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East Asia (2024)
  • Aushim Krishan
  • Divya Deepankar
  • Aushim Krishan
  • Divya Deepankar

East Asia (2024)

A month through Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Bali, Singapore and Japan. First, two weeks just Divya and me, then a week in Japan with Dad, Mom, Nishu, Purva and Purva’s mom, before Divya and I finished around Fuji and Tokyo. Read more
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  • Trip start
    March 9, 2024
    East Asia (2024)

    Here we go

    March 9, 2024 in England ⋅ ☀️ 7 °C

    We got all set, packed, excited and ready to go on our month-long adventure to East Asia! We were so excited that we arrived ridiculously early at the airport and then had to wait 45 minutes for check-in.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Touchdown in Japan

    March 10, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 10 °C

    After a mammoth 14-hour flight, our longest ever, we finally landed in Haneda Airport in Tokyo. We realised we could have sped up the immigration and customs by filling the online form in advance. Nevertheless, even without it, the whole process didn’t take long. We moved on, found a bus to Narita Airport and after a bit of asking around, found a shuttle bus from Narita Airport to our hotel. We were definitely jet-lagged, keen to take it easy for the day and recharge for the upcoming week in Southeast Asia.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    First meal

    March 10, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    Too tired to head out, we ordered our first meal of the trip through room service. It was a wholesome and delicious Saikyo-yaki (salmon marinated in white miso), accompanied by miso soup, salad, pickles and what, according to Divya, was the best tofu she had ever had.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    All set for Southeast Asia

    March 11, 2024 in Japan ⋅ ☀️ 1 °C

    Our brief stop in Tokyo ended and after storing our heavier suitcase containing warm clothes and jackets, we were off to the more tropical Southeast Asia for the next two weeks. Japan had already been impressive in terms of its hospitality, food and systems and we were excited to be back later for more in the second part of our trip.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Hello Vietnam

    March 11, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We arrived at our first major stop in Southeast Asia, the bustling city of Hanoi in Vietnam. And straight up, we were off for a walk near the Hoan Kiem Lake in the Old Quarter. While we were walking, two completely random women asked Divya if they could take a picture with her. Divya was pleasantly surprised and for a moment wondered if there was a catch. There wasn’t. They just wanted a picture with Divya and so she obliged.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Water puppet show

    March 11, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    We watched a cute and unique cultural performance at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre, where the artists showcased Vietnamese stories, traditions and village life through puppets moving across the water, accompanied by beautiful live folk music.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Street eats

    March 11, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    Street food was impossible to miss in Hanoi. We loved Vietnamese food, so we decided to go on a fun food walking tour through the narrow alleys where we ended up trying all sorts of delicious food, including steamed rice pancakes (our favourite of the evening), dried meat salad, spring rolls, fried sweet potato, fried bananas, pork noodles and pandan-flavoured sticky rice with ice cream.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Ha Long Bay

    March 12, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    And finally, we saw the majestic Ha Long Bay, the crown jewel of Vietnam. We spent a day cruising through the beautiful bay with countless limestone cliffs all around us. The speedboat ride, in particular, was fun with the driver turning and drifting the boat at high speeds. It was followed by a short, pleasant ride in a bamboo boat through a cave and a hidden lagoon. Later in the afternoon, we also visited the Sung Sot Cave (Divya did this alone; I skipped it because it involved a lot of stairs) and the Ti Top Island (named after a Russian who was the second man to go into space after Gagarin), which was extremely crowded and included a couple dancing to ‘Kaho Naa... Pyaar Hai’. We made our way back to Hanoi after our long day in the bay.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Train Street

    March 12, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    We ended up exploring Train Street, where trains pass by less than a foot away from the people sitting at adjacent cafes. This place was not a tourist spot a decade ago, but then Instagram happened and the locals started wondering why all these people were flocking to a narrow street to see trains go by. Unfortunately, we missed all the trains for the day, but still managed to enjoy a nice cup of egg coffee, a Vietnamese speciality, while sitting right next to the train tracks.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Beer Street

    March 12, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    What a spot! It was one of the liveliest nights of the trip. Great beer bars, music from the early 2010s and an amazingly lively crowd. I don’t think there was anywhere in London that could match the atmosphere. The waitress at our bar got angry at an Indian group at a table next to us who were not ordering any drinks but continuously changing the music to Bollywood songs including “Chaiyya Chaiyya”. We were amused at the whole incident.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Wars, leaders and memorials

    March 13, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    We toured some of Hanoi’s most important sites related to the country’s modern history, especially the twentieth-century Indochina Wars and Vietnam War. We saw the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, the Temple of Literature and the Hoa Lo Prison Relic.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Khmer land

    March 13, 2024 in Cambodia ⋅ 🌙 28 °C

    We landed in Siem Reap in Cambodia for the next leg of our trip and wow, it was hot there, with temperatures of 28°C even at night. We went out for an authentic, if slightly expensive, Khmer dinner and tried the national dish, fish amok. We found it similar to a Thai curry except much heavier in flavour and texture and lighter on spiciness. We also tried the local rice spirit, Sombai, which was surprisingly light and nice to drink. We went to bed with an early start for Angkor Wat ahead of us.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Angkor Wat

    March 14, 2024 in Cambodia ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    We woke up early and headed to Angkor, the capital of the medieval Khmer Empire. Our first stop was the grand and majestic Angkor Wat. Unfortunately, it was a bit cloudy in the morning so witnessing the sunrise was not an option. But we still managed to see the dawn arrive and the colours change with the backdrop of the temple. We spent ample time within Angkor Wat and it was interesting to see so many depictions of Hindu mythology on the walls of this originally Hindu temple. One of the more common depictions was that of Samudra Manthan. Next, we headed to Ta Prohm, now famous from the Tomb Raider films, and Bayon Temple. A lot of the temples were undergoing restoration work. The work on the Ta Prohm temple in particular was a joint project with India (Archaeological Survey of India). In between our temple visits, Divya also got a water blessing from a Buddhist monk, whose smoke break we interrupted.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    MasterChef Cambodia

    March 14, 2024 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    We went for a very well organised cooking class in a local’s home in Siem Reap. We found this via Airbnb and it was a lot of fun cooking authentic Khmer dishes like fish amok in a nice kitchen surrounded by a plush garden of herbs, vegetables and fruits. Our instructors were great and very helpful and the whole experience felt very MasterChef-y. The food and the conversations with the rest of the group were a nice end to a fun evening. There was a French couple in the group who had been staying in the city for months. The woman in the couple was also into sustainability but struggling to find the right job in it. On our way back, they were surprised to see that we were staying in a fancy hotel and not a cheaper backpacking place. By the time we reached our hotel, we were too tired for the Apsara dance performance in the garden and crashed instead.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Phnom Kulen

    March 15, 2024 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 32 °C

    After a much-needed 10+ hour sleep, our final stop in Cambodia was Phnom Kulen, a national park atop the Kulen Mountains, popular for many sites including the amazingly scenic Kulen Waterfalls, the Reclining Buddha, 1,000 lingas and just the view from the cliff at the top of the mountain. We also tried some sweet red bananas that we were told were local to these mountains. It was extremely hot by the time we left and we felt super dehydrated, even after each of us had a large fresh coconut. We were then headed for our next destination, Phuket in Thailand!Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Phang Nga Bay

    March 16, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    “We sell rooms, not food,” the woman at the counter told us when we asked about breakfast. We had arrived in Phuket the previous night and were staying in a bare-bones hotel next to the airport. We woke up early that morning to visit the gorgeous Phang Nga Bay and its various sights. Going early turned out to be a great decision because we beat the crowds and were practically alone throughout our time in the bay. We watched the sunrise among the limestone cliffs and took in the breathtaking scenery around James Bond Island, Tam Lot Cave, Koh Panyee Fishing Village (with a floating football field) and the Monkey Cave Temple. Brunch was amazing too, with green curry, sweet and sour cashew chicken and vegetables. Next up were the Phi Phi Islands.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Bamboo Island

    March 16, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C

    After a one-hour speedboat ride to Phi Phi Islands and then checking in to our hotel in Koh Phi Phi Don, our first stop was Bamboo Island, a beautiful island with a serene white-sand beach, where we ended up snorkelling and relaxing on the absolutely stunning beach. It was uninhabited and less popular among the different Phi Phi Islands, so it was practically empty except for a few other people. We had a nice time snorkelling (Divya way more than me) and then got to see the sunset and luminescent plankton on our way back.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Beach on fire

    March 16, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    One of the main attractions for us in Phi Phi was the nightly fire show at Slinky Beach Bar on Loh Dalum Beach. It started around 8pm and was reason enough to be glad we had stayed overnight. We ended up witnessing dozens of different acts (including some with audience participation) where the performers were constantly juggling, manoeuvring, throwing and catching objects on fire. We also had a couple of Singhas and followed it up with a delicious meal of tom kha gai and mango sticky rice.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Maya Bay

    March 17, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 27 °C

    Maya Bay, on Phi Phi Leh Island, was our reason for another early start. We wanted to beat the crowds. Its reputation preceded it. It was the location for Leonardo DiCaprio’s film The Beach and had become famous as one of the world’s most beautiful beaches. The beach certainly exceeded our expectations. It was gorgeous, with silky white sand, and was surrounded by huge limestone cliffs on either side. We spent some time there, saw baby sharks and mountain crabs, and then moved on to Pi Leh Lagoon and went snorkelling in the Viking Cave. We also saw Monkey Beach on the way back to our hotel. It had been a morning well spent.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Thai food and relaxation

    March 17, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    After a short swim in our hotel pool and checking out, we went out for some authentic Thai lunch with amazing views of the turquoise sea. I had been eagerly waiting to try some pad krapao gai (stir-fried chicken with chilli and basil), a dish I often had at Thai restaurants in London. And that’s what we had, along with some tom yum soup. It was delicious and (unfortunately for Divya) spicy. We had told them to give us the chillies separately from the dish, but we learnt the hard way that that wasn’t how they did things there. They did give us the chillies separately, but that was in addition to the chillies already in the food, which they did not remove. We followed this up (at Divya’s insistence) with a Thai foot massage, which was a nice way to relax and beat the afternoon heat.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Patong

    March 17, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    Back on Phuket Island, we spent the evening in Patong. It was an extremely lively area filled with street food, clubs, live music bars, restaurants and also a Muay Thai boxing stadium. Bangla Road in particular was the centre of the action. We started off with some dumplings and rice rolls from the street food stalls. We followed that with some drinks in the New York Live Music Bar, which was the highlight of the evening. The live band was crazy good and they played popular songs from various genres and periods. We requested “Gimme Gimme Gimme” by ABBA. They eventually played ABBA, but chose “Mamma Mia” instead. It was pretty good too. Before returning to the hotel, we had some mango sticky rice. I think we had become a bit addicted to this dish.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Phuket Big Buddha

    March 18, 2024 in Thailand ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    On our final day in Thailand, we went to see the Phuket Big Buddha on our way to the airport. It was a majestic 45-metre-tall statue on top of a hill in southern Phuket. We were almost going to skip it because we were short on time, but we were so glad we didn’t. The statue was really tall and we couldn’t help but feel in awe of the structure and the views from atop the hill. The information panels on the spread of Buddhism in Southeast Asia were nice additions to the monument. Once at the airport, we had some pad thai and for one last time because we couldn’t resist, mango sticky rice. Next up was a flight to Bali with a layover in Kuala Lumpur.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Layover in Kuala Lumpur

    March 18, 2024 in Malaysia ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    So we had around three hours to kill at the Kuala Lumpur airport before our connecting flight to Bali and we considered using one of those capsule hotels. But then I proposed playing a board game instead. We played a game of 7 Wonders Duel on the floor of one of the departure gates. I won, but to be fair, it was Divya’s first time playing so there was a bit of a learning curve and some minor confusion about some of the rules. Overall, both of us enjoyed playing it. We had a quick early dinner of soto ayam and lontong vegetables, and then boarded our flight to Bali.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    Balinese food, beach and spa

    March 19, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 32 °C

    We reached Bali, one of Indonesia’s best-known holiday destinations, and on our first day there we decided to go on a tour of South Bali, which is mostly all about beaches, water sports and Hindu temples. We started with a jet-ski ride along the beach, which was okay, nothing great. Divya then went for a traditional Balinese aromatherapy massage. It was then time for lunch and we went to a local place and tried a nasi campur, which turned out to be spicier than Divya’s stomach would have liked. We learnt that local places (unlike places catering to tourists) weren’t always able to adjust spice levels. We would be careful about this for the rest of the trip.Read more

  • East Asia (2024)

    GWK, Uluwatu and Kecak dance

    March 19, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    One thing that struck us in Bali was how central Hindu temples and religious sites were to tourism. The majority of its population is Hindu and there are lots of temples dedicated to Hindu gods and goddesses. We visited some of the popular ones on our South Bali excursion. First was the Garuda Wisnu Kencana Cultural Park (aka GWK), a cultural centre dedicated to Lord Vishnu and Garuda and showcasing their gigantic and majestic statues. Divya’s stomach was still struggling with the very spicy lunch but it got better by the time we left GWK. Next, we visited the Uluwatu cliff, with beautiful sunset views and light blue sea waves crashing at the bottom of the cliff. It also featured the Uluwatu Temple, a thousand-year-old temple which was coincidentally doing a major once-a-year holy ceremony when we visited. The highlight though was the Kecak dance performance, which happens every evening at a beautiful open amphitheatre on top of the cliff. It depicted important scenes from the Ramayana and involved the performers making “kecak” sounds while enacting the scenes and sometimes playing with actual fire. The whole thing was mesmerising. It ended up being one of our favourite experiences in Bali.Read more