two: Bangkok and Chiangmai

Two of my favourites here - Bangkok was a ridiculously massive city, but had my favourite temple; and Chiangmai is still among my favourite stops so far, with nature and people adding up to an awesome experience.

I was used to booking everything online, so I was pretty anxious about finding transport between cities without the Internet. Ended up being too easy though - when I arrived in Koh Phangan, I booked a ticket to Bangkok for the next day at the ferry office, and I dropped by Bangkok's Hua Lamphong station a day early to buy my train ticket to Chiangmai. No mishaps, although there was an awkward moment on the way to Bangkok when we got off one bus and had no idea what was happening as we were shepherded to another office for an hour with no reassurances... It all worked out though!

Bangkok was a shock to the system, but also a pleasant surprise. I expected a mega-city like Shanghai, and while there was traffic at all hours (Saturday 3pm looks like Sydney's peak hour!), it was nowhere near as crazy as China. Despite the size and number of people, everyone actually seems to respect the rules of the road. Just a first indication of the lovely Thai people I would meet.

A beautiful temple, hidden in the side streets.

I stayed in Saipaiphae, a neat backpacker's where I met a couple of great German girls, accompanying them on a real Bangkok adventure. We saw the sights, including Bangkok from the top of the State Tower, a real tourist-less local market - seriously, we got lost - with more dried flowers than I've ever seen in one place, and Wat Phra Kao. This grand temple is part of the Grand Palace, but I was much more fascinated by its intricate decorations than the stately buildings. Dozens of identical Buddhas lining the side of one section; a wall covered in mosaic flowers; creatures made up of little mosaic mirror pieces. Definitely the highlight.

View of Bangkok from up high - this enormous city seems to extend beyond the horizon!

Look at all the shiny things! Just look!!

On the more luxurious side, I also visited Terminal 21, a giant shopping centre where each level is themed as a major destination. Just went spontaneously with the Chinese girl in the bunk above me - observing in hindsight that it seems like many East Asian backpackers tend to hit up mainly the shopping spots... Another (less expensive) shopping mall was MBK, where I picked up the second country shot glass of my travels.

What shopping mall is complete without the Golden Gate Bridge hitting the top floor?

Did some typical backpacker stuff too... I only visited Khao San Road briefly, although I had the pleasure of meeting another backpacker with the most extraordinary travel stories on the way. However I did end up on a pretty awesome night out in Bangkok as we went from the aptly named Bed Club to nearby Bash with a group of local Thai girls. Here we also met some friendly Americans and a girl who reminded me of Paris Hilton - if she was covered in golden glitter... Safe to say it was an unusual night, full of character. Thank goodness for the late night pad thai stall tucked in the alley!

Got excited about the 'Australian' bar - turns out I also accidentally snapped the club we went to later that night, which is worth a visit for the amazing drinks and potentially very unusual company ...

So from Bangkok I jumped on to a sleeper train to Chiangmai. Having never been on a sleeper before, I was pretty surprised when they turned all the seats into bunk beds! They were pretty comfy, with curtains in front of each bunk for privacy. At the other end, I used my newfound knowledge of tuk tuks to get to the city centre (about 50 baht) - but from there it was a more expensive and slightly confusing trip to my new home.

Accommodation and transport for the night.

Ob-oon Homestay, while a bit far from the main city and much more expensive (well, relatively, at AUD35 per night), was well worth it. I went on the Chinese girl's recommendation and was not disappointed. The owners are a family of 3 with a 10-year-old son, who the place is named after. They built the place from scratch, originally as a cafe and now as a homestay, inspired by the mother's experiences growing up in a family that often hosted exchange students. We had some lovely conversations and they eagerly shared family photos. My second night fell on a Buddhist holiday, so they took me to the 'Cave Temple' - a beautiful experience, even if I was offering my prayers to some other entity...

Their son is adorable! Taking photos outside the temple.

Although the tariff only says breakfast included, they also offered me their dinner each night - and every meal was delicious! Not to mention mango for dessert... The mother also kindly drove me at 6am to catch a bus. Free bike rental was also included, so I gladly jumped on to try and burn off all the delicious Thai food I'd been eating. Great idea but be prepared for a sore bum - it's about 7km into the city. Chiangmai is filled with temples - I saw 3 major ones just cycling around. Good timing also meant seeing the Saturday markets (which I accidentally parked my bike in before they set up). Here I picked up a few souvenirs and some unusual food - mushrooms wrapped in bacon, anyone? Biking was the perfect mode of transport, as I could easily stop and walk in to each of the temples along the way.

One last temple on the way home - I was tired of seeing the same stuff (it's all kind of overshadowed by Wat Phra Kao), but this one was still pretty stunning.

A real highlight of Chiangmai was the adventure stuff! I booked tours the day before - there's heaps of tour offices on the east side of the city's square outer road. I did Jungle Flight, a day of ziplining with some intense Chinese tourists and the funniest guides (one called a tourist a 'lady-boy' - the guy may not have understood the word, but he knew he was being poked fun at...)

One of our guides pulling a serious face - as if he's not a total monkey!

Unfortunately no action shots - hopefully this gives you an idea of its nature anyway! Go for the 300m zipline and look out for the incredible view on the right side.

Also had a one-day trekking tour, including a brief elephant ride, white water rafting (fun but not as crazy as I hoped) and bamboo rafting (sitting with our waists in the water, I think they might need new rafts...) The final 1hr trek was well worth it for the waterfall at the end!

The day was made even better by conversing with fellow international travellers, including this girl (one of three friends from Germany), a mother and daughter from Denmark, and a family of 5 from France holidaying overseas together for the first time.

Food, glorious food!

I met many different people on this trip and really have already highlighted my favourite - the family at Ob-oon Homestay - so instead, eat your heart out on these amazing foods I wish I was eating right now ... Thailand and China are in a major tie for best food in the world!

The best snack I've ever had, but unfortunately could only find it at one street vendor outside Surasak Metro Station in Bangkok - a crepe-y outside shell filled with condensed milk and a random piece of fruit, shallots, ham or plain.

Deep-fried bananas from the country that brought us deep-fried ice cream.

The aforementioned mushrooms in bacon, surprisingly good with spicy sauce.

The best breakfast I've had to date, à la Ob-oon.

And of course, staple pad thai, found thanks to a local in the markets with a conversation consisting solely of "pad thai?" "pad thai!"

The budget

Bangkok: Accommodation was about $8 a night at Saipaiphae, the best value so far - bathrooms were amazing, free wifi accessible in rooms. Shopping and food were cheap, food especially amazing. Transport cost about $10 to ferry, bus and bus from Koh Phangan.

Chiangmai: Accommodation was relatively expensive ($35/night) but worth it to stay at Ob-oon Homestay; cheaper places are available, and inner city locations recommended are better. Food same - cheap and delicious. Shopping was cheap, and Saturday markets were ideal to pick up a variety of souvenirs and less common postcards. Train was about $15 I think, not sure. Tours cost $100 in total - about $60 for a full ziplining package, and $40 for the one-day tour.

Overall Thailand cost me about $860, including Krabi and Koh Phangan.

Tips?

• Inflatable travel pillow - don't leave home without one!! This comfortably got me through the numerous bus and ferry trips, plus it doesn't take much space and can be tied onto a bag.
• Don't worry about booking overland trips on short notice! I've been using www.seat61.com as my go-to guide in every country.
• Book some adventures in Chiangmai! It's relatively cheap, but worth it to see the natural jungle within an hour's drive of the town. Easy to book in the offices on the east side of town.
• Say hi to your fellow backpackers - who knows where you'll end up adventuring together...

one: Singapore, Krabi and Koh Phangan

So the kickstarter of my Asia tour was to celebrate the 21st birthday of one best friend, K - in Singapore and then in the beautiful Thai island of Krabi! I had 2 nights in Singapore and 2 in Krabi before heading elsewhere in Thailand. Although I didn't see much of Singapore, I liked hanging with the locals - it's not the most exciting city for sightseeing or adventurous tourists - and the SHOPPING. Thailand, however - I fell in love with it from the first sight.

My first impressions of Singapore (having really only been in the airport in the past) were of a westernised Asia - the streets are relatively clean and orderly, and everyone speaks English, but the signs also have Chinese, and there are food places/street stalls in the alleyways! It was the perfect transition from Australia into Asia, even if it was more low-key.

Capsules @ Little Red Dot: great hostel, cost a bit more than usual (around $35/night) but worth it for semi-privacy of the novel 'capsule' beds, good comfort, included breakfast and great friendly staff.

I spent my first night in Singapore with a uni friend, who brought me to a typical yum cha place and then shisha and beers on Arab Street. Arab Street was amazing; coming from Sydney, where there are few places that do shisha and they're all excessively over-priced, an entire pedestrian street of cheap shisha and decently priced alcohol was great. We went to a relatively expensive one, but I did have the novel experience of using vodka as a base instead of water - not bad! Apparently whiskey and cider are also do-able too - maybe on return to Sydney... [EDIT 02/02/15: Singapore banned shisha last November and these shops will no longer sell it by 2016. Sorry you missed out!]

Arab Street: the photo does no justice to this ridiculously long street filled with various shisha places.

The second day I went shopping with the bestie after her plane touched down. We dropped by the famous Orchard Road, but my real highlight was Bugis Street. You could buy anything and everything there, for a pretty damn cheap price! Bargaining totally acceptable too. The other highlight was the food: trying durian for the first time in a pancake, having chestnut and sugarcane water, Asian sausages and fish wrapped in banana leaves ... Some at Bugis Street and some at the biggest food court I've ever seen (but also forgotten the name of) - loved the Bugis Street treats, I'm a street stall girl all the way!

Bugis Street: the biggest mango I've ever seen!! Bigger than my head, I swear! Tasty strawberry juice from this stall.

After being spoilt at K's family dinner celebration with a great buffet (including sashimi), we hit the bar at Marina Bay Sands Hotel called KuDeTa (also famous for their infinity pool, which I would have loved to visit with more time and money ...) The view was incredible and the cocktails were great.

The incredible view from Marina Bay Sands Hotel's KuDeTa, with the lovely birthday girl and sis.

Next stop ... Krabi! Spoilt again despite it not being my birthday, we stayed at the Sheraton Hotel. We did a boat tour of the islands, stopping to cross the 'separate seas' just after low tide. These are formed by a high sandbar between two islands, which disappears in high tide but can be walked across. We also snorkelled and saw hundreds of hungry fish, plus cute parrotfish nibbling away at the coral - you can hear their 'beaks' underwater! Plus our local companion took us to his favourite lagoon where not too many tourists go, where we picked up starfish (man, they have weird suckers!) and I made the fateful foot injury stepping on coral, which has only just started healing 3 weeks later ...

How amazing is this view!! Pool by the beach at the Sheraton Hotel.

Although the stay was brief, we also wrote wishes on lanterns and released them into the night sky - a beautiful sight, and makes me want to come back to see the main lantern festival! (Although our guide told us generally the lanterns all wash up in Indonesia instead of floating up into the heavens romantically ...) The oher thing I want to come back for is the phosphorescent plankton - Joe (more details below) said if you go even just knee-deep into the water and disturb them a bit, they will glow beautifully late at night. For the return trip, I guess ..

We went all out and got a lantern with fireworks, shooting our wishes into the sky ...

Oh, and the food - the food was AMAZING. There is definitely much more to Thai food than pad thai and pad see ew! My favourites included a spicy mince dish called 'da pow' and the bird-feather seaweed. In particular, we were treated to the spicier southern Thai foods. I loved almost all of it, but the only thing I recommend avoiding at all costs is the green bean that comes fried or raw - looks like a green bean, but tastes much, much worse...

Some of the food highlights: mangosteen, stirfried rice served in a pineapple, and bird-feather seaweed (which is native to south Thailand).

After Krabi, I had a one day stopover in Koh Phangan. Planned with a college friend T, we thought we had perfect timing and would make the half moon party. As I sat on the ferry telling some people excitedly about my one-day plan, they replied, "interesting - there was a half moon festival last night ..." I stayed hopeful, thinking maybe it was a two day thing ... but it definitely wasn't. Still, I got some cheap bargains on the island (filling my backpack early), and chilled out at Chaloklum on the opposite side of the island for a while - free and unexpected entertainment provided by locals doing some group dancing on the pier.

Dinner at restaurant Hai Thong, watching the locals dance on Chaloklum's pier.

After dinner I joined T at the main party beach, Haad Rin. Even without the full/quarter/half/black moon parties, the beach always has a line of stalls giving out free shots (yes, actually free) from friendly Thais holding very inappropriate signs. Among other things, we played a game of popping balloons, and bought a full cup of whiskey for $6. Safe to say much fun was had, culminating in a scooter ride home at 4am to our bungalow in My Phangan.

Inappropriate signage at Haad Rin, which has apparently always been there ...

So Singapore was a nice ease into Asia; Krabi was a bit of a surprise luxury getaway that already had me falling in love with Thailand, its food and its scenery; and Koh Phangan was a heck of a party, even after missing the half moon party. After less than a week, I left familiar faces and ventured further into Thailand alone ...

Travellers crossing paths

I'm trying to keep these posts relatively short on words giving only the main highlights, but have met so many interesting people on the way that I thought it'd be fun to profile some of them.

So from this part of the trip, our guide J was definitely the highlight. Originally from Boston, he had been in Krabi for the last 3 years. He's passionate about craft beers, currently aiming to distribute his own beers and doing some cool things with bamboo - not revealing the whole idea here, but if you visit Thailand in the next few years and your beer comes with some sort of bamboo, he might be the guy to thank. We also got onto some cool topics like aquaponics: using the waste from an aquatic system with fish to provide nutrients for a plant ecosystem.

The budget

I couldn't really get an indication of what to expect from each country except 'Asia is cheap', so for the more pragmatic procrastinators, here's some more detail on the money side of things. If that's not you, jump down further for random in-country tips that aren't so easy to Google.

Singapore: Accommodation was $35 for the first night at the Little Red Dot, and provided on the second night. Shopping and food could be cheap, with a good-sized street restaurant meal around $10-$15. Flight cost about $300 with Scoot - beware, the aircon is too cold and you have to pay extra for a blanket, but oherwise great budget airline.

Krabi: Accommodation and food were paid for. Shopping seemed cheap, although there were relatively few touristy shops. Flight cost about $80 with Tiger, also good budget airline (no concerns raised since the safety scares).

Koh Phangan: Accommodation was $12 for a bungalow shared between 3 at My Phangan - not really clean, but a beautiful place with decent food; cost at least $1.50 (one way) to get a taxi anywhere good though. Shopping and food were cheap, with meals under $5 and Chang beer for less than $1. Bought a bag with elephant print (typical around Thai shops) for 110 baht. Bus and ferry only cost $7 (500 baht) with Lomprayah and I strongly recommend it, although it takes about 6 hours - easily booked at a travel agent or hotel in Krabi's town, Ao Nang.

Tips for Singapore?

• Singapore isn't a touristy city, but there's plenty to do if you love cheap shopping! Definitely go by Bugis Street, and scratch the sightseeing itch at Marina Bay Sands Hotel.

Tips for Thailand?

• Don't be scared away by Thailand's rainy season - July is a great time to visit the islands, with typically short showers every day or two, but mostly you can enjoy everything you want to - and all the other tourists will stay away.
• Rent a scooter/motor bike in Thailand's islands - the traffic is slow enough for less confident drivers, and it's much cheaper than hiring songthaews/tuktuks. Sharing songthaews (which look like red pickup trucks) are still relatively much cheaper than taxis in Australia though.
• If you tour through Thailand, save the shopping for Koh Phangan - bit cheaper than the more touristy destinations of Bangkok, Phukhet, Chiang Mai.
• Missed the moon parties? Just go to the beach anyway - no live DJs, but plenty of fun to be had, the drinks are the same, but less pickpockets and less people to get trampled by.
• Asian food is the best stuff in the world! Don't be afraid to try something different, like mangosteen, a Thai dish you haven't heard of before, etc ...

where to next?

Hello from halfway across the world!

This is just an introductory post, so that I can tell people this blog exists, and to ease into it.

Currently writing post numero uno from Moscow, Russia, having left exactly 4 weeks ago today. Time has flown! Already dipped in and out of 5 countries, and keen to share about the journey so far.

I've been thinking about this blog ... It's not going to be anywhere near as fun writing/reading about my travels as it was actually experiencing them, so I hope that while you're reading this to procrastinate, you might also be inspired to get out there too ;)

Anyway. Short intro post, not like my other blog's, but that's all it needs.

As a reference, here's the journey completed and planned so far - plans seem to change every few days though ...

18 Jan 2015: Updated one week after returning to Australia

MY ITINERARY
Singapore - Singapore
Thailand - Krabi, Koh Phangan, Bangkok, Chiangmai
China - Beijing, Huhehaote
Mongolia - Ulaanbaatar
Russia - Moscow, St Petersburg

UAE - Dubai
Oman - Muscat, Ras Al-Jinz

Malaysia - Kuala Lumpur

Vietnam - Ho Chi Minh City up to Hanoi
Cambodia - Phnom Penh, Siem Reap
Singapore - Singapore

Philippines - Manila, Sagada
USA - San Diego (exchange for 6 months), New York, Route 1 to San Francisco

Mexico - Cancun, Mexico City, Guanajuato

Peru - Lima, Cusco, Machu Picchu

Bolivia - La Paz, Uyuni

Turks & Caicos Islands (family reunion)

England - London

Spain - Camino de Santiago

France - Bayonne

Spain - Barcelona

Morocco - Casablanca, Marrakech, Sahara, Ouzoud, Fez, Chefchaouen

Germany - Berlin

Poland - Potasze

Czech Republic - Prague

Austria - Vienna

Hungary - Budapest

Serbia - Belgrade

Montenegro - Biograd National Park, Lake Skadar, Budva

Croatia - Dubrovnik

Germany - Munich (Oktoberfest)

Croatia - Zagreb, Plitviče Lakes, Zadar, Split

Bosnia - Mostar, Sarajevo

Slovenia - Ljubljana, Lake Bled, mountains

Bosnia - Srebrenica

Tanzania - Dar Es Salaam, Mt Kilimanjaro, Arusha

Kenya - Mombasa, Lamu Island, Nairobi

Tanzania - Zanzibar

Hong Kong - Hong Kong

Australia - Sydney