San Pedro

I got into Phnom Pehn Sorya's bus station and shared a tuk-tuk with a Canadian guy who'd booked up at Hostel 88 just to the northwest of the Wat Phnom temple. It was another great hostel with another free pool table and outdoor pool, although this one was considerably warmer than the one in Siem Reap. It was 7USD a night. So far Cambodian hostels seem to be head and shoulders above those in other Southeast Asian countries. Phnom Pehn was hot... ball-sweatingly, T-shirt-disintegratingly hot and possibly the hottest place I've been to in my life so the aircon in the dorm and outdoor pool were lifesavers. Going outside at any point between 11am and 6pm was madness! I stayed for 6 nights which was longer than I wanted but I was forced to stick around ... read more

The border crossing was fine and I stayed in a hostel in Udon Thani just round the corner from the bus station meaning I could leave my room about 5 minutes before departure and stumble onto the bus without having to think too much. It was a VIP bus again only this was a proper VIP bus complete with toilet and breakfast, lunch and water included in the ticket. I arrived to Bangkok around 4 in the afternoon at the northern Mo Chit bus terminal from where I ignored the hoards of tuk-tuk / moto drivers vying for my attention and walked straight out of the station and over to the Chatuchak Park metro stop. It was a good-sized walk although I didn't help myself by getting a tad lost. I never would've tried it if ... read more

"The Gibbon Experience" will fall into the category of things I’ll probably remember forever. I got into Huay Xai around 5pm exhausted and hungry after my trip up from Chiang Mai and I knew that The Gibbon Experience office closed at 7pm so I spent no time messing around looking for a guest house and just headed for the first one at the top of the list in the guide book - Friendship Guest House - 70,000KIP (7 Euros) for a private room and access to the great view of the Mekong River from its rooftop terrace. I pretty much just threw my things down on the floor and went straight to the Animo Office - the tour group that organises The Gibbon Experience. There are two tours available - Classic or Waterfall and they set ... read more

It was a short five minute walk from Butterworth train station to the ferry and a quick ride across to the island of Penang where I jumped off and made my way to "Love Lane" - the hub of budget backpacker accommodation in Georgetown. Lonely Planet advocates taking the bus but this is surely for the only truly lazy traveller... ten minutes walking and I was there and checking into Reggae Guest House which had been recommended to me by a fella in KL. It was a nice sociable place with free internet and breakfast and a pool table downstairs and I stayed there 5 nights. Georgetown was a very comfortable place to stay for a while. It was easily navigable on foot and it was hard not to find something to like. Above all, the ... read more

Things did get better. Ubud turned out to be a great place to chill out for a while. I spent 4 days here leaving on the morning of the 14th for the Aussie-invaded beaches at Kuta and Legian. I really didn't do too much whilst in Ubud but to be fair doing nothing was what I had in mind right from the start following my escapades in Yogya and that bus journey over from Bromo. There was a real noticeable difference between this town and the rest of what I'd seen of Indonesia. Everything in Ubud is super polished and clearly geared towards better off tourists rather than poor struggling backpackers! Some restaurants were super high end and selling things that were pricey even by Western standards. I had to keep reminding myself I was in ... read more