A Street cafe breakfast of omelettes and rice | Chiang Mai | Northern Thailand
This post is part of the blog series ‘90 Days in South East Asia’
A quick update:
Hope you’re enjoying the blog series, we’ve had an amazing time so far.
One advantage of backpacking, even if it’s just for 90 days, is that you can replan your route as you go.
The downside is that you have factors like budget, local airline hubs, how to avoid bum-numbing 20 hour bus journeys, typhoons, visas and other issues.
After Delhi, Assam, Kalimpong, Bangkok and Chiang Mai, our original plan was to go to fly to Myanmar but we’ve had a bit of a rethink …
To go from north Thailand to Mandalay in Myanmar (our Myanmar visas only allow us a named entry point which we chose as Mandalay), you have to fly via Bangkok as it’s the regional hub but it seems a bit onerous to fly south to go north again; Mandalay, in central Myanmar, looked so close to Chiang Mai on a map, but maps don’t tell the whole story.
So we’ve re-thought our route around south east Asia; Luang Prabang in Laos is a short plane ride from north Thailand and so our plan is now to go to Laos, then Vietnam (and then back to Bangkok and on to Myanmar … and if time permits, Malaysia and Indonesia).
Laos and Vietnam are both quite north/south aligned countries so we still need to work out which one to go up and which one to go down.
These are nice problems to have though aren’t they?
Mind you it’s not just the sizes and shapes of the counties we’re going to have to factor for the rest of our tour. There are other considerations like flight prices, the typhoon season and all kinds of festivals such as Tet in Vietnam, Visakha, Bucha on the first day of the waxing moon in May and then Ramadan too.
And when exactly do the rains start? Not that that should bother us. We’re from England and these are nice quandaries to have.
This post was first published on http://www.heyloons.com and is part of the blog series ‘90 Days in South East Asia’.
All the links to blog posts in the series are as follows:
1) I’m backpacking around Southeast Asia for 90 days
2) Packing for backpacking: 16 useful things to take on your travels
3) How to sleep on a flight (aches on a plane)
5) A storm in an Assamese teacup
6) On the lazy man’s road: the story of Dhodar Ali
7) Digboi, the oil town in the rainforest
8) To Sivasagar: home of the Assamese kings
9) Things to see in Majuli, the world’s largest river island
10) An unexpected treat on the river Brahmaputra
11) Helpful hints on how to climb a 17 foot elephant on your wedding day
13) The Assamese Bihu: a time of unbridled joy
14) A tale of a dry day in India
15) Kalimpong and a magical Himalayan wedding
16) Chiang Mai, a pretty little temple town
17) Replanning our route, re-routing our plan
18) Luang Prabang in Laos: the jewel on the Mekong River
19) A slow and unintended minibus to Vang Vieng
20) In the laid-back city of Vientiane
21) Laos: Caves, a jungle trek and the mysterious turquoise lake
22) On our way down south in Laos
24) Friday night at the Saigon Opera House
26) Vietnam days: Hoi An, Hue and Hanoi
27) Landing in the sea at Halong Bay, Vietnam
29) Bagan, the jewel of Myanmar
30) Three nights on Lake Inle in Myanmar
31) Finding a perfect perfume in Singapore
32) In Borneo, watching the orangutans at play
33) Watching turtles at Selingan Island
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Hey Loons 
Really enjoying your blog series Loona! I hope the weather holds up!
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