The Best and Worst Moments of South East Asia

It's difficult to summarise my travelling in one post as so much happened and I experienced a lot of incredible things. However, travelling isn't just one big happy holiday, there are times where all you want to do is go home. I think it takes a particular type of person to withstand the challenges of long term travel, and I can 100% say that I am not the type. Since returning, I can honestly say that not once have I wanted to return at this moment in time. I certainly miss my adventures and am so happy I went but in all honesty, my life and home is here. I have my future career here, which isn't available abroad, so I'm grateful to have travelled but thankful that it only lasted 4 months.

So, as I experienced many highs but equally many lows, here are my best and worst travel moments!

BEST: Going to a Cat Cafe in Bangkok

This is an experience I have always wanted to do, and I finally ticked it off my bucket list in Bangkok. Just down the road from the MBK shopping centre is a really cool cat cafe! You can go in a have food and drink, whilst playing with the cats. We were lucky to have our own sat on our table which we could brush!

WORST: Turning up to our Koh Tao hostel

After enduring an 8-hour overnight bus and boat journey, the only thing on our minds was a nice shower and a clean room. Our hostel turned out to have anything but these things. The shower was absolutely disgusting and full of spiders (my biggest fear), and the rooms were so tiny that you could hardly move. The mattresses were like A&E plastic mats, and there were only two showers between the whole hostel. TWO!! Not only that, but because we had arrived at 9am, we had to wait until 2pm to check in after being up pretty much the entire night. Not about that travel life.

Around 5am in the morning, catching the boat to Koh Tao

BEST: Winning bowling whilst drunk in Laos

In Luang Prabang, there is not much nightlife. The main bar that every backpacker goes to closes at 11.15pm, so instead of going to bed, everyone goes... bowling! Yep, the bowling alley is open to 2am and serves alcohol, which means you can get drunk and bowl at the same time. Who knew that I was so good at bowling whilst being intoxicated?

WORST: Contracting a nasty virus in Bali

On our last day in Bali, I caught a horrible virus that left me feeling sick, faint, and incredibly tired. Not only that, but I also had to get up at 5am the next morning for what was the longest ferry journey to Lombok (which also doesn't have a proper hospital). I have never felt as ill as I have, and luckily it only lingered for about a week. My other side effects included puffy eyes, loss of appetite, swollen tonsils and my lymph nodes in my groin were tender and painful for about a week after. I thought I had contracted malaria! Thank god it didn't get any worse.

BEST: Tubing on the Mekong River

Whether you like it or not, everyone mainly visits Vang Vieng in Laos to go tubing, which is basically drinking in a rubber ring whilst floating down a river. You can stop off at bars along the way to grab some drinks. It might sound dangerous, but it is actually a lot of fun! At one point, I was very tipsy and the current was so strong that I was clinging on for dear life to a wooden pole whilst trying to hold on to my friends. The water wasn't deep so your chances of drowning are pretty slim, and as long as you are a sensible drinker, it can be a very fun experience!

WORST: Taking a hungover flight to Hue

Somehow we decided it would be a good idea to get way too drunk in Hanoi the night before our flight to Hue. This resulted in us meeting a friendly Vietnamese/American in a bar where he proceeded to buy us a lot of drinks, then dancing with some Americans in a club and trying the local delicacy of fried chicken feet, kindly offered to us by a lovely Vietnamese couple. It's safe to say that I woke up feeling pretty rough (and still drunk) the next morning. Throw a flight into the mix and you have the world's worst hangover. That's a day I never want to relive ever again.

My new Vietnamese friend

BEST: Watching Beauty and the Beast and eating Domino's in Hanoi

By this point, I was over half way into my travels and it had been a long time since I had tried any western food or visited a western style mall. I was also desperate to see Beauty and the Beast, so we hopped in a cab to take us to the nearest mall. Oh boy, this mall was so clean and shiny, which is exactly what I needed. We had Domino's pizza which is expensive for Vietnamese standards, but cheap for the UK. After, we went to the nicest cinema so I could finally get my Disney fix. I wouldn't have changed that day for anything.

WORST: Being on a bus that hit a motorcyclist in Ho Chi Minh

Whilst on our way to the Cu Chi tunnels, our crazy bus driver hit a motorcyclist off his bike whilst turning. My friend Charlotte was sitting by the window and saw the whole thing, and when I looked, all I could see was the man lying in a pool of blood on the floor with one leg at a right angle. Luckily there were two doctors on our bus who immediately went to help him. Another lucky scenario was the fact that we were close to a hospital. The paramedics turned up in what I can only describe as a trailer type ambulance, and the man was treated. It was scary stuff, and I'm confident that he had only broken his leg and cut his head. Vietnam is notorious for dangerous moped drivers, but when you are personally involved in a crash, that's when you realise just how much of an issue it is. The worst part? Our poor tour guide who had been flung into the windscreen during the collision then had to carry on leading our tour. Poor him!

BEST: Our day tour of Lombok from the locals

Lombok is a very quiet yet beautiful island. The best way to see it is to hire a guide for the day to take you to the main sites like the Tiu Kelep waterfall.  Our guide drove us around and let us experience the true Lombok. We were accompanied by his trainee (Apenkz) who was only 17 and really interested in improving his English. They drove us everywhere and our tour lasted the entire day. At the end, they took us to a secluded beach so we could watch the sunset, and it was here that I truly experienced the peace and tranquillity of Lombok. They also bought us some Ramadan local street food that most tourists don't get to try. It was delicious and is only available during Ramadan, so we really experienced the local way of life. It was one of my favourite days and the best thing is that I still have Apenkz on facebook, so can keep in contact with him!

Lombok Sunset

WORST: Bus journey to Pai

If you get motion sickness, you may want to prepare yourself for the bus journey from Chiang Mai to Pai. It has 762 turns, which resulted in the windiest bus journey of my entire life. Couple that with the fact that we were crammed into the back with very little leg room, and you have the journey from hell. The couple in front of us unfortunately couldn't handle the turns and suffered from motion sickness, which led to the rest of our journey smelling like vomit. Oh, there's also no way back other than the way you came, so you have to endure the same journey again. This time, I was sitting near the front and literally got flung from me seat whilst wearing a seat belt. Not for the faint hearted!

Discovering South East Asian Food

Having just returned from spending four months in South East Asia, I was thinking of all the things I miss, and the top one has to be the food.

Food is a big part of Asian culture. It brings together family and involves tradition and religion. You will find it everywhere in any country, with one ingredient playing a big part everywhere, and that is rice. I have never consumed as much rice as I have in those four months.

This is obviously because rice is grown on a mass scale there. No matter where you go, you will come across rice paddies and farmers sowing the grains. Vietnam and Thailand are some of the biggest rice exporters, so it's a cheap, staple ingredient.

Something that will always be on the menu- fried rice

Following shortly behind as a main ingredient is noodles, which can be served in a variety of ways such as fried or boiled.

Even though the ingredients found in each country are similar, I still found that each country had very different cuisines. Part of the fun in travelling is exploring and trying new foods. In this blog post, I am going to share with you some of my favourite dishes I discovered.

Thailand

Khao Soi

This was my first country and a very well-known cuisine. You will find Thai restaurants everywhere, as well as many ingredients within supermarkets. Aside from the famous Thai green curry and Pad Thai noodles, I discovered a delicious dish in Chiang Mai, called Khao Soi.

Sort of like a creamy curry/soup, this dish is mild in spiciness and so tasty. It features boiled egg noodles and usually some form of meat, like chicken, in a fragrant curry, similar to massaman or yellow curry. It is finished off with crispy egg noodles garnished on top. This contains more coconut milk to give it the creamy, mild taste which is nice if, like me you are not a fan of too much spice. I actually made Khao Soi in a cooking class, which features in the picture below!

Baked Pineapple Rice

Not specific to Thailand but I first tried this in Koh Samui. Basically it is half a pineapple with the flesh scooped out, and then the rice mixed with pineapple chunks, various vegetables and spices are baked in the pineapple. Most people would think pineapple would not go with rice, but it does and it works!

Banana Pancakes

Again, found everywhere in Asia but this consists of a fried, roti-style pancake with banana slices sandwiched in the middle, then drizzled with chocolate and condensed milk. I have to say, they don't beat English or American style pancakes but it was nice to try something different for dessert, and you will find pancake food vendors on almost every main street.

Street Pad Thai

Laos

Laap

This is considered the national dish and is simply made up of minced meat (I had chicken) cooked with assorted vegetables, bean sprouts and spices. It is served with sticky rice which was served to me in the traditional basket, along with a side salad. Although basic, this dish is still very tasty and is usually served at room temperature.

Vietnam

Pho

Not my first time trying this but I loved how simple and delicious pho is. Usually eaten for breakfast, it is basically noodle soup with any choice of meat. I went for chicken but pho can be found almost everywhere in Vietnam.

Banh mi

I tried my first banh mi in Hanoi, and I was blown away by the one I had from Banh My P restaurant. It is basically a sandwich using baguette bread. I opted for just an egg one, and at only 15,000 dong (less than £1), it was so tasty! Most come with salad but this particular one had various sauces that I had no idea what they were, almost like a coleslaw and the bread was so crusty that it was amazing! Banh mi can be found everywhere in Vietnam and come in many varieties, including pork, chicken and even liver pate.

Vietnamese Coffee

My love for Asian coffee began in Vietnam. I have such a sweet tooth for sweet coffee, and all Asian coffee is mixed with sweetened condensed milk. This is heaven for a coffee drinker like myself and is best served over ice, perfect for cooling down from the Asian heat! Vietnamese is strong and very flavoursome. The photo below is just an ordinary iced coffee, but usually the coffee drips down into the cup from a French drip filter.

Egg Coffee

Sounds strange but something that had to be tried. Vietnamese coffee is very strong and usually is mixed with condensed milk. This one however, is mixed with raw egg and sugar, which forms a thick, silky layer on the top. Sounds disgusting right? It was strange to drink at first, but was still tasty. It took me a while to get over the fact that I was drinking raw eggs, and I'm not sure I would opt for it in the future but nevertheless, it is still something you have to try.

Cau Lau

Found mainly in Hoi An, this dish consists of noodles, pork slices and local greens. It is simple, filling and very flavoursome.

Mi Quang

Found in Hoi An as well, this dish is made up of noodles in a broth with pork, shrimp, vegetables and added extras like a hard boiled egg, peanuts and crackers.

Cambodia

Fish Amok

A creamy, mild curry served with rice. This Cambodian dish is very popular and one of the tastiest curries I've ever tried. I loved it so much I had it almost every night! It consists of similar ingredients to most curries, with a lot of coconut cream and uses fresh local fish. I learnt to cook this at a cookery school in Siem Reap (Le Tigre de Papier- highly recommended) and it is usually served in a banana leaf.

Mango and Carrot Salad

Not specific to Cambodia but it was another dish I learnt to make at the cooking school. It is so simple to prepare and only consists of shredded mango and carrot drizzled in a spicy dressing. Simply, healthy and delicious.

Mango Sticky Rice

You're probably more likely to find this in Thailand but this was the dessert I learnt to cook in Cambodia. It seems strange pairing rice with mango, but it works. The glutinous rice is cooked in coconut milk, then sugar is added and it is served with sliced mango. It makes the perfect dessert.

Indonesia

Gado Gado

Oh my, this may be my favourite dish from the entire trip. Not very well known over here, Gado Gado is an Indonesian salad. It is so simple and uses cucumber, blanched cabbage and beansprouts, tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, fried tofu and is sometimes served with rice. What makes it so special is the peanut sauce. I don't know how they make it, but it is wonderful and smothered on top of the vegetables. Seriously, this is a must eat if you are ever in Indonesia!


Satay

Ok, so this can also be found across most of asia, but it consists of chicken/pork/tofu on a stick which you dip into peanut sauce.

Ramadan street food

Whilst on a tour in Lombok, our local guides gave us some street food that is only eaten during Ramadan and by the locals. Food stalls are set up close to sunset where the locals will buy food to eat after fasting has finished. We tried local fried fish on skewers which was marinated in a spicy coating. We also tried a sort of salad along with rice that was essentially compacted into a cone shape. My word, this salad was incredibly spicy but was so good at the same time! You eat it with your hands and the different flavours and textures were amazing, but my mouth was on fire at the end! Not for the faint hearted!

Singapore

Kaya Toast

A Singaporean staple breakfast! I discovered this from my guide book and this is consumed by the locals in the morning. It is basically two pieces of thin toast with kaya jam (made from coconut and eggs) and butter in the middle. For the full experience, you can order it with two soft boiled eggs with the addition of white pepper and soy sauce. The bread is then used to mop up the eggs, although I haven't tried this. It is usually served alongside a cup of kopi, which itself is amazing and is almost chocolatey!

Malaysia

Nasi Lemak

A breakfast dish eaten in Malaysia which is made up of rice cooked in coconut milk served with fried chicken, peanuts, a hard boiled egg, fried anchovies and a spicy sambal sauce. I couldn't face eating this for breakfast, so I had it for dinner instead and it was really tasty.

Roti Canai
  
Malaysia's dishes are heavily influenced by the people living there, mainly made up of Malays, Chinese and Indians. This brings a variety of cuisines including a lot of Indian food. A must try is roti flatbread which can be served with a huge array of side dishes. I tried it with a lentil dhal but it can be served with any type of curry. You simply tear off a chunk and dip it into the curry. It doesn't have to savoury either, I tried dipping it into condensed milk which was equally as delicious. Various toppings can be used involving a mixture of savoury and sweet.

An Indian Curry Spread

Trek America: Las Vegas

This post begins with my experience of flying over the Grand Canyon in a helicopter! Seriously if you have the money to do this, do it!! Yeah it's expensive, but where else can you fly over one of the most amazing natural wonder of the world and experience it from above?

I highly recommend you save up for this, it is 100% worth it and the views are absolutely incredible. As I was the only one from my group doing it, I got to sit in the front and had the prime view of the canyon. I also had a super cool pilot who played the best music in our headphones that just made the experience even more incredible!

It was roughly 45 minutes long, but you are so in awe that time flies by and before you know it, you are back on the ground.

I flew with Maverick Helicopters

After all that excitement, the day just kept getting better as we headed to Las Vegas! On the way, we stopped at the Hoover Dam to see how huge it is (it's really big and worth seeing). Next stop was VEGAS BABY!!!!

Hoover Dam

I have dreamt of visiting Vegas for a long time, so actually driving down the strip was amazing. After a very rushed check-in to our hotel (we stayed at the Golden Nugget, which is quite far away from the main strip), and a quick bite to eat, we got ready to party in the party bus!!

This was included in our tour and was so much fun. It even had a stripper pole! It took us to some of the main sights such as the wedding chapel that Britney got married in and where Elvis is the priest, and also to the famous Las Vegas sign where we had our picture taken.

The Wedding Chapel

By this point, we were all pretty drunk, so it was time to hit the clubs! We did stop to watch the fountains outside the Bellagio, as well as a look inside the lobby. It is crazy how big these hotels are, and experiencing drunk just makes it seem so much bigger!

We went to the club called The Marquee, which is situated in the Cosmopolitan Hotel. Vegas is expensive to party, but all females got free drinks till 11pm, so it ended up being really cheap and getting us very drunk!

After a lot of dancing, we left the club to do some gambling! When in Vegas aye?! By this point, it was the early hours of the morning and the night gets a little hazy...

The next morning, we woke up to some lovely hangovers!

It was really cool that some of our tour group were in the room directly next to ours, so it was adjoining. We all crowded into one room in the morning feeling sorry for ourselves and trying to piece together the night before. As the hotel came with robes, we thought it would be funny to wander down to the lobby Starbucks and get some coffee. Of course, everyone was staring at us which was a bit embarrassing and very funny! A lot of people were asking us if we were on a hen do! I thought there would be loads of hungover people but nope, apparently only us!

Once we were feeling a little less fragile, we explored the hotel pool which by the way, has a slide which goes through a shark tank!!

A bit of sunbathing and the hotel buffet helped a bit, and with a nap on top of that I was feeling a lot more refreshed.

I used this time to have a go on the slot machines. It did not end the way I would have liked, and I ended up losing money and walking away with no winnings. Ah well, at least I tried!

Nearby is the lively Fremont Street which you should definitely explore. They have a zip wire which is 114 ft and you can fly across the street. There's also loads of bars and street entertainment, so it was only fair that we got another alcoholic drink!

Fremont Street

That night, we got a taxi to the strip to explore the world famous hotels. My recommendation is to go into these hotels at night, they are insane!! They are the best hotels I've ever seen, with my favorites being the Venetian and Caesar's Palace (where they filmed the hangover). The Venetian has a canal inside where you can ride Gondolas (how cool?!) and is also home to Carlo's Bakery (Cake Boss reference).

Caeser's Palace also has a shopping mall where the ceiling makes it look like you are outside, and also is home to Omnia nightclub where Calvin Harris just so happens to DJ. Pretty cool huh?

Caesar's Palace

There are loads of other hotels worth checking out, like the Flamingo, Hotel New York, MGM Grand, Treasure Island and so much more. Two nights in Vegas was simply not enough, you need closer to 5 to truly experience it. There's so much more to do, like shopping, shows, more partying and rollercoasters!

This is a long post but Vegas is a pretty big place and there is so much to do that everyone of any age will have an amazing time there, so make sure you visit it! Keep following for upcoming posts on San Diego and LA!

Trek America: Santa Fe, Monument Valley and Grand Canyon

Onto the next part of our journey on Trek America, and we first stopped off in the small town of Roswell. Famous for that 'supposed' UFO crash that the US government covered up, Roswell is full of alien themed attractions.

It was fun to have a look around all the alien memorabilia, and there is an abundance of museums here, but if you have to go out of your way to visit this place then it's not really worth it.

Our stop for the night was in the city of Santa Fe. It was really cool to see the Adobe architecture here, which has a strong Spanish/Mexican influence. We wandered around the stalls looking at the gifts and souvenirs, but if you wander up to the oldest church then you can get some really cool photos of the scenery.

That night we stopped at an authentic Mexican restaurant (we were in New Mexico after all), and stayed in a motel for the night.

After a very long and bumpy 8 hours of driving the following day, we finally arrived at our next destination: Monument Valley.

The scenes here were breathtaking, and it snapped you from reality into the middle of a Wild West scene. A lot of Western films have been filmed here and you really feel like you are in a movie set.

We took a jeep tour with a native Navajo guide around the protruding rock formations, and got to climb them as well as look at a traditional hut that the Navajo tribe would sleep in. Unfortunately, the weather wasn't on our side here, and it started to rain which made the jeep journey very cold. It was a lot of fun still and made for some great pictures.

We settled in for the night at a very local motel, which had the best view of the surroundings! Seriously, when I opened the door in the morning, the surrounding rocks looked fake! As we began the next part of our journey, we stopped at the famous Forrest Gump road.

View from our hotel room

If you've ever seen the film, then this is the scene where he is running and suddenly stops and says 'I'm tired. I'll think I'll go home now.' Naturally, we filmed ourselves recreating the scene and running up the road!

The next destination was one I was most excited about seeing: The Grand Canyon!

I have always wanted to experience the Grand Canyon, and oh my, it did not disappoint! Just driving in is breathtaking enough!

Our tour leader blindfolded us and lead us to the edge, before telling us to open our eyes. This was definitely a highlight! I cannot even describe in words how amazing the grand canyon is. The pictures here just do not do it justice. You simply have to experience it for yourself to understand what I am talking about. I recommend that people go to the Grand Canyon at least once in their lifetime, you will not be disappointed.

We stayed in a nearby village in the Red Feather Lodge hotel, which was actually my favourite hotel of the whole trip. No idea why but I just found it really cosy!

The next day we woke up at 4am to prepare for our hike into the Grand Canyon. This hike is dangerous stuff, and people die from the extreme conditions in the canyon! The heat can be unbearable, and it is so easy to slip and fall off the edge, so I was feeling a little apprehensive about it.

Luckily, we had good weather conditions where it was overcast at first and then it rained. It just meant that we didn't have to battle with the heat and dehydration.

Seeing the sunrise is an experience I'll never forget, and even if you just venture a little into the canyon, you will experience the vastness of this natural wonder. Once inside, the views are breathtaking and you can escape reality to appreciate plant Earth and what has formed. Our hike was the Plateau point, which is 6 miles down and 6 miles up. I didn't hike the whole way because it started to rain at the bottom which made me worried about getting out of there!

As the rain became heavier, the rocks became more slippery and it did make me worried about rock slides! At one point, the clouds were so low that I couldn't see more than 10m in front of me, which is a little worrying considering that one step could send you plunging down the edge!

We finally made it to the top though, and it's safe to say we were very sore and freezing! The hotel was perfect to come back to a hot shower and a comfy bed. I got straight into comfy clothes and just rested after an impressive hike.

Of course the hike is optional, but this is called Trek America and it would be a shame to miss out on this experience. Even walking a little bit is worth it.

After an intense day, I had one of the best sleeps of the trip. Maybe that's why I loved the hotel so much.

Stay tuned for my next post which features a helicopter ride over the canyon, Vegas and San Diego!