Traveling to South East Asia and back in 6 weeks was a very quick trip and gave me just a taste for each of the 6 countries I visited.
Overall the people in each of the countries are kind and friendly. The food was good, with Cambodia and Vietnam being the exceptions, at least for my tastes. However the food in Singapore was very good but it was also very expensive.
Traveling from place to place to see specific sites can be a chore and sometimes very frustrating. Flying is really cheap, even last minute. But it can be time consuming given the time prior to departures now needed, and be sure to read the fine print on luggage weights.
Organizing travel arrangements can also be somewhat annoying as it is difficult to figure out the right questions to ask, and you may not get what you would expect at home. It’s best if you have a specific location in mind like a hotel.
The Sepang F1 race was definitely a big part of my trip and I really enjoyed it. As well the Langkawi eagles was the icing on the cake. The tours of the islands was a lot of fun and the weather and beaches in Thailand are terrific. Singapore was the wow factor with just about everything we saw there, including prices, and be sure to read ALL signs when entering Singapore.
Cambodia, at least the parts that I saw leave you with the impression how lucky we are, only 30% of the population have power, they have the Angkor temples and the coasts that bring a lot of tourism money and the coasts according to Brian are beautiful.
The traffic in all the countries is as crazy as it can get. I couldn’t believe how hap-hazard it appears to be. For sure they have a lot of people and an awful amount of cars, and to top it off they have twice as many scooter/motorcycles. I have seen four lanes of traffic change direction twice in just a few minutes. I have seen 7 rows of cars in two lanes. And I have been in taxis passing a bus on a corner who was passing a motorcycle with a bus coming towards us passing a bus. And the roads are a real nightmare in some places due to construction or lack off. I am starting to understand why some of these things occur, because if they didn’t drive this way nobody would get anywhere. I’ve seen entire family’s on a scooter and most of them were on their cell phones, I saw a scooter carrying a mattress, and others carrying six 50lb bottles of water, or 20ft pieces of pipe.
But….I didn’t see any accidents…. And it’s because they have to be amazingly attentive and react very quickly.
It’s like watching a flock of birds, they all appear to know where each other is going to be, and when to turn without running into each other, it’s fascinating. But if you don’t like cars honking their horns don’t go to Vietnam….
Angkor Wat as well as some of the other temples in Thailand and Indonesia have always fascinated me. I find it very interesting how these cultures grew to such strength and numbers, constructed enormous complexes and structures and they’ve endured for eons.
Some of the art and craftsmanship is still very evident in the products they make today. I really liked some of the solid wood furniture and carving that they do here. Some of it is like art and would be extremely expensive at home if you can even find it. I should look into this.
Would I come back? If I had a specific reason I wouldn’t hesitate…but I wouldn’t come back to see the same things again, I would choose to go someplace I haven’t been before. If I was close I would swing by Langkawi again, but because I enjoyed it so much I’m going to look into doing something similar closer to home.
Just as a last note of interest, when I got back to Bangkok yesterday late at night it was raining here and it felt like that scene in Blade Runner. it was actually very cool. as well it was Thailand’s new year and they celebrate it for 3 days. How do they do this you ask, well they like to get you soaked, everyone on the streets have hoses, huge water blasters, buckets, you name it. and you cannot go anywhere without getting absolutely drenched. I walked to the shopping center today and got drenched there and back just like everyone else. its actually very funny. Below is a picture of my tuk tuk with the shields up.
So I’m heading to the Bangkok airport at 2:00 tonight to start my journey home. See you guys soon.
