General Travel Tips for South East Asia

My friends ask me sometime for advise on what is worth to see in... I think it is worth to put my answers here to make them available to much wider auditorium.

You will probably need to visit Google maps to do not be lost on the way reading this post, but I recommend you to BUY LONELY PLANET ROAD ATLAS BEFORE READING INFO BELOW. It's the best atlas I found for this region (please recommend alternatives if any).

Information might be subjective especially from point of view of recommendations, but at least it is not theoretical and is based on my own experience.

1) My overall favorite countries among those you are going to visit are Malaysia and Cambodia.

2) People:
All people are different so I am not talking about Thais, Cambodians or Malays. I am talking about those people I met. Most hospitable and sincere people I met in Cambodia and Malaysia. Many Vietnamese I met were a bit aggressive and greedy, while others were so nice that i would be glad to make my trip together with them all the way across Vietnam. I also found THAT the further you get off the beaten track in Thailand the nicer people are. But as soon as everything is about travel industry in Thailand people often look at you as at one more pocket, however despite of expectations we met thais who looked at us with even deeper interest and curiosity than we did.
So for us Cambodia and Malaysia are the favorites from point of view of sincere smiles and non-commercial communications.

3) Cuisine – Malaysia and Thai

4) Most unusual atmosphere – Northern Vietnam – something outside of globalization. No advertising at all. Rarely seen cars on the streets and roads. Every third speaks Russian.

5) Wildlife, nature, landscapes etc – Malaysia. Thailand (which we visited) is not so abundoned in terms of wild animals like Malaysia, but there are many interesting places for nature lovers too.

6) Unusual impressive ancient Asian architecture – Cambodia and Thailand.

7) Always try to visit markets wherever you are. Markets are like a door to the local world. You can see what people grow, what people eat, what people fish, what kind of fishes inhabit in nearby waters, what kind of goods and tools people use (sell) in their daily life etc. We try to visit markets everywhere and it is not only experience but the best place to buy best local food for the best price.

8) Border crossings has working hours you cannot cross whenever you want. Check before planning.

ONE SAD BUT MAY BE WRONG NOTE:
I did not check, but it is quite possible that you will not be allowed to rent-a-car and drive through some countries crossing the borders. It is not Europe. At least I could not find a company which allow me to go to Singapore when I negotiated car in Malaysia . In this connection chances to be allowed to go to Thailand, Cambodia etc – are even lower. If it happens, I say that it is even better for you. Malaysia is very different and vast country to deserve a separate visit. We visited Malaysia on a 30 days trip staying at one place for not more than 2 nights and we did not visited even half of what we wanted to see.

You have 2 options how to move between Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur:

* flight – the best offers in 90% of cases are provided by http://www.airasia.com/ – rather new but aggressive and most competitive airlines in Asia.

* train – fast and good quality trains run many times a day from KUL to BKK and cost similar money as flights. Its an experience itself. I like train journeys in Thailand.
You may also take a train to any destination in the southern Thailand where you can pick up your Thai car to drive around Thailand.
http://www.railway.co.th/httpEng/


Good luck