Anyone been to Taiwan? Philippines? Etc.

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Anyone been to Taiwan? Philippines? Etc.

Post by shnoukieBRO »

Hi there. Just looking for opinions about other places to visit for a change from the usual Vietnam Cambo Lao Thai. Maybe Malaysia will be good for a change...Maybe Taiwan or even Phillipines?

Opinions?
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Re: Anyone been to Taiwan? Philippines? Etc.

Post by Duncan »

Just recently spent a couple of days in Georgetown and Butterworth,, Malaysia. Of all the places I have been in Malaysia they are the only places
I would want to go back to visit.
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Re: Anyone been to Taiwan? Philippines? Etc.

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shnoukieBRO wrote: Fri Mar 09, 2018 7:15 am Hi there. Just looking for opinions about other places to visit for a change from the usual Vietnam Cambo Lao Thai. Maybe Malaysia will be good for a change...Maybe Taiwan or even Phillipines?

Opinions?
Myanmar, Bangladesh and India. In that order. Very interesting to see the gradual change from South East Asian to South Asian culture, food, peoples etc.
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Re: Anyone been to Taiwan? Philippines? Etc.

Post by bangkokhooker »

The bad.
Taiwan is a dull bland country with nothing of interest and a couple of amusement parks that reminded me of British ones - tired, empty and eternally being refurbished.

Taiwanese are not very friendly and PP has much nicer architecture. It’s very square and grey. Grey, grey, greeeeyyyy!

The only barang there are teachers and engineers. I met one western couple sightseeing and he was a teacher on holiday.

It’s shit and full of tourist busses full of even ruder mainland Chinese.

The good.
101 tower. Weeeeehhhhh in the elevator, after you’ve paid the $35 entrance fee.
It’s clean.
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dron
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Re: Anyone been to Taiwan? Philippines? Etc.

Post by dron »

shnoukieBRO wrote: Fri Mar 09, 2018 7:15 am Hi there. Just looking for opinions about other places to visit for a change from the usual Vietnam Cambo Lao Thai. Maybe Malaysia will be good for a change...Maybe Taiwan or even Phillipines?

Opinions?
It depends what you're looking for.

Taiwan is a nice change of pace if you get tired of heat, insane traffic, pollution and an inability to walk around without going into the streets. It's basically like Korea or Singapore in that regard. Don't expect too much English though. The grasp of English there is widely exaggerated. I personally prefer Hong Kong.

I would never suggest anyone ever go to the Philippines, but that's just me. It's a truly downtrodden place and the traffic in cities like Manila (where most people land) is horrendous, but the girls are friendly. I think Indonesia is a little better and has more to offer.

I'm not a fan of Malaysia either. It looks developed in places but there's a lot of weird stuff going on there. Do you want to hang around in a place where most local women are not allowed in bars and beer festivals are shut down by threats from religious extremists? It's one of the only places I know of where a leading politician tells young people "get out while you can".

Have you visited some of the places off the beaten path in SEA like Dalat, Chiang Rai, or Keng Tung? Have you been to Nepal?

Myanmar was the most interesting place I've ever been in my entire life when I visited in 2014. In 2016 not as much, but still very different from much of the rest of the world. I don't know how much longer that will last.
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Re: Anyone been to Taiwan? Philippines? Etc.

Post by ramzchillin »

Taiwan is just food. I prefer Philippines. Not manila but cebu, palawan and the likes. awesome people as well and people speaks english
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Re: Anyone been to Taiwan? Philippines? Etc.

Post by cautious colin »

ramzchillin wrote: Sat Mar 17, 2018 5:13 pm Taiwan is just food. I prefer Philippines. Not manila but cebu, palawan and the likes. awesome people as well and people speaks english
I would agree. I haven’t travelled PH. Extensively but Palawan (specifically coron) Cebu ( oslob, moalboal, malapasqua) dumagete and like like are great places.

In MY I really like Penang, have been back a few times. Great food and good atmosphere. Also like Langkawi, malacca n perhentian islands {spelling for all of the above is iffy). Pangkor islands are also good for some relaxation.

Plenty of places to see in SEA outside of Lao Thai viet and camb. Not yet been to Myanmar but only heard good things.
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Re: Anyone been to Taiwan? Philippines? Etc.

Post by timmydownawell »

I have two friends living in Myanmar and they both hate it.

When I visited the Philippines (admittedly only Manila), I did not care for it at all. It felt like a police state with all the queuing up for bag checks just to enter a shopping mall.

Like the others have said, Penang/Georgetown is quite good. Melacca felt like a Chinese toy town like some kind of Disney/Las Vegas creation. It didn't feel authentic, just cheesy. Don't ask me why, it's just the vibe it gave me.

I love India but I have to say Chennai sucks dogs' balls. Delhi, Taj Mahal/Fatehpur Sikri, Jaipur, Goa and Kerala are all well worth a visit.
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