Wet Footprints

Hello again everyone! It has been a while since we have blogged on here, but after our recent holiday to Vietnam we wanted to blog on here so people can read about our experience in a fairly "young" country, but one with a very famous history. We decided that we both wanted a holiday where we could get some sun, culture and somewhere Luce and I hadn't been before. When we looked at the places we could go due to the weather at the time of year we wanted to go it came down to a few places in Asia and Vietnam was the place that we hadn't visited on our travels round Asia. As this was a holiday and not an extended jaunt round we wanted to make sure that we didn't do too much ... read more

Blog 14 - Siem Reap and Angkor Wat After a few days on Koh Chang and our visa running out fast we headed for the Thailand/Cambodia border at Poipet from where we had arranged to take a bus up to Siem Reap in North West Cambodia, home to the magnificent Angkorian Temples of Angkor Wat. Poipet is very uneasy on the eyes, ears and nose, a dirty festering border town full of casinos and cheap hotels for those unfortunate enough to be stuck there after the border crossing has closed for the day. Luckily for us we arrived around midday and no intention of staying here for the night, so after about an hour of queuing in extreme heat and dust with our bags on our backs we finally made it over the border and into ... read more

So, after a quick stint on two of the many tropical islands that Thailand has to offer, we took a two and a half hour ferry from Koh Tao to Chumpon on the East coast of Thailand. Here we had an hours rest until we boarded the 8pm night bus to Bangkok. I (Lucy) was extremely happy as it meant that I was getting closer to the famous markets that everyone who has been there has been telling me about! The journey was not too bad at all, we had one stop at midnight at Hua Hin where there were approximately 50 odd other coaches doing the same thing, obviously a popular stopping place! Drifting in and out of sleep on the comfortable coach, we finally arrived in the outskirts of Bangkok with the driver kindly ... read more

After a 6 hour drive from the east coast of Malaysia we arrived in the bustling port city of Georgetown on Pulau Penang. We had decided in Kota Bharu that we would cross the Thai/Malay border in Penang as it seemed like a lovely place to see and a last bit of Malay culture before we started our time in Thailand. The border crossing is also much safer as there are still foreign office reports advising against crossing the border at Rantau Panjang. Penang, like most of Malaysia is a cultural mix of Chinese, Indian and Malaysian. Strolling through the various streets and markets it is very easy to lose track of where one culture ends and the next begins. As you wonder the streets your senses are assaulted by a HUGE array of smells and ... read more

After a hectic week or so in Kuta we decided that it was time for another slice of island life. There are not too many options around Bali itself and as we only have a week left in Indonesia we decided on the near by island of Nusa Lembongan, famous for its awesome surf breaks, all of which have very appealing names like ship wrecks and lacerations……. Needless to say we didn’t try our hands at surfing as it was well out of our league! Nusa Lembongan is also well known for its diving, with one dive site in particular being the most popular - Manta point! After reading this needless to say I (Andrew) was utterly convinced it was the place for us to spend a few days unwinding and maybe even fitting in a ... read more