The DoMe Travel Thread

Would love to share. I should start this out by saying Asia wasn't my first choice for this year's vacation (we try to take a family trip each summer, alternating one year with a stateside trip, followed by abroad), I spent a year in Seoul while in the Air Force and travelled a bit at that time (Thailand, Laos, Japan), and I've always been more partial to Europe. We ended up going because my brother-in-law lives in Singapore and we felt it was time to finally pay him a visit on his turf after so many years. I'll break down below, but will have to be somewhat succinct because I hate typing on my phone, lol.

The worst part is, as you'd expect, the travel. It was a 32 hour trip all told to get to Singapore. We left very early in the morning out of Omaha up to Minneapolis where we had a few hours layover. From there on to Incheon (Seoul) our next layover. That airport brought back a lot of memories of my time stationed over there. We had about a 5 hour layover, so the girls got their first taste of real Korean food at one of the restaurants in the airport. They loved it. Little tidbit that most people find crazy - I'm not crazy about Asian cuisine overall, but there are so very good dishes I enjoy. Then we were off to Singapore, another 6+ hour flight.

Singapore - we arrived very late, like 11:30 PM. BIL met us at the airport. We caught a Grab (Asia equivalent to Uber, a must have app for any trip to Asia as it worked splendidly at each of our stops). He was very generous and let us stay at his apartment and crashed at his friends place while we were there. Singapore is a vibrant city and surprisingly westernized. BIL was our tour guide for our 6 days as he showed us around the city. We were going nonstop the entire time, seeing various sites around the city proper and sampling a number of different dishes. I will say, the food here wasn't my favorite aside from a really good authentic Italian place we had for dinner one night and another very fancy restaurant where we had fried duck another night. I've never been a fan of duck, but this was surprisingly very good. We got to the zoo one afternoon, which the girls loved. We never got to make it to the beach, because our beach day got rained out, but we weren't too upset because there was plenty of beach opportunities ahead. Went to the science museum another day, the cloud forest, and spent another day doing the jewel attractions at the airport, which is seriously amazing. That's probably the nicest airport I've ever been to. Another thing about Singapore - it's a shopper's dream. There are seriously malls everywhere that seem to be thriving, which is a strange contrast to how they seem to be dying here. Overall, I can easily recommend Singapore to anyone. A LOT to do, very safe, and pretty clean for a city of its size.

Bali - We spent 4 days here and climate-wise, it was the best stop. Temps in the mid-80s and not nearly as humid as our other stops. We stayed at the Bali Hilton Resort which is amazing. The food here was quite good and there were actually 4 quite good restaurants on the resort. But we also sampled several off-resort restaurants, and the food was pretty good. Not as flavorful as our other stops, but still good. One day we took a guided tour around the island and visited several temples and a few gorgeous beaches. Got the girls into the Indian Ocean for the first time. The pool at the resort was amazing and we spent most of our last day there lounging in and around it, a much needed break after going nonstop for the week-plus prior.

Thailand - the Chang Mai region is absolutely gorgeous. Spent 3 days here. We stayed at the U Chiang Mai Hotel and renovated former residence of the Chiang Mai governor. We spent the first night scrolling around the Chiang Mai night bazaar. The food in Thailand was my favorite, very flavorful currys and other options including amazing Phad Thai. We took a day trip to an elephant habitat where we got to spend a few hours mingling with, feeding, and bathing rescued elephants in the river. Not surprisingly, this was the girls' favorite part of the trip. Visited a number of amazing temples, hiked up to the highest point in Thailand, sailed down the Mekong River (where we dipped into Laos and Myanmar) and saw The Golden Triangle. I wish we spent more time here as it was my favorite stop.

Vietnam - Spent our last four days here. We stayed at the La Selva Hotel and the bustling Old Quarter of Hanoi. To be completely honest, we were pretty worn out by the time we got here, but we still made a go of it. I will say two knocks on Hanoi are the incredibly oppressive heat and humidity and the chaos caused by the at times overwhelming congestion. It's wild how many people are jammed into that city. Scooters everywhere could make something simple like crossing the street quite taxing. It was like you were in a live-action game of 'Frogger.' The food was great and so CHEAP. The four of us could get HUGE plates of food for the equivalent of like $25. The people were so welcoming and friendly. Spent a lot of time just strolling around the Hanoi Market shopping. Saw the Temple of Literature (Vietnam's first university), strolled around Hoan Kiem Lake, and visited St Joseph's Cathedral which is breathtaking. We finished off that day by taking in the famous Water Puppet show which is a must if you're ever in Hanoi. The last day was a trip to Ha Long Bay which is truly one of the most beautiful places on earth.

All in all, it's a trip and experience in I'm glad we did, particularly for the girls. Lot of great memories. We're planning our trip for next year and thinking of skipping our CONUS turn and heading back abroad with Italy currently the frontrunner. I've been there as I had the fortune of being stationed in the UK for three years and travelled a lot in that time, but I want to go back as an adult and spend less time in bars/clubs, lol. Plus, I never made it to Vatican City and that's a bucket list item.

Whew! That's a lotta phone typing. I'll try to throw up some pics soon.