Tag: backpacking

East coast – Australia

by Sophie, posted in Australia

Hello!

This post is going to have a little bit from quite a few of the places we’ve visited down the east coast; Airlee beach, Hervey bay, Rainbow beach, Noosa, Brisbane and Byron bay as we only stayed a couple of days in each.

We caught the return ferry from Magnetic Island back to Townsville on the mainland. We had a few hours to kill so we just had a coffee by the beach doing a bit of bird watching. I downloaded an Australian bird watching guide on my phone and I’ve been loving taking photos of all these birds and looking them up (don’t judge me). We hopped on the bus 3 and a half hours south to Airlee Beach. Airlee beach is the connecting town to go to the Whitsundays. Unfortunately, the weather was really shite, raining and windy, so we decided not to go. It’s really expensive even for a day tour, you’re looking at 200AUD, more if you stay over night. It just means we’ll have to come back to Australia in the summer time one day to do the tour. We were sat outside having breakfast at the hostel when 4 wild sulphur-crested cockatoos (bloody love the bird guide) joined us! They were amazing and I spent ages photographing them whilst they just chilled on the railings. Instead of the Whitsundays, we had a nice day pottering around Airlee beach and had a picnic lunch. We treated ourselves to fish and chips in the evening and watched the sun set as we were sat by the beach. Perhaps one of the most beautiful sunsets we’ve seen on our travels so far! We then had an over night bus to Hervey Bay, our first Aussie long distance bus, around 14 hours. It wasn’t too bad but you definitely have broken sleep on these Grey Hound buses because they stop off in a lot of different places and the drivers can only do 4 hours stints before having to take breaks.

But we made it to Hervey Bay! It’s quite a small town and we actually really enjoyed having a couple of chill out days swinging in hammocks and relaxing. Hervey Bay is popular for whale watching but unfortunately it wasn’t quite the season yet, we are hoping to go whale watching when we’re in New Zealand in July. It’s also a connecting town to the nearby Fraser Island (the largest sand island in the world). Again, the weather really wasn’t going to do it justice. Most tours revolve around outdoor activities on the island but with the winter rain, we decided to save our money. We also met a girl who was having the same debate as us and she went for a day tour and said it really wasn’t worth it given the weather. A lot of the tour companies also attract a very young crowd (18s) and because we’re OAPs, this didn’t really appeal to us too much. We heard stories from other youngsters who’d been saying they were just constantly drinking and then driving big 4 wheel drives through the sand, still drunk. Quite glad we didn’t do that to be honest. Instead, Dave went for a run along the beach and we went out to the shops for a bit, pretty uneventful other than a beautiful rainbow over the town!

Back on the bus, our next stop was Rainbow beach. Despite the crap weather, we preserved with the walk to the natural phenomenon of the Carlo Sand Blow taking shelter from the rain under trees as we went. When we finally got to the dunes, we were so lucky the weather finally cleared for a small window and we got to see an actual rainbow over Rainbow beach! I’m sure there are people/photographers who wait ages to try and see that and we saw it by fluke! We saw even more cockatoos lined on telephone wires around the area which I loved, more photos obviously. We’ve been doing quite well at avoiding party hostels but the Dingo hostel we stayed in was definitely the rowdiest and we felt very old! Fortunately though we were in a 6 bed dorm and we were the only 2! Instead of cooking in and having to socialise with drunk teens, we went out for a nice steak dinner.

Our next stop down the east coast was Noosa which turned out to be one of our favourite places. Noosa is infamous for its National park. On the first day, we decided to do a trail through the forest to the Laguna look out point. It was mostly a fairly steep uphill climb and in parts we were climbing over fallen trees. Thankfully with the app Maps.me we didn’t get lost and made it safely to the lookout point over the town. We didn’t see much wildlife at all in the National park other than an absolutely massive cockroach that looked like a beetle (see photo below) but it was still a beautiful walk in the dense forest. We went to the Eumundi markets on the outskirts of Noosa that are open bi-weekly. It’s about 22km and when we got on the bus, the driver very kindly waved us away and let us go without paying. Either he couldn’t be bothered to handle the change or was just feeling very generous, but that’s the second lovely Australian bus driver we’ve had! It would have cost us $11AUD too! The Eumundi markets were absolutely massive with all hand-crafted goods and food galore! We went a bit nuts when we saw all the food and got massive chicken and falafel wraps (best wrap I’ve ever had), passion fruit ice shakes and salted caramel fudge. Guilty. We both agreed it was definitely the best markets we’d ever been to. Probably the first time I really wished I could have bought some little bits and bobs, there was a stall selling antique maps which were fascinating, but sadly, the backpacks can’t take any more.

We had a really lovely sunny afternoon in Noosa so we decided to go to Sunshine beach. We did go with the intention of swimming but after dipping our feet in the water, we totally bailed. The beach was lovely and especially good in my books because of the hundreds of dogs out on their walks! We got to have a cuddle with two huge slobbery boxers who were more interested in being pet by strangers than fetching their ball. Leaving the beach however, was an absolute disaster. We cockily didn’t bring a map or GPS because how could we possibly get lost on the 10 minute walk back to the hostel?! Well, we decided to try to “cut” straight up because we were at the opposite end of the stretch of beach. We ended up doing a ridiculous 40 minute detour, predominantly uphill and on very residential roads. We had absolutely no idea where we were and then came out to a clearing leading to what we thought was a distant beach. Turns out, it was the same bloody beach we’d just left but we came out 200m further down. To combat our stupidity, we cooked ourselves lovely steaks in the hostel and just went out to the cinema in the evening.

Our next bus journey took us to Brisbane. This was our first “big city” of Australia and to be honest it was a bit disappointing and didn’t really feel like there was anything there. We still made the most out of it though and walked around Roma street Parkland which had a nice little pond where we saw lots of Ibis (bird guide). Our hostel was a converted town house in a really residential area so there was a very strict no alcohol, no noise policy which suited us just fine. We cooked dinner in and sat out on the hostel’s balcony with a lovely view of the valley. Probably the nicest view we saw in Brisbane! The next day we took a stroll across the bridge over the river and headed for the Gallery of Modern Arts (GOMA). The best exhibition in my opinion was artwork from Australian high school students, a total mix of incredible, moving work! The neighbouring building was the State Library and we stopped there because we saw a sign for a free Digital futures exhibition. It was actually quite interesting with a timeline of predictions of technological developments like when humans can visit outer space as a holiday etc. We also both tried virtual reality headsets for the first time which was so awesome and quite trippy the first time you try them!

The next day we headed to Byron Bay. Again, the weather was rubbish; quite windy and it frequently pissed it down. Perhaps stupidly we decided to preserve with the famous lighthouse walk in the hope of spotting either a whale or some bottlenose dolphins. Even as we set off, it rained so hard that we had to take refuge in a cafe. It turned out to have amazing local coffee called Natts and we ended up coming back again the next day. The first part of the walk was along Byron beach, I think it was the widest stretch of beach either of us had ever seen, though there weren’t any swimmers, there were loads of surfers in wet suits. Towards the end of the beach stretch, we got to see a few pods of dolphins! They were quite far out but still so awesome to see them on just a normal walk as opposed to a guided boat tour like we did in Bali. After that, we joined the path which hugs the coastline to the most easterly point of Australia! The Lighthouse wasn’t too much further at the top of the hill. Apparently it is the brightest light in Australia and can be seen by boats as far as 27 nautical miles (50km!). The view over Byron bay and along the other side of the headland was stunning and luckily the sun managed to break through the clouds temporarily to allow for a good photo at the top. By the time we came back down, the light was beginning to fade and it dropped very cold to wooly hat weather! On the plus side, we were lucky enough to see literally thousands of fruit bats leaving for their evening feed at dusk!

Join us next time in Sydney & the Blue Mountains, thanks for reading!

Sophie & Dave

Laguna lookout point – Noosa
Noosa
Surfers of Byron Bay
Brisbane
The most easterly point of Oz (Byron Bay)
Byron Bay
Us at the Byron Bay lighthouse
Lighthouse Byron Bay
Little black cormorant
Overlooking Byron Bay
Lazing in Hervey Bay
Noosa National Park
Massive cockroach!
Cockatoo!
Cockatoo line up
Cockatoo kisses
A rainbow over Rainbow beach!
Rainbow reflections
Sand blow of Rainbow beach
The only one in the sand dunes!
Noosa national park ferns
Crested pigeons (or as I call them radical pigeons)
Sunset at Airlee beach
Airlee beach
Wild cockatoo
Sulpher-crested cockatoo!
Blue-faced Honeyeater
Cockatoo

Magnetic Island – Australia

by Sophie, posted in Australia

Hello!

We left Cairns on our first Grey Hound Bus of the East Coast, a perfectly comfortable coach with a toilet and dodgy wifi on board. We headed 6 hours south to Townsville. By the time we arrived, it was quite late so we just checked in to our dorm and had an early night. Townsville was just our stop over town before we caught the ferry to Magnetic Island.

It’s a beautiful, scenic, 20 minute boat ride to get to the island at $33 return. You can get a hop on, hop off bus around the island for $7 a day which is quite reasonable too. We jumped on the bus and dropped our bags off at our accommodation C-stay. We chose this one because it was the same price as getting 2 beds in a dorm but instead we got a private room. It’s in Picnic bay which is one of the quieter areas of the island with practically no night life (perfect for us OAPs). We headed out to explore the island and for a day that would turn out to be one of my favourite days of my life! We had a potter around the beach at Picnic Bay before hopping on the bus to an area called Arcadia where we had a nice lunch in the sunshine. Then the wildlife spotting began; starting with the neighbouring Geoffrey Bay which is infamous for its wild rock wallabies. We brought some carrot sticks to feed them but we weren’t sure if we would see any as they are nocturnal. We were thrilled when we saw about 15! They sort of look like mini kangaroos and most of them were half asleep with eyes lulling closed. Even though they are wild, they are fairly tame because they are so accustomed to humans coming to visit them.

We then got the bus further up to the start of our afternoon hike. As we were waiting for the bus, we saw beautiful rainbow lorikeets in the trees which was a nice surprise as we didn’t know they were on the island. The afternoon hike we did is called The Forts Walk where you go up to see the lookout towers used in World War 2. What’s special about this walk however, is that you can sometimes see wild koalas in the eucalyptus and gum trees! It’s interesting to think how I’ve changed as I get older, when I was younger, my dream was to hold a koala, but now my dream is to see a koala in the wild. We tried not to get our hopes up as again, koalas are nocturnal and are only active at night, we’d been warned that they are quite hard to spot though other trekkers sometimes lay stones and branches when they see a koala in a tree. Anyway, we started our ascent and it wasn’t long before we saw our first little koala asleep in the tree. It was absolutely amazing! I’ve never seen an animal that resembles a cuddly toy version of itself so much, it’s fur and ear fluff doesn’t look real! We went on to see about 5 more along the trail. We also saw an echidna which is Australia’s mini anteater/porcupine-type creature. It sort of looked like a wobbling pinecone but managed to see his little face with a pointy nose. The lookout towers were really impressive too, we timed it to perfection and got to the top of the Forts circuit just as the sun was setting so we had a spectacular view of the bay and all the surrounding trees dipped in golden sunlight. We were a little bit on edge climbing up the last stone steps of the forts because there were signs saying that Death Adders (one of the most deadly snakes in Australia) are present in the area and can sometimes be seen lingering on the steps. We definitely heard one or two but didn’t see any, nor get bitten, so that was good. We did however see another little rock wallaby. We saw the koalas on the way back down again, this time it was dusk and some of them were awake and slowly munching on eucalyptus leaves. Once we got back down to the bus stop, the sun had nearly completely set so it was quite dark except for this incredibly vibrant full moon. It looked like a super moon, definitely the largest I’ve ever seen it! It was quite cool to turn one way to see the last of the fiery orange sun and then turn 180 degrees to see the white glow of the moon. The only bad thing about the most amazing wildlife afternoon walk was that we got bitten alive by evil mosquitos, but it was such a good day, I’ll let the bites slide.

We stopped off at Nelly’s bay which has the main super market and got supplies for the next few days. Though we’d only booked one night, pretty much as soon as we arrived, we knew we’d want to stay at least another. The buses only run every hour so we had a little bit of a wait and it had dropped really cold. When we finally got on the bus, we were the last ones on by the end and the bus driver asked us where we were staying and he very kindly dropped us off right outside our accommodation! Imagine that happening in England! We had a nice spaghetti bologanese that we cooked in the hostel’s shiny, amazingly well-equipped kitchen. To end the day with even more animals, we saw a wild possum on the stair case. I know they’re considered pests in Australia but it was so cute and really inquisitive coming right up to us. Best day ever!

The next day, we decided to do the 4 bays walk (technically 5 bays). This walk was around 8km of either steep descent or ascent, barely ever flat, though fortunately more downhill than up. We’d been told that you’d be lucky to spot a koala as this path allowed motorised vehicles whereas the Forts walk didn’t. We were thrilled to see not one, but two koalas and one of them was so low down in the eucalyptus tree, he was basically at eye level! I took my best wild koala photographs of that one (see below)! We also saw another wild echidna shuffling around the leaves.

The bays we visited were: Arthur bay, Florence bay, Radical bay, Balding bay and Horseshoe bay. We had a lovely day pottering between them, chilling on the beaches and having a picnic lunch. We didn’t bring our swim stuff because we thought it’d be too cold without a wetsuit and I wanted to bring my big camera in case we saw more koalas (so glad I did). Each bay was as picturesque as the other with gentle waves lapping the curves. Florence bay’s tide was extremely low and had formed beautiful branch-like tracks in the sand where the last of the water prevailed. On our final stop at Horseshoe bay which is the biggest with the most anchored boats, we saw the rainbow lorikeets again, some were mating!

We caught the bus back to the hotel where we ate in again but on the walk back, I was so excited to see a Kookaburra! Sadly I didn’t get the perfect photo (see below) but hopefully we’ll see others as we continue around Australia!

Thanks for reading!

Sophie & Dave

Picnic Bay
Picnic Bay
Sleepy rock wallaby
Mind the gap
Rock wallaby close up
Nom nom nom
Happy with his carrot stick
You looking at me?
Feeding the wild wallabies
Wallaby kisses
Sleepy koala
Awoken from his slumber
Echidna!
Magnetic Island, Australia
Magnetic Island sunset
Forts walk
Koala at dusk
Feeding time
The moon is cheese
Wild koala
Not impressed
Fluffiest ears ever
Favourite photo
Echidna
Ocean sand tracks
Mating birds!
Magnetic Island
Laughing kookaburra
Kookaburra

Koh Samui & Koh Tao – Thailand

by Sophie, posted in Thailand

Hello!

We’d been to the north of Thailand last month and came back to visit some of the islands. From Siem Reap, we flew to Phuket as it was a lot cheaper than heading straight to Koh Samui but unfortunately this meant we were set for another 6-7 hour bus journey upon arrival. This was probably the first time our lack of planning didn’t do us any favours… Phuket airport is about a 45 minute journey north of Phuket town, already on the way to Surat Thani (the connecting town to the islands). We assumed we’d be able to catch a bus straight from the airport instead of wasting a journey into town only to head back on ourselves an hour or two later. After bitterly trudging around the area near the airport in the mid-day sun and enquiring in several places, it was quickly apparent that we would have to catch the bus from town. Palava. So yes, we wasted more time taking a taxi to the bus stop in town.

We got a local bus rather than a tourist bus (inadvertently) which was a fair bit cheaper. The bus journey was ok but the driver frequently stopped to pick up locals in the middle of the road and inevitably we were an hour or so late. We finally arrived late in the evening but thankfully the hotel staff were very helpful in arranging our boat the following morning.

We caught an early bus to Donsak Pier and boarded a ferry to our first Thai island, Koh Samui. Again, we sort of accidentally booked a ticket on a cargo boat rather than the fancy high speed catamaran tourist boats that most people get because it was cheaper and we didn’t really question what boat we’d be on. We had found a good deal online to stay at a fancy resort on Mae Nam beach. The complex was massive and I think the fact they give you a ride to your room in a golf buggy speaks for itself. There was a massive cockroach in the room though that I valiantly removed using the ashtray (nothing else was big enough to trap it) as Dave isn’t a fan of cockroaches. Unfortunately it looked like we had brought the English weather with us. It would be sunny in the mornings but then take a turn for the worse with torrential downpours. We got caught in one and the roads filled up ankle deep really quickly. Lots of locals stopped to wave/laugh at us as we ran down the street bare foot and soaked to the core! Koh Samui’s waters are too cloudy to see any marine life so we just chilled by the beach. I’ve realised that I don’t actually like doing that because I get bored sunbathing after about 2 minutes and can’t read unless I’m in the shade. I just hassle Dave every 5 seconds asking if he’s finished his chapter yet and to come and play in the sea. Comparatively, if you give me a snorkel set, I’ll be happily amused for hours without coming up once.

A few days later, we moved round the coast slightly to Bohput Fisherman’s Village. We had both envisaged a small traditional village but if anything it was more touristy than Mae Nam. It was nice however to walk along the beach (usually ice cream in hand) and wonder through the various night stalls. We were always a little concerned about our belongings because we were staying in a bamboo hut that you couldn’t actually lock properly (all was fine though).

After a few days, we decided we weren’t fans of Koh Samui and decided to move on. Koh Samui wasn’t what I thought it would be, it’s feels very much like a city rather than an island; I can see the draw of Koh Samui if you’re very social and like drinking (I’m still going strong on the alcohol ban) and sunbathing (I’m rubbish). But for us, we decided to head for Koh Tao about 40km north with the promise of marine life. The ferry only took a couple of hours (we entertained ourselves with a wasabi pea eating contest) and it was a welcome surprise when there was a 4×4 pick up truck waiting for us from our hotel to transfer us to the other side of the island to a remote bay called Tanote. We had originally planned to only stay a few nights but instantly loved it so much, we ended up staying 5 nights. Our favourite thing to do, obviously, was snorkelling. The coral and marine life literally started about a metre or two from the beach. We’ve been fortunate enough to snorkel in some very cool places but I think Koh Tao was the most impressive we’ve ever seen. We saw so many different species of fish and then we’d try googling them later on to learn more about them. We saw loads of beautiful Parrot fish; they’re about half a metre and the brightest colours you’ve ever seen! Upon my extensive googling endeavours, I learned that Parrot fish can change gender in their lives! If the dominant male dies, a female becomes male to take over. On the first day we saw a huge, quite ugly fish with sticky out horse-like teeth. We followed him for a while filming on the GoPro. When we researched it later, turns out it was a Titan Triggerfish which can actually be really aggressive and territorial; you should always stay clear of them, they’ve been known to bite through people’s fins! Google said to swim horizontally away if you encounter them. The next day we saw them again but they were swimming fast, so we decided to swim quickly the other way, when we watched back the GoPro footage later, we saw the fish had doubled back and come right next to me ready to attack! Stay tuned for all the different fishies on our next video!

You’d think we’d have gotten bored of 5 days of snorkelling but we were sad to leave.  We embarked on the long reverse journey back to Phuket where we had a one night stopover in the old town which is a world heritage site with quirky little meandering streets.

Thanks for reading and join us next time for our time in Singapore!

Sophie & Dave

Shed skin of an insect!
Koh Tao
Titan Triggerfish
Me and a Parrotfish!
Sergeant Major fish
Bamboo archways, Koh Samui
Poolside
Koh Samui, Thailand
Snorkelling in Koh Tao
Photobombing Sergeant Major fish
Tanote Beach
Parrotfish
Koh Tao marine life
Pocket Butterflyfish

Ep. 8 – Cambodia

by Sophie, posted in Cambodia, Videos

Hello,

We are currently in Thailand and a little behind schedule but here is our short video of our time in Cambodia! We were a little weary of filming any part of the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng (S21 Prison) in Phnom Penh, hopefully you see this as educational rather than insensitive. If you’d prefer not to see the parts about the Cambodian genocide, skip ahead to 2mins12. The rest of the video is our time exploring the magnificent temples of Angkor in Siem Reap.

Our week volunteering at the Cambodian Wildlife Sanctuary will follow shortly and is in our opinion, the best one yet!

As always don’t forget to watch in 1080p!

Hope you enjoy seeing what we’ve been up to.

Sophie & Dave

Phnom Penh & Siem Reap – Cambodia

by Sophie, posted in Cambodia

We left Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam on a bus for our first land border crossing in to Cambodia! We weren’t quite sure what to expect but we had our exact USD for the visa ready. The bus driver nor conductor spoke English so it was quite frustrating when they took everyone’s passports and weren’t able to explain what was happening. It all worked out okay though and we were given our passports back and walked through the border crossing checkpoint.

The bus dropped us off and we went to try and withdraw some cash. It was a nail-biting endeavour when the machine froze with Dave’s Monzo card still in it, fortunately it spat it back out in due course. If anyone’s wondering how we’re withdrawing cash/paying for things by the way, we both have Monzo accounts and it has been a literal life saver. They charge 0% on cash withdrawals/payments, plus provide a more favourable exchange rate compared to other highstreet banks and has so far worked in every country. We’d heard that Cambodia used US dollars as well as Cambodian Riel but we didn’t realise the extent that the USD is circulated. The only time we had Cambodian Riel was when we were given change smaller than a 1 dollar note. We didn’t actually manage to withdraw anything when the card froze so we walked to our hostel in the dark which we usually try to avoid. All fine, we just arrived dripping in sweat which I’m sure pleased the receptionist. The hostel was probably one of our most grim we’ve stayed actually but we were surprised at how expensive Cambodia was! Definitely the priciest Asian country we’d encountered so far. Anyway the hostel was grim because we saw numerous large rats when we were playing pool outside and we stayed there a few nights in a dorm and saw no one changed the sheets between new arrivals (hallelujah for the silk liner sleeping bag). Also, we got back one evening and someone had moved in to my bed and reception told me to just move to another bunk. Needless to say, they got a crap rating on Hostelworld.

Now, on to Cambodia. Cambodia was probably my number one country I wanted to visit on my list. I’m not quite sure where the obsession came from but I was so excited. Phnom Penh (pronounced P-nom incase you’re reading it F-nom like I was, oops) is where the Killing Fields are located so we spent our time visiting these historic places to learn more about the genocide in Cambodia committed by the Khmer Rouge between 1975-1979 where millions of innocent people died. We first went to Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre, the main Killing Fields so to speak. We each got an audio tape to guide us. It was the best museum/historical site I had ever been to. I sound insensitive when I say best, what I mean is that it was genuinely one of the most harrowing things I’ve ever listened to or seen but it was so educational and well told. Nothing was sugar-coated. Everything was raw and honest. They had excerpts from trials, stories from survivors and stories from torturers too. They also had lots of propaganda slogans that Pol Pot used that I’d never heard before. Horrific things like “To keep you is no gain, to lose you is no loss”, “Better to kill an innocent by mistake, than spare an enemy by mistake”. I think one of the most painful parts was a tree in the site called the killing tree where executioners would kill babies by hitting them against it; another slogan used to justify it went something like “To dig up the grass, one must dig up the roots too” meaning they killed babies to avoid them seeking revenge for their families in later life. As we walked around listening, I kept finding myself trying to conceptualise the timeframe by comparing it to my own life. The liberation from the regime only happened 13 years before I was born and my Dad would have been a teenager! My Grandad was part of the UNBRO (United Nations Border Relief Operation) and organised medical supplies to the refugee camps on the Thai border. What really blew my mind was that the Khmer Rouge trail only became fully operational in 2007 where for the first time, some were held accountable for their heinous crimes. For that, I would have been 15 years old. 15! By which point, Pol Pot had lived a free life and died of old age – outrageous. There’s a Stupa (memorial structure) at the site too. It is filled with the skulls of the dead of all ages. You could see where there were huge cracks and dents from the blunt objects used to murder all of these people, a truly sobering experience.

The second site we visited was Tuol Sleng, S21 prison which was equally bone-chilling. S21 was a converted high school which made the whole experience even more cruel. We went inside the torture rooms and saw all the tools and torture devices used. We saw so many photographs of victims faces and it made the number of around 1.7 million dead even more real. We also saw photographs of the interrogators and they were honestly so young. Apparently they were often handpicked from poorer, rural villages; some didn’t look older than fifteen. The interrogators and torturers were there to force absurd confessions from all the prisoners before execution. There was a really interesting story about an Australian man who was captured and taken to the prison. His forced confession was used in the trial of Duch (leader of S21). We heard his brother read out part of the confession where he’d written his affiliations to the KBG and CIA, citing names from popular culture, I think one example was something like Sergeant Pepper (The Beatles). It really brought home the absurdity of what these innocent people had to do and how they had to sign their own execution warrant. There was also an artist who survived being held at S21 and there were lots of his paintings at the site. The paintings were of the torture that he’d experienced and witnessed and they were some of the most horrific things I’ve ever seen. Anyway, if you ever have the opportunity to visit Cambodia, you must take the time to visit the genocide museums.

After our time in Phnom Penh, we got a bus up to Siem Reap which was one of the best bus rides ever! They said it would be 7 hours but we got there in 5 and there was on board wifi that was so good I managed to watch a film on youtube! The bus company was the Mekong Express (if you ever need it). We found a really good deal on booking.com and we stayed in a fancy hotel. (I swear if you saw the variation of places we’ve stayed, you wouldn’t believe us that all of them were a similar price). Anyway, massive upgrade from rat infested Phnom Penh hostel. It had a salt water pool that we enjoyed when we weren’t out visiting the temples of Angkor.

The temples added to the pricey-ness of Cambodia, a 3 day pass to the temples was $62 each but it was definitely worth it. I also took my favourite photo from our year so far; a Changeable lizard on one of the temple ruins. Apparently the male’s throat becomes a firey orange/red during mating season (see below!). We probably visited over 15 temples throughout our 3 days but have a few favourites for different reasons. Dave’s favourite part was looking for the most intricate stone carvings and I liked when the jungle took the temples and stone and tree roots entwined to become one. The first temple we went to was Angkor Wat at sunrise, even though this had by far the most tourists, it was still really enjoyable to see such an iconic temple. All the temples reminded us very much of Bagan, Myanmar, just on a much larger scale. Bayon temple really stood out as a favourite because of the huge, carved, stone faces. I knew of this temple and had seen pictures but somehow hadn’t clocked that many of the faces were actually smiling. It was just so impressive even now and I couldn’t help wondering how striking it must have looked when it was first built around 1190AD. I bought yet another painting (to Dave’s utter delight – obviously), this time in water colour of one of the faces. Another favourite temple was Ta Prohm. This was the first temple we saw that had been properly consumed by the surrounding jungle. It’s also where Lara Croft – Tomb Raider is filmed, which my sister and I used to rewatch so many times when we were younger. The temple Beng Mealea which is much further afield than the standard temple route was completely in ruins. This was probably one of the biggest temples we visited, or maybe it just felt that way because there was barely anyone there which added to the eeriness of the abandoned, jungle-swallowed ruins. The final favourite, which was the temple we actually ended on, was Banteay Srei. It’s translation is the Citadel of Women and legend has it that the carvings are so intricate, it must have been built by women. It apparently dates as far back as 967AD which makes it all the more mind-blowing. Honestly, the detail in the red sandstone was unparalleled to any of the other temples we’d visited and it’s 1050 years old!!

After Siem Reap, we went to volunteer for a week at the Cambodia Wildlife Sanctuary! We have so much to say and so many photos of elephants and the most adorable baby monkey that we’ll share next time.

Thanks for reading,

Sophie & Dave

PS – we look dreadful in most temple photos because we were just dripping in sweat. The first day especially was so hot. One of the temple ticket inspectors asked us if we’d been cycling rather than getting a tuk-tuk between temples because Dave was literally drenched. We had to politely laugh and say, nope, just can’t handle the heat!

Banteay Srei
Carvings of Banteay Srei
Banteay Srei
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Angkor Wat
Sunrise
Angkor Wat
Angkor
Bayon Temple
Bayon faces
Bayon smiles
Bayon
Bayon
Terrace of the elephants
Ta Keo
Ta Prohm
Neak Pean
Pre Rup
Us at Pre Rup!
Cloudy temple skies
Sunset at Pre Rup
Fave photo! Changeable Lizard
Changeable Lizard
Beng Mealea
Crazy tree
Beng Mealea ruins
Jungle roots at Being Mealea
Banteay Srei carvings
Citadel of women
Banteay Srei
Killing Tree – Phnom Penh
Stupa – The Killing Fields

Ep. 7 – Vietnam

by Sophie, posted in Videos, Vietnam.

Hello!

We’re currently in Cambodia and have just got wifi again. Here is our little video from our two weeks in Vietnam. We didn’t actually get any clips of Hanoi though we started off there. We also didn’t film too much of the war remnants museum as many of the photos were so violent it didn’t seem quite right (not that the photo Napalm Girl isn’t, just I think most people have seen it before).

Don’t forget to watch in 1080p! Our Cambodia blog post will be coming soon.

Thanks for watching,

Sophie & Dave

Hanoi, Ha Long Bay, Hoi An & Ho Chi Minh City – Vietnam

by Sophie, posted in Vietnam.

Hello!

It’s been a while since we’ve posted, so here is 2 weeks in Vietnam all in one post!

We flew in to Hanoi and fortunately didn’t need a visa as we weren’t staying longer than 15 days in the country. Hanoi was insanely busy, though a different type of busy to what we’ve experienced before. Hanoi just has THOUSANDS of motorbikes and right of way seemed to be determined by how loud/frequently one beeped. We didn’t do very much exploring in Hanoi really, just a few strolls round the Old quarter as I was quite ill (surprise surprise). We discovered an amazing sandwich cart (in Vietnamese they’re called Bhan Mi) and ate there about 4 times, it was also only 70p, so a good cheap and safe eat for us.

We booked our cruise for Ha Long Bay through our hotel. Though you can get a boat and just choose somewhere to stay, most tourists book a cruise. The youngsters book ‘booze cruises’ and the rest opt for better dining (obviously because I’m a 94 year old trapped in a 24 year old’s body, we opted for the better dining and no booze). Our cruise company was Apricot cruise (though I wouldn’t recommend them) and we went for 3 days and 2 nights, one night on the boat and one night in a bungalow on an island. We were picked up from the hotel by bus and we drove 4 hours to the Ha Long Bay marina. A smaller motorised boat then took our group on to the cruise ship. It slept about 30 people and had a dining room and then a nice deck at the top with sun loungers. Ha Long Bay was jaw droppingly beautiful. Right from the start, the water was a beautiful emerald colour and there were islands everywhere. We had sort of anticipated that we’d see all the islands together at the start and then they would be more sporadic, if any, as we got further out. Absolutely not true, we were in awe of just how many there were, apparently over 1600 (mostly uninhabited)! Definitely the most spectacular seascape either of us had ever seen!

There was quite a mix of people on the boat, we got on especially well with a really inspirational Swedish lady. She was a teacher in Sweden but for the last few years had set up entry education for child refugees coming to Sweden so before they were thrown in to school, they had an 8 week programme where they had language lessons and had time to adapt to their surroundings. On our first day we went to the “surprise cave”. This was a much better cave than the terrifying one in Laos, well lit and full of stalagmites and stalactites. We then went to Titop Island which has a sandy beach but also the best place to get a view of the bay from above. We climbed the steep stone staircase to the top of the island to look over Ha Long Bay. Though it was absolutely rammed with tourists, it was still an impressive sight. Bizarrely there was also the biggest swarm (not sure what the technical term is?) of dragonflies! I mean we’re talking hundreds and hundreds of them. It sort of looks like black dots on the photos but I think you can tell they’re dragon flies if you zoom in a little. The climb took a while and we didn’t have much time before we were due to head back to the boat, Dave still managed to squeeze a cheeky dip in the sea. Back at the boat, we had a nice dinner (huge quantities and good food) and then they had a ‘sunset party’. We came for the free Sangria (well Dave had mine) and then headed back to our cabin soon after. People were also squid fishing from the back of the boat but neither of us wanted to catch them as we felt mean to the poor baby squiddies.

The next day, we got up early but unfortunately it was too cloudy for a good sunrise. Dave joined in a Tai Chi class at 6.30am (it wasn’t a proper one, it was just the tour guide waving his arms telling them all to breathe). Afterwards, as we had breakfast in the dining room, we watched all the other cruise ships move on whilst we stayed stationary and we were then told that our boat had ‘broken’. This is one of the reasons this tour company was shite, they just said the boat broke and then basically walked off. We still have no idea why or the implications of it. The miscommunication was terrible. So because of this, it was all a bit rushed and they changed our plans so that we would disembark to the smaller boat earlier. We had 15 minutes to pack our bag and check out before heading to the Pearl Farm. We were all feeling quite sassy at this point, especially as there wasn’t anywhere to keep our bags safely, so we weren’t too invested in the pearl tour. It was still interesting to hear what they were saying, and I also now understand why pearls are so expensive. The farm had one million oysters growing pearls and we saw workers cracking open the oysters and implanting membranes to help growth. Apparently only 30% actually have a pearl inside when its time to harvest, and only 10% of them are usable in jewellery. Some oysters are left to grow the pearl for up to 8 years and there’s a 70% chance there is nothing inside it!

We were transferred to yet another boat and then we headed towards the island where we’d be staying. We stopped off along the way where everyone was allowed to get off and go kayaking! Dave and I very very rarely argue, but put us in a kayak and we’re at each other’s throats, blaming each other for going the wrong way haha. It was still good fun kayaking with this incredible seascape backdrop. We kayaked to a little island with a tiny beach for a little swim. We headed back to the boat and were then taken to yet another idyllic beach. The water was still this luscious blue and really clean. We also were walking along collecting seashells (one of my fave actives). Around 3pm we were dropped off at Monkey Island where we were to stay the night. Online, it seemed monkey island was riot with monkeys out to steal your things but we didn’t see a single one (I was disappointed, obvs). I have never stayed on such a tiny island. We had a little bungalow with gaps between the walls and the thatched roof (thankfully we sussed out how to use the mosquito net in the evening). We spent the afternoon just chilling by the sea and then we had a buffet dinner. They had the BEST sea food I’d ever tried; I thought I was eating muscles but apparently they were oysters! (Jakie, if you’re reading this, I had my first oyster and loved it!).

The next day, we woke up to a torrential down pour, which didn’t make clambering on and off these slippy boats with rucksacks any easier. We’d been so lucky with the weather for the first few days. We headed back to the big cruise boat and back to Ha Long Bay marina. On the way back, they did a cooking class where they taught us how to make fresh Vietnamese spring rolls (i.e not fried but wrapped in rice paper). Around 12pm, we got back on land and hopped on the 4 hour bus back to the hotel we stayed at in Hanoi and picked up one of the rucksacks we left. We were bricking it a little bit because we had already booked our next overnight bus onwards to Hoi An to save us accommodation for that night. The bus was due to depart an hour after we were meant to be back but we weren’t sure if we’d get back in time. Fortunately we did, with an hour to spare, so we were able to have a little break and brush teeth etc. I am usually never one to complain. If a waiter brought me something under-cooked to the point it was raw, I’m the type of person who’d still just smile and say it was lovely. So, to Dave’s utter disbelief, when our hotel asked us about the cruise, I was honest and said whilst Ha Long Bay was indisputably beautiful, the cruise company themselves were a bit of shambles. I ended up getting us a $20USD refund though! On the boat, loads of people left negative feedback (we didn’t get a form) and were offered a beer as compensation to “forget the bad”. Winning!

The bus arrived and though we’d already been travelling (boat and bus) all day, we then embarked on our 20 hour bus ride Hoi An. It was pretty brutal. Our bus had seats in permanent reclined position, we were able to get a bit of sleep but it was still quite uncomfortable. We were so happy to finally arrive in Hoi An and get to a really nice hotel. We were offered to upgrade to a fancy room for a few extra dollars so we did and we had the nicest room we’ve had yet! Inevitably the germ infested bus ride gave me the flu so I was very happy to have a nice room as I spent most of the time in Hoi An in bed. The hotel had a pool so Dave was still able to enjoy the time there lounging by the pool (even though it turned our swim stuff bright green! Chlorine levels were definitely off). Dave did much more exploring than me and took out the free bikes from the hostel to cycle through the rice paddy fields and round the town. In Hoi An’s old centre, it is pedestrianised which makes a nice change to Vietnam’s madness of motorbikes. I was happy I managed to make it to the old town on our last day. The old town is a UNESCO heritage site with lovely little meandering streets and colourful lanterns hanging everywhere. There was an art gallery and I bought a little oil painting of Ha Long Bay (Dave sat outside the shop with the pet dog in a strop haha). Apparently in Vietnam, if you’re the first customer of the day in any shop, you should always buy even a little something as the people believe it brings luck for a good day of trade. The lady was thrilled I bought the picture and kept holding my hand which was sweet.

When we looked at booking our transport on to Ho Chi Minh city, the bus, train and internal flight were all pretty much the same price. I couldn’t face another 24 hour bus ride so we decided to fly down instead. As we were in a taxi to Da Nang airport, Dave realised he’d left his swim shorts drying outside behind, and was devastated haha. Fortunately that’s the only thing we’ve lost this trip (touch wood!!!!). Our flight was delayed by an hour but there was an amusing sign on the check in desk which read “Status: Delayed. Reason: None”.

We arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, many Vietnamese people still refer to the city as its former name; Saigon. We were staying in a hostel in the backpacker area (a narrow street through the back of a market with loads of hostels). Our first full day was on Friday 28th April which was the day of my Grandma’s funeral back in England. I was sad not to have been back with my family but I think my Grandma would have wanted me to stay out here. We decided to go to the Saigon Notre Dame Cathedral (a replica of sorts of Paris’) so I could say my goodbye. Though I’m not religious, my Grandma was and I think she would have really liked this Cathedral, it had beautiful stained glass windows and it was just really interesting to see it in the middle of a busy Vietnamese city!

As far as big, busy cities go, I actually really liked Ho Chi Minh. Of course, I got heart palpitations every time we tried to cross a road, but the city itself had a great balance of nature and parks within the hustle and bustle. I have a new favourite flower but I haven’t been able to find the name of it. It’s sort of a light blue/purple colour and hangs down often from arch ways and buildings. I’ve seen it a few times in Vietnam and there were paintings of it in the art gallery too. There’s a photo below, let me know if you know the name!

We went to the War Remnants Museum. It was a little bizarre because it was focused so much on bashing America. Of course, its understandable. I suppose it is impossible to tell the story of a war without bias from one angle but this was perhaps the most one-sided museum we’d ever been to. We, ourselves, have a Western bias just in the name of the war! I’ve always referred to it as ‘The Vietnam war’ but the museum called it ’The US aggressive war in Vietnam’. Perhaps there’s the opposite museum in America, I don’t know. All I do know, is that it was still horrific to see so many images of the destruction caused by Agent Orange. They also had the photo of “Napalm girl”, apparently the photographer, Nick Ut, presented the photo to the museum in 2013.

The next day we took a day tour to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels, an underground network of tunnels used by the Viet Cong spanning 250km. Again, there was so much bias in the story telling, this time from our tour guide who said he was a veteran but fighting on the American side. We couldn’t really tell what was true and what was embellishment and what was altered to what he thought would appease Westerners. The tunnels themselves were really fascinating. They were SO SO SO small. I was umming and erring about whether I could go in the tunnel and not panic, but in the end I decided against it. I met Dave and the rest of the group the end of the tunnel. It was a 250 metre tunnel that had been widened a bit for tourists with three levels. There was an escape route after 20 metres and quite a lot of the group came out after just that! Dave persevered all the way through and came out the end drenched in sweat. He said the tunnels were so small that they were crawling on hands and knees, there was no light and it was unbearably hot. I definitely think I made the right call not going in haha! We were shown ventilation holes that the Vietnamese disguised round the roots of trees and some of the traps with spikes etc they used against the Americans. They also had a shooting range for tourists to fire old guns used in the war. We thought this was disgustingly disrespectful and distasteful. I realised I’d never actually heard a gun go off in real life but there, it was constant and deafening. I absolutely hated it and I have no personal experience to any war. Imagine what that must be like for a veteran or Vietnamese person with PTSD visiting!

Also worth saying – we had amazing Vietnamese food in Ho Chi Minh. I found my new favourite food of the whole trip, and wait for it, it’s a vegetable! Well, technically flower – stir fried Tonkin Jasmin flowers with garlic. So good! We would love to come back to Vietnam again and maybe do a completely different route! There are still lots of places we’d like to visit like Sappa, Na Trang and Dalat. We met a lot of people who were doing the Top Gear experience as well where you get a scooter and do the same route as the top gear special. Maybe save that one for when I actually get a driving license!

Thanks for reading!

Sophie & Dave

 

Ha Long Bay
On the boat
The ‘Surprise Cave’
Cave
See the dragon flies?
Titop view point
Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
Titop island
Cloudy sunsets
Tai Chi morning class
Our bungalow on Monkey Island!
Monkey Island
Our view on Monkey Island
Lanterns in Hoi An
Dave’s friend outside the art gallery
Green parks in Ho Chi Minh City
The mysterious flower
Dave inside a shooting hole at Cu Chi tunnels
Cu Chi Tunnels
Traps from the war
Entrance to a Cu Chi Tunnel

Ep. 6 – Laos

by Sophie, posted in Laos, Videos

Here’s our video from our week in Laos. I didn’t take as many photographs in Laos as I normally do (due to our main activities being in/around water) so we are happy to have this little film to capture our memories. Personal highlight was seeing how much water people actually chucked on us in Vientiane during the water festival (you can see why we couldn’t have any camera other than the GoPro)!

Please watch in 1080p and thanks as always for following along.

Sophie & Dave