Southeast Asia offers a wide variety for
the long-distance cruiser: settled weather, low costs, diverse cultures, and
proximity to exotic Asia destinations such as Tibet,
China, and Nepal. Unfortunately many speed through - intent on making the
weather windows for the Red Sea or South Africa.
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Check out the Map to the right, pick a
spot of interest or read on: |
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We sped through this country due to its ongoing political turmoil - perhaps
unnecessarily since little of it was directed at foreigners. Our trip was
during October-November,  which is the transition period between the SW and NE
monsoons; winds are predicted to be light and they were: we motored most of the
time, logging 388 hours over a 2282 nautical mile trip. We never had a
problem with piracy, unfriendly people, fishing boats approaching too close, or
any of the other tales that abound. Read a little more
about Indonesia.
This has been a wonderful surprise - a 1st world nation in the middle of a
developing part of the world. We stayed 11 months and used it as a base to
visit other countries in Asia such as Nepal and China. Others took trips
to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar (Burma) - the ease of speaking English and
reasonable airfares made this easy to do. Initially rules appeared to be vague and
we had to visit Immigration 4 times in the first 2 months to extend our visas.
Later, we discovered some of the secrets for staying, check out what we found
out. See what else we found out about Singapore.
We were lucky enough to be able to fly to Nepal for 3 weeks
and trek to the 18,000' peak of Goyko Ri - 2 weeks of living in tents and
breathing crystal-clear air. Check out our Nepal page
for the highlights.
Extended time in Singapore made it easy to hop a flight to
this wonderful Asian destination. We traveled for a month, discovering
that China is indeed an emerging giant, with modern facilities in the cities, a
transportation system to rival any country, and warm and friendly people.
Take a peek at our China page and details of this
eye-opening trip.
We left Singapore for Malaysia at the end of October, 2001 and
enjoyed three months of cruising through this pretty country. Governed by the
British for many years, it has been independent since the 1950's. English
use is widespread, and the few marinas along the coast collect the cruisers on
their way to Thailand. Take a peek at what we have
seen so far or check our Malaysia
Warnings for information.
We stayed in Thailand for 10 months and really like
the people. For 5 months at Phuket Boat Lagoon painters, carpenters,
fiberglass technicians and welders worked on Long Passages - by the end she was
all gussied up, and looking beautiful. Meanwhile, we worked on her, toured
the country, and visited neighboring countries and enjoyed our time there.
Look at our Thailand page for more on this beautiful
and friendly Kingdom.
Not really a cruising destination, but it seems that ALL
cruisers make the pilgrimage to Angkor Wat. We flew there for a week, and
really enjoyed it. The people are nice (as virtually everywhere we have
been), the palaces and sculptures at Angkor Wat are awe-inspiring, and Phnom Phen
was interesting although a little seedy. Check our
Cambodia page for more of our musings about this fascinating country.
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