Itinerary Change!

The devastating earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan five days ago have forced us to change our plans. We were originally scheduled to land in Tokyo on March 20th and then spend eleven days touring the country before heading to China.  We had almost everything booked for Japan for the exception of the railway tickets, which I was planning on buying sometime this week. We first heard about the earthquake when we landed in Nha Trang.  Initially, I was very optimistic as I never thought we would have to eliminate Japan from the itinerary.  The initial reports from Tokyo indicated there was minimal damage and few casualties.  For the next two days we were glued to the TV and internet as we learned more and more about the horrific damage the tsunami actually caused.   I am still in shock by the video footage and images from Japan.  I can't imagine what that could have felt like and the pain and suffering people are going through right now.  There is just no way we could visit Japan at a moment like this.

We have had to work quick the past couple of days and come up with a back up plan for the 11 days that were scheduled to be spent in Japan.  After hours on the phone talking to American Airlines, Air Asia, Sheraton, and Hyatt we have come up with a new set of places to visit from March 20th to March 31st.  Here is where we are going:

March 20th - March 25th: Kota Kinabalu, Borneo (Malaysia)
March 25th - March 28th: Siem Reap, Cambodia
March 28th - March 31st: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

We will update the blog shortly with our visits to Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.  Tomorrow we head to Ho Chi Minh city before flying to Hong Kong on Thursday.  Hope you are all doing well! Thanks for reading!