"madman" wrote in message
news:e80cfc9f.0401211436.259413ad@posting.google.com...
> Hello all,
> This summer I am traveling to asia with the cathay pacific all asia
> pass for 30 days and I am trying to figure out how long to stay in my
> slected locations. Can anyone give me some advice?
>
> I am definitely planning on going to the following locations, but the
> length in each can be tweaked as needed:
>
> Hong Kong ~4 days
> Thailand(BKK) ~7 days
> Singapore ~3 days
> Kuala Lumpur ~3 days
> India(Mumbai) ~10 days
> Beijing ~? days
>
> Any advice on how to tweak this schedule? Any particular order that
> would be best to visit these areas? I am planning on being in Thailand
> for the full moon porty, and when in India I will be going to Goa.
> Should I try and fit Beijing in, or spend more time elsewhere?
Is this your first visit to Asia? If no, which cities/countries in Asia
have you visited before? What do you look for in the places you visit?
Including Hong Kong, Singapore and KL seems like too much of the same (big
modern cities). I like all three, but would probably drop Singapore. KL
has more character and asian flavour than Singapore. If I wanted to do a
"first time to Asia highlights" trip, I'd probably drop KL too and go to
Kyoto and Nara instead (take the train from Osaka airport).
Beijing has a lot of history, and you'll also see how fast China is
developing - it will be hot in the middle of summer, but at least its a dry
heat. Shanghai is also interesting (and very humid), but Cathay don't fly
there at the moment. If you just wanted a quick visit to China you could
take the train from Hong Kong to Guangzhou. Whilst that would give you an
impression of modern China, Guangzhou is not as interesting a city as
Beijing or Shanghai.
As the Cathay flight to Mumbai goes via Bangkok you'd want to do India
immediately before/after Thailand. Whilst I've been to many places in East
Asia, I don't know South Asia. However, have you considered Sri Lanka
instead of Goa? I think the weather on the east coast of Sri Lanka would be
better than Goa during the northern summer. Cathay fly daily to Colombo
(3/week via Bangkok, I think).
I wouldn't want to finish my holiday in a big hectic city, better to do
those earlier and then relax on the beach. Personally, if it was my first
trip to Asia, I'd do something like this:
Hong Kong - 4 days
Kyoto/Nara - 5 days
Beijing - 4 days
Thailand - 7 days
Sri Lanka - 10 days
Martin
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