Dom and Rachael
Finishing university, settling down, getting a job and a mortgage, it all seems a little too fast for my liking! So in an effort to delay the inevitable the decision was made to simply disappear for a few months...to go and see the world!Dom Rach
The plan is to begin in the famous travellers haven, Thailand. We then head North and into Laos, travel down through Vietnam, across Cambodia before venturing South through Malaysia and home from Singapore. The schedule is tight at 52 days and no doubt we will have to bypass some of the sights, but you can't do everything!
We fly out on the 11th August for what will be the longest flight of my life, but we cannot wait!
Exciting times ahead!
If you wish to view our route it can be found here: http://www.travelblog.org/gmaps/map_7WQ.html
Also check out our great camping advice at Gone Camping UK
Travel Blog Posts
September 28th 2008
The plan for today was to do nothing! Unfortunately when we woke up it was a bit overcast although still quite warm. We got some breakfast and decided to play a few games on the beach. You coulkd tell the sun was trying to push through the clouds but it wasnt quite strong enough. Rachael stayed on the beach most of the day with an occasional break for a swim and I mixed up the day by sitting in the cool of the air conditioned room or up on the balcony reading my book. Later on in the day i headed out for a swim and swam round to the next bay, it felt good to be back in the water but was a little harder than i remember! Later on in the evening when we ... read more
September 27th 2008
Today we had decided to check out of Maya's and move to the larger island of Besar. After saying our goodbyes we hopped into the taxi boat and sped over to Abdhuls Chalets. Alot more expensive but we wanted to live out our last few beach days in style, with air con at night! The chalets were great and nice and quiet. There was even a fenced off section in the water to swim in. We checked in and headed for the pretty much private beach. Here we lazed all day with Rachael getting very brown indeed. When it cooled off Rachael walked around the headland and into the next bay before I followed and met her on her way back. Here we sat on the rocks and watched the horizon, beautiful. That evening we ate ... read more
Another lazy day in the Perhentians
Published: September 29th 2008Asia » Malaysia » Terengganu » Perhentian KecilSeptember 26th 2008
Today we had another lazy day on Longbeach topping up our tans. We also just had to sample a Mars and M+M milkshake! There was also a storm in the evening which was very strange. The wind got very strong, like something big was about to happen and the guesthouse owners ran around shutting everything up. It just seemed to blow over though and before we knew it we were sat in Amelias enjoying the amazing sunset the storm had left behind!... read more
Snorkelling in the Perhentians - Sharks!
Published: September 29th 2008Asia » Malaysia » Terengganu » Perhentian KecilSeptember 25th 2008
After a quick breakfast we met Matt, the brother of our guesthouse owner, for our snorkelling trip. He was going to take us to the best snorkelling sites on both islands for the whole day for only six pounds. We climbed into his fast boat and we were off, speeding through the clear waters to Shark Point. There were also two Americans and one Spanish lady joining us on this trip. We were to drop in the shallows around the rocky point before drifting with the current to deeper waters to be picked up. Just before Rachael climbed in Matt warned her to be very careful with any Sharks because they have been known to hurt people! Not the best thing to tell someone who was already unsure as to whether or not to enter the ... read more
September 24th 2008
Our first full day on the island and time to start living in swim wear! the electricity shuts off at 7.30am meaning our room fan turns off and by 8am we are awake because of the heat! We were going to walk to longbeach today so we packed up our beach essentials and headed into the jungle. Longbeach is on the opposite side of the island to coral bay so we had to walk up and through the jungle. The path is quite scary because the jungle is all around and all you can hear is faint rustling before a squirral or lizard, some very large, appear before you. The heat was sweltering but within 10mins we are at longbeach. A reasonable but by no means extensive stretch of sand lay before us with more guesthouses ... read more
Travel to the Perhentians
Published: September 29th 2008Asia » Malaysia » Terengganu » Perhentian KecilSeptember 23rd 2008
At 7.55am sharp we were at our pickup point ready to be transferred to Jeranut. The bus was already waiting for us but we had to wait until 8am for other guests. The trip to Jeranut took only 1.5 hours and was very uneventful and bumpy! At Jeranut we ate breakfast and then transferred to another bus that would take us halfway to Kuala Besut Jetty, our entry point to the Perhentians. This journey was horrible because no one could sleep due to the very bouncy suspension and lack of air con on such a hot day. We even had to stop for people to get off because they felt sick. Halfway or perhaps a little further we transferred to two minivans, bags in one and people in the other. Thankfully we now had air con ... read more
September 22nd 2008
Today would be our first full day exploring the oldest rainforest in the world and we were very excited. Promptly at 8am we were at the floating restaurant where we sat down to breakfast. Egg and toast was presented to us along with traditional iced tea, not exactly to rachael's liking, in fact Rachael has developed a strong disliking for egg ever since a 'don't talk about it again' incident back in Vietnam. anyway, 2 portions of egg later and i was ready to go. First on the agenda was a trek up the nearest mountain to a viewpoint near the top. In order to get into Taman Negara we used the river taxi service operated by the restaurant. As the boat drew close the wake wobbled the restaurant making it clear that we were in ... read more
Into the jungle! Taman Negara
Published: September 25th 2008Asia » Malaysia » Pahang » Taman Negara National ParkSeptember 21st 2008
Up early again to pack up our things and head to the hotel where we were going to be picked up to go to Taman Negara. We boarded a small coach just before 9 which took us to Jerantut. We had decided to go for the full board option and so we had some lunch at the tour office and sorted out our permits. After this we boarded another coach which took us to the boat in Kuala Tembeling. The boats we travelled in were 2 abreast and about 8 long. Dom and i managed to get the front seats whih at first appeared pretty lucky because we would get to see more. The 3 hour journey was very relaxing and the scenery of the jungle was pretty amazing. We saw a few monitor lizards and ... read more
September 20th 2008
We were up early this morning because we needed to get across town to the Petronas Twin towers to join the queue for tickets to the walkway between them. The quickest route across town was the sky train (a train system raised up above the roads) and Rachael had already planned a route to the nearest station. You pay for tickets as you would on the London Underground, except they are alot cheaper, perhaps 20p a journey. The trains themselves are well maintained because everybody uses them to get off the chaotic KL road system. They are also an excellent way to view the city from above street level. A few stops down the line and we arrived at KLCC (KL City Centre) and entered the huge shopping plaza that engulfs the bottom of the towers. ... read more
Travelling to Kuala Lumpur
Published: September 24th 2008Asia » Malaysia » Wilayah Persekutuan » Kuala LumpurSeptember 19th 2008
We had our flight booked to Kuala Lumpur today at 12.50pm through Air Asia, Malaysias budget airline. We had booked a taxi to the airport at half past ten which arrived promptly and we headed over to Krabi International Airport. The airport seemed quite reasonable compared to other small international airports and so we were eager to get through immigration and into the departure lounge shops and restaurants that surely awaited us. How wrong we were! There is nothing the other side of immigration, not even a cafe! For anyone travelling via Krabi please do not go through immigration until you are absolutely ready. We had had no lunch and were now sitting in a huge departure lounge with nothing but a water fountain dispensing paper cups that were litterally paper, the type that saturates when ... read more
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