[jak77]

My wife an I are looking for our first trip to the east. Our past holidays have been a mix of all inclusive resorts, safari and cities. We definitely enjoy R&R with good food and drink but also appreciate something to see and do at the same time.

I've been researching options for a couple of weeks in south east asia in mid December. First we came across a G adventures tour which we would follow up with a beach resort somewhere but we (she) is a bit concerned about slumming it a bit much. Last night I came across a cruise which goes Singapore-BK-Vietnam x 2-HK with Celebrity X over two weeks. The only things I've thought of is doing Singapore-Borneo-Beach or even just Singapore and beach.

Does anyone have any advise to offer on this part of the world?

Also, the cruise is bothering me a bit - we're mid thirties and I had cruising pencilled in for about 20 years time. Does anyone have any experience to share on this - particularly in the far east?

Thanks

J

[Ono]

It really depends on what you want out of it. Looking at what you've said so far, maybe it's something like a week exploring a city or two and then a week in a resort by the beach relaxing?

I would definitely visit Hong Kong. It's an easy place to get around and plenty to see then maybe visit to Singapore and then ferry across to Bintan in Indonesia for the beach part of it. I would suggest:

5 days in Hong Kong including visit to Macau (stay in one of the casino resort hotels)
2 days in Singapore
4 days in Bintan (beach bit)
Back to HK for a day or so and then flight home.

We stayed in an Angsoka Villa at the Bintan Lagoon Resort and it was fantastic. Golden beaches was just 20 metres from our private pool

[indigobleu89]

You should go to the Phillipines. The Bocaray beach is a mazing. Vietnam's Ha Long Bay is also very impressive and quite romantic at night.

[primadonna]

The Angkor wat in Cambodia is a great place to go too. For the beach, I would definitely go with Boracay as well because it's simply awesome. Though there are no direct flights to the area, I would say it's worth the plane & boat ride there. Bintan is overpriced and the resorts I've stayed in were run down and poorly maintained. Batam is cheaper than Bintan and a 40 mins ferry ride away from Singapore, but the resorts can be pretty run down as well. The more commercialized beaches areas in are Phuket and Bali.

For cites I would definitely say Singapore. It's extremely accessible (not just within the city but also to neighboring beaches) and English is the main language of communication there.