Three tips from three months in Southeast Asia
1. Don't over think / over plan
This is
something I am trying to instil into my everyday life and just, “let things be”,
which is harder than it sounds for the overactive anxious stress-head that I
am, however it is crucial when travelling. The months leading up to our
adventure were filled with excitement, day-dreaming, jabs, and ultra-obsessive
planning. What started as inquisitive research soon developed into a full-on day-by-day itinerary, including pre-booked tickets, visas, accommodations, and both
volunteer work and paid jobs.
2. Time it right
This may
seem obvious but give some real consideration to your timing. We didn't. We
knew where we wanted to go, and we knew we would go at the end of my school
year- job done in our eyes. After a 28-hour journey, including multiple stops,
arriving to rain ( a lot of rain) in Hanoi was very surprising. However, if we
had considered the time of year in said destination, we would not have been
surprised at all: it is their rainy season!
The rain
caused so much entertainment as we were in awe by the sheer velocity and how it
came down in brute force for anything between 10 minutes and an hour, then
vanished and bright skies shone again. However, this impacted more than just the
weather, due to the low season some places were not as busy and occasionally
prices were cheaper which were obviously unexpected bonuses. On the other hand,
our trip to Ha Long Bay was light-years away from what it would have been in
high season. This was a place we were looking forward to a lot, from recommendations
and research, but we were not able to see/ do any of the things we had hoped
for. Boats weren't running to the islands, lots of restaurants were closed, and
we seemed to be the only, if not in a group of very few, tourists and were
therefore not warmly welcomed. We were in Ha Long Bay during a Vietnamese
holiday in which Vietnamese people came from all over the country to celebrate,
some explained to us the tradition and how the country celebrated and were
happy to share it with us, but most seemed to feel that we were intruding and
even hurled abuse at us. I believe that in high season the locals are used to
tourists and it becomes the norm, but they didn't seem as welcoming when they
didn't expect us to be there.
This
pattern of highs and lows continued as we moved almost with the season across
the countries. In Cambodia, the beaches were hardly populated which we loved,
and we were told that in the following few weeks the prices would double (or
more), and the population would at least triple so we were delighted to avoid
that. In Thailand, we booked a free-diving excursion and were pleasantly
surprised that it was only ourselves and an elderly German couple on the entire
ship, minus the crew of 10! This meant the marine life was less disturbed and
we were able to explore freely at our own pace. Alternatively, fewer
cross-country buses were running and as they double up as the postal service,
one journey we took was scheduled to take 6 hours ending up taking 12
because there were so many extra stops.
All in
all, for us, the positives outweighed the negatives. We enjoyed the rain, and
it didn't last long or leave a lasting effect as the sun shone again each day
and we were able to get outside, whether it be in the rain or not. The humidity
before the rain was less desirable, but again didn't last long. We would
happily travel in this time again but if you are only away for a short amount
of time or are going for specific places/ attractions, or even for the weather
it may not be ideal. Thankfully, every country's tourist projections, weather
predictions, and anything and everything else are readily available at our
fingertips, so definitely give it some consideration before booking.
3. Say yes!
Third
and by all means most important- say yes! In normal life there are so many
reasons to say no, “No, I can't drink anymore tonight I have work tomorrow,” or
“No, I can't come I don't have enough money,” blah blah blah. Part of being
away is allowing yourself to do all the things you want to, even if
realistically they are still out of reach. Ev and I have always tried to let
ourselves have/do whatever we want whilst we are away, whether that be for a
weekend or a month. However, it often results in us returning home without a
penny, but we have a lot of memories to show for this temporary way of living.
Whilst
in Southeast Asia some of our out of reach “yeses” enabled us to attend a
sunrise rave on a deserted part of a tiny Cambodian island, to snorkel in stunning reefs off the east coast of Thailand,
and adventure through jungle terrain, in which we saw wild monkeys and snakes,
to find a beautiful beach not much bigger than our lounge that we shared with
no one but each other. I could go on, but these happy memories are making me
long for more, and as I am sitting in a very cold English winter, with covid, that feels very out of
reach.
As with
most lessons the event that taught us this most clearly was when we did the
opposite. When I regrettably said no. Watching the Rugby World Cup on the Cambodian island, Koh Rong
Sanloem, we met an English Scuba Diver Instructor who had been living and
teaching there for a few years. He told us about the incredible marine
diversity around the coast of the island and further out to sea. He said that
for Ev's refresher course and my entire PADI it would cost us around $450. That
is one of the cheapest prices globally. Our PADIs were something we discussed
on almost a daily basis at this point, so we were beyond keen. But after a
check of the bank, and realising we were only 6 weeks into a supposed 7-month
trip, with heavy hearts we declined. To this day I regret that. Yes, we
couldn't afford it, but we still spent all of our money and we still had to
return early. Yes, it would have impacted the future of the trip and subsequent
choices, but we would have known no different. At least we learnt a valuable
lesson.
Just say
yes, as it's not often that you can.
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