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The video chronicles the host's travel plans and reflections, focusing on upcoming trips to Vietnam and potential return visits to the Philippines and Thailand, while also touching on experiences in Cambodia and Phnom Penh.
The host begins by discussing the humid weather in Krabi, Thailand, and acknowledges the time difference affecting viewership. They mention upcoming travel plans, including a flight to Bangkok for a visa extension and a potential short stay there. A primary focus is the upcoming trip to Vietnam, a country the host has never visited but has heard much about, and the research into its visa process, which is noted as more complex than Thailand's.
The discussion then shifts to past and future travel in the Philippines, highlighting experiences in Cebu, Cagayan de Oro, and Camiguin Island, praising the country's beauty and the ease of extended tourist stays for Americans. The host expresses a desire to explore new areas like Davao. The narrative then moves to Vietnam, mentioning destinations like Da Nang and Hoi An, and the historical significance of the Vietnam War, with plans to visit related museums. Halong Bay and Ho Chi Minh City are also briefly touched upon.
Reflections on Phnom Penh, Cambodia, follow, with the host describing it as a vibrant, developing city with a Rivertown feel similar to New Orleans, and appreciating its architecture and pedestrian-friendly nature. The host then discusses plans for returning to Thailand, considering a month in Hua Hin for its relaxed, beachside atmosphere, and another month back in Krabi, appreciating its chill vibe. Finally, the host outlines plans for the last two weeks in Bangkok, aiming to explore less-visited neighborhoods west of the river and modern shopping centers like McTier.
The Vietnam visa process for travelers is noted as being more complex than Thailand's. It requires careful planning and advance application. Researching the specific requirements well ahead of your travel dates is crucial for a smooth entry.
Americans can obtain extended tourist visas for the Philippines, potentially up to three years. This makes the Philippines an attractive destination for longer stays and exploration.
Beyond the popular cities of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, consider exploring less-touristed gems like Da Nang or Hoi An. These locations offer unique cultural experiences and beautiful scenery.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia, offers a vibrant atmosphere with a laid-back Rivertown feel, somewhat similar to New Orleans. The city features a mix of French-colonial and Cambodian architecture and is quite pedestrian-friendly.
Both Krabi and Hua Hin offer relaxed vibes, but in different ways. Hua Hin is known as a mellow beach town popular with retirees, while Krabi provides a generally chill atmosphere distinct from typical party destinations.
Consider exploring the relaxed beach town of Hua Hin or the mellow, chill vibe of Krabi for your next visit to Thailand. Bangkok also offers diverse neighborhoods, including less touristy areas west of the river.
0:07 Hey everybody, how's it going? It's definitely humid here in Krabi. I'm noticing this kind of haze effect. I'm not sure if it's been a consistent thing, but it may be that we're in the hottest month here in Thailand. Hopefully, everyone can still see to a satisfactory level.
0:40 Feel free to chime in with any questions. I know it's probably not too many people in America on this one, just because it's early morning there, right? Probably mostly people in Asia and in Europe for this one. Should probably do some ones that are morning here that would be late night USA. Probably be helpful for a lot of those folks.
1:02 Definitely comment after the video if you're watching the replay. If that would be helpful, if I did night, I bought my flight to Bangkok for my visa extension, so I'll be flying up there the morning of May 1st. I'm trying to decide how long I want to spend in Bangkok this time. May just be a few days.
1:41 I haven't been yet into Hué and I'd like to check that out before the end of my time here in Thailand. Some of you have probably watched my video. I'm looking at going to Vietnam next. Haven't been to Vietnam and I've been hearing a lot about it for years now, so I think it'll be really interesting to check something else out.
2:00 Do something a little bit different. How to blast in Thailand? I'd love to come back to Thailand in the future and maybe doing some research on visas on that, right? I mean, um, yeah, I'd be interested in that.
2:14 But, uh, feel free to throw any questions you have in the chat. Open topics. This will probably be a shorter one tonight, just because I haven't had much to eat today.
2:47 Yeah, I'd like to go out and grab a bite to eat and maybe do some exploring. Happy to have part of my tax refund behind me, or my tax process behind me, and that'll definitely help out to get my tax refunds.
3:05 And, um, yeah, I'm doing a lot of research on Vietnam. Feel free to comment anything about Vietnam. Um, you've been out there, you've had thoughts or plans to go out there. I have never been there. I'm researching the visa process now.
3:21 It is a bit more complex than the visa process for Thailand. In Thailand, of course, you have visa on arrival for Americans, and I think people from like all the Western democracies, uh, you know, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, UK.
3:39 But with Vietnam, I've got to apply in advance. I've got to provide certain information. I've got to select my dates of arrival and exit, I believe that's part of it.
3:51 So you do have, you know, a little bit more restrictions as far as the process goes. But I'm sure it'll be fine when I see how many tons of people have been to Vietnam and enjoyed it, then that definitely makes it.
4:06 Definitely, I definitely know a lot of people have gotten through. I've heard of some people having to pay through the nose for last-minute processing, which is something I want to avoid, uh, because they get there and then they find out, whatever reason, they're having some visa issue.
4:22 You can apply, I think it's up to three months in advance, maybe six months in advance. So I'm going to apply well in advance. I'll probably plan to apply for that visa in June, maybe even end of May, because I want to have it in hand in advance and not be thinking about it.
4:44 May even do it sooner than that, because that way I'll have plenty of window, a decent window to, uh, book my transportation there, right? I'll have to book a flight.
4:54 I'm looking at starting out in Da Nang. I know a lot of people are fans of Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh City, but I'm liking kind of the smaller city vibe, the less populated area vibe, and so that's where Da Nang comes into mind.
5:08 A lot of people have also suggested Hoi An. Some have said it's quite touristic, but that doesn't necessarily bother me. I want to do more research on it and find out what all Hoi An has going on, and I think that'll be a lot of fun.
5:22 Never been to Vietnam, so as far as Southeast Asia, I've been to Cambodia, which I want to go back to at some point. I enjoy Cambodia a lot. Of course, Thailand, where I'm living right now and loving it. Um, Philippines, which I do want to go back to. Awesome country, Malaysia, Singapore.
5:41 So the two big ones that I haven't yet been to and I hope to get Vietnam done is Vietnam and Indonesia. Indonesia may happen after Vietnam.
5:50 Um, it just kind of depends on timing because I'd like to go to a country for a little bit more extended period of time after Vietnam.
6:05 And the Philippines is really great for that. It does offer for tourists, Americans, up to three years where you can just keep extending your tourist visa, and that's obviously really appealing for me. That makes it super easy.
6:17 And I'd like to go back to the Philippines and do some different stuff. Last time I went to Cebu, I went to Cagayan de Oro and I went to Camiguin Island.
6:32 And why don't I screen share here? I'll show a little bit of Camiguin Island, just so you guys know what I'm talking about because it's so beautiful.
6:47 Yeah, this is Camiguin. I was just showing my buddy. You have so many like sparsely populated beautiful beaches here.
6:59 And this time I'd like to do something different, though. Even though I'd love to go back to Camiguin and plan to go at some point in the future, I'd really, uh, also let's see.
7:07 I do want to show the volcano really quick. So yeah, there's, I think that's a, um, a volcano. It looks like, uh, if you've ever played the Far Cry video game series, it reminds me a lot of the Far Cry series.
7:28 And then let's take a look at Cebu. I'm sure many of you have seen photographs, but Cebu to me is a lot of fun. It's a compact, like big city in the Philippines. It's not on the scale of Manila, but you have still a lot of that city feeling.
7:44 You have the IT Park there, you have Ayala Mall, you have a number of ferries, which I didn't know about at all when I went there the first time. I had no idea there were all these ferries.
7:53 And so next time I go, I do plan to check out some of those. You can take ferries to neighboring islands, uh, which is really appealing to me. And then I went to Cagayan de Oro. So let's take a little bit more look here at Cebu.
8:06 Yeah, it's just so cool. Like, I don't know how to explain it. The Philippines, part of it's the colors, right? I mean, here in this photo, you see the tall buildings, the orange or yellow, the green, the gray, the white, the blue. You see the trees here with the green. You see some of the red roofs there.
8:30 And then in the background, depending on where you're at in Cebu, you see the mountains. So it's just a really beautiful city. And everybody speaks English, it makes it easy for English speakers.
8:44 Um, let's check out Cagayan de Oro. So I didn't know this before I went, but Cagayan de Oro is a little bit more of an industrial city, but you still have a lot of activities like whitewater rafting, which I didn't know much about last time.
8:57 That may be a bit too adventurous for myself, but some of you may want to do something like that. Um, you've got the scenic overview. It's a nice hub. You know, it may not necessarily be the first place that comes to mind, but in terms of tourism, I found it was a great hub for checking out, getting up to here to visit again and seeing a little bit different.
9:20 Um, something a little bit different than what I think a lot of tourists would see, right? A lot of tourists, I think they are headed to Manila or to Cebu, and or they're headed to like Palawan or Boracay. They don't necessarily think as much about a place like CDO, but I loved it.
9:36 I mean, I thought it was really interesting. They still had like a downtown strip, uh, with some kind of, um, like a lively scene at night for people who want to just go out and do something fun, but maybe don't want to go to like a big city. It's really cool.
9:51 But, uh, this next trip, and it, like I said, it may be this year, it may be, uh, after this year in the future, but Davao is going to be high on the list there as far as places I want to see on my next visit to the Philippines. That's Kone City.
10:14 Davao is a little bit different. Um, it's in the South. Uh, wow, Philippine Eagle. I've never seen anything like that before.
10:49 Davao. Yeah, I'm gonna have to look that up. Eagle.
11:24 Um, I'm kind of interested in small island, small island.
11:59 Wow, excuse me, excuse.
12:19 Beautiful. What else I want to check out? Um, I want to turn the attention. I, you know, I got off on attention here in the Philippines, but why don't I look up to name?
12:33 Yeah, that looks super cool. I like the contrast between the high-rise and then the beach and the mountains.
13:03 The Dragon Bridge. I've been hearing a lot about the Dragon Bridge.
13:13 I think it's going to be excellent. I'm really looking forward to it. I have a friend back in America whose family is from Vietnam, and I've always wanted to go see it. I talked a bit about the history with my maternal grandfather serving in the Vietnam War, and I definitely want to check out the museum.
13:28 Like I think they have a few different museums and sites related to the history of that, and, um, that'll be a learning experience for sure.
13:38 It's definitely a heavy topic, but I think it's important to learn about.
13:57 It. I'm looking forward to seeing that. That looks really, really beautiful.
14:11 Yeah, it looks chill. It looks really chill. I like the, uh, I like the house here. It's really nice looking, and they got the rice fields.
14:22 Looks a lot like the rice fields I saw in Camiguin. There's actually a rice farm on that island, which is really interesting and unique.
15:02 And we can take a look at Hanoi. I mean, if I get the three-month visa for, I may want to go check out like Hanoi or Saigon for a few days. I'm not as much of a big city person.
15:13 But I've heard some parallels between Hanoi and Bangkok, and it does sound intriguing to me. This is the lake in Hanoi.
15:31 Yeah, you know, it has some of the same Bangkok vibe as far as being like, uh, well, this is the lake. This doesn't look like a river, but I'm sure Hanoi is on a different river.
15:39 Need to do research on that. And, uh, once I have boots on the ground experience, I'll understand it a lot better to be able to speak more clearly to it.
15:49 Halong Bay, of course, super popular, well-known. I think it's like a UNESCO World Heritage site, actually.
16:04 Wow, okay. That's a beautiful nighttime view. I love these shots with the traffic and, um, dusk and the sun setting and the city coming to life after the heat of the day.
16:47 So this will be a little bit different. This is Ho Chi Minh City. This is the largest city in Vietnam, and it's really intriguing.
17:14 of the Earth or edge of the Earth, maybe from the pictures I'm seeing where you've got such a long coastline that you, I don't know, you feel like you are more exposed to the ocean. It's not an island, but you can't separate the history of.
17:29 But you can't separate the history of the ocean from Vietnam. What are they eating? That looks good. I'm not sure what they're having there. Oh, surfing maybe? Water ski.
18:11 Museum. Why don't we show Phnom Penh? Because I wish I could get back on this trip. I'm not sure if I'm gonna have time this trip, but it's such a, I liked it a lot. I know some people have mixed feelings about it. I loved it, I enjoyed it a lot.
18:30 I thought it was beautiful and interesting and rapidly developing. It has that Rivertown vibe. It reminds me a lot of New Orleans, if I'm being honest. I think that's what I love so much about it is I've had several visits to New Orleans and I enjoyed it both times.
18:53 Love to go back and it kind of reminds you of that. There's this like Rivertown vibe where it's laidback, interesting, it's vibrant. You have a lot of different people coming through.
19:09 It's definitely like, you know, it's not as heavily populated as like Bangkok. And so I felt it was a bit more pedestrian friendly. I felt like I wasn't having to be as methodical in going through the city.
19:27 I mean, I could walk to a lot of different things and see a lot of different things just on foot. Not everywhere, I mean, it would be a little bit challenging to go to like Aon from where I was staying in the Riverside, but still a very cool city.
19:39 I like some of the holdovers from the French era as far as the architecture. I like the Cambodian architecture a lot as well. It's very beautiful with those motifs that they have.
20:00 We go back to Phnom Penh. I had, on both trips, I went. One time I did a river cruise. It was on a boat kind of like one of these, and they served us like fruit. And I met this interesting family from the Philippines.
20:15 And they taught me a lot because I hadn't yet been to the Philippines at that point. And we were talking like, oh, where are you from? I'm from the USA. Oh, we're from the Philippines. We live in America now. And so they were able to give me a lot of insight into what I should do to prepare and think about when it came to the Philippines.
20:41 I just found it to be a really vibrant city. It was just a really vibrant.
21:16 What else do I want to show you all? Feel free to chime in with any questions or thoughts. Just talking a bit about Phnom Penh.
21:55 Phnom Penh. It's a chill Thai city. It's got a more laidback vibe. I've heard it's really popular with retirees, of course. I'm not at the retirees stage, but I think I'll like it a lot, just the peaceful vibes and walking beside the beach or walking on the beach.
22:12 I've heard they have some water sports there too, like people get out in the water and do stuff. They have a train that apparently is really nice to take there. I may end up taking a bus depending on scheduling.
22:25 I'm not sure how many times a day the train runs to Hin. But certainly, both are popular. I don't think Hin has an airport, so I think it's one of those where you take the bus or take the train that you're not going to be able to fly there.
22:41 So that'll be on my mind. I'm talking to some people about where about some condos or apartments I might rent in Hin. So I'll probably fly to Bangkok, do a new extension, and then hop on a bus down to Hin and plan to stay there for about a month.
22:56 And then for the final month, the final full month I have here in Thailand, I'm kind of tempted to come back to Krabi. I like it a lot. It's really cool. It surprised me at how you have the beach here, but you also have a mellow, chill vibe.
23:12 And I've always thought of beaches as being really hype kind of places, places you go out and have a good time, go out and party. But Krabi's not like that. Krabi is really chilled, and I like that.
23:23 I think I'm going to enjoy Hin a lot too. Yeah, I love the look. Like there's probably some hiking to do around here.
24:08 I may wrap this up in the next five minutes because I think this is just an inconvenient time for folks. I may need to do these later at night. You know, I think that may be part of it, early morning or later at night, just to be more in line with everyone's schedules.
24:20 I do apologize for those who have missed these and need me to do them at a more convenient time. I definitely want to connect with everybody and share about my plans in real time.
25:01 And why don't I show a few Bangkok neighborhoods that I'm going to visit in my last two weeks in Thailand? I'm tempted to just do those two weeks in Bangkok and, yeah, and just visit some of the neighborhoods that have just been so elusive for me.
25:18 I visited like the edge of this neighborhood. I think I visited some of the temples on the edge of this neighborhood. Could be wrong on that, but I haven't really seen much of it. And I've heard it compared to being like the Brooklyn of Bangkok, which makes it super interesting and appealing to me to have the city vibe but be in a little bit lower density.
25:39 I mean, you can still see it's quite dense, but maybe not to the extent of like the Sukhumvit or neighborhoods like Silom or Sathorn. Yeah, I think it just looks like it's going to be really cool.
25:57 And they have, I so I did, I visited Wat Arun. So I've been to Tomere, but not much, just the edge of it. And Wat Arun as well. But I haven't seen this building. This building looks really cool.
26:16 This building looks really cool as well. I think it's the architecture part of it. It's just the architecture that does it for me. It's just such a cool kind of vibe. Some of those old-school Bangkok tries.
26:28 Like I've heard from a lot of friends that Bangkok has changed dramatically. It's grown a lot, it's developed more and more. But different parts of the city give you this kind of glimpse into the past.
26:42 What else do I want to see in Bangkok? Why don't I pull up a map?
27:01 And so we just pull up the map of Bangkok. So this is kind of the Southwest. So I think there's a train, like a BTS or an MRT station somewhere around here.
27:13 And I'm tempted to even just stay in the neighborhood for a week because there's a lot up here that I want to check out. And then a lot around here and then kind of going in a circle where I get this whole chunk of the river.
27:28 Because I've seen a lot of, a lot of this, like basically much of the East part of the river is where I've spent a lot of my time in the city, but I haven't gotten west of the river very much. And I think it's going to provide a different vibe and it'll be not as touristic as like the city.
28:15 I mean, one of my favorites. It's two trips to Bangkok that are alive at this point. I've had probably half a dozen trips, as long as a month, as short as a weekend.
28:28 And everyone, and I've seen a different look into this different area. It's just still got that sense of wonder for me. It's just a mysterious, cool, neon, lively, exciting place to be with really friendly people.
28:57 So yeah, we'll give it a couple more minutes because I think I need to do these at a better hour for all of you.
29:39 Yeah, I think it's going to be a great decision to see something new in the city and it'll be a lot of fun. Last time I was in Bangkok, we checked out where's the new mall, McTier.
30:11 McTier. Really beautiful new shopping, super modern. I mean, just the art alone is mind-blowing. How they pull this stuff off, I have no idea, but it's like one big art gallery with neon lights. And so, so cool.
30:35 Tons of visual stimulation. I mean, just walking through, my mind, it's hard for me to pay attention to where I'm going in this mall because of how I look.
30:51 Well, that looks like, like we're short on time, but thank you so much for watching. Like I said, I'm going to try to do these at more convenient hours for everybody. I hope everyone has a great day.
31:01 And yeah, look forward to seeing you all soon. Thanks so much for your support. Bye-bye.
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