Southeast Asia in a Nutshell

The senior woman in a small community along the Mekong River in Laos

This post is very long, but during our time in Southeast Asia we recorded a lot of our thoughts and wanted to capture them in one general "In a Nutshell" post.  The first bit is about Southeast Asia in general.  After the jump we divide it out by country.

Sara and David's Top Picks (they turned out to be the same):
Luang Prabang, Laos
Hoi An, Vietnam
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Slow Boat in Laos

In general:  We loved Southeast Asia!  Great people, beautiful countries, and fabulous food!  Very easy to get around.  English was spoken almost everywhere, even in coutnries where we expected that we might have trouble.  There is virtually no language barrier.

Food: Fantastic!  Taking cooking classes was an excellent way to learn more about the food, the Hoi An Foodie Tour was great, and our home dinners were really memorable.  Eating the local food was absolutely the way to go for us and truly turned out to be one of the highlights of our visit!  We had no stomach problems even though we ate plenty of clean-looking street food in addition to hawker stalls and restaurants.  Trip Advisor often pointed us in the right direction of great places to eat.

Money:  For the most part things were very inexpensive.  However, we were reminded by a tour guide that the restaurants are created for tourists (especially in some of the smaller areas) and so it isn't always as cheap as you might expect.  But, in our opinion, still a great deal.  Especially after New Zealand and Australia!

People: The people were great in Southeast Asia - friendly, helpful, and very welcoming for the most part.

Accommodation:  We stayed mainly at hotels in Southeast Asia.  The majority of these were booked through G Adventures and were comfortable, clean, and well-located, which is how we judge a good hotel.  There seem to be places thrughout Souteast Asia to fit any budget and any preference.  From hostels to homestays to five-star hotels (except in the small towns).  Something for everyone!    

Shopping/Bargaining: There is great shopping to be done and good deals to be had.  In most places bargaining is acceptable and even expected, especially in local markets.  We purchased very few things that we didn't bargain for.  The haggling became a bit of a game sometimes and we just had fun with it!

Internet: Everywhere and fast enough for chats on Skype (which is important for us)!  We had wi-fi in our hotels in most places we stayed, but anywhere that we didn't have internet we could find it very close by.

Laundry:  Very easy to get done for a reasonable price.   Often offered at the places we stayed, but we typically tried to find a shop close by, which was usually half the price.  Either way, for a bag full of clothes it was usually only $3 or $4.

G Adventures/Group Tours:  There were really good things about taking a group tour in Southeast Asia and other things that weren't as good.  The good outweighed the bad, so we'd definitely do it again.  We saw so many things without having to do all of the planning, which would have been very difficult  and time-consuming while traveling in other countries.  We also traveled with fun and interesting people and made friends that we hope to stay in touch with in the future.  The downside of the group tour that we were less able to get lost, explore, and just discover things on our own.  That is a highlight of travel in our eyes, so we certainly missed that for the month.

Flying in Asia

A view of Calcutta from the plane

Flying in Asia has been unexpectedly wonderful!  So far we have taken 13 flights in Asia.  Not a single one has been delayed more than ten minutes.  Most leave and arrive early.  Many of the airports have been beautiful - Singapore, Bangkok, and Delhi in particular.  Other than having to work hard to make our way off the plane amidst some aggressive jostling by other passengers, it has been a really pleasant experience.

Last week flying from Sri Lanka to Guwahati airport in Assam, India we had a pretty exceptional experience.  We had booked what we feared was an impossible connection (but it was the only way to get from Sri Lanka to Guwahati in one day).

Flight 1: Sri Lanka to Chennai, India (departing at 3:50 a.m.) - 1 hour, 25 minute layover
   - No problem, even needing to clear customs, retrieve our bags, and recheck them.

Flight 2: Chennai to Calcutta- 25 minute layover
   - We expected that we wouldn't even make this connection and definitely not our bags, so we packed our carry-ons with everything we would need for the weekend. To our surprise, when we landed in Calcutta and stepped onto the jetway we were met by a bus and taken directly to the Guwahati flight.  But what about our bags?  They had us stand beside the plane for a minute or two until a tractor arrived with our connecting bags.  We identified our bags and then hopped on the plane.  Amazing!!! 

Flight 3 - Calcutta to Guwahati: We landed a few minutes early!

Sara identifying our bags at Calcutta International Airport

Celebrating three months in Penang

March 29 marked the end of our third month on the road.  We spent the day exploring a little more of the island outside of Georgetown.  Our first stop was a tropical fruit farm.  We researched and knew to take the 101 bus to the end of the line where we would catch the 501 bus to the fruit farm.  What we didn't know was that the 501 bus only ran once every two hours.  When we reached the end of the 101 line, we learned that we had missed the 501 by about ten minutes.  No problem!  Ani came to our rescue and and offered to drive us around the island for the rest of the afternoon.  At the fruit farm we gorged ourselves on fruits along with about a dozen Saudi tourists who were there with us.  Afterwards we visited Penang Hill where we rode a cable car to the top for magnificent views over the whole island. It was a great way to spend our final day in Penang!

Sara enjoying the fruit buffet at a fruit farm in Penang

Our tour group at the fruit farm

The view from the top of Penang Hill

Trishaw Tour of Penang

We took a great trishaw (think rickshaw) tour of George Town.  Riding the local mode of transportation (e.g., tuk-tuk, songthaew, or cyclo) has proven to be an excellent and fun way to get around the cities we have visited in Southeast Asia. 

George Town is a really lovely city with a lot of British influence still very evident.  Here's a bit of what we saw!

Jalan Sehala

Fort Cornwallis

Penang's Town Hall

Central Market

Haircut!

Showing off my layers after a haircut from David

Tonight I had my first haircut of the trip - from David!  Yes, the same David I married.  Katie is this bringing back bad memories??

Typically, when I get the urge for a haircut I do everything I can to make an appointment within the next 24 hours because I feel like I can't stand my current hair any longer than that - silly, I know!  Unfortunately, my stylist from home is more than a 24 hour plane trip away and I have heard horror stories about haircuts in foreign cities.  So, David was next best.   For his first time, I think he did well.  He may just have himself a new job on the trip!

~Sara

St. George's Church

This is St. George's Church, famous as the location where Queen Elizabeth II was married to Prince Philip about 60 years ago.

St. George's Church, Penang

And if you actually believed that, you're in good company.  Sara did too when I made it up.  Actually, it is a beautiful Anglican church built in 1818, making it the oldest in Southeast Asia.

-David

The Blue Mansion

Cheong Fatt Tze Mansion

The so-called "Rockefeller" of Southeast Asia, Cheong Fatt Tze built this mansion in Georgetown, Penang in the late 1800s.  It is gorgeous inside and out, and the blue color might be my new favorite.  The mansion fell into disrepair in the 1930s, but it has been renovated recently and now even serves as a B&B.  A bit out of our price range for this trip, but definitely a perfect place to stay if we ever come back!

Getting back into the swing of things...

After a week "off" we were expecting that we would feel refreshed and ready for more.  And we do, but it is taking a bit longer than we expected to get back into the swing of traveling, packing, and moving quickly.  Today in Penang, I think we are finally back into the swing of things.

Jalan Alor - Take 2

The carnage after our second meal on Jalon Alor

We should have stopped while we were ahead.  After a great meal on Jalan Alor on our first night in Kuala Lumpur, we decided to go back for more.  But we decided that we should try a different restaurant.  Mistake!  The chicken was mostly bones, and the prawns were mostly heads and tails.  I have never worked so hard for so little food.  It did taste pretty good though.

-David

Scenes from Kuala Lumpur

We loved Kuala Lumpur and the only thing we would have changed about our visit is to have a bit more time!  A bustling and beautiful city that is much larger and more developed than either of us expected.  Not quite a Singapore, but you can tell they are hoping for that.  It reminded us a lot of Saigon, too.

From left to right:
Picture 1: The Malaysian flag flying in Merdeka Square (i.e., Independence Square).
Picture 2: Petaling Street - the entrance to Chinatown.
Picture 3: Outside a KL gallery.
Picture 4: David in front of the brand new National Palace.
Picture 5: Sultan Abdul Samad Building on Merdeka Square
Picture 6: The KL Botanic Gardens.
Picture 7: A view of the skyline from just outside our hotel.
Picture 8: The ceiling of the Islamic Arts Museum.
Picture 9: A view of the city from the KL Tower.

Stuffed

Jalon Alor St. in Kuala Lumpur

We were only in Kuala Lumpur for about two hours before we found ourselves on Jalan Alor -- a fun pedestrian street chock-full of restaurants and hawker stalls.  We stuffed ourselves on seven dishes including frog legs . . . I guess we were feeling a little adventurous!  The verdict on the frog: between chicken and fish, and very bony.  Afterwards we washed it all down with big milkshakes.  Malaysia is off to a good start!

-David

Hello, Kuala Lumpur

The Petronas Towers