Vietnam by Bus

The best way to see Vietnam (OK maybe 2nd best after getting a motor bike ala Top Gear) is by Bus. Continue Reading…

Enter Hanoi

Arriving at the airport I was handed a piece of paper by local police warning about dodgy taxi drivers, and they aren’t actually allowed inside the airport. This is probably the only place you’ll get some peace in Vietnam. Then Barclays proved their utter uselessness once again with my card not working, and the friggin ANZ ATM stole my Aussie card!! So regrettably changing cash at the evil exchange places, I had a little to play with. Getting into town, Continue Reading…

Mission Laos: Chiang Mai to Vang Vieng

 
Who would have thought it would be so hard to get from Northern Thailand into Northern Laos? With my Thai Visa about to run out, I had to get on a bus and make my way to Laos asap, but of the 3 options, none are particularly fun. Continue Reading…

Chiang Mai

We took an overnight train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai, and were quite impressed. It didn’t have cabins like we expected, but the beds folded down to a decent size, and the staff added an extra cushion with sheets and blanket on top of the seats, making for quite a comfortable bed! Alas, I still couldn’t sleep, even to the rocking of the train.

When we got off the train we were bombarded by locals offering us their various guesthouses. At one point there was 6 of them between 3 of us and another tried to come up I just said WAIT! We already have 6 of you!! haha We decided to go with Libra Guesthouse and we enjoyed our few days there. The staff were fun and went along with our jokes and banter, even dishing it back to us too!

Chiang Mai is a small 2km squared, walled city in North-West Thailand, but it spreads much further outside the walls. I got a really good vibe from the place, especially while walking along the road for the Sunday Night market at dusk just as they were setting up. There was also some kind of festival on, as even our guest house staff were preparing flowers and many people were carrying them at the temple and burning incense.

For dinner I went to a branch of May Kaidee’s, and when I first walked in I was like, WTF How can May Kaidee be here and Bangkok at the same time? Of course it was her sister and I asked her that before we even sat down haha. Rob was also quite impressed with the food and said its one of the best Masaman curries he’s had in Thailand, veg or not! So HA!

Bangkok, Round 2

After a not-so-bad night bus, Tommy and I returned to Bangkok, quite early in the mornig. We stayed at Soi 1 Guesthouse (on Soi 1 Sukhumvit) where Tommy and Rob have been regulars, and it’s run by American Expat Dave. Comfortable beds, close to the SKy Train, and quality air-con. We were luckily able to checkin early and had a bit of a nap before checking out the Chatuchak Markets. Only open weekends, these are the biggest markets in Bangkok. For some reason I forgot to take photos, but they’re crazy and massive. You can even buy maps for it.

It was Rob’s 22nd Birthday! Continue Reading…

Is there anything to do in Krabi?

Leaving Rob in Koh Pha Ngan to make his own way back to Bangkok, Tommy joined me at 6am for the bus down to Krabi, on the South West coast of Thailand. A few days earlier when I bought the ticket, just after handing over the cash, the boys laughed when I asked “So… Is there anything to do in Krabi?”. The girl also laughed…I was serious…Turns out there is a lot to do in Krabi and we really liked the town. Continue Reading…

Bangkok, Enter Thailand

Off to Bangkok in the afternoon Continue Reading…

Taman Negara, Malaysia

Taman Negara is a National Park in central Malaysia, and is one of the oldest rainforests in the world (est 130mil years!). It takes about 6 hours from Kuala Lumpur and theres a few ways to go about it. Continue Reading…