Asia Bucket List: Phuket, Saigon, Taipei edition 2023

I’m back to tell you about my latest trip. This was two weeks in late August to mid September 2023. We went to Phuket, Thailand –> Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam –> Taipei, Taiwan.

1. Cross a country off my yet to visit list.

I’ve visited Thailand and Vietnam before, but not Taiwan, so this was country #84. Or maybe 85 or 83. Depending on what you consider a country. Like, Puerto Rico isn’t a country, but what about Curacao? Or even Taiwan?

2. Eat different street food

Do you ever watch Youtube videos of street food? I love watching the vendors make the food and then seeing other people try the food. Like Dancing Bacons. I watch it when I want mindless entertainment.

So of course we went all in on the street foods in Vietnam and Taiwan and Thailand. We tried mochi, red bean paste desserts, scallion pancakes, mango sticky rice. Oh man. The food!

3. Eat excellent sushi

We ate some truly delicious sushi in Vietnam and Taipei. Isn’t that one of the whole points of traveling? Trying wonderful foods.

4. Eat banh mi

I’m not normally a sandwich person outside of necessity, but one has to try banh mi when in Vietnam. They’re everywhere.

5. See a buddha

Buddhas are also everywhere in Thailand! So this was an easy item to cross off. We saw the Big Buddha. We had a very pleasant, if sweaty, hike to it where we did some bushwhacking to clear the way.

6. Check out the tunnels in Ho Chi Minh

I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t know that Ho Chi Minh was also called Saigon. I thought they were different cities. Ho Chi Minh has these really cool tunnels just outside the city. The Vietcong built them to fight the U.S. basically and it all sounds pretty horrific. We went through the tunnels which was a bit claustrophobic, but interesting to see. It cost $17.90.

7. Spend a lot of time in the pool

I’m trying to learn to swim. Article on that coming. Maybe. If I ever learn. It’s so hard.

8. Jump off a boat into water

This too was a quest to learn to swim. I didn’t do this because the water was too choppy.

9. Go to the hot springs in Beitou, Taiwan

There are two options for the hot springs. You can go to a traditional springs where you’re naked and segregated by sex or you can choose a more modern spring where you’re with the opposite sex, but you have to wear a modest swimsuit. We chose the latter option.

It’s mostly consists of the older generation staring at you. Still cool. It cost, like a dollar. We went to the public pools.

10. Get a massage in Thailand

The trick is to go to the most expensive parlor you can find. It’ll still be relatively cheap, but the service will be phenomenal. I think we spent $90 on a 90-minute couple’s massage. Fantastic.

Cost

Flights ~$1,412/person

Accommodations ~ $538/person. We got these so cheap because east Asia (except for Taipei) is cheap in general and we split it five ways. Boyfriend’s friend and boyfriend’s friend’s brother and boyfriend’s friend’s brother’s wife came on this adventure as well.

Activities ~$250/person. We went island hopping ($33.69), fed and hugged elephants ($27.97), went on a bike tour in Taiwan ($65), saw an opera in Saigon ($47.73), smoked hookah in Taiwan ($8), and more.

Food/Drink ~? I don’t know. I didn’t keep track of this very closely. We’d have to eat regardless of where we were, so we’d be spending money on this. That’s what I figure anyway.

Cabs/Ubers/Grabs/Motorcycles ~ $230. Some of that was split five ways.

We also Airbnb’d out our house while we were away and made $2,094. Which sounds pretty good, but we spent $520 on cleaning fees because we were gone. We need to increase the minimum number of days to three instead of just one next time. Lesson learned.

Souvenirs – $0. I didn’t buy earrings! I have enough.

Total: I don’t know. I didn’t add it up.

Big giant man hugs,
Anita