[mrcheese321]

I just came upon this website: seat61.com and it describes train travel all through SE Asia. Has anyone ever tried it?

I have about a month, between December 18th-ish and January 15th to travel the area and would love to do it by train so that I could see the scenery more. Also, it would be a lot cheaper except for Malaysia (Asia Air so really cheap for Malaysia during early Jan if you use the internet specials right now).

The countries that I would be interested in visiting are:
Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei. I would love to throw the rest of Indonesia into the mix (I went to Bali this past weekend), but I'm thinking that 6 countries in a month is going to be pretty hectic already.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

TIA

c

[Mat]

Hi !

I have done Vietnam and Malaysia/Singapore by train already... Fantastic trips.....however 1 month might be too short if you plan on stoping in different cities. Vietnam alone took me 17 days for example...

[hbrand]

HI! I have been to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Brunei, KL and Borneo and I definitely recommend scaling down the number of countries you are doing. They have a great open bus ticket system in Vietnam and you could also do Cambodia and Laos in a Month but I think that the number of countries you want to do might really be stretching it. There is so much to see in Aisa you could easily spend a really rewarding month in any of the countries you mention...Train in Thailand is pretty good though and you can go through to Malaysia I think (although I only caught the train in Thailand).

You can catch a cheap mini-bus from Bangkok into Cambodia (just organise on Koh San Rd, it only cost me $10 us when I bargained) and then bus/boat it through Cambodia (bus to Siem Reap and boat to Phnom Penh - sit on the roof and watch all the watervillages and life drift by) then bus or train it through Vietnam, fly into Vientienne (the bus is horrendous and it is really cheap to fly from Hanoi to Vientienne) and then bus it on public buses through laos, speedboat back to thai border and bus into Chang Mai. You could probably do all of that in a month?? If you scurried a bit.

Also, Brunei is great for a couple of days, that is about it, but you'd have to get to the island of Borneo - so you can't really catch a train, although flights are pretty cheap. If you do go, stay in the Empire Hotel. One of the Sultan's old palaces and it is AMAZING.....Also, Borneo is great - I stayed in Sabah at the ShagriLa Rasa Ria for my honeymoon - a must see!

Good luck with your trip! Making me want to travel but I have to deal with packing and moving to HK first (this weekend) aghhhhhh

Heather x

[mrcheese321]

I have every weekend between now and December to travel as well, but the real problem for me is that I don't know which places I can just do in a weekend.

I can leave late on Thursday evening, but have to be back by 1pm on Monday morning from wherever I go. That leaves about 3 days in any one place that I travel to if I fly and about 2 days if I take a train or some other mode of transportation.

Can anyone recommend good weekend trips so that when I do my major traveling in December I can make the most of it?

[Mat]

For week end u can do: singapore (3 days are enough) Bangkok (3 days are enough as well) Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia will take u much more time.
Try to go in BKK and Singapore on WE and then keep one month for Vietnam / Laos / Cambodia. It should nbe manageable

[mrcheese321]

Okay, I was thinking I could do Singapore and BKK in one weekend.

What about Malaysia and other places in Thailand - are those weekendable?

I wanted to go to:
Malaysia:
KL + Perhentian Islands
Taman Negra
Kota Kinablu
Sarawalk

Thailand:
Chaing Mai
Pattaya
Ko Samui
Ko Pha-ngan
Ko Phi Phi
Phuket

I know that if I fly to Thailand or Malaysia there would be no way to see all of these places in one 3 day weekend, but I'm totally okay with flying to both contries many times to see all of the places that are on my list.

And I still have to go to Guilin, Guangzhou and Shenzen - but those are all weekend trips.

What about Boracay, Phillipines and Brunei - are those weekendable?

Thanks for the help so far,
c

[hbrand]

Hiya,

You could do Kota Kinabalu and visit the Orang-Utans and water villages if you stayed at Shangri La Rasa Ria for a weekend. They have great packages and they also have an Orang-utan sanctuary in the complex/rainforest. Free shuttle to and from Kota Kinabalu.

You could do Phuket in a weekend and take a day-trip to Phi Phi. Then another weekend you could do a trip to Koh Samui. It would all fly past really quickly but it is possible to do. Same with Brunei. I haven't been to the Philippines but believe weekend trips to Cebu are possible.

Best of luck travelling every weekend! Sounds fun but tiring.

Cheers,
H

[mrcheese321]

LOL - yes, traveling each weekend is tiring, but I have a whole 3 days of "school" to get over it

I just want to see as much as possible while I'm here. I figure that I probably won't have the time to just spend 4-5 months sitting around not working and going to "school" anytime soon.

I graduate this spring from the University of Texas and will be going into the real world after that...*sigh*....so I have to see it now while I still can.

[Fragrant Larder]

I wanted to do this kind of rail trip for ages... then I realised you can to it by cargo ship. Imagine weeks of watching the world go by with just a few others on board. Most cargo vessels can accommodate up to 12 paying passengers and the cabins are very comfortable.
England to Hong Kong takes about 5 weeks I think. and costs around 100 Dollars per day.