difference between south east Asia and central asian countries
Answers
Getting Around South East Asia
As a destination that has been serving tourists for decades, the transport links in South East Asia are good: train, plane, boat and bus are all options. In 9 months travelling there, we did not once have a destination that we could not reach.
The main method of transport for getting around this area is bus. There are cheap local buses as well as slightly more expensive tourist only alternatives. Pretty much any hostel or guest house can arrange these. There is also a train network in both Thailand and Myanmar.
Getting around cities is also straightforward via motorbike taxi/Tuk-tuk/Songthaew (or whatever it is called in that country!). In the larger, more developed cities such as Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, there is a good metro network (with aircon!).
Motorbike/Scooter hire is available in almost any town/city and is a great way of getting around with more freedom, and is reasonably priced. There are some great trips you can do e.g. the Mae Hong Son loop in Thailand, Hanoi to Sapa in Vietnam, or a circumnavigation of Mount Rinjani on Lombok. The list goes on…
In Southeast Asia many prices are negotiable (including transport costs). If the price seems to high, it probably is. Remember to always haggle with a smile on your face!
Getting Around Central Asia
It is relatively easy to get around Central Asia, but does require a bit more effort than Southeast Asia.
The main mode of transport tends to be country-specific, but the main methods are train, mashrutka (shared minibus) and shared taxi. Given that tourism is not quite as developed in Central Asia, some of the more remote places can be more difficult to get to, compared with Southeast Asia.
However, private taxis, shared taxis and informal taxis (anyone with a car heading vaguely in the direction you want to go) mean that with a bit of perseverance, you can get almost anywhere.
In Central Asia, informal taxis are a massively important part of the transport system, and are commonly used by locals. It helps to be able to speak some Russian/local language to see if they are heading your direction, and to agree upon a price. Because of this, if you are trying to hitchhike for free, you need to make it clear as payment is normally expected.
One thing we didn’t realise before coming here: Motorbike/Scooter hire is not a thing. Not many people have them, probably because of the frozen winters. Car hire is an option in the larger cities.
Food
One of the best things about travelling is being able to sample the local food. Luckily, both areas offer something completely different to one another!
Food in South East Asia
The great thing about South East Asia is the street food culture and the variety of different dishes – each country has its own specialities. It is also super-cheap, meaning you can sample plenty of dishes without breaking the bank.
The flavours suited our palettes perfectly: punchy, spicy, zesty and fragrant. With a healthy dash of coconut. Many dishes were packed full of tasty, local-grown veggies, and used a base of rice or noodles. It seemed pretty vegetarian friendly – you could swap out meat for eggs or tofu in most cases.
Dairy and bread are not really part of the local cuisine. Generally, to get your fix it was necessary to go to the more Western-style cafes and restaurants.
Food In Central Asia
We found the cuisine of Central Asia to be less varied compared to its South East Asian counterpart. This is probably due to the fact that all these countries were republics within the same country (USSR) until the 1990s.
Many of the same dishes can be found throughout Central Asia, but with regional twists. Popular dishes included shashylik (meat kebabs), plov (rice with meat/vegetables), manty (steamed dumplings with various fillings) and somsa (filled pastry parcels).
There is a delicious selection of fresh salads to be found, as well as tasty fresh fruit including melons and apples (Almaty, the former capital of Kazakhstan, translates to ‘father of apples’).
Also, bread, glorious bread! Central Asia offers some of the prettiest and tastiest bread we’ve come across and it’s SO cheap. Best enjoyed fresh out of the clay oven, dipped in sour cream. Nomnomnom.
We were attempting to be vegetarian while in Central Asia, which didn’t exactly help us sample the local delicacies. This is a meat-loving area of the world (case in point: as we write this from a train in Uzbekistan there are a bunch of guys chowing down on a whole chicken for breakfast), and while it is possible to create vegetarian versions of some of the dishes (e.g. laghman and plov), generally we were looked at as if we were some kind of maniacs when requesting it. More tourist-orientated places were able to do this however.
Answer:
South e Asia climate is hot and humid as it is tropical and subtropical.
whereas
central is temperate and landlocked.