What's your favorite place in South East Asia?

I like to consider myself a big time traveler but I realize that this is not the case. Sure I did move very far away from my home country in order to work and that is pretty special in my mind but I have decided that I am not going to be a teacher for much longer and I am going to take the advice that several people have given about how TEFL education shouldn't be considered a career and move back home, even though I don't really want to.

Before I go back and get a career in the workforce that I hopefully don't totally loathe, I want to travel around a bit more but it's a big world so maybe some of you out there can give me a fast track on some advice on where to go since my time will be too limited to explore and it will be likely a very long time before I can come back.

I'd like to hit a few places that people consider to be absolutely awesome and preferably it would be nice if they weren't crazy expensive.

src

I've only ever traveled around Thailand and if I had to choose my favorite place in all of it to visit, I would say that it is Phuket. There's a lot of reasons to not like Phuket and some people give it a bad rep. There is a lot of sex tourism that goes on there and this is undeniable. If that's your thing then I say go for it. The girls that work there are not there against their will but honestly, looking at it from afar it seems pretty sad to me. I'm not judging though! I think people can go ahead and do whatever they want as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else - it's just not my thing.

Phuket on the other hand is a lot more than the world's oldest profession: It is also home to some of the most amazing beaches I have ever seen.

src

While it seems that most people gravitate towards the very popular Patong Beach, I feel like the beaches further to the south such as Kata, Karon, and especially Nai Harn Beach are just out of this world amazing. The surf during certain times of year is almost dangerously good and I have been trying my hand at surfing and body-boarding whenever I can at these places. They tend to have far fewer people on them as well and I go to these places as often as I can.

src

While I am certainly no expert, I think that Kata beach has the widest range of accommodation and food options so this is a very budget-friendly area compared to the others. Nai Harn is the best beach in my opinion but there are so few places to stay here that I believe that it is better to get a room somewhere nearby and just rent a motorbike. Of course driving a motorbike can be very dangerous in Phuket so you gotta be very careful. I've seen many people's vacations totally ruined by horrible road rash.

So if you were going to suggest a place near you that you think is truly amazing I would love for you to tell me about it. If I look online it seems that almost everywhere says that it is the best place ever and I have arrived at many of these places in the past only to find that the place was kind of oversold by whoever wrote the piece.

I really enjoy nature. Hiking, waterfalls, beaches, and avoiding the crowds are some cliché but true things that I and I think everyone else enjoys. I would like to be able to see some of these places before I finally leave this area and head back to USA in the coming months. So if anyone out there has any suggestions, I would appreciate it.

I resign from my position in a month and then after that i am going to stick around for 60 days and explore. I have a bit of money, but places like Singapore are too rich for my blood so please keep budget in mind when making a suggestion. I'm also not very interested in shopping because I'm already carrying around more stuff than I need. Much thanks!