The last 2.5 weeks in the US have been fabulous – we made the rounds to visit all of our family in Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami, and now New Orleans. We got to meet our adorable new nephew Jadon and attend Rob and Jenna’s fabulous Miami Beach wedding.
On Friday, we head back to Los Angeles for one night, and then out to Bangkok (via Taipei) on Saturday morning. We have 5 weeks to travel around Southeast Asia before our AJWS orientation on February 14. We are thinking of something like this for our itinerary:
- Get out of Bangkok as soon as possible and head to the beach. Last time we were in Thailand, we visited Phuket, Ko Phi Phi, and Ko Samui. This time, we may try Railay, Ko Phangan (but no Full Moon Parties for us), and/or Ko Tao.
- Make our way north through Chiang Mai, potentially stopping for a cooking class and to see some of the temples that we missed on our last visit.
- Stop in Chiang Rai and/or other interesting towns in northern Thailand.
- Make our way, either over land or by boat, to Luang Prabang, Laos. The boat option sounds interesting, but from the reports I’ve been able to find, may not be particularly safe or pleasant (supposedly the boats sometimes sink). As a fallback option, we could always fly from Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang.
- After some time in Laos (trekking? visiting temples? I don’t have a Laos guidebook yet…), head into Vietnam. Unfortunately I think a long bus ride is unavoidable for this part of the journey.
- Consider trekking in Sa Pa or other northern Vietnam activity out of Hanoi. We’ve already been to Halong Bay, but I’d consider going again if the weather is really nice (it was cold and foggy last time).
- Spend a few days in Nha Trang, one of my favorite beaches in the world. I need to remind myself whether or not Nha Trang is more beautiful than Mandrem, in Goa.
- Fly to Phu Quoc Island, off the southern coast of Vietnam. More beach time.
- Depending on time remaining, consider taking a boat from Phu Quoc to Rach Gia, and then another boat up the Mekong into Cambodia. Stop in Phnom Penh and potentially Battambang.
- Plan to arrive back in Chiang Mai for AJWS orientation by February 13. We don’t want to arrive much earlier, because our 60 day visa + 30 day extension will just barely get us to our US return flight on May 12.
- After orientation we’ll head to a small town near the western border, where we’ll be based for 11 weeks doing volunteer work.
If you’re still reading, and you’ve been to any of these places, we’d certainly love tips!
Battambang was OK, but has an awesome cooking school called “Smokin’ Pot”. If you’re there, it’s a must do. But I’d skip it and just spend more time in Siem Reap!
the slow boat to LP was a highlight… VERY slow. Painful, crowded, etc. But a highlight anyway… there’s flights to Hanoi from LP. enjoy!