Philipines or Thailand - where to go for vacation?
 

planing to do my first real vacation since years, i'm torn between Philipines or Thailand. Might want to visit Cambodia too.

what's the best choice right now? i heard about political troubles in Bangkok again.

and i want a vacation, not a tranny adventure :winkwink:

anyone who lives in any of those places who can show me around if i come? :helpme

I know it´s not exactly what you asked for, but in my opinion a bit moire relaxed:

Seychellen

I have been in Manila, Philipines. Guards outside the 7/11 with shootguns in the best area (banking district), the other less protected areas there is no_ guards and robbery is common, being shot as well.

I spent 14 days on Boracay, a very_ small island but it's the place you take your hun with you and not being alone, but they got nice beaches.

If you get to Phuket, Thailand and offer enought beers you have your own privatly guide, been living in Thailand since late 2004 (before the Tsunami)

Edit:
I tend to not go to all thoose places people say you should go to, since most of the tourists go where other tourists go.. I use to head up to Layan Beach, walk out to the island and be total alone and have a real good relaxation, head for northwest and eat cheap seafood and be the only one who is not a Thai.. things like that is really relaxing. Driving motorbikes is also one of my joys here on the island, feeling the real freedom,
walk in tshirt, shorts and flipflops.. i bet you will sit on the airport crying or with your notebook writing down what you can sell and/or how to move your business to thailand after your visit.

Edit2:

Take the train thru Thailand, then head for Cambodia and see Angkor Wat. It's close to Malaysia aswell, Kuala Lumpur is a damn nice city, andhtey got IKEA with meatballs too! Cost ~ $200 t/r from phuket to KL so atleast try spend 3-4 weeks here if you want to get out most
of it.

Have been in Phuket for 4y+, and still not visited PhiPhi island, i rather visit Ko Similan (Check it on google earth)

All depends a bit what you want to do on your vacciation :upsidedow

i'm going with a friend - clubs and party in limited doses are welcome. but not looking for a Pattaya style orgy

Well, now you know why I moved from Pattaya. It's just a huge hooker town.

In phuket you can atleast decide what you want to do, and stay away from the bars and explore beaches, and even take a motorbike to Kao Lak / Kao Sok (national park)

Take a boat tour to one of the islands, i recommend the twin island of Ko Surin Tai/Ko Surin Nua for diving and some good memories.

If you decide for Phuket, i'll try give you the best advices for a good vacciation and what you should stay away from and give you some ideas where you can go for to explore the island yourself with your friend.

I know btw that you can go to Hong Kong/Kuala Lumpur and some other destinations from Phuket as well so don't limited yourself being on Phuket all the time, there is a lot more places to see if your up for it.

cool, thanks for the info, going to check for Phuket now :)

Haven't been to Phillipines, didn't like what I've heard from other people...
Thailand is fine :thumbsup

I've spent years in both countries and would have to say Thailand for sure.

The political situation in Thailand is not as bad as they make it out on the news.

Go to Bali and mix it with T-land

I am in Phuket for 3 years, look at the kata area for a hotel, that way you are about 10 minutes from patong if you feel like getting herpes, but plenty of restaurants and activity still in Kata, If you want a more quiet area, you can rent a 2-3 bedroom pool villa in the Naiharn area for between 40-60k batht (us $1200-1800) a month.

that's pretty interesting, got a lead on that?

also, if you plan on doing some island tours kata/rawai/naiharn are each only a short drive to the chalong pier where most boats leave from. Traffic and getting around can be a bitch and expensive.

Depends on your personality, and what you're looking for. I wouldn't personally recommend Phuket, as it's an overpriced shithole filled with rip offs and scam artists. I would recommend Thailand though, but can't quite say where, as no idea what you're looking for. You want hookers & blow, quiet life, culture, mountains, beach, adventure, what?

If you do goto Phuket, I can recommend this hotel. It's out of the way a bit, but kicks ass: http://www.accessresort.com/

Your room is connected to the pool. So you come in from the day, all hot & sweaty, then just walk out the back door of your room, hop into the pool, and swim over to the pool bar for a beer. Was great!

Just go to Canares and don't worry about all that stuff :)

been there, done that, want Asia

you can look at http://www.siamrealestate.com/ for villa rentals, they are reputable.

As to phuket being a overpriced shithole filled with rip-offs, its pretty simple, you avoid the shithole areas like patong, you don't do anything without negotiating the price first, don't rent jet skis, rent a car from a reputable company like Avis.

that link rocks, there's a big bunch of real nice houses for cheap prices - thanks for that, giving me totally new ideas :thumbsup

and here is where I live, does not look shitty to me:2 cents:

http://www.phuketguiden.se/nai-harn-...Harn-Beach.jpg

Never been to Thailand, but I've been to Manila and I wouldn't go back! Like someone else said, armed guards outside stores, gas stations... It's supposed to make you feel safe but it doesn't.

I've heard only good things about Thailand, especially the Islands like Phuket. One of the guys who used to be with us lived in Bangkok for 2.5 years and he loved it. He visited tons of Islands and said they are beautiful. My girlfriend and I are planning on going to Thailand this year or next year.

the only reply I cared about lol

i take back the "cheap" after i figured out the prices for the season i wanna go - lol
but still not too bad


@ BJ - how's the weather between mid of April and mid of May?

The rainy season doesn't really hit until august, and even then, unless you are extremely unlucky it never rains for more than a few hours.

Mid April is Songkran, which is basically one crazy water party, everyone in the streets with water cannons. Definitely a fun time to come. April is also the hottest month I believe, but if your on vacation you're probably cool with that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songkran

http://www.thailandstyle.info/blog/w...4/songkran.jpg
http://www.pattayamail.com/717/pictu...gkran-2007.jpg

Phuket forsure
I like Kata, away from the madness, this is where I stayed the last couple of times http://www.boathousephuket.com/ great spot right on the beach, with the best food I have found, cooking class is great too

There's some nice spots in the Philippines. Try Busuanga or El Nido in Palawan. Tons of places to go. I've been to Thailand, that's a great place too.

Im planning on taking a trip to Thailand soon for a "tranny adventure"

We should hook up

How about neither of those dirty countries! LOL

Philippines :) I can tour you here. For free lol. I got a car, rent a condo unit instead of hotel.

Most cities around my hometown USA are dirtier and rundown more than BKK city :2 cents:

Now PH, that's a diff story LOL

Went to Phuket a few years back and wow it is beautiful!

I'm in Patong in Phuket, great fun place to be, madness gets to you after a while but for a holiday it's great. If you want to relax a little rather than being in the mix all the time then definitely look at karon/kata or kamala. Although right now the building works going on in karon/kata is crazy, the chances of finding a hotel with no 7am hammers and drills will be hard!

But Phuket as a whole is a cool place, ko samui is nice to, either chaweng beach or lamai being the best places right now. Samui is 1 hour flight or 5 hours by bus from phuket.

well i could suggest to visit them all to enjoy your vacation so much!!!!

Go to Indonesia. Head to Bali and rent scooters. Go ride the coast and see the whole island. It's stunning and very relaxing, as a vacation should be.

Thailand is a dirty shadow of its former self that is becoming more and more dangerous. It's also the Land Of Scams. The Philippines... unless you go off the grid or to one of the nicer islands, it's a filthy shit hole with dirty kids roaming the streets begging for food and pesos.

Cambodia is cool if you want a little dusty adventure. So is Laos. But skip Thailand unless you want to come for some big city clubbing in Bangkok. It's nowhere near as good of a vacation spot as it used to be. Still a decent place if you know how to not get scammed, but for a first time traveler to the area, I'd choose Indo any day of the week.

When a guy who uses "BareBacked" as his name says he's going to Thailand for a tranny adventure, I can only thing of one thing.... AIDS. :winkwink:

Don't worry, just let the pretty ones squirt in your ass and you'll be fine.

nobody scammed me in Thai - i was there for 3 months....I was in Sumatra and had 2 small scams in 1,5 month period....Thailand is great when you skip touristic places, same I heard about Bali....don't go to Kuta there...

just rent motorbikes in Thailand, don't take too much luggage (what for ? ) and ride this country....Indonesia is also great btw :). easier to communicate with locals...but best massage is in Thai....thai food is also great....

I'm in Banger ATM. I lived in cambo for a while. I prefer thailand. Cambodia is very different. Never felt safe there as i was in a very dangerous part of cambodia. The casino i live at is often robbed at gun point by a locals who gambled his life saving of prob $20 away. Since thailand opened a casino it got even more dangerous as the glue sniffing motorbike taxi drivers were out of work. Also, a lot of child labour/abuse issues remain in cambo which as a visitor I try and ignore but it leaves a sense of disgust that a society would allow such atrocities take place. Every time i crossed the border back into thailand i felt a sense of relief. Either way both places have there good and bad parts. Have yet to deal with flips but i hear good things.

Some of the islands of the Phillipines are said to have excellent diving spots. So that might be a good reason to go. If you decide to go to Malaysia instead let me know, I have some left over cash.

You just didn't know you got scammed. :2 cents:


You got that right. You can't beat the cheap and always available massages in Thailand, and Thai food is fantastic.

check out airasia.com for some great deals for flying around asia.

Where did you stay in Cambo?

Thailand has a ton of child labor / child prostitutes too, they just do a better job of hiding it than Cambodia does. The entire region is full of labor slaves and sex slaves. Turns your stomach when you start thinking about it.

How was that?

Been wanting to go there but seems they have major earth quakes every couple months and it geeks me out a little.

But you are a sexy man in Thailand nevertheless :pimp:pimp:pimp

Welcome to Koh Samui!
Its really great place.I have lived here for 2 years and I like it.

Are you going there for sex?

FYI..... RIGHT NOW there is a protest taking shape in Bangkok to remove the current government and they claim it's going to be a long protest. This is the same group who seized the airport a few years ago.

Just yesterday another group was there and the police found "war weapons" on them, preparing to battle the other group.

And handsome.

A few hours ago a bus in Metro Manila was blown up by terrorists.

There's some incredible islands in phuket. It's really nice. I was at karon beach the first time, took boat trip to islands around there. Second time I don't remember the names place, the tsunami then came when we was there.

No fun, but we came out all of us alive. Was pretty crazy and surreal.

I'm no expert on the philippines. I've never been there.

If you do go to the Philippines I suggest you stay away from the notorious Angeles City. Aside from the fact that it is a rampant pedo hellhole, it is also rampant with HIV, Hepatitis and Tuberculosis. Ive known 7 friends to visit there, 4 got infected with HIV of which 3 are dead. The other 3 all got infected hepatitis and 1 also got Tuberculosis as well. Both Interpol and various womens activist groups are very active there and just checking into a hotel lets them put a mark against you.
This article will give you an idea of the sort of scum that go there....http://www.preda.org/main/archives/hl/wvb.html

From Phuket, you can alway grab a cheap hop on Tiger Airways to Singapore or just about any other major city in S. Asia. I love Phuket and have been there several times. I always felt safe when walking around the island.