Thailand's full of cheap, good value accommodation. If you just want somewhere cheap to stay, head north. Somewhere like Chiang Rai, or one of the larger, less touristy cities in Isan, say. Though you can find good deals in many places. Lots of options.
Bangkok and Phuket are on the more expensive side of Thailand.
On arrival by ferry there are public songthiews and minibuses available , not as cheap as the old days but they are available to get to Chalolaklam , Bottle Beach , Thong Nai Pan , Than Sadet etc . At other times you can charter a taxi , even if you do that 2 or 3 times its still cheaper than renting a car. What give you this idea you need your own transport ?
Okay, let's try and keep things organized:
Guangzhou - Guangzhou is an enormous city, with lots of atmosphere. If you take the time to explore it, you'll find lots of interesting neighborhoods and sights. There's a lot of diversity in the city, with everything from interesting rural areas, to urban village full of Qing Dynasty atmosphere, to modern skyscrapers. Some of the city's main sights and attractions:
Shamian Island - Lots of colonial architecture. Once the only place in China where Westerners were allowed to live.
Parks - There are some interesting, large parks scattered around Guangzhou. They nearly all have some interesting history to them. They tend to vary from fairly peaceful, to noisy as anything, depending on how many "singing aunties" are around when you happen to turn up. Guangzhou's climate keeps them lovely and green.
Specific sights - An old mosque, the odd old temple, a famous clanhouse with very impressive decorations, the odd interesting church. Guangzhou's Old City is mostly destroyed, but there are some interesting older buildings scattered here and there in the place where it used to be.
Nanyue museum - One of the most interesting museums in China. The tomb of a Han Dynasty local ruler, who declared himself independent was thankfully only discovered after the Cultural Revolution. The museum is fairly well-presented, and has a treasure trove of Han Dynasty era artifacts on display.
ZhongshanLu - The city's main thoroughfare has some shophouses from the early 20th century alongside modernity, and makes for a pleasant enough walk to get to know the city.
Street markets - There are a number of interesting street markets in central Guangzhou. Most are fairly standard Chinese markets, full of noisy hawkers selling clothes, but there are other markets around where you'll find pets or exotic food items (live giant salamanders for lunch?) on display.
Wholesale - Much of Guangzhou functions as a market, selling all kinds of crap made in the factories of Guangdong to customers across China and beyond. If you're into that kind of thing, there are various malls and large shopping centers around the city specializing is the wholesale market. If you wanted to see acres and acres of nothing but red Chinese New Year's decorations, for example, there's a place in Guangzhou just for you!
The River - I think you can probably do cruises in the center of the city, but have never tried. East of the city center, there are some very interesting neighborhoods along the river, though they can be a bit tricky to get to.
Modern Guangzhou - Modern Guangzhou is more interesting (for me) than the modern districts in many other Chinese cities. There's a North-South access which is rather well planned. There's a big tower, the provincial museum (a worthy enough diversion) and if you head north enough, the city's main office district, which is full of malls and restaurants and gazillions of workers running around, seemingly at all hours. It's one of the liveliest districts of the city.
Pagodas - There are a number of pagodas scattered around Guangzhou (I think there are 4) dating from something like the 17th century. They were built to aid river navigation. They're mostly abandoned now, which make them particularly interesting to visit. One is near the Canton Tower, mentioned above.
Historic Guangzhou - There are vestiges of Guangzhou's past as a major trading center. Some lovely villages remain, in places that were once major trading centers. They were becoming popular with weekending locals when I last visited, but many of them are barely known. They tend to be east of the city. There's also a colonial cemetery hidden away, and an interesting military academy (all kinds of Chinese bigwigs, like Chiang Kai-Shek, studied there). Lots of important stuff in pre-Communist Chinese history took place in Guangzhou, and there are various places of interest around if you go looking for them.
Villages - There are some interesting villages around within the city limits, some of which have developed for tourism. See Haiou-dao, for example, a large island in the river where you can cheaply rent a bicycle and spend the day cycling through the dragonfruit fields.
African neighborhood - There used to be an African neighborhood in the city, with a wonderfully atmospheric night market. Last time I was there, the police were in the process of taking down the night market. There might still be some African restaurants around though, and presumably many of the Africans themselves are still there. Guangzhou has other expat communities, which I know less about.
Anyway. Most tourists probably content themselves with 2-3 days in Guangzhou, but if you want to explore the city in more depth, and spend more time in its markets, parks, and just wandering the streets, you could spend much longer. One thing about Guangzhou - the food is fantastic. If you like Cantonese food (and I certainly do!) then excellent, cheap meals are found on nearly every street corner. My favourites are Changfen, Chashaorou, and Cantonese-style pig feet, but there's lots of other good stuff to try.
Hi - look at Nan in Northern Thailand. It's awesome, I was there 3 weeks ago. Very few western tourists, I personally thought it was so much better than Chiang Mai which is a huge tourist area. The roads are great and quiet so you can hire a car (Avis at the airport)or a bike and go into the countryside which is beautiful. I spent 4 nights staying in the city (Pukka Nafa Hotel - very nice) and just walking around the town, eating in all the local places. The locals are incredibly friendly. I saw loads of lovely looking hotels set amid rice fields. It's mainly Thai tourists that go to that bit of the country. I flew from Bangkok to save time but you can get the train and a bus.
Lots of cheap GH everywhere, not more expensive that north kuta for sure. Ferry tickets do add up quickly, you have a cheap "local" boat from Sanur to Lembongan and the slow ferry from Penida to Padang Bai. Speed boat from Lembongan to Penida, I don't know about cheaper alternative.
Don't know about sleeping on Menjangan, but lots of cheap places in Pemuteran nearby. North coast could be a good choice if the weather is bad as it is more dry than the rest of Bali, but I don't think there is surfing going on there (lots in Lembongan).
Brief trip thru CZ.
Click here for full TR & pics.
Cheers.
Jon
That is the direct translation of the small staging town on the slopes of Sněžka ("The Snowy One," more or less), the Czech Republic's highest peak. There didn't appear to be a furnace, or any heat whatsoever on this day, but nevertheless, I summitted the 1603m high (5259') mountain last Monday under dry but cloudy, extremely cold, and seriously windy conditions. The mountain serves as a functioning ski resort in winter but there was no snow anywhere on the hike.
I had reserved a car, a miniscule Škoda Citigo 5 speed manual, for 24 hours to be picked up at the Prague main train station and dropped off no later than 09:00 the next morning at the Brno airport. Price booked on Budget's website was a mere €16 including taxes and the one way drop fee. The price was a bit deceiving as I had to fill the tank with gas before returning the car which ended up costing ~$27 for the 400+ kms (~240 miles). The car is noted for great mileage but I was a bit shocked and chagrined that it cost me that much in fuel and that I had driven that far. Would have cost about half as much to go the entire way by public transport but not sure if it would have been possible in a single day.
To the mountain, Google maps guided me out of the slightly congested city center during rush hour and by ~09:00 I was on the highway heading towards Hradec Králové or wherever the app was leading me. Got to Pec Pod Snežkou ~11:15 and quickly found an alpine shop to ask where the green marked trail (shortest to the summit) starts to the summit. I parked the car (120 Kč for 1 full day) and ~11:45 I was hoofing it on the trail behind Vila Eden Apartments. The trail was an easy grade and it didn't take me long to get to the blustery summit ~13:15, right on the Polish border. Snapped a pic for documentation and motored back to the car, getting there just before 14:30. Paid the parking fee and let Google direct me to Brno.
Not sure if that app needs to be recalibrated for this region but it seemed like the chosen route was not all that great, leading me via numerous, narrow back roads when there were clearly highways the whole way. Took about 4 hours from Pec Pod to the Brno airport with a long pit stop close by to top up the tank, use the facilities, and down a 39 Kč double espresso. Dropped the car at the parking lot, the keys in the drop box, and hopped on the airport bus (25 Kč ticket good for 60 min on all local transport) just after 19:00 for the ride to the central train station. Caught a tram from there to the hostel and soon celebrated another European high point with 2 pints of Czech lager, 35 Kč each or a whopping $1.50, and a buger.
$US ≈ 23.5 Czech crowns (Kč)
[h1 left] Prague[/h1] Ever beautiful, ever bursting with tourists. A day and a half was plenty this time for a free walking tour (Sandemans highly recommended if you can get the local guide, Karel) and recovery from the interminable pair of red eye flights from Seattle then Philly.
[b]Accommodation and food[/b] Stayed 2 nights at Safestay Hostel in Old Town, in an 8 person [i]en suite[/i], quiet dorm for 598 Kč total. Kitchen, good WiFi, optional 75 Kč breakfast but skip that and head to Cafe New Imperial at Hotel Merkur for one of the best value breakfast buffets, 190 Kč all you can eat, great coffee drinks and pastries. It's a bit far from Old Town but Prague is such a great walking city. Across the street from the hostel was Hotel Elite, breakfast buffet a bit more, 225 Kč, but it was totally worth it and it started 06:45, [i]muy importante[/i] for my early departure from Prague. Couple other meals just grabbed a 129 Kč kebab plate around the corner from the hostel.
[b]Transport[/b] Only transport of relevance for me was airport bus 100 to the last stop at Žličín, metro line B to Namesti Trida close to the hostel. 90 min ticket good on all transport runs 32 Kč and can buy it in the terminal with a credit card. Must be validated on the bus or just before boarding.
[h1 left] Brno[/h1] Visited again for the sole purpose of a tour of Vila Tugendhat. Even though I had been thinking about it for months, I almost missed getting on a tour as they are very popular and booked solid for the year far in advance. Best I could do was latch on to a 90 min tour in German for 350 Kč and I reserved it way back in the spring. For the 2 days I was in Brno there were unfortunately no tours offered in English.
[b]Accommodation and food[/b] Last time here there were only 2 hostels. Now there are about a dozen. I stayed at Ruta 80 which was close to Vila Tugendhat but a bit far from the center. It was small, clean, quiet and there's a good DIY breakfast. WFi was awful, however. Total price was 660 Kč. Last time in Brno I was taken to the cafeteria at Moravia University by someone I met on the bus. It's still open to the public and still dirt cheap. Down the street from the hostel is N8, the pub with the cheap pints and burgers. Can grab a huge slice of pizza for 35 Kč or so all over town as well as the ubiquitous kebab. Roy Kebab near the main train station serves huge plates for 115 Kč and took credit cards as I had converted all my leftover crowns to euros, good rates in the center.
[b]Transport[/b] Aside from the airport bus, bus 61 (free with proof of train ticket) runs to [i]dolní nádraží[/i], the lower station, while the main station is under renovation. It's a bleak place, no need to hang here any longer than necessary. My trip from here was to Bratislava, Slovakia on a very late Eurocity train then connecting to a sleeper train to Košice and finally a bus to Užgorod, Ukraine. The train portion was €25, including the couchette, and the bus €7 paid on the spot as I boarded, must've gotten the last seat. Got to Užgorod about an hour late owing to the 2½ hour border crossing which I mostly slept through. Long but comfortable trip.
