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Where would u go in asia in January for a warm holiday?

Boring is fine, no gritty realism

Thinking Singapore 

Vietnam. Singapore is so boring. Vietnam, great people, great food and lots of history. Bit mad.

not sure when rainy season is though. You can say you have been to ‘the Nam’. I went in November brilliant place. Stay in the metropole in Hanoi and pretend you are a french colonist.

friend of mine has been to cape verde, if you want the all inclusive thing where you don’t leave the hotel for 1/2 weeks, it is good value. However there is fook all there. All my mate (38yo and single) does is play video games and read for the whole time he’s there

still thailand tho obv 

no horrible diseases

warm weather and good food

they do actually have revolutions sometimes but they are generally less bloody than changes of tory prime ministers 

For sunshine and not leaving the resort much  I would just pick somewhere nice in the Caribbean with a direct flight - Grenada, St Lucia or Barbados would be my choices. Santo Domingo has some cool history if you want a bit of tourist stuff but otherwise I am not convinced by the DR. I can’t comment on Costa Rica atm but I will be there for most of March. If you actually might want to do a bit more tourist stuff or interesting food I imagine Asia would be better but I haven’t been since probably before Clergs was born. 

Singapore - very sanitised (probably a good thing for Clergs) but even in Jan can be oppressively hot and humid from about 10am to 4pm.  Ultramodern.  Great food that, if you look around carefully, is often pretty reasonably priced, but much of it might be too spicy for the Scottish palate.  Beaches are very average and crowded.  13-hour flight.  

Malaysia is a very good shout - good combo of colonial/modern/outdoors, plus really safe, and English is spoken by almost everyone.  Might be hard to find decent places in Penang or Langkawi then though.  Very tropical climate unless you get up into the hills.  Same observations re food as Singapore.  

Maldives - only if you want to be on a sandspit with a few palm trees enjoying (blistering) sun and nothing else beyond the luxury resort experience.  Unless you go off the tourist trail, but I somehow don't see Clergs wading through the ferry station at Male, getting on a dhoni and heading off to eg. Laviyani.  

I've only passed through Sri Lanka but would definitely like to see more of the place.  Taiwan would be really interesting, but it's far enough northwards that winter weather there could be iffy.  

Maybe the Mediterranean coast of Asian Turkiye, eg Antalya - should still be sunny, flights wouldn't be stupidly long, believe the area is quite set up for tourism.  

Agree Singapore is boring. And humid.

If you just want mild to slightly warm, Madeira might be enough. Have had a great holiday there in February, shorts and t-shirts when the sun was out, amazing walking, lots of good sensibly priced restaurants in Funchal.

Perth is a great city but the non-stop flight from Heathrow:

- is £2k+ at the back of the plane, and you would want to die by the end of the flight;

- is £6k+ at the front of the plane.

Qantas making $$ on that route.

Agree with Sir Woke on Cape V. Went there a few years ago and would never go back - bland views, nothing to do, spenny restaurants. Fine if you just want a hotel for 7 days.

Beaches are a bit pants in Singapore but it’s a nice enough place otherwise. Plenty to do for a few days. 

Thailand is almost impossible to beat if you want sun and nice resorts I think. 

I would go to Saadiyat Island (Abu Dhabi) though. 

If I go to Asia, it'll be South Korea. I've watched almost nothing but k-dramas since Extraordinary Attorney Woo in the middle of last year, and my curiosity is well and truly piqued.

...none of which is any use to Rhamnousia.

saadiyat island is great, but possibly better (or combined with) sir bani yas island for the safari thing (or more to the poitn the anantara desert, which is fkn amazing and more easily combinable with saadiyat - gives you a mix of culture (louvre) / wildlife / sea / scenery / luxury. for which of c you will pay).

you never went to salalah in the end did you? go to salalah

Sir Bani Yas isn't the same as Yas (yas is just one of the city islands with eg ferrari world and probably therefore hell on earth) and it's tricky to get to because there are limited times you can access the island which don't always coincide with civilised flight times back to the UK, and that's why i've never been. Have been to their desert on though and it was superb - poss best ever holiday. 

Maldives - only if you want to be on a sandspit with a few palm trees enjoying (blistering) sun and nothing else beyond the luxury resort experience.
 

Nothing else?

What about all the turtles, dolphins, baby sharks, manta rays etc?

for those who have been to vietnam, what did you enjoy most and why?  did you feel safe?

Amberman has succinctly covered this and yes felt way more safe than Europe let alone the US.
 

What about all the turtles, dolphins, baby sharks, manta rays etc?

Seriously - do you see Our Clergz (tm) getting on a boat, let alone going for a snorkel along the house reef?  BUT JELLYFISH!!!  and WHERE THERE ARE BABY SHARKS THERE ARE BIG ONES!!!  

Don't go to Vietnam esp the north for a warm holiday in January - it can get as cold/colder than London at the same time.  Some winters, it snows in the far north.  It's more pleasant in the south (low to mid-20s in temp).  

I would go to Malaysia for a warm January holiday.  Langkawi, say if you want beach action and you can hop over to Penang (and all the places sb listed upthread; in-country flights are pretty cheap). I'm planning to go for Thaipusam. There are so many options for Malaysia and it's cheap, has great food, is generally safe, many people speak English, has fascinating history and varied architecture.

Sizzler - you know your stuff. Have you any recommendations for quiet beaches? The sort of undeveloped coast away from the crowds and the traffic where there are just a dozen or so beach huts on the edge of the jungle and you step out of your bungalow beneath the palm trees, take a few steps across the pristine golden sand and go for a swim in the warm, turquoise sea that gently laps against the beach before returning to lie in a hammock to read and then have lunch, which will be a local dish based on whatever the fishermen caught that morning?

CoLol - I don't know many places like that because I like my beach holidays to be in the vicinity of a strip of quaint cafes, reasonably priced trinkets and masseurs.  In Vietnam, I could only really recommend Con Dao Island (and its neighbouring islands) because I've been there a lot. It is not very developed, there are numerous isolated beaches, including ones you have to trek through forest/jungle to get to.

Sir Bani Yas is amazing although the Safari element is ever so slightly lame/more of a novelty for kids really. If you go there stay in the Al Yamm bit (which is small villas directly on the beach) and honestly one of the nicest places I have ever stayed.  Only problem is that the seaplane option is now only available if you charter a plane (and that is a very spenny option) and it's quite a long schlep by car.

Sizzler - you know your stuff. Have you any recommendations for quiet beaches? The sort of undeveloped coast away from the crowds and the traffic where there are just a dozen or so beach huts on the edge of the jungle and you step out of your bungalow beneath the palm trees, take a few steps across the pristine golden sand and go for a swim in the warm, turquoise sea that gently laps against the beach before returning to lie in a hammock to read and then have lunch, which will be a local dish based on whatever the fishermen caught that morning?

To me, this idyllic setting is inevitably a prelude to a scene where the US government/terrorists storm the beach, kill your beloved, with you barely managing to escape, broken and alone in the world. 

Quite.  There aren't many places like that in today's age of mass tourism that aren't dodgy, as Clergs delicately puts it, and/or require language skills beyond the average Brit.  

Me too, Porpy, me too!  I was trekking through jungle on Con Dao to get to one of the isolated beaches actually, when it started absolutely pissing it down. We took shelter at an old run down building close to the beach.  Half an hour later a couple of men came crashing through the trees brandishing m'achètes. Shat myself until I realised they were rangers.

(Really glad they were there because when we headed back out, a tree had fallen over the path and they macheted our way through it and helped us past a gushing waterfall that earlier that morning had been a trickling stream. Fvckin nature, eh.)

FFS they aren’t dodgy. They just tend to be a bit of a trek to get to because if there’s an international airport next door they end up getting overdeveloped. 

There are literally thousands of islands in SE Asia so there are loads of these types of places (I’ve been to a few of them) it’s just a matter of finding them.

Thanks Sizzler. Will have a look at Con Dao.

 

Clerghs - AD definitely isn’t cheap for the nice stuff but compared to say the 
Maldives or Sardinia etc you get a lot of fancy resort for your money. I also suspect there will be some deals around this year as even though there is zero direct security impact from Israel/Gaza a lot of people are likely to be put off the Middle East as a whole. 
 

I wouldn’t do Yas Island (as above a completely different place to Sir Bani Yas island) if I were you. Yas is all about the theme parks/water parks really.  We were there for a couple of days earlier in the week for half term and it’s not somewhere I would go without the kids. 

We went to Abu Dhabi after Christmas one of the Covid years as was one of the only easy places to go - rained for nearly the whole week which when you are going for sun and swimming pool isn't great. Also loads of families with out of control children - I have my own family and like them but not being surrounded by other peoples. All the hotels are massive so you cant really avoid it, nothing is personal,  loads of buffets etc. This was at the St Regis Saadiyat Island so not povvo either. Just not really my bag so many better places to go for a January holiday - I'd vote boutique hotel Thailand/Sri Lanka, beach huts in Goa. 

Go to Uruguay instead. Could even have 3 or 4 days in Buenos Aires in the trip.

Coast round Punta Del Este, Punta Del Diablo etc would be nice at that time of year

Oman is superb.  Second the Chedi.  Head into the hills too it is beautiful.

I have never been tempted by the Caribbean I get the feeling it will be very chavy or rapey or both.  I'd like to be proven wrong but never sure where best to go and there's so much choice.

Went to Tobago, was awesome.

 

However, Sunday School did get a distinct change of vibe after dark (think the Europeans that usually stay until that time might usually be looking for some local company for the female in the couple, which was awkward as we just wanted another couple of pints)

There are literally thousands of islands in SE Asia so there are loads of these types of places (I’ve been to a few of them)

So have I.  How's your Bahasa? 

You never think it rains out in the desert, but Londonhead's 16:19 reminds me of watching  (from the plane, from where I could do nothing about it) with no small amount of trepidation the cardboard tube containing my fishing rods sitting in an open container with other luggage during a pretty heavy rain shower in Doha.  Cardboard, of course, loses its strength when wet - fortunately the tube survived.  

Canaries - YMMV, but I've never felt the need for a quality hotel whenever I've been there.  But I'm out and about so much that basic accom is perfectly fine.  

Oman isn't really Asia but I'd love to go someday.  

Laos. People are nice, long country with stunning scenery and it costs millions of kif to buy a penny sweet

Cambodia's a shïtole (but fun place to live), Vietnam's cool up north but people less friendly than the south (never really enjoyed living either HCM or Hanoi tho), Thailand's too busy and full of dïckead Russians down south atm. Kanchanaburi or further north Chiang mai or even Chiang Kong are great.

If you can get there, 1/3 of Myanmar's perimeter is full of the most beautiful beaches I've been to (not a fan of beaches tho in general).

Some sweet islands in Philippines if you aren't a fan of electricity.

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