TravelArk 2.0

Southeast Asia, Late 2022

Southeast Asia is a region of the world I’ve long wanted to explore in depth, and this year I’m finally getting to do it. The region is so varied, I will not be seeing all of it, just many of the mainland parts. Indonesia and the Philippines will have to wait for other trips, as will Myanmar/Burma, a place I very much hoped to include but one that is currently quite unsafe to travel to because of civil conflicts since last year’s military coup in the country. My time in Southeast Asia will be just about two months, hardly enough time to see six countries. For purposes of travel ease and efficiency, I’ve decided to go mostly on group tours with an Australian tour operator named Intrepid. All three tours start in Bangkok, Thailand, the first going all through Cambodia and Vietnam and ending in Hanoi, the second going through northern Thailand and Laos, and the third heading down the Malay Peninsula through southern Thailand and Malaysia to Singapore. Within that I will have two flights to get back to Bangkok from Hanoi and Vientiane for my next trips. I will tack on a few days on my own in Singapore at the end of the trip. If all goes as planned, in Singapore I will enter “The Century Club” the small but privileged band of world travelers who have made it to 100 independent countries. Some people cheat and count overseas territories and other non-independent entities on their way to joining the club. I am strict about only counting independent countries. I am trying to keep my expectations in check for Southeast Asia. I was in Thailand for two-week in 1996 and have to admit my vision of an exotic tropical paradise was shattered by the realities of some of my earliest travel in so-called developing countries – poverty, noise, traffic congestion, environmental degradation. I’ve been around the world enough by now to have more realistic expectations. I have been told many times over the years by other travelers, “You need to see Angkor Wat before it gets spoiled!”
Planned Dates
2022-11-07 to 2023-01-06
Countries
6
Subscribe Add Favorite

Trip Map

Trip Entries

Sort First: