Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur & Singapore 7th - 21st September 2015

Two blog posts in two days! Aren't you guys lucky?! 

Kuala Lumpur:

Kuala Lumpur is situated near (ish) to the coast of western Peninsular Malaysia and inhabits a Malaysian, Chinese and Indian population. We arrived when the air pollution was at an all time high, this was due to burning crops all the way from Indonesia so we didn't see the sun the whole time we were there. Walking around the city wasn't very enjoyable due to the combination of the bad air and high humidity and this made us quite lazy in Kuala and to be honest there wasn't a lot to do in hindsight so we spent most of our days walking around air conditioned malls that usually had a starbucks. Our first experience of food was a build your own burger place near our first hostel, we noticed they had peanut butter on their menu as a sauce for the burger so we experimented and really enjoyed it (definitely a recipe for clean eating in the making). 

We walked around three parts of the city: China Town, Brickfields&Bangsar and KLCC. All of these were very different and showed that Kuala had a diverse culture. In Brickfields&Bangsar we visited a planetarium and a mosque, the planetarium was anti climatic due to being full of annoying children who wanted to take a photo of me, however we moved on to the mosque which we were able to explore, it was amazing and so educational to see the inside of such a respected place of worship. We also saw wild monkeys on the way home which was really exciting because we had only seen them in zoos. Most days were spent chilling out in Starbucks and walking around the centre generally, even though a lot of the malls had generic western shops it was still interesting to explore the different architectures of them.   

Singapore:

Singapore is a vibrant and cosmopolitan city with that slight British influence. We didn't get here easy, travelling by a coach that decided not to leave until an hour after schedule and then treated us like nothing wasn't the easiest thing to deal with. Our first night was spent in a small hostel in China town, thankfully we didn't have to stay there any longer than one night as it was the worst one we had encountered since leaving the UK. Small box room, rock hard pillows and mattresses that were still wrapped in plastic. 

On the 15th we traveled to the outskirts of Singapore to stay with my friend Eden, it has been a haven in an unknown city for us and we are eternally thankful (thank you again Eden). On Wednesday, Eden gave us an itinerary for the day and off we went, we traveled to Clark Quay which was full of expensive bars and restaurants that we wished we could afford. We enjoyed a guided boat ride down the river which told us a lot of interesting facts about the landmarks of Singapore, the financial district was clustered together like it was a city of its own. Later on we visited the gardens by the bay, the cloud forest and flower dome were spectacular because we had never seen anything like it! It was a mini forest haven in a sheltered dome, we were surprised that it was cold inside the domes but it was refreshing compared to being outside.  

On thursday it was time for the zoo! Singapore zoo is rated the second best zoo in the world so we were very excited about what it would offer us. I was happy to see the Koalas and the White tigers as there are sadly none of them left in the wild due to our selfish greed. Singapore zoo was a place where I feel the animals were treated very well and the surroundings imitated a natural environment for most animals, except the polar bear. He had no ice around him, his exhibit wasn't cold and he was clearly not comfortable being there. It was also cruel of them to shut him out of his den where it was cool so he would have to be out for everyone to see, this is why my opinion of zoos and aquariums are forever changing. Is it really right to keep a creature that is used to arctic conditions in a 35 degree area with no shade, only (warm?) water to cool him down? No. I think that is an exhibit that needs to be fixed pronto! 

Whilst I was hungover after being out in Clarke quay the night before, Daniel went and explored the famous Raffles hotel which was rather like the Ritz hotel in London. He also saw some of the street tracks created for the Singapore Grand Prix event, unfortunately we could not get tickets so this was the best view he could get! 

Thanks for tuning in folks, next time I will blog will be in around three weeks! Bring on Fiji ^_^

Love Tam xox

Thailand 18th August - 7th September 2015

Hello folks, sorry for the very delayed post about Thailand! We have been busy and sometimes when you have the time to sit down you just want to relax and do nothing!

Bangkok:

Now where do I start? OH yes.. we missed our original flight to Thailand as it was rearranged and we looked at the wrong email so we turned up at the airport completely oblivious to what lay ahead. Due to not wanting to spend much money we had to sleep in the airport over night as it was too expensive to go back into the city of Hanoi and that was an experience I can now laugh about. In the time that we were stuck in the airport a bomb went off in the centre of Bangkok next to the Erawan shrine. Twenty people were killed and a hundred and twenty were injured, we found missing our flight to be a blessing in disguise and felt very fortunate to not be caught up in this horrific incident. When we did eventually arrive there, we were told to avoid the centre for the next few days due to the events and also told to avoid big tourist places within the city. We didn't listen. I have found that after a major event like this security is at an all time high and the culprits wouldn't be dumb enough to strike the same place twice (saying this an explosion happened not to far from the shrine as soon as we arrived but it hit water so no one was injured).

When we did go into the city, we did decide to go and pay a visit to the shrine, we felt very safe around there as security was very high especially going in and out of the shopping malls close by. At the shrine, there was a lot of press and clearly some relatives/friends of the victims this bomb had claimed, it was hurtful to see and it made you feel incredibly thankful that you still had your life. I bought some flowers and incense to pay my respects and pray for those lives lost. I hope this event does not damage Bangkok's tourism industry as it is such a wonderful city filled with friendly people and a great vibe.

Koh Phangan: 

Koh Phangan is the island known best for its half moon and full moon parties, we stayed in a place called Lime N Soda Resort which was okay but it was very noisy in the morning and at night due to a festival based not far from the resort. That festival kept us up for the next few nights which wasn't ideal as we would start the day feeling groggy and lazy due to not having enough sleep so it slightly ruined our time on the island but we moved past it. The island was relaxing for the most part and there was a small stretch of land in the middle of the sea due to it being so shallow up until a drop, it was something that Daniel and I had never encountered so we found it fascinating. 

As I said before Koh Phangan is known for its Half and Full Moon parties, we were fortunate enough to be around for the Half moon as many people had said it was much better than the Full Moon. The difference between is that the Full Moon is not an organised event and is held on a beach with random places of music but the Half Moon is an organised "festival" type party which is held in an arena style place in Ban Tai Jungle. We had a lot of fun as we met really cool people and experienced something like no other! Other than this party we chilled around the island and relaxed until we set off for Chiang Mai.   

Chiang Mai:

Chiang Mai was very different from the south of Thailand, it was very green with lush jungle forests and very humid air. We really enjoyed ourselves here as it had a lot to offer, its quite a diverse place and it had a more developed vibes than the islands we had visited. Most days we spend wondering around visiting temples and coffee shops it offered a lot of different cuisines but we stuck to the same restaurants some nights due to being there for so long. 

For two of the days we did recommended activities, we opted for Trekking and Zip lining which at first was very hard work as walking 7km in the humid heat was not the easiest but it was worth it for the views and the accomplishment of feeling fit. After lunch we went round a zip lining course and that was pretty scary for me due to having a fear of heights and you do go very fast but it was a great experience and we were rewarded with a certificate at the end to say that we had done it. 

On the Wednesday we traveled to the Elephant Retirement Park, this park is for elephants that were rescued from the tourism industry and the circus. It was important to me to go to a place where they were treated right and where the place contributes to the conservation of elephants in the wild. Being close to these amazing giants really makes you appreciate how large they actually are, having only seen them from afar in a zoo it was amazing to interact with them so full on. Throughout the day we bathed them, fed them and learnt about where they had come from and how important it is to boycott anywhere that rides them. This place has only been running for a year and they are trying to expand so if you are ever in Chiang Mai and you want a genuine experience with elephants please go here! I did not stop smiling all day!

I really enjoyed Thailand and I recommend it 100% for any traveler, the people are friendly and the place has a really great vibe.

Lots of love
Tam xox

Hoi an 8th-11th August, Hué 11th-13th, Da Nang 13th-14th, Halong Bay 14th-16th and Hanoi 16th-17th August:

We arrived in hoi an in good time from nha trang, as we flew to da nang airport so we could skip the 12 hour bus ride. Hoi an was not a great place for me, the first day we had there I was ill for most of it due to eating dodgy fruit but I only seemed to enjoy the city at night. It was beautiful, we put candles on the water and wondered around the city decorated with beautiful lanterns, Daniel explored some of the temples without me in the day and thought they were beautiful also. On the last day in Hoi an we booked an Eco tour, this included going to the markets and learning how to haggle down a price for food and seeing how the locals produce their products. It was interesting to see how the locals handled their produce and what was on sale, after the market we were taken on a small boat that took us to a river leading down to the restaurant that was going to teach us how to cook. However to get there we had to take a small coconut boat, it was a great experience paddling through the mangrove forests to the cafe, an experience I won't forget! The cooking was educational for us Brits because as the culture is so different, it's amazing to see how the food was produced and we got to experiment with so many new foods, it was wonderful!   Hoi an was soon spoilt by our hostel, they tried to charge daniel 32,000 dollars on his card and they weren't very co operative with other guests on important matters so when asked by others if they should stay here, we told them no and to make matters worse we had to get on a bus with no air conditioning for four hours. We were not happy. 

However when we got to Hué, we settled down and became happy again after a shower and some chill time, we didn't explore much of Hué that night due to being exhausted from the journey. We only had one day in Hué, so we decided to travel on a boat to a famous tower where they trained monks in a chapel, there was not much to see in Hué besides that and the imperial city which wasn't particularly thrilling due to much of it being re done so it lost its authenticity. Luckily for us we found a lovely coffee shop that made smoothies for around 32,000 dong which is less than a pound in Britain! The atmosphere was calming and the air conditioning was welcoming. 

We travelled back to Da Nang to catch a flight to Hanoi on the 14th, we only stayed a night in Da Nang and it's just a very busy city ! We didn't get to see much of it but we could tell it would be a bit much for us. 

Halong bay on the 14th of August was a complete mare to get too, we arrived at Hanoi airport and a taxi driver claimed to know where he was going when we told him to go to the bus station but instead he took us to the train station and so we had to get another taxi to the actual bus station where we got a local bus to halong bay. The local buses are interesting but the locals were surprisingly welcome towards us and bought us some guava, our hotel was a three star which we only found out until we got there and it was a lovely break from the hostels we had had before. We booked a boat trip to halong bay for the next day, the situation we have noticed most in vietnam is that they never tell you what's going on, you are left waiting around for ages not knowing what's happening and you never know who to ask as no one seems to be in charge. We waited an hour and a half to finally get on a boat, the hosts weren't very nice but it didn't matter as the experience of halong bay was just out of this world. We were able to kayak through some of the islands and we have never been somewhere so silent and peaceful, we also visited a cave which was also breathtaking due to the size and scale of the rocks. The whole experience was a great way to end Vietnam for us, we would recommend it to anyone. For dinner, we tried out a bbq place recommended on trip advisor, you order a platter of meat and it is cooked right in front of you and we got to try new things also. Even though we stayed in a very nice hotel, we were never able to get much sleep due to a rooster making noises from about 4am each day, it was hilarious but horrible. 

We arrived in Hanoi after a nice four hour bus ride the next day, chilled out and went to a nice swanky restaurant where we had the best food! 

So now we are leaving vietnam and we are off to thailand! Cannot wait! 

Peace out! 

❤️❤️

Nha Trang 2nd - 8th August 2015

Nha trang 2nd - 8th August 

We decided to stay in Nha trang for a week as we assumed there would be a lot to do, there was not. We filled most of our days walking around and chilling on the beach, it wasn't as polluted as Mui Ne was but there was still a slight prescience. Nha Trang to us was a big tourist place, we saw many westerners around the time we were there and for once there was quite a few British. We arrived in Nha trang by bus, a similar bus we had used to get to Mui Ne from Ho Chi Minh but we weren't dropped off at our hotel we were just left at a bus stop not knowing where to go. However, two seemingly nice taxi drivers saved the day saying they could take us to our hotel, I was relieved thinking it would be an easy journey with not much hassle. We were wrong. The "taxis" turned out to be motorbikes which at first I wasn't too sure about as both me and Daniel had quite large backpacks between us and we wondered how the hell they would fit them on the motorcycle along with us but we managed and off we went. It was fantastic, an experience I would do again but please remember to agree a price before you get on the motorbike because when we arrived at our stop they really ripped us off! They charged us 500,000 dong which was 15 quid each for a 10 minute drive that was only supposed to average out about 150,000! Needless to say we were very careful with anyone after that. 

Generally both the hotels we stayed at were good, lovely location as the beach was easily accessible and we could get to many restaurants quite easily. The downside however was that both places had an incredibly bad noise problem, we had both building work and disturbing neighbours that didn't let us get much sleep! Otherwise it was a very pleasant stay in both places. ( we stayed at Ha Thu Hotel and Jennie Jenns apartments. 

We tried to vary the restaurants from night to night but our favourite had to be a place called Lanterns, the staff were friendly and the food at dinner and breakfast were delicious! We never had a bad time there which is why we went back so frequently! 

Activity wise we only did two major things: snorkelling and the mud baths, both very touristy things I know but both definitely worth doing! 

We felt like we stayed a bit long in Nha Trang but I was glad to top up my tan and chill out on a real beach! Nha trang is worth a visit in a backpackers eyes. 

Love Tam ️xox