The BIG one

Two posts in two days!? Can you believe it?!

Itinerary for our South East Asia trip is a little loose right now... And, surprisingly, I'm okay with that. I have our first week planned and beyond that, I'm at the whims of the Gods!

Currently, as I am typing this, I have 1 day left of school. 1 day until my life will be crammed into a 35 Liter Backpack and I will find new places to sweat from.

On FEBRUARY 14th, 2014 (Valentines Day) we will be leaving Korea at 10:35am and landing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ( <--- I HATE spelling that country, took me like four tries! ) around 4pm. We are then off the plane and on to a quick tour of KL, we are staying at the Reggae Mansion Hostel, including rooftop bar! It is supposed to rain, but that just makes decision making that much easier. We won't spent the 30usd to go up in the Petronas Twin Towers, because it is going to be cloudy, a 'drive by' will be fine.  Our hostel is located near China Town and Little India, so I'm excited to do some looking around (avoid shopping!) and eat some Indian food.... My new found love!!

Then, on Saturday (FEBRUARY 15th) it is back on the plane to head to Chiang Mai, Thailand for 5 days!! I am so excited for Chiang Mai!! We have no set dates but we are doing the Tiger Kingdom (playing with ALL of the size tigers... mother!) and we are also doing the Patera Elephant Experience (where you literally have one day with your own elephant and you learn to approach, speak, feed, bathe, ride, swim, eat.... All with your elephant. No, we do NOT clean up the poo, but to quote the website, "we can if we want."). Those are our two planned days, another day, we might do the Golden Triangle tour where Laos, Thailand and Myanmar meet.  It used to be all opium fields, but now is a tourist trap with an opium museum, that I want to see....of course.



The it is on to Phuket via plane again... Flying in SE Asia is super cheap! From Chiang Mai to Phuket, 30USD, cheaper and faster than the train!

FEBRUARY 20th - PHUKET -
Heard it is a stop over, even Rihanna didn't give it a real enthusiastic review... And I'm sure she was staying at a balling hotel. But when in Phuket.....

Patong Beach
Pingpong shows - Bangla Road
Ladyboy/ Caberet shows - Bangla Road
Phang Nga Bay tour - aka - James Bond Island day tour with kayaking and exploration of sea caves
Muay Thai fights

So, with all that in mind, I'm sure we will be busy.

FEBRUARY 23 - Ko Phi Phi
If you have ever watched the weird Leo D. Movie about 'The Beach' and wondered where 'the beach' was filmed ... Ko phi phi is your answer. It is blogged and written about as one of the most beautiful beaches - however, since the movie, tourist have moved in by the thousands! However, we plan to join the to get this once in a lifetime experience. We plan on being beach bums and maybe taking a day tour of the actual 'beach', some monkey harassment and snorkeling.

FEBRUARY 26th - Ao Nang/Railey Beach/Krabi
Again, no plans. But we are probably going to make a stop over in this area.

Then it is on to the other side ....

FEBRUARY 28th - Koh Phangan - Koh Sumi - Koh Tao
Koh Phangan is where they hold the crazy full moon parties, however, we won't be making it during the right time. Mainly heading to Koh Phangan first because it is between Koh Sumi and Koh Tao... Haven't decided just yet which island we want to visit in our time... So I am leaving it up to the locals. If they say Kho Tao is best... We'll grab the ferry and vice versa.

Depending on our dates and if we get side tracked somewhere, we will be flying out of Thailand on...


MARCH 5/6/7 - Siem Reap, CAMBODIA.
Only thing we really have planned here is to visit Angkor Wat. If you don't know, it is where Tomb Raider was filmed.

Then, a six hour bus ride to....

MARCH 10th - Phnom Phen
P.P.wasn't super important on my list, until I started researching and hearing of friends travels to the Killing Fields. This is a site to remember the almost 2 million people who were killed in roughly four years. If you don't know anything about it, much like me a few months ago, take a quick Google search. It's a sad history that I knew nothing of, but that is what is amazing about history - is that I learn something new about our past almost every day!!
Another important thing about P.P. is that we need to get our visa for the 6 hour bus ride to.....

MARCH 13th - Ho Chi Minh City, VIETNAM
ANd this is where Ken takes over for his part of the planning so everything is up to him!
What I know we will see is:

Cu Chi Tunnels -HCMC
Firing off big guns in HCMC
Getting tailored suits and clothes on the cheap!

MARCH 18th - HANOI
Hopefully in Hanoi we will get to meet up with one of our friends from Korea who moved to Hong Kong and have a weekend of Korean mischief. We also want to do a Halong Bay boat tour... Probably just have time for 3 days 2 nights.

From Hanoi, Vietnam we will fly on...

MARCH 25th - Beijing, CHINA
Here we are more scheduled, because we have to be. As a US citizen, to get a visa for China is about 200USD... And that is outrageous! However, you can be flying from one country to another and have a 'Layover 72 Hour No-Visa' stay. In those three days we will be:

Touring the Great Wall of China - 1 day
Forbidden City - 1 day
SHOPPING - as much as I can fit in the time frame and.... In my bag!!

MARCH 28th - Seoul, SOUTH KOREA
We have allotted a one day buffer so that we can grab our luggage, close out our bank accounts with any remaining money (wishful thinking!) and have our butts back to the airport to get our plane our of South Korea on....

MARCH 29th - USA!!

I can't wait to be home, but this is def, a once in a lifetime trip - too much of the world to see to go back to where I've been.