I am right here in Asia

I am right here...

in Asia

We travelled about:  

21,447 miles

Travelled by: 

Bus, train, airplane, coach, boat, speedboat, LRT, 'inclined lift', minibus, tuk tuk, taxi, nearly motorbike before I chickened out, on a tube down a river, extreme lift up the Menora tower and our poor feet.

Visited:

3 countries in 3 weeks (not including Dubai) Thailand, Laos and Malaysia

Top things to do:

Riding and bathing an elephant

The weekend market in Bangkok

Tubing in Vang Vieng, Laos

 The Full Moon party in Koh Phangan

Eating at all the random little cafes with no English people in sight

Getting in a tuk tuk for free

The sleeper train

Drinking Chang beer

Trying to sleep in a hammock

Eating Thai pancakes with bananas

Staying in the beach bungalows of Koh Phangnan

Sunbathing on a boat

Hat Yai Thai fried chicken

Penang food (Chinese, Indian, Thai, Malaysian.. eveything!) 

Batu Ferringhi water sports

Lok Key Si temple in Penang

Wheelers Guest House in Kuala Lumpur

The Menora tower and Petronas towers of KL.

Malaysian sweet coffee

The Kuala Lumpur markets and surrounding shops that are all mental

Egg fried rice/special fried rice for a pound (or less)

Sleeping in a hut in Laos

The people you meet for just one drunken day

Until next time :)

Day 21: Goodbye Asia we will miss...

those kittens

Day 21: 

three countries in three weeks comes to an end

It was our last day in Asia and as our hostel was putting on a free meal in the evening, we decided to spend everything we had left during the day! We bought lots of presents and a few treats for ourselves too.. we went a bit mental for panda stuff. Therefore, we deserved a big lunch. We dined like kings in the food court. The food court in the Kuala Lumpur market is where loads of little stalls set up around some tables and you literally can eat from any of them... or ALL OF THEM. We ordered some fresh watermelon juice (my favourite whilst out there) and chicken in a foil wrap. I don't know why, but the last few days my stomach had been having a rough time with all the spicy food or something like that and so I felt ROUGH. So as a treat Josh suggested we went for a fish spa.

I have seen many of these fish spas in England now and they are everywhere in Thailand but as Josh has a bit of a food phobia then we always avoided them, but I had to give it a go! Its like being tickled at first and then you kinda find it relaxing. Josh's feet were also like a free meal for the fish who love dead skin (kinda icky right?) so they swarmed his heels like it was crack! Afterwards we took our smooth feet back to the hostel where the food was being served out. 

The hostel had this amazing roof top bar and seating area so we were enjoying the view... oh and the KITTENS!! There were four baby kittens that were adorable, I think I even suggested to the owner I might smuggle one away with me and his was happy to sell it to me! ha ha. We ate this amazing potato curry and met lots of people from our hostel. Wheelers Guest House is the best hostel ever!

But then it all came to an end....

When heading to the airport we decided to go for the cheapest option of a bus that you can catch from Kuala Sentral (the main coach and train station) which is accessible by the LRT or other bus routes. The bus to KLIA is once every half an hour and takes about an hour but only costs 10RM compared to the 35RM for the train (although I think the train only takes 30 minutes and your baggage gets taken directly to the airport too... a bit flashy!).

At the airport a nice lady gave us great seats with lots of leg room and as we had 70RM (left over that we had saved for the train if we couldn't work out the buses) we had a proper pickle over what to spend it on. I was desperate for a burger king as, although Asian food is incredible, my stomach was begging me for terrible greasy food and I feel ashamed to admit it, but I just wanted chips! About an hour later after walking around the duty free shop like craziessss we found a bottle of cranberry vodka for 60RM and therefore I could afford a BURGER KING CHICKEN MEAL. (Can you see the delight on my face?) 

And there we have it... the entire ASIA tale.

Next stop... Vietnam? YES PLEASE.

Day 20: sweaty day

Day 20:

Otherwise known as the day of... sweat, butterflies, sunshine, fishes and a drunken cry

This was our second to last day and after a little lie-in we ventured to our usual bakery for a morning breakfast of banana cake and other delicious treats all for about 20p. We then decided to walk to this park in the centre of the city as it was such a sunny day. There we stumbled across the butterfly park and realised after a while that because this park had a combination of sunshine, a wet mist (humid, humid, humid fun) and a netted greenhouse style roof it made for a sweaty betty day. We saw some bad ass butterfly tempt a turtle and then fly away and some HUGE fish, but the best bit was obviously the huge amount of butterflies that enjoyed sitting on my finger.

Afterwards we must have looked very very sexy. Luckily, a ribena flavoured ice-lolly was all I needed but we then started to walk to look for more food. We were heading towards the park when we found this amazing local market place that smelt incredible and lured us in! Having such a wide range of foods placed in front of us we asked an elderly man what to have, in the rough English way of just desperately signing at the man about how hungry we were. He offered us some testers and we ate FANTASTICALLY. We ended up having some sort of spacey rice with vegetables that his lovely wife was freshly cooking in a MASSIVE pot. The whole meal also cost us about £2 and we were treated like celebrities when all the locals approached us to see how we liked their cooking, not an English person in sight. We then walked around the park and saw deer and rowdy chickens.

The evening started as the day before, with rain. However, in KL this just makes the evening cooler and makes getting food hilarious. We tried playing cards and waiting for it to clear up a bit but after a while we made a dash for it... straight across the road to the reggae bar. This bar offers drinks for girl backpackers for less than a pound, I made it my challenge to drink as many as I could. Unfortunately that led to me having a proper drunken cry about being upset to leave and meeting some more people in our hostel over beer! I ended up eating chocolate wafer biscuits and wanting to stay travelling forever, however maybe in a place without so many moquitos?? Seriously, I still got more bites even on this day... in the middle of a city. I think at this point I was just cocky and some mosquito went to town on my un-mosquito-repellently skin

hello christmas at home

These ones are just a little cheesy

But, this weekend when I was going home we had to set up the christmas tree and have a wee photo moment. Plus I got to surprise my litttleee sister for her birthday and got to eat tasty tasty duck nom nom nom

ho ho ho

excuse me whilst I talk about fish

 Yes, that's what I said.

Its been a while since I did a tank update AND I know its lame but we do have a whole fancy flock now. 

So... please look away NOW because I will be wasting about 2 minutes of your precious life by naming my fish. Yes, I am going to do this.  

That means we now have:

Sheldon - the snail. Likes sucking glass then letting go and being pushed around by the filter.

Lenin - the shrimp who is now our oldest 'fish' at that grand age of 3 years old. He is the best.

Stuart, Stuart, Stuart - Cannot tell the difference between this bunch but they are eager when food is about

Meatloaf - he is a massive slut of our tank and enjoys rubbing up against innocent fish

Rafiki - named Rafiki because he looks like he has a red bum

Barnabas - Named after the character in Captain Pugwash (R.I.P. this year). Apparently Barnabas is the most aggressive of the pirates, but in reality just as harmless. He is quite rebellious and grumpy, and is perhaps marginally more intelligent than Willy. I have no idea who Willy is? He has a glorious tail and is a pirate... what more could you want?

Felix - Looks like a Dalmatian

The Brain - Has such a massive head that he never uses. He does not understand the filter and keeps getting whizzed around by the air stream. He also sleeps in the vase and we don't know why

Iron Fish - possibly the prettiest fish of our tank. Josh also likes to call him Rusty. That means he has two names and we really did discuss this.

Banana fish - This fish enjoys his reflection so much we never find him far from the side of the tank, checking himself out.

Wow. I hope you have not had a stroke during that or it would have been the last thing you would have seen, ha ha. RUINED YOUR DAY

the media

This is going to be a wordy one

I though it was about time I shared my wee little opinion on the world of the media, especially as it hits the front page. (Oh and today is the big day of my interview!) So here is a few things I am super cool and thinking about.

I have recently seen the 'hollidaaays are coming' coke advert. This always makes me (and everyone else in the world/ on facebook) the happiest person. But I have to think, bravo to that marketing campaign. It is one advert that changed the colour of Father Christmas' clothing to advertise its brand and that now sparks the first excitment of Christmas.

Jeremy Clarkson has been made to apologise for wanting to shoot protesters from an interview with the One Show. If you read that sentence out loud it doesn't look serious. I mean, if you took that as anything but a joke then you really have to question what has happened to comedy as we already have to be careful of everything we say. Oh and then that terrible video of a lady shouting on a tram came along and we all realised it was still out there. 

The News of the world and following inquests. Phone hacking is wrong. I know that if anyone looked at my phone they would probably think I was boring/fickle/drunk 90% of the time/loved up with anybody I text.

When anyone starts University they get a Facebook account. Its one of those sites that distracts and interacts. I think most people watched the The Social Network film, I happened to think this was a little bit like a fictional documentary, which is never really that useful. However, I am not ashamed to admit I will almost instinctively log on every time I find laptop and I really love flicking through photos of past nights out and sharing funny cat videos on my best friends walls.

The Metro is my morning and afternoon read, when the pennies are being scraped together in order to buy lunch at least its free! I also find its one of the only newspapers which can combine the headlines "Eurocrisis" and "Pension protests" with one page later saying "Man collects most gnomes". I think its nice to know not everything in the world is bad.

The new blogging sensation. Now, if anyone has reached this point and is still reading... hello! I think blogging is pretty nifty. I don't ever presume I write anything worth reading, in fact that is why I love pictures, but I like the fact I am sharing. SHARING IS CARING. 

Twitter. I feel somehow with twitter my training wheels (like on your first bike) are not off yet as I still am discovering everything out there. I mean, the other day ARGOS tweeted to someone. Argos can tweet? This is a sentence I never thought I would use. After all, I enjoyed one comedian's view that Argos was actually a shop with a wizard sitting in the back (where the warehouse should be) magically creating items people order and then projecting a number onto a flashy board. Although, Argos really does take the fun out of shopping when you wait for your items in a doctors-surgery-type seating arrangement.

You tube and the brilliant Rude tube programme, where I enjoy animal clips so much and ones with babies enjoying heavy metal that I once cried with laughter at a baby ripping up paper. What are the chances?

One word, Jordan. Seriously now... why is she famous? Big boobs. Oh yes, and the most clever person at marketing herself in the whole of the UK. I have seen trailers for the fact she now has a television programme about being signed with her. I am generally confused by this. The poor person has no hope.

Finally, flashy phones. The Internet and everything in one device. I am afraid I will still be sticking to my average size phone with normal buttons and fairly tame features but Josh is so in love with his phone I think the other day we tried to find a restaurant with his googlemaps app, open the door in the dark with his torch app, look up a video about how nice the place is with his you tube app and uploaded a photo of our dinner with his facebook app... ROMANTICCC app. (lame pun)

LIKE.

a german moustachio market

The German Market in Birmingham

Over the Christmas period the Germans descend on Birmingham for....

Massive long sausages (giggidy), Christmas gifts, gnomes, woolly hats, beer, mulled wine, giant wooden market stalls, hundreds of Christmas lights, advent calendars, singing reindeer, father Christmas, cookies, someone filling the fountain with bubble bath and creating foamy snow, moustaches (which by the way, Dave and Josh are sporty in a very creepy way), ANIMAL hats, cold winter nights, coffee and other delicious treats.

So the photos show: the creepy faces of two moustachiooo men, cocktails called ZOMBIESS, the giant advert calendar stall, sausages, a christmassssy-take on a very dull picture, rosey nosey beer, the stalls all lit up and a bit of a couply moment. 

My favourite moments: Sausages straight from the grill, my earmuffs, Dave walking into a post and telling a poor girl walking past, a Russian Olympist doing a back flip in the street, the foamy snow prank, Dave being called 'Manueeelll' and attaching a helium star balloon to Dave as he tried to understand where it was.

Also, I saw the Coke advert... which everyone knows means.... CHRISTMAS IS SOON.

Day 19: view day

Day 19:

Being a celebrity (and a cheap one at that)

Our day started at 7am, sooo earrrly that we were on the LRT with all the commuters on their way to work. I meanwhile, had wet hair and a bag full of cheesecake and butter cake from this amazing bakery down the road to our hostel. CLASSY.

We were heading to the Petronas Towers... only to have one horrible shock. Unfortunately, the Petronas Towers were SHUT for maintenance (until 2012) which meant we decided to walk to the Menora Tower instead.

The Menora tower is not free to go up but once you have purchased a ticket you get free entry into a variety of other attractions surrounding the tower such as: the F1 simulator, small zoo on site or a ride on a tiny pony. I have heard they are all pretty rubbish. We opted for the F1 simulator but it was not a simulator at all, as it was basically like playing a computer game in a small room full of F1 memorabilia... which also whilst I was playing a woman dressed in a Ferrari jumpsuit kept steering for me when I went off-course and shut down the game before I crossed the finish line!! I was that bad. So all the extras are not really worth it. However, the actual tower is pretty incredible.

You get clear and vast views across the city and also headsets telling you about the various buildings you can see. I would recommend going early as it gets crowded pretty quickly, which I found when I got absolutely mobbed by a crowd of Chinese school children who all wanted photos of me because of my pasty skin! ha! So there may be hundreds of photos of me out there somewhere, looking very embarrassed and PALE. (I was taking photos with them for about 20 minutes) However, after the tower we sorted out our bus to the airport (bad times) and got some lunch in the markets:

I got pork and noodles (pictured) called Loo Chin Min Lee Mee something (or it was like that, I hope that does not say something different as I have no idea what it means) except after about 20 minutes of struggling to eat them with chopsticks a woman had to give me a fork. I am such an awkward tourist. We also tried a Malaysian coffee which is made with condensed milk, which is soooo delicious! We found if you go to the markets this coffee is more traditional and we drank ours whilst watching a terrified cat peeing... niiice. We also loved the mental shops that were in Kuala Lumpur, like ones selling Christmas trees (in the baking heat) and random plastic things like a panda fan, angry birds stuff everywhere and other bright and tacky things. 

We bought numerous things like a chanel bag for about £8 and two bottles of perfume for £5 each, huuraaah! Hello bargain. However, the rest of the evening it poured down with rain (which was lucky considering how sunny the day was) so we made a dash to get food (meat in a bun!!! Followed by a portion of egg fried rice with all the leftovers of the day so I got some nice pork crackling salty extras) and beer. Some market man even sang "I need a hero" at me when I ran past squealing like a little girl, drenched. We then played card games with two Aussies from our hostel. I also may have serenaded them with my take of... ITS THE FINAL COUNTDOWN DANANANA.

This is actually one of our last days, so it really is the final countdown of days booooo.

movember update

This is Josh's moustachioooo week 3 of 4.

What do you think?

If you are having a little gander please donate:

right here

It would be much appreciated

do you know what is quite sad?

How much I love Frozen Planet.

 

 Other things I am loving currently:

My tapas dinner out, Josh's moustachio tickles, getting excited about interviews, my earmuffs, Asda's hazelnut truffle chocolate bar for only a squid, X-men deeply misleading me about Wolverine, my hot water bottle, cheap whiskey, my travel photos getting nicely backed up by Josh's clever hard-drive, the German Market selling sausages and beer, steak pie, pay day, my new stripey jumper that should arrive in the post anyday now, my onesie, waistcoats, the dancing diggers that are due to perform tomorrow (whaaattt?), the fight I saw in Greggs when getting my sausage roll, going home, spooning my lovely friends, my naughty calendar I bought Nia.

Also if this does not make you all squidgy and happy, I don't know what will

And 

On a little bit of a pooey note, things I got angry about:

Train fines, my current job that is draining me, angry people in the city centre, Polar Bears starving marving (it makes me sad), that Cancer research advert with the old man crying on the sofa, the cold.

Phewww.. the nice list is longer :)

Day 18: I see things...

I see them with my eyes, I see things often in disguise
KUALA LUMPUR 

Day 18: 

The Petronas Towers and me

The route to Kuala Lumpur was on a very colourful bus with snacks galore! We had: some bakery treats like croissants (I know its not Asian, sorry!) and these biscuits called Tak Sar Biscuits and some crisps called Miaow Miaow cheese crisps! Tak Sar Biscuits are like onion cakes, so crumbly it was like holding magic dust and pretty grim, but the day gets a bit weirder... when we arrived at our hostel.

We stayed at Wheelers Guesthouse, which is one of the best hostels I have stayed at! Its this really kooky hostel which is right in the heart of the markets and Chinatown. It has a rooftop bar and lots and lots of animals!! It had: turtles with snouts, big ugly fish, hundreds of goldfish, hamsters that can do back flips, hedgehogs, kittens and a mummy tabby cat and then randomly a monkey wearing boxers. It has warm showers and large enough rooms that you don't have to shuffle around. The communal areas are a massive plus too, especially when there are KITTENS playing around them. 

As we spent all day on coaches, we decided to take an evening stroll. We went to the night market and had massive noodles and I did my first bit of haggling for perfume (which later on, one of the flowers fell off the lid... mmmm the real deal). Then we took the LRT to the twin towers of Kuala Lumpur. The LRT is like a monorail/train above the city without a driver, ooo spooky! You can reach most things by LRT and the Petronas Towers are only a wee stroll from the KLCC stop. The towers are also surrounded by other really pretty lit-up buildings like the Menora tower and some coooool hanging lights (I am literally like a wide-eyed child on Christmas, I love lights!**).

By the evening we had found another Reggae bar (huzzaahh) and I had a bright blue cocktail and some more wandering. I realise now, most of our evenings ended like this. I hope we sound cooler than just a couple of tipsy people walking around strange countries getting excited about lights and towers BUT that night I had the best nights sleep evverrrr.

**When I was younger I could never fall asleep in the car as I was always looking out of the window at the lights on the motorway. That's good old electricity working its magic on keeping me awake. My parents hated this, in fact I think they are one of the reasons why motorway lights now are turned off at night. Well, its either that or my mum is the sole contributor to global warming in order to screw over electricity.

Day 17: crayon temple

The Lok Key Si temple or Kek Lok Si temple is perched on the top of the hill in Penang and its possibly one of the most hidden treasures of this island.

 

Day 17

The brightest day of the travels

The bus from Georgetown to the temple is super easy to use and quick however to get to the Lok Key Si Temple entrance you have to go up through this winding staircase of markets that's hidden within the food market, its a bit of a maze! We were lucky that the bus dropped us close to the bottom and a local man pointed us in the right way but you basically know your on the right track when you get to a little opening with a small bridge over a pool full of TURTLES.

The surprises just kept coming. The temple is so colourful its like walking around a box of crayons and you don't expect it from the outside! Also a cable car - or how they describe it - an inclined lift (ha!) - takes you to the top where this massive statue of the goddess of supreme bliss and tranquility is standing over the whole city. And the goddess really was doing a good job making the place nice and peaceful. There are lots of goldfish (which is a big deal for me), wishing ribbons you can hang on trees and its meant to make them come true, lots of random panda statues and other animals, golden Buddhas, colourful buildings and odd shapes windows.

I would really recommend a wee trip here :)

Afterwards we went for lunch in the local market where I dined on kiwi juice and some sort of yellow rice and chicken combo whilst Josh had a local dish called Laksa Asam. This is basically SOUR FISH STEW. yuck yuck yuck. He quite enjoyed it, I could not have hated it more.

We spent the afternoon walking around Penang (getting lost and being overly excited to see things) where we picked up Bombay mix from the Diwali celebrations and ate at the port whilst watching the sunset... dreamy/what a soppy fool! 

The Reggae bar was also a stop off point where we met a lady called Bree which makes me think of the cheese I was missing. Bree was a teacher in Thailand, there was another guy (forgot his name) and then there was this American man who was a doctor from Chang Mai... who was the weirdest man I have ever met. Drinking turned into a lot of drinking and we ended up talking with the group until American man got angry and so we made a smooth exit in order to satisfy our crisp cravings. Then it poured it down with rain which is when something horrific happened....

WE SAW A MASSIVE RAT.

It ran right past me, traumatising. So to not end on that note... check out this CAT:

I like the fact the shop lady also moved the sign to wherever the cat decided to sleep, which meant she had her work cut out. So that was day 17. TADAAA

movember

So, Josh is growing what looks like a bit of a creepy moustachiooo, all to raise money for Movember and prostate cancer (men's health).

Therefore I shall be updating his facial hair on this blog in order to:

1. Have a laugh at his funny moustache (and maybe wonder if he is in fact a hardened criminal)

2. Raise awareness for this cause 

and 

3. In case people want to make a donation... I shall pop a link on the end of the pictures so you can give any of your pennies towards it.

Also, moustaches are so dignified. Like my favourite man Lenin (who I named my pet shrimp after) and therefore me and my panda friend (in the picture above) are slightly jealous

He is sexy
 http://www.justgiving.com/creepy-moustache-fun

Day 16: fish and shoes

Day 16
The last of the beach days

Penang does not offer many beaches, but the ones that are on offer are FULL of little bars, restaurants, people and all sorts of water sports. Batu Ferringhi is the best one of the bunch and is about a 40 minute bus ride from Georgetown (bus 101). Although, because Penang is a little less touristy, many of the locals are still wearing full burkas and you feel kinda naked to be in a bikini, therefore we avoided the Muslim men who liked to have a stare and found a little spot to frolic in the water.

Batu Ferringhi is a long long beach and its fairly beautiful, but not a patch on the Thailand islands like Koh Phangnan. Its most famous for the water sports available and the fact it is one of the only unpolluted beaches on Penang.

We found a place called the Sunflower bar to have lunch and went for the catch of the day. We got an entire seabass with salted fish rice and it was INCREDIBLE. I am a fussy fish eater (ie. I don't really eat fish) and I ate so much that we licked the plate clean. We later went walking down the beach to watch all the water sports that were taking place (we later realised we had left the towel back at the bar and had to walk the entire way back). We were tempted to go banana boating but unfortunately we only had brought enough money with us for the bus home and so we just sat to watch.

However, as we were innocently watching a sky parachute water thing decided to crash land right where we were sitting, which cracked me up so much as we discovered Josh's shoes were under the parachute. We also had to try some random ice creams like Josh's banana one that actually had Jelly in and one that ended up tasting like a magnum. In Malaysia we found they put Jelly in most things, like DRINKS. This is a weird experience to be glugging a Fanta-rip-off and finding small lumps of Jelly in the can.

The rest of the evening we spent eating at a curry house called Kaspian in 'Little India' with the best curry I have eaten and an amazing array of dishes, also as it was Diwali then the whole city was covered in lights and fireworks were randomly going off. The walk home also included a scary guard dog barking at us, spotting rats ** (gross) and drinking at the Reggae bar. Trust me, Reggae bars are the place to go. Free drinks to lady travellers and a pretty decent atmosphere. We met the most people at these bars.

** There are a few rats in Penang, partly because they used to have sewers running around the city and although they are not used anymore they still make brilliant runs for the rats. However, don't let this put anyone off visiting Penang as they are rare to spot and also the city is gradually blocking off the old sewers meaning there are only a few remaining in the cheaper areas of town, away from the hostels and bars!!