South East Asia Trip (Planning the trip)

The idea of doing an Asian multiple cities & countries tour came across my thoughts on a Monday morning back in May 2015. As all good Monday stories, it involved 2 cups of coffee to wake up and then I started thinking of an adventures vacation. Two geographical locations popped into the script:

Option 1: Project Africa
Flying into South Africa (Cape Town & Durban) > Lesotho > Swaziland > Tanzania (Zanzibar > Mt Kilimanjaro > Serengeti National park) > Uganda (Kampala). The above would have involved A Serengeti Safari with the big 5, whale sharks off Zanzibar Coast along with some beach time, Cardio and adventure up Kilimanjaro, and finally interaction with Gorillas.

Option 2: Project Asia
Flying into Thailand (Bangkok > Chiang Mai)> Myanmar (Mandalay > Bagan > Inle Lake) > Cambodia (Siam Reap)> Laos (Luang Prabang > Vang Vieng > Vientiane) > Vietnam (Da Nang > Hoi An > Hanoi > Phu Quoc). Not the African wildlife but still good in Asia along with temples, spiritual experience, and a great culinary experience.

Deciding factors: : The Asian trip was much cheaper than the African trip. The Tourist market is well developed in Asia (except Myanmar) so prices are more avoidable with competition among accommodation providers. Daily living costs are much cheaper as well in the Asian countries despite some of them using US dollars. So to put it into numbers the African trip would have cost me about $10000 US extra. Another smaller factor was the Kilimanjaro ascent means some serious training. I have been up to 4200 meters before so 5895 meters in Mt Kilimanjaro will be a good challenge. (Everest Base Camp is at 5335 meters with peak at 8848 meters).
So Africa project was placed on ice and the Asian project activated.

Planning the Asian trip: The factor analysis and construction of a trip is always fun but requires a lot of work especially when it comes to the category 4 type trip. You can read more about the types of trips here.

So I ran this through my Planning variable analysis and came up with a travel logistics solution that requires 15 flights in total, one 5 hour boat trip and an 8 hour road trip. The travel logistics in South East Asia is quite easy as everything is well setup. Myanmar is the one exception but it is improving very fast and this will be described further in the Myanmar future post.

Accommodation options are the same, many to choose from. However cities like Bagan have limited options to choose from as it is either top of the scale or the bottom of the scale. No middle ground but this is improving. The cost is a little bit higher as well especially near Bagan and Inle Lake.

South East Asia overall is a cheaper holiday destination where the majority of the cost is associated with flights and accommodation. Living costs on holiday is quite low.

In terms of location I could try to fit more but then it is too rushed so will save Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei for next time. A return to Malaysia would be featured as well for that next part.

So stay tuned and click below on the country posts which I will update along the way:

Myanmar

Cambodia

Laos

Vietnam

Thailand

Myanmar

Population: Approximately 51 486 253 (2014)
Currency: Myanmar Kyat (10 000MMK = 70Nok = $8.16US = £5.75(Feb 2016 rates)) 
Cities to be Visited: Mandalay, Bagan, Mount Poppa, Inle Lake

It is a very new destination since the doors for tourism opened wide few years ago. This means that a lot of the country is still not over developed to meet the tourism demand which is a blessing as we get to see a lot of the real Myanmar. The trip in Myanmar will start at Mandalay and then feature a 10 hour boat ride down river Ayeyarwady River to Bagan.

Next we will move east o Mount Poppa and then Inle Lake. Stay tuned as I will be updating the blog once I find internet in the larger cities.

Cambodia

Population: Approximately 15 458 332 (2014)
Currency: Cambodian Riel (10 000KHR = 21Nok = $2.49US = £1.76(Feb 2016 rates)) 
Cities to be Visited: Siem Reap and Possibly Sihanoukville & Koh Rong Island

A short trip to Angkor Wat in my tour. The place is legendary and something I always wanted to check out. There might be an excursion to Sihanoukville & Koh Rong along the way as well so stay tuned for posts once we get here.

Laos

Population: Approximately 6 803 699 (2014)
Currency:  Laos Lak (100 00Lak = 10Nok = $1.21US = £0.85(Feb 2016 rates)) 
Cities to be Visited: Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, and Vientiane

My first visit to Laos will only feature 3 main cities as this is one of those locations that require several months to explore. The trip features a road trip from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng to Vientiane. This post will be updated while I am visiting the above cities so stay tuned for photos and reports.

Vietnam

Population: Approximately 91 700 000 (2015)
Currency: Vietnamese Dong (100 000Dong = 38Nok = $4.45US = £3.16(Feb 2016 rates)) 
Cities to be Visited: Da Nang, Hoi An, Hanoi, and Phu Quoc Island

My first visit to Vietnam will only feature 4 cities as this is one of those locations that require several months to explore. Ha Long Bay and Ho Chi Minh City will have to wait for the next trip. This post will be updated while I am visiting the above cities so stay tuned for photos and reports.

Chiang Mai

Location: North Thailand
Population: Approximately 150 000 (2008)
Currency: Thai Bhat (100Bhat = 24Nok = $2.82US = £2 (Feb 2016 rates)) 

This will be my first time in Chiang Mai so looking forward to see the regional differences from South & Central Thailand. This post will be updated along the journey so stay tuned for photos and quick summaries as I explore further.