Thailand/Cambodia/Malaysia/Bali - Dec/Jan - help!

"Markku Grönroos" kirjoitti
.net...

"Alfred Molon" kirjoitti
s.com...

Well, the beach in Sanur sucks heavily and in any case if you are
looking for a nice beach there are much better beaches elsewhere in SE
Asia than on Bali. Bali is a destination which has better sights to

One thing which seems to speak against Bali at this case is the typical
weather conditions: in average Bali receives around 300 millimeters of rain
during December and January while Thailand perhaps one tenth of the amount.
For beachcombers the blue skies are important I reckon.

In article , Markku
Grönroos says...

Indonesia is so full of gorgeous beaches that one can pick up any of them in
a playground of approximately 10 million square kilometers in size
(equalling with Europe whose eastern edge is marked by the Ural mountains).
Some of them are easily accessible while some of them aren't.

Do you know of nice beaches in Indonesia (white coral sand, crystal
clear blue waters, palm fringed) ?
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

Forget Bali and stay longer in Thailand, especially the north. Beaches in
Bali are ghastly - either eroded (Sanur) or full of lager louts (Kuta).

"Mister Max" wrote in message
. 97.136...
posted:

PS wrote:
Hi,

My husband and I are going to Thailand/Cambodia/Malaysia/Bali from
Dec 23 - Jan 14. Below is a breakdown of the trip:

Flight to Bangkok, arrives Dec 23
Chiang Mai - 4 days
Siem Reap/Angkor Wat, Cambodia - 2 days
Phuket - 4 days
Kuala Lumpur - 2 days
Bali - 4 days
Bangkok - 4 days - fly home Jan 14

A few questions:

- Does this itinerary seem reasonable? Are there some places we
should stay less or stay longer?

Cut out Kuala Lumpur and Phuket. Add 1-2 days to Siem Reap and 3-4
days to Bali.

I agree. KL isn't interesting, and Bali has beaches plus much more. You
may want to stay in more than one place in Bali.

- What is the best way to get from one city to the other?

Plane is the only realistic way, since you don't have a lot of time.
Overland travel is very slow in most of this region.

Before you finalize this itinerary, be sure that the plane connections
that you will need really exist.


We were thinking of just booking a lot of one way flights on Air
Asia. Are there any other airline sites that I should check out?

Bangkok Airways

- I have read many posts that recommend buying flight tickets once we
reach Bangkok as they may be cheaper than buying from the US. Is
this true?

Yes.

My only concern is the risk of flights being sold out since we
are going during peak time.
- Are there any websites we can check out for reasonable hotel rates?
A lot of friends have recommended just going there and booking hotels
but no one has gone in Dec/Jan. Will we risk not finding a place?

Most of the places you named have huge numbers of hotel rooms and
there's no problem finding hotel rooms even last minute in high
season.
Siem Reap is the only place where you might want to book in advance.

How much are typical rooms with AC during this time of the year?

I had no problem finding places in the US $10-20 range in the places
you named.


No comment on the other items.

Photos and commentary on all the above on my web site.

--
MisterMax

http://buten.net/max/
Slideshows of Egypt, Jordan, Angkor Wat, Bali, Crete, France, Hudson
Valley, Malaysia, Maui, Morocco, Mt Holly, Myanmar, Shanghai, Sicily, St
Tropez, Singapore, Thailand, Tour de France.

"Viviane" kirjoitti
...
Forget Bali and stay longer in Thailand, especially the north. Beaches in
Bali are ghastly - either eroded (Sanur) or full of lager louts (Kuta).

As I have already mentioned the beach all the way from Kuta towards north
east is just fine and doesn't meet either of the two properties you suggest:

1. are eroded
2. are full of "lager louts"

Further more, Northern Thailand is not excatly famous about her beaches

"Alfred Molon" kirjoitti
s.com...
In article , Markku
Grönroos says...

Indonesia is so full of gorgeous beaches that one can pick up any of them
in
a playground of approximately 10 million square kilometers in size
(equalling with Europe whose eastern edge is marked by the Ural
mountains).
Some of them are easily accessible while some of them aren't.

Do you know of nice beaches in Indonesia (white coral sand, crystal
clear blue waters, palm fringed) ?

You have come with these ideas before. You know, there is no universal
opinion that "nice beaches" are of "white coral sand", "crystal clear blue
waters", "fringed with palm trees". As in Kuta, water movements are rigorous
at all levels from the surface to the bottom hence keeping the sediments
(sand on much of Bali) in constant move. Therefore water cannot be "crystal
clear" nor "transparent" because of it's high concentration of silts close
to the shore (an area most bathers wet their ankles). In "crystal clear"
waters on the other hand, you need polaroid filtering in order to fully
utilize the property of "crystal clear" water. Me like so many others don't
mind at all that waters of Southern Bali are not "crystal clear". We do
know that they are not crystal clear. People are not after crystal clear
waters there but of pounding waves. You might have seen all those people
there with their boards........

Those waters are in many ways more challenging than those bath tubs of
Thailand (which are also most relaxing in my opinion). Beaches have
different character. True, one prefers daughter to mother. But then there is
another lad who likes the opposite better.

Also, I don't find white sand superior to sand of other colours. For
instance brown is just fine (white sand can also turn to be painfully hot
under the sunshine). When I visited Kuta a few years back, there was this
one tree just on the beach. It wasn't a palm tree but it was very thick
growing and leafy. It provided an excellent shade (I wasn't the only one to
discover this). Also the water temperature is lower in the beaches of
Southern Bali to the waters of Thailand which I found very attractive.

"Markku Grönroos" kirjoitti
i.net...


As I have already mentioned the beach all the way from Kuta towards north
east is just fine and doesn't meet either of the two properties you
suggest:

The proper direction is naturally north west.

Alfred Molon posted:

In article .com,
says...

Flight to Bangkok, arrives Dec 23
Chiang Mai - 4 days
Siem Reap/Angkor Wat, Cambodia - 2 days
Phuket - 4 days
Kuala Lumpur - 2 days
Bali - 4 days
Bangkok - 4 days - fly home Jan 14

A few questions:

- Does this itinerary seem reasonable? Are there some places we
should stay less or stay longer?

Cut out Kuala Lumpur and Phuket. Add 1-2 days to Siem Reap and 3-4
days to Bali.

While skipping KL is an option, adding 3-4 days to Bali is nonsense,
because Bali has no nice beaches.

Alfred, it's a shame that you never got to Permuteran and the nearby
Menjamgan island, or to Amed. In both the beach is good and the
snorkelling excellent. (But I visited Bali in 1998 - perhaps you were
there recently?)


The highlights of Bali are its culture and the mountains.

Agreed.



--
MisterMax

http://buten.net/max/
Slideshows of Egypt, Jordan, Angkor Wat, Bali, Crete, France, Hudson
Valley, Malaysia, Maui, Morocco, Mt Holly, Myanmar, Shanghai, Sicily, St
Tropez, Singapore, Thailand, Tour de France.

http://pbase.com/mistermax - Shadows and Reflections

In article 36, Mister
Max says...

Alfred, it's a shame that you never got to Permuteran and the nearby
Menjamgan island, or to Amed. In both the beach is good and the
snorkelling excellent. (But I visited Bali in 1998 - perhaps you were
there recently?)

I was in Sanur in 1997 and found no nice beaches. The photos I saw of
the other Bali beaches were not that impressive. I remember that we took
a boat to an island opposite Sanur beach, which had a decent beach, but
this wasn't Bali.
--

Alfred Molon
http://www.molon.de - Photos of Asia, Africa and Europe

PS wrote:
Hi,

My husband and I are going to Thailand/Cambodia/Malaysia/Bali from Dec
23 - Jan 14. Below is a breakdown of the trip:

Flight to Bangkok, arrives Dec 23
Chiang Mai - 4 days
Siem Reap/Angkor Wat, Cambodia - 2 days
Phuket - 4 days
Kuala Lumpur - 2 days
Bali - 4 days
Bangkok - 4 days - fly home Jan 14

A few questions:

- Does this itinerary seem reasonable? Are there some places we should
stay less or stay longer?

Absolutely! Less time in Chiang Mai, more in Siem Reap. Two days
there is just sad. Be sure to see Banteay Seri as well as Angkor Wat
and Angkor Thom.

I would add a day or more on Bali, in preference to Bangkok.

- What is the best way to get from one city to the other? We were
thinking of just booking a lot of one way flights on Air Asia. Are
there any other airline sites that I should check out?

Almost any. Air Asia makes their profits by charging for excess
baggage over, I understand, 15 kilos.

- I have read many posts that recommend buying flight tickets once we
reach Bangkok as they may be cheaper than buying from the US. Is this
true? My only concern is the risk of flights being sold out since we
are going during peak time.

Sorry, don't know.

- Are there any websites we can check out for reasonable hotel rates?
A lot of friends have recommended just going there and booking hotels
but no one has gone in Dec/Jan. Will we risk not finding a place? How
much are typical rooms with AC during this time of the year?

Actually, AC is not really necessary except you would like it
everywhere except not needed on Bali except at the beaches.

On Bali, one of my very best friends is a charming and intelligent
friend who is a driver/guide who specializes in tours that meet your
interests and needs (e.g., no shopping stops unless you want to shop).
See www.balifriend.net. More comments about him if you wish.

Larry at Morro Bay, California

PS wrote:
Hi,

My husband and I are going to Thailand/Cambodia/Malaysia/Bali from Dec
23 - Jan 14. Below is a breakdown of the trip:

Flight to Bangkok, arrives Dec 23
Chiang Mai - 4 days
Siem Reap/Angkor Wat, Cambodia - 2 days
Phuket - 4 days
Kuala Lumpur - 2 days
Bali - 4 days
Bangkok - 4 days - fly home Jan 14

A few questions:

- Does this itinerary seem reasonable? Are there some places we should
stay less or stay longer?

Absolutely! Less time in Chiang Mai, more in Siem Reap. Two days
there is just sad. Be sure to see Banteay Seri as well as Angkor Wat
and Angkor Thom.

I would add a day or more on Bali, in preference to Bangkok.

- What is the best way to get from one city to the other? We were
thinking of just booking a lot of one way flights on Air Asia. Are
there any other airline sites that I should check out?

Almost any. Air Asia makes their profits by charging for excess
baggage over, I understand, 15 kilos.

- I have read many posts that recommend buying flight tickets once we
reach Bangkok as they may be cheaper than buying from the US. Is this
true? My only concern is the risk of flights being sold out since we
are going during peak time.

Sorry, don't know.

- Are there any websites we can check out for reasonable hotel rates?
A lot of friends have recommended just going there and booking hotels
but no one has gone in Dec/Jan. Will we risk not finding a place? How
much are typical rooms with AC during this time of the year?

Actually, AC is not really necessary except you would like it
everywhere except not needed on Bali except at the beaches.

On Bali, one of my very best friends is a charming and intelligent
friend who is a driver/guide who specializes in tours that meet your
interests and needs (e.g., no shopping stops unless you want to shop).
See www.balifriend.net. More comments about him if you wish.

Larry at Morro Bay, California