Thorn Tree travel forum

FAQ Thread for Mainland SE Asia

This branch covers:
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, and Vietnam

Here you will find links to information on health issues, visas, transportation, volunteering, weather, food, and more. Links to well-regarded resources such as Travelfish, Tales of Asia, Canby, and so on are also here.

Note: This is a FAQ/internet resources post, not an area for asking questions (nobody will answer questions here) or a place to post personal blogs, photos, etc. Please do post updates or added information that will help others find their way around the Southeast Asia mainland.

CK

Guidebook Updates
To get the latest updates to any of our guidebooks - or to add your own - visit the Guidebook Feedback branch of the Thorn Tree. See below for links to all the guides relating to mainland SE Asia.

C Cambodia 5 H Hanoi & Halong Bay Encounter 1 L Laos 6 M Myanmar (Burma) 9 S Southeast Asia 14 V Vietnam 9, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos & the Greater Mekong 1

Older editions: Southeast Asia on a Shoestring 13, Vietnam 8

Enhanced search on TT

Travelers Health
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has up-to-date information from experts on malaria, dengue fever, and other diseases (including avian influenza) on a country by country basis and areas within countries. Easy to navigate click travel for travel info, diseases & conditions for specific concerns.
CDC
The World Health Organization is easy to navigate on some topics and very difficult on others. More languages than CDC.
WHO
TT health branch

Visas in Southeast Asia
TT thread from Steve252
Project Visa site

Cost
SEA with aircon private room, decent food, and land and water travel is easily done on $20USD/person/day (excluding airfare).
Saving money thread
Daily expenses thread #1
Daily expenses thread #2
Daily expenses thread for Thailand

Airlines in Southeast Asia
Sometimes difficult to make reservations online. It may be best to buy at airport.
SEA airlines

Trains across the world
I heard that lonesome whistle blow - trains are good things & a schedule helps if you're riding.
http://www.seat61.com/Vietnam.htm

Volunteering (TT thread from Steve252)
TT thread on volunteering

What’s the weather like in Battambang and Bagan?
Weatherbase
Weather Underground

Sex
I can't believe I need to say this, but I do. Herpes, hepatitis, HIV, etc. are common. Men should always wear a condom for sex and women should always demand that men wear a condom for sex.

Gay and lesbian travel SE Asia
Also see TT branch on gay & lesbian travel
Utopia - Asia

Money
XE currency converter

Plugs the world over
Plugs of the world

SE Asia FAQs from Steve252 (Airlines, ATMs, digital camera info, electricity & plugs, budget travel costs, malaria, mosquito repellents, vaccinations, Visa-on-Arrival, volunteering)
SEA FAQs

Thailand (and related) FAQs from Steve252. This is a huge section and many apply to mainland SEA. Steve252 has gone beyond.
Thailand FAQs

Sleeping
Guesthouses are more common than hostels. Cost varies among cities and countries. Aircon twins (two beds) are easily found for $10 or less in most places. See individual country sections below. http://www.travelfish.org/ is a good source of information. Some travelers report that as soon as a place is listed in a Lonely Planet book, the prices go up. Generally speaking there are other places near those listed. Walk around, check it out. Be sure you understand the cost and any taxes or other added charges.

Eating
Again, things change walk around, check it out. Who is eating there? Does the food look good? Fresh? Do the people who work there look healthy?

The following sites are in sections and in each section the sites are in approximate order of how I experienced them, from best to good.

General
Travelfish guide to SEA. http://www.travelfish.org/
Things Asian - stories by travelers (some very interesting ones, indeed). http://www.thingsasian.com/
Lonely Planet, of course - kind of like Microsoft: easy to criticize; let me know when something better comes along. http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
Guide to several Asian countries basic and helpful. http://www.passplanet.com/Asia/index.htm
DMOZ - links to lots of sites on lots of places - good starting point. http://dmoz.org/Regional/Asia/
Big web encyclopedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southeast_Asia
And the encyclopedia's associate, a travel site. http://wikitravel.org/en/Southeast_Asia
Large compendium of travel tips, some dated. http://www.1000traveltips.org/index.htm
Virtual tourist - a little like TT. http://www.virtualtourist.com/
About traveling & more - directive (quit telling me what size pack is correct!), but informed. http://www.travelindependent.info/index.htm

Cambodia
Canby's on Cambodia, extensive, helpful. http://www.canbypublications.com/
Tales of Asia has a guide to Cambodia (especially Siem Reap) and several SEA countries. Very helpful to me to see photos of guesthouses. http://talesofasia.com/index.htm
Personal site, homegrown, good info, good heart. http://andybrouwer.co.uk/
Mainly links to current affairs but archives contain brief travel-related entries.
Pookai Books
Pop music in Cambodia at Bayon TV
Expat and traveler newsletter, etc. Check out the pdf newsletter as well as other information. Content variable, but definitely worthwhile. http://www.bayonpearnik.com/
Phnom Penh and Siem Reap only, site not fully developed but still worthwhile: http://www.cambodiapocketguide.com/default.aspx
Guide to Angkor from 1944. The Angkor Guide
Small collection Khmer language phrases. Cambdian Embassy
Cambodia: Beauty and Darkness. Mekong.net
Cambodia Genocide Program. Yale University
Also see books by David Chandler - Brother Number One, etc.

Vietnam
Jan Dodd's site (with links) is related to the Rough Guide. Jan Dodd site
Hongha's voluminous info on Vietnam (TT thread). Vietnam FAQs
Noodle pie, a blog about scoff & swill in Saigon - good photos, extensive, what you really see, food flashbacks (I'm getting hungry & so will you) - I love the internet. http://www.noodlepie.com/
Sticky Rice - food and more in Hanoi. http://stickyrice.typepad.com/
A school in Hanoi - maybe worth an internet surf & surely worth a live visit (but only if you believe in dreams): http://www.hoasuaschool.com/
OK on hotels in VN. http://www.hotels-in-vietnam.com/
KSVN has a very nice English-Vietnamese dictionary, other things, too. http://www.ksvn.com/
Moto tours in Vietnam. http://www.vietnamrider.com/

Burma € Compadre covers it all
Compadre has a great collection of carefully chosen links. Compadre's links
The Free Burma Coalition covers the political issues. Free Burma!
Here is a haunting and beautiful site/story on A Journey of the Heart. Paula Bock, the author is married to my colleague, Tao Sheng Kwan-Gett, who volunteers at Dr. Cynthias clinic in Mae Sot on the Thai-Burma border. On the border
Pretty up to date exchange rate Burma can be found at Irrawaddy.org

Laos
Travelfish Laos section is the best resource I can find. http://www.travelfish.org/
Guide to Culturally Sensitive Travel in the Lao PDR. Cultural sensitivity
Okay, not much detail. Travel Notes

Thailand on TT There is a lot of information on the Thailand branch that is relevant to other parts of SE Asia. Thailand

Southeast Asia islands & peninsula branch - SE Asia islands & peninsula

Northeast Asia on TT € might as well slide on through HK, right?*
Northeast Asia

Travelogues, photos, other
Travelogues (a good way to keep a travelogue and post a few pics while in SE Asia). http://www.travelpod.com/
Another very nice travelogue resource. http://www.ballofdirt.com/
Travelblogs at: http://www.travelblog.org/
Photos - post them at Worldisround: http://www.worldisround.com/travel/index.html

The net is a wonderful thing - sleeping in airports around the world - personally, I like to sleep in airports. http://www.sleepinginairports.net/asia/hongkong.htm

Hard to say exactly what this is, but I'm glad I went - Cambodia, India, more - "The heart of the matter": http://www.theartichoke.org/

Thanks to foolsprogress, Toolz, kym_h, Joyasia, PhilipC, mrmookie, toady2002, gio19, le_tigre, Compadre, murwill16, Steve252, Hongha, montyman, RomanB

Edited by: Trent_at_LP