I want to travel South East Asia ‘off the beaten track’ - is that going to be possible?
Pompous Rhombus, May 03, 2008
One thing to keep in mind, if you don’t speak Thai or Lao it can be a little tricky off the beaten path. I went up to Sam Neau and Vieng Sai in NE Laos a few years ago to check out the Pathet Lao caves and there was basically no English spoken save the government guide at the caves. Really cool experience though, and beautiful countryside.
I’ll step in here and plug Lonely Planet’s Southeast Asia Phrasebook. Most of these languages are hard to pick up casually because they’re tonal/use different writing systems, but it came in pretty handy. It’s also a great way to spend time hanging out with curious locals who can’t speak English, just pulling it out and practicing pronunciation (it has English, Roman-alphabet transliterations, and the language’s original script).
