The day before I leave....

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Well here we go!

A grand epic 6 weeks solo touring adventure of Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, all in the name of getting me a new hat!

For those people that do not know me I'm known for liking hats. Every St. Patrick's day I'm out drinking for the latest hats to add to my growing collection. Sitting proudly alongside the Mickey Mouse magician hat (with the ears), the Czech police hat, the Ferrari racing cap and so on....

But, before we get too deeply into my one man journey around asia, I'm sure many of you are wondering why would me, Mr Lazy, be bothering with writing this blog at all, instead of just going down the nearest pub and downing a pint of Magners cider.

Reasons:
1: It is the easiest and cheapest way of reassuring my family I'm still alive and have not been eaten by great white sharks or seduced by the hippy trail never to be seen from again.
2: Friends have asked to be kept up-to-date on my travels, where I am and what I am doing.
3: It has been so much hard work organising this trip that it occurs to me that other people wanting to do the same could do with some pointers.
4: Maybe I could become a travel writer and travel the world for free. Consider this blog my audition!

So without further delay here we go:

To my family
I'm still ok!

To my friends
I haven't left yet!

And to first time adventurers like myself
This is what I have learnt organising this trip so far:

Start planning early. Even if your trip is still many months away it seems to take forever to figure out where to go and then find decent hotels in whatever price range you are looking in.

Buy the book 'The Rough Guide to the First-Time Around the World' by Doug Lansky. It will tell you literally everything a first timer needs to think of.

Good local flights once you get to South East Asia can be found at:
AirAsia

Good websites for hotels in Thailand are:
AsiaRooms
HotelThailand
along with the usual suspects like EBookers.Com

My itinery will be as follows though:
Bangkok, Thailand for shops and sites
Pattaya, Thailand for the sand and sun
Hanoi, Vietnam for sites, shopping and my much desired reed hat!
Ko Chang, Thailand for more sand and sun along with some jungle and Elephant treking.
Ankor Wat, Cambodia. World heritage site of spectacular ruins.
Ayuthaya, Thailand. Ancient capital with many ruins.
Lopburi, Thailand. Small town overrun with Macaques (Monkeys to you and me).
Central Thailand in search of the legendary village 'Bang Rajan' from the movie of the same name. For those of you that have not seen the movie it is the Thai equivalent of the Alamo; but manned just by villagers and they held out for 6 months and 8 attacks against an army of 100,000 Burmese!
Chiang Mai, Thailand's second city. Good shopping and easy access to the ethnic hill tribes and jungle trekking.
Then back to Bangkok for last minute present buying before flighing back home on the 16th August.

Wish me luck! At least more than the English football team had....!

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Comments

[Pete Johns]

G'day, good luck!
Tony, You're going to have an absolutely amazing time! I cannot recommend the Lonely Planet guides and their website enough for the traveller. I never leave home without one. Looking forward to your blog entries as you travel around Asia. If you get lost, then come and see us in Melbourne. Take care; --paj