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Well it is relative. I was in Bangkok in December, it was a balmy night for me, and while riding on the tuk tuk I felt the breeze was nice and refreshing but the tuk tuk driver was complaining about how cold it was lol.
Yeah, the dry season is still hot (highs generally still above 30C), and well, say April is sort of a transition zone, more humid and a bit wetter than the peak of the dry season, with the hottest temps, while from June it gets wetter and slightly cooler but still hot and steamy.
Hong Kong, by contrast, has definitely coolish weather, with highs average 18C versus 30C in BKK for January, and lows dipping as low as 0C (in contrast nights below about 15C would be seen as very cold in Bangkok). It has something sort of resembling a 'winter' at least. It can, however, still be rather gloomy and sometimes wet in winter despite the fact it's the 'dry' season. Drier, rather, not a total drought like central Thailand.
Phuket has a climate akin to northern Malaysia, like Penang, it was still humid and rained a fair bit in December there.
Indeed, it's relative to what a person is accustomed to. Even though I've never been to Hong Kong, I don't doubt that it can be much cooler there than Bangkok, if for no other reason than the latitude of Hong Kong is farther north than Bangkok. I can relate to how the tuk-tuk driver felt though. My wife and I have a house in Thailand and spend a fair amount of time there. With enough time, a person can get acclimated to the temps and weather there so that when there are wider changes, we can feel it too. Actually, April is the peak of the Hot (Dry) Season in the Central Plains and much of the main body of Thailand. Around July is when the weather usually starts getting wetter. Friends over in the Issan region are saying they're starting to get a little bit of rain now, not a lot though. The big floods a year or so ago began dumping it down from easterly monsoons as early as July, but mostly from the end of August to the first part of October.
I think Bangkok tends to feel warmer and more humid than areas of the Central Plains north of the city probably because Bangkok is closer to the Gulf and because all the concrete from roads and high-rise buildings tends to trap the heat and has less wind currents to move the heat. It's humid elsewhere too, but it seems less so to me. There are times though when there are thermal inversions that the humidity, especially at night, can be trapped even out in the Plains. Generally, out in the rice field areas of the Plains, during the day the winds can blow scorching heat from the dry fields, but because there isn't a lot to block the breezes, the heat isn't too oppressive. That's not saying much because it's still hot. Central Thailand may seem like a drought in comparison to Hong Kong, but it can rain any time of the year, even in the Dry Season.
I agree that in the south, the humidity is a lot higher most of the year. Along the coast though the breezes from the ocean and can be pretty nice. Same for the eastern side of the Gulf around Bang Saen and Pattaya.
lol saying no matter which I go, one day I would visit the other to. i plan on spending a week. Takes 24hrs to get there from here.
Okay, that's much better. I've never been to Hong Kong, but my understanding is that it's more expensive than Bangkok. Since you mentioned being interested in being budget-minded with regards to seeing the sights, etc., I would think that Bangkok would be the better choice in terms of making your money stretch farther. I think you mentioned having been there before, but it's still a pretty big city any way you look at it, so there are probably loads of things there you haven't seen or done. Regardless, there are also places other than Bangkok, that are not too far to visit such as Ayutthaya, unless you've already been there. A lot of it really depends on what sort of things interest you. Perhaps a week is all the time you can spare, but personally I don't think a week is long enough.
Indeed, it's relative to what a person is accustomed to. Even though I've never been to Hong Kong, I don't doubt that it can be much cooler there than Bangkok, if for no other reason than the latitude of Hong Kong is farther north than Bangkok. I can relate to how the tuk-tuk driver felt though. My wife and I have a house in Thailand and spend a fair amount of time there. With enough time, a person can get acclimated to the temps and weather there so that when there are wider changes, we can feel it too. Actually, April is the peak of the Hot (Dry) Season in the Central Plains and much of the main body of Thailand. Around July is when the weather usually starts getting wetter. Friends over in the Issan region are saying they're starting to get a little bit of rain now, not a lot though. The big floods a year or so ago began dumping it down from easterly monsoons as early as July, but mostly from the end of August to the first part of October.
I think Bangkok tends to feel warmer and more humid than areas of the Central Plains north of the city probably because Bangkok is closer to the Gulf and because all the concrete from roads and high-rise buildings tends to trap the heat and has less wind currents to move the heat. It's humid elsewhere too, but it seems less so to me. There are times though when there are thermal inversions that the humidity, especially at night, can be trapped even out in the Plains. Generally, out in the rice field areas of the Plains, during the day the winds can blow scorching heat from the dry fields, but because there isn't a lot to block the breezes, the heat isn't too oppressive. That's not saying much because it's still hot. Central Thailand may seem like a drought in comparison to Hong Kong, but it can rain any time of the year, even in the Dry Season.
I agree that in the south, the humidity is a lot higher most of the year. Along the coast though the breezes from the ocean and can be pretty nice. Same for the eastern side of the Gulf around Bang Saen and Pattaya.
You should make the trip up to Hong Kong and Macau one of these days. Not expensive with budget flights. Yes, HK is just below the tropic of Cancer, while Bangkok is about 15 degrees north of the equator, well within the troics.
You should make the trip up to Hong Kong and Macau one of these days. Not expensive with budget flights. Yes, HK is just below the tropic of Cancer, while Bangkok is about 15 degrees north of the equator, well within the troics.
Thanks. I'd first need to get a one-year multiple entry visa for Thailand but I may have to think about doing a trip like that. We're currently looking at houses in Chiang Mai. The CM international airport has routine flights to China.
Thanks. I'd first need to get a one-year multiple entry visa for Thailand but I may have to think about doing a trip like that. We're currently looking at houses in Chiang Mai. The CM international airport has routine flights to China.
Oh speaking of that, I might make another trip to Thailand in October. Maybe even Chiang Mai, if so maybe we could do a meet up? With my friends from Vietnam and Germany, actually.
Yunnan province is well worth checking out. There are still Dai people living there, particularly near the Laos border.
Found out tourists are avoiding HK now and the economy shrinking due to decrease in consumption and investment from both residents and tourists. Shops have decreasing customers due to early closure when violent protestors are nearby and customers avoiding areas with protests lead to decrease in consumption.
In HK, the unpopular protestors like the western tourists to come and tell the mainland Chinese to go home because they know who are their allies and who are not. Unfortunately many western tourists are afraid and avoiding visit HK at the moment
In Bangkok, the Thais welcome everybody without discrimination.
Found out tourists are avoiding HK now and the economy shrinking due to decrease in consumption and investment from both residents and tourists. Shops have decreasing customers due to early closure when violent protestors are nearby and customers avoiding areas with protests lead to decrease in consumption.
I'd say Bangkok if you're going right now. Otherwise, Hong Kong, but changed due to the riots. Less riots, a big consideration is that you've already done BKK before, so you already know.
HK is huge, as another poster said, it's similar to NYC. You can get any type of food. It's very cosmopolitan and I found a lot of friendly people there. It's easy to get around so you can see a lot of tourist stuff in little time. Also there's lots of English. They have a great selection of upscale shopping offerings. It's a high end vacation destination.
BKK has her own magic, which you've experienced before. Before repeating, I'd visit a few cities in Asia first. I enjoyed my trips to both, but they were very different cities.
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Okay, that's much better. I've never been to Hong Kong, but my understanding is that it's more expensive than Bangkok. Since you mentioned being interested in being budget-minded with regards to seeing the sights, etc., I would think that Bangkok would be the better choice in terms of making your money stretch farther. I think you mentioned having been there before, but it's still a pretty big city any way you look at it, so there are probably loads of things there you haven't seen or done. Regardless, there are also places other than Bangkok, that are not too far to visit such as Ayutthaya, unless you've already been there. A lot of it really depends on what sort of things interest you. Perhaps a week is all the time you can spare, but personally I don't think a week is long enough.
