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South East Asia

January - June 2023
Here we are at last! I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the best S.E. Asia has to offer me Read more
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  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    Day 2

    Travel and arrival

    January 30, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    This is dictated from my written journal to save you all from reading my handwriting :))

    29/01/23: i’m on the plane!! After all the stress and planning apparently this is actually going to happen. I’m just waiting to find out what I’ve forgotten. I’ve already had a really good Jan so far but this is the main event and I’m a little bit nervous.

    I think I managed to contain my stress by constantly giving myself things to do and people to see but the panic find the setting just as I was leaving the house and saying goodbye to Ruby. I managed to contain myself when saying goodbye to mum and dad (just about), Dad just about got away with it but the same can’t be said for Mum. I’m really going to miss them all and very thankful for all they’ve done for me to help me get ready.

    Seeing Livi was great and we had a quick catch up before getting on our respective flights. I’m now surrounded by some rather grumpy northern blokes and a Dutch lady who apparently has a very weak bladder. The in-flight entertainment has been good so far and we haven’t even left the ground… Good luck to me!!

    30/01/23: Well the first night is here at last. After roughly 2 hours sleep on the plane, and hence in the last 32 hours, I finally get a rest the flight was okay, legroom was minimal and my legs and back were letting me know it but at least the food was good and I got to witness a banging sunrise over some Iranians mountains in the middle of the desert.

    We managed to hop on the last S1 bus of the day where we jerked our way through rush-hour traffic, Watching the creative use of lanes with a liberal dose of hard shoulder employed by the locals.

    It all felt fairly similar to western society though until we stepped off the bus to be hit by the heat and scent of central Bangkok, and that was the moment it hit me: “oh shit, I’m actually here and doing this for real for the next four months“.

    Me and Livi had a good time wandering around Khao San road And the surrounding area and after some noodles and roti I want nothing more sleep.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    1
    Day 3

    First full day!!

    January 31, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ 🌙 26 °C

    When we say full Day, we actually only woke up at 1 pm sleeping very well Except for a brief interruption at 2:30 am from the people in the bank next to us rather noisily saying goodbye to each other.

    I’m glad we went to the Siam museum first as I really knew very little about Thai culture or history but now I have a vague idea of what “Thainess” is. There was a bit of a photo tour of Wat Pho with Livi where we saw a few different monuments to Kings (Rama I - IV) and a massive reclining golden Buddha.

    I managed to persuade Livi to walk to Chinatown rather than take a taxi, and honestly I love is going through the completely local ad non-touristy streets of Bangkok in rush-hour dusk.

    Chinatown wasn’t quite where we first ended up but we found it eventually. With its hanging red lanterns bustling atmosphere and deliciously cheap food it was definitely worth a visit.

    And now we’re back at the hostel. Livi is feeling a bit rotten so has gone to bed and I’m either going to go downstairs and grab myself a beer or try and sort myself out for tomorrow after writing this.

    I know every day will probably sound quite a lot like this so I’m going to try and move away from just saying what I’ve done because chances are it’ll all be “amazing“, “great“, or “cool“. i’ll update it maybe a couple of times a week giving the highlights (and probably the lowlights too), but to be honest I’ll just put on here whatever I feel like sums up my experience best.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    Day 4

    Day of markets

    February 1, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ ☁️ 24 °C

    Data in Bangkok dawned and we had made a vow not to sleep in so the full date was available. We also told the friendly local called try that we would go on his tour to the floating markets (Damnoen Saduak) and the train market (Rom Hub).

    He spotted us from all the way down the street as we dipped into a 7-eleven and ushered us into a car of a man called Nikhom. I was actually a bit suspicious of a scam as 500 Baht for a trip to markets two hours outside of Bangkok seemed a little bit too good to be true but I knew where each market was and what they were called so I would know if we were heading to the wrong place.

    I grew in confidence as we seemed to be heading in the right direction and then eventually was very pleased when we arrived at the right place, although maybe still a little suspicious that he would ditch us there.

    It was then that I discovered the real scam. 3000 Baht (about £75) each for the boat tour round the market. Without thinking me and Livi just paid straight away by card Then as we climbed in the boat I realised what we’d just done.

    I was pissed off. I sat there ignoring all attempts from vendors to sell me tourist tat and got off the boat at the first restaurant. The pad Thai helped ease the anger a little but I was still tempted to call it a day and head back to the car as being asked to buy overpriced shit was annoying me even more.

    Luckily Livi was there and so we stuck it out. The second part was much better, the driver realised we weren’t buying much so we just grabbed a coconut ice cream from my boat and then sped down some backstreets to a couple of local Wats down the river

    I noticed all of the boat engines are very loud and quite pimped out with turbos and LEDs so I can see where all our money is going. Wherever you are in the world, Men will still be men And pimp out their machines, turning owning a boat into a dick measuring contest for no reason, just because they have the money. It’s really great to see tourist money going to flashy vehicles instead of something actually beneficial to the community.

    Anyway, we were off to the train market, Ron Hub, next which was small but much more reasonably priced with no entrance fee. When the train came through it was so wide it looked like it would hit some of the stalls even after they’ve been moved back off the tracks.

    On the car ride back me and Livi were fighting sleep and both dozed off a little bit. Arriving back we had a nap, Spoke to some Swedish girls that had just arrived then went to dinner before bed.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    Day 6

    Koh Chang arrival

    February 3, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ 🌩️ 26 °C

    It was an early start (4 am wake) to get to Koh Chang So we boarded the bus delirious after about three hours of sleep and then attempted to catch a bit of rest on the seven hour journey.

    Our resort here (Paradise cottage) is really nice: in a very pretty location by the sea and the food is great. Livi and I had a bit of a ‘Pinch me’ moment at sunset on the beach, finally feeling like we were somewhere really special and different which I don’t think either of us had felt in touristy and relatively pricey Bangkok.

    We took it easy that evening and I am writing this sitting in a restaurant by the beach. I’m a little peeved again because I tried to rent a moped, but it started raining as I was signing forms and the owner said I shouldn’t go now as the roads would be very slippery, especially for someone with Little experience riding a moped.

    For fucks sake, I came here to get away from rain and it’s still causing me problems. This is quite a large island so you really need a Moped to get around. Either that or a Songtheaw, A pick up truck converted with a metal cage on the back for seating, but they can be expensive apparently.

    Plus I know that my money is only going to massive subwoofers, rainbow exhausts and whistling turbos like I saw on the one that brought us here from the ferry. Oh well I guess it will be a chilled one today and we go again tomorrow.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    Day 7

    Learning to moped

    February 4, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    Well I did end up getting the bike In the end, about an hour and a half after I finished writing the previous instalment. I rented for 24 hours from 3:30 pm which gave me a good chance to explore South of lonely beach towards Bang Bao in the couple of hours of sunlight on the first day, then all the way over to the east side of the island the next day.

    It was very fun riding a moped and it came very naturally to me as I’m used to riding a bike and also using motor power to transport such as my virtual skateboard. The roads on the West side of the island are winding and occasionally steep but fun to drive and I enjoyed having a look around the sleepy fishing village of Bang Bao.

    The east side of the island is much flatter with straight roads making it easy to cover a lot of distance blasting along at 60 km/h. I found that speed to be the happy middle ground between making the time and going so fast that the roaring wind was painfully deafening and bumps became quite sketchy.

    The roads here are generally very good, much better than most places in England. They have the odd pothole and there tends to be a bit of a bump either side of bridges but overall I’m very impressed.

    There was much less to see on the east side of the island. Settlements were sparse and it seemed to be just the odd resort along the coastal road.

    The Ring Road does not connect at The south of the island so everything to the east is much quieter and sleepier, and there are some stunning beaches that stay almost completely empty. The trip totalled about 110 km, which is a long way when the first time I drove a bike was the day before. Even with the four hours I left, I didn’t get to stop anywhere for too long and only just got back in time.

    When I got back I joined Livi on the beach and chilled for a little bit, but I was feeling a little bit battered after a long time on the moped so I went home and had a nap after not too long.

    This did make me feel very refreshed and finally I felt like it was time to socialise a bit more so I headed out to the bars without Livi as she wasn’t feeling 100%

    I’m glad I went out. I spent the evening with three blokes playing pool and drinking beer. It was my first proper experience of social in my time here and it was absolutely my vibe. German Richard, Israeli Shahid and Canadian Jack all shared a bit of their own experience and it makes me realise I have so much to look forward to. It’s also a very long time, the same amount I was at Redwood for which felt like a mini lifetime. It’s scary I’m less than a week in but unbelievably exciting too.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    Day 8

    Snorkelling

    February 5, 2023 in Thailand

    Sunday was the snorkelling trip, absolutely a highlight so far. Livi loves the water and was in her element and once I got used to the goggles again so was I.

    We stopped at four islands giving us about two hours total snorkelling in the water. The wildlife is incredible: Shoals of colourful fish, city of coral, and millions of sea urchins with what looks like a pearlescent jewels embedded in them. We even saw a whale shark!

    With highs there will be lows as we found out later when we arrived back at the room and realised that we were lobsters. It’s probably the largest sunburn I’ve ever had and Livi had it even worse. We ploughed through a bottle of after sun whilst giving Sophia a quick call before she went to the full moon party.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    Day 11

    Briefly Back to Bangkok

    February 8, 2023 in Thailand

    Me and Livi had a chill last couple of days in Koh Chang. I took Livi on the back of a moped down to Bang Bao where we had an iced drink then went to watch the sunset at Rasta View. There we chatted to an older English couple who reeled off some of their travelling exploits including nearly getting caught in the tsunami on their honeymoon 18 years ago.

    The travel back to Bangkok was fairly stressfree except for the driver of the minibus being rather pissed off with us as we had been given the wrong pick up time.

    I spent most of the journey zoned out listening to music and it was wonderful to be greeted at the end of it by a very excited Sophia.

    We quickly dumped our kit and left for Chinatown to hunt down some delicious street food plus a Chinese restaurant that Livi had found on Instagram. It was decent but didn’t quite live up to the “almost Michelin star” hype, although to be fair we didn’t get any of their signature fried chicken.

    During my time in Koh Chang, I had been heavily debating getting my ears pierced as I’ve always thought double looks cool. That night I had the girls there to give me a bit of hype and support so I went for it. I’m a fan of The results and it really wasn’t as painful as I expected, now I just have to try and keep it clean over the next six weeks as it heals…    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    Day 12

    Night train

    February 9, 2023 in Thailand

    The girls had an early bus the next day but I got up to say goodbye before heading back to bed. My train wasn’t until 2:30 pm so I milled around and got some food for breakfast and tupperwared For later as I had read there was no food on the train (not true in the end).

    I missed the first bus to the train station because I wasn’t standing by the roadside hailing it down, but my stress was unnecessary as the half hour wait for the next one still got me to the train station fairly early.

    I booked the train as I thought it would be more social than the bus but that definitely wasn’t the case. However it is probably more comfortable lying here writing this on my bunkbed watching the colours of sunset time tonight then it would be on a bus (and it was about £4 cheaper which is a bonus).

    It does mean that I have about a half hour walk at 4:30 am as the nights train leaving later in the day (8 pm) was fully booked when I finally stopped procrastinating booking it four days ago.

    I’m also headed straight for Pai as I didn’t leave Enough time to book a good hostel in Chang Mai so I figured I may as well just do the extra travel in what would’ve been dead time anyway, and hence I’ve managed to get the hostels I wanted in both places.

    It feels like so far I really only had the prologue to my travels. I really enjoyed my time with Livi, but we didn’t do that much outside of chilling and acclimatising. I’m now solo for real and very much looking forward to the main story of my travels now that I’m rested and ready.

    Update whilst uploading this to FindPenguins: I successfully made the journey despite not having a bus booked. I managed to show up at the bus station and get on the 6:30 am bus as there was one no-show.    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    Day 16

    Solo

    February 13, 2023 in Thailand

    First few days of solo travelling complete!! The thing is Solo travelling is not really solo. It’s so easy to meet new people that you’re always able to do something with someone.

    I was expecting to meet a very international group of people upon arrival to Happy House Hostel but it turned out a large group of people who met in Chiang Mai had all turned up to Pai Together and most of them were Brits. In fact I recognise the rugby kit one of them was wearing and it turned out he played for Durham uni rugby club… and studied engineering… And was in the same year as me!! I come halfway across the world and one of the first people I meet on my own is someone who I have been alongside for the last four years. What a small world!

    Everyone was heading off for tipsy tubing the day I arrived but I was knackered from my train-to-bus change over at 6 am And the 20 hour journey from Bangkok. Instead I took a well-deserved nap then socialised a bit more when everyone returned a little bit dishevelled in the evening after a long day of sun and alcohol.

    I have a good time chatting and playing pool and ping-pong, and I Ended up narrowly losing a very intense best – of – five match against a Dutch guy called Michael. Along with him and some others we rounded up, we decided to rent mopeds the next day and see some of the surrounding area.

    We separated from the English guys early as it was their last day in Pai So they were off to see things at a much faster rate. It ended up being me, Dutch Michael and Daniel, and German Gina and Sarah.

    We went and saw a strange little fake Chinese tourist village before heading onto a waterfall. I did not swim because of my new piercing and the effort of changing, but Michael threw himself in and also tried the rock slide down the side of the waterfall which looked very painful.

    I think the next part was one of the highlights of the trip so far: sunset at Pai Canyon. The journey across the bridge was a little treacherous but the views were sublime and I had chosen great people to chill with as the Sun went down.

    This was quickly followed up by the low light of the trip so far (and hopefully for a while more). The night market had food stands with every type of Asian delicacy you could want and we walked away along the road try noodles, fried tofu, Bao buns and more. It was all incredible and I took the advice of Gina to get a mango sticky rice for dessert. Now this tasted fine at the time but as the evening went on I quickly figured out it was not fine. I had been the only one to get this dessert which was good for the others as it made me quite violently sick.

    The next day was rough and I barely ate anything. I did meet the others at the bamboo bridge after they have been to the hot springs early in the morning, but I was really in survival mode so I could not enjoy it properly.

    I took the evening to myself instead of joining the others in the past so I could recover a bit and I feel much better for it now. I saw the Sun go down from the white Buddha overlooking Pai and chatted to Sophia and Zoe on the phone. It really was the evening I needed and they honestly do a fantastic sunset here in Pai.

    The light haze from the slash-and-burn agriculture at this time of year combined with layered mountains Sends shafts of light spraying over the valley in which Pai sits. Then as the darkness creeps in the town lights up with fire shows, the old disco lights and headlights sweeping across the winding roads of the valley.

    I’m writing this the next day, still recovering from the dickie stomach and the final stages of the extensive peeling from my snorkelling sunburn, but I’m well on the road to recovery for both since I can now eat something and lie on my back without it hurting or itching.

    This part of the world can be brutal to the body in more ways than I realised and I’m even lucky enough to barely ever get bug bites. I know I need to look after myself and it becomes increasingly evident when you feel the effects of the environment but also see other people with their own injuries (a lot of moped crashes happen here so bandaged knees and elbows are commonplace).    Read more

  • TravelerSouth East Asia
    Day 17

    Pai to Chiang Mai

    February 14, 2023 in Thailand ⋅ 🌧 24 °C

    After braving the Night Markets one last time in Pai With a new arrival to the hostel, Adam, I spent a chill night playing pool and ping-pong.

    The next morning was similar to the day I arrived: people preparing for tipsy tubing as I moved my large rucksacks around. It was sad to say goodbye to a lot of the people I had met as they had made Pai A very enjoyable place to be despite my illness, but I also knew I would likely bump into a lot of them in Laos in the not too distant future.

    The bus ride back to Chiang Mai was wild, I thought we were driving pretty fast uphill then when we crossed a ridge and started the descent into Chiang Mai I was partially convinced that I wasn’t going to make it. The mini van driver was following a convoy of others from the same company and they would overtake everything. Mopeds, Cars, lorries, it didn’t matter if they were going a reasonable speed or if a blind corner was coming up, the minivan with rev up and go barrelling past into potentially oncoming traffic.

    Anyway I’m writing this so I must’ve survived and I managed to avoid being carsick unlike one poor girl in the back row. In fact I was finally feeling back to myself so I ended up having two meals at a delicious local restaurant around the corner from the hostel (the Ka Preow was unbelievably good) before the social event organised by the hostel that evening.

    The event was the Ladyboy show which is effectively a Thai Drag show. There was a huge group going from the hostel and we all piled into two red Songtheaw taxis with some people even hanging out the back.

    I think the people who have been the most dismissive of the show beforehand ended up being the ones who enjoyed it the most potentially because they got the most drunk. I thoroughly enjoyed it too and the large group from our hostel sitting at the front definitely helped make the atmosphere.    Read more

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