Any guesses?
I can tell you these curly blond blue-eyed little dudes are going to get a lot of attention there.
Late November and early December we are indeed going to (drum roll please) SE Asia. We worked it all out with some great help from well-travelled friends here and comments on the blog. Here, without further ado, is our itinerary:Thailand: Chiang Mai, Kanchanaburi (River Kwai), and Bangkok (10 days)
and after that we board a flight to Singapore (3 days) where we'll spend Thanksgiving.
To round it out, a cruise (1week) that will take us up and down the coast in the Straits of Malacca and Andaman Sea on the Malaysia and Thailand side (Indonesia being on the other). Ports will include Kuala Lampur and Phuket Island. We will in all likelihood be the only Americans onboard.
Once again we braved setting it up ourselves from a starting point of, well, close enough to total ignorance. Good luck getting your travel agent in Kuwait to call you back during Ramadan or Eid.
Now we are starting to prep ourselves on a whole new set of manners (never touch someone's head, for instance, or raise your voice?! Are we going to have issues on that second one or what?) train schedules (the Orient Express doen't run that time of year, much to our disappointment) and start learning a little about the language, history, animals, dangers, money, sights and religions and...well, yeah.
Yes, the heat and sand may have driven us a little over the edge lately, but how excited are we to go on this trip, I ask you?
And now that you know where we're going, the big picture, anyone want to fill me in on details or great ideas as to what to do (or NOT do!) once we're there?
10 comments:
We may be heading to Singapore over Thanksgiving as well. :)
We did Thailand last February - though only in Phuket. Wish we did Bangkok - and thought about Chiang Mai. Though we did our hotel on Hilton points - thus determining where we could go!
Wow! I'm going to be of absolutely no help to you but have fun! I'll be waiting for the trip reports!
Some of my favourite places right in our neck of the woods!! I love Chiang Mai (its on my I could live here list) as is KL and Singapore? its our home away from home really. Oh and dont worry about the raising voices thing the locals (in all the countries mentioned) screech and fight in very public places oh and your kids will probably have THEIR heads patted and rubbed by people in Malaysia and Thailand a lot like my little niece and nephew have just experienced due to their 'white' skin and blonde hair.
Fantastic trip! I'm so jealous. Aren't the straits of Malacca famous for pirates? Just asking?
Hey Jill and Tanya! If I run into you while we're there make sure to say hello! I'd love to meet you ladies. :)
Thanks for the cultural insights...and the reassurance that we chose well.
As for pirates, well, OK, yeah, but as long as they don't mistake the cruise ship for a French Naval Vessel, er I mean a commercial shipping comapany, we should be just peachy. :) The alternative, of course, is this great story: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,518343,00.html
I absolutely love your spirit of adventure! I'm looking forward to reading all about your experiences...
Wohoo!!! I am JEALOUS!!
You are heading to my home turf!!! In my opinion, Chiang Mai is the best part of Thailand. We so need to get together soon, i.e. this week! I indeed have many insights on my native culture and I think you know that we've lived in Singapore for a bit as well. I'll bring you a book to check out :)
Yes, there are pirates and Thai pirates are BAD people! But don't worry, they don't often attack tourists and usually prefer cargo or something like that ... crazy world we live in ...
Thought Id add a couple of the websites I know about that might give you some ideas on what to do on the Little Red Dot aka Singapore.
http://www.singaporeforkids.com/things_see_do.php
http://www.travelforkids.com/Funtodo/Singapore/singapore.htm
http://millysmix.blogspot.com/
Remember to use the MRT (train) its cheap, easy to use and pretty extensive and eat at Hawker centres-yum!! oh and if you go to the botanical gardens, the science centre or Vivocity (a huge mall at the end of the purple line before the gondola to sentosa) take the kids togs (thats Kiwi for swimming outfits) - can you tell Im jealous too?
I'd love to meet you too but no immediate plans to go to Singapore although we are looking at Shanghai in a couple of weeks.
We did a month in CM and a stopover in Singapore last year and loved them both. In chiang mai elephant nature park is a good and responsible elephant day out, the night safari is ok, the queen sikrit gardens in the mountains past doi sutep are great. Walking street is busy but excellent market. Wat u mong is a really atmospheric and green forest wat a a few minutes out of town.
Check out nimanhemin road near CME for cool coffee shops shops etc.
In singapore the zoo is outstanding though you need a full day, Newton Circus Hawker Centre was very good too. Botanics there also very nice for a picnic if you want as much outdoor time as possible.
enjoying the blog have a good trip
david
we took the orient express from paris to instanbul. it was set up here in the states by the agent who handled all the employee travel. (we were on our way to iran.) everything was great except for 2 things. 1- turns out you *did* need a visa or some other permission to be in that country - for each country - we travelled through, even though there was no plan to disembark the train. and 2- no food car eastbound! the 1st meal mom or dad (1 stayed in the cabin w/me) walked up and down the length of hte train a few times looking for that club car. then after much charades and pictionary with the car steward we learned that car was attached once we were in istanbul! oh the hilarity of 3 days with very brief stops trying to get food...
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