Reset search
Sheppo89Sheppo89
SatelliteEdit route
29 year old guy from Liverpool, England who finally give up the rat race to travel. Sold my home, my car and most of my possessions to do so. This is just a list of places I’ve been, so the dates are correct but not the amount of time! Read more Liverpool, United Kingdom
  • Sheppo89RTW solo backpacking trip
    Day 1,499

    Asia Tour - Ayutthaya - Thailand

    April 20, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    So today was one of the reasons I came back to Thailand - first time I was here in Bangkok I missed the ancient city of Ayutthaya which is something I really wanted to see. So I booked an all day tour which was the best thing as I couldn’t be arsed sorting out all 3 places on my own and it only worked out a few pound cheaper to do it myself anyway.

    First stop was the summer royal palace which is stunning, the entire grounds are immaculate... but I couldn’t go in without pants, so I had to buy a pair of those dodgy elephant pants every prick wears here as that’s all I could get. I wasn’t impressed.

    After there we went onto Ayutthaya- the place is awesome and I finally got to see the Buddha head stuck in the tree (bucket list ✅) the complex isn’t that big but the city of Ayutthaya is huge - 1000km larger than Bangkok but with less than 10% population so it’s quite sparse.

    After the city we went to a temple with a solid gold Buddha statue - very bling. Then we went to port and we cruised down the chao Praha river back to Bangkok whilst enjoying an all you can eat buffet. The cruise was awesome, very relaxing and it was cool to see how quickly Bangkok builds up from the river.

    So another thing off the bucket list done ✅ only a few more left now    Read more

  • Sheppo89RTW solo backpacking trip
    Day 1,497

    Asia Tour - Bangkok - Thailand

    April 18, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 35 °C

    Didn’t wake up till mid afternoon today, was a bit tired from the travelling. So I just went for a quick walk around the area my hostel is in as I think that’s important to get to know your surroundings.

    I got back the hostel and went to the bar upstairs.... and to my delight it was a sky bar. This isn’t advertised on its website so I was even more pleased when I saw the view!

    Eventually a British lad called Matt came upstairs and we got chatting, he’s from north wales and is stuck here in Thailand as his passport was water damaged during the festival so the Thai authorities said if they let him on the plane the border control at Loas would send him back to the UK, so he’s here in Bangkok for a few days whilst the embassy arrange a new passport. He was a cool guy I really liked him. After a while more and more people arrived. There was a guy called Elliot from Bristol who was a really nice lad, on a solo tour of Thailand and Vietnam! There was a huge German guy called Bjorn (half Swedish) he was super cool as I’ve found most Germans to be. There was Kim a fellow german who was doing 2 months of travelling after 5 months of working in Indonesia. Maria from Argentina was crazy but super friendly and she found my accent to be ‘the most difficult she’s ever come across’ then finally there was Li from China who was off her head crazy but again very friendly and an American guy called Spencer who was a doctor from Pennsylvania.

    We all had a few drinks at the hostel and headed on down to Khao SAN Road for a night out - started off quite quiet but then after a few drinks we where all raving away, plenty of drinks later and around 5am we headed back to the hostel and I got to my dorm and I don’t even remember getting into bed.

    Brilliant night - brilliant people    Read more

  • Sheppo89RTW solo backpacking trip
    Day 1,496

    Asia Tour - Bangkok - Thailand

    April 17, 2019 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 36 °C

    Back to Bangkok Baby! Love it here

    Didn’t do anything yesterday as the city was on clear up and most things where still closed so I just went back the hostel and chilled and had a few drinks.

    Quite glad I’m back in Thailand, I know I won’t get sick here and the weather is slightly cooler. Landed quite late about 10:30pm so it was like 11:30 before I was all Checked in so I just went to bed. The hostel is superb though - it’s called the printing house and it’s quite posh. Much comfier than anything I stayed in in Burma    Read more

  • Sheppo89RTW solo backpacking trip
    Day 1,494

    Asia Tour - Mandalay - Burma

    April 15, 2019 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 38 °C

    Last day of Thingyan today - it’s been a brilliant experience. It’s somewhat limited my ability to move around the city as most things have been closed which makes sense.

    I just enjoyed the experience from the comfort of the balcony today as all my clothes where soaked hahahah.

    It was nice seeing so many people happy and enjoying themselves of all ages, although I would say it’s definitely leaning more towards the younger generation - but I suppose their the ones who are going to be out all day for 3 days straight. I’m 30 and I’d struggle to do that hahahaha.

    I am going to try and move around the city tomorrow but I’m not sure how quickly things get back to ‘normal’ here    Read more

  • Sheppo89RTW solo backpacking trip
    Day 1,493

    Asia Tour - Mandalay - Burma

    April 14, 2019 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C

    More festival going today - it’s even hotter so I’m thankful for it.

    Again I’ve been targeted by the locals which is welcomed with this heat - more photos, more shaking hands etc hahahahaha.

    I think the locals where a bit braver today as more of them come over, it there was a new development today... I was asked to hold babies for photos which was awful as I don’t like babies. However I was polite enough and went along with it. The people seemed to love it and to be fair they where extremely polite and really grateful that I held their kids etc.

    Today was also super sobering. I knew Burma was not particularly well off and most people live in some form of poverty like most of Asia but here and Cambodia seem to be the worse for it.

    I was being soaked by a little girl, no older than 4 when her water gun broke, she was understandably upset and she ran back to her mum to fix the gun. It was broke, unrepairable and she started crying and I felt awful, so I went up to the girl and gave her some money from my pocket to buy a new one. I only gave her 10kyat which is roughly £5 - her parents started crying and tried to give me the money back. It was £5 - that’s it. I could of dropped it and never noticed. I was insistent that they keep it to buy her a new gun (turns out a new gun is like 50p) but even people who where looking seemed shocked by it. It was nice to make that families day but I was surprised by the overwhelming reaction by it. But it just highlights how good we have it back home - the sad reality is that £5 to most of the worlds population is a huge amount of money to just be given.

    I was half expecting more people to come over and beg for money when I saw the reaction - but not a single person came over wanting or begging for money - just to say hello and take pictures.

    Overall very cool sobering day    Read more

  • Sheppo89RTW solo backpacking trip
    Day 1,492

    Asia Tour - Mandalay - Burma -

    April 13, 2019 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 37 °C

    HAPPY THINGYAN

    Today is the start of the new year festival here in Burma (and most of south east Asia)

    I was woken up to booming rave music at around 7am - which I did not expect hahahahaha. They start early here.

    I just watched the start of the festivities from the balcony of the hostel, which was quite cool as it gave me a brilliant view of everything going on.

    I ended up going down to join the festival around mid day as it was starting to get busy, and one thing I noticed was I was the only white person there. A fact which was made even more plainly clear by the fact everyone was looking at me. It then went from looking at me to the occasional one coming over and in broken english repeating hi hello hi hello and shaking my hand which at first was a little bit strange but after a while it was ok.

    I was being targeted by Everyone to be soaked which I didn’t mind as it was 41° outside so the water helped me cool down. I ended up being asked to get in a few photos with people. In a few hours I probably ended up in roughly 50/60 photos.

    The festival was amazing, super lively and everyone was so friendly and they where just out to have a good time which was awesome to see and brilliant to be a part of!

    Later that night I went to a pub for a few beers and I got talking to the barman there about the festival- he explained to me why I attracted so much attention:

    I am white
    Blonde
    Dark beard

    That’s not a combination they see at all, not even on TV. He also explained to me that most people in Burma never get to leave their village except for Thingyan - so to then come across a white westerner with blonde hair and black facial hair it’s an extremely rare occurrence and one which they may never actually genuinely see again.

    Anyway, more festival antics tomorrow    Read more

  • Sheppo89RTW solo backpacking trip
    Day 1,491

    Asia Tour - Mandalay - Burma

    April 12, 2019 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    So after the worlds worst coach trip yesterday I had a little venture out and about Mandalay. It didn’t last long, I still feel awful and it’s around 40° today - I am not built for these temperatures hahahahaha. The heat and humidity limited me to about 30 minutes walking around. I downed roughly 2L of water and I still felt dehydrated.

    The city is getting ready for Thingyan which is their new year - a huge 3 day water festival which apparently is mental so I am looking forward to that.

    There’s also a smell here in Burma - everywhere you go it’s a smell I can’t describe! It isn’t pleasant either.    Read more

  • Sheppo89RTW solo backpacking trip
    Day 1,490

    Asia Tour - Bagan/Mandalay - Burma

    April 11, 2019 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C

    Woke up feeling much better today - still not brilliant but certainly better

    Had my usual freezing cold shower has they don’t have water heaters here and we also had our first blackout which was kinda cool.... I suppose

    I was picked up at the hostel bang on time to get the coach to Mandalay. I was picked up by a shared taxi which is basically a flat bed truck with some benches and a metal cage so you don’t fall out - very glamorous

    The bus itself is shocking hahahahah - it also smells awful. I’ve tried so hard to ignore it but there’s no escaping it - also Myanmar’s personal hygiene is also something to be desired 🤢

    The ride to Mandalay is probably the worst I’ve experienced in terms of comfort. You’re basically just being thrown around in your seat. It’s exciting but if you want comfort, safety or have motion sickness this is not for you - trying to read a book on my iPad was pretty much impossible it’s that bumpy

    I’m around half way into the journey now so should reach Mandalay around 7pm

    We stopped off at probably the worlds worst roadside cafe. It was horrid hahaha. There where people waiting literally 1 step away from the coach doors to make you buy something. Chicken that’s on a plate that’s been left out in the sun (vom) the smell was terrible I ended up waiting on the far side of the road out of the way.

    We get back on the coach and obviously there are social and cultural differences between myself and the locals but here is where I would say they need to stop and get into the 21st century... picking at your feet on the coach, burping and hocking as loud as you can. My stomach was turning the entire trip

    Dirty bastards    Read more

  • Sheppo89RTW solo backpacking trip
    Day 1,489

    Asia Tour - Bagan - Burma

    April 10, 2019 in Myanmar ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Felt a little bit better today but still not enough to really do anything, which is a shame as I leave here tomorrow and head to Mandalay. But I’m happy I was sick here and not somewhere more interesting I suppose.

    I did however plan my trip till 3rd May - so after Mandalay I’m flying back to Bangkok for a week to do all the stuff I missed first time round such as the floating markets, ayuttuyha, bridge over river Kwai and explore Siam which I missed last time.

    After there I am getting a coach to Siem Reap to go explore Angkor wot for 5 days then off to Phnon Phen for 5 days. After that I don’t know, As I’ll still have one eye on the league. But I am running low on money now so I’ll be home in May I think. I obviously have money saved so i could continue on for another year easily but I don’t want to dip into that money as that’s to help me start again when I get back and will help towards buying a car, Saving for a house etc.

    So.... bring on Mandalay    Read more

Join us:

FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android

  • 2024© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Blog
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Support
  • Legal notice
  • English