Issy and Katie's Big Adventure

we are travelling around South East Asia for six months and this is our blog baby, made of love and adventures!

[issyandkatiesbigadventure]

Siem Reap!!!

After a speedy flight and a sad goodbye to our third musketeer Corinne :( Courtney and I arrived into Cam Cam Camboodia!!! We were greeted by cheeky Cambodians at both the visa control and the taxi rank - we decided we liked it already having only been on Cambodian soil for a few hours. Our first day was a flop day and a hilarious night out on Pub Street....consisting of grenades, faintly remembered shots and literal dancing in the street 💃! We then struggled our way (no more grenades....ever) to watch the sunset over Angkor from a hilltop temple - although swarming with people it was somehow still peaceful, the colours were fantastical - a photographers dream - and we watched the sun slowly disappear in pure awe of where we were. However the best was yet to come - sunrise and a day at Angkor. Beyond amazing, there is something about this architecture that is so special, I've seen nothing like it before. We watched the sun raise itself from behind Angkor Wat - so surreal. We then slowly explored the tardis that is Angkor Wat, the trippiness that is Bayon within Angkor Thom and the magical Ta Prohm (tomb raider temple) where Mother Nature has well and truly shown her power. Our jaws never left the ground the whole day.

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Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon

Our stay in HCMC has been surprisingly enjoyable. We've all come to the conclusion that we like Saigon! The traffic is unbelievable - you cannot imagine the amount of bikes on the road. You think you're crossing safely but then you see a wave of bikes swarming towards you....Asia man. We visited The War Remnants museum - incredibly heavy stuff. It showed the effects of the napalming, agent orange and massacres carried out by the Americans. It had to be seen and want about but it is not a happy subject. To cheer ourselves up that evening we indulged in a very cultural experience of a meal at Pizza Hut (real pizza!!!aaaaah) and pitch perfect 2 (with a slice of Asia in coconut popcorn) - this was just what the doctor ordered, and having laughed our way through the evening we returned feeling a wee but better about the world. We also made a visit to the underwhelming Reunification Palace - but I do understand how it's a symbol of their independence. And also visited the Cu Chi tunnels, also a must do in HCMC, showing the lengths at which the viet cong went to to hide from the Americans and also psychological get to then with torturous booby traps. We did indeed make our way along a very claustrophobic 150m already widened tunnel....Courtney has discovered that her spirit animal is a mole. Safe to say Corinne and I firmly did not feel the same way.

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Delightful Dalat

Dalat has been a delightful taste of home. With degrees of 21 and torrential rain - such a nice break from forearm sweat and a reminder of what's waiting for us in blighty. We stayed in the loveliest hostel - the staff were literally just so gorgeous - when it was raining one decided it was time to do all our nails ☺️ Our time here included canyoning, the crazy house - think Gaudi on acid, many a is it to the bakery for amaaaazing banana cake, and the stunning Ponguour waterfall (bit of swimming in the old underwear required). The main thing to do in Dalat is Canyoning - so.much.fun. It consists of absailing, absailing down waterfalls, cliff jumping and water sliding. From the outset you're soaked as you're thrown into the water. Then proceeds a day of dripping and fun as you hop from one waterfall to the other to slides and jumps (11metre and 7) and finally to the washing machine - a short absail followed by frantic releasing of the rope to then be tumbled into the water and pop out eyes wide and breath taken away on an absolute high. Good day had by all methinks.

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Hoi An 🙌🙌

The beautiful Hoi An has been a complete favourite. We stopped here for 4 days, in which no buses were taken. It's an ancient towns with yellowed streets covered in plants and lanterns, tailors and cafés/restaurants on every road. We sampled many a Nutella and peanut butter Bahn My.....so traditional...had a cycle around (one of the best days), had a dress made at the amazing Be Bes, got burnt on such a gorgeous beach (where we obviously made friends with the woman who owned the restaurant which had the sun loungers), and got up to hilarious antics at tigertiger and the Why Not Bar...because why not?? Sad to leave the beautiful Hoi An but ready to move on, we now make our way to Dalat on a 16 hour bus armed with banana chips, cashews and of course a good old Bahn My.

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Hue to Hoi An!!!

Today was the day of the #sorrymum - 3 of us made it to Hoi An via motorbikes. Abbi on the back of a tour guide and Adele on the back of me. We set off and soon found ourselves on the most Asian motorway ever - roadworks left right and centre, all types of vehicles going every which way and more dust than you could shake a stick at! After the motorway we made it onto one of the coolest roads ever winding up and down through the mountains over the Hai Van Pass, avoiding the occasional herd if cows and families of goats... After a few stops for pictures and beach and food etc we made it to Hoi An alive (bar a minor bump on the biggest roundabout ever) - an achievement in my books...

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Hue

After waiting an hour for our bus (up at 4:30am...wooo Asian time) we were off to Hue. We arrived in at about 11 and made our way to Hue backpackers - such a great hostel!!! After cooling down for a bit we wended our way to the imperial citadel - where we sweated our way round, seems to be the constant here at the moment, but it was so beautiful, quite a lot of it has had to be reconstructed due to the French invasion but if no one had told me you would never know. After then sweating our way back we had an evening of home comforts - in the form of beer and a pub quiz! Safety say we didn't win, but it's the taking part that counts...

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Phong Nha

After another day exploring the Hoa Lo prison in Hanoi and enjoying some banging burgers back at the hostel, we got on the night bus to Phong Nha. We arrived into Phong Nha at around 5am, when we struggled out way to easy tiger hostel - unfortunately no room at the inn, however this was to be an advantage as we found a hotel for 100k dong each and double beds!!! After a well needed nap we made our way to paradise cave. It was a hot walk up but well worth it. We were in awe the whole way round, it was like something out of Star Wars! A gorgeous meal and another early night for another lovely early get up the next day.

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Ha Long Bay continued....

After a hilarious first night on the boat we got off onto another boat to Cat Ba island where we then got on a bus (after a suitable amount of time) then onto another boat to Freedom Island - our private island for the night! Where we spent the rest of the day just chilling on the beach, in the sea, catching up on some well needed diary time and sleep. That night involved multiple hilarious games of ring of fire, in which seven - heaven is now seven - moose and the gecko is a definite new favourite. After an early morning we floated our way back to Ha Long City to get our bus back to Hanoi - the hub of all our northern travels.

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Hanoi - Ha Long Bay!!

Having made it back from Sapa we collapsed straight into bed to then get up for 8am the next day for Ha Long Bay! We bundled onto the bus in the morning, where the cutie that is Snake introduced himself (the man to look after is per the next few days). After around 4 hours we arrived into ha long city and the harbour where we proceeded to wait for more people...and then our boat driver....and then our small boat to get us to the big boat...oh Asia. Once onto our boat we found our cabins, had lunch and set off for a quick fave visit, where snake proceeded to point out all the sexual rock formations.....as we shuffled round the cave. On an interesting note it is actually where Vietnamese soldiers hid out during the war. We then had one of the most beautiful cruises towards our mooring for he night through the bay, it was stunning. The sun was setting, the water was shining and the karst rocks literally seemed to just float - no photo can do it justice.

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Sapa continued...

We arrived into out home stay in the afternoon, where we collapsed down and enjoyed some shot glasses of tea. Our bedroom consisted of mattresses on the floor in an attic with canopies of mosquito net. The spread they put on was delicious with so many veggies and yummy meats for dinner and all the pancakes you could ever want for breakfast! Whilst staying in the village we made a trip to the bamboo bar run by a slightly eccentric Dutch man an indulged in hot chocolate - at home this would probably be a bad one but to be quite honest the best hot chocolate ever! The second day of trekking was slightly shorter but definitely much hotter. We climbed up and down and saw some incredible views, including exploring a waterfall and a group of buffalo (and their boy herdsmen) following us down the mountain and accompanying us across the so wobbliest bridge to have ever wobbled.

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Sapa

After another day in Hanoi we hopped onto our night bus to Sapa, a rice paddy filled, trekking paradise in the north of Vietnam. These sleeper buses involve rows of bunk like chairs that recline to almost lying down - with pot luck on air con and leg space - blue and red lights (for relaxation?), and the occasional playlist of fabulous Vietnamese music. Having arrived into Sapa at 4am we remained on the bus attempting to sleep, until 6 where we were called off and carted off to a hotel for breakfast and to meet our tour guide. Having met the lovely Mai (our tour guide), a day of melting followed. We trekked through gorgeous scenery of dramatic hills and symmetrical rice paddies - encountering the occasional farm as we wended our sweaty way (every drop was so worth it). Now, throughout this walk we'd been joined by some lovely local women, but having made it to the lunch stop we were swarmed and absolutely bombarded with "shopping!" "Cheap for you," "shop for me," "I walked with you," never before have any of us felt more and more English as our breathing space became smaller and smaller - more draining than the walk itself....

[issyandkatiesbigadventure]

Hanoi

After a hilarious night (one that contained no Lao Lao thank The Lord) and a day exploring, Abbi and I were joined by Adele, Courtney and Corinne (having lost Mathea to Singapore and Ben to lack of visa). We then had another day exploring - I fell for a piece of artwork (may now have an awkward shaped package to pack now) and multiple pairs of shorts were bought. We also went to the Women's History museum, which revealed that there were in fact no women in Vietnam before 1934 and all those that seemed to appear were heroes of the revolution.. Having said that it was an incredibly interesting museum, which also gave insights into the marital traditions of each part of Vietnam - (because what is a woman unless she's a revolutionary or married...)

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Vang Vieng

Another precarious drive from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng, involving a few upturned cars, the occasional cow blockage and a 12% incline - but all so worth it as, for me, that drive ranks as one of the most beautiful I've ever done. After arriving into Vang Vieng we wandered hotly to our hostel and settled in. Unashamedly my food in V.V was mostly western - some well needed home comforts after unfortunately I got bed bugs. But all was fine after a brief argument with the manager - all my stuff was washed and my bed changed, only the itching remained. Activities included a day of tubing - complete and utter fun. Starting the day with beers at 11am and finishing with a mud fight at around 5pm we returned back the town all shades of brown and suitably happy. The next day Mathea and I got another bumpy tuk tuk (with a slightly out there Chilean) to the blue lagoon - actually so blue - for a dip and a relax.

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Luang Prabang

We seem to now have a knack of finding relaxed places to just be and Luang Prabang is definitely not an exception. After a brief discussion on timings it is I've officially been adopted into the Sassurdays and (as the now named baby of the group) will go to Vietnam with them! Whilst here we sampled some yummy Laotian street food - including some delicious baguettes (thankyou French history), had a day at a pool...this may happen in every country, and made a trip to Kuang Si Waterfalls. So beautiful - we had a sweaty walk to the top for beautiful views and then a swim in the falls themselves - bar a little nibble from some fish this was so refreshing! On the nightlife front the usual is the bar Utopia - again ridiculously chilled with pillows on the floor and low tables with shisha and Lao Lao (an interesting alcohol choice but cheap cheap cheap!). However, things get shut down around 11pm - but that is not the end! The pice own a bowling alley (of course they do) and the whole of the bar seems to tip out and to this alley on the outskirts of the city - hilarity then ensues, as I'm sure you can imagine.

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Vang Vieng - Vientiane - Hanoi

Surprisingly our bus to Vientiane arrived early - absolutely unheard of! And we managed to arrive into Vientiane with almost no difficulties (Corinne had a brief encounter with a sick bag which then had a brief encounter with a motorcyclist...after being thrown out a window - don't worry no crashes caused!). Once into Vientiane we settled into our new hostel and then Abbi and I made a trip to the trippy Buddha park - so many Buddhas!!!! The next day we had a brief encounter with a plane (30mins in the air) and found ourselves in Hanoi. Where, getting Abbi through immigration took longer than the flight itself!

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Chiang Mai - Chiang Rai - Chiang Kong - Laos!!!!!

After a night in Chiang Mai (feeling a little less than healthy - safe to say not much left in Katie's stomach) we got our on minibus heading to Chiang Kong and the Thai/Laos border. We stopped off at The White Temple on the way, a modern build still being adjusted and incredibly out there - with all sorts of artwork going on. From there we carried on to have a very basic night in Chiang Kong. A bus then took us to the border where we queued to give in our passports and then queued again to pay - an entirely logical way to do things. And we were finally into Laos. After another bus and some typical waiting around on Asian Time we ventured onto our Long Boat to Luang Prabang! Our first day on the boat was absolutely stunning, surrounded by hills, buffalo and shining waters, we gently moved down the Mekong to a place called Pak Beng where we spent the night in a fab guesthouse - real duvets!!!! We've now added another member to the group in the form of Ben! Our second day was equally as beautiful but with slightly less dramatic scenery. We arrived into Luang Prabang, and got a long and bumpy tuk tuk to our hostel (nothing new!).

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Pai!!

After trying and quite truly failing to stay dry on the last day of Songkran (to see temples!) I headed with the girls (Mathea, Corinne, Adele, Courtney and Abbey - official title of the Sassurdays) to Pai. This involved one of the windiest minivan rides ever - guaranteed travel sickness right there. At around 2pm we had arrived into what must be one of the most relaxed places in the world. Our stay in Pai consisted of yummy food, chilled drinks and motorbiking round. We visited a strawberry farm (the most Asian thing to have ever asianed), Pai canyon, Coffee in Love, WW2 memorial bridge and a waterfall! We then wound out way back to chiang mai for one night.