Countries: Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia & Philippines
Duration: 6-10 weeks Say goodbye to Bangkok and hop on the overnight train to Surat Thani, then connect to a ferry that takes you to Ko Phagnan, an island off the coast. If your timing is right, join the crazy Full Moon Party, if not, there is an occasion to party anyways. To recover, hop to the next island Ko Samui, and lay in the sand on Lamai Beach until your satisfied with your tan. Get a boat-bus ticket to Krabi, the jumping off point for the many islands nearby. Sign up for an island hop tour and check out as many islands as you can, with the many other tourists. Take a minibus to Penang, Malaysia to experience the melting pot of different cultures, architecture and cuisine. The island is best seen by scooter, so rent one and drive around the crazy traffic. Once done in Penang, head for the Cameron Highlands, for a break from the heat. The area offers many jungle treks and must see stops include a strawberry farm, honey bee farm and tea plantation. After a relaxing few days in the Highlands, take the bus to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Wander through the markets in China Town, stop in Little India for dinner and gaze at the Petronas Towers. Hop over to Malaysian Borneo-Sarawak to really get out. Base yourself out of Miri, an oil rich town on the coast. Fly into Mulu National Park to experience the jungle at its finest and join some activities such as caving or the canopy walk. Once done fly back to Miri and continue on to Brunei Darussalam. Walk around the small city center in Bandar Seri Begawan, don't forget to stop at the mosque and the floating water village. Fly to Singapore and spend a full day exploring the modern city. Don't forget to check out the fountain light show at night near Marina Bay. Take a train back to KL and spend the afternoon admiring the Petronas Towers. Once finished in KL, fly across to Medan, Indonesian Sumatra. Don't linger around for long, but instead head to Bukit Lawang near the jungle. Spend some time in the forest trekking and look out for the Orangutans. Afterwards head to Berastagi, climb up a volcano, if it's not currently erupting, but don't stay long in this bustling city. The last stop on Sumatra is Lake Toba, find a lakeside room and enjoy the tranquil island town Tuk-Tuk for a few days. Start the long drive back to Medan and hop on a flight to Bali. Once there, try to find a quiet place in Kuta and take in the beach atmosphere. Use Bali as a base to explore other islands, starting with Flores, gateway to Komodo National Park. Organize a day trip to the Park on Rinca Island and check out the cool Komdo Dragons, snorkel one of the many reefs on the way back to Labuan Bajo. The next day walk to a beach near town and enjoy the sand to yourself. Once done here, fly back through Bali to Lombok Island. Head straight to Sengiggi for the beach and good food. From here make your way to Gili Air and live the island dream. Enjoy the trafficless island as long as possible and don't forget to snorkel with the sea turtles. When done here, head to Kuta, Lombok for friendly locals and share the beach with goats. Last stop in Indonesia is Ubud back on Bali. Find a nice guesthouse with a pool, watch a traditional dance and rent a scooter to drive around the area, stopping at the multitiered rice terraces. Take a flight to Manila in the Philippines and spend a day walking through Intramuros, stopping at St. Agustin church and nearby Park Rizal. Either hop on an overnight bus or a short flight to Legazpi in Southern Luzon to admire the perfect cone shaped volcano Mt. Mayon, before driving to Donsol on the beach. The main draw here are the whale sharks, so sign up for a tour and snorkel with these gentle giants. The remainder of the time, just lay in the black sand and enjoy the quiet atmosphere as this is your last stop! Enjoy!
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Countries: Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos & Myanmar
Duration: 3-5 Weeks Start off in the bustling and modern city of Bangkok. Spend a day exploring the Royal Palace and the nearby temples Wat Pho and Wat Arun, combining the visit with a boat ride up and down the river. At night check out a shopping center or market. Once done in Bangkok, hop on the direct day bus to Siem Reap in Cambodia (750 Baht, Visa $30). After a long bus ride refresh yourself with a 50 cent draft at the famous Pub Street. The next day walk around the city, bargain at the market and get a massage. For sunset, head to Angkor Wat (around 4.30pm) to get your Day Pass ($20). Enjoy the temple as the sun casts its last rays on the tall standing towers. Dine in style at any of the restaurants surrounding Pub Street. The following day is dedicated entirely to the Angkor Sites. Hire a Tuk-Tuk driver for the day ($15) and head around the small or grand circle, taking in many sites including Banteay Kdei, Ta Prohm and Angkor Thom. If you still have the energy to stay for sunset, hike up Phnom Bakheng for a distant view of Angkor Wat. Start your journey through Cambodia the next day, by taking a bus ride to the Capital Phnom Penh ($6, 8.5 hours), while waiting for your Vietnam Visa ($60-$70) spend a morning admiring the Royal Palace. Stop at the nearby Freedom Monument and then take a Tuk-Tuk to the Russian Market to haggle for some good deals on clothes and souvenirs. Instead of taking a bus to Vietnam, why not enjoy the views of the Mekong River from a boat. Cruise down from Phnom Penh to Chau Doc and connect to a bus for Can Tho (Both for $40, 12 hours), a city in the Mekong Delta. Wake up early to see the biggest floating market in the Delta - Cai Rang and then catch a bus to Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon ($6.50, 4 hours). Spend the night in this bustling city and walk the main sights the next day, which include the Reunification Palace, Notre Dame and the Old Post Office. Once the smog gets to you, escape to the airport for a short haul flight to Hue, away from the bustle and noise. Hue being a world heritage site, has enough to offer to keep one busy for a day. Walk the grounds of the Citadel and take a ride down to any of the Royal Tombs. Set a day aside to explore sights around Hue. Any hotel or travel agency can organize a full day tour around the former DMZ. Highlights include the Khe Sanh American Combat Base, the former border crossing the river and the Vinh Moc Tunnels. Leave the next day for Hoi An, a small city south of Hue. Walk the old city, look or buy some tailored clothes and if time permits visit the nearby Hindu ruins of My Son. Once done, catch a flight or overnight train to the capital Hanoi and visit the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and the Hoa Lo Prison. Stop at any coffee shop for Weasel Coffee or try a Ginger Tea at a tea shop. Organize a 1-3 Day tour to the Halong Bay Area to admire the many karst limestone formations. If staying more than one night, venture further out to Cat Ba Island and the more secluded Lan Ha Bay. Overnight on Cat Ba or any of the private islands nearby. Say Goodbye to Vietnam and return to Bangkok to reenergize. Organize the overnight train to Ubon ($25, 11 hours) and while near the station stop at the Wat Traimit Temple to admire the biggest solid-gold Buddha image. Take the train to Ubon Ratchathani and connect to the Thai-Lao Bus to Pakse in Laos. Hop on a local truck to head south to the 4000 Island region. Pick any of the islands such as Don Det, Don Khong or Don Khon to base yourself out of. Organize a full day kayak trip around the area ($25), and with some luck you will spot the rare Irrawaddy Dolphins. Enjoy the sunset at any of the river restaurants, while sipping on a Beerlao. Make the long day & overnight journey back to Bangkok and arrive in time for the Myanmar embassy to open. Queue up for the visa, and depending on time, pick it up the same day, or days later. If waiting for the visa, why not get out of busy Bangkok and take the three hour minibus to Kanchanaburi ($4, 3 hours), a quiet city with some WWII history. Walk to the Death Railway Bridge and learn the historic facts. Stop at the cemetery of the POW's as well. Return to Bangkok the following day to pick up the Visa for Myanmar. Once you arrive in Yangon, head for the golden Shwedagon Pagoda, a must see spot in Myanmar. Take a bumpy night train to Mandalay ($14, 16 hours) and stretch your legs with a barefoot walk up Mandalay Hill for spectacular views of the bustling city. Once done in this area, continue to Bagan by bus ($9, 5 hours) and don't forget to pick up the archaeological pass ($20, 5 Day Validity). Wander around town, but save the energy for the next day. Rent an E-Bike for the day and cruise around the temple-studded plains of Bagan, stopping at any of the temples for great views. Don't miss Pyathada Paya for amazing sunset views, but beware you won't be alone. When your templed out, catch the train back to Yangon ($16, 19 hours) and catch a flight back to Bangkok to finish up the Northern Loop. Over the last few months we had brainstormed and looked up different routes that would lead us out of Europe. Some were more realistic and doable than others, so we noted them all down and rated them by likeliness.
Plan A: The plan was to finish up in Greece and head to Istanbul, from there we would catch a flight to the northern Turkish part of Cyrpus. Afterwards we would cross into the southern Greek part of Cyprus and fly from there to Tel Aviv, Israel. There we would visit our friend and check out the highlights before heading north to Nazareth and using the easiest, northern border crossing into Jordan. We would travel north-south through Jordan and then take the ferry across parts of the Red Sea to the Egypt resort coast, before flying to Cairo. Reasons for it: - We have a contact in Tel Aviv. - Able to check out some amazing places and good gateway to Egypt. - Visas are pretty straight forward, most obtainable on arrival and only the Egypt visa would require some organizing before going on the ferry in Jordan. - Cheap flights within Egypt. - Egypt is cheap in general. Reasons against it: - There is conflicting information on the whole Cyprus plan: it seems that it would be deemed entering Cyprus illegally if arriving to the northern Turkish part by air and trying to fly out of the southern Greek part. This was never confirmed anywhere and we would take our chances like many others have probably done. It would make no sense to fly in and out (towards Israel) of the same part, since prices would be very high for one of the flights. - Israel and Jordan aren't the cheapest countries to travel in. - The current situation in Israel including the Tel Aviv bombing attempts and the whole Gaza situation (our friend reassured us it was fine at the time but still a safety reason nonetheless even though not aimed at tourists) were a bit of a turnoff. Conclusion: We decided against this plan for all of the above reasons and would check these places out in a different way somehow or later in our life's. Rating to proceed: 6/10 We didn't book anything just messaged our friend in Tel Aviv a few times to inquire about the situation. We did our research on flights, Visas and spots to check out. Plan B: This was an option that became quite real, pretty quickly. It was more a supplement to plan A and would potentially work with it as well. After talking to a few other travelers about Iran and not having visited it while I was in Azerbaijan last fall, we had another chance. Others had showed us amazing pictures and we had long chats about the best route. The plan would be to take the long train ride from Istanbul to Tehran, do a trip into the Damavand Mountains and head south to Isfahan. Then fly back from there to Istanbul. Reasons for it: - Amazing train ride over two days and very cheap. - Iran itself is very cheap to travel in, including the flight out. - Potentially hike a nice 5000er - There is an Iranian embassy in Istanbul that could issue the visa in a few days once we had our Letter of Invitation (this positive became a big negative and deal breaker after the below reason) Reasons that stopped us: - Visa restrictions had recently changed as of March 2014, Canadians would not be allowed to visit Iran without prior booking of an organized tour. (This used to just apply to Americans in the past) - Some issues were known with paying for the Visa (complicated bank transfer at a high cost). - The tours were too expensive unfortunately, but we wanted to do it independently anyways. Rating to proceed: 8/10 We had already emailed the train agency in Istanbul to get all details on train tickets to Tehran. Furthermore we emailed the Iranian embassy in Istanbul to inquiry on cost and details of obtaining the Visa. We did not get a response from them and found out the hard way after doing some research that we could not get a visa with the LOI (Letter of Invitation) anymore and would need to join a tour - silly politics. Let's hope this will change in the future so that we can check out the country or maybe we should get an EU passport ;) Conclusion: Visa restrictions and having to join an expensive organized tour made us turn down this option. Plan C: This plan was by far the most likely. We would get to Istanbul after Bulgaria and fly to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, the only visa free "Stan" country. Then we would fly to Osh, Kyrgyzstan and do the Pamir highway to Dushanbe in Tajikistan. We would cross into Uzbekistan to check out the highlights and then fly from Tashkent, Uzbekistan to UAE. Reasons for it: - There aren't many direct flights to the Stan's but one is from Istanbul at a reasonable price. (Others from Russia, UAE, other Stan's) - Visa free Kyrgyzstan. - Able to get Tajikistan Visa and GBAO permit in Kyrgyzstan on arrival, prior to heading to the Pamir highway. - Able to get visa for Uzbekistan in Bishkek (provided we received our LOI by then per email). - Decent flight out of the area to UAE. - We are so close to this area geographically, it would be an amazing opportunity. - Perfect timing weather wise. September is the best time to visit before the winter, when roads become impassable on the Pamir and we would need better gear. Reasons against it: - High cost for LOI (Letter of Invitation) for Uzbekistan but otherwise reasonable cost for visas. - Most likely would have to organize a Driver for the Pamir ride since hitchhiking can be very difficult; reports mention wait times between 2 hours to 2 day for a vehicle with space to pass by (pretty easy to find a driver but unsure on price for the long journey.). - Biggest reason: Flights got denied twice! Read below. Rating: 9.5/10 We were basically going. First we tried booking a very cheap flight through Cheapoair, but as soon as we clicked the final booking button, the price jumped by 200 dollars and we called them twice trying to figure it out, with no success. Secondly we booked the flights through Airfasttickets and got the booking confirmation. We were pretty much going! Few hours later a cancellation email came stating something was wrong with my Visa card. Ok, second attempt using Amex, double and triple checking all data is correct and matches; Booking confirmation received, followed by a cancellation email again for the same reasons. We called them, they were useless saying maybe our credit limit wasn't high enough or we entered wrong data - no chance that this was the case. Conclusion: For some reason it just didn't work out for us. It has never happened to us or we are not sure how often it does happen to others that it's declined even after two tries. We were not meant to go and let it go. (Note: John's Dad will be happy, since this is his must see spot and well worth a trip together in the future). Option D: This was a quick idea that was quite reasonable but too pricey. After chatting with a friend who had visited Iraqi Kurdistan (North Iraq) we considered this option from Istanbul. Reasons for it: - Free 15 Day Visa issued on arrival at Erbil international airport. - Safest area in Iraq (considering it's a war zone for the most parts), heavily guarded by Kurdistan security forces against the south of Iraq. - According to our friend, amazing and inviting locals. - Quick ten day route possible in this area. - Direct flight onwards to Cairo, Egypt. - Erbil was voted "Top Ten" place to visit for 2014 in National Geographic and has many visitors (lots to see!) Reasons against it: - Flights were too expensive adding up over $1200 over a short period of time, hard to justify this cost. - It is Iraq after all, even though it's a different part that is fairly safe to visit. - Tensions between southern Iraq and Iraqi Kurdistan (boycotting freighter planes to Erbil). - ISIS taking over the Mosul dam near Iraqi Kurdistan at the time. - Some airlines had stopped commercial flights into Erbil at the time (not Turkish airline however). - Expensive place, hotels and drivers to get around would add up quickly. Rating: 7/10 We did our research on the route that is safe to take outside of Erbil, had talked to our friend about it who said nothing but good things. Also her friend had just visited this place two weeks ago so we knew others are still going. Knew about the Visa on arrival and looked up general costs. Conclusion: The high flight costs as well as daily costs while in Iraq were way too high and would be hard on the wallet (even though it would be a unique place to visit). We will get our chance one day, once Iraqi Kurdistan can reach some agreement with the South & Baghdad, and once ISIS moves to Mars. (Note: Ashleigh's parents will be quite happy ;) After spending many, many hours researching and booking flights unsuccessfully we gave up option A, B, C & D and are currently working on option E. We are positive that everything will work out for us some way and we will get to visit another cool spot. Luckily we are flexible in many ways and we are convinced we will have a chance to visit Iran someday once Visa restrictions ease, check out Central Asia (hopefully before it becomes more popular), visit Israel & Jordan and perhaps even see northern Iraq. For now we are working out a different plan! Stay tuned and follow our route to discover the other areas that we will visit going forward. It might already be visible that we are somewhat backtracking, more to come soon... Since none of the plans mentioned in the previous article worked out the way we wanted, we decided to not go to Turkey, after Bulgaria quite yet. Instead we are headed north and are backtracking in a way. The plan is to visit Romania today, check out Transylvania, then head into the famous wine country and Europe's underdog "Moldova", with a possible side trip to the breakaway state of Transnistria (an unrecognized country by UN). We did already book our flight out to Istanbul (from Moldova) for August 25th, since we will then have successfully visited all the Balkan countries. We will not stay in Istanbul for long, a Roundtrip to northern Cyprus has been booked as well (at a very good price). However we will return to Turkey to spend some more time there before flying south to Egypt, our official way out of Europe. Conclusion: This plan, as most will probably agree with, sounds great! We get to see more of Europe, will hopefully manage to visit a unique place like Transnistria, and even get our Cyprus vacation in. Flights were cheap, connections easy and we have our gateway to Africa. (On a side note, there aren't many other directions we could have gone since none of the plans worked out and we have to get out of Europe eventually). |