Southeast Asia Adventure!!!

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Here we go… time for another TravelBlog!

My wife **and partner in crime** Becky and I are heading to Thailand and Cambodia for 2 weeks of adventure and R & R. The kiddos aren’t joining on this trip, and we'll miss them and look forward to having them along with us on our future international trips when they are older.

Today, 12/27/2017, we board a 12 hour and 25-minute direct flight from Denver to Tokyo, Japan, departing around noon Mountain Standard Time. From there we fly another 7 hours and 10 minutes to Bangkok, Thailand. Together, the two flights will cover 8,911 miles. Before this, the longest flight either of has taken was a 9 hour and 35 minute flight from Denver to Frankfurt, Germany. We’ll spend around 24 hours total time to travel to Bangkok from Denver including our layover in Tokyo. With the 14-hour time difference ahead of Denver, we arrive in Bangkok at 11:50 PM on 12/28/18. When you travel all the way to SE Asia from the USA, you earn it!

We stayed up WAY LATE last night and only got a couple of hours of sleep in an attempt to get a head start on adjusting to the time difference we face. The plan is to have lunch after we board the plane in Denver, then sleep for 8 hours or so on the flight to Tokyo, then stay awake for the rest of the travel time to Thailand, and then be ready for more sleep by the time we arrive at our hotel room in Bangkok (hopefully no later than 1:30 AM). That's the theory, anyway.

On our return flight to Denver from Southeast Asia, we connect through Seoul, South Korea. I **so** wanted to extend the layovers in Tokyo or Seoul, so we could see some of Japan and South Korea, but we decided to save that for a later trip. Trying to do too much in one trip can be a killer, a lesson that I had to learn the hard way before I figured out the right way to travel far and see new places. Japan and South Korea sport cold and Colorado-like winter weather there this time of year as well, and we are seeking warm weather and beach time on this trip!!!

Here’s our travel itinerary:

· 3.5 days in Bangkok, Thailand to explore what the metropolis has to offer

· 3.5 days in Siem Riep, Cambodia to see the ancient ruins at Angkor Wat and surrounding area: https://wikitravel.org/en/Angkor_Archaeological_Park

· 6 days on the tropical island paradise of Phuket back in Thailand, with a couple of day trips by speedboat to Maya Bay as part of a visit to the Phi Phi Islands.

The family reaction to this Thailand and Cambodia trip was not as averse as their reaction to my Nicaragua and Costa Rica trip back in 2009. My folks said back then “We’ll put you on the church prayer list” when I shared the plans for the Nicaragua leg of that trip. I admit, Nicaragua had some intense moments that left me concerned about my safety, such as walking down a dimly lit street past men with machine guns sleeping on the homes of porches at night, near the hostile my buddy and I stayed at in Managua, Nicaragua. We kept our calm and left the nice men with machine guns alone as we walked quietly past, and everything turned out fine. *phew*

Our overall family reaction to this Southeast Asia trip was something along the lines of a milder “hmmmm…. Well… that sounds interesting…”

“I can’t imagine ever going there, that sounds terrible” said another family member about this trip.

**HA!!!**

I get it... Visiting a country with foreign Asian languages and tropical diseases, which is located literally on the other side of the world, with much different kinds of food *and* 24 hours of flight time, is a lot of work. Some people might consider Southeast Asia too exotic a locale as well? I think back to the Vietnam War and the genocidal tragedy of the Khmer Rouge in this region, and I imagine this trip to Southeast Asia might be like our kids travelling to North Korea or Syria when they are older decades from now, if those countries ever stabilize and get safer. We might be thinking then “Oh my… why would you ever go there!!!???”

On the other side of the reactions to news of this trip, several of my friends traveled and spent weeks to months backpacking around Thailand and elsewhere in Southeast Asia back in their 20s and 30s. In my circle, we might be considered late to visit Southeast Asia for the first time in our mid-40s. Although the world seems much smaller and less mysterious to me than it once was in my 20s and even my 30s, the thrill of seeing a faraway land with a completely different culture other than my own *on literally the other side of the world* is still there. We're not getting any younger, and we figure we might as well make the effort to see as much as we can of the world while we still feel like it and are able. Immersing oneself in another land and culture broadens the horizons, and there's something about seeing other countries and ways of life that helps us to understand our place in the world even at home.

On top of the lukewarm family reaction to the news of this trip, I ponder that the world seems crazier and more dangerous than ever these days with the threat of organized and "lone wolf" terrorist attacks, and the just plain evil people that want to hurt others for their own dark reasons. I'd rather live my life and travel to see and experience the world than to stay home out of fear. That said, we can still be smart and cautious when we travel internationally. We must be aware of and obey local laws and customs, as well as to follow any rules for off-limits or restricted areas. We'll aim to be respectful and humble as guests while visiting Thailand and Cambodia, all while staying vigilant and aware of our surroundings. I've encountered a few demanding, inpatient, and rude "ugly Americans" on previous international travel trips, but to be fair, that has been the minority. I've also encountered some really great Americans and other international travelers on previous trips.

At this age and stage of our lives, our time and our comfort are more valuable to us than money. We are not backpacking and staying at hostiles in our 40s. I seem to have exchanged my backpack for a bucket list somewhere along the way. Of course, each stage of life brings it's own perks. Although our life and responsibilities now don't offer the luxury of spending months in Southeast Asia, we have more funds and experience to bring to the game than we did back in our 20s. Rather than thinking that $29 per night for a room at 3-star hotels on this trip is worth the big savings and a screaming deal (or even $8 per night for a warm bed and shower in a dorm style hostile), we opted for thinking 5-star hotel rooms for $139 per night are a screaming deal, especially when you consider that $139 can get you a worn and stale 3-star hotel room in a Motel 6 in Wichita, Kansas here in the USA.

So maybe we’ll be hanging around with rich Koreans and Japanese peeps who are also on vacation around our hotels on this trip, rather than Thai and Cambodian people, as a buddy who is well traveled in Southeast Asia cautioned me. After all, beach time in Phuket, Thailand seems to be the Asian version of a beach vacation in Mexico here in the US, and I don’t ever hang around rich Korean and Japanese peeps, so that would still be a new experience. I understand though, the idea is to immerse ourselves in the culture with our choice of lodging rather than staying at an international, corporate hotel that could be anywhere in the world. Good advice and point taken... we made sure to choose locally owned lodging accommodations with a boutique feel throughout our stay.

There has been a recent boom in international visitors to Thailand, and I know we missed the boat a bit on exploring this tropical paradise years ago before it became one of the most visited countries in the world. Pictures of once desolate and pristine beaches around Phuket and the Phi Phi Islands in Thailand are now filled with crowds of people in the background every day. That’s okay, better late than never!!!

Stay tuned for more after we arrive in Bangkok, my intrepid travel companions! Thanks for reading!

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Photos

Maya Bay, Phi Phi Islands
If only this beach were truly as desolate as this photo...

Madarava Karon Beach Hotel
Our place to relax and crash in Phuket