Since my last post we have been to Penang in Malyasia and stayed there for a day. It was quite a nice place and we spent the day seeing the sights. After that we went to KL and spent one night there. Unfortunately we didn’t get to go up the Petronus towers as we had to get a bus and couldn’t get an earlier ticket to go up.

We are now in Singapore, we spent yesterday seeing the sights and we visited the famous Raffles hotel. Unfortunately the weather is really bad roday so we are stuck in our hostel at the moment.

See you all when I get back

Danny

We left Koh Phangan on the 22nd and since then we have been in Koh Tao, which is really beautiful. We spent the first few days chilling on the beach. We did rent out bikes one day and went round the island to some of the other beaches which were all really nice, the best beaches we have seen this holiday. On one of the beaches in the south of the island we went snorkelling which was amazing. The reef starts about 5 meteres out from the beach and it is really shallow (only about 1-2m) for about 40 metres out. We also saw a reef shark which swan just past my head which was quite exciting.

The past 5 days we have been doing our PADI diving course which has been really fun. We had to do a day in the pool learning the skills then we did 2 days where we did 2 dives in the open water and then today we did another 2 fun dives. They were all so much fun, it is such a wierd experience being that far underwater and having fish swimming all around you. On the dives we saw loads of different fish, and eel, a stingray but unfortunately no turtles.

We are probably going to stay here for the next few days and then head to Kuala Lumpa and then Singapore.

DannyÂ

We had a really good time at the Full Moon party, we managed to stay up all the way through the night and watched the sunrise over the beach. I have some crazy pictures of us all covered from head to toe in U.V. paints.

We are now in Khao Tao, a neighbouring island to Khao Phangan. We have spent a few days on the beach and then we are going to do a 4 day diving course in a couple of days which I am really looking forward to. We did see a big tropical storm out to sea when we were on the beach in Khao Phangan, all you could see was massive bolts of lightning and then the loudest thunder I have ever heard, it sounded like a plane had crashed right beside us! Not much else to tell as we have just been relaxing on the beaches.

Hope you are all well

Danny

After our first day in SihanoukVille which was really nice and sunny we had 2 days of really heavy rain so it wasn’t so nice, and since then it rained everyday we were in Cambodia.  The place we stayed in was nice but it was still only a couple of pounds a night, definately not 100 pounds!!

After leaving SihanoukVille we went back to Phenom Penh for a night and then got a bus to Siem Reap. We stayed there for two days and did a whole day tour around some of the temples on a tuk-tuk, which was really good. The temples were amazing, we only got to visit about 12 of the main ones, If you wanted to see them all it would take ages. Angkor Wat was particularly good although you couldn’t climb upto the top because of the restoration work they are doing on it. We did get to climb up one of the temples in Angkor Thom which had really steep sides and huge steps so you had to climb up on all fours, not good especially in such hot weather. The best temple by far was the ‘Tree temple’ can’t remember its proper name at the moment but it was the one where they filmed Tomb Raider. It has loads of trees that seem to be growing out of the middle of the temple and other trees with really long roots that wrap themselves around the temple walls.

We are now back in Bangkok and then we head off down to Koh Phangan to go to the Full Moon Party and spend some time on the beaches.

Danny

On the third day we got the boat up the river and across the border into Cambodia. On the way therte was a big storm which wasn’t too fun as the boat we were in was quite small and was being thrown all over the place by the big waves! But we survived.

In Cambodia we spent three days in Phenom Phenh, the capital and visited the killing fields and also the S21 museum, which is the place that lots of prisoners were held and tortured durring the reign of the Khumer Rouge. They were both really interesting places but quite depressing to go to. We also visited the royal palace.

We are now in a place called Sihanoukville in the south of Cambodia by the beach. It is really nice here so we are staying a few days just to relax before we head to Siem Reap.  Â

Nha Trang was a really nice place, on our first day there we went on a boat trip out to some the islands which was excellent. We got to go snorkelling in the shallows around one of the islands and got to see loads of tropical fish which let you swim right up next to them before swimming away. We also went to a really nice beach on one of the other islands and had a really nice lunch on the boat of fresh fish (dunno what kind) and squid which was really good. Also after lunch there was a floating bar with free wine so we ended up drinking with all these Vietnamese men as we were the only westerners on the boat.

We ended up spending three days in Nha Trang, the last two days we spent on the beach getting a bit of a tan. On the last day we were there me and Andy ended up getting involved in a big game of beach football with a load of Vietnamese students that studied in Nha Trang, which was tiring but a good laugh.

After Nha Trang we got the overnight bus to Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). When we arrived it was absolutely pouring down with rain so we ended up getting soaked trying to get to a hotel. It is absolutely mad here, there are so many motorbikes about and crossing the roads is quite scary, you just have to walk across slowely and hope that everyone avoids you. Yesterday we went to the War Remnants museum which was really interesting but a bit brutal in parts. We also went round the huge market in the town, Ben Thanh Market which was huge and really cool and had lunch (Beef noodle soup ‘Pho’)  at one of the food stalls there. Apparently Bill Clinton had the same dish in the market when he visited Vietnam!

Today we went to visit the Cu Chi Tunnels about an hour out of the city. They are a series of tunnels used by the Vietnamese durring the war. It was quite interesting but not as good as we had all expected, although we did get to go down part of the tunnel which was really small and hot and very dark in parts, I wouldn’t have liked to spend much time in there.

Tomorrow we are starting a 3 day tour to the Mekong Delta, and then on the last day of the tour we get a boat up the river and across the order into Cambodia and then get a bus to Phenom Penh the capital.

I have put some more pics up for you all to look at, sorry I haven’t been able to upload any for a while.

Danny

We only spent a day in Vientiane, the place was really laid back especially for a capital city but there wasn’t really nuch to do. We did visit Pha That Luang, Laos national monument, we also had a nice meal in a restaurant down by the river front which was nice. We then got a night bus from Vientiane to Hue in Vietnam, wasn’t too bad but we got to the border early and then had to wait around for it to open!

Hue was quite nice, we ended up doing a half day tour of the city on the back of motorbikes with guides as there are no tuk-tuks in Vietnam so motorbikes and the only way to get around. We visited a monastry where over 100 Vietnamese monks still live, also visited a famous pagoda and one f the old emperors tomb complex which was huge, also went to see an old American bunker on the banks of the Mekong river.

Only stayed in Hue one day and then went to Hoi An just down the coast. It was really nice, an old trading port. The old town down on the banks of the river is really nice. We visited an old sea traders house , went to see some traditional Vietnamese dancing and then went to an arts and crafts workshop and got to see wood and stone carvings being made. We also spent a day on the beach in Hoi An to top up the tans, the beach was really nice but also really quiet. We are now in a place called Nha Trang which is also on the coast.

 Quick update on the food, it is all really nice, the only diah I can remember the name of that we have had in Vietnam is Cao Lou. Also Vietnam had the cheapest beer in the world, 7p for a glass.

Will post again soon

Danny�

We ended up only spending 2 nights in Luang Prabang, but whilst we were there we visited a huge waterfall which was about a 45 minute ride out of town and was really good. We got to go swimming in the pool underneath the waterfall, then we climbed to the top and there was a large pool which hung over the the waterfall so you could go right to the edge and look all the way down! We also went to this buddist temple up on a hill in the centre of the town and watched the sunset.

Next day we got a bus to Vang Vieng where we are now. It is really touristy in the town but if you go outside the centre it is really nice, and it has a karst landscape like Yang Shuo in China. We spent a whole day visiting the caves that are in the area which were really impressive. We went in one cave, with a guide that was absolutely massive and he led us through all kinds of really small passageways and then though huge caverns with loads of stalactites and stalagmites. We also went to a water cave where you are given a rubber tubeto go through the cave, which was massive. We were tubing for about 25 minutes before we reached the end of the cave which was a dead end and then realised that we had to go all the way back the way we came in, but it was good fun.

Today we have been tubing down the river which was so much fun. You get dropped off a short way out of town and then you float down the river, but along the way there are loads of bars along the riverbanks and they all have either ropeswings or ziplines into the river, some of which are really high. 

Tomorrow morning we head to the capital so I will let you all know whart we get upto there.

Hope you are all well

Danny   �

In answer to you question the waterfall was quite cold but it was really nice after 4 hours of treking in such hot weather. On the elephant ride we didn’t really see much wildlife, but when we were walking in the jungle we saw a bamboo cobra and a river snake and some wild boar but not much other than that.

Th last two days we have been on the slow boat from the border of Laos to Luang Prabang where we arrived yesterday evening. The first day was really good as we managed to get on a boat that wasn’t too full and so we had lots of space to spread out and relax. The scenery along the way was really nice and the weather was nice. At night we stoped at a small place called Pa Bang, there wasn’t really much there but it was just an ovrnight stop. The second day the boat was really full and the weather wasn’t so goodso the journey wasn’t so enjoyable.

We haven’t really hadtime to see much of Luang Prabang yet but we are going sightseeing today so I will let you know what it is like.

Danny

We arrived in Chiang Mai after a 16 hour bus journey that should have taken 10-12 hours. The day we arrived was the start of the Thai new years festival which is celebrated by having huge waterfights along all the streets in the centre of town so on the way from the bus station to the hostel we were in a open backed jeep and got absolutely soaked.

The festival for new years goes on for 5 days so we all got waterpistols and spent the first few days joining in with the waterfights and crazy partying which was really fun and tiring.

The last 2 days we have been jungle treking to the north of Chiang Mai. The first day we did elephant treking in the morning which was really fun and then in the afternoon we had to trek for 4 hours through the jungle, which was so tiring especially as the weather here has been so hot. Along the way we stopped off at a local village for a rest and ended up playing with all the local kids who are really cute. We then spent the evening in an even smaller ‘village’ where only 1 family lived, so there were only 2 huts, one for the family and one for guests. So we spent the night sleeping on mats on the floor of a bamboo hut which was really uncomfortable but a great experience. We also had to shower at a nearby waterfall as there was no running water in the village.

On the second day we did another 3 hours of treking in the morning and then in the afternoon we went bamboo rafting down a small river which was really good even though we weren’t really very good at controling our raft.

Tonight we are getting a night bus to the border of Laos and then after that we are getting a 2 day boat from the border down to Luang Probang.

Hope everyone is well

Danny�