This is the start of the Trip Report So Long Mongolia, Hello SE Asia (December-January 2015) which covers:
- Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
- Bangkok, Thailand
- Chiang Rai, Thailand
- Yangon, Myanmar
- Ngwe Saung, Myanmar
- Mandalay, Myanmar
- Bagan, Myanmar
- Hong Kong
- Orlando, Florida
Pack your bags, get ready to ship out on an a-live adventure (the real-time play-by-play of my global gallivants done via my trusty Blackberry) of which you are unprepared. Even I have no idea what this year’s trek through the Banana Pancake Trail has in store. I have been in SE Asia during the holidays in 2009 as Part II of My MBA in Travel and Tourism (said tongue-in-cheek), in December of 2012 when Points Changed My Life, and last year as part of The $77,000 Trip Heard Round the World. That is why the title of this Trip Report is not cleverly called The Tradition of Spending the Holidays in SE Asia.
All I know is that I leave Mongolia on Monday for Bangkok, Thailand, perhaps drop in for a quick night or two at the best Aloft in the world while I process my visa from the Myanmar Embassy which will undoubtedly give me problems as visas have here, here, and here. From there it’s all aboard a local overnight train to Chiang Mai for a different side of Thailand that I have yet to experience.
After that, I’ll hopefully cross the border by bus to Burma to see cities, places, and people that I’ve only heard about from reading the J Peterman catalogue.
The only certainty on this trip is my booked flight out of Myanmar to Kuala Lumpur on the 31st of December- certainty as to the fact that it is booked not as to whether I will take it.
I’m not sure where I’ll be spending New Years but the international tradition is very much alive and well and my Country Count will go up to 72. These are good things.
Also, I have to add, all of this was decided today.
Till then, I’m working on my Burmese:
Where is the toilet? ? (ein thar ka bal mhar lal)
Onto The Overview: Thailand, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Disney, Home==>
Awesome. I am doing the same thing in Jan but starting in Hanoi and going south.
Vietnam is the best!
are you a spy or on some secret ops mission? seems like you are going to places with a lot of political instability?
Hmm how would a spy answer that?