[janette_in_china]

I imagine many of you have travelled southeast asia extensively, so I was hoping you could enlighten me with your favourite destinations.

Hopefully this will help us decide where to go for our jan/feb break...
(The ideal holiday would be somewhere hot, and not too pricey....hopefully with beaches. We're thinking of maybe doing a bike tour or some camping?) BUT, we're open to anything at this point....

thanks!
Janette

[simplyesl]

I went to Guilin in China's South-East (a long way from Dalian) in China's May Day national holiday. It was really good. lots of things to see and do, including rafting and a MASSIVE cave.
However, I would recommend getting out of China for it's holidays as everywhere in China is really busy.

[Pix]

Thailand is fab fab fab, especially the food. Oh those food markets with their steaming stalls of spicy flavours, and the gello stands for pudding.

I did actually manage to burn away my stomach lining (at least it felt like it) on the hot sauce that you can add to your soups found on every table in every restaurant.

The bliss of those garlic prawns...

Well, that aside the transvestite beauty contests are quite something too.

The Thai people are always smiling and friendly, without appearing fake or as if they are trying to rip you off. It's a chilled out holiday destination with loads of fabulous sites, which you can visit in comfort, or not if you are on a low budget.

Bangkok itself is home to the best sites but stinks, and I reckon that every day spent there shortens your life, so I recommend short and sweet in Bangkok and pack in as much as you can and then get out to the beaches and country side.

The bridge over the river Kwai has haunting world war two history.

After a few weeks you'll be able to visit the wats as you pass them in the bus there are so many!