the best hotel experience I've ever had. The JW Marriott Phu Quoc was amazing, we didn't want to leave.
2 Nights Luang Prabang Laos: This was a highlight of the trip. As mentioned above, beautiful small city and very safe. We loved the night market and walking around the older part of town. We found the Laos people were extremely warm, welcoming and friendly. The food was great, and most places we went to did not have any crowd. We spent a day hiking with elephants through the jungle and learned how they are rehabilitated. It is not good to ride elephants, so please avoid riding them and instead opt for a hike with them. We were able to feed them, pet them and allow them to be comfortable walking with us. MandaLao Elephant conservation enabled this experience and we learned a lot. Hotel: Satri House. This hotel was amazing, and it's in an old colonial house. I was there on my birthday and the hotel surprised me with a cake.
3 Nights Siem Reap Cambodia: We came here primarily for the Ankor Wat temple area and several are spectacular! Take the time and walk around Ankgor Wat, most people just took pictures in the front, but we walked by ourselves and enjoyed the area. Bayon and Ankgor Tom was amazing, and we also had the time to visit many of the smaller temples. You do get a bit "templed out", and it's a lot of walking and climbing! We hired a Tuk Tuk driver named Sambath and he was amazing. Always had a cold towel and a cold drink ready after each temple (email: [email protected]). At night we went into Siem Reap itself and spent time around pub street. There are a lot of restaurants here and a lot of pubs. This is also the only area in any place we visited that we were approached with offers of illegal activity, and there were a lot of beggars and street con artists around! Siem Reap was the only area we went to were we felt uncomfortable, and on one night were actually surrounded by several individuals very quickly, who I would assume intended on robbing us (I moved us out of the situation very quickly). We spent an evening at dinner with an Australian couple that were robbed the day before in Siem Reap (a backpack was stolen, along with passport). One additional note about Siem Reap and even the Angkor Temple areas, you will be accosted by people (included young children many times) constantly by people either trying to sell you trinkets, or just simply beg for money. Street hawkers are everywhere and they are aggressive! It was still an amazing opportunity to see Angkor, but just be prepared for the never ending onslaught. Hotel: Model Angkor Resort. Nice hotel with great pools and good service. They had a very hard time getting my credit card to work upon check out, and actually ended up charging me 5 times! They fixed the issue though, but it made us nervous as we were only down to so much cash at this point and had already lost one credit card due to fraud charges while there.
2 Nights Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. If you have never been to Kuala Lumpur, its a large city, but very clean, nice and easy to get around in. They don't have Uber, but they have a similar service called Grab which worked perfectly. We spent time walking around the city, and enjoyed a rooftop drink facing the Petronas Towers. We also went to the bird park as I enjoy birding and it was very nice. Kuala Lumpur is a great city to spend a couple days in, and the airport is easy to navigate. Hotel: Renaissance Kuala Lumpur. Beautiful hotel with walking distance to the Petronas area and several other shopping.dining/nightlife options. It's very close to the train station as well.
I hope this helps!
Jan 6, 2019, 3:46 am
#28
Join Date: Jun 2018
Programs: Hilton Diamond, Marriott Plat, Shangri-la Gold, Taj Gold, Krisflyer Gold, BA Gold
Posts: 101
Sure. It was a bit complicated as we like to move around a lot!
2 nights in Hong Kong. We arrived in the morning and we spent the day walking around the city. We visited the Man Mo Temple and the old police station, used the longest escalator in the world and had some great food. The second we spent time on the Kowloon side and visited the Wong Tai Sin Temple (very beautiful). We also had high tea at The Peninsula hotel (most expensive thing we did in Hong Kong). We then watched the city lights show from the Kowloon side and took the white star ferry back to the Hing Kong side. Hotel: Renaissance Hong Kong
2 Nights Ha Noi Vietnam. We spent a couple days exploring the Hanoi old city and enjoying the amazing food! We also took in the water puppet show and enjoyed watching the traffic from terrace bars and restaurants. Hotel: Hilton Hanoi
2 Nights Nin Binh and Tam Coc Vietnam. We took a car a few hours south to the countryside of Nin Binh. In Tam Coc we rented a scooter and drove around for a couple days. We took a long boat ride with a traditional Vietnamese rower (traditional, the rowing is done with your feet). We also walked around the Hoa Lu temples, which was nice. We parked at couple roadside restaurants and had great lunches and dinner for less than $4 US! We stayed near the Mua caves, and this was not worth the time to see. We also hiked up the dragon mountain, which was very difficult and not really worth it, other than the views of Tam Coc and the river. Hotel: Mua Caves Ecolodge
2 Nights Phu Quoc Vietnam: This is a small island of the southern coast of Vietnam and Cambodia. We diverted our trip because of a typhoon in the north, so we missed Ha Long Bay, and instead took a flight to Phu Qouc. Very small place, but the resort we stayed in was by far the best hotel experience I've ever had. The JW Marriott Phu Quoc was amazing, we didn't want to leave.
2 Nights Luang Prabang Laos: This was a highlight of the trip. As mentioned above, beautiful small city and very safe. We loved the night market and walking around the older part of town. We found the Laos people were extremely warm, welcoming and friendly. The food was great, and most places we went to did not have any crowd. We spent a day hiking with elephants through the jungle and learned how they are rehabilitated. It is not good to ride elephants, so please avoid riding them and instead opt for a hike with them. We were able to feed them, pet them and allow them to be comfortable walking with us. MandaLao Elephant conservation enabled this experience and we learned a lot. Hotel: Satri House. This hotel was amazing, and it's in an old colonial house. I was there on my birthday and the hotel surprised me with a cake.
3 Nights Siem Reap Cambodia: We came here primarily for the Ankor Wat temple area and several are spectacular! Take the time and walk around Ankgor Wat, most people just took pictures in the front, but we walked by ourselves and enjoyed the area. Bayon and Ankgor Tom was amazing, and we also had the time to visit many of the smaller temples. You do get a bit "templed out", and it's a lot of walking and climbing! We hired a Tuk Tuk driver named Sambath and he was amazing. Always had a cold towel and a cold drink ready after each temple (email: [email protected]). At night we went into Siem Reap itself and spent time around pub street. There are a lot of restaurants here and a lot of pubs. This is also the only area in any place we visited that we were approached with offers of illegal activity, and there were a lot of beggars and street con artists around! Siem Reap was the only area we went to were we felt uncomfortable, and on one night were actually surrounded by several individuals very quickly, who I would assume intended on robbing us (I moved us out of the situation very quickly). We spent an evening at dinner with an Australian couple that were robbed the day before in Siem Reap (a backpack was stolen, along with passport). One additional note about Siem Reap and even the Angkor Temple areas, you will be accosted by people (included young children many times) constantly by people either trying to sell you trinkets, or just simply beg for money. Street hawkers are everywhere and they are aggressive! It was still an amazing opportunity to see Angkor, but just be prepared for the never ending onslaught. Hotel: Model Angkor Resort. Nice hotel with great pools and good service. They had a very hard time getting my credit card to work upon check out, and actually ended up charging me 5 times! They fixed the issue though, but it made us nervous as we were only down to so much cash at this point and had already lost one credit card due to fraud charges while there.
2 Nights Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. If you have never been to Kuala Lumpur, its a large city, but very clean, nice and easy to get around in. They don't have Uber, but they have a similar service called Grab which worked perfectly. We spent time walking around the city, and enjoyed a rooftop drink facing the Petronas Towers. We also went to the bird park as I enjoy birding and it was very nice. Kuala Lumpur is a great city to spend a couple days in, and the airport is easy to navigate. Hotel: Renaissance Kuala Lumpur. Beautiful hotel with walking distance to the Petronas area and several other shopping.dining/nightlife options. It's very close to the train station as well.
I hope this helps!
2 nights in Hong Kong. We arrived in the morning and we spent the day walking around the city. We visited the Man Mo Temple and the old police station, used the longest escalator in the world and had some great food. The second we spent time on the Kowloon side and visited the Wong Tai Sin Temple (very beautiful). We also had high tea at The Peninsula hotel (most expensive thing we did in Hong Kong). We then watched the city lights show from the Kowloon side and took the white star ferry back to the Hing Kong side. Hotel: Renaissance Hong Kong
2 Nights Ha Noi Vietnam. We spent a couple days exploring the Hanoi old city and enjoying the amazing food! We also took in the water puppet show and enjoyed watching the traffic from terrace bars and restaurants. Hotel: Hilton Hanoi
2 Nights Nin Binh and Tam Coc Vietnam. We took a car a few hours south to the countryside of Nin Binh. In Tam Coc we rented a scooter and drove around for a couple days. We took a long boat ride with a traditional Vietnamese rower (traditional, the rowing is done with your feet). We also walked around the Hoa Lu temples, which was nice. We parked at couple roadside restaurants and had great lunches and dinner for less than $4 US! We stayed near the Mua caves, and this was not worth the time to see. We also hiked up the dragon mountain, which was very difficult and not really worth it, other than the views of Tam Coc and the river. Hotel: Mua Caves Ecolodge
2 Nights Phu Quoc Vietnam: This is a small island of the southern coast of Vietnam and Cambodia. We diverted our trip because of a typhoon in the north, so we missed Ha Long Bay, and instead took a flight to Phu Qouc. Very small place, but the resort we stayed in was by far the best hotel experience I've ever had. The JW Marriott Phu Quoc was amazing, we didn't want to leave.
2 Nights Luang Prabang Laos: This was a highlight of the trip. As mentioned above, beautiful small city and very safe. We loved the night market and walking around the older part of town. We found the Laos people were extremely warm, welcoming and friendly. The food was great, and most places we went to did not have any crowd. We spent a day hiking with elephants through the jungle and learned how they are rehabilitated. It is not good to ride elephants, so please avoid riding them and instead opt for a hike with them. We were able to feed them, pet them and allow them to be comfortable walking with us. MandaLao Elephant conservation enabled this experience and we learned a lot. Hotel: Satri House. This hotel was amazing, and it's in an old colonial house. I was there on my birthday and the hotel surprised me with a cake.
3 Nights Siem Reap Cambodia: We came here primarily for the Ankor Wat temple area and several are spectacular! Take the time and walk around Ankgor Wat, most people just took pictures in the front, but we walked by ourselves and enjoyed the area. Bayon and Ankgor Tom was amazing, and we also had the time to visit many of the smaller temples. You do get a bit "templed out", and it's a lot of walking and climbing! We hired a Tuk Tuk driver named Sambath and he was amazing. Always had a cold towel and a cold drink ready after each temple (email: [email protected]). At night we went into Siem Reap itself and spent time around pub street. There are a lot of restaurants here and a lot of pubs. This is also the only area in any place we visited that we were approached with offers of illegal activity, and there were a lot of beggars and street con artists around! Siem Reap was the only area we went to were we felt uncomfortable, and on one night were actually surrounded by several individuals very quickly, who I would assume intended on robbing us (I moved us out of the situation very quickly). We spent an evening at dinner with an Australian couple that were robbed the day before in Siem Reap (a backpack was stolen, along with passport). One additional note about Siem Reap and even the Angkor Temple areas, you will be accosted by people (included young children many times) constantly by people either trying to sell you trinkets, or just simply beg for money. Street hawkers are everywhere and they are aggressive! It was still an amazing opportunity to see Angkor, but just be prepared for the never ending onslaught. Hotel: Model Angkor Resort. Nice hotel with great pools and good service. They had a very hard time getting my credit card to work upon check out, and actually ended up charging me 5 times! They fixed the issue though, but it made us nervous as we were only down to so much cash at this point and had already lost one credit card due to fraud charges while there.
2 Nights Kuala Lumpur Malaysia. If you have never been to Kuala Lumpur, its a large city, but very clean, nice and easy to get around in. They don't have Uber, but they have a similar service called Grab which worked perfectly. We spent time walking around the city, and enjoyed a rooftop drink facing the Petronas Towers. We also went to the bird park as I enjoy birding and it was very nice. Kuala Lumpur is a great city to spend a couple days in, and the airport is easy to navigate. Hotel: Renaissance Kuala Lumpur. Beautiful hotel with walking distance to the Petronas area and several other shopping.dining/nightlife options. It's very close to the train station as well.
I hope this helps!
this is super helpful.
1. How was the Hilton Hanoi? location wise and hotel in general
2. Any reason u did not visit Saigon?
I am planning to spend around 4 days in vietnam (part of the cathay error fare) and still figuring out what to do
Jan 7, 2019, 2:08 pm
#29
Original Poster
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: EYW
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Posts: 521
We didn't spend time in Saigon as our schedules didn't permit, and we were originally wanting to see Ha Long bay. I've heard great things about Siagon as well, but I've also heard it was much more crowded and a bit westernized.
