Hanoi
We stepped off the train in Hanoi at 5am in the morning and were greeted by the chill of a misty platform which was quickly filling up with taxi and tuk-tuk drivers. We had been advised to always go with one of the green and…
Tagged “South East Asia”
The Reunification Express
The Reunification Express (now more commonly referred to as the "North-South Railway" outside of the tourist brochures) runs from Saigon to Hanoi - spanning 1,000 miles of beautiful pastureland, countryside and hilltops. The railway was constructed in the thirties by French colonists, split in 1954…
Night Herons and Elephants of the Forgotten City in Huế
Huế is a town with a rich history and a turbulent past which has dragged it through everything from the feudal dynasty of the Nguyễn Lords in 17th-19th centuries through to the Tet offensive and massacre at Huế by Communist forces in 1968 and the…
The Fabric of Hoi An
Hoi An is a small town, almost half way between Ho Chi Minh City/Saigon and Hanoi on the East coast of Vietnam. Very accessible by train and then bus or taxi from nearby Danang, it provides a compelling antidote to the hectic city life of…
Crossing the Mekong Delta into Vietnam
The 'new' border crossing (newly open to tourists that is) at Ha Tien is basically not much more than a dirt track with a tiny passport control shack and a giant casino (aka the 'Ha Tien Vegas') on the Cambodian side. These gambling establishments can…
Kampot Pepper and Le Bout du Monde in Kep
The riverside idyll of Kampot lies just an hour and a half's drive west from Sihanoukville. There used to be a train which ran between the two every other day but the passenger line has been suspended due to bad tracks, so we opted for…
Phnom Penh to Sihanoukville to get a Vietnamese Visa
The bus service between Cambodia's two largest cities - Siem Reap and Phnom Penh - is more regular than ten years ago but in many ways unchanged. Peeling seats and moody air-con on ancient Chinese buses which travel along bumpy dirt roads are still very…
Angkor Wat
I have heard Angkor Wat spoken of as many things - 'pineapple towers', rubble mountain, overgrown jungle, the Tomb Raider set, magical this, spiritual that, enchanting, devastating and even 'Disneylandish'. But none of these really prepare you for the experience itself. It's one of those…
A Window to the Wetlands: Thailand to Cambodia by Train and Tuk-Tuk
The train from Bangkok to the Thai border town of Aranyaprathet leaves Hualamphong station every morning at 5.55am. At 4.50am we left our hostel to make the short walk to the station. The city streets were already bustling with newspaper deliveries and families of sellers…
Moths, Monks and Prickly Heat in Bangkok
Our first impressions of Bangkok were of a strange, hedonistic city combining old-world markets, beautiful temples, seedy strip clubs and slum-like houses with manic motorbikes, gigantic shopping centres, banks and LCD screens. The heat was intense on the first day we arrived and a dust-like…
Trang to Bangkok by Bus
We arrived at Hat Yao Pier after a fairly stuffy three-hour journey on the ferry from Koh Lipe. Our ferry ticket had included a transfer to Trang and we were a bit bemused to find a 12-seater minibus waiting just for us. This was the…
An Island Border Crossing: Koh Lipe, Thailand
The Langkawi Ferry Service boat from Malaysia to Thailand left Kuah Jetty in Langkawi at about 9am. We'd booked with Langkawi Ferry Service who are currently dominating inter-island transport because they have online booking forms (in English) which allow you to book more than 7…
The Great Hornbills of Langkawi
The following day, at the crack of dawn, we boarded the ferry that would take us to the island of Pulao Langkawi , just a few kilometres south of the Malaysia-Thailand border. The ferry journey itself was only a couple of hours, punctuated by one…
Street Food and Art in Penang
After we had spent a few days in the highlands, we had to brave another hairy trip through the winding mountain roads (it turned out that the driving was just as crazy on the descent). The journey to Penang took only a few hours and…
Amok Curries, Mango Salads and Morning Glory: Cambodian Cuisine
While Thai and Malaysian food is now readily available on most high streets in the United Kingdom, there aren't many places where you can sample the somewhat understated cuisine of Cambodia. Though it draws on culinary influences from Thailand, India, France (baguettes and pate are…
Thailand
There is perhaps nothing more satisfying than enjoying a good Thai curry in Thailand, where the taste is different enough from the varieties you've tried back home to make you wonder... This je ne sais quoi is partly thanks to the fantastic range of fresh,…
The Cameron Highlands: the Land of Tea and Strawberries
I was quite looking forward to the bus ride up to the Cameron Highlands, envisaging a slow drive along winding jungle paths into the green, misty hills. This was before I had experienced driving in South East Asia however, having only had a little taste…
Kuala Lumpur: a Tale of Two Cities
Our guesthouse in Kuala Lumpur (referred to as 'KL' by just about everyone in it) was a very laid back place and a good introduction to the beginning of our journey across South East Asia. It was here that we were introduced to the quirks…
Wind Powered Cargo Ships and Arriving in Malaysia
Our last day at sea was spent slowly crawling up the Singapore and Malacca straits. The Captain called us at midday to come and watch Singapore emerge through the heat and smog haze as a strip in the distance. The number of cargo boats and…
Tropical Storms and Piracy Warnings
We went up to the bridge on New Year's morning to be greeted by a worried health and safety officer, clutching a piracy warning which had just been faxed over. We had now reached East Timor which meant that we were nearing the Singapore and…