Hey guys, Originally I'm from New York but I'm doing some digital nomading right now.
My journey started with about 1 week in Dubai, followed by 3 weeks in India, and then I reached my main destination, which was Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.
I've been here for about 2 months, and I definitely love it here. It's a great city and everything. Love the food, the people, etc. I rented my apartment here for 3 months, so I have about one month left.
Since I've already been in Vietnam for a long time, I'm feeling a little burned out by it, and I had the idea that I should travel to some of the neighboring countries. Since I live in New York, it's very hard for me to get to this part of the world. But since I have this Vietnam apartment, I could keep most of my suitcases here, and just travel light with a small bookbag somewhere. Then before my apartment runs out, come back, take all my stuff and fly back to New York.
I might get crucified for this, but I would prefer a city that has a pretty active Tinder scene. Tinder has worked really well for me in Ho Chi Minh, and I'm not the type to go out to bars or clubs anyways, since I'm introverted. So I use tinder to meet cool locals and explore the city with them.
So out of the list in my title, any recommendations? I'm considering possibly even going to 2 cities, maybe spend 2 weeks in each.
Right now I'm angling towards Bangkok. Since Thailand is cool, and it's the closest to Vietnam. Although I'm very interested in Philippines and Indonesia too. Chengdu has been on my bucket list for like 6 years, and I noticed the flight from HCM to it is only $80, but I would need to get a China tourist visa, and I'm not sure how hard that is.
Korea would be cool too, but I feel like Seoul would definitely be the most expensive option. Plus like I said I'm not really into clubs or bars, which it seems is what a lot of Korean people like.
Do you guys have any recommendations or suggestions?
Avoid Jakarta, we have been here for 2 months and cannot stop counting the days until we leave. This for us is country number 25 and Jakarta has been the worst city. People are very very nice but there are two things that made our stay miserable.
pollution. Jakarta is very polluted, it is hard to breathe and make it is impossible to go out unless you plan on wearing a mask all day. We didn't believe that the quality index was something to worry about but from now on it is something we will look at before choosing our destinations.
TRAFFIC!!!! 5 miles usually take 45 minutes to 1 hour and 30 minutes. Your days will be gone.
Fyi we are a family of 4 so we are stuck taking taxi or grabs maybe if you are willing to get in the back of a scooter traffic won't be a problem but it's still hell.
We visited other parts of Indonesia but pollution is still high, Bali is not even Indonesia with all the expats