Who has been on the Far East Asia collector? Help!

[popcan]

Just booked this cruise for Feb 3 next year.

Super excited!

28 days aboard Volendam, starting in Hong Kong. Then stops in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, India, Thailand, and Singapore.

Itinerary looks amazing, and now the big problem is sorting through all the shore excursions to find the gems.

 

For those who have gone before:

Other than the junk cruise in Halong Bay, which I am really excited about, what shore excursions can you recommend as "must do" in your opinion, for an avid photographer who loves birds and other wildlife, landscapes and architecture, and people/cultural pictures?

 

Many thanks!

[OlsSalt]

Just booked this cruise for Feb 3 next year.

Super excited!

28 days aboard Volendam, starting in Hong Kong. Then stops in Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, India, Thailand, and Singapore.

Itinerary looks amazing, and now the big problem is sorting through all the shore excursions to find the gems.

 

For those who have gone before:

Other than the junk cruise in Halong Bay, which I am really excited about, what shore excursions can you recommend as "must do" in your opinion, for an avid photographer who loves birds and other wildlife, landscapes and architecture, and people/cultural pictures?

 

Many thanks!

 

You picked a great itinerary and I understand completely why you are so excited. I am just kind of guessing off the top of my head which port cities you will have on this trip. We hope to take the Voldendam after it comes back from the Indian Ocean leg when it leaves to go up to Kobe Japan for an equally great itinerary.

 

So hear goes, what immediately comes to mind for me:

 

Cambodia- Angkor Wat is the obvious pick here.

 

The Bagan Temples in Burma-Myanmar is at the top of the list - takes a flight to get there if you have more than a day stop there -- also the main temple in Yangoon itself at night is one of the most spectacular experiences in Asia - a living, breathing important part of the daily life of this city. You will be overwhelmed .... in a good way.

 

I loved the royal tombs in Hue, when you get to DaNang, was not too crazy about Hoi An village - too over-touristed.

 

Honestly, it is a toss up for me between Hanoi if they offer this versus a Halong Bay cruise (now heavily impacted by lots of boats) Spectacular city considering our long difficult US history, but one of the world's more important capitols to visit on so many different levels.

 

Singapore is a good city to do on your own because it has such easy to figure out public transit which starts right at the cruise port, though for a good over view the HOHO bus is fine for a city overview too. Safe day and night, great food,easy to get around in English.

 

If you get to Port Blair, Andaman Islands a TukTuk city tour and a visit to the Cellualr Jail is very good, though the short boat ride to Ross Island is very haunting and one of our favorite places to have seen here.

 

India - you might have Cochin and/or Goa? The Christian churches of Goa is a great over view of the country side and testimony to its long Portuguese history here that left some pretty spectacular western style cathedrals.

 

Port Cochin is one of our own favorites little cities to wander on our own and the close in backwater tour that leaves from where you dock in Cochin was really almost as good as the longer day long one that went deeper into the backwaters of Kerala.

 

Color, nature, food, people, history, and architecture - you really have it all in all the stops in this part of the world. I love South East Asia and now have been back to many of these areas three times. It is endlessly interesting - so you almost can't go wrong no matter what you pick.

[popcan]

Thank you OlsSalt! That is some good info for starters!

We won't see some of those places, but duly noted for the future.

 

I guess I should list the actual stops if I want more specific replies?

I suppose I thought the itinerary has stayed the same, but it may not be so.

 

Therefore: here are our stops (not all in order of visit, but by country)

 

Hong Kong (chinese new year!)

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Da Nang, Vietnam

Nha Trang, Vietnam

Phu My, Vietnam

 

Sihanoukville, Cambodia

 

Laem Chabang, Thailand

Koh Samui, Thailand

Phuket, Thailand

 

Singapore

 

Malacca, Malaysia

Penang, Malaysia

Porto Malai, Malaysia

Port Klang, Malaysia

 

Thilawa, Myanmar

(Rangoon)

 

Port Blair, India

[OlsSalt]

Therefore: here are our stops (not all in order of visit, but by country)

 

Hong Kong (chinese new year!)

.....

Malacca, Malaysia

Penang, Malaysia

Porto Malai, Malaysia

Port Klang, Malaysia

 

We were in Penang on Chinese New Years and everything was closed! Only the Indian restaurants were open so be prepared for Hong Kong - which obviously has a lot more going for it than Penang but be prepared for some closures. Hong Kong is too fabulous everywhere so you almost don't need suggestions. Just walk around and walk and walk and walk.

 

Malacca- the old Portuguese part of the town holds the most interest, or a trip into the lush rubber plantation countryside.

 

Penang has lovely old British Colonial buildings, historic fort, all walkable and one of those old wonderful hotels - The Orient or something to sit in the large chairs in the bar with the overhead fans sipping a ginger beer. Good walking city and for tracking down old colonial architecture, Chinese temples and Indian shops and cafes. Good on your own.

 

Port Klang - takes you into Kuala Lumpur - they may offer an "on your own" tour of Kuala Lumpur and you will get dropped off by a HOHO stop and the round trip on that bus takes several hours which is a good way to see the whole thing. Be sure to get to the Petronas Towers area to see dazzling modern KL - and there is lots to see just wandering around any of the neighborhoods - food, shopping, busy city life.

 

Porto Malai on the island of Langkawi is a bit disappointing - we have tried several different tours here and none are great so anything that gets you around the island is fine - we did the bat caves and eagles and then a history center - this is an island that was supposed to be a new tropical destination but you will see a failed tourism dream more than anything - set up to be a major stop for the large Star Cruise Lines gambling ships you will see all over this area. So it is interesting more in seeing how other Asians enjoy their holidays which is really always interesting too, even if it is not what we might want to do ourselves.

 

Phuket ranks close to the bottom for us - if they have a snorkel tour to PhiPhi it is good but hectic - crowded, dead coral over touristed but the scenery can still thrill out that way plus seeing where the tsunami hit. DH did the elephant tour and I did the Thai Massage one time, and other time we did the tin baron mansions -- they are really stretching things now in Penang since it has grown so immensely that whatever charm it once had is no long, long gone. Every tour drags you to a very expensive central crafts emporium which is unfortunate. The Thai massage was pricey but actually very good.