Blog
Category: Personal
February 24, 2025
Japan + Thailand: 5 Take-Aways
Over the holidays we took a big trip – 26 days in Japan and Thailand–with our two boys who are in college. Sebbie’s a senior and Jude is a freshman. This is the only year where their holiday breaks overlap, so it was now or never…and we are so glad we went!
A quick overview:
- 8 days in Japan (Tokyo, Shibu Onsen, Kyoto, Osaka)
- 7 days on the island of Koh Phi Phi off the coast of Phuket, Thailand
- 10-day tour from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, with 4 days trekking to visit the Hill Tribes
Everyone has been asking me what I liked best and I realize the answer can be applied to almost any destination.
Here are my top 5:
1. Going for 26 days – I know this is not easy for Americans with corporate jobs but I realized that on ~day 10, I was truly living in the present…plus we’d all got over our jet lag! The strong dollar currently goes far in Asia, making dining, lodging, and shopping more affordable than doing a similar trip in the U.S.
2. Taking a tour: While we planned the Japan and Koh Phi Phi portions ourselves, having a tour group take over the Bangkok to Chiang Mai part was fantastic. Meeting people from all over the world made me feel like I was in my 20s backpacking again. Our group of sixteen ranged in age from 19 to 61 with a number of solo travelers in their 20s-50s…one fellow American with Australians, Swiss, Irish, British, and Canadians.
3. Meeting locals: Meeting the Japanese is a lot easier in the smaller towns. We loved getting out of urban Japan to visit Shibu Onsen in the Japanese Alps, where we bathed in the public geothermal baths (naked! with the Japanese!), and visited Izakayas (Japanese pubs) playing American 70s music. On Christmas Day, we visited Universal Studios Osaka and rode Demon Slayer with young Japanese couples who were “Christmas Dating”…it’s a thing. We spent NYE, dancing on a beach with Thai locals and meeting tourists from all over the world. We took the local overnight train to Chiang Mai. And best of all, we stayed with local families in huts in Northern Thailand.
4. The food: Forget touristy restaurants, we are talking street vendors and small restaurants and noodle shops – Udon, Yakiniku (grill your own Wagyu beef) and Ramen in Japan; Thai curries, Khao Soi, and Mango Sticky Rice in Thailand. I lost 6 pounds from so much soup!
5. Adventure – Hiking to see the Japanese Snow Monkeys, scuba diving and snorkeling with black tip reef sharks, trekking for 4-6 hours per day from hill town to hill town, taking local boats and trains, boating through a cave, hiking up waterfalls, and watching the sunrise over the mountains (from the one coffee shop with a cappuccino maker in Northern Thailand) were some major highlights.
If you are watching the new season of The White Lotus – this is not that trip, but it truly was unforgettable. Feel free to reach out if you are planning a visit and want to know more.
April 2, 2020
Vietnam Family Vacation: Days 10-17, Ho Chi Minh City, Mekong Delta and Phu Quoc Island
Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)
We flew from Danang and landed in a balmy 91F Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon). Unlike the colonial feel of Hanoi, HCMC was modern, young and dynamic. Home to lots of skyscrapers, with development everywhere, it has a distinct international feel–Communist slogans may emanate from loudspeakers set atop government vans driving around the city, but there’s no mistaking that this is a land that embraces capitalism.
In the heart of town we checked into the venerable Continental Hotel, a real throwback to the colonial era, which also served as the headquarters of TIME and Newsweek magazines during the war. First thing we did as a group was take a cyclo (rickshaw) tour of the town, ending at the Independence Palace, the cool white mid-century building which once housed the South Vietnamese government; this is where on April 30, 1975 the North Vietnamese tanks broke through the gates, finally ending the war. Early the next morning, Sebbie and I walked back to the Independence Palace to check it out inside. The Vietnamese government turned it into a museum, frozen in time in April 1975: Shag carpets, lime green and orange abound. But we were searching for the war room somewhere in the basement…finally found it–a war bunker with yellowed maps covering the walls and table, also as the Communists found it in 1975.
March 29, 2020
Vietnam Family Vacation: Days 6-9 Hoi An
After our short stays in Halong Bay and Hue, we were all glad to slow down and spend three nights in our next stop, Hoi An.
Hoi An’s a port city half-way down the dragon-shaped country and it’s really the jewel of Vietnam. Vietnam is known as the “Ascending Dragon” due to its shape–we passed a famous bridge in Danang shaped like an undulating dragon.
Hoi An was spared bombing during the war and has emerged in the past twenty years as a must-see stop for with its beautiful shops and restaurants and relaxed feel where you can stroll without breathing exhaust fumes. In the 18th century, ships from China and Japan visited Hoi An for the spice trade, and you can see that legacy in the architecture.
Come dusk the old town is alight with thousands of lanterns glowing orange, red and yellow, draped over the streets and bridges. On those bridges people lower paper lanterns onto the river in a colorful regatta (though they’re discouraging this due to the trash it generates on the riverbanks).
