Surely theres someone out there who can help a man in need

Have you had a look on the Far East forum CLICK HERE? You might get some more info for the type of holiday you want there

Hi Rich!

How about the Tiger Island run by Buddhist Monks....oh, I can't remember whereabouts it is
Somewhere far flung I know - my son is always on about it as he is keen to go

(If I had known about it when I was younger I'd have definitely gone there when I went to
Australia.)

The monks rely heavily on volunteers to help them each day...I think the volunteers stay there for a
minum three months...ooh sorry I really am brain dead today. (Hectic weekend. )

Maybe if you Google you might get some info about it.

When my son comes in later I'll ask him about it and post any info he can give me on here for you.

copied this from the GHE forum.
I'll throw in a couple of suggestions.
What about Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia? Very easy to travel between these destinations. Have a look at our Thailand forum.
Malaysia(loads of possible destinations there) and team it up with Singapore and Bali.

This is all very personal advice I guess, but here's mine!

Maximise your time in Asia if you don't want to work, as your money will last far longer, you'll see far more things, and you have so much to see. When I did my gap year, I started in Bangkok, was supposed to do Oz, Nz, Fiji, America & Central America, but by the time I reached Indonesia I realised anywhere else was unlikely to top the experiences I had had (and at the cost) so sold my onwards tickets, turned around and came back through Asia to India, veering through unusual parts of Indonesia & the Philippines.

Maybe just buy a ticket into Bangkok and out of Bali / Singapore, and you'll have amazing flexibility within that to see Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, China and many many others!

If you don't like flying, consider taking the Tran-Mongolian Express from Moscow - Beijing (via Ulaan Batur), and heading overland from there.

In terms of volunteering, I would use this trip as a life experience with the idea that you can go back and volunteer in future.

Thanks all for the help. I like the idea of speanding my time travelling through asia and indonesia very much and it has always been a dream of mine to go back after speading time in Malaysia and Singapore.

Travelling Sam: That sounds a wonderful idea, but I must admit I have no idea where to start? I mean did you book a flight and hostels or did you just turn up and stay wherever you could? If you get some spare time and don't mind doing it, would you mind sending me a very loose description of what you did and how long you speant etc.... You can e-mail me at * email address removed*if you want!!

Oh and how did you get from country to country?

sorry had to remove your email address. However TS can pm you of course
Fiona ht mod

That's alright, it's nothing private!

I did (in this order!) Thailand (West Coast) - Malaysia (East Coast) - Thailand (East Coast) - Malaysia (West Coast) - Singapore - Indonesia (Java, Moloccas) - Phillippines - Indonesia (More Java / Sumatra) - Brunei (only for a day doesn't count) - Thailand (North) - India (Calcutta - Varanasi - Delhi - Northern India trekking) - South India (Kerala) - Tamil Nadu - Home

Took me 10 months, and minimised my flights (had to fly Manado - Davao - Manado and Jakarta - Brunei - Bangkok - Calcutta). The rest I did by amazing (often long and frustrating train journeys). Most of my best memories were on trains (including an awesome 56 hours journey from Delhi to Bangalore), a great way to see great countries and meet places. I get frustrated by backpackers taking cheap and easy flights if they don't need to. Take the slow route!

I had nothing booked at any point, and a tight budget, and travelled by myself for the first 7 months, but you meet loads of people and make loads of friends en-route. I wish I had though booked my first 2/3 nights in Bangkok with a pick up transfer. My arrival and first day in a hell hole in Khao San Road almost put me off Bangkok for life! Everywhere else you pick by recommendations, and if you have to, by reading South East Asia on a shoestring.

Being flexible is the best approach. When I left England I had no intention of spending 5 months in Indonesia or a month in the Phillippines, but they were my happiest times! Escaping the 'banana pancake' trail (i.e. the usual backpacker routes) can lead you to amazing places, but often you can't predict these places!

We had 8 months away in 2006 so everything is quite fresh in our minds. We did:-

South Africa-Namibia-Botswana-Zimbabwe-Singapore-Malaysia-Thailand-Cambodia-Vietnam-Hong Kong-China-Australia-New Zealand-Fiji-Cook Islands-USA.

Out of the above I personally would avoid Fiji and the Cook Islands. Everywhere else is excellent.

As you are only looking at one major return flight it is tough to know what to recommend. An idea would probably be to fly to Singapore and then overland from there on the train into Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and then train to Hong Kong. After your time in Hong Kong you could then get a train (or an internal flight, quicker) to Beijing (which is a dump btw) and then continue the train travel via Xian, Suzhou to Shanghai. My advice would then be to fly back to Singapore from Shanghai (we did this, but we then flew to Sydney) and get your return flight to the UK.

Of course this plan doesn't include Japan, but as we didn't get there in 2006 I don't feel in a position to advise, but obviously it wouldn't be difficult from Shanghai to get there.

Key points:-

Singapore, good easy and gentle start to Asia, English spoken in most places.
Malaysia, similar to Singapore (especially Kuala Lumpur) but it is a huge country, and we only got to see a tiny part of it.
Thailand, Bankgok is a doddle, as are any of the beach resorts (we went to Phuket, it's pretty average tbh).
Cambodia, travel overland as part of a group tour (google Intrepid Adventures, they are excellent) to Siem Reap (Angkor Wat), maybe see Phnom Penh (it's not the best though) and then float down the Mekong to
Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) is essential, don't miss it. Hoi An is touristy, Hue is nice, Hanoi and Halong Bay are immense.
Hong Kong is a fantastic city, try and stay on HK Island if you can, but Kowloon is the backpacker area. Very easy in HK.

Then it starts getting tougher.....

Beijing is a dump in my opinion, but it is worth going for the Great Wall, Forbidden City etc. Don't get too excited about it and you'll be fine.
Xian is a nice city, and the Terracota Warriors are closeby (worth seeing, but way over-hyped).
Suzhou has a nice river area which you can boat down, indifferent nightlife though (very dodgy in places).
Shanghai is awesome, very like Hong Kong but tougher, not major amounts of English spoken. Just a great city!!

China would be easier if you book with a travel company and do a tour. We did Beijing to Shanghai, Taste of China with Intrepid and it was 10 days. English is rarely spoken in China (might be getting better since the Olympics) and without our guide we would have had problems just ordering food in the evening. It is a challenge though, and if you fancy that, do it yourself. The overnight sleeper trains are very good, not luxury but sufficient, quite big, but don't expect much in the way of great toilets or showering facilities. Be wary in China, although not particularly unsafe there are people who will try and rip you off. Avoid invitations to tea ceremonies by English speaking students in Beijing and Shanghai, two of our group got caught out by this and ended up with a massive £200+ bill on their credit cards (fortunately they managed to cancel the transactions before they went through with the help of our guide). Don't let it put you off though, China will be your toughest challenge but it will be interesting.

My advice at this point would be to join a library, research, research and do more research. Utilise the advice offered by STA Travel and Trailfinders, use the net and decide on an itinerary. You don't have to keep to it, just make sure anything you book is cancellable. Once you have an outline of an itinerary in place it will all become easier, believe me.

If you need any further help please let me know via PM or reply on here. I'm not a total expert on SE Asia by any means but we spent 7 weeks there as part of our trip in 2006, so I have some idea.

Best of luck.

My personal tip for your trip is this, do not miss out on Cambodia, it is the most fascinating country, and with such a tragic history, absolutely awesome ................

Must sees - Angkor wat in Siem Reap then take the fast boat or the Mekong Express bus to Phnom Penh , the most dilapidated but fascinating city, with a faded elegance in the french colonial buildings and some interesting but very sad sightseeing , my favourite country in SE Asia.

Thanks for all the help so far.

At the moment the main idea is just a tour of China, starting in Beijing and then travelling onto x'ian, Shanghai, Yangshou and finally Hong Kong, any other ideas for places to stop would be very helpful indeed.

I'm not allowing a massive budget for the trip so i'm thinking extending it to other countries i.e. cambodia, thailand etc... May just send me over the top (a great shame).

Plus I don't know how people can fly into one destination and then just find accomodation as they go along, i'd be far too nervous to do that I have to have everything organised.

jwhiting: How did you travel between all those countries, did you use trains/buses or fights? Plus could I be so rude to ask how much it cost you in total? Just the flights/Accomodation and transport between the countries!

Rich,
I've never felt the urge to count up how much it all cost to be honest. Bear in mind we were away for 9 months, mixed accommodation up between camping, hostels and hotels and were not put off by flying to places to save time. It was a fair chunk of money, but it was amazing.

You mention having things organised, well we pretty much did that. Sure it's great to just turn up somewhere and try and find somewhere to stay but from our experience it was far better to book hostels/hotels prior to travelling, make sure they can be cancelled at no charge and go from there. In fact if we had turned up in Brisbane on the day we did without a reservation we would have been sleeping in the street!!! There was a huge event on near the city and hotels (and most hostels) were at almost max capacity.

China for me is just alright. Shanghai was amazing but I was underwhelmed with Beijing (that's an understatement) and some of the major attractions disappointed (Great Wall unfortunately due to horrendous fog which didn't clear all day) and the Terracotta Warriors which were just ok, certainly not a major wonder of the world.
It will be a good test though but if it was me I would look more at SE Asia. Costs will be much cheaper (bear in mind most people in Cambodia get by on $1 a day) and travel is easier (whether by plane, train, boat or bus). In Hanoi in Vietnam we were staying in a $8 4* hotel until we decided to move onto HK earlier, so you can see the sort of prices you will be paying. Food is dirt cheap also.

At the end of the day it's up to you of course. When you decide on where to visit, come back and I'll try and help further (as long as I've been to the places obviously).

Enjoy the planning