Cathay Pacific 2005 All Asia Pass

[neocor]

None of the India cities included.
Otherwise this has come at a right time for me. I would have jumped on this.

 

[huey1124]

Originally posted by: dc5
what if you don't have cathay pacific airline at your airport? do you have to buy a domestic ticket to a state that has the airline first?

From the website:

Your All Asia Pass includes roundtrip Economy Class air transportation between New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, B.C. or Toronto and Hong Kong. If you are the adventuresome sort, you can see Hong Kong and every one of the 17 qualifying cities. Of course, you can see fewer cities if you'd like to spend more time experiencing the local culture and learning more about each destination. And to make your All Asia Pass an even greater value you can purchase optional add-ons. Choose to add selected cities in Australia, China, India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka or Vietnam.

How you get to New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Vancouver, or Toronto is up to you.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Do they offer free SARS to take home with you? Hot deal!!!

Seriously though.. I've always wanted to travel to that part of the world. Is it relatively safe now? Or are things like SARS still a concern?

Even though I know that I couldn't afford it at this point, what cities would be the better ones to visit, to keep in mind? How hard is it to get around as a primarily only english-speaking person? I've heard that there is some english spoken in Hong Kong, is that true?

 

[huey1124]

Originally posted by: neocor
None of the India cities included.
Otherwise this has come at a right time for me. I would have jumped on this.

Delhi and Mumbai (Bombay) can be added on for $200 extra per city. For all the optional add-on destinations, click here.

 

[dc5]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Do they offer free SARS to take home with you? Hot deal!!!

Seriously though.. I've always wanted to travel to that part of the world. Is it relatively safe now? Or are things like SARS still a concern?

Even though I know that I couldn't afford it at this point, what cities would be the better ones to visit, to keep in mind? How hard is it to get around as a primarily only english-speaking person? I've heard that there is some english spoken in Hong Kong, is that true?

SARS is almost non-existant now. visiting HK and tokyo alone, i think, is worth the price already.

 

[huey1124]

Originally posted by: VirtualLarry
Do they offer free SARS to take home with you? Hot deal!!!

Seriously though.. I've always wanted to travel to that part of the world. Is it relatively safe now? Or are things like SARS still a concern?

Even though I know that I couldn't afford it at this point, what cities would be the better ones to visit, to keep in mind? How hard is it to get around as a primarily only english-speaking person? I've heard that there is some english spoken in Hong Kong, is that true?

It's very safe to travel through the airports. Major airports have thermal imaging stations set up, so anyone with high fever cannot pass without being examined first. Just avoid crowded wet markets and such, and you should be fine.

Getting around in foreign countries not knowing their native language is half the fun. It was very fun and easy to travel from country to country. Just buy a cheap travel dictionary.

 

[deejayshakur]

good post OP.

don't forget to factor in the hotel expenses!

 

[Jenova314]

Originally posted by: deejayshakur
good post OP.

don't forget to factor in the hotel expenses!

and hookers

 

[imported_kkcleung]

Originally posted by: huey1124

It's very safe to travel through the airports. Major airports have thermal imaging stations set up, so anyone with high fever cannot pass without being examined first. Just avoid crowded wet markets and such, and you should be fine.

Getting around in foreign countries not knowing their native language is half the fun. It was very fun and easy to travel from country to country. Just buy a cheap travel dictionary.

SARS is long gone.. and yeah, they do have thermal imaging stations.. but I doubt their usefulness..

anyway, are you from HK?

Travelling to Asia is perfectly safe in my opinion, safer than travelling to new york; at least that applies for HK...
subway's nice, people's nice, good food, good shopping, excellent accomodations

as for cathay pacific, I'll say they're the best airlines; they come close to singapore airlines, but I like the airbuses more..

personal tvs with loads of selections, including asian movies.. as for the flight attendents... i'd rather not comment on them.. but they're nice people

 

[Tommyboy8]

Went to HK, Macau, Zhuhai, Guilin and Yungshao last summer... perfectly safe, however once you get to the more remote places like yungshao the language is a little more problematic.

Also regarding flights for China, unless you are arriving at international airports in China, from what i saw at the local airports, the Chinese airlines take care of their domestic flights.

 

[potatoBBQ]

Can someone recommend a good way to book hotels in all these different countries in Asia?

 

[Tommyboy8]

try hostels if you don't mind them.

Otherwise, do this...

Use priceline.com for THE best rates... (but you need to know how to deal with priceline because of their bidding system doesn't give much flexibility)

If you use priceline, try going to www.biddingfortravel.com which is a msg board like site where people will give you feedback as to how much they paid, which nights were booked, what city, what area, and how many stars the hotel is rated.

Last year, while flying into HK and flying out of HK, on the way in I stayed at the regal kowloon (rated 3 stars i think, not on the island) for about $45/nite +tax, on the way out of HK, i stayed at the Sheraton in Kowloon (rated 5 stars) for about $75/nite + tax.

you can find some pretty good deals and judge how much you should bid for what kind of hotel in which area and for how many stars.

 

[imported_kkcleung]

just to give u guys a run in on the geography of HK...

HK island is the commercial and so called upper-middle class residential area
Kowloon is more lower class, lots of cheap stuff, random stores and.. pirated stuff.... some nice places in Kowloon though, such as Tsim Sha Tsui (comparable to places on the HK island)

just as long as your hotel is not in New Territories, it should be fine..

the main areas that u wanna be close to are: central, causeway bay, tsim sha tsui
if you want pirated stuff: try mongkok (though it's kinda shady, that area)

hope that helps

the government should pay me to be their ambassador....

 

[9ball]

I am going to HK, phuket, shanghai, and Bejing in one month, this is not going to help me. But I am jumping on this for my next trip in November: Bali, Tokyo, Taipei, and Singapore. 4 cities in 21 days is managable. HCM city was on this list just weeks ago when I looked at it, they must of taken it off due to high demand.

Given the poor exchange rate of the dollar vs the Euro, I am staying away from Europe until it gets better.

My best deal of all time is still $599 round trip from SF to Bali on Singapore airline including 5 nights at the Le Meridan in 2003. This was 8 month after the night club bombing. There are some hotel deals in Phuket, but nothing this good.