10 tips backpacking toSoutheast Asia

                                                                                     

                                    

With its tempting mix of volcanoes, rainforest, rice fields, beaches  and coral reefs, Southeast Asia is one of the most stimulating and  accessible regions for independent travel in the world. You can spend  the day exploring thousand-year-old Hindu ruins and the night at a rave  on the beach; attend a Buddhist alms-giving ceremony at dawn and go  whitewater rafting in the afternoon; chill out in a bamboo beach hut one  week and hike through the jungle looking for orang-utans the next. In short, there is enough here to keep anyone hooked for months.  Here’s our advice for getting the most out of backpacking Southeast Asia  for the first time.

1. Plan around the weather

Southeast Asia sits entirely within the tropics and so is broadly  characterized by a hot and humid climate that varies little throughout  the year, except during the two annual monsoons. Bear in mind, however,  that each country has myriad microclimates; for more detail see our  “when to go” pages for Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar (Burma), the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

2. Get off the beaten track

Though Southeast Asia has long been on the travellers’ trail, it  doesn’t take too much to get off the beaten track – whether it’s to  discover that perfect beach or to delve into the lush surrounds of the  rainforest. Think about visiting theoverlooked city of Battambang in Cambodia, taking the railroad less travelled in Thailand or exploring Myanmar’s unspoiled southern coast.

3. Try the street food

This is the home of the world’s tastiest cuisines, and the really  good news is that the cheapest is often the best, with markets and  roadside hawkers unbeatable places to try the many local specialities.  Night markets, in particular, are great for tasting different dishes at  extremely low prices – sizzling woks full of frying noodles, swirling  clouds of spice-infused smoke and rows of glistening fried insects all  make for an unforgettable gastronomic experience.

4. Budget carefully – but have the odd splurge

Your daily budget in Southeast Asia depends on where you’re  travelling and how comfortable you want to be. You can survive on as  little as $20 a day in some countries, but for this money you’ll be  sleeping in very basic accommodation, eating at simple food stalls, and  travelling on local non-a/c buses. Think about where paying a little  more will really enrich your trip.


5. Learn from the locals

Tribal culture is a highlight of many visits to less explored areas,  and among the most approachable communities are the tribal groups around   Sa Pa in Vietnam, the Torjan of Sulawesi in Indonesia, known for their intriguing architecture and ghoulish burial rituals, and the ethnic minority villages surrounding Hsipaw in Myanmar.


6. Embrace the great outdoors

Up for getting active? There’s plenty to keep you busy. You can tackle world-class surf at G-land in Indonesia, take a mountain-bike tour of Vietnam’s far north or discover your own lonely bays and mysterious lagoons on a sea-kayak tour of  Krabi in Thailand. And that’s just for starters…

7. Make time for temples

Southeast Asia’s myriad temple complexes are some of the region’s  best-known attractions. The Hindu Khmers left a string of magnificent  monuments, the most impressive of which can be seen at Angko in Cambodia, while the Buddhists’ most impressive legacies include the colossal ninth-century stupa of Borobudur in Indonesia and the temple-strewn plain of Bagan in Myanmar.

8. Get high

No, not that kind of high. Every visitor should make an effort to  climb one of the spectacular mountains, whether getting up before dawn  to watch the sun rise from Indonesia’s Mount Bromo or embarking on the two-day trek to scaleMount kinabalu in Malaysia.


9. Hit the beach

The beaches here are some of the finest in the world, and you’ll find the cream of the crop inThailand, the Philippines and Malaysia,  all of which boast postcard-pretty, white-sand bays, complete with  azure waters and wooden beach shacks dotted along their palm-fringed  shores. The clear tropical waters also offer supreme diving  opportunities for novices and seasoned divers alike.

10. Take local transport

Local transport across Southeast Asia is uniformly good value  compared to public transport in the West, and is often one of the  highlights of a trip, not least because of the chance to fraternize with  local travellers. Overland transport between neighbouring countries is  also fairly straightforward so long as you have the right paperwork and  are prepared to be patient.

Thanks for visiting. have a nice day :)
Kate McCulley