Malaysia; Truly Asia

Malaysia is immediately a very different country to those we have previously visited. The multicultural society here is very obvious with malay, chinese and indian people rubbing shoulders at every corner. This mixture of cultures and how well it works is refreshing. Food is the one thing that stands out in malaysia, with a huge mix of smells and tastes on every street there is no chance of ever going hungry here. Although ironically it has been Ramadhan while we were here so a lot of stuff is closed during the day and of course people are very hungry..
The country itself is also extremely diverse. While here we have been to Penang (a food paradise). Then the perhentian island (literally paradise) where we went snorkelling and saw sharks, rays and giant turtles. From here we went through a very islamic town Kota Bharu and took the jungle train to Taman Negara, one of the worlds oldest rain forests. We did our own tailor made (easy) jungle trek and did the canopy walk. The Malaysia tourism board posters that are everywhere inspired us to do this.
We needed a city fix after getting covered in mud and sweating more than is believable, so headed to Kuala Lumpur (KL). There is a rollercoaster in one of the many shopping centres here. Ofcourse we had to visit the petronas towers as well.
Next up was the Cameron highlands, a very green and VERY cold area of tea plantations and strawberry farms. A long days walking came with the rewards of "tea Tarik " and strawberry cheesecake. Delicious.
So there was just one place left to go before returning to KL for malaysian independence day, this was Melaka. Both of us really enjoyed it here. The mixture of colonial architecture and old chinese houses was really charming. The busy night market was great too with drunk chinese dance groups spilling out on to the street at random intervals. By now we felt like we had seen everything Malaysia had to offer so decided to head back to KL for our last few days before heading in to Singapore.
photos of Malaysia

Southern Thailand

Thailand; Koh Phi Phi

Arriving back in Bangkok was surprisingly comforting. Knowing a place even a little bit makes it feel a bit more homely. Alice's friend Emily was in town so we met up to go to the weekend market. Chatuchak  market is huge, supposedly asias biggest (ofcourse alice needed new clothes).. Before heading to the beaches we decided to go see Harry potter at the cinema. Standing for the national anthem at the beginning was quite strange.
Next stop koh Tao, where less than an hour in being on the island we bumped in to Hannah someone we knew from home. We actually did very little in koh Tao, merely moving between the bungalow, beach and bar. Our holiday from our holiday.
With Emily and Hannah we headed to Koh Phi phi for more drinking,  eating and sleeping. We watched Emily do the fire show every night and Alice even had a go ( although she was a bit scared).
Malaysia here we come.

Thailand Photos

Vietnam

Halong bay

Due to meeting so many people, drinking too much and generally having too much fun in Vietnam this blog entry is a tad late.
We started Vietnam in the Mekong Delta, where we decided to do a tour. This was a cheap option that took us through chau doc, can tho and ben tre. The tour itself was a bit cheesy. The way that life is lived on the water there is facinating, the floating markets in particular impressed us.
From here we went on in to saigon, a crazy city with as many motorbikes as people. After a brief stint in the city it was time to hit the beach.
Mui ne was our next stop and we arrived in the rain. The beach wasnt much to look at but we had a great day out exploring the surrounding area and the amazing sand dunes.
After a scary bus ride we were in nha trang with some new friends in tow. Nha trang has a bad press as there are a lot of stories of prostitutes robbing drunk men. We actually really enjoyed it, the beach was beautiful and there was great local food. The best day here had to be our big kids day out at the vinpearl land waterpark situated on an island.
Hoi'an has be our favourite place so far on the trip. The beaches are stunning, the town is charming and the beer costs about 10 pence a glass. What more could we ask for (oh yeh amazing food). There was a group of about ten people we would eat and drink with every night here, so it was a shame when the group had to go there seperate ways.
A couple of nights in Hue and off to halong bay. In true Vietnam style the views were amazing and the people great but the tour was ofcourse terribly run.
Another winner in Vietnam was Sapa. A cool town high in the mountains surrounded by minority villages. Our first experience of these people was a very old (very drunk) h'mong lady force feeding me rice wine at 9am. Our days trekking with a local tribe woman was amazing and the views unlike anything we had ever seen.
Hanoi was our final stop. Despite the delicious cheap street food (pho or noodle soup) it is a hard city to love. Everyone is trying to rip you off and the traffic is actually insane. But then this is what vietnam is all about so what can you do but embrace it.


Vietnam Photos