3 months travelling in SE Asia with dcs any suggestions for itinerary?

[93pjb]

We are planning a year long sabbatical during which we are planning to spend 3 months travelling in SE Asia with our dcs who will be 10 and 7 at the time. I'm starting to think about itineraries but it's really completely flexible at the moment so it is hard to know where to start! We'll be travelling April to June.

I would base the itinerary around the weather - SE Asia starts to get pretty hot from April. I use the following website to check the weather and see when it is best to go where
www.selectiveasia.com/
Also look at budget airlines - Air Asia's main hub is in KL so you can get lots of reasonable flights from there. Scoot another budget airline operates out of Singapore.
I have travelled a lot in SE Asia and some of my favourites are:
trekking in Sapa - take the overnight train from Hanoi or there is now a bus. Train is really slow, but fun.
Hoi An - beautiful old town and you could combine this with some beach time in Danang
Hanoi - really like the old town, but it does not have a great many sights. food, however, is excellent.Not keen on HCMC
Chiang Mai for temples and not too hectic
Luang Prabang for even more temples - can also go cycling and trekking from here
Siem Reap - just amazing
Kuching - for great food, orangutans in the wild, long houses and kayaking
HK - if you start to miss Blighty you can pop into M&S! Disneyland and Ocean Park for your dcs.
Bali - choose your area wisely and avoid Kuta! Ubud is glorious
Java - Yogyakarta is a dump, but there a lots of great things in the area. My kids loved the visit to Merapi volcano and Prambanan and Borobodur are excellent and not far away from Yogyakarta.
Hope some of the above inspires you!

Thank you - that sounds great! We will be heading there from Australia so hopefully will be a bit used to the heat by then... Sounds really exciting - many happy hours of Internet research ahead! I really like the idea of the train from Singapore to Bangkok (maybe some stops on the way) and then to siem reap and bus/boat to hcmc then train to Hanoi but with some side trips on the way so lots to look at now. Dd has been learning mandarin so is insistent that we go to China as well...

Enjoy your internet research :)
Good time to visit China too before it gets really hot and humid. Train travel is excellent in China - good value and reliable.