We had one of the best family adventures ever on our South East Asia family holiday.
How to plan a SE Asia family holiday
This trip took us around five weeks, staying in 11 different places. You could do it with fewer stops in less time, but it's a long way, so allow at least three weeks.
As a rule we never stay less than two nights in a place and try to stay at least three. It all just gets too stressful if you're constantly on the move.
Overnight trains sell out months in advance so it's essential to book early. We use 1-2 GoAsia
We pre-booked all of our accommodation too - that way we knew exactly where we needed to be when. This takes a lot of the complexity out of the trip. We used a combination of Booking.com and Agoda. Comparing prices on both platforms is always interesting - sometimes one is quite a lot cheaper or has more availability.
We buy a local SIM card and have an old iPhone with us to put it in. This means we can use this phone as a hotspot and tether our own phones to it for data.
The most useful local app is Grab - a SE Asian ride hailing app. It works really well. We use it loads
Brilliant Bangkok - 2 nights
The Thai capital is hot, crazy and enthralling. Joe was nine at the time and he’d already been to Bangkok several times.
This time we hopped on a ferry across the river to Wat Arun. It's very popular with Thai visitors but gets far fewer overseas ones compared to the Grand Palace.
We love the atmosphere on this side of the Chao Phraya river. It's a little less hectic and you can see local life going on in the little streets behind the temple. There are also cafes and souvenir shops behind the temple and we ate a very spicy lunch there before exploring the temple complex. You can climb up and around the main stepped Khmer-style stupa which Joe loved.
The next day we hung out around Chinatown and bought cheap clothes before taking a wander around nearby Talat Noi neighbourhood which is very up and coming. There were funky little junk shops and cafes and cool graffiti.
And of course a trip to Bangkok has to include a walk down infamous Ko Sahn Road - the famous backpacker street. I first stayed on this street in 1997 - wow it has changed. It used to be pretty quiet much of the time - now it's a non-stop mega volume party zone - insane.
Peaceful Petchaburi - 3 nights
As we’ve spent more time in Thailand, we’ve started to branch out to places a little off the tourist trail.
Petchaburi is around three or four hours from Bangkok by train and we loved it. We were travelling in third class and the only foreigners on the train. We chatted to lovely local guy who spoke brilliant English. These sorts of encounters are such fun and one of the reasons we love catching the train in Thailand.
Petchaburi is the perfect-sized town for exploring - not too big. Its name means City of Diamonds and it more than lived up to it.
On our first day we borrowed bikes from Sweet Dreams guesthouse and pedalled a mile or so out of town to the Tham Khao Luang caves. These big stalactite-spangled spaces host golden buddhas looking out serenely at you. Sunlight streams in through natural openings. We loved the atmosphere - peaceful, holy, enthralling.
Day two we walked up to the royal palace - Phra Nakhon Khiri - perched high on a hillside overlooking the river. The complex of monuments and pagodas covers three mountain peaks and we spent most of the afternoon wandering around and taking in the views. Keep a careful eye out for the monkeys here. They can be quite threatening. Keep food and drink in your bag. We had one steal a bottle of Coke right from us. It was scary.
The night market was brilliant for eating in the evenings with stalls selling spectacular stir fries and curries. Not many people spoke English so it was a case of just point to what you liked the look of!
Beachside at Hua Hin - 2 nights
A couple more hours by train further south, Hua Hin has long been a popular beach resort for foreigners and Thais alike.
It’s far more developed than Petchaburi, with lots of big shoreside hotels. A couple of nights here was enough particularly as the weather changed and it rained a little.
We had a brilliant day out at Black Mountain Water Park despite the drizzle. Joe loved the slides and the wave machines. We also wandered along the beach and ate pizza and listened to live music outdoors at in the evenings at Cicada Outdoor Market which was great fun. Stayed at Chom View hotel.
Overnight to Penang - 1 night
Our next train ride was a very, very long one.
We boarded the train at Hua Hin at about 11.30pm (by then the train was already running nearly an hour late) to go all the way to the border with Malaysia.
We love night trains - it’s so fun waking up somewhere completely different the next morning. It’s essential to book well in advance as the sleeping berths get booked up months in advance. Our go-to website is 1-2 GoAsia.
We stocked up on food before we boarded as it was late. Next morning we woke to bright sunlight and the limestone karsks and paddy fields of southern Thailand.
I hung out in the restaurant car, drinking coffee and looking out the window. Mid-morning we reached the big city of Hat Yai and forked right towards the border with Malaysia at Pedang Besar. By now most other people had got off the train.
Walking across the border was little more than changing platforms and queuing briefly to get our passports stamped - really easy.
We bundled aboard a Malaysia Railways train and chugged to Butterworth. By now our long night was catching up with us. We were shattered but our journey wasn’t over. At Butterworth we stomped across platforms and over footbridges with all our luggage to the ferry terminal.
Thankfully ferries run frequently across to Penang and we were soon on our way. By now Joe was losing the plot - it had been a very long trip. But the views out across the channel were spectacular. A quick taxi ride from the port at Georgetown brought us finally to our lovely hotel - the Noordin Mews - and wow were we pleased to get there.
Exploring perfect Penang - 5 nights
Penang was hot and it was great to have a nice hotel with a cool pool after some sweaty exploring.
The old town is a warren of interesting little streets with Chinese style shop houses and atmospheric pagodas. There are cool murals painted on the walls too. Like much of Malaysia, Penang is a melting pot. Peranakan culture is the combination of Chinese immigrant workers inter-marrying with local Malaya women. We really enjoyed the Pinang Peranakan mansion which is spectacularly ornate and surprisingly intimate.
Indians came here too and we loved Little India. It was like arriving in another country and the food was fantastic. The other dish to try is Chinese fried noodles called Char Koay Teow. We munched on them at one of the street stalls that set up in the old town each evening - perfect with a cold beer.
We also spent a hot but fun day wandering around the jetties and exploring the British colonial era Fort Cornwall. And Joe loved the Upside Down house too.
Flea market fun in Ipoh - 4 nights
Next was Ipoh, around a five hour coach journey from Penang. We booked in advance at the coach station a few streets from our hotel.
Our first evening we headed into town as it was Saturday night. The streets were packed with food stalls. We just had to try the local speciality - Hainan Chicken Rice.
Next day Sunday was the monthly flea market. We had to get up quite early but it was well worth the effort. All kinds of fascinating stuff was being hawked from little stalls lining a couple of roads. Joe was fascinated by the ornaments and charms, we loved the old enamelled trays and bowls.
The street market vibe continued further into the old town with lots of cafes buzzing with life at lunch time.
Ipoh was briefly one of the world's biggest producers of tin in the days of the British Empire. Many of the labourers digging and processing it came from China. Life for them was very tough.
We took a look around the excellent Hakka Miners' Club. It was a place where the miners came to relax - smoking opium, gambling and loose women! The guides here were super knowledgeable.
For a bit of a break from the culture and eating we spent a day at The Lost World of Tambun. This water park, hot springs and zoo is amazing. We ziplined, saw tigers, zoomed down water slides and had so much fun. Best thing was wallowing in the natural hot springs after dark. We were some of the last to leave at 10.30pm!
M Hotel and Residences
Time for tea in the Cameron Highlands - 1 night
The Cameron Highlands are hill country - where the Brits went to escape the heat of the lowlands in colonial days.
The cooler temperatures mean you need to pack a light jumper! Fruit typical of Northern hemisphere climes grows here - like strawberries! The Brits also planted tea.
These days the Highlands are a bit of a tourism nightmare so we broke our golden rule and stayed one night. The winding roads get clogged with tourism traffic and many hillsides look awful as they are crammed with plastic greenhouses.
We did an interesting visit the Boh tea plantation. A local couple stopped and gave us a lift up as we were walking along the road. In the factories milling machinery that dates back to the colonial era is still in use. After a tour we drank tea in the tasting room and cafe and looked out over rows green tea plants. Joe liked Ice Tea - hardly surprising - it was stuffed with sugar and flavourings!
Tribal encounters in Teman Negara - 3 nights
Malaysia's first National Park is a teeming wilderness of sweaty jungle and rivers.
We arrived after changing buses several times and a long day of travel, tired and sweaty. First, we hopped on the little boat across the river to the park headquarters to buy Park Permits. It makes sense to do this straight away so you don't have to queue up next morning. Our lovely guest house was right be the river and a dunk in its chilly waters was the perfect way to cool down.
Day one we followed the well-marked but sometimes slippery trails along the rivers and through the forest. Take plenty of water and soft drinks and snacks - it's hot walking.
Walking up a muddy track, out of the corner of my eye I saw something and stopped in the nick of time. A huge snake, stretched right across the path, surprisingly camouflaged. We looked at it, unsure what to do. It was so still I figured it was dead. But when I plucked up the courage to step forward it suddenly slithered off into the bushes. It was huge. Later we showed a photo to the rangers. It was apparently super dangerous. (I've had similar encounters over the years. The guides ALWAYS say this!)
We did a brilliant night walk - I had no idea scorpions glow under ultra violet light!
Day two our guest house fixed a brilliant tribal adventure. We headed off early in a pick up to a river around 40 minutes away. We paddled slowly up river into the jungle to visit a local tribe who still live in simple huts. It was quite an experience - Joe was fascinated to meet the local kids. We even learned how to use their blowpipes!
Relaxing by the river in Kuantan - 1 night
This was another short stop en route for somewhere. As is often the case (but not always!) a random town offered lots to keep us interested.
It's set on the east coast so we'd now finished a complete traverse of the Malay peninsula. There's an attractive riverside walkway and we found a gaggle of local restaurants, perfect for some dinner and watching the world go by.
Lazing on the beach on Tioman Island - 10 nights
We always spend at least a week doing nothing on a beach on our big family holidays. This is the slack in the itinerary. You could easily shave five nights or so off it.
We splurged and got a car and driver to take us all the way from Kuantan to Tanjung Gemok arriving in time to catch a ferry across to Tioman Island. The beach we chose was ABC (AKA Air Batang) and we stayed at Bamboo Hill Chalets.
Staying somewhere this long, there's the worry it might not be that great and you'll be stuck there. In fact we'd have loved to stay longer. We had a dreamy little bungalow right on a sandy beach and spent hours just reading and relaxing. Joe also did his first ever proper scuba dive too.
Shopping and eating in Johor Baru - 2 nights
JB is a big city on Malaysia's south coast just across from Singapore.
We were pleasantly surprised by it. There's an atmospheric old town around Jalan Tan Hiok Nee and Jalan Dhoby which is just managing to survive the development around it.
Here old shophouses play host to funky little shops, local museums and nice cafes. The dish to try is ... breakfast! Kaya Toast with coconut jam and a soft-boiled egg. Awesome with coffee.
We also enjoyed the air con malls where we did some cheap clothes shopping!
Spectacular sights in Singapore - 3 nights
Finally after over a month on the road, we reached our last destination.
It was a straight-forward bus ride to the border across the causeway. We had to hop off go through passport control and then jump back on again. There are lots of buses - make sure you remember which is yours!
We had a fantastic time in Singapore - though the prices initially felt a bit painful after Malaysia!
Absolute must-sees were the amazing Gardens by the Bay, fantastic food in Little India, the Chinatown Heritage Centre, the phenomenal Asian Civilisations Museum and the amazing National Gallery.
There is SO much to see and do in Singapore. And once you get the hang of it, it's not that expensive after all - if you know where to eat and where to go.
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