The Rest of S. E. Asia

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I haven't been very good at this really, have I?! Admittedly, a lot has been happening and I haven't had much time to write again, but still.... I'll start from where I left off.....

Halong Bay was really lovely. I was a little worried at first cos it tipped it down the morning we left, but by the time we got there the weather was hot and sunny! I spent some time sunbathing on our junk boat, we visited a huge cave (which was completely full of tourists, which kind of spoiled it a bit), had a day on Cat Ba Island and were taken to some lovely secluded beaches. At night we could see about 40-50 other junk boats in the same bay as ours, but it was still quite quiet. I also jumped off the boat into the bay from the middle deck, which was quite high, but the water was incredibly warm, it was amazing!

After Halong Bay I got an overnight train to Hue. The town itself was lovely, but I didn't have a great experience at the guest house - I won't go into it again, but they were rude and threatening, it wasn't a nice experience. But Hue I did like, especially the citadel and mausoleums on the Purfume River cruise I did.

I got another train to Hoi An and the vies were amazing! It went right along the coast, with views out to sea and along cliff faces and beached - very cool! I liked Hoi An too and wish I could have spent longer there, but had to leave because of the Typhoon that was heading directly for it! So the weather wasn't too good while I was there, but the town was very pretty - lots of old buildings and Chinese Temples. I ended up having some clothes made too, which I wasn't intending to, but they were so cheap! I got a dress, 2 pairs of linen trousers and a skirt for just over $60, all made to measure! Unfortunately the linen stuff stretches when I wear it, so they don't fit so well anymore, but never mind!

After Hoi An I got a sleeper bus to Mui Ne, a little beach resort. Unfortunately the weather still wasn't great, so I couldn't go to the beach! I also thought my camera had got stolen, so I spent most of the day in the police station, only to find that I'd put it in a different bag....whoops!! I was a bit fed up by then so decises to move on to Saigon, but which time the weather typically had got better!

Saigon I loved! It was a nice clean city and motorbikes didn't attack you as you crossed the street nearly as much as they did in Hanoi! The War Remnants Museum I thought was quite good because it was really informative about the Vietnam War, but some of the photos and exhibits were a bit gross. I wish I'd had a little longer here, just to wander around!

I then booked myself on a Mekong Delta tour that took me to Phnom Penh in Cambodia at the end. This was really good too, although parts of it seemed a bit disorgansied at times. I enjoyed seeing how they made coconut candy and poprice (like popcorn, but made with rice!) and then trying some after and I liked the night on a boat that was converted into a hotel. We also visited a floating market and a floating minority village, where we saw a little boy walking along a bamboo bridge to his floating stilt-house school! We were then taken to the Cambodian border (where border control was also on a boat!) and transferred by speedboot and minibus to Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh I quite enjoyed too, especially because most people had said it wasn't worth visiting. I think because of this, it still had quite an 'Asian' feel to it. I went to the Silver Pagoda, which was a lot like the Grand Palace in Bangkok, and to a temple that had loads of monkeys running around! I did a trip to the Killing Fields, which were very surreal. At the time I couldn't quite comprehend what I was looking at and it's actually worse looking back at the photos now. It was a similar feeling at the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum.

After Phnom Penh I went by bus to Siem Reap. For ages I was absolutely desperate for the toilet and in the end asked if we could stop somewhere so I could go, but the driver gave me a bit of a blank look and informed me there was one at the back of the bus!!! I wasn't used to that sort of luxury!!! From Siem Reap I spent 2 days visiting the temples of Angkor. They were really incredible, especially some of the less visited ones my driver took me to. I also managed to get up really early on one day and left by 5.15am to see Angkor Wat at sunrise and this was definitely worth it!

After Siem Reap, I had a long drive to Bangkok. I managed to make it to the train station in time for the train to Malaysia, but there were no sleeper berths left, only 3rd class wooden seats, but luckily I was able to organise an overnight bus. I even got 2 seats to myself so could sort of lie down! However, the next morning I noticed that my bags, which were below me, had been tampered with and when I looked inside my passport was gone 😞 I looked everywhere for it and even found that someones bikini top had been put in my big bag at some point since I'd packed it as well! I spent a long time going all over the place trying to figure out what to do, because I was supposed to be meeting Mum, Dad and my sister Emily in Malaysia later that day. In the end I had to go back to Bangkok to get a new passport 😞 They were very good about it though and the Embassy sorted out a new passport for me 2 days later. Mum, Dad and Emily also cut short their time on Langkawi to come and see me in Bangkok. It was really good to see them! We got a really nice, traditional Thai 5* hotel too! I showed them around Bangkok for a bit, but we only had 2 days because my passport got sorted so quickly, so we went to Kuala Lumpur, like we were planning originally.

KL I loved too. The Petrona Towers were really amazing, I think they're they prettiest skyscrapers I've ever seen! It was really nice to see the traditional mixed in with the new as well and there were some places that Dad said he recognised, so that was cool. We had a buffet lunch at the revolving restaurant at the top of KL Towere too and the views from their were amazing!

After KL we went to Singapore and I ended up spending quite a few days here. I did some sightseeing and shopping (I didn't buy anything though!) with my family and we had a day at Singapore Zoo, which was really good. It was very open and all the orangutans were jumping about above our heads! After they left I had a few days by the beach in Sentosa to get a bit of colour before I move on to India.

I really enjoyed S.E. Asia 😊 There were a few mishaps, but I guess that's to be expected really. I was sad to leave, but couldn't wait for India and to see Chris again 😊

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Comments

[Maria Taylor]

Lucky You
Goodness Sarah, you really know how to travel. This trip really sounds amazing but I'm not sure I'd have the courage to dash around like you ar. You sounded very cool about having your passport stolen I'd have had a nervous breakdown. I bet time is absolutely flying by but it probably also seems like you've been travelling forever. Look forard to an update when you get to India.