Med school complicates everything, including having any control over our schedule.
- Our wedding? The hubster had to move mountains to find out the schedule for the following semester so we could, you know, plan our nuptials. We never got a final answer and took a guess. A good guess! (Not joking…)
- Honeymoon? Didn’t know what his break schedule would be until, you know, the week the Fall semester began.
- Holidays together? HA. Hahahahahahahaha.
So, when we actually knew he would have a break in July 2015, my type-A-planner-little-heart burst with joy! WE CAN PLAN OUR NEXT ADVENTURE NOW!
<insert rhythmically challenged tap dancing here>
This is where YOU come in.
In general, we know we want to head back to SE Asia. We fell in love with Cambodia. We liked Thailand as well, but something about Cambodia pulled at our hearts. So, I think we want to head back and explore another city and then more countries in SE Asia.
My intention is to use miles to fly (hopefully in our first lie-flat seats). Nearly all our major miles are with Delta and it has a pretty good hold on the Asian region for flight options. I also want to use my points for hotels and spend as little as possible in other off-the-beaten-path guesthouses. Read: $5 a night. Nope. Not joking.
All that said, I’m not opposed to hearing from you about other places to explore.
South Korea. China. Japan. Hong Kong. Australia. Colombia. South Africa. Morocco. Czech Republic. Turkey. The Netherlands. France. My list goes on…
Ultimately, the decision will be ours. I gave my husband a deadline of mid-January to let me know where we should go and I’ll make all the plans and arrangements. That’s the fun part!
But I want to hear what YOU think.
Keep in mind we’re not luxury travelers. We like a nice combination of “roughing it” and splurging on an exotic day-trip or a nice night in a hotel with a great bar on the roof overlooking the night skyline. We probably won’t travel with more than a carry-on/backpack. We ideally would have 2 weeks to work with.
Now it’s your turn:
- What other countries do you think we should consider?
- Where would you recommend to go in SE Asia?
- Where have you gone and would you recommend?
Once our decision is made, I’ll post it here to begin the planning festivities. Grab your party pants and get them ironed, you guys. This is going to be fun!
Railay Beach, Thailand
I LOVE Santorini:) but if you are thinking Asia i have always wanted to go to Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore and Hong Kong. I absolutely love beijing and the history of that city and you can climb the great wall which is an AWESOME experience in itself. My chinese colleague tells me that there is an awesome vacation spot in china called Sintra (i have no idea how to spell it so i’ll get back to you on that;)) a small part of me would also like to try Lhasa in tibet. can’t wait for the decision!
I’d love to see Beijing. It may be on a future trip though so we can spend more time in China overall. Seoul is up there! Thank you so much for all your suggestions. <3
You should talk to Heather! She has done tons of traveling in Asia. (And still lives in Shanghai.) Also, Pete used live in South Korea and has also done some traveling around there. 🙂 So many amazing options!!
Good call. I may be using these connections! 😀
VIETNAM!!! I’m sure Jen would agree with me. $60 visa but worth it. And very close to the price point of Cambodia. Plus Halong Bay, tailored clothes in Hoi An, and the craziness of both HCMC & Hanoi. Trust me! You can wrangle 14 cent beers & $1 Bahn mi sandwiches.
I won’t lie, Vietnam is at the top of the list! So I’m glad you said this. How do you feel about Laos? We may spend some time in Seoul since that’s the main hub for Delta that we’d use. Did you like it? But we want to head south and go back to Cambodia (ideally) for a couple days and then spend time exploring Vietnam. I’m not sure 2 weeks is enough.
Laos was also awesome. Very chill compared to other parts of the world. Love Vientienne & Luang Prabang. Lots of French influence. Luang Prabang is still so untouched.
And we loved Seoul as well. Seoul has some of the best food, and is easy to get around because they have decent mass transit. All of the historic sights have been restored so they don’t really look too old. Kind of weird.
I doubt 2 weeks is enough to do what you want to do, but you could totally do a full 2 week in Vietnam and see a ton of stuff- work your way down the coast. Hanoi- Halong Bay – Hoi An, HCMC and if you wanted a little beach action – Phu Quoc Island.
Just be careful of visa costs – Vietnam is $65, Laos around $25-$30, Cambodia would be another $25. You’d get your money’s worth in Vietnam.
Kiki, I may be picking your brain on this more. Since we’re going in July, the middle-ish point of rainy season, I’m concerned about more norther cities, like Sapa. If you could cut a city out of Vietnam, which ones would it be? I maaaaaay be able to extend the trip to 2.5 weeks. We’ll see though. I’m carefully going through your blog taking notes.
We didn’t do Sapa. Sapa & Halong Bay are offshoots from Hanoi. You have to leave Hanoi and then come back to Hanoi to go see them. We never back tracked on our trip except for Halong Bay, we came back and spent one night in Hanoi then moved on to Hoi An. Halong Bay can be a 1 night overnight trip. So you could easily split it up as Hanoi/Halong Bay, Hoi An ( I think it is a must just for the tailored clothes alone) and HCMC.
I know I know! I totally need to update on Vietnam.
Yo girl. I just got back from Kuala Lumpur and absolutely loved it. I know some crazy shit is happening in that area but don’t let it scare you.
Morocco is also on my list so if you go there, I will live vicariously through you. And lastly, I didn’t like my trip to Vietnam. It’s sad to say (because I’m Vietnamese) but I found the place dirty, corrupt and totally sketchy. It’s FULL of Russian tourists and you literally have to bargain and negotiate for everything.
Oh don’t go breaking my heart, James! What cities did you go to in Vietnam? I’d love to hear more about your experience!
Kuala Lumpur is totally somewhere I’d enjoy. I think this is more of a backpacking/trekking trip for us right now. I say that, but I might regret it…
Hey Caroline! Vietnam is a great place to go. It is not quite as relaxed and cheap as Cambodia but has a lot to offer. There are some really nice beaches, beautiful scenery, and delicious food. Personally I preferred Northern Vietnam more than the South. We felt that people were much friendlier in the North and that you did not get taken advantage of as much. Sapa has beautiful tea terraces we did some great hiking in that area and Hanoi is a great city. Halong Bay has these amazing peaks that come out of the water. We did a one night boat trip around the bay and loved it even though it was quite touristy. My favorite beach in Vietnam was Nha Trang just as stunning as the ones in Thailand.
Korea is also fabulous but if you are on a budget be warned that it is much more expensive than Southeast Asia. Personally I would stick to SE Asia if I was short on time. If you have a stopover in Seoul you might want to do a transit tour. They are FREE ( yep, you read that correctly) and are quite good. Google Incheon Airport transit tours. I have been to Seoul three times so if you decide to spend more time there let me know and I can tell you more.
In SE Asia I would have to say Loas and Myanmar top my list. I think that if you enjoyed Cambodia and are looking for a similar vibe both would be good options. The people in both countries are very friendly and open, the countries are beautiful and rich in history, and you do not need much money to travel there.
Myanmar ranks as one of if not the top country I have traveled to. It has the most amazing temple in Yangon called the Shwedagon – look at some photos! We went to Bagan and Inle Lake ( awesome lake with floating villages) when we were there. If you loved Ankor Watt you would love Bagan. There are miles of Buddhist temples, pagodas, and stupas and other ruins dating back to the 11th century. We rode our bikes out early in the morning and watch the sunrise from one- it was such a powerful experience and we were alone ( unlike sunrise at Ankor Watt!). However, this was now 6 years ago. I heard the whole country is much more touristy now. Still Myanmar would be my number one recommendation.
In Loas I did Vientienne and Luang Prabang as well as a few small villages North of Luang Prabang. We went hiking in the North and were trying to do a 5 hour walk to another village and got quite lost. As the sun was setting we met a barefoot teenager walking along and ended up being cared for by a kind family. They fed us pumpkin for dinner and let us all sleep on one of their beds which was just a hard board. There were pigs and chickens running around the hut and everyone was super kind. A very memorable experience.
Those are my rambling thoughts. I am sorry it took me so long write you back. You can take a look at my Facebook page for some photos. When you are sure on where and your time frame let me know and I would be happy to help more. Oh and you guys are also welcome to visit me in Shanghai if you decided to go to China! 🙂
Heather, you may have just helped (in such a good way) change our tentative itinerary. I’ve wanted to do Myanmar for the last couple years, but we thought it could wait until another trip…but maybe not anymore. Thank you so much for all of the information– I truly appreciate it and trust your travel experience and style. I may be picking your brain more later. You are the best! Thank you! 🙂 And, of course, if we’re in Shanghai, I’m buying you a beer…or two or three…