Far East Travels Podcast

Tom MacLean is a travel expert and travel entrepreneur who has been a professional in the travel industry for 20 years. Tom is also a world traveler and extremely passionate about travel and like all of us who love travel is dying to get on a plane and explore the world. Tom gives us his opinion as an industry expert on the current travel landscape and when we can realistically expect to travel in...

The Thai government voted this week to implement a new 90 day tourist visa that would be available from possibly sometime in October. This 90 tourist visa would cost 200 baht and be extendable up to two times allowing a tourist to stay in Thailand for up to 9 months. So far it appears tourists would be allowed to visit Thailand from Taiwan, China, and some European countries. For more information...

I was recently inspired by two articles published this year by National Geographic and The Washington Post on why it's so important for our mental health to continue making travel plans during this pandemic. I have suffered the same state as everyone else who is used to making travel plans. Why bother, when we don't know when we'll be able to travel freely? The simple reason is it helps us move fo...

Will Phuket be opening up to select international travelers October 1st? That's the question, actually there are several things regarding the "Phuket Model" that haven't been cleared up one of which is will it actually open up at all, let alone October 1st. There are lots of stipulations regarding travel to Phuket that can only best be cleared up by checking with your local Thai Embassy or Consula...

Currently there are no countries issuing tourist visas in either Southeast Asia or East Asia. I think it's safe to say that with a possible exception of one or two countries it will still be some time before travel for tourists will resume in these regions. With the recent resurgence of COVID-19, particularily where there had not been any community cases detected in months I would not expect count...

In this episode I share how lately I've opened up my imagination to travel through watching Indian cinema and looking back at my last extensive trip to Mumbai and South India. I've chatted with a few of you about when we'll be able to travel again and helped some of you with thinking about your travel plans for 2021. Personally I have also been finding it difficult to visualize travel with the cur...

Honestly I really don't know why I don't talk about Malaysian Borneo-Sarawak/Sabah more! I have so many wonderful memories of these places to eating amazing seafood dinners to climbing to the roof of Borneo on Mt. Kinabalu. In this episode I cover the main centers of the states of Sarawak and Sabah, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu respectively. Of course there's tons of other places to see and adventure...

Thi Nghe Market located in Binh Thanh District, a short ride from District 1 of Ho Chi Minh City is a bustling non-tourist market. This market has been in this location for over 200 years and today is still a popular spot for locals to shop. I'm here to share the sights and sounds, they are overwhelming at times, but will definitely give you a sense of what it's like to visit one of these markets....

Thought I would review some of my best tips for getting prepared for a trek whether it's one of the amazing trails of Nepal, Mt. Kilimanjaro, or trekking and climbing in South America. These are places that I have trekked and explored and the training is really not much different. Considering we are still in a global pandemic the chances you'll be out doing any of these adventures soon is unlikely...

I'm tired of talking about closed borders, expiring visa and repatriation flights. Let's get back to dreaming and planning our next trip or adventure. In this episode I rundown my top 5 treks to do in Nepal from the bucket list Everest Base Camp Trek to the exotic, spirituality and intellectually stimulating Upper Mustang. My love affair with Nepal started 10 years ago with an extension overland t...

Want to learn some super valuable tips to help you plan out your flights for the future? Jesse Neugarten is the founder of the Dollar Flight Club, a membership based service that offers members who sign up exceptional deals on flights throughout the world. Jesse has been a traveler most of his life having been born and raised in South Africa he started seeing much of the world from an early age. H...

Retired CNN/ABC News/Reuters photojournalist Stephan Patterson shares stories from his career spent in the Middle East, including his meeting with Yasser Arafat, The Bosnian War, and his recent trip to Vietnam. Stephan shares his thoughts from the ground on how Vietnam has been coping with the COVID-19 pandemic compared with his experience returning to the United States. I'm very honored to have S...

Finding a doctor for a specific ailment isn't always easy when you're traveling abroad. In this episode I share a recent personal experience and a couple of handy tips that can help with your search in a strange city for a doctor. I also give a quick update on COVID-19 traveler news in the region-Southeast Asia. Help others discover the Far East Travels Podcast:https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/...

Sharing what's happening in East Asia and Southeast Asia as travel restrictions become more tight, flights out almost non-existent and support scarce. This information and stories are hopefully comforting that you are not the only one going through a challenging and stressful time. I would like to hear from you if you're interested in sharing your experience or story. It may be some time before we...

My apologies to those who are currently stranded the information in this podcast is more to inform others as to the current situation in the region. Of course you are already aware of the limitations and options if you are stranded somewhere, my thoughts are with you and I hope that you can resolve your situtation as quickly and safely as possible. This is an unprecedented and totally unexpected c...

Things are changing every few hours it seems here as more cases of COVID-19 appear in different countries affecting global travel. For those that are still traveling in Southeast Asia it's best to talk to your embassy if you're needing to get back to your home country. If you're wanting to extend your current visa considerations are changing every week. Last week I was told extensions were not pos...

DaveinOsaka is a live-streamer on Periscope/Twitter and often shares his travel experiences and daily life from Osaka, Japan where he is an English Professor. Dave is a frequent guest on the podcast and in this episode I've asked him to share his experience of visiting Bangkok during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dave shares with us everything from what it's like to visit the normally crowded shopping ma...

For all of those entering Vietnam you will now be required to fill out a declaration of health form. You can either do this at the airport on arrival or fill out the form and submit it on this website. You will need your arrival gate number so you might not be able to do this until you receive your boarding pass for Vietnam:https://suckhoetoandan.vn/khaiyte Nothing new has changed since the last e...

Latest news on changes to the Vietnam Visa program. Upcoming changes that could affect your trip after July 1, 2020. Coronavirus/Covid-19 upate with travel updates/restrictions for arrivals to Vietnam from Korea. General update for East Asia/Southeast Asia. Thanks for listening! Help support the podcast with your pledge or donation! Monthly pledge/exclusive content access:https://www.patreon.com/F...

Bringing you the latest from East Asia and Southeast Asia on the coronavirus/COVID-19 situation. All flights from Korea will now be quarantined and as of March 5 all Vietnam Airlines scheduled flights from Korea to Vietnam are cancelled. Unless Korea is your home or you must be there for business you should change your travel plans. Even if you are transiting through Korea there are some countries...

More on the ground COVID-19 updates from Asia! In this episode travelblogger and frequent contributor to the Far East Travels Podcast Bruno Black gives us an update from Taipei on the COVID-19 situation. According to Bruno Taiwan had learned alot from it's experience dealing with the SARS crisis of 2002/03 and has implemented many strategies in order to deal with the current COVID-19 or coronaviru...

I've invited Niall Gibson who is a resident of Kyoto, Japan, a travel expert and host of the Kyoto Fun Podcast to fill us in on the COVID-19, coronavirus situation in Japan. The U.S. State Department has now raised the travel advisory to Level 2 for Japan. We'll explain what that means, as well as filling you in on what attractions are currently closed and what to expect as far as booking hotels a...

I'm back in Ho Chi MInh, (Saigon), Vietnam with an update on the current COVID-19 situation from Southeast Asia and East Asia. Travel news and travel tips and individual stories of how people are coping with the current travel challenges. Stories from Vietnam, Taiwan, as well as some suggestions on gateway cities for entering Southeast Asia and what to expect. Thanks for listening! Help support th...

The worldwide death toll for the Coronavirus or COVID-19 is now at over 1,000. Certainly this virus should be a serious concern for those in areas where it's widespread like in Hubei Province, China. For those traveling in other parts of Asia taking normal precautions like washing your hands regularly, not touching your face with your hands, using a hand santizer should help prevent you from catch...

Walk with me around some of the nightmarkets and hot night spots of Siem Reap as I assess the serious drop in tourism as a result of the coronavirus outbreak. Unfortunately this is severely impacting tourism in the town that's the gateway to Angkor Wat, much due to the decrease in Chinese traveling. There has only been one official report of a man that tested positive for the virus who was visitin...