Vietnam

All of us had our entire own experiences of Vietnam. Myself (Lily) being ill with tonsillitis throughout our time there, so I did hardly anything and only began to feel better on our last day in Vietnam. Holly wasn't feeling too great herself, so we both sat indoors trying to recover the majority of the time. And Josh and Will climbed the tallest mountain in Indochina, splitting off from us and heading up north early. But first things first: Ho Chi Minh City.

The Vietnamese call the city Saigon, and it was a buzzing, lively place which was great after being in Cambodia where everything is closed by 9pm. We weren't here that long, the main reason for our visit was to see the Cu Chi Tunnels from the Vietnam war, which only Will managed to see as the rest of us were feeling a bit worse for wear. He climbed in to the tunnels which he says were very small and humid and afterwards shot a gun, which is something that is very easily done over here - if you pay a large sum of money you can blow up a cow with a grenade, which weirdly enough isn't listed in the guidebook.

We then took a 17 hour train to the town of Hoi An, the journey being one of the most horrific things we have experienced, it seems like every single person out here is ill with something; coughing, spitting and a woman projectile vomiting at 5 in the morning. Every single Vietnamese person spits and make wonderfully disgusting noises whilst they're doing it too, shopping in the markets out here is also an experience. The locals are not afraid to grab your arm tight forcing you in to their shop and demanding that you buy something and if you say no and walk away they hold on to your arm until you pry them off. Generally quite aggressive people really.

In Hoi An Will got himself a suit personally tailored for the fraction of the price you'd pay in London. Holly also got herself a dress tailored for cheap-cheap, the town itself being world famous for it's many cheap tailor shops so we took full advantage.

We then took a bus up to Hue, where we quickly found cheap accommodation and thankfully with a/c as central Vietnam was extremely humid and hot. Will and Josh explored the Imperial City that has been left in Hue, there are only two in the world, one here and one in China. Will and Josh then got a train up to Hanoi where they were then going to go on to Sapa, the town at the base of Fansipan. Again myself and Holly being too ill to even think about leaving the hostel most of the time.

Me and Holly hung out in Hue for a little longer, and by this point I couldn't even talk anymore so we planned to leave for the capital so that I could get to a Doctor's asap. We took a sleeping bus, which was claustrophobic but also met these French girls one of whom was a Doctor and checked out my throat and prescribed me with antibiotics for absolutely free which saved me about $70. Our first day in Hanoi was paired with a huge monsoon which left our entire street flooded, car alarms were going off cars were submerged - felt a bit like the end of the world but within two hours the water had somehow drained away.

On out last day in Hanoi, and Vietnam, I was finally better so we took a day trip to Ha Long Bay, which is a bay bordering China with over a thousand limestone pillars coming out of the sea. We took a boat, and we explored the floating fishing villages and their markets. We also got on a kayak and went off by ourselves, paddling through caves and in to little secluded bays.

We were also taken to a huge cave lit up by all these multicoloured lights, and our guide was basically a massive pervert and kept on saying that every rock was either a penis or a nipple. So we went on ahead to avoid his commentary.

Meanwhile 500km north of us the boys were in Sapa, beginning their trek up Fansipan. The trek took them two days, spending one night in a remote village on the mountain side. Will spent the day with a woman from the Black Mong tribe, Josh being ill, she showed him around her house and showed him the traditions of her tribe and he bought himself some traditional black mong tribal trousers. He then carried on to the top of Fansipan, and sat at the highest point in Indochina.

Cambodia

Cambodia was very different to Thailand considering they share a border. There is a lot more poverty here, one of the first things we were welcomed with were children begging and trying anything to get hold of our money. Our skin now made us stick out like a sore thumb.

Our first stop was Siem Reap which is a small town used purely as a base to see the grand temples of Angkor Wat - one of the wonders of the world. We set off for the temples at 5am, wanting to catch the sunrise though the weather was not on our side and we watched daylight appear behind a grey cloud. The temple though was very grand and absolutely massive. Built in the 8th Century, the stone holding it all together was falling apart and there was scaffolding on many parts of it to keep it all together.

We all explored it in our own time, meeting back outside to travel to the next temple called The Bayan Temple which is famous for it's smiling Buddha statues. The sun came out for us here, and the locals had let this temple age a bit more. Moss was covering most of the stone and many parts were just a crumbled pile. There were also these women dressed in traditional Cambodian wear in the temple, and myself an Holly got several pictures with them - being instructed on how to properly display our hands, twisting them in to strange positions.

Me and William climbed to the top of the Unfinished Temple, which was achieved by climbing up several hundred steps that were tiny and eroded and barely able to house your foot on. Each step had to be very carefully planned unless you wanted to fall very far to the bottom.

The last temple we saw was Ta Phrom. A huge complex that has been completely taken over by these huge bayan trees. Most of the walls and towers being eaten away by a tree, but again we liked that the locals had just let the elements take over the temple. It felt far more real and much prettier.

After a few days in Siem Reap we travelled to the capital of Phnom Penh, which again was not very dissimilar to every other South East Asian city we had been to. Our main reason for coming to the capital was to see the S21 Prison and the Killing Fields.

The S21 Prison was once a school that was taken over by the Khmer Rouge and turned in to a torture house. Anyone who showed any sign of intelligence was arrested and tortured in the prison until their death day where they were transported to the Killing Fields to be killed. The prison was truly horrifying, there was blood still from 40 years ago over the floors and walls and pictures of the state of the bodies the Japanese Army found when they discovered the prison. Out of 20,000 prisoners, only 7 survived and they did not spare women or children either, and the worst part about it all is that the people responsible are still living in Cambodia awaiting trial - no justice at all.

 
The Killing Fields house over 10,000 graves, men, women and children. What was most disturbing is that the rain reveals more of the graves each time, and we stumbled across several bones and pieces of clothing sticking out of the ground not yet retrieved by those in charge. It was a still place, one where you could absorb the horrors inflicted upon these people and one that made you realise how disgusting the entire thing is.

Cambodia will not be leaving our memories anytime soon. It's poverty and horrific history shaping the country, but also it's beauty and wonder easily distracting you from that. It's certainly been an experience, and has been very different from the rest of our time in South East Asia.

Thailand

Since our last update we've covered pretty much all of Thailand.

First on the list was Koh Phi Phi, which after an entire day of travelling and stopping off for a night in Krabi, was beautiful. It was pretty much a textbook desert island. Clear blue seas and white sands fringed by palm trees and huge hills of jungle. We all got a whole bungalow for a tenner a night, which though pricey for the budget we are on, was a lovely taste of luxury.

We quickly booked ourselves on to a snorkeling tour around Koh Phi Phi's sister island Phi Phi Lay. Renting ourselves a private long boat for the day, we had a great day of snorkeling with tropical fish and discovering private white sandy bays. The big part of the trip was going to Maya Bay which is where the film The Beach was filmed, however due to it being monsoon season here the boat couldn't take us directly to the bay so we had to swim to this make-shift ladder made out of ropes and walk to the beach from there - which was eventful to say the least and a life jacket was certainly needed. Maya Bay it self though certainly being worth the trip there.

After Koh Phi Phi we once again set out on a day long trip to the island of Koh Phanghan - the host of the famous Full Moon parties. We unexpectedly took a sleeper ferry boat there and arrived at 5am the next day, exhausted and in need of a good bed which we got. The Sanctuary was beautiful, and so was our private jungle house which had no windows - the breeze coming through the open balconies cooling us down at night. The staff were lovely, we were particularly fond of a man named Sam who lent us his guitar one night which I (Lily) was very grateful for.

The full moon party itself was mental, it was packed, it was bright and it lasted till the early hours of the next morning and we all had a great time and more importantly survived. The rest of our stay in Koh Phanghan was spent relaxing on the beach, renting out kayaks and exploring untouched bays on the island and watching films on the beach. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Next up was the sleeper train to Bangkok. Arriving at midday we journeyed to the famous Koh Sahn road - a backpackers haven with it's cheap hostels and restaurants. Finding ourselves a cheap hostel quickly, and exploring the many markets of Bangkok soon after, all of us acquiring a number of gifts for cheaper than cheap prices.

We saw the last Harry Potter twice whilst in Bangkok as well, enjoying the normality of a cinema and the insanely huge portion of popcorn that we got for the equivalent of one single pound. The Grand Palace was beautiful and very golden as well, the Emerald Buddha chamber housing the largest piece of jade on Earth, and amazingly intricate illustrations covering the walls - it was a great piece of Thai culture.

We laid down a small memorial for Max, Bruno and Conrad. Several people giving us gifts and messages for the boys that we have placed in a small private place on the Koh Sahn road as that was the place they celebrated Conrad's birthday, and it's safe to say they probably had a great night there. It's somewhere where we are sure they made many fond memories.

All in all, Thailand has been amazing. The beauty of the tropical islands, and the insanely cheap markets of Bangkok have been great and we're looking forward to our return here in a few weeks.

Next up, Cambodia.

Malaysia Part Two

Since our last post we've been to the capital of Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur. Which is a massive hustling, bustling city as most cites are. We stayed in the heart of Chinatown in what was a less than desirable hostel with no air con on the first night meaning that we all almost passed out with the heat. It was pretty grim to say the least.

However KL's Chinatown was very exciting, and we all particularly enjoyed the hawker market that was just next door to the hostel and pretty much sold fake versions of everything you can think of. We've also noticed that the Malayan's have a particular obsession with both the iPhone app angry birds and the animated childrens series Ben 10. You can buy tops, bags, phones, glasses, key rings, windmills, shoes, socks, coats and tons more things with either an angry birds or a Ben 10 theme.

We decided to escape the city on our second day and travelled to the Batu Caves which was an hour away on the bus. The caves themselves housing a Hindu temple and welcoming you was a 20m high golden statue of a Hindu God which was amazing.

The caves were huge and bats were flying about in the ceilings. It was thankfully quite empty inside, a lot of tourists probably being deterred by the storm that hit us on our way to the caves. The roads were flooded within a matter of seconds and lightning was cracking right above our heads - our first taste of the monsoon season we've arrived in. The caves were peaceful and the view of KL from the top was spectacular.

The next day we headed up to the Cameron Highlands which has been highly recommended to us since we arrived, and quite rightly too. The temperature up here is much cooler giving us a lovely break from the heat causing us to actually wear jumpers and trousers. Our hostel having a bonfire every night which attracts all the travellers in the small town we are staying in.

Yesterday we booked ourselves on to a countryside tour, hopping on to a minibus and being taken around the highlands to see the rose gardens, tea plantations, honey bee farms, butterfly farms, strawberry farms and a lovely Buddhist temple all for the equivalent of 7 pounds. The cheap prices out here still amaze us.

Tomorrow we are heading to the Malaysian island of Penang as a stop off before we enter Thailand the next day. We are planning on going to the tropical island of Koh Phi Phi which wasn't originally intended but after hearing from several people about how amazing it is we've decided to do it instead of Phuket which supposedly is a seedy, dirty city full of seedy, dirty men. So no thank you basically.

I think though that we are all agreed on the fact that the Cameron Highlands has been one of our favourite places so far.

Singapore Contd. and Malaysia Part One

Our last day in Sinapore was spent exploring the area a little more, though the heat of the day made it less than pleasent. We decided to do the Night Safari, which after missing the first bus, we found to be a Thorpe Park-like experience. Everything was obviously tailored for tourists, though the tour itself was enjoyable and our tour guide 'Mark' made us laugh with his broken English - leaving long pauses between words and cracking jokes about modelling rhinos. The flying squirels were particuarly scary, and the baby elephant was adorable. 

The next day we travelled to the Malaysian border - which was one of the most stressful things we've ever been through, both myself and Will feeling the need to vomit from the stress at one point. However the sleeper train to the town of Tampin was blissful in comparison. We all had our own bed compartment, and there was a food trolley and air con, literally heaven.

Once we arrived in Tampin we got a taxi to the coastal town of Melaka, which is much like Amsterdam with canals ruling most of it's streets and a large river running straight through it. We didn't have a hostel booked before we arrived, but the first one we tried had four beds for us and is run by some really lovely, chilled people. There's no air con in the dorms, and the heat here is suffocating - all of us suffering in the humidity, but after a couple of days here we've aclimatised a bit.

Will and Josh decided to do a 10km run in the plantations around the town with a group of Malayans. Both managing to not die meaning they were initiated in to the group by having to dip their naked arses in to a bucket of ice and then being rewarded with free alcohol on the house. Myself and Holly opted out, naturally, and instead booked ourselves on to the river boat cruise, which was breezy and gave us a great view of the rest of the town we hadn't seen yet.

Today we are heading to the capital city of Kualar Lumpar, a 2 hour bus journey away. We'll miss the chilled out Voyager's Cafe which has been our base point while staying here and the lovely staff and the beautiful food.

2 Days Later, Singapore

We've arrived in Singapore after 2 entire days of travelling and were welcomed by a choking wet heat that we are all still trying to get used to. Our flight to Mumbai went by quite quickly, our only complaint being the amount of times we had to restart our TVs, but all in all Kingfisher airlines are rather good.
We arrived in Mumbai 9 hours later and we could see the slums of Mumbai through the window which reminded us all of how far from home we already were. The wait in Mumbai airport however soon turned in to a sort of hell, we were there for 12 hours and if it weren't for the row of recliner chairs we found then we may have gone stir crazy. On to the next flight, and it was another 5 hours before we were in Singapore and after Josh and Will's little wonder making us late for our bus, we were on the road to our first hostel of the trip.

The city of Singapore is very modern. The roads are straight and very ordered reminding us of somewhere in Europe. It's also a city full of other cities. We saw a replica of the London Eye, and a mimic of the Sydney Opera House. There was also a strange building that looked like it had some kind of a spaceship on the top of it which was amusing in our jet-lagged states.

Our hostel is in the Little India region of Singapore, and when walking the streets your hit by all the different spices and incense arising from the different shops. Last night we explored the area a little and stopped off for some food which was served on a huge banana leaf and was only around a quid.

Tonight we are going on a Night Safari where we have been promised a chance to see puma's, leopards and flying squirel's, though we will be avoiding the giant toad's for Holly's sake.

Departure Day

In a little under 12 hours we will be on our flight to Mumbai where we'll be stopping off for the day to get ourselves a nice curry before continuing on to Singapore.

Naturally we're all quite apprehensive, and after this week's horrible news the trip has somewhat been changed in our minds. We wish we had a little more time to process what's happened before heading out there ourselves, but time hasn't been on anyone's side these past few days.
Our thoughts are with the families and those who were close to Bruno, Conrad and Max.
May they rest in peace.

We are excited and ready to begin what we've been planning for the past 9 months, even if we are leaving on a sombre note and we'll see you all again in September. In the mean time this is where you'll find us most.

Lily, Josh, Will and Holly.