Oh Vang Vieng… how I hated you. Don’t get my wrong, the place is pretty – far away from the main strip, that is. Vang Vieng is the worst kind of backpacker town – one where boozed up Westerners flock the main street, seemingly day and night, and save for restaurants offering curries, there isn’t […]
Category Archives: Asia
18
Jan
Jan
Not many tourists make it to Savannakhet in Laos. It’s kind of midway between the tubing of Vang Vieng and the chilled 4,000 islands; meaning many travellers skip past it on a night bus or don’t even go to through part of the country. Now, while I think it would be a crying shame for […]
15
Jan
Jan
I love new years, and I really enjoy making New Year’s resolutions – I love the feeling of a blank canvas to fill with more love, more success, and more happiness. And I don’t mean to brag, but I’m actually quite good at sticking to them. As well as backpack from Bali to London, get […]
03
Jan
Jan
Singapore as a city definitely took me by surprise. A lot of people are very skeptical about including Singapore in their South East Asian itineraries, mainly due to concerns about it being expensive and thinking its small size means there isn’t much to do there. Admittedly, the first time I visited Singapore, I didn’t land there […]
31
Dec
Dec
Wonderful Halong Bay is probably Vietnam’s most iconic travel destination. Famed by its glorious karst stones, visitors to Halong Bay can enjoy kayaking, swimming and learning about local life while witnessing the spectacular scenery from a luxury cruise liner. Halong Bay is a common addition to a Hanoi itinerary, as tours leave from the city […]
All Destinations, Asia, Overland Travel, Thailand, train travel
How to get the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai
18
Dec
Dec
I don’t know why I found getting the Bangkok to Chiang Mai train so difficult. I’ve taken chicken buses through Guatemala, I’ve travelled by train all around China and I’ve taken international coaches through Europe. But for some reason, I just seemed to mess up everything about the train from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. Luckily, […]
02
Sep
Sep
Tucked away from the rest of Vietnam’s tourist trail, up some steep mountains and completely unlike the rest of Vietnam climatically is the beautiful Sapa area. Trekking in Sapa is something that features on many traveller’s Vietnam bucket lists, but still not everybody heads up this far. But it’s well worth the side trip from […]
26
Aug
Aug
I’ve got a love-hate relationship with Bali. On one hand, it’s a beautiful island with amazing scenery, lovely locals and an intriguing Hindu culture. On the other, it’s suffocatingly touristy, can feel very inauthentic and has some real problems that are arguably worsened by mass tourism. Bali has spectacular sunsets and gorgeous views, but it […]
19
Aug
Aug
China: it’s a country of legend and enigma, brimming with possibly the most dynamic history of any country in the world. It only opened up to outside tourism in the late 1970s, and to this day still sees relatively few international tourists when compared to other Asian countries. So where are the top 20 places to […]
29
Jul
Jul
What is a Malaysia travel budget for one week? Short answer: not much at all. Long answer: My short trip to Malaysia was a means to an end. I visited because I couldn’t stay in Bali for as long as I wanted on one visa, so I had to do the traveller’s favourite: a visa […]