Best city to be a base to explore Asia (places, travel, hotel)

[Tiger Beer]

Originally Posted by survivingearth

Cities on my list:
Busan
Jeju
Bangkok
Shenzhen
Guangzhou
Kuala Lampur
Phuket
Pattaya
Taipei
Slem Reap
Jakarta
Gullin
Dhaka
Nagano
Tokyo
Any suggestions....Dates would be January through first week of February around 40 days to be more precise.

You have 15 cities and 30 days. That is 2 days each.

I imagine you are going to shorten your list considerably. But, it's easiest if you just do a series of one-way flights.

[OyCrumbler]

Originally Posted by survivingearth

Cities on my list:
Busan
Jeju
Bangkok
Shenzhen
Guangzhou
Kuala Lampur
Phuket
Pattaya
Taipei
Slem Reap
Jakarta
Gullin
Dhaka
Nagano
Tokyo
Any suggestions....Dates would be January through first week of February around 40 days to be more precise.

For this many cities, or even half this many cities, for forty day, I’m not sure a home base makes that much sense. One thing I thought of is that since this would be during winter, perhaps you might want to work in factoring that in with more and bulkier clothing as you go further north. This can mean not packing winter clothes at all, and then purchasing items as you make your way further north-ish (Nagano looks to be the coldest).

[Dd714]

OP you don't get it - Asia is to huge, no city makes sense as a "base" for a tour of the entire continent. If it takes 8 hour to fly from Singapore to Tokyo well you can just make Los Angelas a base and take a 14 hour flight. Why would you even need a base? When one talks of a "base" when traveling I think of something you use for day trips - i.e. Shanghai to Suzhou for the day and back, Delhi to the Taj for the day and back.

[Gold miner]

I have an "out of box" suggestion. Instead of traveling, stay home for a month and watch as many documentaries about Asia as you can. You will become an "Asian" expert in 30 days. 👍

[bus man]

OP, maybe you'd want to expand your idea to include "bases," plural. If you're interested in doing some of the cities you mentioned only as day trips, this could work. For instance, if you only wanted to do Jeju for the day, you could fly there from Busan in the morning and then fly back that evening. If you have an interest in ancient Korean history, you could add Gyeongju to your list; it's only about an hour from Busan and thus an easy day trip from there. I'm surprised you didn't list Seoul, but if you want to check that off your list, you could do a day trip to there from Busan as well. (Though, you won't see too much in the few hours that you'd have. Maybe just pop in to Gyeongbokgung Palace so you can say you did it.)

I've never been to Asia in the winter, but I've heard that parts of it can be rather cold. So prepare accordingly.

[Winterfall8324]

Originally Posted by survivingearth

Cities on my list:
Busan
Jeju
Bangkok
Shenzhen
Guangzhou
Kuala Lampur
Phuket
Pattaya
Taipei
Slem Reap
Jakarta
Gullin
Dhaka
Nagano
Tokyo
Any suggestions....Dates would be January through first week of February around 40 days to be more precise.

if you're going in the winter visit Sapporo and Harbin.

[NightBazaar]

Originally Posted by bus man

I've never been to Asia in the winter, but I've heard that parts of it can be rather cold. So prepare accordingly.

You're right. It depends on what part of Asia. In SE Asia, Thailand has a Cool Season in most parts, especially in December to mid-January. But "cool" is a relative term. In comparison to areas in Northern Asia, SE Asia is closer to the Equator (Bangkok's latitude is about 13+ degrees north of the Equator) and SE Asia's Cooler Seasons are still generally very warm to hot as Summer in latitudes farther north. There have been freak occasions in Northern Thailand when temps have dropped down considerably causing a frost at high elevations. The coldest ever recorded in the country was -1.4 degrees Celsius (29 degrees Fahrenheit), January 2, 1974. Generally, it's a perfect time of year for people from Northern climates.
Chiang Mai CityNews Archive - Freezing our %#@s Off in Northern Thailand

[botticelli]

If you have 40 days for those 15 places, I actually think that is quite doable. Some of those places really only need a day (Shenzhen, Kuala Lampur for example).

You might want to decide which are the places you want to spend more time in. You may also want to rethink some of those cities. For example, Shenzhen is boring. Very little history, very little culture. I have never heard any Chinese who take a vacation in Shenzhen when there are so many better alternatives.

And no, you can't just have one base. As you can see from the map, Japan is far from Cambodia.

[415_s2k]

This is like having a "base" to see the US in a month. What do you do? Choose a place in the middle and fly out and then back in? Total waste of time, money, and energy, I'd try to figure out how to do a loop; land in one city, then do a southern or northern route, doubling back at some point in the middle and doing the opposite. You don't need to fly out of the same city, you can fly out of somewhere else. For example, say you start in Tokyo, then hit Korea, Beijing , and Shanghai before moving on, you can fly out of HK or Guangzhou/Shenzhen on the mainland after seeing SE Asia, as there isn't as much to see on the central Chinese East Coast.

[NightBazaar]

Originally Posted by survivingearth

Cities on my list:
Busan
Jeju
Bangkok
Shenzhen
Guangzhou
Kuala Lampur
Phuket
Pattaya
Taipei
Slem Reap
Jakarta
Gullin
Dhaka
Nagano
Tokyo
Any suggestions....Dates would be January through first week of February around 40 days to be more precise.

You might be able to do most of what's on your list, it would mean less than two and a half days at each location. But the reality would be less, maybe a day, because there's travel time in the air for some of them, time spent at the airport and travel to and from hotels, you have to eat and sleep. All that would take up a lot of time traveling and not much time enjoying the surroundings.

I'm assuming your list is primarily of potential locations. You don't need to see them all at once. Break down your list and start with an easier goal. You can always choose to visit another set of destinations next year or whenever.

The easiest group (and the closest destinations) would include:
Bangkok
Phuket
Pattaya
Siem Reap
Kuala Lampur
and maybe Jakarta

That's 6 places on your list that aren't too far from each other, and you'll have time to enjoy yourself. This is a suggestion for a route to get the most out of it with the least amount time wasted. Check a map of the overall area to get an idea of where these place are in relation to other places

- Start at Bangkok and spend a few days there
- Take a bus from the Eastern Terminal in Bangkok to go to Pattaya and spend a few days there. The Eastern Bus Terminal is at Sukhumvit Road and Ekkamai Road. The sky train goes out there, just get off the sky train at the Ekkamai Station. or you can hop a tuk-tuk or taxi to get to the Bus Terminal.
- From Pattaya, there are buses that can take you to the border of Cambodia and you can spend a few days at Siem Reap. If you really want a feeling of exploration, spend a day at Angkor Wat to view some of the ancient ruins. You can't see it all in one day. It's a gigantic place.
- From Cambodia, book a flight back to Bangkok to unwind.
- From Bangkok fly to Phuket for a few days at the beach.
- From Phuket, fly south to Kuala Lampur.
- From KL, you could fly to Jakarta.
- From Jakarta you can fly back to Bangkok.
- When you're near the end of your 40 days, you can fly out of Bangkok to return to your homeland.

That would give you about 4-5 days at each stop. Total time for 3 of those stops in Bangkok would be 12-15 days. But you can always adjust the timing at other locations. I'd recommend you spend at least a total of 10 days in Bangkok, but that's up to you. I'd say that you're going to want to spend a few days there when you first arrive, and a few days before you depart just to unwind. When you get closer to your departure day, sometimes time can seem to zip by very quickly.

How many days you want to spend at each location is up to you. Remember, you'll still have to find hotels. I'd recommend traveling light - just a carry-on bag and maybe a small backpack. Don't take a lot of clothes. Clothing is pretty cheap all over SE Asia. And you can find cheap but good-tasting food everywhere. Even in January to February, it's going to be relatively warm to hot. Don't bring cold weather clothes unless you'll need them when you return to your country. If you need to, you can bring along a laptop computer and carry it in your backpack.

You will need a visa at each country, but I don't know what the requirements, fees, are. Some might give you a visa at the border, Others might require you to obtain a visa at an Embassy's Consulate for each nation.

Remember that all countries have their own currency. You can either go to a bank or exchange currency at most of the airports.

If you need information or directions, ask the hotel manager or desk clerk. Don't bother with touts on the street who offer you a "great bargain".

Buy some bottled water. The weather is going to be very warm, so you'll need something to drink. It's not expensive and can be found all over.

You need to check about those details before you leave on your journey so there will be few to no unexpected or unwanted surprises. Do some homework about the different countries and their customs. Knowing about some of the important customs will help you avoid doing something stupid that the locals may find insulting.