Southeast Asia 2024

January 2024 - March 2025
Current
5/6 months of travel around Southeast Asia - visiting Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Philippines, Bali and maybe more Read more
Currently traveling
  • 28footprints
  • 431days
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List of countries
  • Vietnam
  • Cambodia
  • Laos
  • Thailand
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  • 6.1kkilometers traveled
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  • 28footprints
  • 431days
  • 188photos
  • 11likes
  • 6.1kkilometers
  • Day 79–81

    Hanoi

    March 27, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C

    We arrived back to Hanoi on March 27th. Myself and Georgia had both booked separate accommodation as I decided to stay in Hanoi for 2 nights and she left on the 28th March.
    After all the socialising in the last few weeks I decided to book myself a hotel, and have some time to recharge .
    This was my second time in Hanoi so I just spent time walking around, eating (more banh mis) and shopping.
    I left Hanoi to go to Ninh Binh on March 29th.
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  • Day 79

    Cat Ba

    March 27, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    We arrived in Cat Ba at 8am on 27th March, fresh off a night bus from Ha Giang. We had around 45 minutes before our tour of Lan Ha/Halong bay began.
    It wasn't the best decision, going from a night bus onto an organised tour in the same of an hour - but needs must when you travel!!
    I was quite underwhelmed with the bays we did see, there was a lot of litter on the water :( and maybe after seeing the amazing views up north Vietnam, my expectations were too high! One part of the day trip included kayaking within a bay - which was actually good fun.
    We finished the tour at 1/2pm and went back to the town of Cat Ba, had some food and waited on our transfer to back to Hanoi.
    Georgias flight back was on March 28th, so it was a very rushed few days.
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  • Day 77–78

    Ha giang loop day 3/4

    March 25, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 20 °C

    Day 3 of the loop was probably the most breathtaking! We ventured to the most northern part of Vietnam, where we overlooked the Vietnam-China border and we went on a boat trip on an amazing river with mountains overlooking it. However, the road down to the boat was probably the dodgiest road of the entire loop!
    It was our last night staying as a group on the third night. The homestay on our last night had a swimming pool - so there was a bit of a pool party that evening, with music and more drinking! Luckily, the guides told us to go to bed at midnight - no hangovers on our last day woohoo.
    We woke on day 4, and had a bit of a later start - around 10am. Our first stop was a waterfall that was nearby, so we had a very chill morning.
    At this point of the trip, we began making our way back round to our start point - the town of Ha Giang, we saw many more sites and embraced our last day as a group!
    We arrived back to the homestay at around 5, where we ate dinner, showered and sorted out stuff before our night bus to Cat Ba that evening of the 26th March
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  • Day 74–77

    Ha Giang loop day 1/2

    March 22, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    Ha Giang loop time!!!!
    Myself and Georgia arrived to Ha Giang from Sapa at around 6pm on the evening of the 22nd March
    We began the 4 day motorcycle tour on the morning of the 23rd March. It consisted of 4 days driving on the back of a motorbike, with an 'easyrider' going through the mountains of north Vietnam.
    The first day we took off from Mamas hometsay in Ha Giang town. We left at around 9am and arrived at our first homestay at around 4pm.
    Durinf the trip to our first homestay we stopped numerous times at different viewpoints and got used to being a passenger on the back of a bike!!
    When we got to our first homestay we had free time to chill etc before dinner. Myself and Georgia ended up sharing a dorm room with an Irish couple on the loop with us. The views from this homestay were amazing!
    We got introduced to 'happy water' and our guides taught us the Vietnamese chant of basically 'cheers' before you drink. This evening consisted of lovely food, some karaoke and card games.
    On day 2, we got up had some breakfast and got ready to leave out homestay onto the next part of the journey. During the day we visited some villages - where there were lots of local children insisting on doing all the girls hair. These places were very overcrowded with tourists! It was amazing driving through the mountains and embracing the spectacular views (pictures don't do it justice).
    By the end of day 2, our bodies were pretty sore from the bikes 😅
    We checked into our second homestay, chilled and had dinner. This might there was more groups staying together, so there was a bit of a party and a group of us went into the local town to witness a local festival that was going on, where they danced around a fire in the middle of a square!
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  • Day 71–74

    Sapa

    March 19, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Myself and Georgia got a 7am bus on 18th March to make the journey to Sapa. We arrived around 2pm, where we met the daughter of the lady we were staying with. We had booked one night in a homestay (Mama ShuShu) and we had two treks/walks included.
    Unfortunately that day was very wet and foggy so visibility was 0% but we still had a nice time getting to know about the culture in Sapa.
    We arrived at our homestay that evening and met some more of the family. There were 8 other people staying here and we all sat around for dinner (They had cooked so much food for us which was lovely).
    After dinner we sat around the fire, and had some popcorn (made by the husband) and had some happy water (rice wine shots 🤢)
    The next day we got up for breakfast and went out on a trek through the villages with mama Shu Shu and her daughter .It was so good learning about the different tribes and villages that make up the communities in Sapa. The weather was nicer today and we could see a bit more of the landscape.
    Before we left the homestay, mama Shu Shu gave us all bracelets that were made by her and her husband 🫶🏼
    We arrived back into Sapa Town at around 3/4pm.
    We booked two nights in a hotel so we could relax. On our 3rd day in Sapa the weather was hot and sunny. We explored the town and looked at different tourist sites ( Moana Sapa)
    Places we ate:
    - Thong Dong vegan kitchen and cafe
    - Sapa sky view bar and restaurant
    - Little Sapa restaurant
    We left on 22nd march on a 12pm bus to go to Ha Giang.
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  • Day 68–71

    Hanoi

    March 16, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 23 °C

    We arrived in Hanoi at around 8am on Saturday 16th after a fairly comfortable night bus (Georgia slept the whole way!).
    We stayed at the one hostel - really nice rooms, rooftop pool and restaurant.
    When we arrived we dropped our bags and went straight for breakfast -
    We spent Saturday not doing too much - had a walk to the lake (hoan Kiem) and went to Uniqlo (I can't help myself). As it was Paddy's day eve we found an Irish bar called the snug - it was full of Irish expats, and it was lovely to get a taste of home for the weekend.
    On Sunday 17th I went out for a solo breakfast and coffee whilst Georgia slept. Today we went to train street to watch the train go by. It was pretty cool and lives up to the hype!!
    We went out tonight again to celebrate Paddy's day - first to the mad monkey hostel and then to the snug.
    Monday was a very slow day and we didn't do too much. We booked our transfer to sapa for Tuesday 19th at 8am from the hostel.
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  • Day 64–67

    Hoi An

    March 12, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☁️ 22 °C

    After a very rocky 12.5 hour night bus, I arrived into Hoi An on 12 March with a Dutch girl from my hostel.
    Luckily we both had booked the same accommodation (Ihome hostel - not my favourite), so we got a taxi to drop our bags, showered and went for breakfast at Phin Coffee restaurant.
    After breakfast I arranged to meet Ana, a girl from Hungary who I had met in Thailand at the start of my trip.
    We all had a walk around town until we could check into our room at 2pm
    At around 3ish my friend Georgia arrived, she came over on a 2 week holiday to see me. It was so nice having a familiar face around for a while to break up my solo travel.
    Activities in Hoi An included: cooking class (so much fun, and our teacher was such a laugh), coconut boat, coffee class, shopping.
    We chose to get clothes tailored whilst here, I got a green top and trouser co ord and a dress. It was a lot of fun getting clothes tailor made.
    We explored Hoi an town which was very pretty and ate a lot of Banh Mis.
    My favourite banh mi was vegan and it was called Le Hoi Banh Mi chay - a cute little lady owned it and she only charged 15000!!
    We met up with a few friends I had met along the way - a danish guy, a Hungarian girl and a girl from south Africa.
    The food in Hoi an was pretty good we ate at: Ba Dam veggie restaurant (where i tried a Hoi An dish called Cao Lau), Rosie's buttercup restaurant.
    We left on Friday 15th on a night bus to Hanoi! 🚌
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  • Day 60–63

    Da lat

    March 8, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    After my first sleeper bus (of many) in Vietnam (even though it was a day bus, they love a bed), I arrived in Da lat at around 9pm on Friday 8th March.
    For the first night I stayed at a homestay, called dalata note hostel, and then for the following two I moved to a hostel called Mookas home - one of the best hostels I had stayed at on my trip so far. The family who ran the hostel were super lovely, and very very accommodating to all the guests.
    The first day I visited the crazy house, walked around the lake and attended a family BBQ with the other guests in the hostel. I met some people here who all decided to go on a hike the next day.
    On Sunday 10th March, 5 of us got a taxi to Lang Biang mountain. We hiked to the top and saw some lovely views. The hike was quite hard at the start, it levelled out and then the last 15 minutes felt like torture 😅 we were all very chuffed once we reached the top!!
    That evening we all went out to a veggie restaurant for dinner - Chay corner in dalat.
    I booked a sleeper bus to leave Da Lat on Monday 11th at 5pm (12ish hour bus) to go to Hoi An.
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  • Day 57–60

    Ho Chi Minh

    March 5, 2024 in Vietnam ⋅ ☀️ 34 °C

    I arrived into Ho Chi Minh at around 4pm on March 5th after a 10 hour journey from Phnom Penh.
    I stayed at Saigon Chill Hostel in district 1 - with every other tourist!!
    I was excited to finally arrive in Vietnam, as I had heard such good things from other travellers on my trip.
    The first evening I tried to set up a SIM card - without any luck and I came back to the hostel where I met a few people (Canadian guy, and an English/Irish couple) who were super friendly.
    I ate in a restaurant called home Saigon restaurant, which was very veggie friendly.
    On the 6th March I decided to do some exploring - I went to the war museum, Saigon central post office, and explored the area where the cafe apartments are. It was crazy seeing how much traffic is in HCM - and learning how to navigate crossing the road!
    For dinner I decided to try my first Banh Mi - which was pretty good 🤤
    On Thursday 7th I signed up to go to the Cu Chi tunnels with the hostel. It was very fascinating seeing the techniques used during the Vietnam war. I met really nice people on this tour who I went for dinner with when we got back. One thing about HCM is how hot/humid the weather was 🥵
    On Friday 8th I booked a bus to start my journey from south to north - with my first stop being Da Lat.
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