So I have been a bit vague on where I have been so far on my journeys throughout Thailand and abroad. As mentioned previously, I’m in living and studying in Bangkok, which I’m finding is the best launching pad in maybe all of Asia for traveling. More on this later.

Where I have been

So far I’ve had an amazing experience. I’ve tried to balance my traveling with assimilation into Bangkok since I love the Thai people, city, and culture. If that wasn’t a case, leaving every weekend would happen because everything is so cheap, available, and easy.

• Hong Kong
• Myanmar (Burma)
• Gulf of Thailand Islands - Samui, Tao, etc
• Southern Thailand Phuket area, Phi Phi
• Malaysia

Where I will be going

• Nakhon Si Thammarrat, Thailand (off the tourist trail, finally/hopefully)
• Cambodia
• India

A pretty good list now that I look at it which I’m pretty satisfied with, except for the exclusion of Laos which I will have to travel to on a later trip due to the amazing stories my friends have relayed back to me.

India

I just recently booked my flight to India. I’m going to be making an 18 day journey from Dehli to Mumbai, easily the most ambitious travel venture in my life. I’ll be going alone and zig zagging quite a bit with trains. I’m super super excited, but anxious a the same time.

Overall, I’m so so impressed with Southeast Asia and urge everyone to travel here. While many young aspiring budget travelers opt for Europe out of fear of the unknown, I urge you to reconsider using Bangkok as your hub to Asia. It really is really really easy. I would argue moreso than Europe even.

But if anyone has any great resources or tips for traveling to India, please share!

And finally, get ready for some kickass articles and content when I start to settle down after all of this.

Just a quick update as I’ve been really busy lately with poor/non reliable internet access the past few weeks. Here are some quick updates I’ll use an excuse for my lack of updates recently - My 4 night trip in Hong Kong went pretty well and I arrived in Bangkok the 1st of August to stay at a guesthouse near Khao San Road for a few nights. Once Thammasat University activities and orietnation started up, many other exchange students and I found a very nice, affordable apartment to reside in for the semester until January.

In the meantime, I’ve learned tons about culture, traveling, Thailand, and Europe (via my fellow European exchange students and friends). Both alone and with others I’ve explored Bangkok fairly extensively for the short time I’ve been here so far, and this past weekend some friends and I went to the islands and beach at Koh Samui to relax and see the sun for five days.

It’s been a wild journey so far and I expect it to continue. I’ll surely be maximizing my time here the next couple weeks which will definitely be reflected into the posts that will follow later on.  In the short term, I apologize for infrequent updates, but I hope to return to regular helpful updates once I find a routine and get settled in here in BKK. In the meantime, you can follow my more personal blog for the Thailand trip specifically at Bangkoking.com.

In a week I will be beginning my Asian trek slash study abroad adventure to Bangkok, Thailand, but I will be kicking off the semester abroad with a short stay in Hong Kong for 4 nights. I’m hoping to fly by the seat of my pants for most of the time I’m there, but there’s still much preparation needed (to my dismay).

Hong Kong’s a very expensive city relative to its Asian epicenter counterparts, so traveling on a shoestring in Hong Kong might be a challenge. However, I’ll be documenting every expense meticulously and reporting it here. In the end, every future explorer to Hong Kong should be able to laugh at and learn from my mistakes, and I’ll end up with a fairly comprehensive budget and expense model that any other future budget travelers will hopefully find pretty valuable.

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Now that my itinerary is set for my living and traveling abroad experience in Thailand starting in July, I have finally started consolidating my lengthy to-do lists so I have no excuse not to get a moving on my preparations.

Particularly, packing and choosing clothing to bring to Thailand is somewhat tricky.  Nearly every source I’ve read says ‘don’t pack a lot of clothes for Asia and Thailand‘ Good quality clothing that will fit your needs is plentiful and very affordable in Thailand, so in reality it’s easier and best to pack lightly on clothing and just buy your clothes in Thailand.

Then, however, disclaimer time comes along: Be aware that Asian and Thai clothing and footwear is obviously smaller due to the physical difference between Thais and Westerners… (more…)

A while ago I received news that I was accepted to study abroad in Bangkok, Thailand (application covered here) for the upcoming fall academic session starting sometime in August 2009 - December 2009.  I will be studying at Thammasat University and traveling all around Southeast Asia in my spare time, which should be plentiful.

Thammasat University is set in the heart of Bangkok, nearby the famous backpacker’s haven Khao San Road, the recent Red Shirt riots, and the Grand Palace. All, I’m sure, will be covered in greater detail in my upcoming travels.

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After a lot of travel research the past years I’ve finally concluded a study abroad program is the most economical and rewarding means to live abroad for an extended period of time.  After hours of research and introspection I’m happy to say that I’ll [hopefully] be studying abroad this Fall 2009 in Asia.

I just finished applying for my desired program(s) which go through my business school and are somewhat competitive from what I hear.  My business school has a multitude of programs, mostly of which are based in Europe and are not affordable for me.  However, fortunately they offer some great Asian programs too, and in my application I’m applying for three and ranking each one by preference.  Here are the possibilities:

Bangkok Thailand

Leading my favorite programs my miles is a program in Bangkok Thailand. I would be able to study at Thammasat University, which is the best university in the country and is well known throughout Southeast Asia.

I looked at it first for its great affordability and access to cheap travel everywhere, like Laos, Cambodia, and (more…)