My Asian Adventure

Hey everyone im new to these forums i just wanted to tell my plans and hopefully you guys can let me know if i should be doing somthing diffrently or somthing to check out or how to do certain things. This will be my 3rd backpacking trip ive already backpacked across europe and the united states so i know the basics and in my experience you get the best advice from fellow backpackers and travellers.

So im planning on landing in beijing from there i was going to do a geako tour through china nepal and tibet the tour ends in tibet and i was planning on hangin around for a little bit seeing as how i would already have the visa from the tour where are the best places to stay and see and things to experience im interested in living the way of the monk for a while if this is at all possible in tibet or even in south east asia, after tibet i was going to back pack down through the north of thailand across through laos and into north vietnam id prefer to start the south east asian trip in ho chi minh but its not logical if im coming from tibet so what would be the best way from tibet/nepal to thailand/S.E.A.

After i reach south vietnam and spend roughly a month checking out vietnam i was goin to cross into cambodia for a couple of weeks then on into thailand at this point i think i may need to obtain a 60 day visa because i intend to stay there a while and join a muay thai camp and spend a few weeks backpacking around the islands .. any information on the visa? and the islands.

my main concerns at the moment as i havnt really planned anything yet are visas, currencies (ive heard alot about using us dollars) and the weather conditions eg. warm clothing for tibet summer clothing for south east asia even though it may be winter there. any help and stories would be greatly apprecitaed and thankyou in advance - Chris

bump. just info on getting from tibet/nepal to thailand then or possibility of flying to vietnam?

To address your main concerns:

- Yes, it will be balmy in Thailand (shorts and T-shirt) and absolutely freezing in Tibet, particularly at night (thermals and lots of layers). You'll need to take an appropriate range of clothes if you're going to do both.
- There are a few possible routes from Tibet to S.E.A. The easiest is to take the new train, perhaps to Beijing, then another train to Hanoi (there is a direct Beijing-Hanoi train). Alternatively, you could take a more traditional overland route out of Tibet, perhaps to Chengdu or to Deqin in Yunnan, then on to somewhere in S.E.A. If I was going to do this route myself, I'd go for the latter - Lhasa - Deqin - Kunming - Vientiane (Laos).
- It's a good idea to have some US dollars - they are readily accepted by money changers throughout the region and are good in the sort of emergency where you're nowhere near an ATM, but there are plenty of ATMs compatible with worldwide bank cards now so if you plan a bit ahead you won't need to take too much hard currency.
- Air Asia fly Bangkok to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh.

[ Edit: Edited on 01-Jun-2009, at 01:43 by magykal1 ]