Southeast Asia Travel News

We’re hoping that an upcoming addition to All Points East’s range of Thai destinations will be the far northern mountain province of Mae Hong Son. We’ve been trying to work out how to include this picturesque, yet remote region into our Thai tours but have finally realised it’s impossible given time restraints and that we may as well, therefore, make…

Pix by guests on this New Year special, North Thailand – Hills of Mae Salong tour. Songkran, the Thai New Year, falls on April 13th each year – corresponding to the Theravada Buddhist New Year, also celebrated in Laos, Cambodia, Burma and Sri Lanka. (The date for the Mahayana Buddhist annual celebration, in Vietnam or China, for instance, changes every…

One of Thailand’s most important, and scenic, protected wetlands, Thale Noi Bird Sanctuary is located in South Thailand’s Phattalung Province. Thale Noi – meaning Small Sea in Thai comprises of the northern limits of the large Thale Sap, (Freshwater Sea) which stretches off to the south eventually connecting to the Gulf of Thailand at Songkhla Town. The southern reaches are,…

Prasart Sikhoraphum is a small yet remarkably well-preserved brick, laterite and sandstone Hindu temple complex dating from the 11th century and lying just east of SurinTown in northeastern Thailand. (The exact reign is unknown but the early 11th-century kings Suryavarman I or Udayadityavarman II look like good suspects. Some descriptions we’ve come across assign the temple to the Suryavarman II…

Little do most people realise when they’re whizzing along in their bright blue bus that many important routes in Thailand’s impressive 21st-century road network follow the traces of, and are built over the top of, ancient roads dating from the Angkor period. (As for example with England’s road infrastructure and the Romans.) The extensive Angkor road network covered not only…

One of Thailand’s remotest and least visited Angkor period temples, yet its very remoteness, jungle setting and total lack of tourist development are exactly what made it a great little temple to visit. It’s missing the grandeur of Phnom Rung, the photogenic lily ponds of Muan Tam and the well-preserved carvings of Sikhorapum but Ta Muan is an interesting enough…

According to this article, the word for blue and green is the same in Hmong, though I reckon that probably depends on which Hmong dialect one is referring to and our White Hmong mate says that’s nonsense! There is certainly some confusion between Green and Blue Hmong though, and indeed the aforementioned article also categorizes the Black Hmong of Sapa…

Although the ambulant Akha street vendors of Khao San, Tha Pae Gate and other tourist hot spots are very successful and the Lisus in Pai night market do well in the high season, across Southeast Asia it’s the enterprising and commercially minded Hmong that dominate the hill-tribe handicraft market. Their bright colours and bold patterns can be and have been,…

The famous Chiang Mai Sunday Market – known locally as just Walking Street – is a vast affair stretching from the tourist hub of Tha Pae Gate as far as the ancient temple of Wat Pra Singh in the Old Town as well as, taking in many of the side streets along the way. (In fact, it seems to grow…

Mu Koh Chang National Marine Park to give it its full name is situated in the eastern Thai province of Trat, abutting Cambodia, (or Cambodian waters to be precise!).  The national park comprises of the mountainous interior and surrounding waters of the large island of Koh Chang, as well as the myriad coral-fringed rocks and smaller islands of the archipelago…

Actually Soi Dao Wildlife Sanctuary rather than a national park as such, (same, same but different as the Thais say, though wildlife sanctuary status is generally considered an upgrade with better protection, stricter regulations and greater prestige), and located in Soi Dao district of Eastern Thailand’s Chantaburi Province. It’s based around the spectacular 5,000 ft Soi Dao Mountain and the…

Khao Phra Viharn, or Preah Vihear in Khmer – and the famous 11th-century Hindu temple itself is 100% Cambodian, whatever various lunatic fringe Thais might claim! (Since most of the local Thais in that part of the kingdom – southern Si Saket Province – speak Khmer anyway they could have just kept the original name instead of the cumbersome Thai…

We are well chuffed to announce that All Points East was voted the winner in the TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand)/Responsible Travel, ‘Green Awards‘ for 2010 in the ‘Best UK Tour Operator for Local Communities in Thailand’ category!!! Particularly pleased with ourselves since it follows on from our 2008 award in the same competition for best UK specialist tour operator…

Pai – no idea when this formerly sleepy little northern town first had the idea to knock up bamboo huts, start fabricating banana pancakes, (and we mean pancakes, not the authentic rotis that north Thai Muslims have been making for donkey’s years), dis-intoxicate some local guides enough to lead treks and thrust itself on the backpacker trail? Presumably, sometime after…

Koh Samui ruined? Well. firstly we’d better point out that this article (ok, rant if you will) could apply to any number of southeast Asian destinations and apologies to Samui if that’s the example we’ve picked. (Nothing personal.) We’re using the popular Thai island as an example of a commonly asserted myth among regular visitors to Thailand and ex-pats to…

Unspoilt, pristine tropical islands are wonderful; everyone’s dream – we’d all love to be on one! Well, they certainly sound like paradise but maybe that’s perhaps only true in small doses and maybe the idea is better than the reality? We reckon the novelty may wear off pretty quickly so would you, in all honesty, want to be in paradise…