So you're planning a trip and you're wondering how far you'll get South East Asia within four to six

months? This is my list of places I visited in four months without rushing from one place to another using

local transportation when possible and flights when needed, including Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar,

Laos, Cambodia, the Philippines and a little bit of Vietnam. It can easily be stretched to six months by

staying longer at a few great places or by adding a few.

I've visited Indonesia on other trips, therefore I didn't include it on this one.

I have this romantic picture about markets in my head. I see myself wandering through the narrow alleys, picking up artisan fabrics and smelling exotic spices while probably becoming best friends with an old lady who has been working there for decades.

Well, those of you who have been to Asia might have made the same not so romantic experience there, that I had to learn. A wet market is a very smelly place and the whole "same same"-thing is only charming on your first day there.

So after ripping one of my two pairs of trousers on a motorbike in Malapascua and being in desperate need for replacement, I dragged going to a market in Phnom Penh assuming it would be se same annoying experience. Thankfully, I had become friends with Ady, an Australian girl who I could talk into coming with me, as she wanted to buy a shirt for her boyfriend anyways.