When people say they’re going travelling for the first time there’s one destination which comes to mind before all others and that is South East Asia. For everything from stunning national parks to boat days, diving to beach volleyball there is nothing you could possibly want to do that you cannot find here and for prices far cheaper than anywhere in Europe. This post is a one stop shop for overall experiences and advice after coming back and reflecting on 2 months in this incredible part of the world.
Money
All of the most important questions I’ve got since returning have been about money. SEA is meant to be really cheap right? £1000 a month spending money should cover it?
No chance.
Unless of course you want to spend your whole trip checking your banking app; worrying about whether a day trip or party is going to destroy your budget or you’re a 50 kilo person living off of one meal a day that is. My total spend for accommodation, interior transport, food, alcohol etc was £3654 in 2 months or £63 a day. I met people who had survived on a lot less and also people who had blown far more. When planning how much you’ll have to save up here are the main considerations I would think about:
- Food – this is where a lot of our spend came from for two reasons. Firstly there are people who can get by on a hostel breakfast consisting of toast and instant coffee and there are those who cant imagine anything worse than not having a proper coffee and a smoothie bowl in the morning. If you’re the latter that’s going to add an extra meal to pay for every day. Secondly there is only so many Asian meals you can eat in a row before you need to break the streak and end up eating a burger, pasta or pizza; again this comes at a cost. Asian meals will cost anywhere from £1-4 and western meals usually £7-15. If you’re ready to eat noodles and rice for lunch and dinner every time then you’re fine but if your a sucker for western food this is going to eat into the budget. Where you lie on this spectrum dictates whether you’ll need £5 a day or £20
- Hostels/hotels – this should come at no surprise but the higher your standards here the more expensive its going to get; especially as you get to the busier places during peak season. Hostel beds in southern Thailand were costing us as much as £15-20 a night at times. With that being said there are also places in Vietnam where a hostel will cost just £1 a night. Our average spend was £16 a night in Thailand and £5 a night in Vietnam and Laos.
- Planning – in a perfect world you’d still be able to book transport and accommodation the same day or just a few days before so that your trip could be completely flexible so that you could chose how long you would spend in each place or hostel once you are there based off of enjoyment,weather, meeting other people etc. This is still possible in Laos and Vietnam but when it comes to Thailand, especially the south, booking in advance will save you a fair bit of money and get you much better hostels and transport times. This is a bit of a lose lose and what you chose to do is largely personal preference here.
- Transport – this is a big one. Buses and trains from one place to another are pretty affordable but for longer journeys can cost up to £30/40. If you only plan to spend 2/3 days in each place then transport will quickly add up; in future I’m definitely going to plan to stay longer in each location to be able to see everything in each place but also to cut down on how much transport eats into the budget. We spent just under £300 in total for transport which averaged out at around £5 per day.
- Activities – there are 101 things to do in each and every place and a fair few of them come with a bigger price tag than you’d imagine. The bigger parties like the jungle party in Koh tao cost as much as £25 just to enter now and a lot of tourist attractions are either introducing or increasing their entrance fees. Some bigger expenses like a scuba diving course in Koh Tao (£200+), paragliding in Vang Vieng (£120) or staying in Khao sok national park for a night (£60-80) can also leave a big dent in the budget. £50 a week is a reasonable starting point here.
- Alcohol – This one is pretty self explanatory; the more you drink the more you spend. £1 a beer sounds like a dream but can quickly add up if you’re having a couple with each meal and then also going out in the evenings.
- Including Singapore – stopping in Singapore is really easy to do to tick another country off of the list – and a pretty cool one at that – but it comes at a cost … a big cost. there a reason its considered the most expensive country in the world and staying here will cost £100 a day pretty much just to breathe.
Route
While there are 1000 different ways around Asia depending on which countries you’d like to visit and how much time you’ve got there is one predominant route that the majority of people follow. This is called the Banana Pancake trail and runs from Bangkok in a circle through the north of Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and finally through southern Thailand. There are some on the internet that say that this can be done in as little as 6 weeks and how they’ve come to that conclusion is pretty baffling to me. Looking back even attempting to do the three countries that we did in 2 months was probably pretty rushed and we would have been better off choosing less places and really seeing everything they have to offer. For me, to complete this route properly should take around 4 months to be able to fully explore every location.
What if you don’t have the time or money to do 4 months?
At this point I would have a full research of each country, decide which ones you cant miss out on and drop the country or countries you don’t have the time for. You can always plan a second trip for the countries you don’t go to but revisiting the whole trail because you rushed through it the first time round is a little more annoying.
Go to southern Thailand for island life and incredible parties.
Go to northern Thailand for the best food spots and a more relaxed vibe.
Go to the North of Vietnam for some of the best scenery in the world and a coffee culture like no other.
Go to Laos for a mix of the two but with far less tourists.
Go to Cambodia for Angkor Wat and Koh Rong
We chose to skip Cambodia but we heard such good things from almost everyone we spoke to about it. The south of Vietnam is probably what I would skip if i was forced to choose now as it just doesn’t compare to the rest of SE asia.
Mopdes
In almost every location the best activities are no where near where all of the hostels are. This leaves you with 3 choices.
1 – Pay for a taxi; grab is very cheap but this quickly adds up and trying to get one back afterwards can sometimes be a challenge if it is a reasonable distance away from the town you’re staying in.
2 – Go on organised tours through a hostel – these are usually reasonable and a good way to meet new people but they run on a set schedule which doesn’t leave much freedom for how you plan your day. These also often only run on certain days of the week which often wont match when you want to go.
3 – this leaves renting a moped. Its cheaper than taxis, gives you all the freedom in the world but is it safe and worth the risk? This isn’t something I can decide for you. Its pretty easy to pick up and we did it several times but it is worth mentioning that walking around any of the areas where it is popular (Pai, Koh Tao, Krabi etc) is like walking around a hospital. There are so many people who come off and end up in bandages, crutches and occasionally much worse.
It is of course illegal as well if you don’t have an international drivers license and even then the police are just as likely to fine you anyways. This is usually about £20 but police checkpoints are pretty rare; we only saw one in 2 months away.
Is it safe?
South east Asia is one of the safest places you can choose to travel to in world and there’s largely not much to worry about. However its still wise to follow the same safety rules as you would anywhere else; these include not walking alone at night, not accepting drinks from strangers and always keeping an eye on your drink on a night out.
In general the biggest risk here is scams or petty theft so here are the most common ones;
– Taxis/tuktuks; these will take money from you at any opportunity. Grab is the safest option as you pay through the app but if you do take a taxi or a tuk tuk either make sure you negotiate a fee before you start the journey or make sure they start their meter. Otherwise they will just come up with a number when you get there and it will be extortionate.
– Mopeds; if you do choose to rent mopeds make sure you take a video of the moped at the shop before you drive away. This way you can prove any damage on the moped when you return it was there the whole time and they can’t charge you for it.
– Phone thieves; if you’re walking home at night don’t be glued to your phone; my friend almost had his stolen by someone on a moped on his walk home from a night out in Hanoi because he wasn’t paying attention.
– Tourist attractions; these are pickpocket hot spots so just make sure any bags and pockets are closed; ideally with zips.
In general the people who get into trouble here either didn’t follow these rules or were involved with drugs/sex tourism so stay away from these and you should be completely fine.
