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Published: January 5th 2011
Hello All!
Just a quick blog post to get you all addicted!
Today's blog posting is just a short introduction to the South-East Asia portion of our trip! The information contained below is in no way 100%!c(MISSING)orrect, its just what my mind has absorbed during our research. By all means, please let me know if I make mistakes or if you have other recommendations.
Trung and I will be meeting in Hanoi, Vietnam, where the journey starts fo' realz ya'll!
Vietnam
My flight arrives in Hanoi on January 28th. From there, Trung and I will be taking a train heading North to Sapa. We will be able to meet the local Hmong people who live in the surrounding hills near the Sapa region. From Sapa (a.k.a. Sa Pa) we will head back to Hanoi for Tet holiday, February 3rd. I'm sure everyone and their brother will be travelling at that time as well, so hopefully we get a spot on the train!
After Tet holidays, we will head to Halong Bay (a.k.a. Ha Long Bay). It is a UNESCO world heritage site. The cruise through the thousands of limestone karst formations should be amazing.
Near the end of our Northern tour we will arrive back in Hanoi (a.k.a. Ha Noi). There Northern station of the Reunification Express train will take us South to the ancient imperial cities of Hue and Hoi An. This is about a 12 hour train ride, which can be an overnight train but not to worry, we'll have our own 'tourist' sleeper cabin!
From Hue we jump on the Reunification Express heading South to Nha Trang for our first beach stop! It might be a bit chilly so we might not end up staying. After that, you guessed it! Head back on the Reunification Express to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon Station!). After a whirlwind tour of Saigon, we'll head to the Cambodian border (West).
Cambodia
From the border we head to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I'd like to learn more about the Vietnam war, there are Khmer Rouge museums in the area that look pretty interesting.
Not far from Phnom Penh, we'll be able to catch a hydroplane on the Mekong river which will take us about 8 hours up the river to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Siem Reap is the city bordering the Angkor temples. There is
a National Park there with access to the temples.
Thailand
Then we head West again to the border with Thailand. From there its a short bus ride to Bangkok! Shopping, food, nightlife and friends!
Bangkok is a hub for one of our first "Choose Your Own Adventure" moments. We can head North to the Laos cities of Vientiane and Luang Prabang, or the Northern Thai regions. OR the more likely route, we will head South to the idyllic islands of Southern Thailand.
From Bangkok you can take a train or bus to Chumphon, which is a hub for ferries to the islands of Koh Tao, Koh Phangan, and Koh Samui. I'm currently in the process of picking a dive instructor to get my open water ticket here. We'll then catch a ferry back to the mainland and transfer from the East Coast to the West Coast (a whole 200km drive) for some great times in Phuket, Thailand!
Malaysia & Singapore
From Phuket we may catch a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The Petronas Twin Towers are calling my name!
From Kuala Lumpur we catch a high-speed train to Singapore, the city where everything is clean
and there are rules for everything. The architecture is amazing here! Its an expensive place, so we'll likely carry on to Bali soon enough.
Bali
We land in Denpassar in Bali, and head directly to Kuta Beach. This is an historic surfer's paradise, and because of its proximity to Australia, its an Australian version of Cancun. We'll head inland from there to the historic city of Ubud to discover the temples and shops of the interior. Perhaps I'll climb a mountain or two while we're there!
Australia
We'll travel from Bali to Australia, which is a whole big long story for another day. It involves camper trailers covered in advertising.
To reiterate, I'm still feeling out these blog things, so any comments or suggestions would be appreciated! I'm just trying to write as much as possible now for practice 😉
xoxo
Andy
P.S. Trung boarded his plane on the 4th. He'll be somewhere in Shanghai right now!! Woohoo! The TRIP has started! I also started the process to resign from my post today as well. Very big steps! I'll let you know how it went another day.
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Gerry Elwgren
non-member comment
Looks like a great adventure
Hey Andy you will have to let me know when you are in Australia so may be I can get you to visit some people that I know. I was down there a long time ago.