Arriving around 1 am on Jan 21. Rest day, then a tour to Ayutthaya, a day exploring the city, and a morning of cycling nearby. Staying at a home exchange.
A long stay in Siem Reap to enjoy the sites by day and the city by night. We will spend several days exploring Angkor Wat and the Angkor Complex. Highlights: Yoga, nightlife, renting a tuk tuk, day trip to see the stilt houses on the Tonle Sap lake, and beach time at the Wake Park.
An off-the-beaten-path city in Cambodia known for well-preserved French colonial architecture. This is a UNESCO World Heritage destination, noted for being a Creative City of Gastronomy. We will be here during Chinese New Year and the Vietnamese holiday of Tet, to avoid the larger crowds at Angkor Wat. We will drive here from Siem Reap and spend the day exploring. Day two we will do an early morning excursion to ride the Bamboo Train.This is not a tourist town but the other key attractions are the food and seeing the bats emerge from the cave of Phnom Sampeau.
We will take the train to Phnom Penh on the 7th for two nights, allowing a full day to see the sights. Restaurants: Biopha Phnom Penh - Titanic Restaurant for dinner, La Crosiette for breakfast or lunch, and On the Corner, for casual with a nice outdoor area . On the 9th we will catch a train south to the beach town of Kep, away from the main tourist scene. Staying in an airbnb, we will spend 6 nights here. Our plans are to hang out at the beach and explore the surrounding towns, ruins, etc. (option to spend a couple nights Kampot at the end of the week) Probably renting a scooter. Train to Phnom Pen on Feb 15.
On the 16th we will fly from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh, spend one night, and catch a train to Phan Rang for Mike to enjoy some kitesurfing, hopefully with some friends meeting up for kiting.
May go south to Mui Ne for additional kiting opportunities or north towards Nha Trang (Cam Ranh) for some beach resort time. May do a home exchange in Cam Ranh,
We will be taking the train from Mui Ne north to Da Nang and spending a few days in nearby Hoi An to explore the city, do a day trip to the Marble Mountains, maybe go to Ba Na Hill, and do an evening lantern boat ride along the Perfume River. After, we will take the scenic train from Da Nang to Hue, and spend a few days here to see the imperial city, do a dragon boat dinner cruise, and possibly see Tu Hieu Pagoda, where Thich Nhat Hanh practiced.
On the 11th we will take the train to Ninh Bin for a few days to go cycling through the karst landscape and rice paddies, take a boat tour down the river and through caves (Tam Coc tour), and general relaxing at a peaceful riverside hotel.
In Hanoi we will spend a few days exploring the Old Quarter, walk around Hoam Kem Lake and end at the Tarraco Sky Bar for sunset, etc.
A three-day cruise in the Halong Bay area (2 nights). Still to be determined the exact cruise line and dates.
After the cruise we will take the transfer back to Hanoi, hang out for the day, and take a night train from Hanoi to Sapa (elevation 5,250 feet) which arrives early in the morning. Here will will walk on the Rong May Glass Bridge, go to Mount Fanispan (10, 326 feet), walk from Sapa to Cat Cat Village, and get organized before heading into China.
From Sapa, we'll take a bus to the China border and cross on foot, and then catch a train to Kunming where we will spend two nights. This will give us a chance to see the city and do a day trip to the Stone Forest (UNESCO World Heritage Site).
We will take a train from Kunming to near the Tibetan border in the foothills of the Himilaya Mountains. We will spend two nights at a guesthouse in Walnut Garden Village along the gorge and visit visitTiger Leaping Gorge. We'll also spend two or three nights in Lijiang to visit Jade Dragon Snow Mountain (5,596 meters), and Shuhe Old Town. Jade Dragon Snow Mountain has several areas to visit, including a cable car that takes you to 4506 (meters) - buy tickets one week in advance.
After we have acclimatized to this elevation for a couple days we'll take a high-speed train to Shangri-La (3,352 meters elevation) to see the restored ancient city and famous Ganden Sumtseling Monastery.
We will spend a full day on the train to Chengdu (9.5 hours). The next day, we'll visit the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding to see giant pandas and red pandas on a Morning Walk with Pandas. The next day we will do a day trip to Leshan to see the 71 meter giant stone buddha.
The train to Zhangjiajie take about 5.5 hours. Here, we'll see Tianmen Mountain (cable car, glass walkway on cliff side) and enjoy the nighttime light show on the mountain. Spend two days exploring Zhangjiajie National Park, the inspiration for the Avatar movie setting (elevator on side of mountain, lookouts, walking trails). Day trip to Furong Ancient Town and have dinner looking over the waterfalls and old town. This is probably more time than needed but will allow us a flex day in case we are behind schedule.
TBD
Take the train to Xi'an. See the Terracotta Warriors, bike along the top of the ancient city walls, explore the muslim quarter, and take a 30-minute train ride to Hua Shan (Mount Hua) and a cable car up the mountain, known as the birth of Toaism.
Take the train to Beijing (4.5 hours). Spend three days seeing the sights in Beijing, including the Great Wall of China, the Forbidden City, and the Temple of Heaven. Fly back to Toronto on April 29.
All travel between towns and cities will be by train, apart from flights from Phnom Penh, Cambodia to Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. We will do a mix of hotels and airbnb stays.