>>948345
Burma, cambodia, vietnam, laos. Thailand is a shithole full,of lowlifes, .burma and cambodia got very nice beaches and astonishing historical sights ( bagan, siem reap for example)
For the visa, iam not sure, normally the visa lasts a njmber of days , the departure and arrival time you can possibly just file out in the documents you get on the airplane.

>>948345
You can be early on a visa but not late. Being late to arrive will get you turned around. Being late to leave is ok if it's only a day or two (they don't shit themselves if you missed a train or a flight was sold-out or something, explain the story and it will most likely be ok), you get fined for a few more and fined, deported and barred for too many.

My advice would be to get the Vietnam visa in a SEA country where it's cheap and easy, same day even if you're early/lucky.

Visas are not a hassle in SEA. Check if you're visa free in Taiwan or Korea, it's possible.

>>948345
>I will need a Visa if I want to enter Vietnam
So, American, then?

There are visa service companies for Vietnam who will take a scan of your passport and $50 and set everything up for you for visa upon arrival at the airport. I don't know one offhand, but they've been posted here before, maybe someone will remember one.

Taiwan, I don't really recommend it because there isn't a lot of touristy stuff to do, but if you're really wanting to see old Chinese artifacts at the museum or something, people from most first-world countries get a landing visa for either 30 or 90 days (depends on the country). Just show up with a passport and no criminal record and you're in.

South Korea, I likewise don't recommend it, Koreans are assholes.

Thailand is touristy, but I find it smelly and depressing now. Tourism is way down because of the scumbag government, and so places have raised their prices (because you tourists are all rich and they have to make money to live on).

>>948481
>>948621
No, I'm Canadian. Visa free I can enter SK, HK, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand. Everywhere else I need a Visa. So it sounds like Korea and Taiwan aren't that great? Are you speaking from Experience or second hand info? What about Japan? I heard it's pretty expensive... I'm not a rich guy or trust fund kid.

How's China? is it difficult to travel? I didn't have a lot of trouble in the Philippines... mainly because there wasn't any language barrier but I would imagine Vietnam would be harder?

I'm thirsty for details, thanks.

Anyone have a good resource on Central Asia that isn't Wikitravel? I'm particularly interested in Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.

What parts are going to get me killed / robbed?

>>948869
From experience. Don't know about China, I avoid going to places that want to bomb me into oblivion.

Japan is expensive, but how long are you staying? If you're going on a three-month backpacking trip, Japan is not for you. If you want to go for a week or two and see the major sights, a thousand a week plus airfare is doable (but of course you can spend $300 on a single Michelin-star meal if you want to, or eat a box of rice and misc. scraps rom 7-11 for three bucks).

>>949232
Yeah China kind of rubs me the wrong way, I think it's for more experienced travelers that know Mandarin beyond beginner levels. I'm just going for 2-3 weeks, I haven't really put a lot of thought into Japan but it seems interesting, or I was looking into Korea too. Vietnam not sure, I want to enjoy my trip and not get stressed out all the time, but I heard good things. It's not as polluted with sex tourists and australians as much.

>>948908
Try lonely planet, I found their books give you a lot of info.

Go to vietnam. Apply for visa on line, take pp photo and immg. in country does the rest. Hanoi, Hoi An awesome. Use language section in back of lp and you ll be ok.

>>948347
i agree.
these countries are less tourist-orientated than e.g. thailand. I'd recommend going to these places and they're all easy to travel.

Language barrier.
If you are worried about this it shows that you have nothing to worry about.
take notes ask politely, you'll understand bits that are easy to pick up and people will recognize that effort.

source: drove through laos on a honda win 100
made mostly good experiences, even in villages that were really off the grid.
and my native language is not even english (nor any asian language)

Come to hong Kong m8

Hey guys, Im flying from Vancouver to shanghai economy class seats. It's a 12 hour flight and i booked my son as "Child on Lap"... How screwed am I? It will be me and my wife, so we can take turns i guess. He is almost 2 years old and near 30 lbs. Im starting to worry about this lol.

>>950210
You'll survive. But you will obviously need to take turns. Better financially at least than spending an extra $1000+ for another seat.
>Wife and I travel regularly with now-2.5 yo twin boys; too big/old for laps now, so traveling is stupid expensive.