My Top Southeast Asia Dream Destinations

Selamat pagi Malaysia! Sawadeeka Thailand! Chào Vietnam!

These are the three Southeast Asia countries I want to visit, and that’s how you say hello (roughly, and please correct me if I am wrong) in their language.

I wish I could go to every country in the Southeast Asia region as they’re very interesting. Backpacking in those landlocked countries – Cambodia, Vietnam, Thailand, Laos, among others would be an adventure of a lifetime. I have work buddies who have done that and I’m very much envious.

When I plan out a trip, I always check out Lonely Planet Books as they are very helpful in getting information as to when to go there, where’s the cheapest place to stay, what to do, and what to eat. But I guess backpacking in several countries would entail consulting different books for each country so I guess that is not practical. I could just go online and pull out a regional directory to find out more of the country and region I wish to visit. For backgrounders and a little know-how, consulting the CIA factbook or your ever reliable http://wikipedia.org would help a lot.

What I’m looking forward to in:

Vietnam – Ha Long, a city north of its capital, Hanoi, and almost near China already. This is where the picturesque Ha Long Bay, a UNESCO World Heritage site is located. I want to see the mini islands and the coves that surrounds it. It looks like a combination of our own Hundred Islands and Coron islands in Palawan.

Thailand – Beaches! As a lover of beaches, I really want to go to Phuket as it has a lot of great beaches, and it has surf spots for beginners like me!

Malaysia – Kota Kinabalu in Sabah, they say, has a similar culture to ours. This is so because there’s a lot of Filipinos there. I’m more interested in finding out how Filipinos live there than its tourism. They say there’s a Filipino market where you can buy Filipino stuff.