SOUTH EAST ASIA

South East Asia was our first destination and we had planned 6 weeks to do Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand. We didn't want to start our travels off on our own and especially as it started in Cambodia so we booked a 10 day tour through STA again (G-Adventures) which took us round Cambodia and over the Vietnam border which I'm SO glad we did as it would have been a bit scary doing it on our own it was also a great way to meet new people!

Instead of writing out in chunks things we did I'll do it in bullet points so it's easier and quicker to read...




CAMBODIA
-Siem Reap- watched the sunrise over Angkor Wat (a must see) and walked around the other temples such as the one seen in Tomb Raider

-Whilst in Asia you should take advantage of the mega cheap massage places (make sure it's not one with a happy ending) we went to one called '7 girls' and despite the name it was a legit standard massage parlour even though I did get a massage of a 15yr old girl..weird.

-Phnom Penh (known for a red light district type area)-took a trip to the S1 prisons and the killing fields which was pretty eeary seen as though it all happened not so long ago.

-Sihanoukville- unfortunately we only had a night as it was a cool little area with a 'party beach', got way too drunk off cambodian whisky and got hold of fireworks little kids were selling on the beach which were then lit in our hands by a cop. Safe.

VIETNAM
Cambodia was short and sweet but we were more than ready to move onto Vietnam! We walked across the border and continued to the Mekong Delta where we had a homestay in Can Theo which was still part of the G adventures tour.

-Floating Market/ saw how rice noodles were made

-Ho Chi Minh- This is the city where your most likely to get killed by a motorbike, crossing the road is insane. We left the group here and continued our travels on our own

- Got a night bus to Dalat. We both personally hated Dalat but others have said how they enjoyed it but I think the main reason we didn't is because we were so tired when we arrived and went straight onto a trip which was seriously shit so you may want to decide for yourself with that one!

-Nha Trang- We chilled out at Nha Trang, caught up on a bit of sleep. Went to Hot Spring Mud baths and ate at an amazing resteraunt called 'Lanterns' which had the best Vietnamese curry, highly recommend!

-Hoi An- Hoi An was my favourite place in Vietnam and lot of other peoples too. It had lit up lanterns absolutely everywhere it was just such a cute little place. We rented bikes out and rode round which seemed the best way to do it even though it rained on us!

-Hue- We didn't spend much time here or see a lot apart from Pagodas. We were unbelievably exhausted at this point.

 -Hanoi- From here we went on a Halong Bay trip which is one of the main things to do in Vietnam. We booked the trip through the hotel we were staying at 'Little Hanoi', shop around though as there is loads of places selling it! We spent 1 night on the boat, kayaked, hiked to the top of the mountain at Cat Ba National Park then spent 1 night on Cat Ba Island (Rice Wine shots, 40%...all I'm sayin')

-Tam Coc in the Ninh Binh Province- We had time to kill in Hanoi so we took a day trip out to Tam Coc were we visited temples and took a boat ride down the river

THAILAND

-Bangkok- We flew into Bangkok on our first day so had already explored a little but it's so easy to get lost here so we didn't stray far. We visited the sky bar were Hangover 2 was filmed (unreal) then went on a night out down Khao San Road- Ate a scorpian! (tasted like burnt bacon)

-Phuket- Phuket was just a stop over to get to Phi Phi and I'm glad we were only there a night as it was nothing special. The best way to describe is like a Thai Magaluf.

-Phi Phi- MY FAVOURITE PLACE. This place is like a little heaven, there's no cars so you have to get everywhere by foot and it's just so picture perfect. Save your money for the markets here too as you could spend your day walking around. We did the standard trips from here like Monkey Island, Shark Point and 'The Beach' (from the Leo film) However I did nearlly die from snorkelling here but that's another story...

-Krabi- We visited Krabi especially to do elephant trekking as we didn't have time to go up to the well known Chiang Mai. Needless to say it was amazing and the elephants were treat well but if you get the oppertunity to go to Chiang Mai then I definately would.

-Koh Phangan- After the Half Moon Party this was a bit of a chill out for us, we had 2 free days to just sunbathe which was heavenly before getting a boat to Surat Thani then an overnight train back to Bangkok.

South East Asia- DONE. It was all very quick and we were constantly on the move, obviously we saw a lot of the culture and experienced a lot of things but it wasn't worth mentioning it all otherwise this post would go on forever. I seriously recommend going on a tour when you first start though especially if you're travelling alone and we never had a problem with the night buses or trains. Also make sure you barter with the tuc tuc drivers as they'll try rip you off wherever possible!