Southeast Asia On a Rope: Thailand and Laos , livre ebook

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169 pages

English

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Description

Using nearly two hundred color pictures, this guidebook illustrates the charm and adventure of traveling to Thailand and Laos. The guide is aimed at the cost conscious, but not the cost adverse.

"A Traveler on a Rope" is neither traveling on a shoestring, nor toting, or having another tote, Hermes luggage. Cost is an object but so is comfort. She recognizes the danger of a luxury cocoon as well as the tedium of a shared bathroom.

The guide offers unvarnished recommendations on food, lodging and sights. With this guide you may stay in the same suite enjoyed by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie for under eighty dollars a night.

Equally important, tips are shared to assist each traveler to plan, and memorialize, his perfect Southeast Asian trip.

Sujets

Pictorials

Travel

Informations

Publié par	eBookIt.com
Date de parution	27 avril 2016
Nombre de lectures	3
EAN13	9781456623692
Langue	English

Informations légales : prix de location à la page 0,0150€. Cette information est donnée uniquement à titre indicatif conformément à la législation en vigueur.

Extrait

Southeast Asia on a Rope: Thailand and Laos

by
Larry Stein

Copyright 2014 Larry Stein,
All rights reserved.

Published in eBook format by eBookIt.com
http://www.eBookIt.com

ISBN-13: 978-1-4566-2369-2

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Planning
Itineraries
Preparation
Vaccinations
Health Insurance
Insects
Visas
What to Pack
Jet Lag
Overseas Flights
Southeast Asian Flights
Selecting Hotels
Cell Phones
Caffeine Colonies
Vacation Photography
Equipment
Shooting
Laos
Luang Prabang
Vientiane
Thailand
Nong Khai
Khon Kaen
Bangkok
Sukhothai
Chiang Mai
Mae Hong Son
Author’s Note
Foreword

Road near Si Satchanalai, Thailand

A traveler on a shoestring tightly holds Lonely Planet , while scrolling through backpacker social media. A traveler toting, or having another tote, Hermes luggage, has ample resources, including a trip planner.

My intended reader is neither unwashed (great or otherwise) nor anointed. Cost is an object, but so is comfort. She recognizes the danger of a luxury cocoon as well as the tedium of a shared bathroom.

With this guide, for fewer than eighty dollars per night, you will stay in the same bungalow enjoyed by Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Get planning tips that will save you hundreds of dollars. Luxuriate in your own row of seats on an economy airline.

Prices quoted in this book are generally good as of October 2014. Hotel prices are based on winter rates from Agoda.com. Agoda.com has competitive prices on the broadest listing of hotels in the region.

This book is not a substitute for Lonely Planet and TripAdvisor . I have neither the resources nor the desire to write a comprehensive guide. Rather, I share the places I love, and the planning techniques to discover your own geographic happiness.

My itineraries are biased towards cultural and historical sites. Beach communities, perhaps because I live an easy drive from the ocean, are better covered elsewhere.

This book has over two hundred pictures. Is a picture worth a thousand words? I have seen horrible pictures. Some that may be worth only a few expletives. But I'm advising you where to eat, sleep and what to see. Seeing is believing, even if you have no reason to trust the words of some retired attorney you have never met.

I do have the big picture. Pictures are big. A picture contains more data than a thousand words. I originally intended an omnibus book covering all my travels in Southeast Asia. I had to throw that idea under the bus, or risk driving your tablet off the road. This book is devoted to Thailand. In New Orleans, a gift of something extra is called a lagniappe. Because of the close connection between Laos and Northeastern Thailand, I have added coverage of parts of Laos as a lagniappe.

The second book will be a guide to Cambodia and Myanmar. Both books contain the same opening sections, including itineraries to all four countries. If you buy both volumes, you may practice speed-reading.

To fully enjoy this book, please read it with a computer, tablet, or color e-reader. Otherwise, the pictures will be in fifty shades of grey.
Planning

A Tuk Tuk driver taking a break in Luang Prabang, Laos

Trip planning is a life skill that applies as easily to Cajun Country as it does to Southeast Asia. The Internet information explosion, allows customization of trips in a way once unimaginable. Shape this information with the three “P”s of travel, Priorities, Price and Pace.

Start with total immersion. Explore multiple sources, hopefully including this e-book. Read reviews on TripAdvisor , not only of places to stay, but also of restaurants and sights. Check out online information from Frommers, Fodors, Lonely Planet and any other sources that come up in searches.

As you surface from your immersion, factoids dripping everywhere, priorities will bubble up. For instance if historic sites excite, you might target Bangkok for Wat Pho and the Grand Palace, Sukhothai for its historical park, Siem Reap for Angkor Wat, and Bagan for its 3000 temples.

Shoppers will add the Russian Market in Phnom Penh, the Sunday Night Market in Chiang Mai, the weekend market, as well as the maze of malls in Bangkok. For incomparable jade, explore the shops near the Jade Market in Mandalay or Bogyoke Aung San Market in Yangon. Lacquerware abounds in Bagan.

Foodies will be drawn to the different regional cuisines of Thailand and to the well seasoned, but not spicy, cuisine of Cambodia. When in Cambodia, crustacean fanciers will flood the Crab Market in Kep.

People wanting to get away from other tourists will not even want me to mention their secret sites. Also in the course of your reading, you will discover one or more hotels that are worth a special stop.

Trekkers, photographers, and animal lovers will also have places and events that pique their interest.

After your data dip, list the must-go places, and where applicable, must- do dates, such as Sunday in Chiang Mai, for the night street market. Also include some places of interest that you might consider.

Come up with a horseshoe shape connecting all of the places you most want to go. Use a horseshoe, because it is generally more efficient to have a different start and end point. An exception is if there is a reason to return to a location. For instance, you might go to Bangkok to choose fabrics and be fitted for clothes. You then would return as your last stop for final fittings.

Price will alter your horseshoe. Begin to check travel connections. You will discover some anomalies. The shortest distance between two points is not always the cheapest, or even the fastest. Hotel prices too, may vary based on day of the week. So too may be the case with your international flights.

Distance, price and time constraints will force the choice between bus and plane, and occasionally, boat.

Next consider the final “P,” pace. Determine the minimum number of days necessary to enjoy each destination. Don’t take the fun out of your vacation. When possible, sight rich sites, like Siem Reap, should be followed by a less demanding locale. Allow enough days at historical sites so that you can take long midday breaks. Perhaps the morality of an aging baby boomer is creeping in, but, where possible, avoid one-night stands.

Make your first stop, after your long flight, an easy destination with good accommodations. Similarly, spend a little extra for accommodations at your last stop. Avoid burnout.

Make sure that your itinerary meets any timing priorities such as a once or twice weekly flight. If it does not, adjust your start date accordingly. Count the number of nights. If you have exceeded your available vacations days, start making adjustments by either dropping a destination or shaving days. Sometimes catching an early flight can allow enough time in a destination while dropping one night.
Itineraries

Oxcart in Bagan, Myanmar

The planning process is illustrated by my two most recent trips. In 2011 I traveled alone, although coordinating with a friend for part of the trip.

My highest priority was Siem Reap for the Angkor temples, including Angkor Wat. As a second Cambodian stop, the French colonial buildings and active quay of Phnom Penh held sway. Luang Prabang is a heritage city in Laos that is becoming ever more popular. I wanted to go before it's totally overrun.

Nong Khai was on my list of places to chill. Khon Kaen is one of the largest cities in Isaan, but with virtually no tourists. I lusted after Isaan sausage at the night market, and a city with only locals and expats.

I wanted to visit the historical park at Sukhothai and the related sites at nearby Si Satchanalai and Kamphaeng Phet.

To take a day trip to Myanmar, I considered the Thai border city of Mae Sot. Chiang Mai was a possibility, but I had been there before so it was not a high priority. Chiang Rai was a lower priority. I enjoy big cities and looked forward to returning to Bangkok.

Now I tried to connect the dots.

I first checked international flights. A few airlines had flights from Los Angeles to Phnom Penh. Starting in Phnom Penh and returning from Bangkok was only $70 more than flying roundtrip to Bangkok. To save money I planned on leaving and returning midweek. Tuesdays and Wednesdays usually have the lowest fares. Although having some flexibility, I intended to travel for about four weeks.

Phnom Penh is a good starting point after a long flight since there are few truly major sights, and excellent, reasonably priced, accommodations.

Before making flight reservations, I began checking travel options from Phnom Penh. Well reviewed VIP buses, make the trip to Siem Reap in under six hours, including a stop for lunch, and cost about $12. VIP is generally a notch above 1 st Class buses. This access made Phnom Penh a reasonable starting point.

I started with checking the travel connections for a classic horseshoe. The most used land crossing from Cambodia to Thailand is at Poipet, but there is smaller, easier, border crossing at O Smach, about a 5 to 6 hour taxi ride from Siem Reap. After crossing to Chong Jom, buses run about five times a day to the city of Surin and take roughly two hours.

Khon Kaen is a four-hour bus trip from Surin. From there Nong Khai, a mellow town on the Mekong, is a three and a half hour bus ride.

Vientiane, the capital of Laos is just across the river from Nong Khai. Vientiane is the quickest way to get to Luang Prabang, to start the other half of the horseshoe. Multiple flights per day connect the two cities at a cost of about $100. The mountai