Very OT: Holiday Destinations

[banglemangle]

Rooty Hill?

[BBK]

Originally Posted by zenderm3

Rich,

I'm not a big fan of Dubai - unless you want to see lots of brand named shops, otherwise resorts etc aren't any better than the pacific islands and places like Hawaii.

As to your comments about India - I'm thinking you're being a little narrow minded about India as a country. As my parents are ex-pats, and I've been there several times... I get where you're coming from, but there is a lot more to see and do than you realise.... I will conclude my point by saying, its your life - and there are a lot more Indians then there are Australians (and soon to be anybody else).

Muahahhahhaa

We've stayed in Dubai before and loved it... You have met my wife, she LOVES brand name shops We also stayed at the Burj Al Arab, can't imagine many other hotels being better than this. http://www.jumeirah.com/en/hotels-an.../burj-al-arab/


As for my thoughts on India, maybe it came across a bit rude and narrow minded, I apologise if it offends anyone. I won't lie in saying that India scares me a little. First time I ever saw a machine gun in real life! [/COLOR]

[Taymaishu]

Originally Posted by BBK

As for my thoughts on India, maybe it came across a bit rude and narrow minded, I apologise if it offends anyone. I won't lie in saying that India scares me a little. First time I ever saw a machine gun in real life!

Fair enough

I slept in Charles de Gaulle airport overnight with armed army officers patrolling with dogs - felt very safe to be honest!

India is very, very, very different. The way i explain it to people is that it just overwhelms you and blows you away when you're there - shocks you to your core with culture and beauty and the dark side as well.

When i'm away from it - i really miss it.

[BBK]

Originally Posted by Taymaishu

The way i explain it to people is that it just overwhelms you and blows you away when you're there - shocks you to your core with culture and beauty and the dark side as well.

.

That's the thing I guess, when I'm on holiday, I don't want to see the dark side of anything! I'm there to enjoy myself, have some fun and relax. I hate having to have to watch out for things and be on gaurd. I guess that's why we didn't like Rome

[MikeVictor]

If you've got a week, Beijing could be an option. There's plenty to do; the Great Wall, Forbidden City, shopping for your wife, Summer Palace, GREAT food as well as some nice 5 star hotels that don't cost the earth.

I was there in early June this year with the fiance and we loved it.

Bon voyage wherever you go

[TimMc]

2nd the vote for Phi Phi Don, but stay at the relaxed northern end, not the southern township. Hire a long boat for a day for bugger all $ to take you where ever you want including Phi Phi Leh where "The Beach" was filmed.

If you want really relaxed, check out Lord Howe. Just stay away during school holidays. Seems to be undiscovered by most Aussies but struth it's beautiful.

I see you've ruled out Sth America, but if you ever get a chance check out Rio & Buenos Aires - the "Paris of the south". Plenty of sights and shopping.

I'm not far behind you Zuzu...

[BMW86]

Originally Posted by Taymaishu

Fair enough

I slept in Charles de Gaulle airport overnight with armed army officers patrolling with dogs - felt very safe to be honest!

India is very, very, very different. The way i explain it to people is that it just overwhelms you and blows you away when you're there - shocks you to your core with culture and beauty and the dark side as well.

When i'm away from it - i really miss it.

I completely agree. It's not as bad as what you think and if you're a foreigner you will receive extra care. I find the worst thing that can happen is that you get overcharged on cab-fares or when buying things from markets etc if your bargaining skills aren't up to scratch.

I've stayed in some pretty horrific places in my backpacking days, some places as cheap as AU$2 a night. For eg. you should never arrive in a city late at night, especially if you haven't organised transportation and accommodation, both of which I never did. We arrived in Hong Kong and dropped off in the most ghetto of areas, walked around with backpacks for a good 15 minutes at 2am in the morning and there pimps, hustlers, and prostitutes everywhere. Vans would randomly pull up, we were offered drugs constantly and we had a group of young guys follow us. We ended up paying some random guy who approached us to stay in what we thought was a "room" for I can't remember how much. It turned out to be a bathroom in a very run down building, the shower-heads had been ripped off etc. I know we got scammed but we didn't care for the price we paid we just needed to get off the street. We ended up piling our stuff up against the door so nobody could get in until we ventured out to find a new place in the morning. We didn't really have a choice, but I've been used to being put in situations like this before.

On the flip side, I've been to Koh Phangan, a very well known party island in Thailand. Long story short, my mates had to carry me to the "hospital" which is the size of a normal bedroom because I jumped onto a plank of wood on the beach which was full of rusty nails which ended up broken in my feet. As I waited there a local man was brought in with a stab wound and we were all asked to wait outside. Somehow, a riot broke out and the locals went crazy on the guy who stabbed him who was a tourist. We were forced to hide in a garden for over an hour whilst we watched the locals go nuts and smash the tourist with a plank of wood repeatedly. Anyone in the vicinity got the same treatment. In the meantime, police turned up and were out-numbered and let the riot settle down Worst part was, the garden we lay in had a view of the guy who was stabbed who ended up bleeding out to death because they didn't know how to help him

These are a couple of extreme examples of things that happened to me in places I least expected. Because you are travelling with Jess I imagine you will be spending a bit of cash so you shouldn't have any dangerous or wild experiences like this because you won't be put into that situation. Also, if you do happen to travel to India or another country in Asia, I've found that their "5 Star" really is "5 Star" compared to what we get here. Unfortunately it is true that there are extreme cases of poverty but on the flip-side the wealthy know how to live it up too.

Originally Posted by mattyv

If you've got a week, Beijing could be an option. There's plenty to do; the Great Wall, Forbidden City, shopping for your wife, Summer Palace, GREAT food as well as some nice 5 star hotels that don't cost the earth.

I was there in early June this year with the fiance and we loved it.

Bon voyage wherever you go

+ 1 Matty

Great Wall was fantastic and breath-taking but I thought the Forbidden City was a bit overrated I felt like it was just another thing to tick off the list when I got there. Still glad I went though!

Originally Posted by TimMc

2nd the vote for Phi Phi Don, but stay at the relaxed northern end, not the southern township. Hire a long boat for a day for bugger all $ to take you where ever you want including Phi Phi Leh where "The Beach" was filmed.

If you want really relaxed, check out Lord Howe. Just stay away during school holidays. Seems to be undiscovered by most Aussies but struth it's beautiful.

I see you've ruled out Sth America, but if you ever get a chance check out Rio & Buenos Aires - the "Paris of the south". Plenty of sights and shopping.

I'm not far behind you Zuzu...

+ 1

I don't know what Phi Phi is like today as I haven't been there in a couple years but a lot of development is going on there. I noticed big changes each time I went there after the tsunami as pretty much the entire island had to be rebuilt. The people there are unbelievably nice there. As Tim said, you can hire a taxi boat for a couple dollars and check out Phi Phi Leh. Maya Bay is the name of the beach where "The Beach" was filmed, but there's not a lot to do there. There's heaps of things to do in Thailand like snorkelling, cliff diving, fishing etc for really cheap so I think it's the best option.

[BMW86]

Sorry for my rant, travel talk gets me so excited! The one thing I love more than my 1er!

[amk2912]

Originally Posted by BMW86

Maya Bay is the name of the beach where "The Beach" was filmed, but there's not a lot to do there.

Beautiful spot when I was there but it was spoilt by those ****ing longboats incessantly revving their outboards.

[amk2912]

Originally Posted by Taymaishu

Fair enough

I slept in Charles de Gaulle airport overnight with armed army officers patrolling with dogs - felt very safe to be honest!

Hah....you wanna try sleeping in Jan Smuts Airport (Johannesburg, South Africa). This was back in the early 1980's. My cousin and I took it in turns to stay awake.

[xa-coupe]

Close to home:
Japan: awesome, didn't know if I was going to like it as I hate crowds but I love tokyo.
Malaysia, specifically Penang: been a while but it was really resorty in Batu Ferringhi but culture is a short taxi ride away. Langkawi is pretty good too.
Cambodia: poverty and history can be confronting but a beautiful place and people. Probably safer than Melbourne these days.
Vietnam: your wife speaks the lingo, that has to make it easier ! Stay away from the war museums in HCMC though unless you want a lesson in History Is Written By The Victors. Great hotels from 20-50 a night.. we are talking 3 star minimum.
NZ: Stick to the south island and it's great... except for earthquakes.

For my money ... Japan or Cambodia ... or Vietnam ... or Malaysia or NZ

Enjoy choosing. I am planning on being in HK in November too !

[sparoz]

Originally Posted by xa-coupe

Close to home:
Japan: awesome, didn't know if I was going to like it as I hate crowds but I love tokyo.
Malaysia, specifically Penang: been a while but it was really resorty in Batu Ferringhi but culture is a short taxi ride away. Langkawi is pretty good too.
Cambodia: poverty and history can be confronting but a beautiful place and people. Probably safer than Melbourne these days.
Vietnam: your wife speaks the lingo, that has to make it easier ! Stay away from the war museums in HCMC though unless you want a lesson in History Is Written By The Victors. Great hotels from 20-50 a night.. we are talking 3 star minimum.
NZ: Stick to the south island and it's great... except for earthquakes.

For my money ... Japan or Cambodia ... or Vietnam ... or Malaysia or NZ

Enjoy choosing. I am planning on being in HK in November too !

What's the deal with HK in November - I won't be there, but I would be transitting through there lol. I have got a big 17 hrs to do everything like visiting my parents on the way back. HK is a fantastic place to visit if you haven't got relatives.

[BMW86]

Originally Posted by xa-coupe

Close to home:
Japan: awesome, didn't know if I was going to like it as I hate crowds but I love tokyo.
Malaysia, specifically Penang: been a while but it was really resorty in Batu Ferringhi but culture is a short taxi ride away. Langkawi is pretty good too.
Cambodia: poverty and history can be confronting but a beautiful place and people. Probably safer than Melbourne these days.
Vietnam: your wife speaks the lingo, that has to make it easier ! Stay away from the war museums in HCMC though unless you want a lesson in History Is Written By The Victors. Great hotels from 20-50 a night.. we are talking 3 star minimum.
NZ: Stick to the south island and it's great... except for earthquakes.

For my money ... Japan or Cambodia ... or Vietnam ... or Malaysia or NZ

Enjoy choosing. I am planning on being in HK in November too !

Nice list of places you've been to mate!

+ 1 on everything

[BBK]

Originally Posted by xa-coupe

Close to home:
Japan: awesome, didn't know if I was going to like it as I hate crowds but I love tokyo.
Malaysia, specifically Penang: been a while but it was really resorty in Batu Ferringhi but culture is a short taxi ride away. Langkawi is pretty good too.
Cambodia: poverty and history can be confronting but a beautiful place and people. Probably safer than Melbourne these days.
Vietnam: your wife speaks the lingo, that has to make it easier ! Stay away from the war museums in HCMC though unless you want a lesson in History Is Written By The Victors. Great hotels from 20-50 a night.. we are talking 3 star minimum.
NZ: Stick to the south island and it's great... except for earthquakes.

For my money ... Japan or Cambodia ... or Vietnam ... or Malaysia or NZ

Enjoy choosing. I am planning on being in HK in November too !

Thanks mate, Japan I think is looking like top 3 choices.

Japan
Dubai
Hawaii
NZ
Vietnam


I think this is the shortlist.

[Taymaishu]

Originally Posted by amk2912

Hah....you wanna try sleeping in Jan Smuts Airport (Johannesburg, South Africa). This was back in the early 1980's. My cousin and I took it in turns to stay awake.

Ah man! I spent 6 hours in the new Joburg Airport in 2008. As soon as you step outside, man does it feel dodgy.

I can only imagine how it felt in the 80s....

[sbce90]

Originally Posted by amk2912

Hah....you wanna try sleeping in Jan Smuts Airport (Johannesburg, South Africa). This was back in the early 1980's. My cousin and I took it in turns to stay awake.

Originally Posted by Taymaishu

Ah man! I spent 6 hours in the new Joburg Airport in 2008. As soon as you step outside, man does it feel dodgy.

I can only imagine how it felt in the 80s....

also in africa, major riots broke out in Zimbabwe the day we were leaving back in '97. it was an interesting final leg of an around the world trip :S

anyway, i vote for Vietnam. great place.

[amk2912]

I know India is off OP's agenda but I'd go there just for the food. Love curries to the max...just as long as I have a big box of Lomotil on hand!

Crappest food in my travels....USA!

[BMW86]

Originally Posted by amk2912

I know India is off OP's agenda but I'd go there just for the food. Love curries to the max...just as long as I have a big box of Lomotil on hand!

Crappest food in my travels....USA!

I struggled to find any good food in Japan except for some good sushi places which cost an arm and a leg!

[xa-coupe]

Originally Posted by sparoz

What's the deal with HK in November - I won't be there, but I would be transitting through there lol. I have got a big 17 hrs to do everything like visiting my parents on the way back. HK is a fantastic place to visit if you haven't got relatives.

There's something going on... another forum I haunt has someone in HK November. I do it to escape the Melbourne Cup hysteria.

Originally Posted by bmw86

Nice list of places you've been to mate!

+ 1 on everything

Thanks, I have picked up the travelling bug in the last 15 years .. SEA is damned cheap and everyone is fantastic to us despite we must look like we flaunt our wealth to them.. well, we are wealthy by their standards.. by Aus I am lower middle class

Interestingly, the only attitude I got anywhere was in Hanoi. I went out to the suburbs to look at something and the people were overtly hostile .. the taxi driver told us they thought we were Americans. I am taking T shorts with Aussie flags on it next time !

Originally Posted by bmw86

I struggled to find any good food in Japan except for some good sushi places which cost an arm and a leg!

In Japan I found out that Ramen is like liquid heaven .. nothing I have had here is anything like it. I also found that the restaraunts where no one speaks English are the best. I can't eat sea food so I was limited in choice. What I did get was from a tiny picture from an ordering machine that probably doubles as a vending machine. It was a near sexual experience, too bad I have no idea what it was to order again !

All this reminiscing is making me want to go back !

[BMW86]

Originally Posted by xa-coupe

Thanks, I have picked up the travelling bug in the last 15 years .. SEA is damned cheap and everyone is fantastic to us despite we must look like we flaunt our wealth to them.. well, we are wealthy by their standards.. by Aus I am lower middle class

Interestingly, the only attitude I got anywhere was in Hanoi. I went out to the suburbs to look at something and the people were overtly hostile .. the taxi driver told us they thought we were Americans. I am taking T shorts with Aussie flags on it next time !


In Japan I found out that Ramen is like liquid heaven .. nothing I have had here is anything like it. I also found that the restaraunts where no one speaks English are the best. I can't eat sea food so I was limited in choice. What I did get was from a tiny picture from an ordering machine that probably doubles as a vending machine. It was a near sexual experience, too bad I have no idea what it was to order again !

All this reminiscing is making me want to go back !

I agree with you there mate. SEA is so appealing because of the all mighty Australian dollar which can buy you almost anything and still be able to give a nice tip. I've been to all the places you've mentioned except Vietnam which I would really like to go to at some point.

Japan - When we went it was around the time Bird Flu was floating around so i was really hard to find any chicken. My best mate who I travelled with is half Scottish and half Malaysian so he's Muslim and can't eat pork which was the only meat we could find anywhere which made it a bit hard on us. We still had a great time though. That's unfortunate you don't eat seafood! Tokyo is amazing and very advanced. My other best mate has wild blonde hair and is your typical surfer and he was treated like a celebrity. We couldn't go an hour without randoms coming to take photos with him lol. It was fun at first but got annoying after a while!
Malaysia is fantastic - I've been to KL about 6 times and Penang a couple times because my mate has an apartment there opposite the beach. KL is great for shopping and is a very modern city. Penang is great to relax and unwind.
Cambodia - we basically chose this over Vietnam because we wanted to Angkor Wat which was a great experience. Plenty of memorable stories here and it reminded me a lot of India. The people here are very friendly too.
NZ - I've only been out in Auckland it's exactly the same as OZ!!

I'm with you about going back. All this reminiscing is making me double and triple check prices of flights overseas. I find in most SEA counties they can tell you are Aussie's from a mile away or they are really good at guessing. When I used to backpack a lot I had the flag of each country sewn onto my backpack which served as a memento and helped keep track of where I'd been. Of course I have a big Aussie flag on the top

[sbce90]

Originally Posted by xa-coupe

I also found that the restaraunts where no one speaks English are the best.

obviously! these restaurants aren't catered towards tourists. (double meaning too )

Originally Posted by BMW86

we basically chose this over Vietnam because we wanted to Angkor Wat which was a great experience.

+1 Angkor Wat is simply stunning.

i love travel so much

[xa-coupe]

Angkor Wat is great but I found the other temples, particularly Ta Phrom even better.
Handy hint though, stay away in their summer @%@#@ it's hot ! It was 40 something every day we were there in early June!
Phnom Penh was a lot better this year than I remembered it from before... probably had something to do with not getting food poisoning in Thailand before hand