Our Backpacking Adventure!
From August 2022 until May 2023, we went on an adventure of a lifetime, backpacking across Southeast Asia. Along this journey, we ventured through 10 countries in 10 months, from searing heat to torrential rainstorms, noisy hostel rooms to luxurious cruise ships, and even one of us losing a tooth whilst floating on a lake, this trip had it all!
It began with a 5-night stay in Singapore, after all, this city is very expensive so it was all we could afford. We went on cable cars, slept in a space-pod and even had time to walk along the famous F1 track by the Marina Bay Sands! Short but sweet, we then moved on to the mayhem of Indonesia. Firstly, a month travelling from one end of the island of Java to the other. So early on, we already found our least favourite destination of our trip, the city of Jakarta. The culture shock hit hard! Rats crossing the road, cockroaches patrolling the pavements, and the worst traffic we have ever seen. Java still had its good bits though. The colourful rainbow village of Malang were a sight to behold. We also hiked up to see the jaw-dropping sunrise at Mt Bromo and, although we hated it at the time, the treacherous climb down into the crater of the sulphur volcano Mt Ijen. It sure was a challenge! Next it was time to relax. Another month in Indonesia, this time on the island of Bali. Here we could replace cockroaches for coconuts on the beach. After all, relaxing is what Bali is known for right? Here, we were lucky enough to swim with turtles, and even release some baby turtles back into the ocean. It was so heart-warming.
By this time, it was October. We arrived in Thailand during the rainy season, and it rained A LOT! Rather surprisingly, here we met a familiar face from back home, our old next-door neighbour who now lives in Bangkok. We also saw some famous sights, such as The Bridge on the River Kwai, a landmark built during WWII, and we even helped some locals in an elephant sanctuary. Perhaps the most dramatic time in Thailand was when we were incorrectly fined and forced to pay a bribe to the police! How dodgy is that! The following month we spend some time travelling to some cool places in Malaysia. Our favourite had to be the capital city Kuala Lumpur, where we grabbed a bargain for our accommodation. For just £12 per night, we were lucky enough to have an apartment with a rooftop infinity pool overlooking the city and the famous Petronas Towers. Swimming in there would be one of the highlights of the entire trip!
Just one month to go before Christmas, and we explored a few of the many thousands of islands in The Philippines. This place was a paradise everywhere you looked. Canyoneering was perhaps the most fun activity we did. It involved climbing, swimming and jumping your way along the rivers and all the caves and creeks along the way, it was such good fun. We also tip-toed and whispered our way through the forest in search of the one of the worlds most unique animals, the tarsier, and luckily, we managed to find some! We also met some great friends whilst exploring The Philippines, and they would come to our rescue later in our trip. We didn’t fancy spending Christmas on our own here, so we hatched a plan. We decided to surprise our family in Brisbane and spend our Christmas and new year ‘down under’ in Queensland, Australia. Not like Christmas dinner back home in England though. No turkey and trimmings this time, it was prawns on the BBQ!
We left Australia in February and returned to Thailand for 6 weeks. Now that the wet season had passed this time, we could explore the southern half of the country including some its many tropical island paradises as well as a stunning national park. It was here where Lee lost his tooth whilst floating on the lake in the national park. We stayed in a floating village, and the bobbing up and down whilst on the water is how he somehow managed to smash a Pepsi can into his face and knock his tooth out! Maybe we should have stuck to the islands… our favourites were Koh Phi Phi and Koh Tao. The first famous for Maya Bay, one of the worlds most famous beaches. It was made famous from the film The Beach staring Leonardo DiCaprio. Koh Tao was where we decided to learn how to scuba dive. It was one of the best things we have ever done, we absolutely loved it!
The following month, we travelled through two more countries, firstly Laos and then Cambodia. These two places seemed a lot poorer than where we had visited previously. Laos especially is still suffering from the consequences of the Vietnam war, and we found out there are millions of unexploded bombs still scattered across the country. Here we decided to contribute and try and help a little. We volunteered at a local school in Luang Prabang where we practiced some English with the students, and we also gave many donations to charities along our trip through the country. In Cambodia, they are still trying to move on from the atrocities of the 1970s when they were under the control of the Khmer Rouge. Despite that, there were still many fantastic things to do here, such as exploring the ancient city of Angkor, riding the rickety bamboo railway in Battambang, and witnessing a colony of six and a half million bats set of from their cave. There are that many, it takes half an hour for all the bats to leave the cave!
By this time, it was now April, and our last destination in Southeast Asia was in sight. Vietnam was last up and we certainly saved one of the best until last! We explored many of the major cities here, but our favourite was a small town called Hoi An. It was beautiful! From here, we had a motorbike trip to Hue via the Hai Van Pass which is famous from Top Gear. It took 4hrs on our little scooter, but it was well worth the ride. We also had a longer 3-day motorbike trip along Vietnam’s most northernly point where it meets the border with China. It is called the Ha Giang Loop. Nearby we also went camping for a few nights and we were absolutely freezing! Before our flight home, we wanted to go out with a bang, so we booked a mini cruise along Ha Long Bay. We were treated like Kings and Queens!
Just like that, 10 months had passed, and it was time to return home. We had a long 9hr layover during our trip home, and it was in Doha, Qatar. This is where our friends from the Philippines helped us out. They both live in Qatar to teach English, and they offered to take us out for the day and give us a whistlestop tour of the city. It was a completely different experience to what we had seen in Southeast Asia, and the people here were so friendly. The fact that here it was 42 degrees Celsius, we think 1 day here was plenty! Upon returning home to cold rainy England, we can look back on what was the greatest trip we had ever done, with memories to last a lifetime.
