Asia can be cheap or expensive
By maximax8
@maximax8 (31046)
United Kingdom
August 14, 2009 4:38am CST
I found Sumatra in Indonesia really cheap to travel in. I got very bottom dollar accommodation and local buses were a bargain. I found Malaysia to be great value. It is so affordable to travel on the trains in a sleeping car. I loved it in Singapore where I found perfect food to eat after all the bowls of rice I had eaten elsewhere.
I would love to visit the Philippines and I think it would be good value. I would go island hopping and snorkeling there. I would like to visit Japan one day too but I kn know that would be expensive.
Have you traveled in Asia? Where?
Was it cheap, reasonable or expensive?
Where would you like to travel to?
1 person likes this
14 responses
@maximax8 (31046)
• United Kingdom
14 Aug 09
I became sick after my trip to Sumatra so when I began eating again I could only handle plain food like rice. I was ill in Penang, weak in Kuala Lumpur and then I fell down a drain in Mersing. I liked it in Malaysia but I didn't have a very successful time.
Welcome to My Lot.
@2timothy (794)
• Philippines
14 Aug 09
I once island-hopped over the entire Philippines for 19 days from Baguio to Manila to Batangas to Mindoro's Puerto Galera beach to Panay's Boracay white sand beach to Iloilo to Dapitan, Ozamiz, Iligan, Cagayan de Oro in the southern island of Mindanao to Cebu to Tacloban to Legaspi to Laguna and back to Manila just under $250 (P10,000) three years ago before the oil price hike.
@2timothy (794)
• Philippines
15 Aug 09
Because of tight competition with the recent arrival of budget airlines in the past 3 years, ferry cost is about the same and at least $3 lower in some navigational routes, even $10 lower during some promotional periods when booked a month ahead. Land travel though has increased 10%. Do inform me in advance by mail if you plan to go and I'll try to help you with the local arrangements.
@maximax8 (31046)
• United Kingdom
14 Aug 09
Wow! That must have been an excellent trip. Island hopping across the beautiful Philippines you saw some many lovely places. I am delighted for you had such a lovely time. So there would be higher prices now that the ferries have had to raise their fares.
@maximax8 (31046)
• United Kingdom
14 Aug 09
Thanks. I would love to go to India. There is so much to see there and travel on the trains there is meant to be a bargain. I read in a book a couple of years ago a traveler with one thousand US dollars could have 67 days in India or just 14 days in Japan. Yes, Western Europe is expensive and North America can be pricey too.
@mylesnarvaez (5451)
• Philippines
14 Aug 09
yes, japan and korea can be very costly to travel in in asia while the other countries can be a little inexpensive.
i come from the philippines and i've visited all the regions that we have here thru my work. in asia, i've only been to indonesia (jakarta, yogyakarta, and bali), cambodia, hongkong, malaysia, korea and singapore. and so far, the most expensive was korea... but the visit to their jeju island is well worth it.
in terms of places i'd like to travel to, i guess it would have to be europe... visit a few countries, see some friends in italy and bring our mom to vatican city. but the trip is going to be way too expensive right now so we still have much to save for it.
@maximax8 (31046)
• United Kingdom
14 Aug 09
Good luck saving up for your trip to Europe. Eastern Europe has lovely cities like Prague and Budapest and they are not too pricey. Cities like Paris and Vienna are the far more expensive.
It is excellent that you travel to many different countries in Asia with your work that you do. Korea sounds pricey and some English language teachers that went there liked to pop over to the Philippines which they found is much cheaper. I found Singapore and Hong Kong similar in cost.
@mylesnarvaez (5451)
• Philippines
15 Aug 09
yes, singapore and hongkong can more or less cost the same however i found singapore to offer better accommodation for the same price while hongkong has more spots to offer for kids (with my nephews and nieces, disneyland was the greatest attraction. hehe)
thanks for the tips for the europe trip. we sure would like to include as much as we can in the trip because we want our mom to experience travel while she still can. except for korea, my mom went with me in my travels to other asian countries and she loved it.
@nomoso (650)
• India
14 Aug 09
Hey you can checkout my country too.Its too affordable to stay here and have fun and have all that you want. And you have lots of cultural and geographical difference within India.you will find the place interesting. Have you ever been to india?? If not try visting the place to see the diffenence in the country right from language to the economical difference..
@neelianoscet (9615)
• Philippines
14 Aug 09
Asia could be tourists dream of choice in terms of spending holidays or vacation in elegance ways. if you know the places where you are going to spend like the hotels of your choice, the places where to find the lower price items and know the do and don't..then you could be a successful and a wise tourist. Their are a lot of heavens gateways places for you and for your family. With enough planning and knowledge of the place you will never go wrong with the qualities of the amenities and many food of choice. You need to plan ahead and list your amounts of spending so that you will not commit overspending. It would be expensive if you just go out in any places without some knowledge of the places, people and background. In any places their are people who will take advantages of you being new to a place. You need to be intelligent or unless you have a friend who will guide you around the city and gives you some helpful tips which you will be using as you navigate and enjoy the places. Without a proper resources person you will likely spend a lot of money when in fact you could enjoy the places without overspending if you only know the in and out..Then you will be fully confident to travels like a pro...
@maximax8 (31046)
• United Kingdom
14 Aug 09
When I have been showed around by locals I have seen things I would have missed if I had just been using my travel guide book. I think planning ahead is important and I know now that checking accommodation prices before booking flights is essential. Many thanks for your wonderful response.
@srikandi19 (3391)
• Kuta, Indonesia
15 Aug 09
I am place in Indonesia and I can tell you. Indonesia is very very cheap to traveling on there ( Include accommodation, food, hotels, etc) because Indonesia currency very very low than Dollar
@jshekhar (1562)
• India
15 Aug 09
Hello friend,
I am from India and we do have a lot of positive feedback when it comes to prices and value for money. The food, the hotels and the transportation are really affordable and this is one of the attractions here. I have not gone to either Indonesia or Malaysia but from what I've heard, they're also places worth visiting and you get value for money. In fact, we have a lot of travel agents and tourist services here who are offering very inexpensive packages for places like Malaysia, Phuket and Indonesia.
@scheng1 (24649)
• Singapore
15 Aug 09
Hi Maximax, even within China, the standard of living varies.
I hate Shanghai. The food is expensive, and nearly everything is expensive.
I love the rural areas of China more than the cities. I had travelled to Yunnan and Sichuan provinces. Even though these two provinces are so near to each other, the standard of living is so wildly different.
Overall, Sichuan is still cheaper than Yunnan.
It's very hard to compare the standard of living across Asia. All the countries are different.
@fanxiangqian (185)
• China
16 Aug 09
if you have enough time,welcome to china!
the chinese is a wonderful place for travel.
@LetranKnight25 (33121)
• Philippines
15 Aug 09
i hope you do enjoy your trip what place in Asia you want to visit. but since i lived in the Philippines, I also recommend that you visit here too. i thought you had been planning that for quite some time now?.
Well, Happy trip and Have a great day
@Donna_hit (63)
• China
15 Aug 09
Next time I would like to invite you to come to China, also a hot destination with only a little expense. China is a big country and has many beautiful sceneries, including small islands, long rivers and high mountains. It is very cheap to buy things in China because currency here is not as valuable as pound.
@ericksonne (13)
•
17 Aug 09
well,since philippines is an archepilago-we have the country's most profound beaches some tourist had acknowledge. we have few to name it and are not expensive and it's really relaxing in here.
@FRANZEZCO (6)
• Indonesia
15 Aug 09
Hi,
I 'd like to tell you something about place for diving in Indonesia. There are 26 main parks for diving here. You can visit Pantar strait in Alor, Maumere with Sea world club. I live in Maumere. Many tourists come here for diving these months. You can visit Ambon, Guerilla diving site in Papua, Lombok and the best is Bunaken. It is in Manado, Sulawesi. About the cheap or expensive. It depends on vehicle you use, accomodation and facility, travel agency, and last but not least a person you relate or contact. Be careful, someone can tell you lie about the price. I am Asian of course. I am dreaming to visit Bali with my wife and child next July. It is for the first time.