Backpacking Abroad - Travel info for backpacking in Thailand, Laos, China & Vietnam

Do you have any tips on planning an itinerary for South East Asia?

Pompous Rhombus, Mar 30, 2008

I don’t usually travel with a really firm itinerary, I’m pretty liable to change things up if I hear about something new from someone I meet traveling, or meet someone to travel with. Probably the best way to plan is to buy the Lonely Planet for where you’re planning to go (or sit down at Barnes and Noble with a coffee) and have a read through it, see what interests you, and sketch out a rough itinerary. I think it’s better to go deep rather than broad… if you try and fit everything in you might be able to run around and make it, but you’ll miss out on the more random, fluid nature of the whole backpacking thing.

Here’s a rough one of my first trip:

Indonesia

Bali - Kuta Beach (yuck) Ubud (cool) - 4/5 days, night bus to Probolinggo
Probolinggo - checked out sunrise from top of some mountain (took a Jeep), climbed Bromo (volcano) - 1 day, night bus to Yogyakarta
Yogyakarta - met some local students and hung out with them for a week, train to Jakarta
Jakarta - originally planned to spend more time here but stayed in Yogya longer than I originally thought. No regrets, city sucked. Flight to KL the next day.

Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur - 3/4 days, very fun. Bus to Singapore (5 hours or so, not bad)

Singapore
Singapore - Stayed at hostel recommended to me by some Japanese guys in the Jeep in Indonesia. Met up with some Singaporean friends from Australia. Aside from my friends and the zoo, kinda boring. Was originally gonna take the bus or train to Bangkok but since Air Asia was so cheap, did that instead. AUD$47 or something.

Thailand
Bangkok - get in at the middle of the night, crash somewhere random on Khao San Road. Stay there for a day, book a ripoff bus to
Cambodia

Cambodia
Siam Reap - 5 days: 3 on the Ankor Pass (plus the evening before it become valid, neat little loophole), 1 day checking out the wat and some other things around town. Bus to Phnom Penh
Phnom Penh - stayed by the lake. Went to S-21, Killing Fields, Wat Phnom, the zoo. Minibus to Kampot. 3-4 days?
Kampot - 1 day with the moto driver we met at the bus lot. Checked out some local caves/shrines, and went to this local farmhouse/restaurant place. Actually I think it was just some random lady’s front yard. Later we rented our own bikes and went out to Kep for some cheap seafood. Caught a minibus up to Bokor Hill Station from Kampot the next day.
Bokor Hill Station - Kickin’ New Years party in an abandoned French casino on a mountaintop. Go back down to Kampot the next day with some random Khmer dudes that offered us rides on their motorbike. Headed to Sihanoukville after that.
Sihanoukville - 2 or 3 days just hanging out, beachin’ it up, then back to Phnom Penh to catch a bus north to Kratie
Kratie - got there in the evening, go check out the Irrawady dolphins. Next morning we get a share taxi to Banlung in Ratanakiri Province. 6 hours in an 80’s Toyota Camry on dirt roads with 6 other adults.
Banlung - Check out the crater lake, mess around town, book trekking through the Ratanak. (Note: don’t do this, you can go straight to the ranger station and do it for less.) 4 day/3 night trek out to Virachey National Park, crash a hill tribe wedding. Back in Banlung we rent motorbikes and go off in search of some gem mines. We still have some gas left when we get back to town so we head out to the airstrip and have drag races, I learn how to ride one for myself.
Next day: share taxi to Steung Treng. Catch a rocket boat to the Lao border (road wasn’t finished yet). Talk our way out of a bribe on the Cambodian side, pay $2/each to Lao guy. Songtaew/boat to Si Phan Don

Laos
Si Phan Don - one week of hanging out, tubing, reading, and a kayak tour one day. Total cost was something like $36 the whole time I was there. Sawgthaew to Champasak
Champasak - Wat Phu, bus to Pakse
Pakse - Hang around town one day, rent motorbikes and do a two day ride on the Bolaven Plateau. Go back to Pakse and catch a night bus to Vientiane
Vientiane - Buddha Park and some other stuff around town. 3 days? Bus to Luang Prabang
Luang Prabang - check out stuff in town, as well as the Pak Ou caves and some waterfall. 3-4 days I think. Bus to Phonsavan (8 hours, windy roads)
Phonsavan - tagged along with some Thai university student that rented a Volga to go check out the sunset at the Plain of Jars. Next day went out to see all 3 sites on a tour with guesthouse (the only way you’re allowed to go). Not quite as boring as you’d think. Bus to Sam Neau (8 hours, windy roads)
Sam Neau - grabbed dinner at the market. Wake up at 6 the next morning and catch a sawngthaew to Vieng Sai to check out the caves where the Lao communists hid out when the Americans were bombing. Had to wait until afternoon for the tour so just wandered around the village for 6 hours or so. Went back to Sam Neau that evening and left for Phonsavan the next day. Spent the night there and left for Vang Vieng the next day
Vang Vieng - this place really sucks and I hate it. Left for Vientiane the next day
Vientiane - dinner, got up the next day and crossed back to Thailand, caught a bus back down to Bangkok. Roof flew off in the middle of nowhere. Left from Bangkok a day or two later

All told it was something like 2 or 2.5 weeks in Indonesia, a few days each in KL/Singapore, 30 days in Cambodia, and about 4 weeks in Laos. I’d originally planned to go to Vietnam but switched it for Laos because I didn’t want to bother with the Vietnamese visa. I can’t really remember expenses too well, although I remember Cambodia only coming to like $450 or so for the whole 30 days (being fairly economical and traveling with someone else)