Around SE Asia

Here are some rough travel thoughts / suggestions on where else you could visit - just to give you a flavour of the place. Plus it does make it cheaper if you stop off en route to Singapore.

Thailand

Strictly speaking it is the rainy season in the summer months in Thailand, however we have been to BKK in August and Krabi in Oct and we saw no rain what so ever, similarly we went to Koh Samui in Feb (the ‘dry’ season) and it rained every day – but even then it was only for an hour or two at most.

To quote: "While the typical rainy season pattern is of sunny days punctuated by short, heavy afternoon showers, you could just as easily end up with ten days of straight rain - or sun!”

In short, SE Asia is a tropical weather system.. so it can rain any time of year.

If you do decide to go to Thailand in July we are told that the weather will be better in the South. You could try Koh Samui (you can fly there directly from Singapore on Bangkok airways Bangkok Air) or Krabi. Having checked out Tiger Airways, currently you can fly to Krabi (Southern Thailand) on the 26th July – return to Singapore on 2st August for S$153 (55 pounds) per person.

Or there’s Bangkok. There’s some great cultural things to see, and some cool bars/restaurants. Air Asia, Tiger Airways and JetStar Asia (part owned by Qantas), all have cheap flights from BKK-Sing and vice-versa so you could quite easily fly in/out of Bangkok rather than Singapore if the flights from London are quite a bit cheaper. At the moment flights from BKK to Sing are available at 35 pounds return on JetStar Airways.

Indonesia:

It is however the perfect time of year to go to Bali.

Don’t know your thoughts on going there given the bombings. but we have been there a couple of times – and love the island, the Hindu culture and the people. Plus the food and beer's not bad either!

There’s lots to see.. in terms of temples/culture/rice paddy fields (there’s more to Bali than the beach – in fact the beaches in Thai/Mal are much nicer..)

Having checked out JetStar Airways, you can currently you can fly to Bali (Denpasar) on the 25th July – return to Singapore on 1st August for S$155 (55 pounds) per person.

Malaysia:

There are many beautiful islands including the Perhentian/Redang islands (North East Coast) or Langkawi (North West) or Tioman (you can fly there from Singapore in about 45 mins). The east coast is the more beautiful.. amazing coral and snorkelling (though the big turtles there once were are few and far between). If you are feeling adventurous.. you could do something like get the overnight train from Singapore up to Kota Bharu, visit there, then get another train up to Thailand near where you get the ferry to Koh Samui – and then fly from Koh Samui up to Bangkok. Depends on the hassle vs adventurousness..

Alternatively Air Asia operate flights through Malaysia. You could also consider Sabah/Sarawak (Malaysian Borneo) to climb Mountains (Mount Kinabulu) or see Organ-Utans in the world.

There are also National Parks in Peninsula Malaysia (Taman Negara) or you can visit Hill Stations/Tea Plantations in the Cameron Highlands or visit the more historic towns of Penang/Melaka.

Other Suggestions:

Australia: It’s a good time of year to go to Northern Australia (Cairns/Great Barrier Reef) and flights to Oz tend to go via Singapore anyway.

Vietnam/Cambodia:
Neither is a beach holiday really…. We went to Vietnam in August, weather was hot & dry (despite it in theory being the rainy season) – you can get cheap flights to Hanoi & Ho Chi Minh City with the airlines above now.. In Cambodia you could visit Anchor Wat – and in either you can do a Boat trip down the Mekong.

If you're really stuck...:
You can always email us at 22July2006@gmail.com
and young Sarah has promised to don her travel guide hat and name badge on to try and help you make the most of your trip down to Singapore