SE Asia – 6 Month Itinerary

The almost full year of travelling is drawing to a close. Don’t get me started on how I feel about it. That will be a post for another day. For now, I want to share our route through SE Asia because I’m pretty sure we nailed it. If I may say so myself.

We roughly planned our first 6 months of travelling around SE Asia. This was to take us from Phuket, Thailand in January, all the way to Bali, Indonesia in June (for my birthday). I get that a lot of people like to wing the journey. They like to meet people and base their next manoeuvre on whatever variables are presently present. This was actually something we discussed before leaving England and we mutually agreed that we didn’t want to end up following anyone else’s paths. If we met friends going the same way, great but we were bound to do our own thing from day one.

I’m a big organisation advocate. However, I do still believe that an element of winging it should be involved in these types of trips.

What the following route will provide is an efficient way to get around SE Asia without having to go back on yourself and spend unnecessary cash on transport.

Of course, you can veer off the plan wherever you want. Stay as long, or as short a time as you see fit. Venture to places we haven’t. I’m not saying you should book anything in advance either – we didn’t. That’s part of the fun. I just think it helps to have a general idea of where you’re going next. I only did this because I bloody love looking at maps.

There. I said it.

Our biggest reason for doing this was to ensure that we hit spots we’d always longed to visit. OK so sometimes, a fellow traveller will talk you out of doing something you’ve always wanted to do. Take swimming with whale sharks in The Philippines as a perfect example. There’s a difference in missing something because you decide it’s not ethical or just missing it out because you were complacent or badly organised. Knowing how much time you’ve got in a country and knowing what you want to see will allow you to plan accordingly.

If I had a Dong for every traveller I’ve met who ran out of time and missed out on something amazing…

By planning this route, we avoided the rainy season in every country we visited. My dream of successfully running away from bad weather for a year worked! We commenced our trip in January 2018, spending 1 full month in each country we visited. If you’re going to stay shorter periods of time, move through faster, or start at the different time of year, check the forecast to avoid disappointment. Or consider following the route backwards.

Bad weather in some places makes for a good storm, bad weather in The Philippines, for example, can ruin your visit.

Perfect if you’re planning a 3 – 6-month trip around SE Asia only (or plan to end in Australia or NZ).

Note: I won’t go into full detail regarding the activities in each area, these can be found on my separate itineraries for each country. If they’re not yet available, they will be.

Currency: Thai Baht

UK Visa: 30-day visa exemption

Proof of onward travel: Required (though we weren’t asked to show).

Main Religion: Mostly Buddhism

Some people love it, others hate it because they find it too touristy. Personally, I love Thailand. Thailand was the first Asian country I visited and it was my gateway. Good food, nice people, good transport links. Some people might see Thailand as being a little ‘vanilla’ nowadays, but if you’re nervous about heading to Asia, maybe vanilla is the safe first taste.

There is so much to see and do in this one country. You can see my 1-month itinerary for Thailand here. I advise starting south, in the islands and making your way north. Once you’re in the north, you’re in the prime location to cross the border into Laos. Starting in the islands will also set you off onto that initial ‘holiday vibe’.

Currency: Laos Kip (locked currency, cannot attain prior to entry).

UK Visa: 30-day visa to be purchased on entry for $35

Proof of onward travel: Not Required

Main Religion: Buddhism

Please don’t overlook Laos. Bordered by Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia it is not only convenient for travelling through but it is a beautiful country too. We hit the main touristy spots on our travels and from speaking with avid Laos fans, we know there is so much more to this country. If you’re looking for rural and off the beaten track, Laos has it. If you’re looking for some fun nights and amazing scenery, Laos has that too.

Please see my 1-month itinerary for Laos here. I advise travelling from the north-west (coming from Thailand) through to the south, ready to cross the border to Cambodia. This will take you through the main hot spots of Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Vientiane and the 4000 islands.

Currency: Cambodian Riel (locked currency, cannot attain prior to entry). US Dollar frequently used.

UK Visa: 30-day visa to be purchased on entry for $30

Proof of onward travel: Not Required

Main Religion: Buddhism

Honestly, Cambodia wasn’t one of the places I wasn’t particularly excited to visit. Now, I tell anyone who will listen to visit Cambodia. I was solely in it for the visit to Angkor Wat, but my god there is so much more.

Siem Reap is the first logical stop coming from Laos. Here you can experience the chaos of Pub Street and spend lots of time coming and going from Angkor Wat. Below I will put our route (which was dictated by our wait for some post in Sihanoukville) and an alternative route which will take you to some other spots we heard good things about. This will see you across the border into Vietnam.

Our route: Siem Reap > Phnom Penh > Sihanoukville (Otres) > Koh Rong Sanloem > Koh Rong > Otres > Phnom Penh > HCMC

Alternative route: Siem Reap > Battambang > Sihanoukville (Otres) > Kohn Rong Sanloem > Koh Rong > Otres > Kampot > Phnom Penh > HCMC

I cannot advocate using Giant Ibis enough. After some shitty local bus journeys (which are novel for about an hour and then hell for about 5 hours), Giant Ibis offer recliner chairs and Wifi on board at a very reasonable price. Treat Yo Self.

Currency: Vietnamese Dong (never gets old)

UK Visa: 15-day visa exemption

Proof of onward travel: Not Required

Main Religion: Aethiest but practice Buddhism, Taoism & Confucianism

South to north. Though you’ll meet many people who crossed in the north from Laos and will be venturing north to south. We much preferred the north so it was quite nice that our experience just kept getting better and better as we made our way up to Hanoi.

We have met many travellers who agree that travelling from the south to the north, will ensure ending your Vietnam experience on a high.

Common stops on the backpacker route include: HCMC > Mui Ne > Da Lat > Nha Trang > Quy Nhon > Hoi An > Da Nang > Hue > Phong Na > Hanoi > Ha Long Bay > Sapa

Ending in Hanoi leaves you right next to a big international airport and only a short flight away from our next stop, The Philippines.

Visa Note: Unlike Thailand, Laos and Cambodia, if you’re from the UK you will only be granted a 15-day visa exemption. This is easily extended once you’re in the country but can also be provided from tourist agencies before you cross the border. Be aware of it though.

Currency: The Philippine Peso

UK Visa: 30-day visa exemption

Proof of onward travel: Required!!!

Main Religion: Mostly Christian

One of the most beautiful places we have had the opportunity to see. The bluest water. The most amazing scuba diving. The most breath-taking sunsets. The Philippines is so vast, it’s made up of over 7000 islands so it’s good to have an idea of where you want to visit before you fly. Internal flights are short and cheap.

Our route: Manila (connecting to) > Bohol > Cebu > Coron > El Nido > Puerto Princesa > Manila > Bali

Our journey from Coron to El Nido was our highlight of the trip. You can read about our journey with Tao here. Scuba diving in Panglao, Bohol was a close second.

Visa Note: Though UK residents will be granted a 30-day visa upon entry, your airline will not let you check in without proof of a flight back out of The Philippines. We witnessed a number of people being turned away. Don’t risk it.

Currency: The Indonesian Rupiah

UK Visa: 30-day visa exemption

Proof of onward travel: Required

Main Religion: Mostly Muslim, Bali, however, is heavily Hindu

The flight from Manila to Denpasar, Bali, was cheap and lasted about 4 hours. Timing was everything here. The rain had really just started in The Philippines as May was coming to an end & the rainy season was beginning. We flew south to Bali just as the dry season commenced. We spent an entire (and expensive) month in Bali. This was because we had friends coming to join us for 2 weeks in the middle of our 30-day visa. If you thought The Philippines was vast, their islands are a drop in the ocean compared to the 17,000+ islands that make up Indonesia.

Bali tends to be a starting point in Indonesia for most, as it has easy transport links through to Lombok which can take you further east. Popular east of Lombok is Flores, which opens the way to the Komodo islands. However, travelling west can take you to Java and further to Sumatra. If you plan to cover all of the aforementioned, internal flights will almost certainly be needed. That, or a 60-day visa with a lot of boats and buses.

Finishing up your Indonesia trip somewhere like Bali or Java, it shouldn’t be hard to find an international flight through to Singapore or Malaysia. If you’re planning on visiting both, I would suggest flying into Singapore and travelling (potentially by land) through to Malaysia.

If you continue your travels north through Malaysia you’ll find yourself in the south of Thailand, having done a full circle. From here, it is easy to get yourself back to Bangkok for an international flight of your choice. Of course, ending in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, will offer you the same choice in flights.

With still a couple of months left, we sat down and talked about whether we wanted to revisit any places or try to fit in some new ones. Eventually, we decided to fly from Bali to Kuala Lumpur and make our way north through Malaysia, somewhere we hadn’t yet visited. We then ventured further north, back into Thailand. We missed out the east coast islands of Koh Phangan & Koh Tao on our first trip so it made sense for us to make our second visit to Thailand. After that, we flew from Bangkok via Singapore to east East Malaysia, Borneo.

After discussing all of our other options, we decided on flying back to Hoi An in Vietnam for our last couple of weeks, as it was one of our favourite spots. Not to mention the tailors and shops around here make it perfect for souvenir shopping. We will shortly be commencing our journey back west, managing to find reasonable flights from Hanoi to Dubai. By reasonable, I mean they were reasonably cheap. First, we fly to Manila for an 11-hour layover, then we have our flight to Dubai. Probably the most non-efficient journey we will have made the entire trip!