Travel with my friend

September 20th 2009. The day that everything changes. Ok that’s slightly over dramatic but never-the-less accurate. Our plans for the “Big Adventure” are coming together and picking up pace.

For those of you that don’t know, my wife and I are planning to travel extensively through South-East Asia for around 3 months before moving to Sydney, Australia for a while.

So here’s a rough itinerary, I’ll spare you the impressively in-depth version my wife has created. In 3 months traveling there’s hardly a day when we’re not booked to do something or travel somewhere!

September

20th – Fly from Heathrow, England to Changi, Singapore

27th – Watch the Singapore F1 Grand Prix with friends

October

Fly to Hanoi, Vietnam and spend a few days there as well as 3 days in Sa pa, treking & home stay and 3 days at Halong Bay.

Vist Hue City, Da nang and market town of Hoi An. Also the costal town of Nha Trang where there’s amazing beaches and sea corals.

On to Ho Chi Ming City, visit the famous Tay Ninh and Cu Chi tunnels. Cai Be on the Mekong Delta for a home stay.

Cambodia

21st  – Boat and bus to Phnom Penh for a few days

Visit Kampot and Bokor Mountain National Park. Then to Battambang for a village home stay.

A boat to Siem Reap for Angkor Wat. Hopefully be there for sunset one day and revisit for sunrise the next day.

November

1st – Bus and train to Bangkok, Thailand

A few days in Bangkok before we go to Ayutthaya and then on to Chiang Mai visiting the sticky rice factory and do a bicycle tour.

On to Chiang Rai and possible home stay before a hill-tribe trek.

An overnight train back to Bangkok before heading on to Kanchanaburi. Visit the Bridge over the River Kwai.

December

On to Ko Tao for a few days before hoping over to the islands of Phuket and Phi Phi for a week or two.

On to Krabi and Hat Yai before crossing the border into Malaysia

Visit Penang and Butterworth then train to Kuala Lumpur.

Train back to Singapore then fly on to Sydney, Australia around the 19th. Spend a couple of weeks enjoying Christmas while looking for a more permanent accommodation.

Flexible plans

Obviously these plans might change. That’s the wonderful thing about backpacking and traveling for extended periods of time. You can be flexible with your plans and get a chance to go off the beaten path. I’m really looking forward to the home stays and visiting a few sites and towns you wouldn’t normally go to. The flights are booked as are the Grand Prix tickets so it’ll be a fantastic start to the journey!

I will as ever be blogging throughout our travels. More progress reports on our plans as they are confirmed. If you have been to any of these countries please do leave a comment. I’d love to hear any recommendations on places to go, hidden gems, etc.