I actually agree with Chameleon on the India part , I've been to many southern indian and north-eastern states and people there are comparatively more welcoming and nicer than compared to the ones in North and it's "Goa" lol.
Have to agree though , Goa's best place for westerns because the aura there suits everyone , especially the westerns.
Well there's one thing you should keep in mind while visiting India , it's a vegetarian country , you wouldn't see people praying to cows , but you would see a LOT and I mean A LOT of vegetarian food.
Imo , if there wouldn't have been muslim invasions and british colonizations in India , 90% of the people would be following vegetarianism lol.

Fyi , about 46% of the country's population's said to be vegan , that's actually a lot considering it's population lol.

Anyhow considering you're only aiming at south-east asian countries best would be Malaysia and Taiwan. Thailand is a great place but the bizzare stories you hear happen there are rather scary lol. Malay people are nice and rather welcoming. Taiwan's a good place to go too , not sure if it comes in south east asia or not and nepal's good too , a lot of hindu sages's , it's a good place to get spiritual knowledge (most of the sages come from tibet and india).

Malaysia is quite nice, alot of beaches etc. Quite hot though as it is near the equator :P The food is quite spicy too and the people aren't as stranger friendly as other countries :L Money-wise it should be good though - 5RM in a pound, 3Rm in a dollar. RM - the malaysian currency.

Haven't really been anywhere else in Asia, but hope this helps a bit

Yeah , malay cuisine is actually good because it's a result of indian and chinese immigrants since 1500 A.D. settling there , which has contributed a lot in their culture and cuisine , it's practically india and china combined there for years , food wise it's a great place (Just like any other country).

Thanks everyone! Thanks for the info and link, Dr. Type. Thanks for the heads up on wikivoyage, Fizzer. I'd never heard of wikivoyage. It is great.

It's unlikely I'll go to India, but I appreciate the info nonetheless.

Wordsworth - How easy is it to travel both within and in and out of Vietnam? They appear to have a relatively strict visa policy. Is it easy to get a visa that lets you vacation there?

Strategist - How recently were you in Malaysia?

Eeyore - That makes no sense to me. Why obeying the law be suspicious?

Gui - Dr. Type really wants me to have a beer with you. Where are you living these days?

I have some specific questions if anyone feels like answering:
-How universal in Mandarin? Is it spoken or understand outside of China?
-Is there any form of universal currency, like the EU, or does every country have its own? Do countries China claims to be its own (like Taiwan) have their own currency AND China's currency?
-Aside from air fares, how much should I expect to budget for a month of some hostel and some hotel living in most SE Asian countries?
-How easy or safe to cross a border on a bus or train instead of by plane?

Mandarin:
- HK: Each time you speak Mandarin to a stranger in HK it's an experiment. Sometimes they reply in fluent Mandarin with a southern accent, sometimes (at restaurants, with fruit sellers/other workers) you hear perfect Mandarin in reply (over 200,000 Chinese migrants since 1997), sometimes you hear funny but intelligible Cantonese-Mandarin, other times you hear what the speaker hopes is Mandarin but sounds like Cantonese to you. My theory: if you speak good, fluent Mandarin as well as Northern Chinese do, people in HK will be able to understand you (thanks to Taiwan's and China's cultural influences and the greater linguistic similarities between Mandarin and Cantonese than between English and Cantonese. I find speaking Mandarin to be more efficient and mmore interesting than English in HK.
- Taiwan: Taipei is fine. People 30 and younger seem to all speak Mandarin. The older generations speak more Taiwanese, which is also more prevalent in the countryside and in the south. But Taiwan's Mandarin is a southern Mandarin influenced by Taiwanese pronunciation and rhythm to some extent. Sometimes the words aren't as clear as in Beijing. The other day my wife said something very basic to me about investing and I didn't understand her because she didn't say the '-g' "final" on the word, which made me think she was saying something else that didn't quite fit the context. Since Chinese is such a context-dependent language, the pronunciation and rhythm might throw you off a bit if you are used to northern Chinese.
- Singapore: Mandarin is alright. English might be better.
- Currency: Nothing universal. The cheapest place to exchange currency (that I've seen) is the Bank of Taiwan in Taiwan's airports. Taiwan has the NTD 台币 with Chiang Kai-Shek's mug, China has the RMB 人民币 with Mao's.
- I work in a tourist area in the center of Taiwan but spend weekends at my home in Taipei. If you visit this area I'd be glad to have a reason to grab a beer and ask about what conditioner you use. I wish my hair were fuller and had more bounce.

I can say thank you in Mandarin. That's the extent of my knowledge. But I plan on learning a lot more.

I'm flying into Taipei. I have a friend living just outside of the city. So, let's meet up! In fact, anyone (of American drinking age) who lives in or is traveling through SE Asia in the next 12 months can email me if you want to have a drink.

jrussellmikkelsen [at] gmail.com

VIETNAM: You need to get your visa in advance or they wont let you in. You need to go to your nearest Vietnamese embassy pay your 30-50$ and leave your passport. Go back next day or a couple of days later and collect it. Then you can go to Vietnam

I was there maybe 3 years ago lol. As I mentioned before, Malaysia uses its own currency. Some of the people there know Mandarin because there are Chinese Malays, although Malay and English are mostly used. Can't really help you with hotel price - prices may have changed and depends on whih part of Malaysia you go to.

Oh and personally I think West Malaysia is better than east, but if you go to the east you can visit brueni.

good luck on your trip be safe

No mention of the Philippines? Okay, I will admit it isn't the cleanest country, but the people there are friendly and you can good food for low prices being sold on every street. There are a couple of sights near Manila such as the Mall of Asia and some museums depicting the country's colonial period, but the best areas to visit are typically the beaches(along Sulu, Palawan, or even Puerto Galera), perhaps hiking in the mountainous northern part of the country, and there is a subterranean river tour I heard about on the island of Palawan.

I hope you have a good trip!

Hey Gui. I'm still waiting for an email from you. I arrive in your town in two months.

Invite me to a game. That works better. My email is connected to my Facebook account.

You refer to them as " Asians " ? RACIST !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I made it.

I'm in Taiwan. I'll be here a month or two. Then moving on to China, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, etc. If anyone would like to get a drink with me, drop me a line: jrussellmikkelsen AT gmail.

Qi, I chatted to you in our month old game. Check it.

mikkelsen and gui meeting
that would be sweet :)

If you are planning to be in Yangshuo, China, invite me to a game. A few of us (me, Chaos, AK65) all live here. Pretty nice in the summer, if you like outdoorsy kinda things.

I worked in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China for more than 8 years so I am very familiar with that area of China and Hong Kong.

Hong Kong is a must visit as far as I'm concerned because I can honestly say it is probably one of the most life affirming places you could ever wish to see. As an American you will be able to get a landing visa so no need to prepare other than buying a plane ticket. Similarly to other places, there is a need to have a flight out of there unless you can show that you have enough money to leave! (The only time I was ever asked this was from a flight there from Brisbane - I just showed them I had a credit card and it worked out okay, though it also helped that I had so many HK stamps in my passport). HK airport is also a big hub for traveling elsewhere in Asia, or even on your route home, so you should be able to fit it into your itinerary without much problem.

I think Beijing and Shanghai would be worth a visit in China too, but if you only have time for one of them I would suggest Beijing because I feel it has more culture to offer than Shanghai. I haven't been to Yang Shuo, but I know it is a beautiful place and should be a lot of fun, so if these guys are offering to show you around I would definitely do it.

Thailand is a MUST too. It is an absolutely beautiful country with great people and culture to match. The whole Buddhist vibe is probably the reason why. It is also relatively cheap if you don't get stuck in the overly tourist areas. I suggest a couple of days in the crazy busy Bangkok and then move down to a beach island such as Phuket.

The Philippines is amazingly cheap and also worth a visit. Boracay island is famous for it's pure white sand beaches.

I met up with JRuss. It turns out he is a she! She has blonde hair and uses the JRuss persona as a creative ploy. She's actually not that bad looking but is a lesbian, which explains her JRuss persona's somewhat masculine nature.

Fonz, you have to prove you have a flight out if you visit HK? Surely that cannot be true! Last year I was going every 3 months for the stamp to extend my tourist visa, and I have numerous friends who were doing the same thing on a very frequent basis. Perhaps this only applies to people with a) no Chinese visa or b) who are flying in (as opposed to walking across the border)?

Yes John, I have also done it many many times from mainland China and never been asked that question. I have also done the flight from many European cities and never been asked that question.

The only time in 8 years of travelling to Hong Kong I have had this issue was when checking in for a Quantas flight from Australia last December. After kicking up a fuss, they showed me what it said on the computer and it did say that people need an outward flight from Hong Kong or need to prove that they have enough money to buy one from there. I simply showed her my credit card and after a quick consultation with her supervisor it was deemed to be sufficient because, as he put it "he's got a credit card and heaps of HK stamps in his passport so he's been there plenty of times before".

I guess it depends the immigration officer on the day...