More Adventures - South East Asia style!
Ah South East Asia....the last month has been a blur of hectic cities, beautiful nature, happy food and many, many buckets. Let me see if I can recall the crazy randomness that is travelling in Asia...
After leaving Thailand and my time volounteering, I jumped on a flight to Saigon, Vietnam to meet up with three amazing friends from home; Gabbie, Rhian and Kate, who happened to be travelling in the same area at the same time. Saigon was ridiculous. I've been in a lot of busy cities and this one was definitely right up there! Everyone rides on scooters, and the roads are always clogged up with them, rushing from this place to that. We checked out the Cu Chi tunnels while we were in Saigon, left over from the Vietnam war. I think my favourite sight in Saigon, though, was a naked man defacating in the middle of a 8 lane highway while the hundreds of scooters heading his way dodged him. Aaahhhh memories.
From Saigon we made our way to Rach Gia, in the hope of making it to the beautiful Phu Quoc island. But alas, it wasn't to be. We couldn't make the crossing due to bad weather. Next stop!? Cambodia...
We made it to Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on the South Coast. It was a really nice beach town, if not a tad touristy (nothing compared to the southern islands of Thailand i'm sure!). The immediate change in the attitude of the people was really tangible as well, comparing the more withdrawn cool facade of the Vietnamese to the warmth and openness of the Cambodians. It was really interesting! Anyway we spent a few days chilling out by the beach, snorkelling and feeling generally happy (they happen to make great pizzas there!). We went on a hike to a pretty unimpressive waterfall, but made friends with a lovely local dog who jumped in out tuk tuk and travelled with us all the way from Sihanoukville town to the walking track and hiked with us to the waterfall. Aaaaaawwwwwww.
What next? Pnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. Although it was a big city, I did really like Pnom Penh. We spent a couple of days here, and educated ourselves about the revolution and the awful things that happened in Cambodia while the Khmer Rouge were in power. We visited the killing fields. Although it was a really hard experience, and not particularly pleasant, i'm still glad we went and acknowledged these awful things happened.
We left Pnom Penh for Siem Reap, home of the amazing Angkor Wat. The ancient temples here are stunning, and most people probably know of them as being made famous by Angelina Jolie and Tomb Raider being filmed here. We had a fun party time in Siem Reap, we even had the dead skin eaten of the bottom of our feet by fish. That was until the fateful evening where I had a certain Chicken Tom Yum soup for dinner, and spent the next 24hrs in the agony of salmonella food poisoning. I think it was the worst i've ever felt, it was indescribable. Luckily Kate was sick at the same time, so we watched bad HBO movies and suffered together :) It made it a bit hard to really give Angkor Wat our all, but we managed to get to the site and see most of the main temples. We had these gorgeous puppies at our hostel in Siem Reap as well. They made me happy post salmonella :)
Next on our hit list was none other than the lovely Laos! We got to the 4000 islands in the South close to the Cambodian border at night time, which was fun as we got to take a river boat to our chosen island of Don Det in the pitch black with no light. The stars were phenomenal...We had a lovely time on the 4000 islands, chilling out, cycling and checking out the gorgeous waterfalls there. I even learnt how to play Poker which i'm very happy about :) I wish we'd had more time, but we had to get going to Vang Vien...
Ah Vang Vien. It was quite an adventure getting here catching many buses, including crazy night sleeper buses that actually had bunks in them. But we made it. Vang Vien is a small town set in a really beatiful area, on the river with gorgeous mountains surrounding it. However, most people head there for the crazy party. There are lots of bars set on the river and people go tubing all day down the river from bar to bar. They also go zip lining and down slides. While drinking. It gets messy, but it's good fun!!!
We had our fun in Vang Vien and got out while we could, before we got sucked into its traveller vortex. We made our way to the chilled Luang Prbang, in the north of Laos. There are some really gorgeous waterfalls here that we spent the day at. They have a really lovely handcraft night market, and an amazing view from the temple in the middle of town as well. Not much night life to speak of (the bars close at 11 due to curfew!) but we made our own fun at the after parties - a random seedy club, and my personal favourite, a bowling alley! I really love Laos, the people there are so chilled and friendly, and the scenery is stunning!! We were very sad to leave for Vietnam, our last stop!
We flew into Hanoi, and in less than 24 hrs in Vietnam I managed to have a fight with a Vietnamese guy at our hotel and completely shamed him (it's a very bad thing to yell at the Vietnamese - very culturally sensitive Corinne). He did deserve it though!! We lost Rhian to China, and then there were 3...
We made our way straight to Halong Bay, about 3 hrs from Hanoi and jumped on a boat for a 2 night cruise of the bay. It really is just so amazing there, the water is so calm and and an amazing colour green, the tall limestone islands loom over you and the sea hawks fly over head. We checked out some amazing caves, and made our own fun on the boat by way of drinking card games. We spent the next night on the freezing Cat Ba island (it was REALLY cold in the north of Vietnam), and went on a cool hike up the top of the mountain there.
The next day we made it back to Hanoi and as a treat got the executive suite in one of the fanciest hotels in town. We didn't do much in our last few days together but chill out and partay. Hanoi was really crazy and cold, and we weren't the biggest fans. Kate left us for Australia on Saturday, and Gabbie and I parted ways yesterday.
And here I am in Bangkok, again, ready for home!! Tomorrow I take a flight back to Sydney. This year has really been phenomenal. From living and working in New York City, to more Latin American adventures in Central America, volunteering in Thailand with the Elephants and experiencing random South East Asia. I've met the most amazing people along the way, and had the most profound experiences. I'm very, very lucky, and grateful.
And what does the next adventure hold in Sydney? Stay tuned!
TTFN xo
After leaving Thailand and my time volounteering, I jumped on a flight to Saigon, Vietnam to meet up with three amazing friends from home; Gabbie, Rhian and Kate, who happened to be travelling in the same area at the same time. Saigon was ridiculous. I've been in a lot of busy cities and this one was definitely right up there! Everyone rides on scooters, and the roads are always clogged up with them, rushing from this place to that. We checked out the Cu Chi tunnels while we were in Saigon, left over from the Vietnam war. I think my favourite sight in Saigon, though, was a naked man defacating in the middle of a 8 lane highway while the hundreds of scooters heading his way dodged him. Aaahhhh memories.
From Saigon we made our way to Rach Gia, in the hope of making it to the beautiful Phu Quoc island. But alas, it wasn't to be. We couldn't make the crossing due to bad weather. Next stop!? Cambodia...
We made it to Sihanoukville, Cambodia, on the South Coast. It was a really nice beach town, if not a tad touristy (nothing compared to the southern islands of Thailand i'm sure!). The immediate change in the attitude of the people was really tangible as well, comparing the more withdrawn cool facade of the Vietnamese to the warmth and openness of the Cambodians. It was really interesting! Anyway we spent a few days chilling out by the beach, snorkelling and feeling generally happy (they happen to make great pizzas there!). We went on a hike to a pretty unimpressive waterfall, but made friends with a lovely local dog who jumped in out tuk tuk and travelled with us all the way from Sihanoukville town to the walking track and hiked with us to the waterfall. Aaaaaawwwwwww.
What next? Pnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia. Although it was a big city, I did really like Pnom Penh. We spent a couple of days here, and educated ourselves about the revolution and the awful things that happened in Cambodia while the Khmer Rouge were in power. We visited the killing fields. Although it was a really hard experience, and not particularly pleasant, i'm still glad we went and acknowledged these awful things happened.
We left Pnom Penh for Siem Reap, home of the amazing Angkor Wat. The ancient temples here are stunning, and most people probably know of them as being made famous by Angelina Jolie and Tomb Raider being filmed here. We had a fun party time in Siem Reap, we even had the dead skin eaten of the bottom of our feet by fish. That was until the fateful evening where I had a certain Chicken Tom Yum soup for dinner, and spent the next 24hrs in the agony of salmonella food poisoning. I think it was the worst i've ever felt, it was indescribable. Luckily Kate was sick at the same time, so we watched bad HBO movies and suffered together :) It made it a bit hard to really give Angkor Wat our all, but we managed to get to the site and see most of the main temples. We had these gorgeous puppies at our hostel in Siem Reap as well. They made me happy post salmonella :)
Next on our hit list was none other than the lovely Laos! We got to the 4000 islands in the South close to the Cambodian border at night time, which was fun as we got to take a river boat to our chosen island of Don Det in the pitch black with no light. The stars were phenomenal...We had a lovely time on the 4000 islands, chilling out, cycling and checking out the gorgeous waterfalls there. I even learnt how to play Poker which i'm very happy about :) I wish we'd had more time, but we had to get going to Vang Vien...
Ah Vang Vien. It was quite an adventure getting here catching many buses, including crazy night sleeper buses that actually had bunks in them. But we made it. Vang Vien is a small town set in a really beatiful area, on the river with gorgeous mountains surrounding it. However, most people head there for the crazy party. There are lots of bars set on the river and people go tubing all day down the river from bar to bar. They also go zip lining and down slides. While drinking. It gets messy, but it's good fun!!!
We had our fun in Vang Vien and got out while we could, before we got sucked into its traveller vortex. We made our way to the chilled Luang Prbang, in the north of Laos. There are some really gorgeous waterfalls here that we spent the day at. They have a really lovely handcraft night market, and an amazing view from the temple in the middle of town as well. Not much night life to speak of (the bars close at 11 due to curfew!) but we made our own fun at the after parties - a random seedy club, and my personal favourite, a bowling alley! I really love Laos, the people there are so chilled and friendly, and the scenery is stunning!! We were very sad to leave for Vietnam, our last stop!
We flew into Hanoi, and in less than 24 hrs in Vietnam I managed to have a fight with a Vietnamese guy at our hotel and completely shamed him (it's a very bad thing to yell at the Vietnamese - very culturally sensitive Corinne). He did deserve it though!! We lost Rhian to China, and then there were 3...
We made our way straight to Halong Bay, about 3 hrs from Hanoi and jumped on a boat for a 2 night cruise of the bay. It really is just so amazing there, the water is so calm and and an amazing colour green, the tall limestone islands loom over you and the sea hawks fly over head. We checked out some amazing caves, and made our own fun on the boat by way of drinking card games. We spent the next night on the freezing Cat Ba island (it was REALLY cold in the north of Vietnam), and went on a cool hike up the top of the mountain there.
The next day we made it back to Hanoi and as a treat got the executive suite in one of the fanciest hotels in town. We didn't do much in our last few days together but chill out and partay. Hanoi was really crazy and cold, and we weren't the biggest fans. Kate left us for Australia on Saturday, and Gabbie and I parted ways yesterday.
And here I am in Bangkok, again, ready for home!! Tomorrow I take a flight back to Sydney. This year has really been phenomenal. From living and working in New York City, to more Latin American adventures in Central America, volunteering in Thailand with the Elephants and experiencing random South East Asia. I've met the most amazing people along the way, and had the most profound experiences. I'm very, very lucky, and grateful.
And what does the next adventure hold in Sydney? Stay tuned!
TTFN xo
posted by Corinne @ 8:24 PM
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