How Is Our Trip Going?
We are about four weeks into our ten week trip. When we set off the plan was to get Singapore, KL & Bangkok out of the way and then fly to Hanoi and work our way down the coast of Vietnam and then whizz through Cambodia and Laos. We anticipated that Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos would take us around three weeks.
We seem to be moving slower than we first thought. Sticking to the three week theory we would be heading out of Laos around now but as it is we’re on the Cambodian coast in Sihanoukville. We thought that we’d get through Vietnam in a week but in total we were there for 11 nights and could easily have stayed longer.
Originally we wanted to spend the most time in Thailand but we’ve now agreed that if we like a place we’ll drop anchor for a while, to be honest packing up and heading to a bus station/airport every couple of days was getting a bit much.
We had no plans to come down to Sihanoukville but it has been highly recommended by so many people, most significantly by Aaron & Georgie who you can see from their blog spent ages here. There’ll be a full post on Sihanoukville in due course but we spent four nights there and our hope was to enjoy the sun here and maybe even spend a week doing nothing but laze around. Since we arrived here it has rained non-stop, the Cambodian Monsoon season is here in force but there isn’t much hope elsewhere right now as many people are checking the weather in Thailand, Vietnam etc to see where to go next and the picture across Southeast Asia looks pretty grim wherever you are. It will clear up, so chin up.
We got up this morning in Sihanoukville and as the weather was still poor we scooted straight up the road to Phnom Penh in a taxi ($50) and we’re now in the airport waiting for our hastily arranged flight to Siem Reap to see the temples and our plan is to continue up to Laos. We’ll probably go straight to the North and drink BeerLao in Vientiane and do the River Tubing in Vang Vieng. From there? Who knows? If the weather doesn’t let up then we may go to Australia early for a few weeks before spending our final couple of weeks in Thailand, at least the weather is more or less guarenteed in Australia (except at Christmas!).
As for other things, I have now done a page dedicated to the technical details of the trip – this is essentially just a directory of where we stayed and how we got here, how much etc. It is linked at the top of the page (S.E. Asia 2009). Only really useful if you’re planning to come over this way I suppose.
You’ll also remember I did a post on my travel gear. I forgot to add in my original post that I’m carrying a small Swiss army knife and a wind-up torch. I’ve since added a double silk sheet sleeping bag to keep the cockroaches out (inspired by the train from Vietnam).
As for the original gear, I could have done with an extra pair of boxers and another light coloured t-shirt. I have too many dark shirts and far to many pairs of socks (I think two pairs would have sufficed – not had a pair on since Bangkok). As we speak the boxers I am wearing are two days old and the rest are wet in my luggage waiting to be hung up to finish drying. Nice).
That’s about it for now. Feel free to drop me a line and thanks to all who have been commenting on posts so far, it’s appreciated.
Andy & Pezza
xxx
Sounds like you are having a fab time! Hope karen’s bottom is doing better….sounds like when you were in Dubai…hehe. We miss you guys! WHen can we skype you? xxxxx
Moving slower and absorbing more from a place keeps stress low and always feels better! If you miss a country because you run out of time, hit it on the next trip…it will still be there.
Greg,
It’s one of the best things about not having a firm plan. Last time we were gutted because we had to leave places before we were ready because we had flight reservations.
This way is much better!
Andy