http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/EmmaT/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from EmmaT en-us Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:50:33 +0000 Sat, 05 Dec 2009 13:50:33 +0000 So I have finally made it to the last place on my trip...what am I feeling Excited.. I can't wait to go home and see my friends and family....have warm showers ...eat cereal with fresh milk....drink from the tap without getting ecoli.... I arrived at the new Air Asia terminal in Jakarta which was lovely and shiny new. I was picked up by my friend Ferry who I was visiting the only reason I was http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Java/Jakarta/blog-434403.html Ok so this was the second to last stop of my travels and I was getting a bit sick of sight seeing so I spent my 2 weeks in Bali mainly relaxing on the beach or at the pool going out with friends and learning to surf. I didnrsquot leave the resort town of Kuta for the whole 2 weeks. It was great.I staying in the town of Kuta which is on the west coast of Bali and is definitely one of the most http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Bali/Kuta/blog-434129.html Met up with the German girls from the tour for a day trip to Singaporersquos Sentosa island a reclaimed island built in the 60rsquos. I think its Singaporersquos only decent beach as everyone advised us to visit it. We took the bottomless cable car across to the island. It was more expensive than the normal cable car by 1 and meant we didnrsquot have to queue. We sat on the manmade beac http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/Sentosa-Island/Siloso-Beach/blog-433599.html It was a good morning...a very good morning... the hotel not only had free breakfast..but they had baked beans on toast Something I hadn't had for a very long time. It was a very nice start to the day...Unfortunately I then had to check out of the lovely hotel and move to the cheaper hostel. The hotel was included in the tour I was on but now I was back to being on my own and the smaller budge http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/Raffles-Marina/blog-433358.html We left malaysia and crossed the border at the very posh crossing. We checked into our lovely Chinatown based hotel and the headed off for a walk towards the river. It was very similar to the London docklands area but cleaner. We sat on the river side and I had my first Starbucks.At 7pm we met the rest of the group for a lovely last dinner and a Durian tasting session which I still couldnrsquo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Singapore/Chinatown/blog-433353.html I awoke at about 7am after getting back at 5am to go and queue something brits do best for a ticket to go up the Petronas towers. It was a free ticket but I had to queue for about 2 hours for it. They assign you to a time slot for your visit we choose the last slot 6pm. There is only a limited amount of tickets assigned everyday. The shopping center below the towers was amazing. It was huge http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-433306.html We took a public bus to KL from the Cameron Highlands. It was the nicest public bus so far on my trip. The seats we huge they went very far back and there was AC.Our hotel The May Something was lovely and situated right near the main shopping street and central market. Lara and I went walking around town for the afternoon following the LP walking route. We didnrsquot make it very far before we http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-433302.html First we went up to the highest peak in the Cameron Highlands which was 6666feet high but it was so misty we couldnrsquot see anything. On the way down we went for our ldquojungle trekrdquo which was very short as it started to rain too much and the tour guide promptly guided us back to the jeep. We were then driven to the biggest tea processing factory and gift shop. The company is called http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Pahang/Cameron-Highlands/blog-433290.html We took the minivans up to the Cameron Highlands. This is in an area famous for tea and strawberries and they do great cream scones with jam. We arrived just in time for afternoon tea. We spent the afternoon looking around the small town and in the evening we met up for a steamboat dinner. This was very similar to the one I had in Vietnam a few weeks before. However there was a lot more food the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Pahang/Cameron-Highlands/blog-433287.html Thursday 30th We took 2 minibuses to Penang in Malaysia from Thailand crossing the border at the UK governments unrecommended places to visit but everything was fine and we didnt see any fighting. On the bus there the music was techno versions of all random songs including Mariah Carey it was really funny. Penang is an island on the east coast of Malaysia and to get there you have to cross th http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Penang/blog-433278.html Me and Lara took a long boat trip to the island we could see from the coast in Ao Nang. Itrsquos called Poda island. It was the most beautiful island I have ever been to in my life. There were only about 10 people on the whole island and we walked round from the main beach and we had the whole stretch of beach to ourselves We did some snorkeling and just relaxed on the beach for the whole day. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ao-Nang/blog-428851.html The whole group rented a speed boat for the day and went on a 5 island boat trip. It cost quite a bit 1000 baht but was really worth it as it was a great day. The motorboat went really fast and I found it quite scary as it was very bumpy. Firstly we stopped in open water for some snorkeling in the shallow reef area. It was amazing the water was perfectly clear and there we loads and loads of fi http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ao-Nang/blog-428848.html After a good sleep on the train we took a short bus ride to Ao Nang the beach resort in Krabi we were staying at. We checked into our hotel and I was paired with a nice girl called Lara which I didnrsquot mind as it was nice to have some company for once. That day we all went to the local beach for a walk and ended up getting massages on the beach. For only 1 pound I had an hour long thai styl http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/South-West-Thailand/Ao-Nang/blog-428838.html On the Saturday I met my new tour group whom I would travel with for the next two weeks from Bangkok to Singapore. 14 girls and 1 guy and I was the oldest in the group On the Sunday we had a full day of sightseeing ahead of us. Starting with a breakfast of noodles and hot dogs it was free so I'm not complaining. We took a short boat trip to visit 2 temples see photos and then walked to the re http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-425505.html Took the karaoke bus to Seam Reip to Bangkok. It was supposed to take 10 hours but luckily it only took about 8. We swapped to a minivan after the border and the roads were significantly better so we were able to drive a lot faster. There was a huge difference after crossing the border the Thai side is definitely a lot richer.We were dropped off at the end of Khao San Road in Bangkok the main t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-421949.html Warning this entry contains loads of photos.....I woke up at 430am to get to Angkor Wat for the sunrise. I had had an awful sleep as there were loads of mosi's in my room and I was bitten 15 times Was met by my tuktuk driver at 5am who was a man called Tina. After 20min drive we arrived at the ticket gate and had to pay the 20 dollar ticket price this is for a one day ticket I then was drop http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/North/blog-421942.html So it rained solid for 5 days while I was in Sihanoukville my clothes were constantly damp. Then on the last day the morning before I leave the weather clears and its lovely and sunnyOh well spent the day on the beach where I tried lobster for the first time. I was really sad to leave Sihanoukville I really had a great time there and will definitely go back again some time.I took the night bus http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Sihanoukville/blog-421720.html Spent the morning of my birthday chatting to friends and family over the internet. Had a lovely lunch at the Monkey Republic which was a cheese and bean toastie. In the evening they were having a circus themed party at the Monkey Republic. I dressed as a clown by buying a yellow rain jacket and drawing on a big bow and flower. It was a great evening some of the outfits were really good. Stuarts Es http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Sihanoukville/blog-421719.html Strolled along the beach in Sihanoukville but the weather wasnt great as you can see in the pictures. I rented a bicycle to cycle to the center and visit the market. I got soaked in the rain but managed to buy some fruit and lunch. I was late getting back to the Monkey Republic and had about 5mins to get changed before we went out to the Angkor Brewery. Stuart kindly let me tag along with him and http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Sihanoukville/blog-421715.html As my bus was leaving at 1pm I spent 10 whole dollars and rented a tuktuk for the morning to drive me around the sights in Phnom Penh to see as much as possible in the short time. I was the first person through the gates at the Royal Palace which had beautifully well kept gardens and golden buildingstemples. I visited one temple which had a solid silver floor and there were lots of small gold bu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Cambodia/South/Phnom-Penh/blog-421712.html