And We're Off...

On Saturday we head off on the first leg of our trip around Southeast Asia. We start by flying into the capital of Vietnam, Hanoi. I didn't know much about Hanoi prior to about a month ago, but I'm looking forward to seeing the sites there. We're only there for a couple of days before we head down the coast to Hue and Hoi An, but I think it will be a good starting point.

Hue and Hoi An are the places I think both Meg and I are looking forward to the most in Vietnam. They are around the middle of the country (Hue is fairly close to the where the Vietnamese DMZ was) and known for being beautiful and relaxing. Hue was the briefly the capital and they brought in Chinese architects to build an imitation of Beijing's Forbidden City for their government offices (on a smaller scale). Unfortunately, parts of it were heavily damaged by American bombs during the war. Though from the photos I've seen I think it will be a pretty impressive site to see still. I actually think the damage adds a bit of character that would be lacking if it was simply a small scale replica of the Forbidden City.

Hoi An was an important trading port for a number of centuries and today the ancient city has been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I think we'll spend our days there just wandering around trying to take in the atmosphere. From Ho An we'll likely make a day trip (on my 30th birthday) to My Son. My Son is an ancient Hindu Temple complex constructed by the Champas likely around the 4th to 6th century. Like Hue, it came under heavy bombing by the Americans and apparently you can see numerous bullet holes in the walls of the ruins. It's been compared to a smaller scale Angkor Wat (which seems a little generous to me - we'll see what I think we I get there). It is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We're only in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) for a day. I'm a little sad we don't have more time to spend there. Though after looking at all the options we had and the places we wanted to visit, Ho Chi Minh just didn't stack up. We probably would have cut it off our itinerary entirely if it wasn't the best (and cheapest) place to fly to Siem Reap (Angkor Wat) from. I'm not sure if we'll spend the day in the city centre or try and visit the popular tunnels left over from the Vietnam war in the surrounding country. While the tunnels look fascinating, I think I'd be tempted to crawl through them and from what I've read this is not a pleasant experience (they are incredibly tiny and dark). I also suspect we might have had our fill of war sites by this time. We'll see.

On the 5th of January we'll arrive in Siem Reap and after a good night's sleep we'll spend 4 full days touring the Angkor Wat complex. As you might be able to tell from the length of time we've devoted to seeing it, Angkor is what this trip has been built around. It is easily the place I'm most interested in seeing in all of Asia (and probably the world). I've been trying to read as much about it as I can in preparation, but it is simply too massive to get my head around. I'm not even sure 4 days will be enough to see it all. I won't say much more about it here since I'll probably post about it in length (with photos) when we get back. Meg's excited that we'll be staying in the hotel that runs the Red Piano Restaurant and our stay comes with free breakfasts there every day. The Red Piano is the restaurant that Angelina Jolie frequented while filming Tomb Raider 2 (which was filmed in parts of Angkor Wat). Apparently there's even an Angelina Jolie cocktail on the menu.

From Angkor we'll make our way (on the ground) to Thailand and into Bangkok. I suspect we'll be pretty tired after the 8-10 hour bus/taxi trip, but having only a couple of days before we fly back to Korea will likely inspire us to rush in as many of the sites of Bangkok as we can. Luckily, I've spent a number of days there already and remember a decent amount of the city. I also remember that most of the places (the Grand Palace, the Temple of the Dawn & the world's largest reclining Buddha) are all within walking distance of one another.

And so that's our trip (in not much of a nutshell). If we have time we'll try and post some photos and thoughts as we progress. We hope you all have a Happy New Year.