 |
| 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.
Then we came back and decided that instead of going to our favorite Thai restaurant on the beach our last night in Thailand we would go out for Mexican. An odd decision, which hit the spot! 
The first time the man selling sky lanterns walked by, I made a mistake. I showed some interest and walked up to ask him the price. Once I showed interest, he knew he had as good as made the sale.
