It was time to leave Thailand, and we boarded a bus towards Cambodia; it was the first time we would be crossing a land boarder so we were unsure what to expect. Once we got to the boarder it was an unusual experience. A Cambodian man who worked for the travel company sorted our visa out, which was fine, but we were advised to get money out and convert it at the boarder (for various reasons), and we are fairly sure we were ripped off, but I don’t think by loads.

The experience at the boarder, joined with the conditions of the area, didn’t give me the best hopes of what Cambodia would be like. Fortunately once we got to Siem Reap it got a lot better. We spent the evening at the pub street, where as the name suggests, has a variety of bars/clubs and restaurants. Siem Reap seemed like a fun place but unfortunately the horrible truth is that unfortunately it is quite clear the amount of people still having to live with the effects of the war.

We spent the next day unwinding by the pool before we ventured round the markets and picked up some souvenirs.
In the morning we woke at 4am to go and see sunset at Angkor Wat – the biggest temple in the world. The early wake up was worth it, even though there wasn’t much sun to see due to the heavy clouds, it was still a beautiful sight. The temple was huge, many people go on consecutive days to see it all. We spent about 2 hours there, there’s no doubt that the temple is impressive – from the detail in some of the carvings to the tranquility outside. Another positive of being there for sunrise was that by the time we was leaving, tonnes of tour guides were arriving. We spent the rest of the day being taken by our tuk tuk driver to various other temples, finishing with the temple where Tomb Raider was filmed. It was a really great day, even though the blaring heat did make it hard to spent time walking round the temples to appreciate themselves.

After Liene and Alex left, we decided we would stick around in Bangkok for a couple of days before we leave Thailand. We were staying in a hostel close to Khao San road, however we realised that what we thought was Khao San road (that we went down many times the first time we were in Bangkok) atually wasnt. Khao San road is the madness you would expect from Bangkok all in one road. There’s bars and clubs all alongside each other competing for tourists and blasting music, shops with souvinors and street vendors selling all sorts from clothes and food.The next day Laura and I finally tried out a Thai tuk tuk and took a ride to the MBK centre, which I believe is the biggest fake designer shopping centre in the world. Before we left Thailand we went on a hunt for our favourite Thai dish for dinner – Khao Soi. Khao Soi is a delicious mix of soft noodles, chicken, a curry soup and crunchy noodles on top. After we indulged, we decided to go to a sky bar for a cocktail and take a look at Bangkok’s skyline. We had a great time, until a storm passed over us and rain poured down on us.Sadly it was time to leave Thailand. We both had an amazing time both times we were in Thailand. We saw elephants, jungles, beautiful sunsets, and amazing food. Thailand has something for everyone, and I can’t wait to go back!

For our last stop with Liene and Alex, we were surprised to find out that they had secretly booked a villa for us all to stay in! The villa was huge, it had a really nice modern interior and a chill area on the rooftop with a jacuzzi. That evening Liene wasnt feeling too great, so we decided to order some pizza and stayed in.

The next day we went to a wander to the beach and came across the dive centre that the owner of the villa suggested we use if we was interested in doing a dive. We poked our nose in and had a chat, and to no surprise was convinced to book onto doing a “try dive” for the next day. We spent the rest of the day having some drinks on the beach in various bars and watching the sunset, although quite cloudy.

Waking up slightly anxious for our dive, we made our way down to the Roctopus dive shop. We had a briefing for about an hour of some key instructions and about the physics of diving. We then boarded the boat with various other groups and taken to the first location. The first dive was interesting, its definitely a unique experience, but I was having trouble with equalizing my ears and the pressure was quite hurting them. Once we came up we had the decision whether we wanted to do another dive for a much smaller price, so I decided to give it another crack. The second dive went much better, even though my ears and sinus was hurting, I managed to equalize them better and get on with it. This time we went to about 11 metres deep, and swam around and saw various corals, fish and even some strange eel. In the evening we had planned to do the Koh Tao Pub Crawl, something that Laura and I had heard is good fun. On the pub crawl we watched a pretty impressive fire show, then after moving onto a different bar – a lady boy show.

For our last day in Koh Tao we decided to rent mopeds, with me and Alex driving and the girls on the back. We drove about 30 minutes to a really beautiful viewpoint bar, where you could see two beaches either side. After a short drive we stopped to get lunch at what turned out to be a vegan cafe. We went to go get back on our bikes, when it looked as if the battery died on mine and wouldn’t start. Luckily, there was actually a repair shop just down the road, and after about 30 minutes we were on our way again. We quickly got ready at the hostel, as we really wanted to watch the sunset on the beach for our last night, and I’m so glad we did; it looked incredible! Finally, we went to the restaurant Baracuda, one that the owner of our villa recommended. The food was amazing, me and Laura shared some scallops and prawns, and had then a baracuda fillet.

In the morning we had to embark on a 10 hour journey back to Bangkok, where Liene and Alex would be flying out from the next morning, and Laura and I would spend a couple days there. It was awesome having Liene and Alex there, it was nice to see familiar faces and we all had loads of fun.

I woke up with the regret of drinking too much with Alex the night before, as we were getting a ferry to the next island. Luckily it was only a short one, so I endured it without getting too nauseous. We were staying at a “Mad Monkey” hostel, so I knew it was going to be more partying for the 5 days that we were there. Then good thing about the Mad Monkey hostels is that they always have a different event on each day, to get people socialising and partying. The night we got there was the music quiz, and with our combined knowledge along with Alex’s dance moves we ended up winning!

The next day the reps said that a few people were going over to a different hostel, that was basically on it’s own beach. We all went together and had a good time there. The beach was beautiful and secluded, albeit the sea was very shallow and so warm. In the evening we went to go check out a night market. The market had loads on offer from crafts, jewellery, snacks and dinner. After a while of looking around and eating we went back to get ready for the Jungle Party that we had bought tickets for. The party was so cool, there was fire dancers, drummers, lots of cool effects and even a cheesy magic show.

On the third day was the day of the famous full moon party, and practically the main reason we chose to go to Koh Phangan. The full moon party is what draws so many people to the island, making it super busy every 4 weeks. The party held on Haad Rin Beach has over 5 stages dotted along, with tonnes of vendors selling food and buckets with alcohol inside to cater for the thousands of people. It was a really fun night, it was really busy but as it was slightly out of season I can only imagine how hectic it is in prime time.

The next day was a much calmer, lounging around for the most part of the day. In the evening we took a taxi over to Sunset Walk. We had some really good cocktails, chilled out on some bean bags and watching the sun set which eventually turnt into some beautiful colours.

Finally, the day that my sister and her boyfriend would be visiting us. We had a really long journey from Krabi to Koh Samui, taking about 6 hours. We arrived before them so we checked into Lub D, which looked amazing; more like a hotel than hostel! We were hoping to surprise them, but as we hadn’t heard for them we checked the reception and there they were, waiting for us. We spent the first day catching up over some drinks and enjoying some cocktails, which was a nice change to the cheap beer me and Laura normally limit ourselves to!

We spent the next couple days just lounging in the sun, exploring down the beach and drinking. One day we booked to do a Jeep tour around the island which was great! We were picked up in the morning, and taken to popular tourist spots on the island, such as the “mummified monk”, a monk who had devoted his life to his religion and died whilst mediating, and was preserved in a glass box so his body hasn’t deteriorated that much. We were then taken to a waterfall which was fairly impressive, which also had a water slide that was rapid! We then did a zip line through the trees, which was really fun and had a great view over Koh Samui. After some lunch, we then went off road into the woods and were given the option to sit on top of the jeep if we wanted to. Wow, we was rocking about all over the place and being flung around, like a free rollercoaster! The final stop was the big buddah, which again had a really nice view looking out.

For the final evening in Samui, me and Alex decided to go to a club whilst the girls decided to stay at the hostel. It was an interesting experience to see a Thai club, it was so busy!

We have just left Krabi and on the bus to Koh Samui, where we will be meeting my sister and Alex!

We stayed at the hostel “Pak Up”, and it was so nice. Every night you could get 2 free BBQ skewers, the rooms were nicely air conditioned with comfy beds and huge lockers, there was a small rooftop gym and to top it off it was super cheap. There was a food market that was on every night just down the road from us by the water, so a couple nights we had ate there and had some good food, like this homemade coconut icecream from this little old lady.

On our second day there we took a boat to Railay, a small town about a 45 minute boat away which is only accessible by boat. We were optimistic that we could have a relatively sunny beach day, but as we were waiting for the boat of course it had to chuck it down with rain; however luckily there wasnt anymore that day. Railay was really nice, we stayed on the beach the most of the day even though it was cloudy. The waves were a lot smaller than the other places in Thailand we had been, and the beach was relatively clean. For lunch I finally tried pineapple fried rice, which tasted delicious even though it was a mountain of food!

The rest of the days we decided to chill and save some money, so we mostly went to a few cafes and relaxed. One night everyone in our dorm room went out to eat together, and it was so interesting listening to peoples stories – for example this one guy is now a teacher in Thailand, and was telling us all about how he does spoken word poetry and was a world champion one year. Even though we didn’t do particularly much with our time in Krabi, we did pick a good time to go. This is because we got to go go the weekend market a few nights, which had so many different types of food, drinks, souvenirs and clothes. I had spring rolls, octopus skewers and mango sticky rice – all delicious! We were also there for some type of art festival, which I believe was to celebrate 147 years since Krabi was found as a city. We didn’t get to see too much of it as it was shutting by the time we got there, but we did see a wall where anyone could paint what they wanted which was so cool.

We could’ve done a lot more with Krabi, but as I said, we chose to save some money and also the weather limited us a bit. I don’t mind too much though, as I’m currently on the bus excited to be seeing some family!

After Phuket we were heading to Koh Lanta, but we had to write off a whole day to travel there. The journey took about 8 hours total, via minivan and a short ferry. As soon as we arrived we headed out for food, and then to a bar where there was a great band playing.

In the morning we had a really nice free breakfast that the hostel provided – we had eggs, fruit, toast and homemade banana muffins, it was great considering we hadn’t paid much at all for the hostel! For our first full day we originally decided we would go to the beach, as we had heard they are supposed to be beautiful. Unfortunately for us though, we checked a few beaches and it was the same story for all of them: it was quite cloudy, and the waves were pretty big, which meant the sea wasn’t very clear due to the sand being brought in. We quickly decided we should do something else, so we decided to rent a moped for the days we are there so we can at least explore a bit. We did start to drive for a while, until we started to feel rain and was forced to go in a cafe as it started chucking it down. We already knew that Koh Lanta is a small island, so it wouldn’t be as busy, however it was definitely a lot quieter than I expected. Granted, we are in “low season”, but there were numerous amounts of restaurants, hostels, and bars without anyone in. However in the evening we stumbled across this tiny looking restaurant with only one couple inside, so we thought we would give it a go. The owners were the loveliest Thai couple, how gave us our menus on hand written books where people had written very highly rated reviews of their experience in the back. I had a mussaman curry, and Laura had a green curry. They both tasted amazing, and the owners were so nice we decided we would come back the next day.

In the morning we decided we would take the bike and venture down the south of the island and see what we found. After driving a while (and taking a wrong turn), we ended up in “Old Town”. We decided to get off and have a wander, and it was so nice there we didn’t expect it. We saw more tourists, and there were lots of shops selling homemade clothing and jewellery. We walked round for a bit and had a drink on the waterfront, before heading on our way. After driving a bit longer through the forests and bendy roads, we stopped for lunch at “Phad Thai Rock ‘n Roll”, which was arguably the best Pad Thai I’ve had so far! We stopped for a drink on a beach which wasn’t as bad as the ones we had been to the day before, and then drove about an hour back to our hostel. Just like we said, we did go back to the same restaurant, where we had the nicest spring rolls ever, and then I had the green curry and Laura had a red curry. It was so nice to see how much they love cooking, seeing how proud they were of their creations and the lady taking a photo of what she had cooked for us before serving.

Koh Lanta was nice, but I’m sure in the right time of year it would be incredible. I have heard there is the nicest sunsets, which unfortunately we didn’t get to see at all, and I can imagine when it is busier it would be a lot more fun too.

We arrived to Phuket and joined a minibus of people to get to the area (Patong) we were staying in. We were staying at D’feel hostel, and had a huge room to ourselves for only £5 a night each!

Phuket is full of bars and shopping, and the next day we went to check out the Jungleceyon shopping centre. The centre had a few high street shops, but the basement was filled with small vendors selling an array of items and gifts. After some shopping we had lunch at the food bazaar that’s there, with so many different small eateries selling different types of Thai food, you get a card with credit on and go choose whatever you want. Later that evening we decided to have some beers by the beach and watch the sunset, which was really nice to have some time away from the crazy streets of Patong.

The next day we took a 20 minute taxi to Karon beach. We had read that the beach is supposed to be really nice and a bit more touristy, and it was nice but the waves were huge. This meant we didn’t really go in the sea much, as when Laura went in for only a few minutes she was battered by a wave and lost her sunglasses! After some time sunbathing through the clouds, we went for a wonder round a market where we decided we just had to buy a handheld fan, as the heat was too much to shop in! Before heading back to Patong we had a tasty green curry, and I had the best passion fruit shake ever.

The next few days were mostly spent down Bangla Road. In the day we would walk round looking at the fake designer goods on offer, and then returning in the evening for some drinks. However one day we did opt to do a cooking class which was a great experience! It was a small group of just me, Laura and one other man, and we learnt all about the different ingredients that go into Thai food, and what to add to balance the flavours. We then cooked 3 dishes, a green curry and two soup dishes – Tom Yum and Tom Ka. It was so interesting to see how quickly these can be made, and they all tasted delicious; especially the green curry, it tasted so fresh, I will definitely be making it when I’m home!

On our last evening we met an American guy at a bar, we ended up spending the whole night with him and his danish friends drinking buckets of mixers, having tequila shots and playing pool. We then ended up going to this huge club called Illuzion, which was really cool to see the amount of production and effects they put into it. I had mixed feelings about Phuket, I wasn’t a huge fan at the fact that the majority of people are out to take your money, trying to get you to buy something or get you into some kind of show. I have heard that there are some great places to go in Phuket though, as it is a huge place, so I guess we just picked the most touristy location. With that being said though, I did like how there was plenty of shops, restaurants and street food, and lots of bars; so I guess it balanced out.

Saying goodbye to the Philippine’s, our next destination was Malaysia, however we had an overnight stopover in Singapore airport. We decided this wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world, as we had heard stories of how luxurious Singapore airport is, and we wanted to experience it anyway. Across the many terminals, the airport has shops ranging from souvenir shops to high-end fashion. Luckily it also has a napping area, were we spent the night and I have to say, I’ve had worse sleeps!

In the morning we finally flew to a Kuala Lumpur. We were only staying here for a few days but immediately I have to say, it was a nice change to see the built up busy city, contrasting with our month in the Philippine’s. We were staying at Space Hostel, where we both had our own capsule, with a touch screen panel controlling the lights, air con, the TV, and the electronic sliding door. We spent the rest of the day looking round the market across the road, at the abundance of fake designer clothing.

In the morning we took a taxi to the Batu Caves. Unfortunately it chucked it down with rain, but we quickly walked up the multi colour steps to look inside. On the way back to the station we saw loads of monkeys roaming by the bottom of the stairs, luckily they didn’t get too close as I’ve heard they’re known to steal! We spent the rest of day in the KLCC centre, a shopping mall inside the twin towers. In the evening we went to Helibar, which is a cocktail bar situated on top of a skyscraper which by day is used as a helipad. It was nice to experience a bit of luxury, and awesome to see the Malaysian skyline in the daytime, and then as night came seeing it all lit up. Before going back to our space capsule we went back to the twin towers to take some pictures of them at night.

Our time in Malaysia was obviously short lived, but it was interesting to see and refreshing to see something different.

It was time to leave Siargao, despite only getting a small feel for the place. We were going to Boracay next, but due to the lack of flights, and also cost, we had a really long and awkward journey to get there; which was made worse that I still wasn’t feeling 100%. First we would fly back to Cebu City, where we would then have about a 6 hour wait until our flight at about midnight. Then once we landed in Kalibo at 1am, we then had to get a minivan for an hour to the port, then a short boat, and then finally another minivan to Mad Monkey Hostel, arriving 4am. As Mad Monkey is s chain of party hostels, we were thankful the party had ended by the time we arrived so we could sleep.

After a much needed lie in, we walked to ‘Dmall’, essentially an outdoor shopping centre, and stopped for a drink at the Hobbit Bar, were all the staff were dwarves! Later back at the hostel, we bumped into Dan, a guy we had met in Bangkok about two months before. We spent the night drinking and playing games with Dan, Elliot, Tom, Rebecca and Emma who we stuck with the rest of the time in Boracay.

The rest of the time in Boracay consisted of a lot of alcohol – “free shots at the bar”, and mostly staying in the hostel playing games. One day we went on a boat party, which was great fun. Free drinks all day, good music, jumping off boats and having fun. The hostel really did make it for our time in Boracay. The food was good, it had a big pool, and it was a really social atmosphere where you meet a lot of people. The reps especially, always got you to join in the party (and get you drunk). For our final night in Boracay (and the Philippine’s), the community was all gathering for the “love Boracay” festival. This festival was to celebrate the reopening of Boracay, as due to the extensive construction that is still going on, it was closed to tourists for a while. The party was going to be held at our hostel, as locals were jumping in the pool, and then there was a stage and a bar set up on the street right outside the hostel. Then to top it off, there was a huge water fight all evening long. Kids joined in as we were all shooting each other and dancing to music, and at times there were buckets of ice cold water being thrown! It was an awesome event, and got pretty busy too; we were even interviewed by Philippine TV asking us how we like the event.

There’s not much else I can say about Boracay, despite being there for so long. It was just a great way to round off our trip to the Philippine’s. We made some friends, went to some nice beaches, had a lot of drinks and made some good memories! The Philippine’s is amazing and I would highly recommend it. It’s such a diverse country that you really do get something completely different depending on where you go, but I loved it all. It has some of the nicest beaches and sunsets I’ve ever seen, and the activities we did such as the canyoneering and snorkelling are things I won’t ever forget! The amount of people we met who simply came for a holiday comforts me that I’m sure I will be back, there is still a lot more I want to see of the Philippine’s – such as Siquijor island, more of El Nido, and doing Siargao properly.