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Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam

Has anyone been to any of these places? Was wondering when the best time to go is, and what to do there apart from the obvious.

Reply 1

BCHL85

12

Im VNese ... so ofcourse I'd like to invite you to visit my country :wink:

. It's fantastic and everything is so cheap, you can buy a lot with not so much money :biggrin:

. I'll be your free guide if you want :smile:

.
Thailand is great place but I've never been there. Hehe, do you know what its most famous for? That's lady-boys ... careful with them :biggrin:

Cambodia, I think, it's not so great...yet, it has famous and nice temples

Reply 2

Sparkle1984

What jobs are there for gapyear people to do in these countries? I don't want to be an English teacher - I'd be no good at teaching others.

Reply 3

Zebrastripes

OP

13

BCHL85

Im VNese ... so ofcourse I'd like to invite you to visit my country :wink:

. It's fantastic and everything is so cheap, you can buy a lot with not so much money :biggrin:

. I'll be your free guide if you want :smile:

.
Thailand is great place but I've never been there. Hehe, do you know what its most famous for? That's lady-boys ... careful with them :biggrin:

Cambodia, I think, it's not so great...yet, it has famous and nice temples

Where is there to go in Vietnam/what to do? I want to go island hopping in Thailand, and up to that big city i can't remember the name of in the North. Cambodia, i only really want to see the temples, is it Angkor or something.

Reply 4

Butterfly

1

I'm planning to go to these countries + Laos during my gap year. I have read that between Nov and Feb is the best time to visit. Take a look at the Lonely Planet guide called 'South East Asia on a Shoestring' ... very interesting and helpful. Who are you going with? Sarah.x

Reply 5

Butterfly

1

PS: I think you mean Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand?

Reply 6

ben3085

7

I went to Thailand for a month last year, there's loads to do. It's called the "land of smiles" and that's no lie - although the Thai's are naturally quite shy people, everyone is always smiling!

I visited:

Bangkok - didn't really like it too much personally as it's quite dirty, smelly and crowded. Visited the Grand Palace and some other temples, but they're not the sort of thing that impresses me really. Good for 'mall'-type shopping as there's about 3 gigantic one's.

Chiang Mai - wonderful. Elephant riding, bamboo rafting, snake show, butterfly farm, jungle trecking.

Koh Phangan - went to a full moon party, one of the craziest nights in the world. Basically a massive party on Hat Rin beach involving as many drugs as you care to absorb. If you like partying then you should go to a Full Moon party at least once in your life (within the next few years would be a good idea as it's getting more and more commercial. The island is stunning, the sea is warm, the food is excellent and everything is cheap.

Some snaps:

chiang mai:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/ben3085/CIMG0247.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/ben3085/CIMG0247.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/ben3085/CIMG0230.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/ben3085/CIMG0219.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v219/ben3085/CIMG0190.jpg (bangkok)

Reply 7

BCHL85

12

well, the best time to go there I think in autumn because the weather is very nice at that time. Summer is so hot that might make you tired. Winter is cold and wet, but I think you guys can overcome. Spring is good as well with traditional New Year party. Ah, Full Moon party is in autumn :smile:

.
About my country, there're some very nice places to see such as Halong Bay, Nha Trang, or Dalat.
Sorry I can't help you about working there, cuz I really don't know what a gap-year student often does.

Reply 8

eric

I've been to all 3 countries. they are very different from each other. if you like to rock climb, thailand is heaven. it looks like you have gotten a lot of info about thailand so i will give you my beta on vietnam.

i actually didnt want to go. my fiancee talked me into getting the 30 day visa and a one way ticket into hanoi. after a few hours in hanoi i realized it was nothing like i imagined. very busy. tons of things to do. in hanoi you can sit on street side cafes and drink dark coffee or eat overflowing dishes of spring rolls and sip on 35cent beers. you can also visit the "real" dead Ho Chi Minh. plus there are some really nice museums in town.

from hanoi you can take trips up to Catba, sapa and a few other places that i have forgotten. Catba is a small town with some beaches but the journey there is the best part. you have to take a 3 hour boat ride through halong bay (also a good place to climb if you do).

by this time you have probably had enough of the sardine style busses. i recommend getting to the cooler/dried town of Dalat (i think that is the name of the small central highlands town but i could be remembering wrong.) from there we hired 2 super nice older men (they fought in the american/vietnam war). the drove us on the bike of the motorcyces for 2 days all the way down to saigon. It was the absolute highlight of our entire trip (including cambodia and thailand). they showed us little hidden treasures of vietnam that we would have never seen while on a bus.

i really recommend getting up to hanoi if you can. its really cool.

eric

Reply 9

Zebrastripes

OP

13

eric

I've been to all 3 countries. they are very different from each other. if you like to rock climb, thailand is heaven. it looks like you have gotten a lot of info about thailand so i will give you my beta on vietnam.

i actually didnt want to go. my fiancee talked me into getting the 30 day visa and a one way ticket into hanoi. after a few hours in hanoi i realized it was nothing like i imagined. very busy. tons of things to do. in hanoi you can sit on street side cafes and drink dark coffee or eat overflowing dishes of spring rolls and sip on 35cent beers. you can also visit the "real" dead Ho Chi Minh. plus there are some really nice museums in town.

from hanoi you can take trips up to Catba, sapa and a few other places that i have forgotten. Catba is a small town with some beaches but the journey there is the best part. you have to take a 3 hour boat ride through halong bay (also a good place to climb if you do).

by this time you have probably had enough of the sardine style busses. i recommend getting to the cooler/dried town of Dalat (i think that is the name of the small central highlands town but i could be remembering wrong.) from there we hired 2 super nice older men (they fought in the american/vietnam war). the drove us on the bike of the motorcyces for 2 days all the way down to saigon. It was the absolute highlight of our entire trip (including cambodia and thailand). they showed us little hidden treasures of vietnam that we would have never seen while on a bus.

i really recommend getting up to hanoi if you can. its really cool.

eric

Thank you, that is really helpful. =)

Reply 10

luce20

Apparently Cam is quite dangerous, as I know all countries can be, but I was warned against going there, well forbidden to go there by my dad and I'm 21!! I'm not quite sure what hes unsure of, but I'll ask him next time I speak to him.

Reply 11

eric

ladydeborah,
Glad i could help :smile:

luce20,
there are some places you dont want to go but i think you'd be fine in the main areas like phenom pehn and siem reap (ie. angkor wat). i was warned to stay at your hotel after dark in phenom pehn. but that was fine because the hotels are set up to be very social and a lot of fun. we stayed in a great place with a big "porch" that overlooked a lake. they had music and drinks and movies there. its a lot of fun, safe and there is no reason to go anywhere after dark

eric

Reply 12

BCHL85

12

wow, so you've been to my country, eric :smile:

. Glad that you liked it. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City are too crowded, but they have their own attraction. Other big city is Hue, if you had visited it, you would loved its poetic beauty. Dalat is so nice, I am sure you loved the weather and field of flowers there, right? Also, Nha Trang has natural and uninfected beach, which noone can't love.

Reply 13

eric

what city are you from, BCHL85?

Reply 14

Zebrastripes

OP

13

Where are the 'killing fields' and what exactly are they? People keep mentioning them to me, but it goes straight over my head at times.

Reply 15

eric

The killing fields are in Phenom Pehn. Basically it is the site and memorial to those who were killed under the khmer rouge. i dont know the exact figure, but millions were tortured and killed in the 70's. mass graves were dug for the bodies.

if you go the the killing fields you will see the grave pits, a memorial to those who died (which is filled with skulls) and an old school house that was turned into a death/concentration camp. the school was a very powerful place for me.

Reply 16

braders89

1

my brother has gone thailand to teach english for 3 months.

At the moment he's going round the country, and especialy hepling with tsunami relief effort on the coast and nearby islands untill the school term starts.

Going away to places like these is a real character builder aswell

Reply 17

ben3085

7

braders89

my brother has gone thailand to teach english for 3 months.

At the moment he's going round the country, and especialy hepling with tsunami relief effort on the coast and nearby islands untill the school term starts.

Going away to places like these is a real character builder aswell

presumably he's on a scheme connected to a charity or something?

couldn't give me a website or some more information, could you? sounds like something i might do.....