South Pacific

Hi All,
We've just returned from a wonderful vacation in South East Asia - we feel like traitors to the South Pacific Forum, but we had to do it. We traveled Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia & Singapore & had a great time, the people we fantastic, the sights were awesome BUT we'll see you in the South Pacific again next year!
Vanuatu in March 2008 & Noumea & Loyalty Islands in October 2008.

I too did SEA this year... and combined it with Samoa.

The food and culture of Thailand are wonderful, the rubbish strewn/crowded beaches, hounding merchants, and oft ruined landscapes were not.

That being said, I find food of the Pacific to be normally pretty bland and the variety poor compared to SEA.

Both regions have their merits but if someone can introduce Mangosteens, gilded temples and green curry to Samoa all would be perfect.

The Pacific still wins all-around though... hands down.

Moderator! Moderator! Ban these two handles IMMEDIATELY!!

Even the devout stray on occasion........

It's kind of apples and oranges.

I love both and am glad no one forces me to choose just one of these two regions to visit in the future.

If that happened, I'd probably still go for SEA as long as all of Indonesia (notably Maluku and West Papua) are included.
The SEA mainland is an altogether different category.

Vanuatu and New Caledonia are places that have no equals in SEA though for sure!

We will be able to compare the two as well as we are heading to Asia for the first time in March,2008. A favorite niece is teaching in South Korea so we thought we would combine a visit to her with exploring some more of that area of the world. Will be doing a similar route to yours Fernsie -maybe I can pick your brain for information!

No need for apologies. Travel broadens the mind. Travelling outside the PI gives you a grounding for comparison. Besides ,you've seen the errors of your ways and returned to the fold.

Thankyou all for your forgiveness.
Not a problem newfie - just pm me when the time comes. We travelled with another couple & booked nothing from home in advance, other than our 1st nights accomodation in Siem Reap - all accomodation, flights etc we booked on the net as we required them.