Documenting SE Asia

I am going to do a series of blogs (that will include my photos and may include vlogs) on our 6 month excursion to SE Asia.  I can't precisely say how this will go because we are flexible by nature.  We tend to plan in detail and then deviate from the plan or change the plan often.  However, we do know this with certainty.  We are going to take a train from Brest, Belarus to Vilnius, Lithuania.  From there, after staying one night, we will fly from Vilnius to Bangkok, Thailand with a 2 hour layover in Moscow.  We will spend about 28 hours there and then fly from Bangkok to Danang, Vietnam and take a taxi to Hoi An, where we have reserved a B&B, Galaxy Homestay for 30 days.  Then, we'll see.



This is the photo of the room that we booked.  When we get there, I will post a photo of the actual room and our impressions.  The room cost $370 for the month, but we bought two breakfasts for $2.00 each per day.

In the planning phase, we needed to budget for the cost of getting from Brest to Hoi An and then create a monthly budget.  I found four videos on Youtube with people who detailed budgets for Hoi An.  They spent, at the bottom, $1,176 for a month and at the top about $1,500.  We decided to set our budget at $1,500 with $500 for accommodation, $500 for wife (she shops) and $500 for me.  As Digital Nomads, we have the added challenge in that we have a teacup Yorkie, Miki.  She adds to our costs and limits our choices, especially in travel and accommodations.  Galaxy was very welcoming to Miki.

Right now, the important part is to arrange for the trip from Brest to Hoi An and that took some doing, mostly in research.  Train tickets from Brest to Vilnius is about $75.  I booked a hotel for $43 (with breakfast) that is close to the train station and will take Miki.  We will likely need about $60 for taxi and lunch.  Both Warsaw and Minsk are closer to us than Vilnius, but, for some reason, Aeroflot flies very cheaply out of Vilnius.  A one way ticket from Vilnius to Bangkok was $267 each and $84 for Miki won the floor by us.  Hotels are much cheaper in SE Asia and I booked a nice 3 star hotel near the Airport in Bangkok for $31.  We will be there for 28 hours and there is a mall nearby, so, I am budgeting about $70 for 'other expense'.

The flight from Bangkok to Danang takes 1 3/4 hours and, sadly, Miki will need to stay in the cargo hold.  The airline assured me that the conditions are just like in the passenger cabin.  Our tickets are $102 each and Miki costs $33.  For SE Asia our tickets are relatively expensive, but most of the airlines do not take dogs at all.  At least Bangkok Air does.  It is expensive on all the reseller sigtes, but on their own site, they have a special discounted rate.  Our visas (we will get 3 month, multiple entry) will cost $184.  Vietnam is supposed to be a communist country, but it seems that there are entrepreneurs everywhere.  There is a fellow who runs a car service that will pick us up at the Danang airport and take us to Hoi An for $12.  The regular cabs cost $20.

So, the total 'cost of getting there' is about $1,325.  Spread over six months, that is an additional $220 per month.  The trip back will be about the same, so total budget, actually, is about $1,500+$220+$220 = $1,940.  So, we are allocating $2,000 per month to this adventure.  We will follow that closely to see how the Budget v Actual turns out.  Below are some photos that convinced us to start in Hoi An.

Ancient Town

An Bang Beach

Caterpillar to Clothes in Silk Village

I really want this blog to be a comprehensive resource for people who are extended travel to SE Asia.  So, I will do careful analytical Hoi An posts on

1. General: How to get there, a monthly budget, etc. 
2. Accommodations:  There are a whole lot of apartments in Hoi An, but there are literally 1,000 hotels, villas and B&Bs (Homestays).  I will try to cover many of the options and try to give you ranges on costs, etc.
3. Ancient Town: For about 1 km along the river there is a World Heritage Site, Ancient Town with a market on an island directly facing the Ancient Town.  Ancient Town is about 600 years old and has a number of historical sites and museums that can be seen for a ticket just a little over $5 for five of them.
4. City of Lanterns: At dusk, downtown Hoi An becomes a myriad of lanterns with an enhanced 'Lantern Festival' at full moon.  Additionally, little candle holders are floated by the hundreds down the river.  Also, handmade, silk lanterns are sold through multiple shops.
5. Food: Hoi An does not have a 'grocery store' but instead has a number of shops and a rather large market.  There are about 1,000 restaurants in the area and there are street food vendors everywhere.  There are women wandering around Ancient Towns with trays full of fruits for sale.  I will very faithfully record the selections and prices for you.
6. The Beach:  There are two large beaches, An Bang and Cua Dai and a small Hidden Beach between them.  An Bang Beach is often mentioned in lists of 'Best Beaches in the World' articles.  Cui Dai was destroyed by a Typhoon and despite having the high end resorts (Hoi An has a Four Seasons), it has not really recovered.  An Bang has a little beach hamlet and the beach is lined with cafes and restaurants that will either rent you a chaise lounge for $2.00 or let you stay all day for a lunch.
7. Lantern Festival: When the sun goes down, Ancient Town and the Night Market light up with silk lanterns.  Every full moon, there is a 'Lantern Festival' when the number of lanterns increases, there is an increase in street performers and the traffic increases dramatically.
8. Clothes: Hoi An attracts the best tailors and seamstresses from around Vietnam.  There are four major tailors, literally hundreds of 'hole in the wall' tailor shops and a whole lot of pret-a-porter boutiques.  There are also custom made shoes, purses, etc.  Since the PPPX in Vietnam is about 2.9:1.0, the clothes are inexpensive but, purportedly, of very high quality.
9. Arts & Crafts: Clothes are emphasized in discussions of Hoi An, but it is only part of what is made there.  Silk lanterns are best known, but they also have a lot of painting and wood carvings.  These tend to be missing from blogs and vlogs about the city.
10. The Villages: There is a silk village where the inhabitants go from the silk worm to fabric making to clothing manufacture.  There is also a 'rice village' and a 'vegetable village' and a 'beach village' at An Bang Beach.  
11. My Son: Close to Hoi An is My Son, an ancient Hindu ruin site similar to, but obviously much smaller than Angkor Wat.  
12. Ba Na Hills: This is a combination French and Vietnamese heritage is on full display.
13. Marble Mountains: Between Da Nang and Hoi An are five mountains made of marble and limestone.  It has many ruins.

I'm sure that once I am there I will find other posts that are worth your reading.  I want this to be comprehensibly useful, whether your interest is general, a week or two holiday or a long term 'DN' style visit.  Please feel free to comment.

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