Eight Months Across Southeast Asia
The actual route, in the actual order, with the stops that were too long and the ones that were too short.
- Stops34
- Nights accounted for149
Eight countries and thirty-four stops, from landing jet-lagged in Bangkok to the last two nights back in the same Bali hotel eight months later. This is the route as we walked it, not a route we'd design for you.
Thailand
Bangkok
8 nightsJet lag, temples in the early morning before the heat settled in, and street food markets. Eight days felt like both too long and not nearly enough.
Chiang Mai
26 nightsOur longest stop in Thailand, partly the city and partly timing — we were there for Yi Peng and Loi Krathong. Thousands of lanterns lifting into a dark sky.
Pai
7 nightsA week up in the hills north of Chiang Mai.
Chiang Rai & Chiang Khong
The last stop before the Laos border and the slow boat.
Laos
The slow boat & Pakbeng
Two days down the Mekong on the boat the locals use, and a night in Pakbeng that turned into two. The day that came out of it is the one we think about most.
Luang Prabang
12 nightsTwelve days, and honestly a few too many. We were getting over a cold and waiting on a visa, and those two things turned a stop into a stay.
Vietnam
Hanoi
5 nightsBun cha, pho, egg coffee, and Hoan Kiem Lake in the early morning. Five days getting our bearings.
The Ha Giang Loop
Four days on rented motorbikes near the Chinese border. The highlight of the whole trip. We got lost twice and didn't mind.
Ha Long Bay
Where Jesse got sick and we ended up in a hospital a few weeks into the country. It turned out to be the best medical care either of us has ever had, and it cost fifty dollars.
Ninh Binh
5 nightsLimestone karsts and Jesse's birthday.
Hoi An
We were there for TET.
Nha Trang
4 nightsDa Lat
5 nightsA day out in the mountains with the waterfalls.
Ho Chi Minh City
7 nightsThe Mekong Delta
3 nightsThomas drove us around for hours and ended the day feeding us pineapple on the roof of his wife's boat.
Phu Quoc
3 nightsAn island in the Gulf of Thailand near the Cambodian border. We'd planned on three slow days and ended up busier than that.
Cambodia
Sihanoukville & Koh Rong
We found a hotel we'd never have found if we hadn't turned around, and extended two more nights purely because of it.
Thailand
Bangkok, again
7 nightsA week back in Bangkok to have suits made — something we'd been planning since Chiang Mai.
Phuket
5 nightsBigger than its reputation. Quieter beaches and better food than we were told to expect.
Krabi
4 nightsLimestone cliffs into green water, longtail boats at sunrise, and the beach at Railay you can only reach by sea. We were sad to leave.
Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur
4 nightsCosmopolitan and food-obsessed. A dozen culinary traditions without trying very hard.
Penang (George Town)
3 nightsMaybe our favourite city in Malaysia. Char kway teow, asam laksa, cendol, and a wish for more time.
Kuala Lumpur, again
2 nights
Singapore
Singapore
2 nightsNot enough time for Singapore, frankly. Enough to eat at hawker centres and walk the colonial district.
The Philippines
Manila
4 nightsBohol
3 nightsThe Chocolate Hills, and tarsiers clinging to branches in the dark with their enormous eyes.
Cebu
4 nightsCanyoneering at Kawasan Falls — cliff jumps into turquoise water. One of the most purely fun things we did in eight months.
Puerto Princesa & Port Barton
The Underground River, then the long road north to Port Barton: four days in a village so small it barely registers on most maps.
El Nido
3 nightsLagoons, limestone karsts, water that really is that colour. Then we got on a four-day boat.
Indonesia
Bali
6 nightsScooters around the island in an afternoon, surfers watched from a cliff, and a warung we ate at so often the woman running it knew our order.
Senggigi, Lombok
11 nightsOur longest stop in Indonesia. Lombok sits in Bali's shadow but has its own complete identity.
Flores & Komodo
Two nights in Flores, then three days through the islands: the dragons, Pink Beach, and Padar Island at sunrise.
Gili Air
4 nightsBali, to finish
2 nightsThe same hotel we'd stayed in on our first night, eight months earlier. We hadn't planned that. It landed harder than we expected.