Stevo985 Posted February 17, 2014 Author VT Supporter Share Posted February 17, 2014 Haha yeah it was I think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Ah Thailand, a favourite of mine. Many a great holiday spent there. Starting at the beginning, i'd choose Hong Kong over Kuala Lumpur if you're adding another destination into the mix. HK is one of the great cities of the world, up there with NYC, Paris and London IMO. KL is a decent place to go, and yes, the towers look impressive, but I find the place lacks a bit of soul. Prefer Singapore to KL. However, KL is Air Asia's main operating base and offers a plethora of connections. Bangkok is a great place to start. 3 nights there would be fine. Love the place. Phuket gets a bad rap. There are parts which are a bit trashy (Patong Beach area for example) but for every Patong there is a Karon, Kata or Kata Noi, which are much nicer. However, I do prefer the Gulf of Thailand Islands like most on here. I had a great time on Samui, its a lovely place. Plus if you're on Samui, it opens up Phagnan and Tao like others have mentioned. I'm sure whatever route you pick, you'll have a great time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnie Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Im going easter time and after hours of extensive research all I kept reading as the must see place is CHAING MAI. £30 return flight from bangkok to chaing mai. Chaing mai is where you can do the elephant treks, go the jungle, see the tigers, etc. Then from bangkok catching a flight to koh samui. When you go its the monsoon season in phucket, krabbi, phi phi (im gutted cause really wanted to see 'the beach') so best to stick to koh samui and have day trips to koh tao and koh phanegan for the full moon party. Flights to koh samui from bangkok aint cheap. £130 return. You can catch the night train then the ferry but if like me you only have a couple of weeks sure you'd want to save time and only get there in an hour. Personally think 3 nights in hong kong is enough. It has awesome night life but if I was with my gf id be bored after the 2nd night. Great place for nightlife but wasnt 'wowed' by it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I wasn't taken by Chiang Mai. Its not a bad place, I just didn't see the appeal of it. I'd done the elephant trekking in a different part of Thailand previously (trying to remember where!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnie Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 Sorry to hijack the thread :-( Where is the best place to stay in koh samui?? Dont want it too sleazy but dont want it dead. Chaweng seems to be the main place. Is it decent for couples? ? Also is there enough to do in koh tao other then diving to warrant staying for a couple of nights?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnie Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 I wasn't taken by Chiang Mai. Its not a bad place, I just didn't see the appeal of it. I'd done the elephant trekking in a different part of Thailand previously (trying to remember where!) Another guy on here said the same. Alot of people on travel forums all say chaing mai is the must go place in thailand. Although when I did my euro trip everyone was saying salzburg was a must. As pretty as it was, after an hour I was bored out my brains so can take travel sites with a pinch of salt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted February 17, 2014 Author VT Supporter Share Posted February 17, 2014 I've found return flights from Bangkok to samui for £34 plus a tenner for the ferry from the airport to the island. I think the plan at the moment is flight to Bangkok for 3 nights, flight to samui for a week (that'll be when we do visits to other islands and that), flight to Kuala Lumpur or maybe Hong Kong for a couple of nights, then home. Might deviate slightly depending on flight costs etc. Might go to Bangkok via Kuala Lumpur for example as its cheaper (and we can book a return to KL), but obviously makes it a longer journey Thank you for all the advice so far Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyh29 Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 (edited) Will give them a look. Been playing around with flights, internal flights over there are so cheap. Might go for something like London - Hongkong - Bangkok - Phuket - Kuala Lumpur - London Flights from Kuala Lumpur to London as opposed to flying from phuket are about £150 cheaper. And flights between the two are less than £50. So might tag that on to the end of it for a couple of days.Air Malaysia run the a-380 on the KL- LHR route ( not sure if it's both their daily flights or just 1 of them ) .. I'd try and get in that given the choice , but that's personal pref I'm sure someone else could come along and say don't take the 380 flight ... Edit: I like both but if I had 3 days I'd go Honkers over KL If you do go to KL book the Petronius towers trip from the UK before you leave .. if you turn up on the day you have to queue from about 7am and even then you probably won't get a ticket for that day or the next few days ... So many disappointed tourists in the queues Edited February 17, 2014 by tonyh29 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morley_crosses_to_Withe Posted February 17, 2014 Share Posted February 17, 2014 (edited) Personally, I love HK. I had a similar idea to go to either KL or HK - I'm so glad I ended up in HK. You'll find plenty to do in the three days that you're there. As for nightlife: there are some great bars down in Lan Kwai Fong. If the weather is good then people drink on the streets, and it's easy to bar hop - great atmosphere. If you want to impress the missus one night then take her to Aqua. It's a slick bar/restaurant on the 50th floor (or something) in a tower over the other side from HK island (in Tsim Sha Sui) so has a fantastic view at night when HK is all lit up. Hotels can be pricey in HK; it depends what you're looking for. We stayed in a hotel called Langham Place in Mongkok. I highly recommend it. Wherever you end up, don't worry tooooo much about location. As long as you're near to an MTR station then it'll be easy to get around. It's bloody fantastic. As for Thailand: at that time of year, just be 100% sure about the weather. The West (Phuket) and the East (Samui) will be experiencing different weather systems. You could just book your flight to Bangkok and take it from there & go where the best weather is forecasted to be. As others have said though, it's probably better out East that time of year. You'll find your money for hotels goes a long way in Bangkok - even the Lebua Tower (5* hotel used in the Hangover Two movie) is more reasonable than you'd think. If you end up in Samui then Chaweng is the obvious choice and is where all the action is, but it's not everyone's cup of tea. There are loads of little shops selling souvenirs, fake goods, suits etc along the main strip so it gets a rep of being a bit tacky. There are plenty of places to stay right on Chaweng Beach, though, and you can find something for any budget. Maynam and Lamai are decent, quieter alternatives (but if you do find yourself wanting to head into Chaweng then it's about a 15min cab ride). Once you're in Samui, you can get a fast ferry/catamaran over to Koh Phanghan and Koh Tao. Koh Phan can be bedlam if there's a full moon party, although the northern part of the island has a more chilled, beach bar feel. Koh Tao is the smallest of the three islands and is the most laid back. Edited February 17, 2014 by Morley_crosses_to_Withe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted February 18, 2014 Author VT Supporter Share Posted February 18, 2014 Great stuff. GF is now leaning towards just flying to HK and winging it. But think Samui etc will be the part of Thailand we go. Everything I've googled seems to say that's the best weather in July. Phuket etc will be wetter. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Im going easter time and after hours of extensive research all I kept reading as the must see place is CHAING MAI. £30 return flight from bangkok to chaing mai. Chaing mai is where you can do the elephant treks, go the jungle, see the tigers, etc. Then from bangkok catching a flight to koh samui. When you go its the monsoon season in phucket, krabbi, phi phi (im gutted cause really wanted to see 'the beach') so best to stick to koh samui and have day trips to koh tao and koh phanegan for the full moon party. Flights to koh samui from bangkok aint cheap. £130 return. You can catch the night train then the ferry but if like me you only have a couple of weeks sure you'd want to save time and only get there in an hour. Personally think 3 nights in hong kong is enough. It has awesome night life but if I was with my gf id be bored after the 2nd night. Great place for nightlife but wasnt 'wowed' by it. Fly to Surat Thani, it has the port that serves the three island and I think Stevo said he found cheap flights to there. I was a big fan of Chiang Mai, but if you're only there for a short break I'd do Bangkok and the three gulf islands. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted February 18, 2014 Author VT Supporter Share Posted February 18, 2014 Yep. Bangkok to Surat Thani, £34 return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted February 18, 2014 Author VT Supporter Share Posted February 18, 2014 You can get a bus from Surat Thani to Samui, including the ferry, for about a tenner I think. Google it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 I got an overnight cargo boat from Surat Thani to Koh Samui. They charge a few quid to backpackers that want to make the crossing. A nice line of mattresses all lined up across the floor side by side. It's pretty minging but an experience in itself. Alternatively just get a nice fast catamaran. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djdabush Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Air Asia do Bangkok to Surat Thani too, usually V cheap. Buy a bus and ferry ticket when you arrive in Surat Thani. We stayed in Mae Nam which is quiet but I personally preferred it that way. I've been to SE Asia quite a lot in low season, I prefer it at that time, it's quieter and cheaper. Samui and Pha Ngan don't get affected too much by the weather and even in the west it's usually only an occasionally thunderstorm followed by good weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted February 18, 2014 Author VT Supporter Share Posted February 18, 2014 I think we want to stay somewhere quiet, but not be far from somewhere a bit livelier so that we have that option Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
donnie Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 The only problem with catching the cheap flight to surat thani then the boat to samui I noticed was that the whole thing took over 4 hours. As im only there just over a couple of weeks I think id rather save time and fly directly to samui in less then an hour. Currently my plan was to only spend 2 nights 2 days in bangkok and 4 nights 3 days in chaing mai. Im debating whether to reduce a night in chaing mai to spend an extra night in bangkok?? Although all I keep reading again on travel forums is chaing mai is much much better then bangkok. Also very wary of political unrest in bangkok. 3 people killed today, I believe 8 the other day and grenades have been thrown. Something to keep an eye on for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted February 18, 2014 Author VT Supporter Share Posted February 18, 2014 The only problem with catching the cheap flight to surat thani then the boat to samui I noticed was that the whole thing took over 4 hours. As im only there just over a couple of weeks I think id rather save time and fly directly to samui in less then an hour. That's fair enough, but I think to save £100 I'll take the extra 2 hours travel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 The only problem with catching the cheap flight to surat thani then the boat to samui I noticed was that the whole thing took over 4 hours. As im only there just over a couple of weeks I think id rather save time and fly directly to samui in less then an hour. Currently my plan was to only spend 2 nights 2 days in bangkok and 4 nights 3 days in chaing mai. Im debating whether to reduce a night in chaing mai to spend an extra night in bangkok?? Although all I keep reading again on travel forums is chaing mai is much much better then bangkok. Also very wary of political unrest in bangkok. 3 people killed today, I believe 8 the other day and grenades have been thrown. Something to keep an eye on for sure. The city of Chiang Mai is definitely not better than Bangkok, but it has all the good excursions available. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
djdabush Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 The only problem with catching the cheap flight to surat thani then the boat to samui I noticed was that the whole thing took over 4 hours. As im only there just over a couple of weeks I think id rather save time and fly directly to samui in less then an hour. That's fair enough, but I think to save £100 I'll take the extra 2 hours travel. Yeah for me it's definitely worth saving the money, especially if you can find an early flight. Just bear in mind the flight will be from Don Mueang Airport rather than Suvarnabhumi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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