Our next destination was George Town, the colourful and multicultural state capital of Penang in north west Malaysia. The city is known for its British colonial buildings, Chinese architecture and mosques, but the thing I was most excited about seeing was its array of playful and artistic graffiti. We left our hotel in Langkawi and … Continue reading George Town, Penang – Malaysia
Langkawi – Malaysia
Langkawi is an island with a population of 65,000, located 30km off the mainland coast of north western Malaysia. We’d be taking a ferry from Ko Lanta in Thailand directly to Langkawi to begin the Malaysian stretch of our travels. My alarm went off at 6.30am and we dragged ourselves out of bed and tried … Continue reading Langkawi – Malaysia
Ko Lanta – Thailand
Ko Lanta (or Ko Lanta Yai) is the largest of 52 islands which make up the Mu Ko Lanta National Park, part of the Krabi Province in Thailand. It has several long sandy beaches running down its west coast, as well as mangrove forests, tropical jungle and coral reefs popular for diving trips. Deciding we’d … Continue reading Ko Lanta – Thailand
Ko Phi Phi – Thailand
The Phi Phi Islands are an island group in Thailand set within the Krabi province made famous as the location for the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio film The Beach. Ko Phi Phi Don is the largest and most populous island of the group and would be our next destination. We checked out of our hotel in … Continue reading Ko Phi Phi – Thailand
Phuket – Thailand
Phuket: sand, sea, strip and sunburn. Thailand’s largest island caters for those in search of a boozy break in the sun – the Magaluf of the region. This just screams us… not. We were just using Phuket as a stop off before visiting the nearby islands off its south east coast, but it also happened … Continue reading Phuket – Thailand
Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai – Thailand
Chiang Mai is a large city in the mountains of northern Thailand popular with tourists for its historical walled city and as a destination to visit a wide range of elephant parks. After several days weighing up the pros and cons between taking a two day slow boat for £25 or a one hour flight … Continue reading Chiang Mai & Chiang Rai – Thailand
Luang Prabang – Laos
Other than having a really satisfying name that rolls playfully off the tongue, Luang Prabang is a small town located in northern Laos which was once the royal capital. It lies at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers and is home to many Buddhist temples and young monks in training. After a … Continue reading Luang Prabang – Laos
Vang Vieng – Laos
Vang Vieng is a small town north of Vientiane on the Nam Song River. It's surrounded by stunning limestone mountains and was once a well-frequented traveller haunt, infamous for its alcohol and drug fuelled river tubing antics. The wild river tubing parties are now long gone since the government shut down the majority of the … Continue reading Vang Vieng – Laos
Vientiane – Laos
We hadn’t originally intended to visit Laos but as we were so nearby and we couldn't imagine we’d ever be taking a holiday there, we decided to splash a bit on flights and tick off another country. We therefore decided to miss out some of central Thailand and instead booked flights from Bangkok to Laos’ … Continue reading Vientiane – Laos
Bangkok – Thailand
It was time to leave Cambodia and head for the bustling capital of Thailand: Bangkok. We booked our bus with Giant Ibis which, although a little pricier than other companies, we’d used them several times throughout Cambodia and they’d provided a really great service. For example, they tag your luggage so it can only be … Continue reading Bangkok – Thailand