Where we’ll go – a sketch of the route

The current travel plans were born during a more or less serious brainstorming – originally the big idea was going to Canada for a year. Somehow, it turned into Southeast Asia, and things got a bit more serious, and now we are here. We, that is Anne and I. Anne is a good friend of mine, and I am extremely happy to have her along for this adventure. We have planned to travel for six weeks together, after which I will stay two weeks longer on my own before returning to Berlin. It will be an extremely exciting trip, that’s for sure – especially because we don’t have any too specific travel plans. Basically we just have a ticket there and back again. We’ll start by going from Berlin to Warsaw by train, and from there take the plane to Bangkok, with an 18 hour stay in Doha, Katar. From Bangkok we fly straight to Ho Chih Min City, and there the real adventure starts – nothing pre-planned or -booked.  We have a rough idea of the route – we want to travel from southern Vietnam north up until Sa Pa, and the go back south through Laos and cross Cambodia from northeast to the west. Start of June we will head back to Bangkok to take a flight to Mandalay, spend a couple of days in Myanmar, and then return to Berlin via Warsaw. This is the rough route to out two months in Southeast Asia.

Activities – what to do and see

It is a great feeling to have so much time on my hands and no idea what I will do with it – I am usually a person who plans ahead, and like to have an idea about what’s coming up for me. This trip is intentionally different – life is not entirely plannable, and I want to enjoy more of the opportunities that just come along and use less of my energy on planning…basically, learn to be more relaxed and don’t sweat the small stuff. That’s why it is so great that we are not planning too much of he route. For each country I have one thing I want to see and / or do for sure, and everything else is optional. In Vietnam that is kayaking and climbing in the region of Cat Ba island and Halong Bay (and maybe hike up Mt. Fansipan). In Laos it is taking a boat down the Mekong river for a few days. In Cambodia I absolutely want to see Angkor Wat and the Tonle Sap. And in Myanmar, I want to see the sun rise over Bagan. Aside from that, everything else, we will see what comes up along the way. Of course, we are open for suggestions – so if you have something we absolutely must see, please let us know 🙂