The journey to Singapore has been voted as officially the worst journey of the trip, with 2 votes out of 2. We booked the night bus from Penang, which painfully goes through Kuala Lumpar, where we’d be returning only a few days later for our flight. Even more painfully, we found out after booking the bus that it’s only £7 more to fly, and about 10 hours quicker. Damn it. 

Anyway, what’s one more night bus? We thought. Oh my, how we underestimated this one.

The Journey from Hell

The journey began in Penang where we got a taxi to the bus station. From there we were loaded onto a mini bus to another bus station. From here, we got on our bus, hooray! Which we naively expected to take us to our destination. The seats were reclining and quite comfy, and the possibility of sleep didn’t seem too far fetched. All was going smoothly, until we stopped just outside KL at about 3am to drop off some people. As the bus went to leave, we could hear the engine struggling to start again. We spent the next hour on a motorway slip road, listening to the driver frantically revving the engine. Finally he admitted defeat and another bus turned up which we were herded on to. From here we continued to the Malaysian border, at about 7am. We were tired and confused, and made to get off with all of our bags. Once we’d been stamped out of Malaysia, we walked back to board the bus, and the driver pointed to yet another bus, this time an over-full public bus, where we had to stand in the aisle with our bags for the border crossing into Singapore for a good half an hour. 

Then once again it was back off with our bags. We always have a habit of picking the wrong queue for things, and unfortunately got stuck in the line for passport control for about 30 minutes while everyone else sailed through. Once finally through, we went down to the bus terminal, and (no surprises), the bus had left without us. 

By this point we were weary and a bit grumpy, but along with our new friend Alizé from California, we navigated the metro system, taking 3 trains and walking for 10 minutes, FINALLY arriving at our hostel. 

15 hours of travel, 2 countries, 8 different vehicles, 2 extremely tired girls. Luckily our hostel let us have late breakfast when we checked in, and our room was ready shortly afterwards.

Exploring Singapore, Day 1 

Despite the awful journey, and feeling like zombies, we only had 3 days in Singapore and wanted to maximise our time there. So we were straight out to explore! First we hopped on the metro to Chinatown and wandered through the streets soaking up the atmosphere. Next we went for lunch at the Maxwell food court, which had been recommended to us. There were many different cuisines so we excitedly hurried around them all. Until I realised not one of them had a vegetarian option. I learned pretty quickly that Singapore is not very veggie friendly, especially if you’re eating street food! Luckily, there was a salad bar that did amazing salads, so I built my own meat-free salad. Chloe also got a salad….good start to the Singapore food from us! We also grabbed ourselves a much needed coffee to try and soldier on!

Next we went and explored Merlion Park, with the famous lion statue. From here you had a great view of Marina Sands hotel, the science museum, and the bay. 

By the end of the day we were exhausted – we had walked 16km and were totally burnt out. So much so we ended up grabbing a pizza and eating it in the hostel before having an early night. 

Kranji War Memorial

On our second day we were up early and on a long hour and a half journey to the other side of the city, to Kranji War Memorial. This is one of the places I’ve wanted to visit since planning the trip, and for a very personal reason; my great uncle Joe is buried there.

Joseph Ovenden, my grandad’s brother on my mum’s side was a Gunner, serving with the 118th Field Artillery from the Royal Artillery in Woolwich. He was sent to India during WW2 in 1941, but was only there for a very short amount of time, before news of the struggles against the Japanese in Singapore came through. Unfortunately the 118th were sent as reinforcements to Singapore, where their equipment was not set up for the terrain, and none of them had experience of jungle warfare. They arrived in time to take part in the final week’s battle in Singapore, which unknown to them was a battle we had already lost before they even arrived. Joe’s regiment lost 22 men in this battle.

Following this, Joe and the other survivors became Japanese prisoners of war, and we believe he was made to work on the Burmese Railway construction, during which many more of his regiment were lost. Joe survived all of this, but was tragically killed 2 months shy of the end of the war, in a bomb raid on the camps by the Americans. On the 16th June 1945, Joe lost his life, aged 27. Joe was buried at Kranji War Memorial and has rested there ever since. 

I have many memories of my grandad Dennis, and my great Aunts Rose and Mary, and I particularly remember Rose mentioning her brother Joe who died in the war. My grandad and great Aunts were incredibly important to me, so I wanted to pay my respect to their brother. 

After a long journey, we arrived at the most peaceful place in the city. Kranji is on a hill, at the edge of Singapore, surrounded by the skyscrapers and hubbub of the city, whilst being its own little peaceful haven. 

The memorial at the top of the cemetery was a striking one, listing the names of all those lost. There were many rows of pristinely/kept graves, with elegant planting. Following my mum’s detailed instructions, I easily found my great uncle’s grave. I’d taken along a photo of him which I propped up against the grave. It occurred to me that he had been buried there, so far from home, for 72 years. I felt sad and lonely for him, so I sat with him for a long time, and told him about our family now. I felt sad to leave, but pleased to have visited – it’s such an important part of my family’s history. If I ever return to Singapore I will make another trip. In the words of his mother, who wrote to him during the war, ‘Keep Smiling Joe’.

Gardens by the Bay

After a moving morning, we headed out for the afternoon/evening at the Gardens by the Bay. Here we saw some superb structures with climbers all over them, and lots of different themed gardens. It was really cool to explore! Then at 7.45pm, the light show began. They have these every night – the plant towers are all lit up and a light show is designed to music, with the climatic moment to Nessun Dorma. It was fantastic! 

Universal Studios 

On our final day in Singapore we decided to treat ourselves and have an entire day of fun at Universal Studios! 

We headed there early and went straight to the biggest rollercoasters to try and beat the queues – we managed to ride the two biggest within the first half an hour. It was certainly a shock to the system though! There were plenty of rides, shows and cinematic and interactive experiences. The Stephen Spielberg interactive show was great, and I absolutely loved the 3D Transformers tide, despite never having seen the film; the 3D work was absolutely superb. 

We even went on the Madagascar-themed Merry Go Round! But by far our favourite ride of the day was Galactica, which we went on about 5 times. It was a pretty extreme rollercoaster, and we loved it! 

By 6pm we were absolutely done – our bodies really couldn’t handle being thrown upside anymore, so we headed home! 

Cocktails at Marina Bay Sands

We finished our time in Singapore in the fanciest way possible – with a Singapore Sling each on the rooftop of Marina Bay Sands hotel. We enviously looked over the hotel guests enjoying the rooftop infinity pool, and vowed to return when we’re rich (rooms start at £400 per night….our trip average is about £4 per night!!) 

And with that, our short but active stop over in Singapore had come to an end. We had one destination left in Asia, so before we knew it we were back on the bus the next morning, back through the border and headed to Kuala Lumpar – our last stop! 

Annie x

After a few days apart we joyfully reunited with Ros at her hostel in George Town. After a long journey, and with me still feeling the after effects of sun stroke, we were in no rush to be active on the first day. We were more than happy to relax and have a little wander around the town, admiring the unique colonial/Chinese/Islamic influenced architecture and scoping out the best street food and drinking spots.

Street Art

Georgetown is famous for its ubiquitous street art that’s scattered around the city, with wall paintings and sculptures hidden behind just about every corner. One of our favourite things to do here was the self-guided street art tour; we took a little map from the hostel and went off exploring, finding all the suggested art pieces we could, and posing for pictures on the various interactive sculptures.

My favourites were the part sculpture, part paintings by Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic, in particular ‘Brother and Sister on a Swing’ and ‘Little Children on Bicycle’.

Little India

Malaysia is the very definition of a melting pot of cultures, with it’s population primarily made up of Malay, Chinese and Indian citizens, among many others.

It was no accident that our hostel in Penang was located just outside Little India, Indian restaurants having been one of our go-to dining options throughout the trip. We were spoiled for choice here and ended up eating Indian food every day, sometimes twice a day, taking full advantage of the tasty treats available. From the delicious 0.60 ringgit veggie samosas from roadside stalls (that equates to about 10p), to the full on thali meals at lunch time – a selection of curries and sides all for around $2, we felt we’d successfully eaten our way around Little India.

Penang National Park

Penang National Park is renowned for its huge variety of wildlife and pretty jungle walks, and it was high on our list of sights to see. When visiting you have a few options for how to get around – we were hoping to take the picturesque walk all the way through to monkey beach, but unfortunately due to recent landslides parts of the route were blocked off and we had to go for option B. This included a walk part of the way, followed by a long boat. We met some Spanish girls at the entrance gate who became our travel buddies and fellow boat passengers for the day.

On the short hike that was still accessible we spotted many giant monitor lizards – pretty startling at first, but then amazing to watch them lumbering across the path or looking much more graceful as they swam along the shore.

When we reached the pier and got into the long boat we were in for yet another stomach churning journey thanks to reckless sailing – this guy seemed like he was in it for a race rather than a simple trip across the bay! But before long we landed on monkey beach, coming face to face with its namesake primates, looking like they were ready to steal our bags. We took a seat on some rope swings, chilling as far from the monkeys as possible, sunbathing and reading our books for the duration of our stay there.

Upside Down House

One tourist hotspot we knew we had to visit in Penang was the Upside Down House; a museum dedicated to novelty photos of guests hanging from the ‘ceiling’ was something we just couldn’t pass up. It was pretty busy when we arrived and we found it hilarious being chaotically herded through the rooms at top speed, shown exactly how to pose for the best effect and having our photos snapped by staff in each room. There was quite a queue and no time to be wasted as we were rushed through to the next room as soon as we were done.

It was a surreal hour and we were back outside before we knew it, but we were beyond pleased with the photos we got, which we think are pretty hilarious.

By this point in the trip we were running low on time before our flights to Australia, so it was a short but sweet visit to Penang, and we were soon on the move again ready to hop the border into Singapore for a few days, before returning to Malaysia for our flights from Kuala Lumpur.

Chloe x

Our journey to Malaysia was horrendous. We’ve had plenty of bad journeys along the way, but back then we were fresh-faced, excited little travellers. Now we are old, grumpy and weary, and getting moved from bus to bus (three shitty mini buses in total), then a sketchy ferry ride, a long border crossing and an expensive taxi ride later we finally arrived at our accommodation, Gecko guesthouse! They were fully booked on hostel world, but I messaged them on Facebook before I went off WIFI, and we turned up in the hope that they’d got my message and had a room. As we walked into the bar, the guy behind the bar Roy called out ‘Annie?’. Music to my ears. We had a private fan room where we dropped our bags, and headed out to get dinner. We’d not eaten all day (read as: we’d eaten only junk food all day), so we excited to have a proper meal. We went out to find Malaysian food and accidentally found ourselves in a French Crepe restaurant. It had been a pretty crepe day, but this certainly made it seem a lot better! 

Explorin’

We’re keen scooter riders, which you’ll know by now if you’ve been reading this. So we hired scooters from the most awesome woman called Lio, who ran a travel shop at the end of our road. She was certainly a character, and we ended up spending a lot of time chatting to her, laughing and exchanging stories. 

Off we went – a 20km ride to the cable car. Luckily it was well-sign posted and the roads were actually really good, so it made the ride pretty fun – we could spend more time enjoying it and less time worrying about meeting our end in a sad-looking pothole. 

The Cable Car

The cable car is one of the must-dos in Langkawi. The president of Langkawi had the idea for it when flying over the mountains in a helicopter in 2000, and in 2001 his dream became a reality as work began – with Austria’s finest architects coming across to construct it. It is the steepest cable car in the world and also has the most distance between supports. Something like that anyway, I’m writing this after a glass of wine – but I believe this to be true.

We queued for a while, got to the front of the queue, then realised we were supposed to buy tickets before we joined the queue, ughhh. So we asked the woman if we could rejoin the queue at the same place once we’d bought tickets, and she nodded. So off we went to buy our tickets. We returned 10 minutes later, and she got all sassy at us and made us go to the back of the line. Chloe had more fight in her than me, and pleaded our case, but to no avail. So we went back to the end and did what Brits do best. 30 minutes of queuing later, we boarded the cable car! The sides of the car were entirely glass, and I’m not going to lie and saw I wasn’t totally freaked at how high we went, and my mind did begin to picture us dropping 3 million feet to our deaths. Other than that, I quite enjoyed it. 

There were a couple of viewing points along the way, and the views were superb. On a clearer day, you can see some of the Thai islands, but on our day all we could see was blue – we couldn’t actually tell where the sky ended and the sea begun, which was pretty cool. And the views of Langkawi were great – what a beautiful, tropical island it is!

3D Art Museum

Included in our ticket price was the 3D art museum, so we thought we’d check it out. It was basically loads of optical illusions that you could take pictures in front of (yeah, spoiler, I didn’t swim underwater and Chloe didn’t find a mysterious palace. But it was very fun and we enjoyed an hour or so goofing around taking pictures. Then we had doughnuts for lunch. At this point we decided we quite like being adults, cos we can do what we want.

7 Wells Waterfall

Next we headed to the 7 Wells Waterfalls which…you guessed it, was formed from 7 wells. We made the hike up the 300-odd steps to the top, and my god did we complain about it in the heat. At the top we were greeting by an awesome sight – lots of little pools where you could swim. The rocks were really slippery with algae, but we quickly learned from other people that this made it an awesome slide, and we slid down the rocks! The view was great – we could see down the waterfall, the sea, and up to the mountains and the cable car. After a bit of floating in the pools, we headed down to the bottom and did pretty much the same thing.

Finally, as weary little travellers, we hopped back on our bikes and headed back. We stopped at the gas station to refuel, and looked like absolute amateurs trying to refill a bike. We eventually worked it out and were back on the road. One of the coolest things happened on the way back; the road passes the airport and literally wraps around the runway, and as we were riding along one side of the runway we could see a plane in the distance coming in to land. It flew right over our heads as we turned the corner to the end of the runway. It literally nearly touched us (it probably didn’t, but it felt that close), then as we rode along the other side of the runway we were driving alongside the plane, with only a fence in between us. I can’t remember the last time I felt that cool.

10 minutes later, we found we were quite lost and a bit stressed, and I found myself feeling a little less cool. I should also add that I was wearing a child’s helmet, which was actually the best fitting helmet I’d worn in Asia. Finally we got home and returned our bikes.

We grabbed a cheap dinner (£1 noodles/rice) and back at the hostel we had a happy hour glass of wine. We’d been stressing about what to do the next day and were trying to find a tour or something cool to do. But then we realised we have a busy week and a half ahead of us, and after some wine we decided f**k it, we’re gonna have a beach day and chill out tomorrow. We deserve it, right?

So that night we let our hair down, drunk wine, ate crepes and enjoyed being alive.

Let’s go to the Beach!

Day two was an incredibly lazy one. We had talked about doing a tour around the islands, or going on a tour to the Geoforest park. However to be totally honest with you, by this point into our trip (nearly 4 months) we’re starting to feel quite weary, and money is tight. And I really couldn’t face another bloody boat after the terrifying experience on Koh Lanta (both tours involved boats). So we decided to do sweet F.A. Which turns out a good decision as Chloe suffered badly from heat stroke in the night, so a rest day was much needed.

The beach was right next to our guesthouse, the sands were virtually white, and the water crystal clear. It was a watersports beach, but there was a designated swimming area and the sea was LUSH. I still can’t quite get over how warm the sea is in Asia, its almost like getting into a lukewarm bath. 

We sunbathed, read our books and relaxed. And had ice cream for lunch. 

That evening we went to the crepe place again (3rd visit, no regrets), and went back to the guesthouse to drink more wine. It’s a duty free island after all, so when wine is tax-free its pretty much impossible to say no.

It was only a whistle stop, but what a beautiful island Langkawi is! A must-visit if you’re heading to Malaysia and want some relaxation in paradise!

Annie x

After a mostly soggy few days in Krabi, we were pretty excited to get some solid beach time on Koh Lanta. We were dreaming of the postcard-worthy beaches Thailand is famous for and we were not disappointed. 

Chill Out House

On our first night we headed to Chill Out House, an absolute hippy dream of a tree house hostel, filled with hammocks, tie dye sarongs and baggy-trouser-clad backpackers. We absolutely loved the vibe of this hostel and it was an awesome place to relax during the evening, but unfortunately the beds were little more than planks of wood and the plentiful mosquito population deterred us from staying another night. Having spent a few months on the road we were happy to take the hit and splurge the extra 80 baht for some comfort, moving to a hostel just down the road with a proper fan and fully functioning hot showers, luxury.

Road Trippin’

We spent our time on Koh Lanta situated either on the sand or a scooter seat, spending much of our days riding around the island searching for the best beaches and viewpoints. The island turned out to be a lot larger than we’d originally thought, and although we managed to cover a lot of ground and see some gorgeous views, after our first day of exploring we still had so much to see. We headed back and flopped down on the beach, discovered one minute later by Giacomo, Matteo and Renzo, who had just arrived on the island. Koh Lanta sunsets were just as spectacular as Koh Tao’s, and we were truly spoiled by the dramatic light show in the sky every evening. We caught up over a few 7-Eleven beers and called it an early night.

The following day the 6 of us all hopped on scooters for a full island adventure, stopping at Lanta Old Town to check out the small shops and restaurants there, and a local fishing village towards the South of the island. We didn’t stop for too long as we were on a mission to get down to the National Park.

At the National Park we headed straight for the nature walk, which to be honest, we had underestimated and struggled through quite begrudgingly due to the heat. It was a steep uphill climb through jungle and after several hours driving around in the sun, none of us were in the best shape. After we’d huffed and puffed our way through the trail, we settled on Epic Beach for a well-deserved and scenic rest.

On the way back, around 20km away from the hostel, Matteo’s scooter decided it had had enough after an already ropey journey. The engine had struggled to get him up the hill at the best of times and had finally given up, resulting in a long wait for the rental company to come and pick him up. A not so perfect end to a pretty perfect day. 

4 Island Tour

Annie and I had planned to put our new diving certifications into practice during our stay on Koh Lanta, but unfortunately the storm and the waves had stirred up all the sand, resulting in visibility as low as 2 meters. Still craving some time underwater, we opted instead for the 4 island tour which includes snorkeling spots near the small islands close to Koh Lanta.

The initial boat journey to the first island was less than pleasant, with a stomach churning, rough sea and waves that soaked us all so regularly it was a struggle to open our eyes. When we arrived at our first snorkeling spot we could see from the surface that the water was full of jellyfish, also washed up by the storm. Having recently had a nasty jellyfish sting on Railay Beach I was not keen to experience this again, so Annie and I stayed firmly on the boat for this one. Ros, however, braved it and confirmed that the stinging was pretty relentless.

We were then taken to Morakot Cave, also known as the Emerald Cave, a lagoon accessible via a cave underneath the limestone rocks. After surveying the water there and seeing only a few jellyfish, we decided it was worth the risk. Swimming through a dark cave with just a torch is always a thrill, but with the added risk of unseen stingers we were a little on edge until we saw the light flooding in at the other end. We emerged into a gorgeous lagoon with shallow, clear water and a white sandy beach, completely surrounded by limestone rock.

Our second snorkeling stop was a real treat; we were able to swim away from the boat and towards a rocky outcrop to see the small reef and tropical fish hanging out there. The visibility wasn’t the best but still enough to see a mini underwater paradise.

The final stop of the day was Koh Ngai, which apart from a small resort, is relatively untouched and one of the most stunning beaches we’d seen on our trip. This was the paradise island we’d been waiting for in Thailand, the water was crystal clear and the sand powder white. The tour guides cooked up an incredible Thai buffet lunch which we tucked into on the beach, followed by bobbing about in the water and watching the fish swim around us.

Spa Time

By this point in the trip I was truly regretting having not taken full advantage of the cheap massages and spa treatments on offer in Southeast Asia. I’m a spa lover but somehow I had just not found the time to prioritize it, with us opting for more adventurous activities most of the time (and perhaps the intensity of our massage in Laos had put me off slightly).

On our final night in Koh Lanta a massage was the only option for how to spend my evening, so I headed to the beach near our hostel and settled in for the most incredible massage of my life, for just £7.50. An hour later when I went back to join the gang, I was so relaxed I was barely awake.

It was soon time to say goodbye to Koh Lanta, and to our old and new travel friends. We’d had such a great time catching up with Giacomo and getting to know the Renzo and Matteo, but it was once again time to say farewell and move on to a new country, Malaysia!

We arrived in Krabi after a long day on the ferry and the bus, but relieved to have escaped the island ahead of the ‘worst tropical storm ever’, according to the media. 

On the bus we met Ros, an English girl and we hit it off, so once arriving in Krabi we headed to find a hostel together. We booked a cheap room and awaited the storm. 

That night we also met Tanner from the US, Kindred from Canada and Dom from England, and we formed a little group who we ended up spending the rest of our time in Krabi with. 

The Italian Restaurant

The best thing about our time in stormy Krabi was the food. Spoiler alert from the heading….it was not Thai food that got us excited. We happened to be staying right near an Italian restaurant called Uno, and ended up visiting there 4 times in 5 days. It was run by an Italian and the food was incredible. And they had blue cheese, which I hadn’t seen for over three months. That’s enough to get emotional over alone! 

Hogwarts Hostel

On the second day we decided to move hostel, and it was just about the best decision ever. Although only loosely Hogwarts themed, it had stairs up to the top bunk, and underneath the stairs was a cupboard, which was your locker. A CUPBOARD UNDER THE STAIRS. Enough to get me excited. The beds were very comfy and we were pretty lazy whilst in Krabi, so it was nice to have somewhere really comfortable to chill. 

The Book Cafe

While we waited for the miserable rain to pass, we spent a whole day in the book cafe around the corner, reading and catching up on life admin. It felt really nice to be surrounded by books of all ages and languages while we read and had coffee. 

Tiger Temple Cave

When we finally thought the storm had passed, and there was a bit of blue sky poking through, we decided to head out on an adventure. We were going a bit stir crazy by this point. The six of us grabbed a tuk tuk to the Tiger Temple Cave, and prepared to climb the mountain. It was incredibly humid, and although 1,237 steps didn’t seem that much when stood at the bottom, we quickly realised the physical task of what we were doing. At 200 steps we were exhausted, and having over 1000 to go was daunting to say the least. But we pressed on, all at different paces (and with regular stops), motivated by people coming down and repeatedly saying ‘it’s worth it!’ After what seemed like forever we reached the top. We were sweaty messes but victorious! The panoramic view of Krabi was beautiful, and at the top there was a giant gold Buddha awaiting us. 

The view went from crystal clear to pretty much zero visibility in about 5 minutes and the weather suddenly turned. The heavens opened and torrential rain came down on us. With thunder rumbling in the distance we decided it was time to get the hell off of a mountain and back to sea level! The climb down was hilarious, with rain water gushing down the steps, all of us soaked head to toe. We’d heard there were monkeys on the mountain but hadn’t seen any evidence; that was until we reached about the 200 step point, and found the whole lot of them sheltering in the trees surrounding us. There must have been at least 50. Some were looking quite threatening so I hurried on past, but stopped to turn around when I heard a loud shriek; one had climbed on Chloe’s bag and she had no idea what to do! Luckily it jumped off again, and her and Ros timidly carried on past, hoping to avoid a repeat encounter! 

At the bottom we acknowledged how mental that was, and were all pleased to have a little adventure after two days of doing virtually nothing – a rarity on a trip such as this!

Railay Beach

The next day the sun was back! Beautiful blue skies awaited us, so the six of us got the boat from Krabi Town to Railay beach, a famously beautiful beach about 40 minutes away from the town by boat. Small boats in Southeast Asia never fail to both impress and amuse me – they literally grab a car engine, stick it on the back of a rickety old wooden boat, and away we go! Unfortunately on this journey we were sat at the back and the engine was unbelievably loud; I spent the whole journey with my fingers in my ears – those who didn’t had ringing ears! 

We had an awesome day of swimming in the calm sea and sunbathing, whilst taking in the beautiful cliffs surrounding Railay. 

Oh and Chloe got stung by a jellyfish (don’t worry, she’s currently still alive).

The boat for the return was a smaller boat that got up quite a speed, we were thrown all over the place and I obviously got the shit seat as I was soaking by the time we stopped, whilst everyone else looked pretty dry. But hey, when it’s 30 degrees you don’t really mind a bit of water sprayed over you! 

The boat stopped at a different random place this time, and the company shoved us in a mini van and drove the rest of the way back. Why, I’m unsure. I learnt pretty quickly not to bother questioning the ways of the transport in SE Asia, sometimes there is no rhyme or reason to why they do things certain ways…you just have to roll with it and you’ll always get to your destination one way or another! 

Return of the Giacomo 

After another visit (our fourth) to the Italian restaurant, this time with a carafe of wine, we wandered around walking street and the night market, and stumbled upon a stage with some kids breakdancing. They were great! 

We then headed towards the bars, and despite it being Sunday night, we found an awesome Reggae bar with live music where Chloe, Ros, Tanner and I hung out for a couple of hours.

Then the dream reunion happened. We had arranged to meet up with Giacomo, our Italian buddy from uni, who just happened to be on holiday in Thailand. Giacomo hosted us when we visited Milan on our Europe trip, and is a good pal. 

Finally he appeared with his friend Matteo, and Renzo from Columbia who they had just met. We had an awesome night drinking beers and catching up with each other. We hadn’t seen him for a couple of years but it felt like we’d never been apart. 

At 2am we called it a night, with a 7-Eleven toastie on the way home of course (when in Thailand). The next day we headed to Koh Lanta, but the Italian boys were following one day behind us, and we happened to book accommodation next door to each other. Fate! So bring on the second reunion.

Krabi was an unplanned stop, and the town didn’t have that much to offer, but we made some great friends to wait out the storm with, and made the best of the bad weather.

Next stop Koh Lanta! 

Annie x 

Christmas and New Year were the two parts of this trip we had pre-booked and planned, having a loose route for the rest of the time but essentially winging it. After a gorgeous Christmas on tropical Koh Tao, we planned to spend New Year’s Eve at Southeast Asia’s biggest, most infamous beach party, the Full Moon Party on Haad Rin, Koh Phangan.

We took the morning ferry over from Koh Tao, and checked into our second nice hotel of the trip – we could get used to this! We spent most of the afternoon chilling and gathering supplies for the party, tacky neon vest tops included.

Full Moon Party Flop

Before the trip we’d been excited to party the night away and watch the sunrise on the beach, but somewhere along our travels we’ve become … slightly less inclined to party. The New Year’s Eve full moon party (not actually a full moon) sees 30,000 people descend on the beach for a night of pure hedonism, and while we gave it a good go, we found it was just not for us, for a few reasons.

We had planned to meet up with a friend of a friend for drinks before heading to the beach, and thought we’d be going with a new group of pals, but meeting up didn’t quite work out. Since we were staying in a hotel rather than a hostel unfortunately it was harder to meet people, and we really hadn’t planned well, focussing more on our body paint than necking buckets, and arriving at the hostels distinctly more sober than the other partygoers.

We met some lovely English girls in the taxi on the way to the beach, and planned to stick with them for the countdown. However, one of them didn’t make it back from the bar in time for midnight, and we lost the other when she went off looking for her.

We spent the rest of the night drifting between groups that were far more drunk than us, and failing to find a group we clicked with. There were times we felt wary of the overfamiliar men in the crowd, and sights of the dirty, plastic-covered beach and people relieving themselves into the Sea did nothing for our flat mood.

The full moon party had the potential to be an excellent night out had we been with one of our earlier travel gangs, but unfortunately with it being just the two of us, and pretty sober, we were just not in the right mindset. However, it was an experience and we’re glad we gave it a go – the countdown and fireworks had an amazing atmosphere and it was a great way to see in 2019!

We rolled home at about 5am, falling asleep in the back of the tuk tuk.

New Year’s Day

We spent the majority of the day lying in, rising at about 2pm, on our first New Year’s Day without a hangover in years!

We spent our limited waking ours lazing around the pool in hammocks, and bobbing about in the ridiculously warm Sea – which was so still it was more like a lake! We may not have had the best New Year’s Eve, but New Year’s Day was delightful.

Time to Evacuate

The next day we’d planned to rent scooters and explore the island, visiting some of Koh Phangan’s gorgeous beaches and waterfalls. We were also meeting up with a very special friend of mine, Anete, who used to look after me when I was 10 years old! After having not seen her for years, she just happened to be staying on the same island in Thailand.

Unfortunately before we set off Anete had some bad news for us – Storm Pabuk, Thailand’s first tropical storm outside of rainy season in 50 years, was heading for the Gulf of Thailand.

We had to completely change our plans and scrap the island exploration, instead booking the next ferry off the island. It was such a shame as all we’d seen of Koh Phangan was Haad Rin Beach and our hotel, but we didn’t fancy the idea of being stranded on an island in a storm. Thankfully we were still able to meet up with Anete for lunch and have a long catch up before our departure!

The next morning we were up at the crack of dawn to catch our ferry – the last off the island before they were all cancelled for the next 4 days. We were off to Krabi, still possibly at risk, but at least on the mainland so we’d be able to move if necessary. All that was left to do was wait for fearsome Storm Pabuk!

Chloe x

The journey from Siem Reap to Bangkok brought with it 10 hours on a bus and 2 hours in a sweaty queue at the border. However, it also brought with it the return to the land of 7 Eleven service stations and the holy grail of snacks, the 7 Eleven toastie – you win some, you lose some.

Our primary goal for our return to Bangkok involved shopping and stocking up on all our supplies before heading down south to the islands. No cultural exploring this time. Instead of staying near Khao San Road we opted for the more upmarket neighbourhood of Sukhumvit, much closer to the shopping district and easy to access via the metro and sky train.

We started our shopping adventure at Chatuchak weekend market, taking advantage of the bargains on offer and trawling through the cheap clothes. After a while we couldn’t bear the heat and were craving air conditioning.

We jumped on the metro and first headed for Lumphini Park, one stop we’d missed on our first visit to Bangkok. On our short stroll through the park we were lucky enough to see a wild monitor lizard. We were both pretty taken aback by the sight of it and jumped back screaming, Annie at first thinking it was a crocodile.

Bangkok’s Many Malls

A short taxi ride later and we were back at CentralWorld Mall, ready to through ourselves back into capitalism and western chain shopping. We spent the afternoon perusing H&M, Pull & Bear and Boots, stocking up on necessities and Annie being very successful in filling her backpack with new clothes.

CentralWorld was decked out with Christmas decorations and for the first time on the trip we started to feel festive and in the Christmas spirit!

On the second day we went to Terminal 21, another shopping mall near our hostel, partially to browse for more clothes and partially to see the excellent theming of the mall itself. It’s based on an airport, with arrivals and departures escalators taking you between each floor, each floor representing a different far flung metropolis. There are floors based on Rome, San Francisco, London and Paris, with appropriate landmarks throughout. The highlight of the mall was its huge food court in the basement, which we spent far too long browsing.

Red Light District

On our first visit to Bangkok we’d skipped Soi Cowboy, Bangkok’s infamous red light district, due to it being a fair way from our hostel. This time we were staying just around the corner, so it would be rude not to at least have a walk around. Our stroll along Soi Cowboy was exactly as we imagined it would be, filled with tourists, loud music and glamorous Thai ladies of the night.

Bangkok from Above

One of the things we wanted to fit into our stopover in Bangkok was a visit to one of its many sky bars. After assessing the prices and dress codes of many bars (and the backpacker wardrobe options we had available) we decided on Brewski, a craft beer bar on the top of the Radisson Hotel.

We were so glad we managed to fit it in as the views over Bangkok’s skyline were spectacular. We splashed out on a couple of glasses of wine each and got slowly tipsier as we watched the sun setting. We’d finally made it to the classy side of Bangkok!

We were enjoying our evening so much that we lost track of time and had to make a mad scramble for our night bus to Koh Tao. We had to make it all the way across town to Khao San Road in a taxi, through pretty bad traffic, but we made it with time to spare, ready for the journey to our island Christmas.

Chloe x

Heads up – this blog is a bit of a heavy one folks! 

Phnom Penh. Phnommers, as Alpa probably called it at one point. Our first stop in Cambodia! It was a long day of travelling to get there, featuring a bus driver trying to scam us out of a dollar at the border (we escaped it by acting oblivious, and we got lucky – some people had to hand over $10 so the bus didn’t leave without them!) We arrived at our hostel, Billabong, which was a small slice of luxury with a nice pool and social areas. 

We were delighted to be reunited with loads of pals – Karima, Nelson and Luis who we met in Vietnam, and Connie and Lyra who we met waaaay back in Laos were all staying at our hostel! So after an evening of catch ups and card games, we hit the hay. 

Our second day isn’t really worthy of much blog space, other than to say we spent the ENTIRE day on sunbeads by the pool, drinking beer, eating… it was nice. However we did venture out in the evening for our first taste of Cambodian food – we found a lovely family-run restaurant, with the most adorable little toddler who kept running over to our table. Chloe tried a traditional Amok fish curry, and I had a red curry. 

S21

The next day we were up early and ready to tackle what was inevitably going to be a very difficult day. We took the hostel organised bus on the trip to S21 Prison and The Killing Fields. The Cambodian Genocide was carried out from 1975 to 1979 by the Khmer Rouge Regime, under leader Pol Pot. The figures of those murdered are unknown, but its estimated that around a quarter of Cambodia’s population were wiped out – including anyone with religious beliefs, from other countries, and anyone from an educated background who may threaten the dictatorial regime – including doctors, lawyers and teachers. I knew a little about the genocide having done some research prior to the trip, and reading the book ‘First They Killed My Father’ written by a genocide survivor. However myself, and most people we encountered, had never learned about what happened in Cambodia prior to researching for this trip. In the UK we really aren’t taught anything about Asian history in schools, so it seemed even more important to take this opportunity, while in Cambodia, to learn all we could about their very recent and tragic history. 

Our first stop was the S21 Prison Camp – a former school, turned into a prison and place of torture during the Khmer Rouge Regime. We got an audio guide and followed it round the various buildings. We learned of the atrocities committed here – the acts of torture and imprisonment that took place. In some rooms there were hundreds, maybe thousands, of photos that were taken upon people’s arrival at the prison, then discovered when the Vietnamese invaded in 1979 and closed the prison. Some rooms, which were former classrooms, had makeshift brick and wooden cells, and although it still looked like a school in areas, the barbed wire was a cruel reminded of what occurred here. 

I don’t have many statistics in numbers, but I did read that of the 12,000 (approx.) people that went to S21, there were only 12 survivors. It was a very chilling experience.

The Killing Fields

Next we went to visit The Killing Fields, located outside of the city. We discovered this was one of many Killing Fields across the country, and is now the site of a memorial to all those who lost their lives there. It was a bright, sunny day, and the field – which had been left to grow – had trees, flowers, and butterflies; it was quite hard to process how something so awful could have occurred there less than 40 years ago. The audio guide took you around various notable sights, and there was a section with personal stories that you could listen to as you walked around the lake. I found a peaceful spot to stop and listen, and try and take in some of these terrible and inspiring stories from survivors. 

There were several mass graves on the site, most just a small plot of land surrounded by a small wooden fence. People had left bracelets all over the fence as a sign of solidarity. The whole day we were constantly choking back the tears, but this particular site made it very had to control my emotions. 

We also saw the killing tree, and learned that the Khmer Rouge did not use weapons to kill people as the bullets were too valuable, instead they would use blunt objects, or in many cases they would hit people’s heads against the tree. Once again, people had left bracelets on the tree as a mark of respect.

Another devastating thing we learned is that fragments of bones and teeth still appear from under the earth almost every week on the site – and visitors are told to alert staff if they discover anything.

Its also unbelievable to think that any Cambodian we meet who is over 40 has been directly affected by the Genocide, and those younger than that are the first generation since the country started to rebuild itself. 

It was a truly horrific and humbling experience – even writing about it in retrospect is quite upsetting. But its also something that needs to be visited by everyone who visits Cambodia. The audio guide acknowledged that this is not the only genocide that has occurred in modern history – of course we have all heard of the Holocaust, but there is also Rwanda, Armenia, Bosnia, and many others. It also noted that there will be more – Southeast Asian country Myanmar had a genocide in late 2016. It seems as a human race we will always find ways to torture each other in the pursuit of power. 

I think the Cambodian Killing Fields serve as a good tribute to those who lost their lives there, whilst providing a harsh reminder of what happened there less than 40 years ago.

Rooftop views and New Friends

We spent that evening processing what we had seen, and after some time exploring the town by night, we found a rooftop bar where we happened to bump into some friends from our hostel. After soaking up the views of the city, we headed to an Indian restaurant together for some great food, before deciding we had had enough of today!

The Grand Palace

On our last day in Phnom Penh, we decided to visit the Grand Palace with our new pals Alice and Sjoerd. We got there early to try and avoid the crowds, but the tour groups were swarming the grounds already. What we didn’t realise was that the entry was $10 – but we were there so we paid it and went it. We saw a great selection of temples, including the Silver Pagoda and the Emerald Buddha. 

As we left the Grand Palace and headed onto our lunch spot, Chloe and I thought this area here by the river was actually quite reminiscent of Brighton (with the added Palm Trees and Tuk Tuks!)

Daughters of Cambodia 

After this we went to visit one of the many NGOs in Phnom Penh, a restaurant, spa and shop called Daughters of Cambodia. The charity was formed to offer women a way out of the sex trade. We learnt that 1 in 40 women in Cambodia end up becoming sex workers, particularly in places like Phnom Penh. Often their families force them into it as a way of making good money, and once in the trade it is very hard to get out. Daughters of Cambodia offers training in a multitude of skills, including working in their restaurant, shop, craft store and spa. They give women the skills they need and pay them a wage – not as high as they earn in their previous trade – but it gives them a chance to rebuild their lives. The women that worked there were very welcoming and friendly, and gave great service.

Pool Fun

Our last few hours in Phnom Penh was spent back at the hostel in the pool playing ball games with everyone, before realising time had flown and we only had 15 minutes to get showered and ready for our bus! We made in by the skin of our teeth, and once again we were on the road, heading to the land of pepper – Kampot!

Phnom Penh was by no means my favourite city of the trip, I didn’t really warm to the city itself. However the people we met – both backpackers and Cambodians, are what made this place special. It was as difficult as I was expecting to learn about their brutal history, but I’m pleased to have done it on our first stop in Cambodia, as it’ll allow us some time for reflection as we travel the rest of the country. 

Annie x

We arrived in Mui Ne right in the heat of the day. The weather had finally come up trumps for us, and we were desperate to get to the beach! Our hostel was a small piece of paradise, with three pools, a restaurant, two bars – all a 2 minute walk from the beach. “What kind of price are you paying for that sort of luxury?” I hear you ask. £1.77 a night my friends. 10 bed dorm, but still. 

After a chill afternoon at the pool, we walked to the beach to watch the sunset. Mui Ne is quite windy on the beach, so it’s kite-surfers’ paradise. Day one ended early after dinner as we set our alarms for 3.30am the next day…

Sunrise on the Sand Dunes

By 4am we were on a bus in the dark, heading towards the dunes. First we went to the white dunes – it was surreal experience walking across a small desert in the dark, but we soon found ourrselves a spot on the dunes and watched as the sun took an hour to slowly appear. The colours across the horizon were pretty spectacular.

Next, the bus dropped us at the red dunes, arguably slightly less picturesque, but still amazing. We spent our time at these dunes running up and down and making idiots of ourselves – it was a lot of fun! We enjoyed ourselves so much we were late back to the bus, and had to chase it down as it tried to drive away!

After this we visited the fishing village, where we saw the morning fishing market on the beach. The view of all the fishing boats at sea was pretty nice. So nice that once again we seemed to miss the rest of the group heading for the bus, and for a second time had to run for our lives to make it. This time the driver was chuckling to himself that we were the ones that nearly got left behind again. 

Finally we headed to our last stop, the Fairy Stream. It was basically a really long mud river that you can walk along, which is mostly ankle deep. I say mostly, because there’s the odd water pothole where suddenly your foot sinks and you’re half submerged in water. To Chloe’s entertainment, I learnt this the hard way! Further along the stream, we found orange rocks (the technical name) which made me feel like we were in Breaking Bad. 

This time we weren’t last back to the bus, and before we knew it we were back at the hostel, realising that it was only 8.30am and we’d done what felt like a full day’s activity! Naturally we wanted to sleep, so we went back and forth between the pool and the beach all day. Hard life.

That night we somehow had enough stamina for dinner, drinks and a pub quiz! Once suitably sloshed and with not an ounce more of energy in us, we crashed out, ahead of another early start and another bus the next day. 

Mui Ne was an unexpected stop, added only because of recommendations, and to break up a longer journey. But wow I’m pleased we did it – we got the perfect mix of relaxation, exploring and drinking – everything backpackers seek!

Annie x

We arrived in Hoi An at our hostel and within about 10 minutes of checking in we were on our way to the beach. The weather was absolutely beautiful, and finally sinking our feet into the warm sand was a wonderful feeling after a long bus journey. We joined our friends Ana and Rita, who introduced us to some of their new friends – we ended up spending all our time in Hoi An, and beyond, with these guys. We had lunch and beers on the beach, and soaked up the sun until it disappeared at a disappointingly early 4.30pm.

Once we were back and showered, our friends (old and new) whisked us off into the town for dinner. They had been here for a few days so took us to their favourite restaurant! 

Lanterns

Hoi An by night, especially the riverfront, is a sight to behold. Lanterns are hung everywhere – along the streets and the quaint bridges that cross the river. 

Food

The food in Hoi An was probably one of the best things about it, although as a city we adored it! We ate loads of Vietnamese dishes during our time there – including noodle soup (Pho)….    and an incredible evening at a Greek restaurant! We wined and dined with Sebastien from Germany and Jaume from Barcelona, drinking Da Lat wine and enjoying the tastiest Greek food – what a good find. 

We also tried the legendary Banh Mi – the French-inspired Vietnamese sandwiches, and went to Banh Mi Phuong twice – the place recommended by Anthony Bourdain!

It was here that we also did our first cooking class of the trip. Our hostel offered a free class, so we eagerly signed up! As a group we learnt to make fresh spring rolls – how to assemble and roll them, and how to make the delicious peanut sauce that accompanies them. 

The recipe is as follows…

Peanut sauce

• 2 tablespoons soy beans (just the liquid)
• 2.5 tablespoons water
• Almost one tablespoon soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon MAX peanut butter (thickens)
• 1 tea spoon sugar
• Cook garlic in hot oil for 20 secs
• Add sauce
• Stir, 20 secs
• Pour into dish.
• Top with ground peanuts and fresh chilli

Spring rolls

• Hard rice paper – add water gently to soften
• Assemble lettuce, mint, mustard plant, spring onion, cucumber, carrot, tofu
• Roll.

Enjoy one of the simplest, tastiest and freshest starters ever! 

Exploring the Countryside by Bicycle

Our hostel also offered a free bicycle tour, so being the keenos that we are, we signed up! Our tour guide was the lovely Ngoc, who had also led the cooking class. She was a lovely lady who was very passionate about Hoi An, and really excited to share her knowledge with us. We were pretty much her biggest fans. She led us out of the hustle and bustle of the city, into the countryside – there were rice and vegetable fields, water buffalo, and all kind of landscapes to be enjoyed. Next, we moved on to the river where we saw the water coconuts growing! It was here we took a pitstop and Ngoc taught us how to make things out of the coconut leaves, including rings and even a grasshopper, as modelled below!

The sun started to set so we were back on the bikes heading home – cycling through the busy streets of Hoi An by night was certainly an adrenaline rush!

Old Town

The Hoi An old town was a joy to explore. Boasting Ancient Houses and Assembly Halls aplenty, we learnt a lot about the Japanese and Chinese influence in the architecture here. We saw the Japanese bridge, and visited an Ancient House in which the family still resided 7 generations on. We were told how the house itself was Vietnamese, but the roof was a Japanese design and the balcony was Chinese. Really beautiful stuff!

Gig Numero Dos! 

Our girls Ana and Rita had been begging to hear me play since we met in Bangkok 6 weeks previous, so I promised I would. The realised that Hoi An might be our last place together before we parted for good (I’m not ready to talk about this yet haha), so we found a bar with live music, and I asked the guy if I could play a few songs. He was a really talented Irish fella called Paul, now living in Da Nang and playing in the 2 cities to make a living. Before I knew it I was up playing some songs, and Paul and I had a little jam at the end of the night. Does 2 gigs make it enough to say I’m currently on tour in SE Asia? Probably not. Maybe if I get a third I’ll make a poster or something…. 

Tailor-Made Just For Us

When in Hoi An…why not?! Hoi An is famous worldwide for its tailors – you can get pretty much anything you want made in next to no time. We found a great Tailor called Wild Orchid – where Chloe got a dress and a bikini made. I decided to get 2 bikinis made, and after some quick measurements and picture exchanges, they sent us away! We were both immediately impressed with our new items upon our first try, and with a few adjustments we walked away very happy with our tailor made clothes! 

Day Trip to Da Nang

We made a quick trip over to neighbouring city Da Nang… not so much to see the city, but because, ahem, we wanted to go to the cinema! It was the new Fantastic Beasts film after all. We got the bus there which took about 40 minutes, and got a grab car back. There was some sightseeing though – we saw the famous dragon bridge! At 9pm on Friday and Saturday nights the dragon breathes fire, but sadly we weren’t there on a Friday.

Another thing to be noted was how CHEAP the cinema was. We paid about £3 for a ticket, large popcorn and a large drink. Absolute steal! We just had to ignore the Vietnamese subtitles, and everything else was the same. Chloe was a little bit excited, as you can see…

When it Rains it Pours

We actually ended up staying in Hoi An longer than planned, due to typhoons hitting the South. We’d been warned another typhoon was on the way over the weekend, so decided not to dice with our lives, and ended up staying for more exploring, eating, drinking and generally enjoying ourselves. I was secretly pretty pleased as it meant I got the watch the Arsenal game on the Sunday night, instead of spending the evening on a bus. However the weather took a turn for the worse on our second day, and it drizzled most days. That was until our final day in Hoi An, where the rain was torrential all day. As we left the sports bar where we watched the game that night, the river had overflowed into the streets!

Hoi An was a beautiful, charming city where I could easily go for 2 weeks on holiday – a mix of beach, old and new town and the best food of the trip!

Annie x

One of the top places on our Southeast Asia bucket list was the famous Halong Bay. There are plenty of ways to see it, with hundreds of tours to choose from. We had a recommendation from Chloe’s friend to stay on Cat Ba Island, and do a tour directly from there, so off we went! A bus to the port, a short ferry ride and another quick bus journey and we had arrived at our hotel in Cat Ba. 

Yes, you read that right. Hotel. We got a private room for 3 of us for 2 nights for a grand total of £18. Absolute steal! 

After a late lunch and a little explore, we set our sights upon the bay for the first time. That evening we (myself, Chloe, Alpa and our two Aussies pals from Hanoi, Nate and Emel) went for drinks and shisha and played some cards, before calling it a night – our boat tour adventure started early the next day. 

The Tour of Lan Ha & Halong Bay

We were up at 7am and very excited for our tour; a one-day boat cruise around Lan Ha and Halong Bay with plenty of activities included. 

Our first sight was the fishing village – an entire floating village where the islands’ fishermen live. We had breakfast on the boat – rice and noodles at 8am, whilst taking in the incredible scenery. 

Everywhere you looked you couldn’t quite believe how picturesque it really was. After an hour or so on the boat, we stopped at a quiet part of the bay where the waters were very calm. Here, we disembarked the boat onto a small pier, put on lifejackets and hopped into 2 man kayaks. We had an hour to explore so off we went – Chloe and I in one kayak and Emel and Alpa in the other. Chloe and I got a pretty good rhythm going and before long we were practically professionals. It wasn’t long before we came across our first cave! It was a short passage under the rock, but our steering wasn’t quite up to it so we were often having to duck to avoid decapitation. 

Once we were through the other side, we saw my favourite thing of the day – monkeys were climbing and swinging all over the rocks! We all sat in our kayaks mesmerised. Of course we’ve seen monkeys before, but never totally in their natural habitat without any humans coming along to mess everything up. 

We spent an hour exploring, singing, and crashing into each other, before heading back to the boat, now confident kayakers and on a massive high. 

Back on the boat we set sail again, and it wasn’t long until the waters got choppy! We went on the top deck and at times it was hard to even stand up. Our next stop we anchored up in the middle of the bay, and it was here that we took turns to jump off the top deck of the boat. So much fun that we did it twice! We then made the short swim to the ‘beach’ (the tiniest piece of sand next to rocks that I’ve ever seen). It was really great to swim in the sea – it’s the first time we’d seen the sea on our trip! Unfortunately we were both a bit spooked because when kayaking we had seen jellyfish in the water, so we swum pretty quick to that beach and back! 

Back on the boat, we were served lunch. They struggle to understand that we were vegetarians and kept bringing us various cooked sea creatures, until finally the understood and brought us a lot of rice. 

After lunch we played cards on the deck with a couple of girls from Guildford (Woop Woop!), and before we knew it we’d arrived at our last stop of the day, monkey island. It lived up to its name, they were everywhere and if you had anything vaguely resembling food they were all over you like a rash. Alpa and I fed them some nuts, and Chloe took some pictures that are National Geographic standard, see below. 

We spent an hour or so relaxing on the beach, enjoying the whitest sand I think I’ve ever seen. Then it was back on the boat to return to the port – all in all a fantastic day. 

However we still had some more energy to give, and we were chasing the sunset, so we hurried straight up to the viewpoint. Chloe and I decided to walk it, and made the 30 minute hike up to the Canon Fort. Emel and Alpa took a scooter and we met them at the top. I thought the views of the day couldn’t be topped, but having a panoramic view of the whole bay as the sun went down was superb.

That night we hit the town and went to our favourite bar, Oasis, for food and cocktails.  And beer is as cheap as water in Vietnam, so we sunk a few of them too. It was the last night in our little group of 5, so we partied into the night, and cut some pretty questionable shapes on the dance floor. 

The next morning we were up at 8 to catch our bus to our next destination, all a little worse for wear, and regretting yesterday’s decision to save 50p and take the speedboat instead of the ferry.

Halong, you didn’t disappoint! 

Annie x

We arrived in Phong Nha at the ungodly hour of 4am, completely dazed from the night bus. Luckily our hostel offered free pick up! By the time we had recovered the next day, we didn’t make it out until the afternoon. We were staying a couple of kilometres out of town, but we took advantage of the hostel’s free bicycles to cycle around and explore. We spent most of the afternoon in town, lazing around by the pool of another hostel, ate some good food, and had an early night. 

On our second day we booked a tour with a company called Jungle Boss; the tour included a visit to 3 caves and a jungle trek. We were picked up at 8am and headed straight to Paradise cave. Our group was made up of 12 awesome people, and our brilliant guide Bamboo got us all to introduce ourselves – we all clicked pretty quickly! 

Our first stop was the famous Paradise Cave. Discovered in 2010 by British Cavers, its only been open to the public for a few years. The cave was probably the most touristy of the ones in Phong Nha, with steps, wooden walkways and lights. The stalactites and stalagmites were amazing! I think its best to let the pictures describe this one.

The 8 Ladies Cave

Next we got back on the bus and headed to the 8 Ladies Cave. This was a cave in which 8 Vietnamese people hid during a bombing in the Vietnam War. Unfortunately, although they sought refuge to escape the bomb, an explosion sealed the entrance which trapped them in the cave. People on the outside cleverly used bamboo shoots to provide them with water. This tale has a sad end though, as by the time they reached them, there were no survivors. The cave entrance is now a shrine in memory of those who died there. Now people leave offerings for them to enjoy in the afterlife, which we’ve seen at numerous temples, including beers, cigarettes, money, and cans of coke!

After this, we began our jungle trek, 2.5km led by our guide. This was my first experience in the jungle and it was a nice little trek. Before we knew it, we’d arrived at a river, and while the guides prepared our lunch, we were all straight in for a swim! They water was beautifully clear but very cold! We all had a quick swim then it was time for the best part of any day – lunch! Our guides had prepared lunch on the other side of the river – we all sat down and assembled our own spring rolls with rice, tofu, eggs, and green stuff, wrapped in rice paper. Incredibly simple but so tasty!

Trang An Cave

Now it was time for the biggest adventure of the day; our swim in the Trang An cave! We all put on our safety gear – a life jacket, helmet, headtorch, and gloves (or as one of the group called them ‘hand shoes’, because she forgot the English word. I was honestly still laughing about this the next day). The journey to the cave meant crossing the river again, and then climbing over about 100m of massive rocks. The cave was totally unspoiled and we had it to ourselves! We got into the water and started swimming into the mouth of the cave. Once again the water was freezing! The head torches went on, and as we got further in it got darker and darker. The cave was 600m long and as we turned a corner, we were plunged into darkness, with only our lights shining on the cave walls. it was a surreal experience, swimming in the darkness, and it was only then we saw how many bats there were on the ceiling when we pointed our heads up (hundreds, maybe thousands). 

As we reached some rocks near the end of the caves, our guides made us stop and climb up onto them. Once we were all seated, Bamboo instructed us all to turn our torches off. I grabbed onto Chloe for dear life. I’ve never ‘seen’ darkness like it – your eyes search around for some kind of light source but there is absolutely nothing at all. We all shouted at the tops of our voices and listened to the echoes around the cave, and then sat in darkness and silence for a while (probably longer than felt comfortable, to be totally honest!) It felt like total isolation, and I was very grateful to be holding onto Chloe to give me some kind of grip on reality!

It was a relief to turn the lights back on, but wow, that was an experience. We made our way back out of the cave, and I swum pretty quickly in search of daylight – it was a beautiful sight. That was certainly one of the bravest things I’ve ever done – none of us realised how dark it would be or how far into the cave we’d be going – if you had told me before I would’ve run a mile! But in retrospect, it was a fantastic experience – there’s nothing quite like facing your fears head on!

After the trek back to the road, we had some victory beers and headed home. That night we went for celebratory drinks with our new friends, and ended up on an accidental night out until the early hours. 

Phong Nha Cave

The next day we dragged ourselves up and walked to the Phong Nha Cave for a recommended boat tour. Chloe, Alpa and I were joined by 3 girls also staying at our hostel. The boat tour lasted about 3 hours, and took us through the incredible cave. On the way back, we stopped at a bit of land and got off the boat, and walked through the rest of the cave. We’ve been pretty spoiled with caves in Phong Nha, but this one was just as superb as the others.

We spent the afternoon chilling before Chloe and I headed for the night bus to Hue. This is where we said goodbye (briefly) to Alpa – we wanted to explore the Imperial City in Hue, but she was keen to hang back in Phong Nha and go on a trekking day. So with plans to reunite in Hoi An, we were off. Hue here we come!

Annie x

We were once again back on the move, and we took the 8.30am bus from Vang Vieng to Vientiane. Google says it’s a 2 hour journey, but it’s a given that it’ll always be at least double that – a lot of the roads in Laos are very bumpy (I will never again moan about potholes in the UK), and sometimes you get to parts of the road that haven’t even been built yet! The drivers therefore take it very slowly and it takes an age. To add to this there’s always the obligatory stop at a roadside restaurant somewhere (usually at a really strange time to eat) – probably something to do with the tour company getting commission. Sometimes its nice to stretch your legs but often you just want to get there.

Vientiane was the first place that we hadn’t booked a hostel for, so we wandered around until we found a really cushty looking hostel. It was £7 a night, which was about £3 more a night than we had been spending everywhere else. But myyy it felt luxurious – the beds were like pods with their own curtains, and the bathrooms even had a make up area with mirrors. Bliss. The mattresses also didn’t feel like rock which was a nice bonus!

We had no idea how long the stop over in Vientiane would be; we arrived at the weekend and had only managed to get our visa applications for Vietnam (our next stop) in on the Friday night as the website was down. So it was a waiting game for them to process.

We had heard some people say that Vientiane was just a stop-over, and there wasn’t really anything worth doing there. Oh myyyy they were so wrong!

First Impressions

We took a stroll to the Mekong river, and found a nice cafe nearby for lunch. Turns out we’d later become regulars at this place- the pumpkin soup was genuinely the best I’ve ever had, so we returned at least 4 more times during our stay!

Vientiane is quite a small city, but seemed to have a lot of charm and we really enjoyed just walking around taking in the sights of the river, the park and the city streets.

That night we took ourselves to a tiny family-run vegan restaurant. They had soy substitutes for meat, which was pretty exciting for Alpa and I as veggies – its great to have free reign of the menu! The food was fantastic, and the family were so lovely. We then were reunited the our friends Mel, Sophie, Val and Nat – all of whom we’d become good pals with during our time in Laos. Our schedules were different so our first night in Vientiane was their last. We went to Earth Bar, the place next to our hostel, for drinks and some ‘traditional Laos music’. Turns out it was 2 locals playing pop covers… but you can’t have it all! They were followed by a Spanish guitarist and singer who was great!

Time to Say Goodbye…

We said farewell to our friends, hoping to catch them somewhere later on the road. Travel friendships are strange because they form very quickly and its easy to become very close to people in a matter of days. Its not uncommon to meet someone and 10 minutes later be going out for dinner with them – a surefire way to get to know each other fast! The downside of that is that it never gets easier saying goodbye. But you never know when you’ll cross paths with people again – its seems to keep happening!

French Influence

On our second day we decided we would take on as much of the city as we could, on foot! It was very hot but we were determined. We first walked to the French-influenced Patuxai, Arc De Triomphe style. We climbed to the top and had great views of the Mekong river, and the Presidential Palace. After a lunch pitstop at our favourite cafe and some incredible iced coffees, we headed to the most moving part of our trip so far.

COPE

From our research, we wanted to check out COPE – a visitors centre, whose mission is to help rehabilitate those affected by UXOs (unexploded ordnance) left from the Vietnam War. We had literally no idea that Laos People’s Democratic Republic is the most bombed country in the world per capita, to date. During the war, 270 million cluster bombs were dropped on Laos, which equates to one every 8 minutes between 1964 and 1973. 80 million of these bombs did not explode upon impact, so many today still remain an active danger to the Laos people. Most of the bomblets are buried under the earth, and won’t be set off just by walking on them. The main causes of explosion are farmers digging on the land; any kind of heat source above land, e.g. from fires for cooking; children discovering them and playing with them, thinking they are toys; and people reliant on finding and selling scrap metal to make a living.

Its estimated that 50,000 people have been affected by these bombs since the war ended, with 40% of those being children. Many of them have lost limbs, or their lives as a result. Cope work with survivors to provide vital resources, including rehabilitation, prosthetics and support.

It was shocking to see how 40 years on from the end of the Vietnam War, people, and predominantly children, are still being affected today. The centre had lots of exhibits and information, and some stories were quite hard to read.

Laos and many other countries, including the UK, are behind a worldwide campaign to eradicate cluster munitions  – the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), pushing for a ban due to the unacceptable civilian harm caused by them. However as of 2018, the United States are yet to sign. Even more shockingly, during the war the US spent $17 million per day (today’s dollars) bombing Laos for 9 years. However, since the war they have only provided $2.7 million per year for bomb clearance in Laos. To put it as a more harrowing statistic, the US spent more in three days dropping bombs on Laos, than they have in the last 15 years clearing them up.*

The whole day was a pretty moving experience, and we of course donated some money towards COPE and the great work that they do to help the people of Laos still affected by UXOs.

Night Market Mexican

On our way back we made a quick temple visit, where we were very lucky to see a Monk giving blessings to the locals; a very authentic experience. We visit so many temples its easy to tire of them, but experiences like this make you really appreciate them.

We needed a bit of perking up the night, so we headed straight to the night market. They had an open air concert where we watched a Thai rock band play! Then we treated ourselves to mexican street food, served by an Aussie guy who chatted to us for…quite a long time…about the things to do when we head down under. The market reminded us quite a bit of Spitalfields, or Metropolitano in Elephant and Castle. So we kind of felt at home! The food was incredible. On our way back, we stopped again at Earth Bar to play some board games before calling it a night.

Buddha Park

The next day we headed to the famous Buddha park! Taxis were rumoured to be charging $20 PER PERSON to take you there, so we walked to the other side of town and took the public bus, for about 80p each way. The bus took an hour and we spent most of the journey there talking to a fascinating elderly Laotian man who had lived in America for the last 30 years and was back visiting his home country.

After a traditional lunch in the park, we got exploring! We climbed to the top of the statue, and on our way down we made a new friend, Youkee – a student studying Business English who wanted to practice his English with us! He introduced us to his friends, and 2 of them were practicing monks! We enjoyed talking to them and took some photos together. They were very sweet and seemed quite fascinated by Western looking girls!

We headed back on the bus, ready for a big night for me…

Earth Bar Gig

I hadn’t played guitar for the whole month we’d been away, and I was starting to get a little twitchy! Luckily, we got talking to David, the owner of our local bar, Earth Bar – he gave my music a listen and offered me a gig! At 9pm I took to the small stage and played an hour set, a mix of covers and original tunes. It was great to play live again, and great to have the lovely faces of Chloe, Alpa, Keven and 2 new friends from Finland (whose names I can’t spell sadly!) in the crowd. The other owner, Ben is a drummer and he joined me for a couple of songs. Halfway through a song one of the strings broke so I called it a night at the end of that song. It was a great experience for my first gig in Asia!

To Leave…or Not to Leave

Departure day had arrived and we were all set to go! Except one small problem. My Visa for Vietnam had been approved…but Chloe and Alpa were still waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

Instead of just killing time, we decided to get a Lao Massage! It couldn’t have been more different to and English massage – the women literally climb all over you, and use their arms, elbows etc – its very effective! I had to ask her twice to be a little more gentle though! A 30 minute massage set me back £5!

After more amazing pumpkin soup (its honestly the best thing ever), we spent the afternoon catching up on life admin: primarily blogging, sorting out photos and videos and researching our next stops. Its not all fun on the road, we still have plenty of boring tasks to do!

The Last Supper

We went out to a pasta place that night, and it was our last meal with our friend Keven. We met him in Chiang Mai, travelled through Thailand together and have spent our time in Laos with him too. This made it pretty hard to say goodbye as we’d become quite good friends – but pasta and wine was a great way to end our time together for now! We then took ourselves to the river and sat on the steps overlooking the Mekong by night, which was pretty mesmerising.

We had one last hurrah at Earth Bar, playing board games until the early hours (a game of Frustration got pretty intense!). Then it was farewell Keven, who was off to explore Southern Laos. We’ll see you somewhere along the road soon!

Goodbye for now, Laos!

The next day Chloe’s Visa was finally granted! We booked the afternoon flight to Hanoi, booked a hostel, grabbed some lunch at our favourite cafe and then we were off in a tuk tuk to the airport – all within the space of 2 hours! We somehow managed to literally run down our kip to the last penny – Alpa had 51 left (50 for tuk tuk) and Chloe had 3 left, so the remaining 4 we bought water at the airport, and left Laos without one Kip to our name. We had read that you should always get rid of the currency before leaving as nowhere will change it, so we smashed that one!

We boarded our Laos Airways flight to Hanoi, our next stop! Despite a delay in boarding, we were all on the plane and in the air within 20 minutes. We even got an inflight meal…on a 50 minute flight! Ryanair, take note. In what felt like moments later, we had landed in Hanoi, full of excitement and anticipation. Hello Vietnam!

*These are all statistics from the notes I made at COPE – I’m uncertain if they are all totally up to date. If you’re interested, check out Legacies of War & also COPE’s website. 

After our long journey on the slow boat, we grabbed a tuk tuk for the short journey to our hostel, where we promptly died of exhaustion upon arrival. We managed to drag ourselves out for dinner to a fancy looking Italian restaurant for pizza, before we called it a night at a reasonable 8 or 9pm! 3 days of travel had totally wiped us out.

I Need a Dollar, Dollar

After sleeping for an inhuman number of hours, we all just about made it for free breakfast the next morning. Our hostel had a nice terrace area where we played some pool, then Chloe, Rita, Ana and myself went to explore the town. We met Rita and Ana in Bangkok and haven’t been able to shake them since. Just kidding, we get on like a house on fire! We found a lunch restaurant overlooking the Mekong river, and tried our first taste of traditional Laos food. One of the first things we observed about Laos, to our horror, is how much more expensive everything is than we expected. We later discovered that its because being a landlocked country, they have to import everything, which makes it significantly more expensive than its neighbours Thailand and Vietnam. Everything is still dirt cheap (dinner and a beer for under a fiver), but gone were the days of meals for under a quid that we were getting so accustomed to in Thailand.

First Impressions

Later that afternoon we decided we would tackle a climb up Mount Phousi (pronounced pussy), where we were promised views of the whole city. Luang Prabang is a valley set in the mountains, and is 305m above sea level, and the view did not disappoint. We spent ages admiring the scenes in front of us, and trying to get the perfect picture. However once again the clouds had strategically placed themselves in front of the sun, crushing our sunset dreams again. The climb was steep but relatively short, so we vowed to return another day.

L-R: Eamon, Mario, Annie, Chloe, Keven

Festival of Light

We had heard rumours that we’d arrived in town in time for the ‘Boun Heua Fai’ – Festival of the Fire Boat. This is an annual event to celebrate the end of the rainy season. We grabbed ourselves a spot at the side of the road on the main street and waited….and waited… for the celebrations to begin. Standard Southeast Asia timings meant things started about an hour and a half later than scheduled, but what followed was definitely worth the wait.

Dancing to formally open the ceremony

One of the many dragon lantern boats

Lanterns illuminating the grounds of a temple

The city streets were swamped with locals parading their giant illuminated bamboo boats (handmade by the people) with song and dance, before releasing them into the Mekong river. There was drumming, fire breathing and some amazing dancing, and several of the temples we passed had thousands of lanterns lighting up the outside. We followed the procession for several kilometres, and Chloe even bought her own small floral boat, with candles and incense, to release into the river. We managed to find ourselves a spot next to the river to release the boat, and our friend Mario bravely volunteered to take off his shoes and get into the water to set it to sail! This ritual is supposed to bring good luck, and pay respect to the Spirits of the water. Moments after letting go of our boat, the candle went out. Not sure if that means we’ll still get the good luck, but we tried our best!

A child with a floral boat lantern

It was a spectacular evening and we felt very lucky to have arrived the day before out of pure chance. It was brilliant to take part in such a great tradition! We celebrated on the way back by stopping at a street food place and having the most amazing sandwiches.

Sunrise Yoga

On our third day Chloe and I found a yoga class on a terrace overlooking the Mekong river. The only catch was that it started at 7.30am. Somehow we made it, and we definitely reaped the rewards – the views were amazing and the class was reasonably gentle – just what we needed!

After our zen start, we took that day pretty slowly, spending most of the afternoon drinking coffee in an amazing French cafe. Laos, as a former French colony, has many an amazing French-influenced cafe. We’re bread lovers, so it was baguettes galore.

View of the street from our cafe

That evening we returned to Utopia – the place where our yoga class happened, and by night it becomes a cool riverside bar. Beer and pizza by candlelight next to the Mekong was the perfect way to wind down from a very strenuous day (ha), and we even saw the moon rise; we don’t have photos of this as we couldn’t capture it, but its the biggest I’ve ever seen the moon in my life!

Alms Giving Ceremony

The next day was another early start, 5am to be exact. Chloe and I got up in the dark and walked into the centre to witness a Buddhist tradition – the alms giving ceremony. This is where the monks from every temple in Luang Prabang make their way into the city centre for sunrise, to be greeted by the locals with offerings of rice that they have prepared. The locals line up at the side of the road, and each in turn put a spoonful of rice into the Monk’s basket as they pass; this offering is the Monk’s daily food ration.

The actual ritual was fascinating to watch, and we made sure we were respectfully dressed, and stayed well back – making sure not to make eye contact with the monks and not the interfere with the ceremony – all advice we had gathered from our research before attending. Our fellow tourists, however, really let the side down. Massive tour groups flocked the streets, making lots of noise (its a silent ceremony), taking flash photography, waving cameras in the Monks’ faces, and even taking selfies. It was truly horrific to watch, and was a stark contrast between a beautiful, generous act between the locals and the monks, and a horrible gabble of tourists displaying the ugly side of tourism. We were outraged by what we saw so promptly left, ashamed to be associated with these idiots. We had previously read that the town was considering stopping the alms ceremony because of the tourists, and now we understand why. Such a shame.

Tourism at its worst

The Alpa Returns!

As we were up early we managed to make it to another yoga class, and this time it was a real workout! Afterwards we treated ourselves to a well-deserved nap, and then we chilled at the hostel while we waited for our friend Alpa to arrive. We met Alpa in Bangkok and really hit it off, but went our separate ways as we headed North while she travelled south to the Islands. We made sure to keep in touch and before we knew it Alpa was on a plane to join us…the 5 foot troopers were reunited! We took her out to explore the town and went for lunch in a nice French cafe. Shortly afterwards, whilst walking along the street we all saw our first snake of the trip, just slithering along the pavement. Our reaction was maybe a little over the top, 3 screaming girls running across the street away from it!

We then returned to conquer Mount Phousi for the second time so Alpa could see the view, and my god i’m glad we did. This time the sun was actually out, and as you can see from the pictures below, the sunset was sublime. Here’s Alpa looking like an absolute pop diva.

We took ourselves out to the night market for crepes, then headed back to Utopia for more drinks, also with Ana and Rita, Mario and Eamon. It was there we made friends with 2 English girls, Connie and Lyra, who we ended up travelling with for a little while.

Waterfalls Galore

On our fifth (and supposedly final day) in Luang Prabang, we hired a mini van for a group of 12 of us (we have been accumulating people along the way, and by this point we were a massive group!). That was Chloe, me, Alpa, Keven, Mario, Eamon, Ana, Rita, Connie, Lyra, and two brand new friends (also from the UK), Mel and Sophie. A full-on SQUAD! After some well-practiced negotiation skills, we got it for a couple of quid each. We headed to the famous Kuang Si waterfalls, and they certainly didn’t disappoint. We hiked to the very top of the waterfall and stood at the top looking down, it was quite the view. Afterwards we swum in the pool near the top, and spent waaaay too much time trying to get the perfect photos on the swing. As Chloe put it, these two photos demonstrate Instagram vs Reality!

Instagram:

Reality:

After we got out of the pool, someone screamed that there was a leech on my leg. I calmly flicked it off, but it spent the next hour bleeding. Little fucker.

We then made the descent to the smaller falls, and all swum in the main pool. We all swum right up to the waterfall which meant swimming hard and fast against the current, it was pretty thrilling! After that our time was up so we headed back to the bus. Chloe and Keven hung back behind the group to take more photos, and it was then they encountered the second snake of the trip. They say it was a cobra – I’m not entirely convinced, but I’m pleased they got the hell out of its way and didn’t hang around to speculate!

Beer and Bowling

After a relaxing afternoon, we got ready and went for a night out. We were all really missing wine by this point in the trip (it had been 3 weeks…) so we took ourselves to a fancy looking tavern for a cheese and wine dinner. I must stress how desperate I was for a decent glass of red wine, because the boys went to a bar to watch the Arsenal v Palace game, and I turned it down for wine. BIG deal. Next we headed to our usual spot, Utopia for a quick drink, before grabbing a tuk tuk to the bowling alley! This was a little bit out of town, and for some reason its the only place with an alcohol license after 12pm, so everyone goes drunk bowling! The bowling alley was great fun, and some of the group even went to play archery next door! About 2am we headed back to the hostel, and had some drinks in our dorm before calling it a night!

Uh ohhhhh

The next day we were due to depart with the group on the 1pm bus to Vang Vieng. However, in the middle of the night I got struck by the plague. Its estimated that 30-50% of backpackers get ill in their first 2 weeks. I made it to 3. Although it wasn’t terrible, I was in no fit state for a bumpy bus ride, so Chloe and I booked to stay one more night, and I literally slept for about 20 hours!

The next morning we got the early bus to Vang Vieng to catch up with the others. Although I wasn’t feeling fully recovered, it didn’t matter. It was nearly halloween so I’d fit right in without needing any face paint!!

Next stop, Vang Vieng!

Annie x

Beds slept in: 7
Items lost/broken: 8
Number of bus/train/plane/boats: 5

After our adventure with the elephants in Chiang Mai, we hopped on the minibus to Pai, a mere 3 hour journey. However it was a journey we had been warned about by everyone, who all recommended travel sickness pills. Pretty soon we realised why – it was a windy road through the mountains with no less than 762 bends. Luckily our driver took it slow and steady!

First Impressions

Our hostel was a short 5 minute walk from the bus drop-off, and our friends Ana and Rita (who had arrived one day ahead of us) were there to meet us. The hostel was by far the coolest we’d stayed at, with a pool, outside bar, pool table, basketball court, nice grassy areas and even a Muay Thai gym!

We explored Pai town and fell in love with it pretty much immediately. Its a small town with streets full of bars, restaurants, market stands and street food.

Pai Canyon

Our first morning in Pai consisted of a much-needed recovery session; lots of sleep followed by some relaxation by the pool and in the open-air bar. We rallied ourselves in the afternoon and grabbed a taxi to the Pai Canyon – one of the must-see sights in Pai. We arrived in time to see the sunset, except some idiot cloud decided to rock up at exactly that point and hang out right in front of the sun. Regardless, the view was sensational. As neither Chloe or I have seen the grand canyon (or any canyon), we’ve decided Pai Canyon is the best in the world. We spent an hour or so climbing across the canyon and taking way too many photos before the light departed for the day.

Scootin’ Around Town

Our next day began early…at 9am, and we had decided to explore Pai in the only way everyone recommends…by scooter! (sorry, parents). We’d never ridden one before but the roads in Pai are quiet and the majority of people get around by scooter, so it felt a good place to start. We hired them from the hostel, and after a little practice driving around we were on the road!

We rode to the hot springs, led by our ‘instructor’ (our friend and experienced scooter rider, Keven). We had planned to meet Eamon and Mario at the springs, but when we arrived we realised we’d gone to the wrong ones, and they were 10km away. Dohhh. The hot springs were incredible, basically just a river with different levels, and each level is hotter than the one below it. We hopped straight in at 38 degrees, and bearing in mind it was under the midday sun in Pai, it was bloody hot. We explored the springs and found one pool which is 80 degrees centigrade, in which you can purchase and egg and boil it in 25 minutes. Weird.

One we were all springed-out, we got back on our bikes, feeling like experienced riders now, and headed to the next stop – the land split! This was farming land that suddenly, 20 odd years ago, completely split leaving a massive gap. The farmer who owned the land turned it into a tourist attraction and takes donations from tourists! When we arrived he gave us some iced rosella tea that he had made from berries on his land, and we spent a short amount of time looking at the land split.

Next stop was the Pembok waterfalls, where we managed to meet up with Mario and Eamon. The waterfall was really cool, and we were quick to clamber over the rocks to get to the waterfall. The waterfall was so fast-flowing it was hard to get underneath it without being pushed away, but we all gave it a good go.

When we left the waterfall we saw the best sight of the day, Mario and Eamon’s scooter. Wallace and Gromit anyone?

We left quite quickly as we heard rumbles of thunder, and as first-time riders none of us were keen to be on the roads in the rain. It meant missing the Bamboo bridge that we really wanted to see – but they say you should always leave something to come back for! Lucky we left when we did as the rain begun as we approached our hostel.

The Nightlife of Pai

Pai has a very chilled vibe, but we were keen to go out drinking that night. We found a bar that had cheap drinks and good areas to sit and chill, and we stayed there until it closed pretty abruptly at 12. We wandered to a few other bars before grabbing beers and heading back at an unknown time (things were a bit hazy by this point). Its great that you can still be outside in shorts and t-shirt at 3am and still be hot, so we chilled near the basketball courts at the hostel before calling it a night at another unknown time. This picture of Eamon with 4 drinks (all his) sums things up nicely:

Last Day in Pai-radise

Somehow on our final day we managed to all make it for free breakfast before it ended at 10.30am (just), but most of us skulked back to bed for a few hours. This was a day of absolute laziness, relaxing in hammocks or by the pool, or in the boys’ case, just asleep in bed!

At around 4pm the downpours begun. We’d seen rain like this once before in Bangkok, but it was pretty mental. We were trapped on a rooftop in our hammocks (luckily sheltered) for a while! When it finally calmed down we got ready for the evening and went out to the town. There was a parade going on and a big muay thai fight in the town centre. Chloe and I skipped the street food as it was still drizzling, and went to a traditional Thai restaurant full of locals for dinner. We’re a big fan of curries so we shared a red and a yellow curry. They were beautiful. Our favourite is the red curry (the mildest, and tastiest) but green and yellow are also a hit. Definitely our favourite Thai food.

We then did some much needed shopping in the market, and both bought some clothes. Its risky buying clothes in SE Asia as almost every place had a ‘no try, no return’ policy, and everything in is ‘one size fits all’, which is strange, and frankly impossible. However our gambles paid off and we were pretty happy with our new purchases!

After that we called it a night, knowing we had a 3 day journey ahead of us by bus and slow boat.

Our first experience of Thailand has been pretty special – we completely see why people call it the land of smiles – without exception the Thai people have been wonderful and welcoming everywhere we go. We’ve had a pretty good taste of everything, and we’re excited to be back in December!

But for now, goodbye Thailand. Laos here we come!

Annie x

Beds slept in: 5
Items lost/broken: 5
Number of bus/train/plane/boats: 3

I’m currently writing this little Chiang Mai update from my hostel bunkbed on our last night in Pai – we’re already a little behind on blog posts as we’ve been so busy! The last few days have felt like a welcome break after the mayhem of Bangkok and we are glad to be in a much more laid back setting with gorgeous mountain views.

We arrived in Chiang Mai feeling rather groggy after a night of very little sleep on the bus from Bangkok. The seats were fairly comfortable, but the strange overall experience of the night bus didn’t lend itself to getting much shut-eye. We were woken up around midnight to stop at a service station, where we were given meal vouchers for the canteen style catering. Our travel-sick stomachs were not quite ready for food having just woken up, and the lack of a vegetarian option cemented our decision to opt out. The cockroaches and stray dogs in the service station toilets completed the bizarre wake up call.

After a quick snooze at the hostel in the morning, it was temple time: Chiang Mai edition. First stop was Wat Chedi Luang, where we were disappointed to find that women were not permitted to enter certain parts of the temple as menstruation is considered a humiliation to sacred sites. We of course handled this with grace and did not complain as the boys entered without us.

The parts of the temple we were able to see were pretty spectacular, particularly the 14th century ruins that have been reconstructed after earthquake damage.

The other temples we visited were Wat Phantao and Wat Phra Singh, which we entered during prayer time and observed the monks’ ceremonial chanting. A great debate divided the group – whether the older looking monks lining the walls were real people (and so advanced at meditation that they showed no signs of breathing) or wax models. On closer inspection we found that they were indeed impressive fakes.

That evening we headed out to sample some of the glorious street food at the night bazaar.

Bua Tong Waterfalls

On our second day in Chiang Mai we headed to Bua Tong, nicknamed the ‘sticky waterfall’, because of its grippy limestone surface that allows people to walk up and down it barefoot. We started at the bottom of the three waterfalls, stopping for a dip in the plunge pool and then climbing all the way up. It was the most bizarre sensation first stepping onto the rocks, and it goes against every survival instinct you have to trust that you won’t slip and be washed away.

After we’d reached the top and marveled at the gorgeous viewpoint, we prepared for round 2 and clambered back down the waterfall. Despite the grip this did feel decidedly more risky than the way up (unless my Mum & Dad are reading this, in which case it was perfectly safe). Fortunately there were ropes to cling onto as we made our ungraceful descent.

Into the Wild Elephant Sanctuary

Elephant encounters have become a must-do tourist activity in Chiang Mai, and whilst we were eager to experience it ourselves, we were very conscious of the ethical issues surrounding these attractions in Thailand and we wanted to make sure we chose one with a good reputation.

Our hostel was endorsing ‘Into the Wild’ elephant sanctuary, and after some research and some reassurance from the hostel that they periodically visit to review the standards of care, we decided to go ahead and book.

The journey into the mountains was less than relaxing, and the twists and turns of the road almost resulted in a few of us losing our breakfast over the side of the truck. To reach the sanctuary there was also a short trek through the jungle, which was pretty eventful with our fearless guide stopping to put a giant spider he’d found in his mouth.

The sanctuary itself is in an idyllic spot in the valley, where the elephants have access to a mud pool, the river and acres of jungle space to roam in. On arrival we were given a talk by Pai, one of the mahouts, on Thailand’s history of using elephants for work and the controversy around elephant riding in recent years. He compared the situation to our use of horses, much smaller and lighter animals, and made some excellent points explaining the complicated grey areas of using any animal for tourism. Despite our skepticism it was clear that these elephants, mostly rescued from the logging trade, had a far higher quality of life here with one-on-one care and freedom to roam, than they would elsewhere.

When we were introduced to the elephants I was in awe of them and overwhelmed to see the sheer size and power of them up close. We were able to feed them and walk with them through the jungle, watching them eat their way through the trees and covering themselves with dirt to cool down. Next up was the mud bath, which involved us throwing copious amounts of mud over them, each other, and the elephants kindly shitting in the water we were all standing in. The highlight of the day was washing them off in the river and watching one of the baby elephants playfully jump into the water from the rocks.

I’m still unsure how I feel about being able to get so close and personal with a wild animal under these circumstances, but we could tell for certain that the elephants here are well loved and that our money was going towards a high standard of care and rehabilitation.

Chiang Mai was a breath of fresh air compared with busy Bangkok, but we were soon climbing back aboard the bus to move onto our next stop in Northern Thailand, Pai!

Chloe x

Beds slept in: 4
Items lost: 3
Number of bus/train/plane/boats: 2

Hey folks! We’ve just left Bangkok – our first stop on our Southeast Asia Adventure, having spent 4 days there. It’s been pretty mental as we were expecting. Here’s our Bangkok (take 1) experience a nutshell…

Generic airport photo

We arrived in a very sorry jet-lagged state after not much sleep on the flight. Free wine and great films were massive perks, but unfortunately we had the most monumental bellends sat behind us, an old French couple who aggressively pushed our seats forward and shouted at us in French every time we reclined them. There’s a special place in hell for those two.

Here we are looking so optimistic when we first got on the plane and saw how ‘comfy’ the seats were (we’re used to flying Ryanair)

Once we finally landed and ventured into the city, we learnt pretty quick that Thai people are so nice; our bus driver stopped directly outside our hostel for us, despite it not being on the bus route. We also learnt quickly that its very easy to be scammed in Bangkok, but I’ll get to that in a bit.

Our hostel had a pool so we spent some of the first day around there, and in the evening we went to the bar where we met a load of people. We spent the night playing beer pong and drinking with our new pals Alpa, Rita, Ana and Amy who we ended up spending the rest of the time in Bangkok with. We had plenty of strange coloured shots but we were defeated by midnight.

The next day we were up and out pretty early with our new crew, and we also met up with Eamon and Mario who we know from home, who happened to arrive in Bangkok on the same day. This is where the tuktuk scam occurred. 10baht per person to see ‘all the sights’ was the promise. We made him swear he wouldn’t take us to any shops (we’d read about this), so instead we ended up going to 2 tourist infos (where the drivers get free fuel if they bring tourists) before he finally took us to the grand palace. Except it wasn’t the grand palace, it was the temple at the end of our road, then he was off. We didn’t pay anything but he wasted an hour of our time. We are total fools.

This picture of our first tuktuk ride is fantastic. Our friend Alpa is loving it, we are…not so. We got used to them eventually!

One thing that I really didn’t warm to in Bangkok, other than how mentally busy the traffic is, was the number of people trying to sell you things all the time. It was relentless.

We decided to skip the grand palace in the end as it was a bit pricey, and instead went to see the reclining buddha and surrounding temples. After that we got on a boat over to Wat Arun (where we missed our stop and had a nice long ride along the river), but we met a nice guy on the boat who happened to own the bar next to our hostel. It was all worth it because Wat Arun was incredible. And we saw a teenage girl wearing a t-shirt that said ’Sperm’ on it. Not sure what that was about.

That night we went for dinner, then had drinks in the hostel, before heading to the boat guy’s bar where we drunk for a couple of hours, before we hit the famous party strip, Koh San Road. It was as mental as we predicted! We didn’t get there ’til 1 and at 2 everything shuts (whaaaaat), so we only got a little taste of it. We grabbed some beers and went back to a room for drinks before calling it a night at 4am.

The Bangkok crew: Eamon, Mario, Rita, Ana, Alpa, Chloe, Annie and some locals!

The girls on Khao San Road

Our first bucket!

The next day was pathetic fallacy at its finest – we were hungover, still not over the jet lag, and we experienced our first Thai downpour. Mental scenes of gut busting thunder, crazy lightening and rain nothing like we get in the UK. We finally rallied ourselves by 7pm when the weather calmed and we could stand up without feeling sick, and went to check out the shopping centre, where we found some fantastic Thai brands, including H&M and Boots… and we ate pizza. As cultural days go, this one was bad. But we enjoyed ourselves.

For our last day in Bangkok, we headed out early to the famous Chatuchak weekend market with our new roomie, also called Annie. The market was huge and you could buy pretty much anything. We had a great browse but the heat was overwhelming (if I haven’t mentioned yet, Bangkok is SO humid), so we found a nearby park to chill, or at least try to. Next we headed to Chinatown for the vegetarian festival, which I was very exited about. However Chinatown was so busy and overwhelming, and we were pretty frazzled by this point, so we grabbed some spring rolls and some weird kind of doughnuts and got out of there!

Back at the hostel there was a pool party happening, so Eamon and Mario joined us and we played some water volleyball. That was a fun way to end our Bangkok experience, and at 7pm we headed for the night bus to head up north to Chiang Mai – an 11 hour journey, the first of many!

Bangkok, you were mental, overwhelming, very fun, obscenely hot…pretty much everything we had expected you to be. Bring on the cool mountain air and chill city vibes from stop 2 – Chiang Mai!

Annie x

Number of items lost: 3
Number of beds slept in: 2
Number of bus/train/plane/boats: 1

“I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.” – Oscar Wilde

Two small girls take on the world… or at least some of it. Follow our adventures as we conquer mountains, temples, cities and seas, all whilst carrying backpacks bigger than us everywhere we go. Expect tales of hangovers, finding ourselves, and probably some bullshit about doing yoga on a mountain.

First stop, Bangkok!

Annie & Chloe
The Pint-Sized Adventurers.

Number of items lost: 0
Number of beds slept in: 0
Number of bus/train/plane/boats: 0