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Traveling solo for a month in april
03-14-2013, 08:34 AM
As the title says. I plan on going solo for a month in april, which is in a little over 2 weeks time.
I have a few ideas, as to what I want to do, but thought this may be the absolute best place, to get alternatives or even more ideas, on what to do.
I thought about seeing Myanmar/Burma, which is rather high on my list at the moment.
Thought about going through Vietnam, from north to south as another alternative - doing both seems a little cramped in a month?
South America is also a place I want to explore in the future, but I have no good pointers on where to start and/or go from there.
Not looking for a total party-trip or anything, would of course do it if I crossed some good spots on the way, but my main focus is just exploring, trying to travel alone etc.
All recommendations and ideas are highly appreciated!
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Traveling solo for a month in april
03-14-2013, 09:16 AM
I'm amazed to hear of anyone describing Burma as boring. From a cultural perspective, I thought it was awesome and even captured my Australian flag there in spite of very quiet nightlife. Highlights were Bagan, Inle Lake and doing a hill tribe trek. I found the locals very friendly - especially so relative to Vietnam. The country is in transition so now seems like a good time to visit before it becomes too commercialized. That said, I also liked Cambodia quite a bit as well. I found it a bit grittier, but it a good way, and there's definitely are more nightlife options than in Myanmar. Escaping the tourist scene of Siem Riep unlocks a completely different scene. If you go there, I strongly endorse Herb's Happy Pizza. Great pizza, great toppings.
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Traveling solo for a month in april
03-14-2013, 12:49 PM
I went to Burma 11 years ago. Nobody was going at that time. I went via Bangkok and spent two weeks between Yangon, Bagan, the hill tribe trek, and Inle Lake. That was roughly a diamond shape and I traveled between on a combination of planes and buses. All of those places were fantastic, though I did get bitten by leeches on the trek. My novelty factor as a blond, blue-eyed white man was huge and I was frequently asked to have my picture taken with locals.
Dos: The opportunity for local interaction is very high. I bought a five dollar painting from a temple in Bagan and was invited to a home cooked dinner by the artist. Nobody speaks much English, however, the hospitality is off the hook.
The few expat girls that were there were eager to meet someone a bit smoother than a scruffy backpacker.
Don't: The obvious stuff travelling in a conservative, third-world country with a repressive political regime. Mandalay sounded skippable and is far from everything else.
I was in Southeast Asia for two months on that trip and bounced around a lot. If I were to do it all over again in a month, I would spend 2.5ish weeks in Myanmar and the balance in Cambodia. The relative wildness of Cambodia would be a nice counterbalance to the conservative (though still friendly) culture in Myanmar.
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Traveling solo for a month in april
03-14-2013, 09:22 PM
There's obviously tons of stuff on the board about Thailand, but I found Thaifriendly to be the easiest online game ever. I can't endorse it enough and the fact it's free too is just icing on the cake. Good luck - should be a great trip.