Jakarta, Indonesia
June 9, 2015
The start of our adventure and an exciting new chapter in our lives. First stop: Jakarta, Indonesia.
Probbolingo, Indonesia
June 20, 2015
Arrival at Probbolingo, our last stop before climbing Mt. Bromo.
Kawah Ijen, Indonesia
June 23, 2015
Our second volcano in as many days - the sulphurous hell pit of blue fire that was Kawah Ijen.
Permuteran, Bali, Indonesia
June 25, 2015
Time for some R&R - we arrive in Bali, at the northern coastal village of Permuteran.
Ubud, Bali, Indonesia
June 29, 2015
Deeper into the heart of Bali, to Ubud. Monkeys, forest and temples await.
Johor Bahru, Malaysia
July 7, 2015
First stop in Malaysia - Johor Bahru, at the southern tip of the peninsula.
Singapore
July 11, 2015
We decided to do Singapore whilst we were in the area. Loved it here.
Melaka, Malaysia
July 21, 2015
Singapore done! Back to Malaysia! Destination Melaka, on the bus via Johor Bahru.
Mersing, Malaysia
July 27, 2015
One night in the port town of Mersing en route to Tioman Island.
Tioman Island, Malaysia
July 28, 2015
Tioman Island - our second beach paradise of the trip.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Aug. 9, 2015
Back to the mainland and the capital city, Kuala Lumpur. We spent a couple of days here before heading for the Cameron Highlands.
Brinchang, Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Aug. 13, 2015
A slight change of scenery, and climate, as we head to the cooler, greener, Cameron Highlands.
Ipoh, Malaysia
Aug. 15, 2015
Onward to Ipoh, for some world renowned food and colonial architecture.
Penang, Malaysia
Aug. 18, 2015
Off we trot to Penang, similar to Ipoh in many ways but more street art, and even better food. It was also home to much colonial British heritage.
Kuching, Malaysia
Aug. 27, 2015
Kuching - the cat city! And our first stop in Northern Borneo. We weren't sure what we were going to do here, but somehow ended up sticking around for nearly 2 weeks... Turns out there's a fair bit going on!
Bako National Park, Malaysia
Sept. 4, 2015
We took a three day excursion to Bako national park to explore some of Borneo's protected primary rainforest.
Kuching, Malaysia
Sept. 7, 2015
Back to Kuching for a few more days, still plenty more to see!
Annah Rais Longhouse, Sarawak, Malaysia
Sept. 10, 2015
A taste of traditional tribal life in Sarawak as we visited Annah Rais longhouse, staying for three days with a family of the Bidayuh tribe. Bamboo river rafting, jungle trekking, local moonshine and bedbugs! Eeek!
Miri, Sarawak, Malaysia
Sept. 14, 2015
Back to civilisation, to the town of Miri. We spent a few days here exploring the local area, including two days and a night in Niah national park seeing the bat caves and climbing a mountain.
Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei
Sept. 20, 2015
Miri was an ideal springboard to drop into the oil-rich country of Brunei for a few days, so off we went to the capital: BSB!
Temburong National Park, Brunei
Sept. 23, 2015
We visited "Asia's best preserved primary jungle" in Brunei, namely Ulu-Ulu Rainforest Resort at Temburong National Park. A great experience.
Bangar, Brunei
Sept. 24, 2015
It was another one-night stop, this time in the small town of Bangar. The next morning we caught a bus back to Malaysia - the coastal town of Kota Kinabalu.
Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
Sept. 25, 2015
Kota Kinabalu! Unfortunately the famous Mount Kinabalu, which we had planned to climb, was not yet fully open following a recent severe earthquake. With our flight back to the UK drawing ever closer we spent our time exploring the city and visiting one of the beautiful islands just off the coast in Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Sept. 30, 2015
From Kota Kinabalu we jetted back over to Kuala Lumpur, where we went to see the Petronas towers and a few other sights before heading back to the UK for our 3 week interlude. Part one of Exploring South East Asia completed... Bring on part two!
UK
Oct. 3, 2015
Here we are back in Blighty, just in time for the cold, wet autumnal weather to arrive. Joy! Nevertheless, we did have a great time seeing family and friends and the three weeks absolutely shot by. Soon it was time to return to re-commence the adventure, this time starting in Thailand.
Bangkok, Thailand
Oct. 23, 2015
Game on! We land in Bangkok refreshed and raring to go. What would South East Asia have in store for us this time? Let's find out!
Sukhothai, Thailand
Oct. 26, 2015
It seems we weren't as refreshed as we thought! After 2 days recovering from jet lag we finally made it out of Bangkok and up to Sukhothai to start the adventure proper. After 11 hours on trains & buses we're here and ready to see some sights!
Sukhothai Historical Park, Thailand
Oct. 27, 2015
Spent a couple of days on our push bikes exploring Sukhothai historical park and its ancient buddist temples!
Phitsanulok, Thailand
Oct. 29, 2015
Off the beaten track slightly with a trip to the city of Phitsanulok. It's off the tourist trail meaning we got a much more genuine experience of day to day Thai life. The food here is also superb, and we tried our first ever raw prawn dish! Yes, prawns. Yep, RAW!
Chiang Rai, Thailand
Oct. 31, 2015
Moving on to Chiang Rai in the north of Thailand to see some bits we missed last year, including the famous white temple: Wat Rong Khun.
Mae Sai, Thailand
Nov. 5, 2015
Visa run to the border town of Mae Sai, nipping into Myanmar and back again to get an extension on our Thai visa. We ended up staying for a few days!
Bangkok, Thailand
Nov. 8, 2015
We trotted back to Bangkok to meet my parents who were arriving the following day for a 2 week holiday.
Kanchanaburi, Thailand
Nov. 10, 2015
To Kanchanaburi on the train from Bangkok. We were going to see the "death railway" and the bridge over the river Kwae.
Ayutthaya, Thailand
Nov. 12, 2015
Off for some history in the ancient capital of Ayutthaya. Temples, good food and a memorable boat trip...
Koh Yao Noi, Thailand
Nov. 15, 2015
We flew to Phuket and caught a boat to Koh Yao Noi for a week of hardcore relaxation and epic sunsets!
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Nov. 22, 2015
We sadly waved farewell to Mum & Dad after a cracking couple of weeks. They flew home and we boarded a bus for Chiang Mai back up in the north of Thailand. Bizarrely, they got home before we got to our destination, despite traveling non-stop!
Mae Sot, Thailand
Dec. 2, 2015
Leaving Chiang Mai was difficult after such a lovely time in Thailand, but we had to head to the border town of Mae Sot in preparation for our crossing into Myanmar. We only had one night in Mae Sot but liked it there and plan to return at some point to explore properly.
Hpa-An, Myanmar
Dec. 3, 2015
We got up the next morning, got a taxi to the border and crossed by foot into the town of Myawaddy, Myanmar. What awaited us was another world entirely from that we had been used to! Another exciting twist to thw adventure... We met some new Canadian friends, and caught a bus from Myawaddy to Hpa-An that afternoon.
Kinpun, Myanmar
Dec. 4, 2015
After just one night in Hpa-An, we caught another bus to our next destination, the town of Kinpun, to see the famous Buddhist temple of Golden Rock.
Yangon, Myanmar
Dec. 6, 2015
After an exciting couple of days in Kinpun we headed for the big city of Yangon, formerly known as Rangoon.
Nyaung Shwe, Myanmar
Dec. 11, 2015
5 days of the hustle and bustle of the big city were enough for us, so we moved on to Inle Lake, staying in the town of Nyaung Shwe. It was much more relaxed here and we met some nice fellow travellers too. This was our favourite place in Myanmar so far.
Bagan, Myanmar
Dec. 17, 2015
To Bagan by bus for plains, temples, e-bikes and an incredible hot air balloon trip! Happy birthday Jim!
Mandalay, Myanmar
Dec. 23, 2015
A few days in Mandalay, including Christmas day. Mandalay was lovely, but unfortunately these days were marred by a nasty bout of food poisoning.
Bangkok, Thailand
Dec. 30, 2015
We flew back to Bangkok to spend New Years Eve with a friend we had met earlier in the trip.
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Jan. 2, 2016
It was back to Chiang Mai, by sleeper train this time! We planned to spend a few weeks here getting up to date on the main blog and planning the next stages of the journey.
Huay Xai, Laos
Jan. 26, 2016
We travelled by bus to the border town of Chiang Khong via. Chiang Rai ready to cross into Laos. The weather had turned on us and after a freezing cold bus ride we had to cross the border and get an open sided tuk-tuk to the town of Huay Xai in Laos. Not a pleasant experience!
Pakbeng, Laos
Jan. 28, 2016
After a day in Huay Xai waiting for the weather to improve we boarded the slow boat down the Mekong river, bound for Luang Prabang, with an overnight stop in Pakbeng.
Luang Prabang, Laos
Jan. 29, 2016
Today was the second leg of the journey down the Mekong, from Pakbeng to Luang Prabang.
Nong Khiaw, Laos
Feb. 6, 2016
Northwards to Nong Khiaw for some more cold weather and beautiful scenery. Whilst here we did a two day trek and had the privilege of staying for a night in a remote village, getting to experience truly traditional Lao life.
Phonsavan, Laos
Feb. 13, 2016
We spent a couple of days exploring the mysterious Plain of Jars - ancient relics of unknown origin scattered across a huge area. Interesting!
Sam Neua, Laos
Feb. 16, 2016
Next we took an unplanned detour to the north-east of Laos, close the the Vietnam border. This area was home to the Communist Pathet Lao party during Laos' struggle for independence. The caves where they moved their headquarters during US bombing raids were very interesting. The scenery in this area is also stunning.
Vientiane, Laos
Feb. 19, 2016
Having seen the sights and had enough of the cold weather it was time to head south again. We boarded a bus to the capital, Vientiane. 20 hours later we arrived! The baguettes and sunshine were well worth the trip though :)
Thakhaek, Laos
Feb. 26, 2016
We had heard about a motorcycle trek that looped around the countryside further south. This sounded like fun, so we travelled from Vientiane to the town of Thakhaek, got some bikes, and took on "The Loop". We met a great couple from Holland on the bus to Thakhaek, and ended up riding the whole loop together!
Pakse, Laos
March 2, 2016
We had so much fun on the Thakhaek loop that we all decided to travel down to Pakse where another, longer motorcycle loop awaited. The bus journey was horrific, and after a day in Pakse our new dutch friends parted company for the 4000 islands, but Em and I pressed on to complete the second loop. We're glad we did!
Siem Reap, Cambodia
March 14, 2016
From Pakse it was time to cross the border into Cambodia. My parents were arriving into Siem Reap to see us for a little while, so we headed for Cambodia's second city to wait for them.
Battambang, Cambodia
March 22, 2016
Having met up with the folks and seen some of Siem Reap including the awesome Angkorian temples, our next stop was the town of Battambang.
Kampong Chhnang, Cambodia
March 24, 2016
After a whistlestop tour of Battambang it was on to the lakeside town of Kampong Chhnang, to experience the villages that thrived both beside and on the massive Tonle Sap lake.
Kep, Cambodia
March 27, 2016
We moved swiftly on to the seaside town of Kep, famous for it's seafood - particularly crabs - and spent a few days chilling at a nice resort.
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
April 1, 2016
Our final stop with my parents was the capital city of Phnom Penh. Tuol Sleng genocide museum and the killing fields were chilling but essential experiences. After my parents had left we spend another week or so here sorting out visa extensions and some life admin, before heading to Kampot for Khmer New Year.
Kampot, Cambodia
April 14, 2016
A few days in Kampot was nice and relaxing after the hustle and bustle of Phnom Penh, and it was nice to be back out on the moped, exploring some countryside.
Sihanoukville, Cambodia
April 18, 2016
As nice as it was there's not a great deal to do in Kampot, so after just a few days we continued westward to the tourist hub of Sihanoukville. Although Sihanoukville itself has lost some of its charm due to heavy commercialisation and a very poor municipal waste collection program, the islands just off the coast are supposed to be nice.
Koh Rong Samloem, Cambodia
April 21, 2016
To the beautiful island of Koh Rong Samloem for some basic living. We stayed in a hut on the far side of the island, aptly named Sunset beach.