Aaron & Nika's travelling blog

We are both very lucky to be taking a career break for the next 4 months and thought we would keep you informed of our travels here. The current plan is to travel across China, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand!

[aaronandnikasadventure]

How do you pick a favourite moment out of 120 odd days!? I think this was mine, watching the nightly phenomenon of bats flying out of their cave into the sunset 🦇 #fbf #cambodia #bats #sunset #backpacking #travelphotography #takemeback (at Battambang) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnInPkohmsV/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1mli50ge3k05

[aaronandnikasadventure]

Thailand: Bangkok, Petchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Koh Tao, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui

So carrying on from the end of our Laos blog we finally arrived to Bangkok in the dead of night and after what seemed like the world’s longest journey ever we eventually arrived at our hotel. Unfortunately despite it being 3am there some Thai girls also staying there thought they would also have a giggling fit in the corridor just outside our door. Despite a 3am bedtime they then proceeded to wake up at 6am and apply their makeup, once again...giggling, in the corridor. At this point Nika arose, a fire in her eyes I’d never witnessed before, proceeded to throw open the door, unleash her fury upon the girls who looked upon the pyjama-wearing apparition in pure horror. Needless to say we heard no further noise.

Aaron

Petchaburi:

Upon waking, very very sleep deprived, we decided we needed to get out of Bangkok as soon as possible and opted to take the train to our next destination. Having had generally positive experiences with trains so far on our trip we thought the 4 hour countryside ride down from Bangkok would be a lovely addition to our adventure. When we arrived at the train station we were quite surprised - we had never seen a higher concentration of drug addicts in our lives. After an elderly, high Thai man tried dancing (or attacking...we are still not sure) with Nika we thought it would be safer to take our seats on the train early rather than hang around the station. Immediately as we took our (broken) seat on the train I saw Nika trying to identify the pungent, putrid smell in our cabin. Although a smell clearly unfamiliar to her it is one identifiable to any doctor in an instant: an infected ulcerated limb...At this point Nika began to look quite queasy and we quickly exited the cabin opting for the platform as our safest bet. As I turned to smile at the monk in his orange robes adjacent to me he looked back with a missing eye, a body so tattooed that I couldn’t make out any non-inked skin from head to toe, and then kindly blew his cigarette smoke at me with a grin. Despite his non-traditional monk appearance we decided he was our safest ally and I thus proceeded to shower him with loving smiles in the hope that he would protect us or in the very least pray for our safety. Nika took such a fancy to our unlikely friend that she decided to sit next to him rather than in the pungent area of our original cabin. She looked a little embarrassed when she was given many a disapproving look trying to sit down in the monk only section 😂

Despite hoping the monk would be our saviour we ended up being the ones to provide some divine interference to an elderly Thai woman who was close to being escorted off the train. A long discussion had been buzzing away between the guard and woman behind me at which point I discovered a train ticket on my shoe. Obviously worried that Nika had dropped her ticket I picked it up discovering that it belonged to the seat behind me. I realised that this must be the lady’s ticket and the racket behind me was likely secondary to her losing it and the guard not being best pleased. As I produced the ticket to the woman she almost danced with happiness and showered Nika and I with approximately 30 minutes of compliments (I hope?!) in Thai. Ten minutes later out of nowhere we find two sweet-corns 🌽 🌽 in our laps and as she wouldn’t take no for an answer we started to happily enjoy them, which she joyfully played spectator too until the very last mouthful.

Things didn’t pick up on arriving to Petchaburi, a city we picked completely on a whim. Upon stepping out of the train we saw nothing except a road. Having read that this town was a Thai hot spot and many of the old kings’ favourite holiday areas (the kings having built 2 separate palaces here over their time) we were shocked to see not even a single Tuktuk waiting. This was probably the time we most wanted a taxi in our lives as the temperature was scorching and our bags felt heavier than ever under the blazing sun..we also had a 3 km walk to our hotel to face. Well we had nothing to do but suck it up and off we walked. I won’t lie I started to give up all hope, especially as all the home owners had trained their rabid dogs to attack anyone walking past their gates 🐕. So walking in the middle of the road, fearing for our lives, we began to wonder what on earth we were doing here?!

Our logic for visiting a couple of towns along the upper gulf region before hitting up the three main islands was to see a little of a more ‘real’ Thai living. Expecting that the islands would be very, very touristy we thought it would be nice to see something a little different of Thailand. Fortunately things did pick up in Petchaburi, our guesthouse was spectacular and the following morning we jumped on two bikes provided by the guesthouse and set off on a journey to hit up the main sites. First on our agenda was the famous royal palace situated on a mountain in the centre of the town, known to have some splendid views. We had done our reading and knew there were two ways up to the top: 1. Walk but all reviews came with significant warnings of monkey attacks 2. Get a monorail up to the top, warnings still applied just less severely. Obviously we chose number 2 but immediately upon boarding the monorail monkeys commenced jumping on its roof and circling it from every side. I’ve never felt more vulnerable in my life 😫. As we exited at the top there were signs literally every 1 metre: ‘⚠️ dangerous monkeys, we take no responsibility for any attacks, beware 🐒🚑 ‘

Fast forward 10 minutes, Nika and I were sat on the monorail descending the mountain with big sticks in our hands - much to the amusement of the staff members. Having utterly failed at being tourists we jumped back on our bikes and headed to the second royal palace. I felt much safer as we had passed through the army base security, where the palace is situated, clearly the army wouldn’t put up with no terrorising monkeys. This palace was far more to our taste. The king at the time had loved German architecture and so hired a German architecture to build his summer palace. Needless to say the place was stunning and incredibly interesting to see - especially as we had the entire palace to ourselves. It was a little scary when I thought I’d press the buttons on the king’s toilet as a joke and it started rumbling - we made our exit rapidly at this point...The remainder of our time in Petchaburi was spent riding around on our bikes before an afternoon mini-bus journey to the next random town on our list.

Prachuap Khiri Khan:

We had picked this destination as lonely planet described it as the next biggest thing in Thailand as people start to move away from the islands in search of some more authenticity to Thailand. The beaches were described as having impeccable views and the town being the perfect mix of having stuff to do but not overwhelming - both of which were true. When we arrived at the bus station, a casual 5km out of town?! Once again we were welcomed with no taxis, no buses and a group of staff members reluctant to offer any help at all. We decided once again to walk but felt pretty despondent at the idea of a 5 km trek in the sunshine. Just as our hopes dwindled and our hearts sank we spotted a tuktuk in the distance and we both started to wave frantically. A Thai woman was at the wheel and an elderly Scottish man sat in the seating area. Jumping aboard we were welcomed by the two friendliest people on earth chatting away about their local life and town. It took me almost to the very end of the journey to realise that they weren’t a taxi driver-passenger combo but actually a lovely husband and wife who had picked up two ragged, depressed looking tourists and drove them to their hotel 5 km away free-of-charge! Refreshed and with a new faith in humanity we bought 2 beers and made our way to the beach promenade to enjoy a peaceful drink at sunset. Unfortunately the peaceful relaxation came to an abrupt end at the point where the world’s biggest bumble bee 🐝 flew straight into Nika’s face almost knocking her straight over. As punishment for the laughing fit that then followed - it was time to go home!

We spent 2 and a half days in total at Prachuap with the majority of our time spent walking along their promenade, sunbathing on their beach or eating and drinking at the delicious Thai restaurants on the beach. Interestingly the best beach in town is located inside of an army base so to get access you have to show your passport and then cycle through a crazy base which is situated on a beautiful hill/jungle/seaside area until you reach the beach. At one point you literally ride through a military airplane runway! On our last day we decided to set off on a long bike ride along the sea front. As it appears the theme of this blog entry is animal attacks, for the second time in Thailand we were once again greeted by some very unfriendly monkeys on this ride. If my fear of monkeys hadn’t reached its max after Petchaburi we now had to face ‘monkey mountain’ on our bikes. All of a sudden out of literally nowhere there is a hill along the seaside road which is overrun by monkeys; there are so many that they spill out onto the road blocking the way of any car or bike making their way through. If you think they go fast in the tour-de-France you should have seen Nika and I speeding past monkey mountain 🚵‍♀️🚴🏽‍♀️!

Nika

The islands

Throughout our travels we've felt like two shipwrecked passengers who dream continuously of placing their feet on land...but instead we dreamt of diving into the sea. You'll notice we found any chance along the way to do this even in the most unlikely of places (Hong Kong?!) so you can only imagine how we anticipated the culmination of our trip and the lure that Thailand's islands offered! Aaron almost reduced himself to tears in Petchaburi when in a moment of despair (brought on by lack of Tuktuks) he proclaimed we should have just gone straight to the islands 😆

Koh Tao:

This was the smallest of the islands in the area so we thought we'd come here first and ease ourselves in. It was so small you could pretty much walk from end to end in one hour (which we did one day, much to the shock of every other visitor on the island as everyone hires motorbikes - it's like people had forgotten walking was an option!?) We quickly realised that people choose to hire motorbikes because it's far cheaper than engaging with the taxi mafia. When we got off the ferry with our bags we figured we'd make our lives easier and get a taxi 2 km up the road (because taxis existed here!) However £10 was the fixed price - £10! You wouldn't have to pay that in central London. So we put on a brave face and walked proudly on! Anyway all was worth it and we didn't let it taint the trip. Our beach was beautiful although a bit shallow for our liking, we could only ever get to knee-height!

There was a very young party scene which was a bit reminiscent of fresher's week so we managed to steer clear and content ourselves with a delicious duck restaurant and beers on the beach most evenings. Although on the night of the England semis match we had to stay up until 1am for kick off so we engaged in all sorts of revelry including but not limited to: glow in the dark body painting, fire limbo and cabaret performances💃🏼! You may have put money on our having crawled back to bed before the match even started but we sobered up and miserably watched England get kicked out 😫

Koh Phangan:

If you can figure out how to pronounce what's written above you may recognise it as the island brought to fame with its "full moon parties". One night a month an all night beach party occurs, accommodation prices are trebled and hotels charge the earth for deposits...suffice to say we didn't go for the full moon party! As a result we arrived to a bit of a ghost town but with a beautiful resort and 3 pristine bays who could complain? Well we complained a bit mainly because we got stuck with a rainstorm for two solid days and had to find our consolation in hummus and chicken schnitzel sandwiches (bizarrely enough this island had a strong Israeli influence!) When the weather cleared up we finally had some beach time, only to find the storm had brought with it hundreds of tiny jellyfish that gave mini-stings! Aaron somehow got very well acquainted with one of these caught in his swimming trunks..ouch! It was time to get the emergency vinegar stash out of his medicine kit...thankfully he thought better of spraying vinegar down his pants in public 😅 Enough said, it was time to move on...

Koh Samui:

This was the biggest of the 3 islands and we had our best weather here, ensuring that we'd both come back looking like roasted chestnuts 🌰😊.

We stopped in the sweet little town of Maenam - where we discovered long stretches of golden sand, deep turquoise waters and..coconut jam!! Our guesthouse made fresh coconut jam from the trees in their garden and we've never tasted anything like it! It was all perfectly idyllic until we had the idea of splitting our time and trying another town in the south of the island. This turned out to be a bit of a mistake..overpriced, overrun with Russian tourists and with an odd vibe overall. Not having much going for it in the evenings, people would actually queue up to watch child boxing!!?!! Not our cup of tea to say the least! Maybe this was divine providence acting to help ease the blow of going home!! Unless our pitstop in Bangkok wins us over hmmm...

Aaron:

Bangkok

So our return to Bangkok couldn’t really have gone any worse. A delayed flight resulted in many many hours waiting in the airport. When we finally arrived at Bangkok our onwards transport plans almost immediately fell apart when we realised there were no metro stations actually situated in the airport itself. What resulted was an unbelievably long journey using every known transport system in the world - finally arriving absolutely shattered to our hotel after a 14 hour travelling day. Having only one day in Bangkok to make up for all our bad experiences with it we thought what better way to start the day than with a lovely breakfast. Having picked a well recommended place we planned our journey there meticulously to avoid any other transport mishaps. Needless to say things once again didn’t go to plan: the bus station didn’t exist, we got in a taxi who basically told us it was too difficult and too much traffic to even bother going any further, getting off the taxi we sought help at the transport information desk who when asked how to get to the grand palace (pretty much the no 1 tourist spot in Bangkok) we were told ‘get a bus’ after which they were unable to elaborate any further like what bus?!?....Desperate as-can-be we scrapped the nice breakfast plan and seeing a McDonald’s in the distance we resigned ourselves to just having a quick coffee and McMuffin, guess what, first ever McDonald’s to be closed until 10:30am 😡😡

Finally getting to the main tourism area of Bangkok we were pretty underwhelmed. We had only ever heard how much people loved Bangkok and therefore had very high hopes which were unfortunately not met. We can’t really work out what peoples’ attractions to the city are, maybe it just wasn’t the city for us, but all we saw from Bangkok was that it is very polluted, very dirty, very smelly, very disorganised and generally not that friendly. Finding ourselves at a bit of a loss with what to do with ourselves we went on a huge walk through pretty much all the famous major regions of Bangkok and it was actually Chinatown which seemed to have the most charm!

Fortunately our trip didn’t end in disaster however as I had a little trick up my sleeve: a Mexican restaurant I’d looked up! The place made us leave our hectic day straight behind us as we drank our beers, devoured our guacamole and reminisced on our trip. All the twists, turns, ups, downs made for a trip more memorable than we could have ever dreamed. The main thing we’ve taken away from our trip is how much you can do in such a relatively short period of time. We’ve seen, learnt and experienced so much in 4 months that it’s felt like over a year’s worth of stuff. It’s easy to waste away the free hours you get in a day when experiencing the daily grind but we will certainly be making a conscious effort to go on a walk, jump on a bike or climb a hill next time we find ourselves mindlessly watching tv 📺 / 📱scrolling our social media sites... 🚴🏽‍♀️🧗🏼‍♂️ 🏃‍♀️

Until next time...👋🏽✈️

[aaronandnikasadventure]

Thailand: Bangkok, Petchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Koh Tao, Koh Phangan & Koh Samui contd 1

[aaronandnikasadventure]

Thailand: Bangkok, Petchaburi, Prachuap Khiri Khan, Koh Tao, Koh Phangan & Koh Samui contd 2

[aaronandnikasadventure]

Laos

So although it was never remotely on our agenda - we couldn't resist, I mean it was just across the border...so we fit in a quick pittstop in Laos! On our travels people seemed to talk most highly of this South East Asian nation so we wanted to know what it was all about.

Nika

Luang Prabang:

We took a flight into Laos' northern region and were met with thick forests and hillsides that stretched on as far as the eye could see - we were so taken aback with how green it was. On entering town we were surprised again - a clean, chic haven when compared to the dusty roadsides of Siem Reap! It turns out much of the town's French colonial style buildings were protected by UNESCO which explained the impeccable up-keep. The frangipan-lined streets and their charming villas had me, it was easy to see why the classy French tourists were flocking here (that's the only language we heard while we were there!) The Laos people themselves seemed happy and laidback which fit in with what we had read about the Laos mentality of avoiding stress at all costs (we could do with some of that back home!) It was even evident in the atmosphere of the night-market we had to pass through on our route home every evening - if you've been to this part of Asia you might be thinking what a pain to be constantly harassed with 'buy somethingggg?' 'Lady want pantttt?' (You've got to put on the accent too!) but no, not here, not this market - things were different - you could stroll right through without anyone saying anything to you - they really didn't mind whether you did or didn't buy somethinggg! Stress-free living!

The town still had a strong Buddhist touch to it and we explored unique temples with their own style of mosaic, we also stumbled across some very guilty looking young monks who had been enjoying a cheeky cigarette around the back of a temple!! Intrigued by these pious monks, one morning we attempted to get up at 5am for the alms-giving ceremony, where the orange-clad gang parade the streets and are given offerings of food for their day by locals hoping to receive some good karma in return. 5am? You're thinking no chance - they slept in, well you'd be wrong there we actually got up, got changed and were ready to roll until we saw the battering rain. At this point we wordlessly went back upstairs, into pyjamas and slept again until a more earthly hour! We did make it our mission to undertake a final holy challenge though - to climb atop their sacred Mount Phusi where a temple and many a golden Buddha sit looking over the two rivers that wrap around this city the mighty Mekong and the Nam Khan. Hiking boots were once more out from the bottom of our bags and we braced ourselves for what we had read was to be an arduous ascent. 20 minutes later, more than a little confused, we were at the top...Either we have now developed the speed and stamina of a pair of Swiss mountain climbers or people on trip-advisor were exaggerating a lot.. I'd like to think the former 😉

A ride out of town took us to some beautiful, aquamarine coloured waterfalls - which you could swim in! Aaron took it one step further and found himself a spot to sit and have a free, natural fish spa - yes the little fish in the pools rather enjoyed the chance to work away at his feet which have seen quite the battering over these last few months of walking!!👣 🐟 We eventually dragged ourselves away from the nature to do a bit of cultural learning. We went to a museum detailing the ethnic make-up of Laos - and had some good fun trying on some hill tribe gear (we've been good sports and added in some photos for you to laugh at us!) We also went to an after-school drop in to talk to local kids who want to practice their English - interestingly some of the kids had come from far and wide for this chance - so we really felt like it was 2 hours well spent. I felt quite humbled when I was complimenting one of the boys' English asking whether he's improved it by watching English speaking news/programmes/movies and he proceeded to tell me that's not possible as his village has no electricity. It made me realise we were only going to see the tip of the iceberg in Laos because these towns were hardly representative of the countryside. Crossing over the river to the village on the opposite side of Luang Prabang was contrast enough, the villas were replaced with wooden shacks and the paved streets were instead muddy, dirt roads and rather than preened children playing on iPhones we saw mismatched, grubby kids idling their time away in the jungle - it was a bit of a lottery, which side of the river would you rather be born on? We decided to do another sobering trip to learn about the impact of the Vietnam war here...understanding more and more that this should've been called the 'South East Asian war'. As Aaron mentioned in the last blog, Laos was the most heavily bombed country and unexploded mines (UXO) continue to prove an ongoing problem. On a wider scale, it makes their progress in daily life very difficult - for building new roads, new homes, for farmers tilling the land - it's a long process to find out if an area is safe. Sometimes the benefits outweigh the risks and locals actively seek out the bombs for their metal which can be sold to provide a decent income. 40 years on from this secret war they estimate at least one casualty a day still occurs 😔

Aaron

Vang Vieng:

So from Luang Prabang we boarded our cramped minivan and set off for Vang Vieng. Now Vang Vieng is historically notorious on the SE Asia backpacking trail as it was once one of the craziest places to party along with the likes of the full moon party etc. The main draw was and still is tubing on inflatable hoops down the vast river where you will be pulled into numerous bars along the way finally reaching the end many hours later. Back in the day there were endless bars and everyone would get high-as-a-kite and well obviously if you put 1000s of young backpackers, high and drunk on a running river in tubes what’s going to happen...multiple deaths of course...Anyway eventually, secondary to western pressures, Laos reined in the craziness of Vang Vieng. Only 2-3 bars at a time were allowed to be open along the river, drugs were cracked down on and Laos set about making Vang Vieng about family fun and adventure seeking...

We deliberated for a while whether to pick Vang Vieng on our mini Laos trip, but much like when we picked Nha Trang in Vietnam, we thought no matter what, the nature is said to be spectacular so that’ll always make up for any other downfalls. Also it helped that it was very conveniently placed on our route to the capital from Luang Prabang!

The bus journey itself was quite a little adventure there as it shot at lighting speed along narrow mountains roads that at some points seized to be a road at all converting into a rubble pile or a river... A young English couple sat to the left of us spent the journey panicking, praying and repeatedly expressing their hatred for all things South East Asian... to top this off at one point our van was stopped by the military and as we all stood round eagerly awaiting the reason why, we heard a massive explosion go off in the far distance and smoke rising from the top of the mountain - I presume a controlled detonation of a bomb after our UXO lessons (see above). Needless to say the English girl couldn’t handle this turn of events and upon discovering I was a doctor subsequently latched herself onto me....much to my dismay. Not really sure what she thought I’d do in the face of a bomb anyways?!?

When we got to Vang Vieng two things were immediately clear: 1. It was indeed picturesque as-can-be 2. It was still a backpacker's party paradise. As we checked into our hostel called the ‘army barracks’ with camouflaged bedding we were a little apprehensive as to what would await us over the next few days but were ready to roll with the punches (the army vibes must have had an effect 😜). As the town was ready to party we thought on our first night we’d join in the fun and made our way to a bar where they served free drinks for an hour. As we arrived we were a little surprised to see teenage Koreans sat around on their mobiles and fretted whether we had missed the memo and the backpacking crowd had gone elsewhere...Being judgemental n all we didn’t expect the Koreans to party too hard given that they were all glued to their phones so we decided we'd make make the most of our free drinks and then bail. Suddenly at around 9.30pm the DJ threw out the first Korean song of the night and in a lightning flash all mobiles were dropped and the Koreans were mounting the tables and throwing out some serious moves. It turns out the Koreans were ready to party like it was their last day on earth! At this point we learnt that the only other people visiting Vang Vieng, apart from the backpackers, are Koreans who stay in flash 5 star hotels on the river front, spend their day driving quad bikes around the town or staring in delight at the tubing backpackers and then in the evening swarm to one club to go mental!

The next morning still feeling the buzz of our party antics we signed up to join the tubing fun in the afternoon and took the morning easy. As soon as we hopped on the river ready for our ride we were anticlimactically pulled into the first bar situated about 1 metre down the river from the starting point! On the whole, the tubing experience was far more enjoyable than we had anticipated with the 3 bars all having their own vibe with the first place all about the games to get the 30 or so group of people chatting and mixing. The second bar was like a Latino party (great music!) in the jungle where everyone danced like crazy and the third bar the place where all the paralytic drunks made their way home or lay in a bush whilst the rest of us carried on dancing and winding down. Interspersed between this all was an exhilarating ride down the river with some rapids and then some slow patches of water where you could take a peaceful interlude and lay-back to admire the incredible mountains and jungle surrounding you. I think we much preferred the contained and more good-natured fun of modern day tubing in comparison to how it used to be. Also there’s just something so much more enjoyable about a party with a smaller group of people in a surreal setting as it just makes everyone so much more willing to have a good time and drop the negativity you tend to find in clubs back home.

The next day, after one or two coffees, we decided to walk to one of the many caves around Vang Vieng. The cave was surprisingly big and impressive but the highlight was the blue lagoon at its bottom. Strangely it seemed only locals visited this spot, probably as all the tourists were nursing hangovers...If you look closely at one of the pictures below you’ll see the amazing blue stream from the lagoon making its way into the big brown river making for an impressive colour change! Nika and I quickly swapped our sweaty sticky clothing for our swimming garments and dived right in - indescribably refreshing! That night we said our farewells to Vang Vieng by dining in style at an Italian restaurant (actually we ate there the night prior too...) run by an Italian expat, where we had the best pizza of our lives hands-down (two nights in a row!)

Vientiane:

We were super excited to make our way to Vientiane - not sure why but probably because it’s got a cool name and our lonely planet guidebook make it sound like the world’s greatest capital ever visited. When we arrived we were a little underwhelmed as it all seemed surprisingly small. There was no obvious centre of activity other than the bars and restaurants situated around the backpacking corner. On the first night we visited the night market along the Mekong river front which was interesting in the fact that it was ridiculously big and only attracted locals - but the actual items being sold had much to be desired. The next day we hit up the main spots and did our usual trick of endless walking hoping to absorb the atmosphere of the city. The COPE visitor centre seems to be a top destination for Vientiane tourists (Obama seemed to enjoy it on his trip...). It’s found within a hospital and explains all about UXO and then the work the organisation does making prosthetic limbs for people and their impressive outreach programmes going to super rural areas and transforming the villagers lives with their prosthetic arms, legs etc. The work done by the group was obviously beyond impressive but we were a little underwhelmed by the centre, this was however most likely due to the fact that we knew most of the UXO information already from our trip in Luang Prabang. Next up we visited Vientiane’s own version of the Arc de Triomphe, which they call their vertical runway, as the materials were actually donated by America for a runway but somehow became this monument (see pic below). This area was actually very beautiful but Vientiane really did need some more garden areas etc to live up to lonely planet's picturesque descriptions! After a couple of hours spent eating, drinking and shopping we made our way to the Airport for our evening flight to Bangkok. The airport itself was probably the worst capital airport we’ve ever seen, they didn’t even have air-con and the flight was casually delayed an hour without a single announcement or apology but never mind we made it to Bangkok safe-and-sound and...tired!

[aaronandnikasadventure]

[aaronandnikasadventure]

Laos: Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng & Vientiane cont 1.

[aaronandnikasadventure]

Laos: Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng & Vientiane cont 2.

[aaronandnikasadventure]

Cambodia: Phnom Penh, Battambang & Siem Reap contd 1

[aaronandnikasadventure]

Cambodia: Phnom Penh, Battambang & Siem Reap contd 2

[aaronandnikasadventure]

Cambodia: Phnom Penh, Battambang & Siem Reap contd 3

[aaronandnikasadventure]

Nha Trang, Dalat, Mui Ne, Ho Chi Minh & Can Tho

Aaron:

Nha Trang:

After Quy Nhon we were a little terrified of making our way to Nha Trang as it has the reputation of being the Benidorm equivalent for Russian & Chinese tourists 😖. We decided however that if worst comes to worst the town is also famed for its beautiful beach so we could always find sanctuary there.

When we arrived at Nha Trang it was clear things were to be very different to Quy Nhon. Imagine: sky-rise hotels, booming cafes/restaurants and SO many tourists. The reputation of Russian and Chinese overload was indeed true however the Russians tend to spend their day at the beach tanning themselves excessively in silence (likely nursing their hangovers from their loud raucous partying the night prior) whilst the Chinese are the complete opposite in their holiday tastes. Spotting a Chinese person on the beach is as rare as spotting a wild, endangered animal on a safari...Especially as, if they do make it to the beach, they come in intense camouflage (imagine a Burkini + hat + face mask combo) - the Chinese really do NOT want a sun tan. It’s clear they much prefer to spend their day enjoying their hotels luxuries and whilst the Russians party at night the Chinese do what they love best and eat like it’s their last meal on earth! One night we went to a very popular Greek restaurant and we were the only western tourists there, all the rest (on tables of up to 30 people) were Chinese and for each individual they must have ordered 3 main meals each! The following night we tried out an Armenian restaurant right outside our hotel, clearly this was Russian territory and upon stepping into their fortress I quickly wished I would have paid some attention to the emails that went around at work regarding how to manage a nerve agent attack as we’ve never had so many intense stares in our life! Maybe out of sympathy or pure curiosity the grandma of the owner, an elderly Armenian women, took a fancy to us and upon hearing that we are originally Iranian quickly ran into her private quarters and brought us a piece of her homemade chocolate cake. This special treatment however only acted to displease the glaring Russians more and they inflicted their punishment on us by turning the Armenian restaurant into a hardcore Russian trance party the minute we lay down to sleep and not stopping until sunrise - needless to say we slept very little in Nha Trang!

Despite the tourism overload however there is no denying one thing that the beach in Nha Trang is truly spectacular. With turquoise waters and an incredibly long stretch of sand it’s easy to find a peaceful spot all to yourself on the beach. Getting too excited by the luxurious beach I decided to perform a water acrobatics 🤸🏽‍♂️ show for my one-woman audience: Nika. The pure joy and admiration I received as I handstanded, dived like a dolphin, rolled like a cannonball and leaped like a jumping fish made me forget my physical limitations and as I stepped out the sea I realised I had destroyed my back during the spectacle. For pretty much the rest of the places we visited in this blog I was a partial invalid, however, other than during our long journeys I managed to not let it disrupt our trip too much (isn’t that right Nika 🤫😆?!)

Dalat:

From Nha Trang we made our way inland to the more mountainous region of Dalat. Now Dalat is famed as being historically one of the colonial’s favourite spots in Vietnam when the French were in charge due to its much cooler climates. Whereas the rest of Vietnam has rice paddies, coconut and palm trees, Dalat is surrounded by strawberry 🍓 and flower farms 💐. The town itself is equally pretty with its old colonial buildings surrounding a large lake and mountains in the distance. As soon as we stepped off the bus a smile took over both of our faces as we felt the cool breeze on our cheeks. Having spent the last month or even longer in intolerable humidity the change in climate felt like a serious breath of fresh-air!

I can’t say enough positive things about Dalat and it was definitely my favourite part of Vietnam and somewhere I think even if we stayed many days more we wouldn’t have been bored for a moment. The icing on our cake was that the home stay we picked was the exact kind of place we love. The room was spot on but the general vibe of the place was what was most ideal. Run by a British chap and his Vietnamese wife it was run more as a friendly family home than a hostel. Even though there were maybe 10-15 guests whilst we were there - no matter the time of day you came in a warm cup of tea was placed in your hands and often a share of whatever fruits were being eaten that day. On alternate days they’d have a ‘family dinner’ where they’d whip up about 7 different Vietnamese dishes (an absolute feast including some favourites of mine: ribs and crispy pork belly!) The relaxed and communal vibe meant everyone drank and chatted together around a big table. It was all over just a really enjoyable environment to stay in which given the number of hostels, homestays, guest houses and hotels we’ve stayed at during this trip it is actually quite hard to get right!

On the first day we walked to their flower gardens, which given that this area is famous for its flowers we had high expectations for! The gardens were serene and we spent a leisurely afternoon getting lost between orchids and rose gardens 🌹 to just name a few. After this we went on a walk along the old French villas with lovely views of the lake and another favourite thing left behind by the French was the coffee-shop culture, needless to say we stopped for a beverage or three... ☕️☕️☕️.

The following day we made our way to the cable car which took you across a pinewood forest with views over Dalat to a monastery at the top situated adjacent to another lake. We went on a long walk enjoying the views and headed in the direction of a waterfall we had heard was worth seeing. As we approached the waterfall we saw signs for a tabagon (I’d never heard this term before but basically it’s a rollercoaster you sit in but control the speed of the single carriage yourself with an accelerating/breaking lever..) The tabagon has been built to take you down to the waterfall (in a fun way!) where you can get off to take a few pictures and then jump back on to make your way back up the steep slope to the top. After a little deliberation we decided it was a must-do but that we would share the carriage as it would be most fun that way. Obviously reading all the rules in minute detail we realised that the max weight of a carriage was 150Kg and our combined weights equalled just over 2Kgs over that (I’ll let you guys guess who weight what 😜) however we decided to live on the wild side and go for it anyways. In retrospect as we hurtled down the first drop, breaking the sound-barrier, we probably should have taken separate carriages but wow was it fun! After some time at the waterfall and letting our adrenaline settle down we made our way to one of the most famous spots in Dalat know as the ‘Crazy House’.

I had no idea what to expect from this place (intentionally so as we didn’t want to spoil it for ourselves) other than it having been described: ‘like the child of Gaudi and Dali became an architect and then took LSD and built a building - sound great right?! In fairness that description is pretty spot on. Basically an architect who loved art had this brain wave in the 70s. She set out building a place based on surrealism. Everyone in the town thought she was mad, hated it, wanted it torn down, she stuck by her idea making it bigger each year and adding in secret rooms for people to stay in and now long-story short it’s the most popular place to visit in Dalat. As you walk about you’re lost between hidden passageways, staircases in mid air with spectacular views of Dalat and basically just nothing makes sense anywhere but it all seems to work as it’s just a crazy feast for the eyes! It’s like being lost in a Dali painting...I think if you’re a misery-guts then you may just be like eh?! and hate it but everyone we met loved it as much as we did!

Needless to say when we got our bus to Mui Ne we were very sad to see Dalat disappear in the distance behind us!

Nika:

Mui Ne:

Somehow we had visualised a more peaceful version of Nha Trang for this town, in our minds we saw an endless stretch of white sand along an untouched coast. However, when we arrived we saw rough waves, dark waters and a coastline that had flood barriers put in place of the sand - we were quite disappointed to say the least 😩. We even convinced ourselves that we perhaps had to walk further up the coast only to find more of the same and when we gave up to turn back we couldn't get on to the road because lining the sea were all greedy private businesses that had not left space for alleys to link the sea and the road!!

Luckily our hostel had a pool and we were able to escape the heat but we found ourselves also wanting to escape the scene here too! We have miraculously avoided the 18-year old party spots until now where we found ourselves surrounded by the slurred voices that come with permanent happy hour! We turned into that sheepish couple who avoided eye contact so that we wouldn't be drawn in to the "temptations" of beer pong and dirty snooker! Anyway, the next day determined not to join the hungover masses who blindly signed up to the hostel tours - we hot footed it on to a 50p local bus that took us to the red sand dunes surrounding Mui Ne. When you see the photos, you wouldn't think of all places we were in Vietnam - suddenly we were in a mini-Dubai, it was pretty spectacular. Now we had heard tourists complain that when you go there you get hassled either by local touts trying to sell jeep rides or hordes of little kids selling sledge rides. We saw none of this, in fact we didn't see a soul while we there, by ditching the tour bus we were left to our own devices as no one suspected two westerners to rock up on their own at a random time of day. We lost ourselves in the silence of the sand and watched the light and shade race across the surface as clouds above blocked the sun's path! It was the perfect end to Mui Ne just when we were starting to regret having added it to our itinerary! 🏜 No regrets remained ☺

HCMC:

The penultimate stop on our Vietnam tour was it's capital Ho Chi Minh City, still affectionately called Saigon from it's former days. We'd heard mixed opinions from travellers along the way so didn't really know what to expect other than a lot of motorbikes!

We stayed at our friendliest guesthouse to date where we finally met a local we could really talk to, we could see she had a genuine desire to be helpful and simply interact with people from around the world! Saigon had character in abundance, it's old world charm still hidden beneath the bustling, busy vibe. We loved walking around and actually wish we'd credited it with more of our time. We had a difficult afternoon visiting their Vietnam War Museum though, both of us struggling to swallow the bitter truths of the atrocities of this 20 year long war that we really knew nothing of. It put Vietnam in some context for us and actually when we looked back at what we'd seen on this trip it was amazing to think how this country and its people had bounced back.

Can Tho:

Our final stop was to explore the Mekong river - a river that starts in China and traverses down south east Asia to end in Vietnam. It's a life source for all the countries that follow the water's boundaries but with some big changes looming higher up in Laos where they are building dams it's likely to affect the people in Vietnam & Cambodia quite badly. For now though, these water people continue on with their lives and we enjoyed being part of it for a few days.

We stayed in a very rural location along the river in some bamboo huts surrounded by the noise of cockerels, crickets, frogs and 🦎 ! The first thing we did was go for a long walk along the narrow pathways where the canals meandered off the river (although the guy that worked at our place really worried about us getting lost and tried to send us down a boring 20 minute loop! We ignored him 😆). We were met with curious stares, angry dogs (causing Aaron to pick up a defensive stick!) and intriguing sights - many of the front gardens were elaborate mini cemeteries for the familiy's deceased! After a few dead ends, we made it back without getting too lost! The next morning we jumped on a boat to join the locals at 6am for their floating market tradition. We watched the mass trading of watermelons, pineapples, pumpkins, turnips..whilst bobbing along slurping on our chicken noodle soup 🍜. This was the Vietnam we imagined, we came away with lasting memories and even longer lasting mozzy bites - I'm still itching!!!! 😖

[aaronandnikasadventure]

Nha Trang, Dalat, Mui Ne, Ho Chi Minh & Can Tho contd 1

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Nha Trang, Dalat, Mui Ne, Ho Chi Minh & Can Tho contd 2

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Nha Trang, Dalat, Mui Ne, Ho Chi Minh & Can Tho contd 3

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Hanoi, Cat Ba island, Hoi An & Quy Nhon

Nika

Hanoi:

When we arrived in Hanoi, the first thing that struck us was how relaxed we felt - that's mad isn't it - in a city full of motorbikes weaving this way and that, we felt relaxed?! But there was something in the contrast to China's big cities and level of crowds as well as the fact that we were able to walk everywhere we wanted - no need for metros and buses! The other thing we quickly realised was how much easier communication was, English is widely spoken and people actually wanted to interact with us - just walking down the street one old man stopped me to shake my hand! Those sort of things didn't happen to us in China unless it was followed up by a selfie request!

Aaron was feeling a bit nervous about food and the likelihood of prawns being in almost everything! So on the first day we walked to an Italian deli and found we were in a major ex-pat hotspot every cafe was filled with westerners who lived there - Hanoi is the embassy headquarters of Vietnam so I suppose it made sense! That evening we actually went to a Vegan restaurant (you know things must've been bad if Aaron suggested such a thing!) - needless to say he decided taking risks with food would be the preferred option of the trip than going down this route!

As it was the start of the summer holidays lots was going on in the evenings - by their lake they had cordoned off the roads and put on a free concert. We mostly walked around soaking up the heat, window-shopping in the Old quarter and chatting to local kids who were excited to use their English (as you can imagine I had far more patience for that last one and I think Aaron started to wish he was back in China with minimal interactions! 😂)

Cat Ba:

We moved on from Hanoi to an island called Cat Ba where we had chosen to do an overnight boat trip in the bays of Halong and Lan Ha. Before arriving I had almost booked us in for 5 days on the island thinking it would be idyllic scenery with fishing boats bobbing on the horizon - thankfully we didn't do that. The island was not the haven I imagined, it was a little reminiscent of what happened to Cyprus in the 90s when tourism hit it! Incidentally though it was mostly Vietnamese holiday-goers not necessarily westerners, when we were trying to a pick a hotel for the night before the boat trip, we realised it was going to be difficult as most of them were booked out with big family trips - we peeked in goggle-eyed to see families of 8-10 in one room escaping the sun's rays!! The boat trip however lived up to its expectations - there are some beautiful photos of the limestone formations that are scattered in the bays (for our followers who have been to China, it was like Yangshuo on water!) We visited floating fish farms, jumped off into warm waters, sea-kayaked through swarms of jelly-fish & caves filled with sleeping bats, saw the glittering, glowing plankton by moonlight and cherished the sea-breeze that made us forget this time of year's hellish humidity!

Aaron

Hoi An:

Our day started with an incredibly early start to catch the bus-boat-bus combo off the island to the nearest airport from which we flew to Hoi An. Almost everyone we know that has been to Vietnam has recommended Hoi An and we weren’t disappointed! As our wedding anniversary fell on the day we initially had planned to leave Hoi An we thought we would spend a little longer there as to avoid spending our anniversary on a 6 hour bus. So in total we ended up spending 5 days there, fortunately there was plenty to see and do. Whether it was walking around the tailor shops (where Nika got herself a beautiful dress made), walking along the river watching the floating boats go by, shopping for lanterns at the night markets or just relaxing on a beautiful beach - Hoi An had it all! Obviously as beach obsessed people the chance to spend a day in the sea was warmly welcomed after so long in China. The first day on the beach, which was about a 20 min bike ride from our hotel, was spectacularly sunny. However towards the end of our Hoi An stay the famous Vietnamese weather kicked in and we had a 24hr downpour of rain the likes of which we had never seen before, bearing in mind we have visited Sri Lanka and Costa Rica in their rainy seasons! The roads turned into literal rivers, with the water coming above our ankles! Stubborn as we are we were not going to let the weather stop us from our mission and pulling out our raincoats from the bottom of our luggage we mounted our bicycles and started our river-ride to the beach. Where better to go during a storm than the beach, you're going to be soaked anyway ey? We had a wonderful few hours riding the waves together in the sea whilst the locals watched us with surprise and intrigue on their faces. Our joy came to an abrupt end however when a lightning bolt hit the sea in the far distance and we quickly evacuated the water to enjoy a coconut coffee and play spectators to the forces of nature. Oh yes btw I have a new obsession: coconut coffee. This is the drink equivalent of the goose for me! It’s a mixture of coconut milk, condensed milk, coconut pieces crunchy and soft, sometimes ice cream and coffee - so so so good!

Whilst we are talking about edibles the food we experienced in Hoi An was divine! Usually on our travels we will eat wherever we see the locals no matter the state of the place - usually the logic being that if it’s that popular with them then it must be good! Anyways the problem with those kind of places is that they don’t comprehend ‘no prawns’ even though I have it written in Vietnamese.... So as a result it’s meant that we’ve started to try out some of the more fine-dining Vietnamese restaurants and I’ve got to say I’m conflicted on my previous principle as we’ve had some of the best food of our trip in Hoi An and the total bill plus drinks and cheeky desserts still only comes to around £10 total - the dream!

For our anniversary we changed where we were staying, nice though it was, we wanted to find somewhere more special. Hoi An old town is made up of many UNESCO protected buildings as they are all old colonial buildings and very beautiful especially as they are surrounded by lanterns and pretty flowering trees. Finding ourselves at one of these beautiful buildings with a pool we decided to have a lazy day enjoying the facilities. The hotel also made us a happy anniversary cake to surprise us in our room which was a nice touch! Obviously what could be more special for our first anniversary than an Indian curry dinner - our second curry experience on these travels and once again it did not disappoint one tiny bit! Unfortunately on the walk home the heavens broke loose again and the roads returned to their previous river-like state. Finding it impossible to procure a Taxi we waded our way home, soaked through to our cores, but still smiling at the craziness of it all.

One small observation we had made up until this point about Vietnam was that we had seen very little of a Vietnam we had imagined. Tourism seems to have killed off a lot of traditional Vietnamese life and everything seems a little orientated around making money from the tourists. Whereas in China people went about their daily lives and other than staring at you or taking pictures no one was ever out to cheat you or pressurise you into buying some useless souvenir etc which you don’t need, Vietnam is the total opposite. We did however have a great experience one night when we took a little trek to a bar outside the main town having read reviews singing its praises. When we reached it though we were caught a bit off guard by the fact that it was purely local Vietnamese there and the owners and his friends were jamming on the stage. I quickly whispered to Nika that maybe we would just stay for one drink before exiting. However the owner turned out to be a secret musical genius at every instrument known to mankind and one by one the Vietnamese got up and sang or played alongside him. Turns out the bar is a favourite place for talented musicians to hang out and we found ourselves welcomed with friendly faces and conversation with the owners. We left a few hours later feeling lucky enough to have escaped the 'happy-hour' bars of drunk westerners! Keen for some insight on how the more rural Vietnamese live we also visited a spectacular free museum/gallery in Hoi An. Set up by a French photographer 'Rehahn photography' (check out his Instagram!) he basically motorbikes around Vietnam seeking out ridiculously difficult to find Vietnamese tribes and then after spending time with them and learning their history he brings their photographs and if able their traditional costume to the museum. In the museum he describes his crazy experiences finding these people and gives a short description of what they were like and their customs etc. It was an awesome way to get some perspective on life outside the big tourist destinations and learn about the 55 or so minority tribes in Vietnam. With the desire to see some more authentic life (but without the time to venture deep into the mountains or jungles) we thought we would make our way to a far less travelled beach town called Quy Nhon. It seems the real reason this area is far more off the beaten track than the other beach cities isn’t due to a lack of beauty but more due to the crazy journey to reach it.

Quy Nhon

Booking ourselves onto a fairly pricey ‘16 seater mini-bus’ we were expecting a comfortable 6hr journey. You can imagine our surprise when the world's smallest bus arrives with leg room built for people of 5ft or less. We were squished into the worst seats on the bus whilst way over the allocated 16 people stuffed themselves on. Lucky me had a humongous Vietnamese man next to me who despite the humid 30 deg heat decided to wear jeans and a stupidly thick jumper and then spend the whole 6 hrs battling with me for elbow room. If this wasn’t bad enough the bus driver had a death wish and sped at hair-raising speed down these tiny roads spending significantly more time on the opposite side of the road overtaking. This blog was meant to be written on that journey but the cramped conditions and unfavourable driving style meant we did little more than pray we made it to Quy Nhon in one piece.

When we finally arrived, a bit shell shocked, we immediately knew we'd love the place. Firstly our hostel was perfect, it was run by two young Vietnamese brothers with a heavy metal/rock obsession. The walls were plastered with the likes of Ozzy Osbourne, ACDC, guns and roses and the playlist could have come straight from my Spotify account! Everyone here was up for a drink and a mingle so we spent both our nights here and were kindly gifted a free beer each on both nights! On our first night we somehow managed to get convinced into joining their fooseball doubles competition and by some stroke of luck (or everyone else was just way more drunk) we made it to the semifinals! The second night they had a live band playing which were surprisingly very good for a small beach town in the middle of nowhere! But enough about the hostel the town itself was exactly what we were looking for: all locals, all friendly and beaches to die for.

Every night the locals come in their masses to end their day on the beach, it's quite amazing to see just how many families turn up, and without a doubt we'd have a friendly local come join us to practice their English skills within minutes. Remarkably Nika managed to catch all the fun conversations but when a creepy 60 yr old in his short-shorts decided to come talk to me she was hit by narcolepsy and was fast asleep within a flash. One and a half hours later I managed to pinch her with my hand behind my back and wake her up to save me from my eager companion!

A real highlight of the trip was on our second day when we decided to do some exploring and found this nearby beach that we'd heard was meant to be beautiful and was also the site of a hospital famed for its history of treating leprosy. The idea of leprosy isn't particularly something you'd relate to a beautiful place to visit however it was such a strange and interesting area. There are still patients with leprosy who live there and also the descendants of old patients continue to live in a sort of model village within the hospital grounds. The hospital is now a fully running hospital, no longer treating just leprosy, but to be honest it seemed more like a collection of holiday villas than a hospital. The grounds were astonishingly beautiful and opened up onto a huge stretch of golden sand with turquoise waters enclosed by hills on either side and a lake on the other side of the beach. Along the road adjacent to the beach were statues dedicated to physicians from the past, both western and Vietnamese, who contributed in some way towards the treatment of leprosy or just medicine in general. Oh and the major highlight of all: that spectacular beach I just described well we had the whole thing to ourselves for the whole day...I do hope they start building leprosy hospitals on all the beautiful beaches 😜!

[aaronandnikasadventure]

Hanoi, Cat Ba island, Hoi An & Quy Nhon contd 1