Back to South and South East Asia
Anna's entry:
(November 2011)
It was that time again to set off for another travel journey. As always, we reviewed all new and old options to match our criteria - destination has to be a good value, has to be exotic, has to have a stimulating cultural focus, has to have a variety, and my favourite three factors - has to have (in the very least) decent marine and/or wild life life, island surroundings, and tasty food. The first preference was Banda Islands (Indonesia), however, the season simply was out of the question - big seasonal storms and thus limited time to enjoy the marine world. The second option considered was a new for us continent - Africa. We keep thinking about getting off the tourist track in Africa and exploring still available wild life and relatively unspoilt territory, however, due to the recent territorial conflicts, it just wasn't the right timing. Plus, neither of us is that much interested in the touristy (by our standards) Morocco, Kenya, Egypt, or even South Africa. Also, many African countries will most likely stay under-developed for a while, so that gives us time to come back to that option in the near future. We also considered making a simpler trip and heading down to South America, but it just didn't feel like the winner. The more I did the research, the more I was drawn back to marine exploration in SE Asia. I love the ocean, by now it feels like it's become part of me and I've become part of it. It felt like I was missing an old friend, the images of our prior experiences kept haunting me. I was fully aware that we've probably seen and experienced the best of what there is to see in the ocean, but it also helped to have expectations kept in check and within reason. Among many other things, I did not expect to repeat our wild marine encounters in Belize - giving a kiss to a nurse shark and hugging a sting-ray; or playing in the Sea of Cortes with sea-lions and petting grey whales (like we did in Mexico), or swimming for hours with gentle giant whale-sharks and graceful manta-rays (like we did in Sangalaki Archipelaog, Indonesia)... Just to be back in the ocean and enjoy the island isolation sounded good enough for me. What about the trip's cultural component and great food? India always fulfills that purpose. It is a crazy, on the edge of being insane place, people and culture are fascinating, and the food - it's worth flying there just for that reason alone; plus the price tag makes India one of the best values for travel. Also adding Nepal was considered, but due to the visa restrictions in crossing the border between India and Nepal, we had to give it a pass (plus Nepal is a little too mellow for our taste anyway). Also, after some creative flight combination, I was able to secure a nearly free (tax charge only) for Rob (using both of our accumulated miles), which added another value bonus for us. As long as we could leave the flooded Bangkok (our stop-over point on the way to India), we should be in biz.
So, here it goes - we are going back for four plus months to South and South East Asia for the third time (we'll explore again India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia), and the trip would make it "two years in Asia" for us. In many ways, that part of the world is starting to feel like the second home by now...
(November 2011)
It was that time again to set off for another travel journey. As always, we reviewed all new and old options to match our criteria - destination has to be a good value, has to be exotic, has to have a stimulating cultural focus, has to have a variety, and my favourite three factors - has to have (in the very least) decent marine and/or wild life life, island surroundings, and tasty food. The first preference was Banda Islands (Indonesia), however, the season simply was out of the question - big seasonal storms and thus limited time to enjoy the marine world. The second option considered was a new for us continent - Africa. We keep thinking about getting off the tourist track in Africa and exploring still available wild life and relatively unspoilt territory, however, due to the recent territorial conflicts, it just wasn't the right timing. Plus, neither of us is that much interested in the touristy (by our standards) Morocco, Kenya, Egypt, or even South Africa. Also, many African countries will most likely stay under-developed for a while, so that gives us time to come back to that option in the near future. We also considered making a simpler trip and heading down to South America, but it just didn't feel like the winner. The more I did the research, the more I was drawn back to marine exploration in SE Asia. I love the ocean, by now it feels like it's become part of me and I've become part of it. It felt like I was missing an old friend, the images of our prior experiences kept haunting me. I was fully aware that we've probably seen and experienced the best of what there is to see in the ocean, but it also helped to have expectations kept in check and within reason. Among many other things, I did not expect to repeat our wild marine encounters in Belize - giving a kiss to a nurse shark and hugging a sting-ray; or playing in the Sea of Cortes with sea-lions and petting grey whales (like we did in Mexico), or swimming for hours with gentle giant whale-sharks and graceful manta-rays (like we did in Sangalaki Archipelaog, Indonesia)... Just to be back in the ocean and enjoy the island isolation sounded good enough for me. What about the trip's cultural component and great food? India always fulfills that purpose. It is a crazy, on the edge of being insane place, people and culture are fascinating, and the food - it's worth flying there just for that reason alone; plus the price tag makes India one of the best values for travel. Also adding Nepal was considered, but due to the visa restrictions in crossing the border between India and Nepal, we had to give it a pass (plus Nepal is a little too mellow for our taste anyway). Also, after some creative flight combination, I was able to secure a nearly free (tax charge only) for Rob (using both of our accumulated miles), which added another value bonus for us. As long as we could leave the flooded Bangkok (our stop-over point on the way to India), we should be in biz.
So, here it goes - we are going back for four plus months to South and South East Asia for the third time (we'll explore again India, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia), and the trip would make it "two years in Asia" for us. In many ways, that part of the world is starting to feel like the second home by now...
posted by Rob and Anna @ 12:50 PM
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