This is my (very) ambitious first itinerary. It will change both before I leave, and whilst I’m on the road, but here goes…
I’ll start by leaving Australia some time in October or December, 2009, by flying to Bali, Indonesia where I’ll spend a few days, maybe a week, of relaxing and getting used to being totally independant, before heading north - west through Indonesia. I’ll make sure to check out Yogyakarta (and nearby Borobudur), Bandang, Jakarta, Padang, Parapat and Medan. Then I’ll hop over to Singapore, after a month or so in Indonesia, where I’ll spend about a week - hopefully taking in the 2010 New Years Eve. After Singapore I head north overland into Peninsula Malaysia.
Now in Malaysia, and coming into mid-to-late January, I’ll check out the sights, sounds, hustle and bustle of Kuala Lumpur for a few days, and then make it overland into Thailand via train (with a few stops on the way). Now that I’m in the backpacker haven that is Thailand, the going should be a little quicker and easier. I’ll start with a few days on Koh Pa Ngan, and Island which I spent a week or two on when I was younger, before heading up by train to Bangkok where I’ll spend a week, enjoying the hustle and bustle and hopefully lots of great street food and such. Still in Thailand, I’ll meander northwards to Chiang Mai and then East, eventually crossing the border in Vientiane, Laos.
Next, I’ll take it slow down to Cambodia where I’ll spend about two weeks checking out Siem Reap and Phnom Penh. By now It should be late March or very early April, so I’ll take a quick two or three weeks to traverse through Vietnam, starting in Ho Chi Minh and ending up in Hanoi, and then hop over the border to China before the end of April.
Now in China, I’ll start by checking out Guangzhou and Hong Kong, where I’ll check out the Electronics boutiques, and then keep heading north till I make it to Shanghai. By now It’ll be time to check out Beijing - a week or so should cover all the sights around here - before flying over to Tokyo. I’ll take two days off to check out the vibrant sounds and colours of Tokyo, and then head up to Niigata and Sapporo. After sampling the very best beer that Japan has to offer, I’ll head down south-west to take in Osaka, Hiroshima, Okayama and more, before finally heading east, stopping first at Mt Fuji, before spending a final week or so in Tokyo.
It’ll be back to China for now, where first I’ll stop in Beijing to organize a Tibetan visa, then I’ll do the history-run checking out all the historical sights such as the Terracotta Warriors, and then I’ll make it overland into Tibet for a week or two. After Tibet I’ll head overland into Nepal. Maybe I’ll do a trek, maybe I won’t - I’ll just have to see what happens at the time.. Then It’s over to India for my lengthiest stay in any country on my whole journey. I’ll spend over two months in India, seeing the likes of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Darjeerling and more, until the mid-September when I’ll head over the border to Pakistan.
I’ll spend the rest of September taking in the sights of Pakistan, before heading through Iran quickly on my way to Turkey. A month in Turkey should suffice enough for me to enjoy myself. I’ll visit the touristy Gallipoli, and check out Ankara, but I also want to spend at least a week enjoying life in Istanbul. I hear the night-life their is pretty pumpin’.
Next it’s on to Greece and the start of the Eastern-European leg of my adventures. We’ll start with two weeks in Greece, moving on up through Eastern Europe. Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine - it’s all on the agenda. It’ll now be mid or late January after Ukraine, and I’ll try to head into Russia to see Moscow and Saint Petersburg - visa permitting. Then from Estonia I’ll head down through Latvia and Lithuania to Poland where I won’t miss Warsaw or Krakow, before heading in the Czech Republic - emphasis on Prague. After the Czech Republic, I’ll go down south through Austria and Slovenia to Croatia, checking out lake Bled in Slovenia and ending up at Dubrovnik in Croatia from which I’ll ferry it over to Italy.
Now in Western Europe, I start in Italy by visiting sites such as Pompeii, Rome (and the Vatican!), Florence, Verona and Venice. I’ll spend at least three or four days in Venice to fully take it in (and enjoy that lovely ice cream. Gelato anyone?). After Italy, I head north into Switzerland with a quick stop in Lichtenstein before invading Germany. Check out Munich, Berlin and Hamburg before it’s time to move on to the Netherlands, particularly Amsterdam. After checking out the land of clogs and windmills, down south I’ll head through Brussels and Luxembourg, and into France.
When in France, I’ll bee-line it straight down south (maybe take a few days, to allow for a stop or two along the way) and then check out Monaco with a day trip. From here I head west, stopping at a town or two, maybe stopping for some bull fighting, before popping quickly into Andorra.