A Multi-Hop Start For Our Travel to SE Asia
We were excited as we started to plan our first travel to SE Asia. Our gateway in and out of Canada would be Vancouver. This would let us spend a little time in this city that is often our home away from home.
The first stop on our travel to SE Asia would be in Australia to visit David’s relatives. We would see a little of this very large country. Next we would catch up with our travelling son Nick in Bali. We would travel with Nick to Singapore and then on to Thailand. Our 2 weeks in Thailand would give us a small taste test but Nick would stay longer and travel further around Thailand.
Australia for 2 Weeks
Our trip to Australia started in Sydney. It looks just like the pictures! We started our adventure based in Darling Harbour at the ParkRoyal Hotel. This gave us our first taste of luxury but certainly not our last.
We had a great time visiting with relatives as they helped us see a little of this great water city.
We did day trips to see the beaches and headed into the Blue Mountains.
No trip to Australia for us would be complete without a stop to scuba and snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. We spent a few days in Cairns and whetted our appetite for more.
Taste Test SE Asia Starting in Bali
We were looking forward to Bali on our travel to SE Asia. It seems to be on everyone’s “must visit” list.
Our week in Bali was spent exploring from the great Intercontinental Bali resort in Jimbaran Bay.
Like many of the stops on our travel to SE Asia, some of the days we spent lazing at the resort and others were spent exploring. We went north to wander around Ubud waterfalls, temples and rice terraces. The beach area of Canggu offered great surfing beaches and the great water temple Tanah Lot. Heading south we found the Uluwatu temple high on the cliff and the playful monkeys wandering the site .
A Short Visit to Singapore
From Bali we headed to the next stop on our travel to SE Asia. Singapore for a few days let us see this modern, clean city. A Hop-On-Hop-Off tour gave us a great overview and allowed us to wander in a few parts of the city.
Singapore is a city that you must see by night. The night light show at the Gardens by the Bay is not to be missed!
Bangkok As Our Gateway In Thailand
Bangkok was our gateway in and out of Thailand on our travel to SE Asia. We spent a few days in this large industrialized city. With our executive club hotel booking, we had a great relaxing oasis as our base to explore.
The main focus for day trips was to see the beautiful and colourful temples of Bangkok!
A night tour on the river gave us another perspective.
Beach Fun in Thailand
From Bangkok we headed south to the beach area of Krabi. The beaches around Ao Nang can be a great relaxing break in your travel to SE Asia. The limestone cliffs in this area are stunning!
We were spoiled with a penthouse suite that offered everything we could want for our lazy days around the resort.
A few days in Phuket finished up our Thailand visit. We continued to enjoy the great Thai food, night markets and the beach fun.
The Long Route Home
Long haul flights for our travel to SE Asia were done in a pampered fashion with Cathay Pacific Business Class. Booking with Cathay Pacific got us routed through Hong Kong on both the inbound and outbound trips.
Passing through Hong Kong on our inbound trip to Sydney, we barely had time to see the airport. We ran to get from one end to the other on a late arrival.
On the route home, we got into Hong Kong early in the day. This provided us with a good view of this water city flying in.
We enjoyed having Cathay Pacific lounge access for our 5 hour stop. We even got to see two different lounges when we moved closer to our departure gate. The lounge amenities were so great that we weren’t even tempted to shop in the huge shopping complex that is the Hong Kong airport. You will find that airport shopping is a great things when you travel to SE Asia!
The final stop on our route home to Toronto was Vancouver. We had seen great aerial views flying around SE Asia. But there is nothing that compares to the great window seat views you get flying into Vancouver.
Our short stop in Vancouver let us get over the very long travel time from Bangkok. The Toronto flight seemed like an easy hop after some of our travel days during our travel to SE Asia.
Reflecting On Our SE Asia Travels
When we originally planned to travel to SE Asia, we had been thinking of a very long trip. This trip was planned quickly to join our son Nick. It was a great taste test of this region and we learned a lot.
Our SE Asia trip covered about 50,000 km (30,000 miles) in the 6 weeks we were gone! We travelled with 5 different airline carriers – which didn’t help with accumulating points. On public transit, we went by bus, ferry and train. Most taxis were cars but in many countries it was much more fun to use a tuk tuk.
Splurging a little on accommodations meant we enjoyed our time at the hotels. Great upgrades ensured this princess was pampered! Travelling business class with Cathay Pacific for the long haul flights started and ended our trip on just the right note!
We ate well and saw many beautiful places. But there is still so much to see! Travelling to SE Asia is something we had always wanted to do. This shorter visit to will help us when we start to plan a much longer SE Asia trip.
Was this a good start for travel to SE Asia? What would you add when planning our next trip to SE Asia?
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