Yeah! Hawaii then Asia... :-)

I finally booked my ticket to Hawaii. Reserved for the conference there and also asked for time off from work. I'll be there in April. The time off from work is actually going under educational leave, but it's an excuse for me to visit Hawaii. I am hoping that Jessica and I will be able to finalize our very "slow planning for asia" during this trip. Of course, we will have a lot of fun when I'm there too. Sheen is also coming. It's looking good!

TickTock

I'm begnning to worry that 3 weeks aren't going to be enough time for all that Thao and I want to do. What should we cut out or minimize? I'm starting to think that Thailand (sorry Korsin) may have to pay. Maybe if someone can finance our trip and get us all the time off we want (and keep our jobs happy) we won't have to sacrifice anything . Any takers?

Vietnam

Sad to say that even though I'm Vietnamese I don't know it so well. Being from South Vietnam, North and Central Vietnam are very mysterious to me. So today, I was reading a NY Times article online - "53 places to Go in 2008," Vietnam is including in the list. So I ended up reading more about it. Here is what I came up with

HANOI - must see Lake Hoan Kiem just before before sunrise, Old Quarter, massages at the Shiseido Qui Spa, to stay: De Syloia or Metropole

HOI AN - New Space Gallery

Ha Long Bay

HUE - Forbidden City, La Residence

SAIGON - Panorama, the markets, temples

We'll have to narrow the list down more but I will need to ask my friends in Vietnam.

With so many places to see, I'm afraid that we might have to run the entire trip.

Newest stuff...

So neither Thao nor I have written anything in the last few weeks and the blog is looking a little thin. I haven't done anything on our trip plan except I went to Chinatown last week and went into a travel agent's office. I even got his card. I know, you're impressed now. How about you Thao, how's your planning going?

Speaking of Thao, we just found out that our other friend, Sheen will also be visiting Hawaii in April. It'll be like a Brown reunion.

Woo Hoo

Thao will be coming to Oahu in April! We'll be able to plan this trip together (in person). Okay, this posting is just an excuse to say how excited I am that Thao is coming to visit! Yea!

Thailand ideas

I spoke with my friend and fellow fellow Korsin (who is from Thailand) about places to see and a possible itinerary.
He suggests:
1-2 days in Bangkok - recommends staying near the train station (which is the center for citywide travel), seeing the Wat Phra Kaew (The Temple of the Emerald Buddha) - thinks the wikitravel itinerary for Bangkok is "not good"
Water market (about 1 hour drive from Bangkok)
A bus trip to Ayuttaya
Fly from Bangkok to Phuket
Stay in Phuket for a few days
Take a bus trip Krabi Providence
then take boat trip to Phi Phi island
He says not to go further south than Krabi for safety reasons
He says we should be overpriced for tours, buses, hotels, tuktuks, and souvenirs.
He thinks the cabs and food shouldn't be overpriced. He also suggests to take only metered taxis.
He also suggests flying the local airline NokAir (http://www.nokair.com/) for cheaper flights
Okay, now we have some good Thailand suggestions.

A Decision

We've made our first decision. Thao will be traveling to Hawaii and then we're going to start our trip together from here. I'm planning on going to a travel agent in Chinatown to make all of our reservations. If anyone has any suggestions on a good travel agent in Chinatown (in Honolulu) or a travel agent anywhere else who specializes in Asia travel, please let us know.

Belated First Post

I am also very excited about this trip, I never traveled "around the world" with friends before. It took a lot of efforts and dreams to reach this planning stage. I am glad to be traveling with Jessica, her bubbly personality and genuine enthusiasm will make this trip more fun. I am glad Jessica is thinking about more practical stuffs, like renting a cell phone. As for me, I recently had a perm, I am still not use to it and wishing that this trip would come sooner so that I can go to a Japanese hair salon and get my perm straightened. :-)

Keeping in touch

So, I've given up on Thao writing the second entry. I guess it's my turn again. :)

In my research for traveling to Asia, I found a company who rents cell phones which will work all over Asia (except Japan - you need a special phone for that). I'll probably end up renting a cell phone when we go so that I can keep up my incessant need to blab (all text messages are $0.75 and incoming calls are free).

First Entry

Welcome! I'm excited to be beginning this blog because other getting time off for vacation this is the first step to this trip! I hope that everyone will visit regularly as the adventure comes together and will stop by even more often when we're in Asia. My hope is that blog will be an up to date portal into this trip.

What we know right now is that we're going to be going to Asia in July 2008 and will be visiting 4 countries, Japan, China, Thailand, and Vietnam. Maybe this is where I should also ask for corporate (or private) sponsorship to help finance (okay, just kidding).

-Jessica