Langkawi, Malaysia

November 9th - November 11th 2011

We left South Thailand and made an epic journey using buses (one of which broke down), ferries and a taxi to Langkawi, Malaysia. Crossing the border was no problem at all and we arrived on the lovely island. We shared a taxi with some girls we got chatting to on our trip from Thailand and Craig made conversation with the friendly taxi driver about everything from alcohol to Micheal Jackson (he was a big MJ fan!)

Once we had checked into our guesthouse we walked to the beach and watched the sun set over the sea and another island. Ladies were swimming in 'burkini's' and there were paragliders out in the distance, it's great exploring so many different countries and getting to see other cultures and people. The next day we walked in the baking heat to the aquarium 'Underwater World' where we enjoyed a morning walking around the exhibits and watching the penguins get fed. We walked some more and realised that this place is actually quite expensive and hard to get around as the only transport is a moped or taxi.

Watching the sun set in Langkawi



Underwater World Aquarium



The next day we debated what to do and decided to get a taxi to the Oriental Village and Cable Car. It was quite pricey but the trip in the cable car was fun though a bit nerve wracking if like me you're a tad scared of heights. The views were phenomonal and the clear bright day meant we could see for miles. After an ice cream at the top and a walk along the curved suspension bridge we descended and wandered around the Oriental Village which is purely for tourists it seems. We found a little area full of bunnies and fed them carrot sticks while they climbed all over you, so cute! We told off a couple that for amusement and photo's decided to hold up a bunny by the ears, it seems that some people aren't taught the importance of animal welfare and how to treat them. We seem to have encountered quite a lot of mistreatment of animals during our trip around Asia as I guess not everyone loves animals they way the English do!

View over Langkawi

We wanted to take the bunnies home!

After the Oriental Village we took a taxi to a night market which had an array of different foods. We had spring rolls and Craig tried some meat sticks and noodles. We had little pancake things which were delicious, the lovely man let us try them for free first and when we bought some he popped in another flavour for us to try too. Happy days!

Night food market

The next day we went to the ferry terminal and got tickets to Penang. Langkawi was very beautiful but much too expensive for us! The no public transport thing meant it was too difficult to get around and the prices of food were much more expensive than what we had been used to in other parts of Asia, street stalls just weren't common enough!

South Thailand

October 28th - November 8th 2011

Once we had finished our amazing tour of Laos we took an overnight sleeper train back to Bangkok. We had arranged flights to Krabi for the day that we got into Bangkok as we had heard news reports of terrible flooding that was due to hit the city and surrounding area the next day.

Our first day in Krabi we treated ourselves to big breakfasts and a lie in to make up for all the early starts we had in Laos. We went for a wander around the sea front and caught up with emails too. We booked a tour of the Phi Phi Islands for the following day and settled in to our big but cheap hotel room.

We woke up early for our tour and filled up on yummy porridge with banana before a guy picked us up. We were taken to Ao Nang and put into groups before heading down to the beach and getting on the speed boat for the journey to the islands. It started a lovely bright sunny day but we soon hit a shower before it cleared up again. First stop was beautiful Bamboo Island, white sandy beaches and clear blue waters. We had a few minutes of peace there before loads of tour boats turned up! We took some photos and boarded the boat for the next stop. We stopped in the middle of the open sea and went snorkelling, our first time! It was great fun and we got to see lots of fish and experience the lovely warm waters.

Bamboo Island

The next stop was Maya Bay where 'The Beach' starring Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed. It was like stepping into paradise, crystal clear water and even whiter sand than we could imagine possible! Of course such a beautiful and popular place attracts lots of tourists so we were surrounded by people. It was still amazing to be there and look around at the cliff faces and the boats bobbing up and down in the water. Craig went for a dip in the warm water while I savoured the view. After our alloted time we jumped back on the boat and had fresh watermelon and pineapple and sped off to our next location. We had lunch on the very busy Phi Phi Island which had more noisy bikini and boardshort clad backpackers on it than locals which we weren't keen on. We wandered around the Island for a bit but it was so catered to tourists that we didn't like it much. If we had more time there it would have been nice to find a quieter more secluded place to see the scenery from. The heavens opened again so we hid under a tree with ice creams and waited for it to pass.

Maya Bay

Once back in the boat we went to another location for snorkelling, I was feeling a little worse for wear thanks to motion sickness so sat snorkelling out and watched Craig swim around. After snorkelling we headed back to shore and had dinner at a street food stall.

Scuba Craig!

The next day we had booked a 'James Bond Tour', not because we are big fans of the books or films but because James Bond Island where one early film was shot looked intriguing. We started the tour on a long boat which was great fun and a lovely way to see the surrounding landscapes. We got to 'James Bond' Island and walked around the rock and took photo's of the caves and unusual rock that makes the island famous. We toured the mangroves and then had an amazing buffet lunch on a floating village with loads of vegetarian options for me to choose from too. We chatted to a lovely German girl about travelling and walked around the floating village markets. The heavens then opened again and it really rained hard. We waited as the guide decided what to do and we all braved the weather and got back on the boat. The boat powered through the waves and we got back to shore where we drove to a monkey temple in a cave. There were monkeys everywhere stealing food and eating out of bins. We watched them for a while then had a look inside the dramatic caves. We went to a waterfall after but thanks to the rain were unable to swim in it as it had been made too dirty. Despite the rain it was a great day out where we got to see lots of varying and fascinating sights.

James Bond Island

The next day we packed up and headed to Ao Nang for a few days. Whilst in Ao Nang we relaxed on the beach and met some friends from our Laos tour for drinks and dinner on Halloween. We went to pretty Railay Island for the day and ate at a lovely cheap street stall. It would be mine and Craig's five year anniversary in a couple of days so we decided to go to Ko Lanta and spend a bit extra to get accomodation with a a pool. We left Ao Nang for Ko Lanta and had cocktails and a lovely meal for our anniversary and spent some days relaxing poolside. After the expense of that we moved down the island to a wooden hut which was as basic as you can get. It was a bed and net with a desk fan in a bamboo hut and a tiny breeze block annex which housed a loo and cold shower! For a couple of quid each we were happy to stay for a few nights! We lazed on the beach and had fun in the sea, we topped up our tans and had delicious food in the beach cafe's and we caught up on lots of reading. The only downside was a massive thunderstorm that happened one night, it flooded badly outside and kept us up as the roof on our hut was made of metal, we were so worried of flooding that we packed our bags and kept them on our bed but luckily the rain water had subsided by morning.

Celebrating five years together in Ko Lanta

South Thailand was a lovely time to relax and we certainly made the most of the lovely beaches and delicious food on offer. It was nice being in a quiet place with not too many backpackers around where we could live quite cheaply which we needed to do as we didn't want our tight budget going out of control!

Stray Asia Tour

October 11th - October 27th 2011 

We booked our Stray Asia tour back in November last year when we went to STA travel in Reading and booked our first few flights and set the date of our travelling adventure. Jamie our travel agent suggested doing a tour of Laos as he told us it was an under rated gem of a country that not many people had heard of let alone been to. We were sold on the idea when he also said that the tour was on offer at half price! We love a good bargain. Without really knowing what to expect we woke up in our Bangkok guesthouse a little before 5am and walked with our big rucksacks to the Stray Asia office. We met our Laos tour guide, an Aussie named Amanda and a few of the people we would be travelling with, David, Jeremy and Jess.

We set of by bus to Chiang Mai, we had to miss the usual first stop due to flooding so it was a long first journey but with an air con bus, big massage chair seats and a tv we were very happy. (It was very different to the transport we had been used to and Amanda organised the tickets for us which were included in the Stray price.) Chiang Mai was a beautiful place. Whilst there for a couple of nights we made friends with some Thai guys at the local 'Sketchy' bar. They made extremely strong cocktails and played guitars and sang for us. Those nights are ones that we will never forget as we were sharing them with great people too. We did a tour on one of the days where we experienced the amazing Northern Thailand scenery with a ride on the back of an elephant, went white water rafting and bamboo rafting, swam in a waterfall and visited a rural Thai community. It was one of the most memorable days we have spent travelling so far and felt very special as the place where we did elephant riding was beautiful. The animals are allowed to roam freely in massive fields and they are well looked after. We were the only ones riding and our elephant spent more time munching on the grass than walking but that's how we liked it. It was so peaceful and beautiful.

Countryside near Chaing Mai, views during our elephant ride.

The next day wasn't as good a day as we had booked to go to Tiger Kingdom a place where you can meet tigers. We had heard from several people that it's humane and that the animals are not drugged like they are in other places but once we had booked it someone told us that they are drugged. I was conflicted as being a vegetarian who is interested in animal welfare I was worried about supporting a place that may drug animals for tourists enjoyment. We went along and cuddled the massive tigers which was a scary experience. It's something that I won't do again as you can't be sure how the animals are really treated. They seemed happy while we were there and we have been reassured that they are so tame because they have grown up with humans and that the hot sun makes them subdued enough so that you can approach them. In the evening we went to a safari and saw lots of beautiful animals and fed many of them too.

Beautiful Laos Scenery.

Once we had finished our time in Northern Thailand we ventured across the border in to Laos. We crossed the border by boat and got our visa's organised riverside. Laos was such a whirlwind experience where we saw a new place everyday. We picked up some new people in Chaing Mai to spend the tour with, Bianca, Owen, Jim and Tanja. All four were Aussie's and they were all brilliant, hilarious people too. After seeing the White Temple near the Thai/Laos border Jim and Owen made some comments about the 'is he wax or real' monk that sits in the temple all day. They were so funny that we could hardly breathe through laughing.

Some of the experiences and things we did in Laos;

-Rented mopeds and rode the dusty Laos roads to see a waterfall.
-Sampled food in a night market (Craig tried ribs and buffalo, I stuck to bread and delicious deep fried banana!)

-Visited tribal villages.

-Had massages and facials in a quaint town with amazing river and mountain scenery.

-Toured caves and got from A to B with the aid of a long boat rather than the orange Stray bus.

-Visited rescued bears and swung into a waterfall with a rope swing.

-Had an amazing buffet dinner at the night market in Luang Prabang.

-Did infamous 'tubing' in Vang Vieng, so many memories but no photographs to show for it!

-City tour of Vientiane. (We said goodbye to half the group and continued South with Bianca, Owen and Simone.)
-Camped in a national park and went swimming in the river. Sampled Lao Lao in the evening. (Ridiculously strong whiskey!)
-Went 7 kilometres in to a pitch black cave by boat.

Entrance to the dark cave.

-Met local Laos children.

-Drove down tracks in 4x4's where the road is so bumpy we all had sore backs by the end.

-Visited sacred Turtle Lake and saw ancient writings on bamboo in a library.

-Dressed in Laos traditional dress.
-Slept in a Laos family home for the night.

-Walked around Monkey Village where the monkeys steal whatever they can.

-Toured a coffee plantation and learned the difference between arabica and robusta with 'Mr Coffee' a very interesting Dutchman!

-Saw massive spiders and moths and an amazing waterfall.

Amazing waterfall.

-Watched the sun set at a roof top bar.

-Went to Wat Phu, temples which pre-date Angkor Wat.

-Rode bicycles on Don Det, a beautiful island on the Mekong River.


Sun setting over Pakse.

As well as all the activities we ate lovely Laos food and met incredible people. We learned about the Laos language and culture and we saw some of the most beautiful landscapes that I have ever seen. We saw a country that not many people go to, or if they do while backpacking tend to do just party central Vang Vieng for the tubing and miss the rest. When we next find ourselves in Asia we will definately be going back to this amazing country and hope that it is still quiet and relatively undiscovered when we next go. We thank Amanda our Stray tour guide for being amazing and showing us this incredible place. 

 

The Stray Asia group in Vientiane.