Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

November 22^nd – November 27^th 2011

We got up early and proceeded to the office where we would be getting our coach to take us from the Cameron Highlands to Kuala Lumpur. Once on the coach we were pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. We settled in for the journey,  once we got to the bus station in Kuala Lumpur we realised we didn’t have a clue where we were in relation to the city or where our hostel was that we had booked online.We approached some taxi drivers but the amounts they were quoting seemed far too much so we walked around for a bit before finding a more reasonably priced taxi. I jumped in the back and Craig jumped in front. I quickly noticed that there were cockroaches in the taxi, climbing on to my rucksack and walking on the chairs and ceiling. I spent the entire journey watching and waiting for one to fall in my hair but luckily none did. Once at our hostel which even the taxi driver had trouble finding I jumped out and dusted myself down, paranoid that they were all over me!

 Once we settled in to our hostel we went out in search of food. We got lost in the market next door which had aisle upon aisle of fruit, vegetables, meat and fish as well as the usual clothes and ‘tat’.  The market was buzzing and busy with locals but I couldn’t help but feel like we were being stared at.

Colourful fruit stall

 It was our first full day in Kuala Lumpur, a brand new city to explore. After breakfast we caught the bus to the famous Petronus Towers.  We stood and admired the towers which were a true sight to behold. The building shimmered in the light and the towers spiralled high into the sky where the mist concealed the tips. After the obligatory photo stop we went inside and had a look in windows of Gucci, Versace and Tiffany. It’s safe to say that these shops are well out of our price range! Instead of shopping we decided to go to Petrosains Science Museum which is housed of one of the towers floors. After an interesting ride to get into the museum we made our way through each exhibit which were all well laid out and factual. Of course we had a go at pretty much all the interactive aspects of the museum which was good fun. 

Petronus Towers

We finished the museum just in time for a showing of Tin Tin at the cinema so we quickly bought tickets and lots of snacks and sat down to enjoy the film. Afterwards we made our way back to Hostel Cosmopolitan and had dinner at the Indian next door. For under £11 we went to a good museum, went to the cinema and had various snacks as well as popcorn and drinks and paid for dinner and our public transport around the city. It’s really satisfying having a fun and busy day and still come in under budget. 

We woke up early the next day and ventured on the monorail to the KL Central train station, one annoyance with Kuala Lumpur is that the different public transport systems don’t link up very well so we caught the monorail then got lost walking to the train station as signage is also terrible! Eventually we managed to book our train ticket to Singapore. After another battle with public transport we got to the Islamic Arts Museum which was very informative and housed a beautiful collection of Islamic artefacts. The Islamic writings with gold embellishments were exquisite and very inspirational too. The museum was also housing a temporary exhibition about the Indian people that went to Australia and helped set up the modern country as we know it today and their work with the camels. It was great learning about the stories of individual people that helped build Australia but are unfortunately forgotten about today. After the museum we walked to the Botanical Gardens and found some deer in an enclosure. We watched them until the sun became too hot so we walked into the shade of the gardens. We wandered around aimlessly enjoying the flowers and the warmth of the sun and cooled down with an ice lolly before the heavens decided to shower us with rain. It only lasted a few minutes but we started to head back anyway. 

Sign on our walk to the gardens

We decided to go to Batu Caves today under the recommendation of the hostel’s receptionist. We caught the bus there and Craig had sense to ask where the bus would pick up from and it was lucky he did as it wasn’t signposted and we never would have found it ourselves. We walked to the base of the steps and looked up; there were lots to climb in order to get to the caves! We started making our ascent and paused to watch the dozens of monkeys frolicking about pouncing on people’s shoulders if there was any sign of food.  Eventually we made it to the top and were rewarded with stunning views over the city and surrounding suburbs. We ventured into the vast cave and found a few shrines decorated with flower garlands. Unfortunately the monkeys seemed to have developed a taste for the flowers and began stealing them to eat whenever a garland was laid down. We took some photographs of the naughty monkeys, one of which was eating an ice lolly! We also noticed a snake which was climbing up the steep cave wall. Once we had seen all there was to be seen in the cave we ventured back down the steps and bought a coconut to try the coconut water, it wasn’t what we imagined as it was warm and tasted a bit off so we drank what we could and threw the rest away. 

Monkey in Batu Caves

Monkey enjoying an ice lolly

We waved goodbye to the giant golden statue that stands at the foot of the steps and caught the bus back into the city. We went to the Menara Tower and paid to go to the top observation deck. The views were absolutely breathtaking. We could see for absolute miles and could even see the golden statue outside the Batu Caves by telescope. Included in the price was admission to the animal zone. We went in but weren’t impressed with the enclosures that the animals were given which were small and cramped. There was an albino monkey, rabbits, snakes and spiders as well as a two headed turtle. 

Views from the top of the Menara Tower

On our last day in KL we took it easy and went souvenir shopping at Central Market. I managed to get some presents for my cousins Lily and Chase and sent them home in a parcel straight away. As we walked back to our hostel under a moody sky we could smell the distinct scent of durians wafting through the air from a market stall. 

Petronus Towers glowing at night

Cameron Highlands, Malaysia

November 18th - 22nd 2011

We left Penang by bus and made our way to the Cameron Highlands. The further along the journey we went the more twisted the roads were getting and the blue skies turned more misty and overcast like we were heading up into the clouds. We got to our final destination which was Tanah Rata one of the main towns in the Highlands. We looked around the town and tried to find some cheap accommodation but everywhere seemed a bit pricey. One hotel owner was lovely and pointed us in the direction of a really cheap place to stay so we headed there and booked a tiny attic room with shared bathroom facilities for 20 ringgit a night, one of the cheapest places we have stayed so far!It consists of a mattress on the floor and just enough space to put our big rucksacks, and that's it!

We went out and explored and found two cheap Indian restaurants next to each other competing for business so we ate in one of them. We also discovered that as Tanah Rata is so high up it actually gets pretty cold so for the first time in a long time I was back in my jeans the only trousers I have bought with me on the trip. We booked a morning tour of the surrounding area for the following day and settled into our tiny room for the night.

One of Craig's Indian dinners

We got up for our morning tour and met the guide and his 4X4. We picked up the other passengers and made our way up the hills to a 'BOH' tea plantation. The landscape was picture perfect and the guide explained to us the hard life that the tea pickers have. Most come from India for 5 years in order to support their families. They work 8 hours a day for 6 days a week and have to pick so much tea to make it worthwhile. We took some photo's of the landscape, tea plants rippling over the hills for acres and acres before moving on to the entrance to the mossy forest. The guide took a handful of common moss and tossed it in the air to show how light it is and then squeezed it tight to allow all of the water inside to gush out, it was unbelievable just how much water the moss holds and explains why it is so important in the ecosystem of the forest.

Tea plantations

The guide then led us into the forest and warned us about the mud and deep boggy patches, a British guy on the tour was wearing brand new white trainers and you could hear him moaning and cursing every time he got a speck of mud on it, bad choice of footwear! In some parts the mud was so deep and at one point I got caught out and my entire left converse got covered in dark composty mud, fortunately they've seen a lot worse on this trip so I wasn't fussed. We eventually came to the mossy forest part of the trip where the floor is bouncy due to the moss and it's growing on everything, the guide refers to the area as that of the world in the film Avatar.We climbed further and reached the highest peak and took in the views over the forest below.

Views over the forest

We then went to the BOH tea plantation headquarters and watched how the tea is turned from green leaf to drinkable tea leaves and sampled some cake from the on site cafe in the modern glass cube it is housed in with views out to the rows of tea plants. The last stop of the day was a butterfly farm. The butterflies were a little few and far between but it hardly cost anything to get in and we also saw turtles, snakes and insects. As we left the heavens opened and we dashed back to the car for a bumpy ride back to Tanah Rata.

Butterfly

Mossy forest

The following day we went to MARDI which houses plants, flowers, vegetables and strawberries one of the highlands most famous exports. We tried strawberry juice and ice cream and wondered around the farm taking in the beautiful orchids and roses on display.

On our last day we went for a walk and stopped at a nice cafe to sample the cream tea. The tea, scones and jam were nice but the cream was from can so we were disappointed having been used to traditional clotted cream at home! Dinner was at the Indian, the portions of naan breads are so big that I had been living off of them as they come with three dipping sauces, a lentil dahl, a minty sauce and something else which was a bit too spicy for me so I left well alone! We enjoyed our time in the highlands and it was lovely being somewhere a bit chilly for a change as we've had months of sun and humidity. The following day we were off to Kuala Lumpur.

Cream tea in Tanah Rata

Penang, Malaysia

November 12th - 17th 2011


We made the journey from Langkawi to Penang by ferry, once in Penang we got conned a little by a taxi driver who made out that our guesthouse was 20 minutes away when it turned out to be within walking distance so that was slightly annoying. The taxi driver's were all so lovely and reliable in Langkawi that we weren't expecting to be overcharged! Tim the manager at our Love Lane hotel/guesthouse was great and suggested a walking route to familiarise ourselves with the city of Georgetown which is the main hub of Penang. On our walk we saw the City Hall and Town Hall which due to the influence of the British and Europeans in this part of Malaysia were very familiar looking. We walked along the Esplanade and past Fort Corwallis and the Queen Victoria Memorial Clock Tower. After the grand architecture of one part of Georgetown we moved on to Little India  for dinner and to experience the sights and sounds of the bustling area.

For our first full day in Penang we ventured to the Botanical Garden's which was a bus ride away. The gardens were lovely and we enjoyed fresh pineapple on the lawn and watched the locals chasing the monkeys. After the gardens we caught the bus to 'The World's Largest Toy Museum'. It was actually a fairly small space but absolutely packed to the rafters with toys of all sorts from Barbie to Disney to horror movie memorabelia. Craig absolutely loved it and it definately entertained a few hours.

 

Toy Museum

The next day we went to the local art gallery and saw a retrospective on local artist Eric Quah. His work consisted mostly of painting and collage and reflected his life of travelling and connections to Penang and his family. After the exhibition we took the bus to the beautiful Kek Lok Si Temple. We climbed to the top through the dozens of souvenir shops and past the sacred turtles and finally reached the quiet and peaceful atmosphere of the temple. We climbed up some stairs and found candles quietly burning and incense sticks filling the air with fragrance. There was a colourful wishing tree where you can donate money to put a 'wish' on the tree which is a piece of coloured ribbon with messages on it like World Peace or Health or Success.
 

Candles burning in the Temple

 We paid to take the lift to the top of the hill where there was a huge golden statue of Buddha and a beautiful outlook over the surrounding area and town below. There were statues of the Chinese Zodiac which were interesting and a pond filled with Carp fish. We took the lift back down and visited the Kek Lok Si Pagoda which we climbed to the top of. At the bottom of the Pagoda there was a beautiful garden filled with every colour of flower imaginable. A class seemed to be taking place in the bottom room of the tower but we couldn't understand what was being taught, no doubt something on the teachings of Buddha. The White Pagoda is noted as one of Penang's 'most beautiful architectural wonders' and features a Chinese octagonal base, a Thai middle tier and a Burmese crown.


The White Pagoda



Wishing Tree ribbon

 We made another bus journey, this time to the North West side of the island where we went to the National Park followed by the Penang Butterfly Farm. The park was lovely, we used ropes to climb over some parts of the muddy path and other bits were an easy walk over wooden walkways. We saw a very long line of ants walk from the top of one tree along the floor and onto a concrete wall, it was like something from Attenborough! We walked to Monkey Beach so named because of the wild monkeys that live there! We sat peacefully on a rock watching the waves crash down below and turned round to see the monkeys all around us, Craig had visions that they were working on pushing us into the water but they slowly wandered off. We had lunch at a street stall and walked to the Penang Butterfly Farm which was lovely athough the turantula's that they also had on display were not. 


Monkey's in the National Park

On our last day in Penang we organised our travel to the Cameron Highlands the next stop on our trip and went to the Penang State Museum which was cheap to get into and was very informative although the fee was worth the air conditioning alone as it was an incredibly hot day.

All in all we loved Penang and everything it had to offer. We were able to travel easily all over the island and saw lots of sights and met great Malaysian people too. The only draw back for me was the food as there was a lack of vegetarian choice so I lived off big portions of fries with ketchup and mayonaise and buttered corn on the cob all week, not healthy but actually delicious!

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.



Bangkok, Thailand

 

October 5th - October 11th 2011

We left Cambodia for Thailand by bus and were sad to say goodbye to our Siem Reap accomodation called 'Prohm Roth Guesthouse'. The guesthouse which is run by the Suon brothers couldn't have been more helpful and friendly. They offered a free breakfast every morning and on the day that we left were running a little late with the breakfasts so they packed up our American style pancakes and even a little bag of maple syrup for us to take before waving us goodbye. Definately recommended if you ever want to visit Angkor Wat. The journey by bus was another interesting one, I got the window seat and regretted in when cockroaches emerged and started running up and down the curtains, the bus broke down in the middle of nowhere too.



Street scene in Bangkok

We eventually got to the Thai border and had to walk with our heavy rucksacks to the immigration centre. We had a bit of a nightmare as we had Thai visa's which we didn't want to activate until we returned to Thailand from Laos in a few weeks time. Arriving at a Thai border overland gives you 15 days in the country visa free and we wanted to utilise this and use our actual visa when we would want to stay in Thailand for longer than 15 days after Laos. We had read online that we could do this in the forums but when we came to do it we had no choice but to use our visa as we already had the visa stamp in our passports. Annoying but at least we were over the border. It meant that after Laos we would either have to organise another visa or only stay in Thailand for 15 days.

We continued the journey by minivan in to Bangkok and got dropped off, luckily I had seen the street we were staying on as we passed so after a 10 minute walk we were there withour getting lost. We woke up on our first morning in Bangkok and had designs on going to the Grand Palace. We walked there from our guesthouse grabbing lunch at a Seven Eleven on the way. We walked through the open green space called Sanum Luang and ended up walking the long way round the Palace as we couldn't find the entrance. A tuk tuk driver came up to us telling us that the Palace was closed for the day but that he could take us on a tour of the city, he then took my guide book and map and started writing all over it demonstrating where we could go. I had read about this in my guidebook as it's a scam that is very common in Bangkok, they tell you an attraction is closed, promise a city tour and then take you to workshops and factories and force you in to buying things, they get a commision from it. I warned Craig while his back was turned and we started to walk away. He then threatened us with a fist gesture and said basically if he saw us get in another tuk tuk he would beat us up. He then watched us as we walked away. Not the best first impression of the city!

We got to the palace entrance but Craig was wearing cut off trousers and there is a strict dress code (no exposed legs, open toed shoes or flip flops, no exposed shoulders etc) so we decided to come back tomorrow when we were appropriately dressed. We were feeling a bit down after being threatened and our planned days activity which we'd looked forward to being a no-go. We had a sit down in the park and decided that as the Bangkok National Museum was just two minutes away we would do that instead. We paid 200 baht to enter and wandered around the exhibits. It wasn't the best museum and seemed quite run down in comparison with the Angkor museum but the exhibits got a bit more interesting towards the end. The museum showcased examples of wood carving, puppets, mother of pearl inlay, weaponry, ivory, textiles as well as a history of Thailand exhibition. After the museum we had a picnic in the park and walked to Khao San Road the infamous backpackers road in Bangkok. We found a bookshop and bought Herman Melville's Moby Dick and Dan Brown The Da Vinci Code, random combination!

Day two we booked the first day of our Stray Asia tour for the 11th and walked to The Grand Palace suitably covered up this time. The Grand Palace was an amazing sight to behold. The temples are covered in sparkling mirrors, brightly coloured plasterwork and mosaics and jewels. Gold shimmered everywhere you looked. Walls were covered in beautiful painted murals with gold leaf and statues were also adhourned with gold and jewels. We took our time walking around the Palace which is a maze of buildings and courtyards and took photos as we went. One of the temples showcases the famous Emerald Buddha which we admired sat on the floor of the temple. Unfortunately some areas of the palace were out of bounds due to prayer sessions or building works so we weren't able to see everything that the complex had to offer. On the way out we had a look in the coin museum before making our way out to the park. A group of uniformed soliders had made formation outside on the road and we watched as they marched into the palace presumably performing the changing of the guard. We sat on a bench in the park and were approached by several Thai men asking where we were from, where we were going etc, some were friendly enough and some were trying to scam us into a shopping tour like yesterday. We were polite but as soon as any converstaion moved on to a tour we moved away.



The Grand Palace

Detail of a mural in The Grand Palace



Changing of the guard

After the Grand Palace and the park we walked quite a distance to the Golden Mount. We began climbing the steps to the top and admired the beautiful views over the city.



Views from the top of The Golden Mount

As it was now the weekend we decided to go to the weekend market which was a walk and a bus ride away. It was probably the biggest market that we have ever been to. Full to the brim with stalls selling just about eveything including puppies, kittens, bunny rabbits, fish and aquariums, furniture, clothes, shoes, food and so much more. We wandered around the stands and stalls for hours and bought a few bits and pieces as well as little chocolate cupcakes. We eventually made our way home and had dinner down Khao San Road, the food was average and when it came to paying the bill the staff tried to con us into paying more. When we tried to argue it about 5 members of staff got involved making a big scene as they were claiming we had eaten food that we hadn't ordered. We paid more than we should have and left in a bad mood cursing Bangkok yet again!

Cupcakes from The Weekend Market

We decided to take a canal boat to MBK a massive shopping centre because Craig needed a new backpack and we had heard that there was a cinema there. As we're both big film fans, we really wanted to get back some normality and see a film on the big screen. We took the boat which was very cheap and offered views of the houses and people by the canal which was interesting to see. We got off at the Siam Square stop and made our way to MBK. Just like the market the day before the shopping mall was huge. We looked around the stalls and shops and bought cinema tickets to see Contagion which was in English with Thai subtitles. We enjoyed the film and the novelty of having to stand for the national anthem just before it played. The cinema also served the most amazing caramel popcorn too. Craig managed to get a great new backpack for a good price too so it was a good day at MBK!

We spent the morning of our last full day in Bangkok at the post office so that Craig could send home his Cambodian artwork and we walked to Dusit Zoo. The Zoo was ok but as we've found with a lot of Asian Zoo's the amount of space the animals are given is not very much. We enjoyed seeing the animals but felt bad for them as yet again they looked bored and weren't given enough room to roam. We fed the elephants banana's and one took the whole basket out of my hands, once it had fallen on the floor he scooped up all the fruit and then handed back the basket to be put away which was funny to watch. One of the elephants had been taught a variety of tricks which were mind blowing. I enjoyed watching the elephant but couldn't help wondering how they train them to do these tricks. The trainer was using a stick to lightly touch pressure points which the elephant responds to but who knows whether the elephant was hit with the stick in the training process.

Elephant at Dusit Zoo

Bangkok has probably been our least favourite place that we have visited on our travels. It's the first place that we have felt worried about people talking to us, mostly because of being threatened and then the numerous people that tried talking us into a tuk tuk tour when we were sat in the park or walking along. We tried not to let the experience in Bangkok ruin our impression of Thailand as cities tend to be completely different to the rest of the country. We were looking forward to the start of our Stray Asia tour where we would get to see Northern Thailand and the whole of Laos which we had heard great things about.