I will fly from NYC to Hong Kong and then to Singapore. Once there I will take the train north through Malaysia and into Thailand, stopping along the way as I so please. Right now the plan is to fly out of Bangkok two weeks later, routing again through Hong Kong before proceeding back to NYC. The current itinerary looks something like this:
I settled on this trip over a few other options. I thought about backpacking from Hanoi to Saigon, but I decided to pass - I'd prefer to do Vietnam with someone familiar with the local language or custom. Japan I considered strongly, but the weather has been crazy there lately and they've been having some major power issues with the nuclear disaster (cost in Japan is more of an issue too). South America is high on my list, but there will be a lot of hiking on the Inca Trail which would be more fun to do with someone else than solo (same goes for climbing Kilimanjaro in Tanzania).
The good thing about this trip is that I won't suffer through the language barrier as much; Singapore's official language is English, Malaysia used to be a British colony, and Thailand has a lot of English speakers come through anyway. Traveling by train is a plus; maximum flexibility, perfect for a solo traveler who has no plans other than to "wing it" each step of the way.
Additionally, the itinerary could change at the last minute. The only constant is that I need to make it back to Hong Kong by March 10th or so when I fly back to NYC. There are lots of cities in the area that I'd really like to see, so a detour could be possible if I can secure a flight back to Hong Kong:
Of these possibilities, Saigon is most likely. I had already applied for a Vietnam visa because I thought I might be going there, so routing through Ho Chi Minh City at the end could be cool if I have an extra 2-3 days.
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