Scott Coleman

CaptainScott

Scott Coleman

My travel addiction began in 2007 when I travelled through Australia, NZ and the USA. in 2009 I spent 3 months diving throughout Indonesia from Pulau Weh on the tip of Sumatra all the way across to the far East of Flores. After completing my degree in 2010 I spent 3 months travelling the Philippines and Malaysian Borneo - this is when I began blogging!

So you can read of my adventures from 2010 onwards. Since then I have been back on a couple of trips on my annual leave from work and then most recently I stopped kidding myself and moved from the UK to Kuala Lumpur, where I am now based. Since this move I have done a lot of travelling around Asia and plan to continue :-)

I try to make my blogs on here a mix of helpful advice and personal reviews of my experiences. If you would like to read my other travel blog which is just as thrilling I promise, the link is below:

https://findingasia.wordpress.com/

This is a more focused blog full of advice for the more discerning backpackers out there. I hope you enjoy and thanks for reading!

Chiangers!!

Asia » Thailand » North-West Thailand » Chiang Mai April 3rd 2016

Cheeky Elephant

CaptainScott

I have wanted to visit Chiang Mai for quite some time now. I am unsure where my curiosity came from but there is something about the place in Northern Thailand that has intrigued me ever since I read about it back in 2009. We had booked a 5 day stay on the Ping river, just outside of the old town and after dropping our bags and settling in, we ventured straight back in to attack the famous Sunday market. Of course we had planned to arrive here on a Sunday… We arrived at one of the gates to the old town, surrounded by an ancient wall and moat. Along a long straight road was the most colourful and vibrant market set up I have every seen. We dipped straight into a local Thai restaurant to gather ... read more

Peeeeeenang with a bang

Asia » Malaysia » Penang » George Town January 30th 2016

My Fave

CaptainScott

1.5 years in Kuala Lumpur and I still hadnt been to Penang. Most people found this offensive, so I finally found a nice long weekend that would allow me to visit this historic island. 5o minutes on a plane and we touched down on the unexpectadly rugged island of Penang. There a few accommodation options, depending on what you’re after. Most people opt to stay in the oldest corner of the island; Georgetown. As did we. Famous for it’s maze of streets and alley ways, the place has more recently attracted attention for its street art and I was excited to wonder. And wonder we did! The place is made for this pasttime and it is what you will see most of the tourists doing around town. A lot of the action is centred around the ... read more

Are you game for Arugam?

Asia » Sri Lanka » Eastern Province » Arugam Bay July 23rd 2015

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CaptainScott

From the ancient beauty of the central highlands to the rugged coastal bay of Arugam! A surfers paradise and a travellers refuge, this place was our first stop on our tour up the East coast. As a beginner surfer, I came here for the mellow left breaks that the bay is famous for and that landed me in a surf camp just outside of the main strip of Arugam on a derelict beach south of the main bay. On first inspection, Arugam town itself seemed well developed, with plenty of cool restaurants, accommodation, surf shops, clothes shops and more. On my second day here I went for a full walk of the town and my first inspection synopsis was correct! There are loads of options for food, no matter what your budget. I saw signs for ... read more

Safari in Sri Lanka!

Asia » Sri Lanka » Sabaragamuwa Province » Udawalawae NP July 19th 2015

Trunktastic!

CaptainScott

Uda Walawe National Park - what a little gem!! We were determined to do a safari during our time in Sri Lanka and we chose this national park out of all the options because we had heard it was the most similar to its African counterparts. We were not disappointed! There a couple of options to arrange a safari at this national park. Firstly, you can arrange accommodation in one of the surrounding camps that surround the park. There is no accommodation in the park itself but there are plenty of options in the vicinity of the park. They are quite expensive, I could not find a budget option during my search so I think you have to throw a bit of cash at this. The camps will have their own safari vehicles and will take ... read more

Ella, Ella, Eh, Eh, Eh Under my Umbr Ella, Ella...

Asia » Sri Lanka » Central Province » Ella July 16th 2015

Ella Gap

CaptainScott

I could not stop singing Rihanna’s song whilst we were in Ella - hence the name of this blog. Apologies. We thought the train from Colombo to Hatton was pretty - the train journey from Hatton to Ella was unforgettable. It was a 4 hour journey that I spent with my head permanently hanging out of the window, staring at the stunning Sri Lankan hill country. We were on the left side of the 2nd class cabin and I would say the views are better from this side. We arrived in Ella and were met at the train station by a frenzy of tuk tuk drivers and guesthouse promoters. Most people come out of the station and turn left to head into "town" where most of the accommodation is located, but these offer none of the ... read more

Conquering Adam's Peak!

Asia » Sri Lanka » Central Province » Hatton July 12th 2015

First and Last we saw of Adams Peak

CaptainScott

After a quick 1 night stop in Colombo, we boarded the early 5:50am train from Colombo Fort station to Badulla, with the intention of jumping off at Hatton (literally jumping). The train journey was amazing, even though it is meant to be a 'less beautiful' part of the line. We booked a 1st class seat, but this was not needed - 2nd class is just the same but has no aircon. A nice local man informed us we were coming into Hatton, we would have missed it otherwise, so we grabbed our stuff and jumped the 1metre down to the platform whilst the train was still edging along. It is still a 1 hour ride from Hatton to our final destination; Dalhousie or Delhouse as we saw it spelt locally. You can wait around for a ... read more

Stunning Redang!

Asia » Malaysia » Terengganu » Pulau Redang April 1st 2015

DSC_0703

CaptainScott

I had never heard of Redang Island before moving to Malaysia, which was a good thing in my mind! Many of my new friends here who have already visited the island speak highly of it and so I booked a week here as soon as I could. It did not disappoint but there were a few things to note about the place that I think are worth explaining for my fellow travellers. We flew to Kota Baru and took a 15 minute bus ride to the port. We were ushered to our resorts counter and then issued our tickets. First thing to note here is that we found it very difficult to find accommodation on the island that wasn’t on a resort or part of a package deal. I had been told about this by some ... read more

Lankers

Asia » Malaysia March 24th 2015

Pantai Cenang

CaptainScott

Ahhhh Langkawi. What a delightful little place to have so conveniently placed near to my new home in Kuala Lumpur. It is a very popular holiday destination for residents of peninsular Malaysia and especially Kuala Lumpur. This is because there are many cheap flights operated daily and the island has a lot to offer. I have lived in KL for 6 months and have already been twice so I hope this makes me well qualified to write a decent blog! KLIA2 is AirAsia’s brand new airport in KL and it really does improve the travelling experience. We arrived at the airport 1 hour before our scheduled departure. Cleared customs and made it to our gate in record time and were taking off before we knew it, on both occasions! After landing at Langkawi airport it was ... read more

Lipe Love

Asia » Thailand » South-West Thailand » Ko Lipe October 18th 2014

SAM_0634

CaptainScott

After an 8 hour bus ride from Kuala Lumpur, we disembarked in Hat Yai and made our way to Cathay Guesthouse to catch our minibus to the port town of Pak Bara. We were cutting it fine but we got to Cathay half an hour before the minibus arrived and 2 hours later we were standing on the pier in Pak Bara waiting to be called onto our boat. The guidebooks say the crossing to Koh Lipe lasts 2 hours so I couldn’t help but study the ocean to see what sort of ride we would be experiencing. The boat had 4 large engines and was streamlined like a speed boat so I was assuming quite a fast smooth ride and I was right! After a relatively painless 1 and a half hour boat ride we ... read more

Ghost of Malacca

Asia » Malaysia » Melaka October 13th 2014

Merdeka Hari remnants

CaptainScott

You can’t help but get a feeling of what used to be in Melaka. It was such an important port for the whole of South East Asia and played a huge roll in the development of this region but now all of that seems to be dead. This change is even evident in the name of the town as nobody seems to use the original spelling anymore. In honour of the great colonial port it once was, I will use the original spelling that the locals still use - Malacca. We took the bus from the TBS terminal in Kuala Lumpur to Malacca at 5:45pm on a Friday evening. We hadn’t booked this and there were many buses doing this route so I would not worry about pre-booking. The bus terminal has just been renovated and ... read more

Joined	April 16th 2009	Trips	2
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