Brownie1984

We flew from Phuket to Kuala Lumpur airport and straight away felt confortable in the new city. We had three days here so we booked striaght onto our first city tour. This took us all around KL and we saw some pretty impressive buildings. KL is actually a very rich city, with sky scrappers all over the place. They have a huge chinatown where we stayed and had some great meals, a palace where the King lives, huge shopping malls, acres of botanicla gardens, large war type statues dedicated to the fallen when fighting against communism this place has so much to see, hence the city tour purchase. After 7 hours sight seeing, we decided the Petronas towers would be the first port of call the next morning. We got there early enough to get the ... read more

The route went Ko Samui, Ko Pha Ngan, Ko Samui, Krabi, Ko Phi Phi, Phuket, Ko Tao, which was a bit up and down but we had a tight schedule between 8th - 27th of Dec and had things booked in. Starting in Ko Samui was cool, we were expecting to have a bit of a detox, we aimed for one wk it lasted 4 days, not bad. Ko Samui on a nice day is lovely, we stayed on Chaweng Beach and you could walk out 3 metres and the water would be up to your waiste, then after another 5 metres back down by your ankles. The water was crystal clear. This island had lots and lots of western shops and restaurants, incl Macdonalds, KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Haagan Daaz and even a sensens ... read more

On the second time around, Khao San Road didnt intimidate at all. It felt like I was home, I felt confortable and was happy. We completley fluked being back in BK for the Kings Bday BUT it was a great thing we were as the celebrations were so much fun. We were walking around and got chatting to a local who confirmed that on this exact road we stood next to would see the King drive past in 30 minutes....so we sat on the floor and waited for his Majesty and Queen to drive past. It was good to see him, he is a great man. After this we did some quick Christmas Shopping to send home to the family then headed out to the celebration by his home, the Grand Palace. It was like a ... read more

We stayed in three different areas of Cambodia which were all amazingly beautiful in their own ways. Phnom Pehn has lots of things to see and do, but most of them very depressing. The killing fields and the S21 Jail, which were both the most horrible places on the planet, Its still hard to comprehend how and why this had to happen. The Cambodian people have moved on though, they have been the most warm and friendly people I have come into contact with. It must be hard considering the leaders of the Khymer Rouge, who are alive, are still on trial and awaiting their fate. I read somewhere recently that one of the leaders may even walk free as she is 'mentally unfit' to be put in Jail. I think they should just lock her ... read more

Arrived into Cambodia early morning into Phnom Pehn, to a barrage of tuc-tuc drivers and shouting locals. After getting to our accommodation we planned out some site seeing in the area. We soon found out that Cambodia was to be a very morbid country with a history of genocide, the pol pot era of the late 70's. He was the warped leader of the country who firstly drove the king out into China then started a 4 year genocidal reign on his own people which killed over one 3rd of his own countrymen. Basically he was a twisted Hitler, who should have been stopped earlier, leader of the Khmer Rouge. He closed all doors in and out of Cambodia whilst in charge. We first visited the S-21 jail in which many Cambodians were subjected to torture ... read more

Arrived in the capital of Vietnam expecting worse traffic and people than Hanoi but was pleasantly suprised. The people were again easy going and as soon as we were away from the bus station, we were trouble free. We spent the first day walking around the city to get a real feel for the place, like we did with Hanoi. This took us nearly 9 hours to do but saw some pretty interesting stuff which had changed our opinions on Vietnam & also America by the time we got back to our hostel, down some dodgy back street!! Ho Chi Mihn is a great place, a massive city and the people are incredibly friendly like the rest of Vietnam. The food is also great, bikes everywhere again and rush hour makes london look like a kitten, ... read more

Beach front apartment for 3 quid, thank you very much. This wasntjust any beach side either, it was plush with pool, bar restaurant, all watersorts you could think of and a white sandy beach. Theapartment itself was also pretty nice but we didnt care about that it was straight on with the shorts and jumping into the huge waves. The weatehr was also brilliant, we were living in paradise. On the bus we met a couple of ladies tat I had previously met on the Chaing Mai bus from Thailand, Naoise & Lian, both from London. I first grabbed my guitar which was missing a string and seriously out of tune and took it back into town on a ped, I was prob the only caucasion male in the area for around 30 mins, I had ... read more

Da Lat was just in from the coast by Mue Ne and was a small province with a small amount of sights to see. We ended up getting a tour of the city and visited coffee, flower, silk & cricket factories, which were all interesting in their own weird way. The coffee & flower ones were basic but I found the silk & cricket more interesting. The cricket farm showed us why, how etc they keep & breed crickets and at what age/size they send them off for food into towns near by. Obviously at the end of the tour we were given a plate to try, with chilli sauce....ofcourse! I had a couple, just tasted like burst bit of chicken or dog or something?! Dalat didn't have much of a night life but nice restaurants ... read more

Nha trang is famous for its beach and night life, and I know why. Tis is an absolute paradise and never pictured in a million years was anywhere near Vietnam. We arrived at 5:45 and headed straight out to seek out the sights and some food! The first few hours were spent on the beach down 200 metres from our apartment which was the best beach in town. Waves were about 8 foot high, was so much fun seeing the locals get smashed in by waves. What they are doing at 5:45 doing exercise any way I am not sure, but there are HUNDREDS of them doing all sorts of fitness programmes every morning, thoughout Vietnam. I decided to grab a ped and leg it around the city. My friend took 30 seconds to go into ... read more

Currently the nicest place I think I have been since Luang Prabang. Really pretty city that has a huge french history, influence and feel to it. Bakerys all over the place selling fantastic food and coffee, a river running right through it with boats resting, bars all lit up each side of the river all selling happy hour drinks 24 hours and amazing street food for next to nothing. I had a dish called Koah Lao which cost me 60p and tasted like it should cost 60 quid. This food was from a street vender where we sat a foot away from the river in little seats and watched the world go by. Could not have asked for more, and yes I had a couple of local beers with it. This place did not have alot ... read more