Pinoy parties

And so we arrived at the most surprising portion of our trip.   Partly because we didn’t know what to expect and partly because the islands were a certified paradise, we were blown away by the Philippines.  We landed in Manila only to catch a flight almost immediately to Cebu in the south.  Staying in a hotel practically attached to a mall, we ate almost every meal in the giant open air restaurant-court (like a food court but with proper restaurants).  And here I need to justify myself, while normally I consider it a sin to eat food other than the local specialties, at least for the majority of the time, the Philippines was an exception.  The national dish being Sizzling Sisig, fried pork face served on a ‘sizzling’ wrought iron plate mashed up with onions, vinegar and spices (and as an added option should you so choose.... pig brain and skin), we thought it wise to avoid the more traditional Pinoy dishes if only for the sake of our waistline.  Luckily, the Philippines is home to a multitude of cultures and it is not hard to find good pizza, spicy tapas, garlicky greek and fresh seafood. Cebu was a strange city, our hotel as I mentioned was next to a very modern mall that would fit in anywhere in Europe or North America, and yet just a 5 min cab ride and your were in what essentially were slums. As the Philippines are a very religious society, there were churches galore and we spent one day visiting the more historic ones before heading back to the mall to catch the late showing of Inception.  Have I mentioned that we love Asian cinemas?  Happily settled in our VIP lazy boy seats, we dug into the treats that we were allowed to bring in: grilled chicken baguette, thin crust pizza, fresh hot chips and of course popcorn with butter.   The next evening we headed to a restaurant/bar where in order to get the drink deal of the day you could not wear shorts, sandals and a collarless shirt, luckily for us, most of Noah’s shirts were in the laundry and so on that day he happened to be wearing shorts, sandals and a collared shirt, so we qualified! Yes!

White Beach, Borocay

A few days later we were seated on a tiny turbo-prop headed for Boracay.  Land of white sand beaches and crystal clear waters.  While we decided to stay a little distance off the beach, we had a free shuttle service that was at our disposal at all times and if we felt like the exercise could just as easily walk the 10min to the beach.  But it was hot, and the driver look bored so we usually just made use of his service.  The main beach was lined with a multitude of restaurants, bars and shops, anything your heart desired. But of course with that came lots of people, so on a couple of days we spent our time elsewhere.  On a particularly hot day we rented horses and rode through the middle of the island, but as usual Noah got stuck with the slow one and was often left in the dust when Apache and I galloped off.  

Eager to explore the beautiful island, the following day we decided to head to Puka Beach.  That turned out to be the best decision of the trip.

Not only was the beach beautiful, it was close to deserted with one exception.  As we walked along the sandy shores we ran into a group of about 15 ‘locals’ having a picnic. Being the friendly bunch that they were, they offered us drinks, food and a great time.  Before we knew it, we were part of their group and spent the whole day and night with them.    A collection of mostly Pinoys from all around the Philippines, with a Russian Italian, a Canadian from Comox, and two Dutch Chinese girls thrown in, this group was just so much fun.  After one of the most amazing sunsets any of us had ever seen, we headed to a local bar to continue the party but only after my new tranny best friend did my makeup.   After such a great time, we spent the following night with them as well which saw Noah give his havianna sandals to his new gay best friend as we parted.  We flew out early the next morning to Manila, already missing the clear waters, good friends and laid back life-style.  

Puka Beach

Arriving in Manila was definitely a wake-up call, as our 10km ride from the airport to the hotel took 2.5 hours due to the traffic but cost us only £1.50.  Our taxi driver however kept us entertained, even if he didn’t really mean to.  Somehow having got the idea that Noah was Italian, he was very interested in knowing what we had in Italy including whether or not we had ‘The Gays’.  After telling us every bar, restaurant and mall we could go to in Manila if we wanted to see ‘The Gays’ we arrived at the hotel slightly worse for the wear, and desperately needing to pee, but we were very happily informed that we had been upgraded to a one-bedroom suite.  The room was massive!  In fact we are pretty sure it was larger than our flat in London and came with a full kitchen and walk-in closet.  And just to continue our mall theme we were located right next to a Mega Mall, home to restaurants, theatres and of course shopping. On our one full day, we took the train to the BIGGEST mall in Asia (appropriately called Mall of Asia) wandered around and then headed back to our apartment.  With a long flight the following day we took it easy, having a few San Miguel lights  and a quick dinner before turning in for the night.

The highlight of the Philippines was definitely Boracay, although Cebu and Manila were also interesting in their own right. But there was just something about the crystal clear waters, white sand beaches and friendly people that really left us wanting more. Next we were off to Kaohsiung, Taiwan to visit our friend Todd.

Jeepney in Manila

Philippines fast facts:
Currency: Pesos 70  = £1
Average price of a beer: £0.75
Average price of a cocktail: £2 but once we made new friends in Boracay they were free!
Average price for dinner for 2 incl. drinks (restaurant): £7
Average price for dinner  for 2 incl. drinks (street food):£2 but with the exception of Dim Sum (har gao and sui mai) we stayed away
Average price for a manicure: £5
Favourite national dish: If we had to pick it would be garlic rice which was delicious but not really a dish so much as an accompaniment

Back to Hong Kong

Day-trip to Shenzen

After a very quick stop in Kuala Lumpur where we stayed in a 'basic' hotel (that we later  discovered rented by the hour), we made our way to Hong Kong to the Chungking Mansions.   A massive building on Nathan Road, it was home to immigrants (we think illegal), mobile phone accessory shops and money lenders/currency converters.  Oh, and our hotel. While getting to our hotel was always an adventure, once inside the front door it was a safe and spotless haven from which to re-explore the city we had last seen four years previously, from the comfort of an air-conditioned, chauffeured car. After our first night wandering the streets in Kowloon we headed in for an early night as we were off to China for the day the next morning for some shopping.  While normally you need to apply in advance for a Chinese visa, Shenzen has a special arrangement where you can get a visa at the border (which is reached by a short ride on the MRT fron HK) to go shopping for the day.  I may have gone a little overboard with the shopping but it was worth it.  After spending EVERY penny we had brought with us we walked back to the border hopped on the train, and headed back to Nathan Road.  That night we spent the evening in Lan Kwai Fong, the Canadian owned bar area.  After a non-eventful last day spent wandering around Hong Kong and stuffing ourselves with Dim Sum, we left early the next morning to fly to Manila. 

Dim sum

Hong Kong fast facts:

Currency: Hong Kong Dollars  7 = £1
Average price of a beer: £5
Average price of a vodka tonic: £8
Average price for dinner for 2 incl. drinks (restaurant): £50
Average price for dinner  for 2 incl. drinks (street food):£10
Average price for a manicure: £20
Favourite national dish: Shling: Anything Dim Sum  Noah: the jury is still out, though bubble tea is rapidly growing on him

Hong Kong skyline by night

Full moon party round 2

Snakes and Ladyboys

Happily settled in Koh Samui we spent our nights alternating between the local ladyboy bars and the neighbouring Chaweng nightclubs feeding our Beer Chang addiction.  By day we rode mopeds and on one of the nicer days stopped at Noah and I’s favourite cliffside restaurant, the aptly named Cliff. A Mediterranean gem, it was definitely more expensive than the average Thai eatery but was as delicious as we remembered it being 4 years ago.  Appetites satisfied, we were off to Koh Phangnan for the full moon party.

Our veranda

Full moon party

We booked a place a 30min tuktuk ride away from the actual party, in Haad Yao.  Sam and Chelsea’s room was right next to ours and we quickly discovered they were connected by a giant patio.  Looking right over the ocean, we spent the nights leading up to the full moon party having drinks and playing cards on our penthouse patio.  The night of the full moon party finally arrived and, Noah and I acting as the resident experts, prepped Sam and Chelsea for the big night.   Despite drizzling a bit, we headed to Warm Up bar to get ourselves fully decked out in glow in the dark paint.  Four years ago Noah and I  were far too mature for the face paint, however somehow this time around it seemed wholly appropriate.  Drinking, dancing, chatting, dancing and more dancing ensued before we grabbed some late night snacks and piled into a tuk tuk back to Haad Yao at the oh-so-reasonable hour of 5:30am.

With a day for recovery in between, we chilled out on our beach before heading off to Koh Phi Phi. 

Fishing with Papa Dang

Another repeat from our trip of four years ago, we returned to find the island changed but still just as much fun as before.  We even found Papa Dang to take us fishing, and although we didn’t catch the 7.5 foot sailfish like last time, all four of us brought in a tuna that Mama Dang later cooked for us.   After a few late nights, including one where a packet of crips turned out to be Sam’s saviour, we moved on once again.  This time Phuket.

Now, I swore I would never set foot on Patong beach but as we were all flying out from Phuket airport the following day we made an exception.  For the one night we stayed there, it was fine. We wandered the streets by day, and as it was not the nicest weather the four of us decided to take in the latest Twilight movie, VIP style.  For £2 each couple was treated to a double-wide lazyboy couch, and the best seats in the theatre.  Why more theatres don’t have this option is beyond me!  As we were saying goodbye to Chelsea and Sam the following day we had one  last night on the town. Wandering up and down the main drag to calls of ‘Ping Pong show! Ping Pong Show!’  we celebrated our last night out with, what else? Buckets!   The next day we had a fairwell lunch at a delicious upscale Italian restaurant on a secluded beach and headed to the airport for one last Chang before boarding the plane.  Sam and Chelsea were off to follow our suggestions for the in Vietnam and Noah and I to Kuala Lumpur for a quick stop before heading to Hong Kong!

Our last meal as a group

Thailand fast facts:

Currency: Thai Baht  50 = £1

Average price of a beer: £0.50

Average price of a bucket: £2

Average price for dinner for 2 incl. drinks (restaurant): £5

Average price for dinner  for 2 incl. drinks (street food):£2

Average price for a manicure: £2

Favourite national dish: Shling: Papaya Salad Noah: Cashew Nut Chicken and Massaman Curry

Perhentian Pleasures and Thailand Terribles

We arrived late from Laos to Kuala Lumpur, dragged ourselves and our increasingly heavy bags to the hotel at the end of airport parking lot and spent a decadent 6 hours sleeping in a room about 8'x10' before heading back to the airport bright and early for our flight to Khota Bharu.  From there we took a taxi to Kuala Besut, where we boarded a boat to the island paradise of Perhentian Kecil.  We quickly took stock of the limited options for accomodation on the island, settled for Matahari (also a dive shop) and waited for friends to arrive.  Being a Muslim country, beers didn't come cheap but that didnt stop us from spending a long afternoon lying in the ocean with our friends Dan and Kristen enjoying a more than a  few cold beers while waiting for our other friends to arrive.  

The island was much less developed than we had expected.  It was a nice relaxing place to kick back for a few days.  We did some diving, snorkeling, exploring and a lot of lounging about during the day.  By night we hit up one of the few restaurants along the beach before heading to the 'bars' (no more than shacks with a couple of coolers) to listen to the live band of the evening and drink monkey juice. 

On our marathon train ride

From there we took the least recommended way into Thailand (ie the 'do not go' route according to lonely planet) with our friends Sam and Chelsea. This took us right through the volatile southern provinces.  However our nine hour (yes NINE hour) train journey passed without incident. The only exception was being woken from a cat-nap by the butt of the odd AK-47 or M-16 rifle clipping my elbow as the soldiers passed through the cabin.  Before we knew it, we were in Surat Thani ready to head to Koh Samui.

Waiting for the ferry, still smiling

Noah and I's enthusiasm for Thailand was catching thus we all woke up early the next morning and headed to the ferry with gusto.  Unfortunately, our only really negative experience of the trip then occured.  To make a long story short, we were sold tickets from one 'tour' company to get a bus and then a ferry to Koh Samui, that ferry in fact did not exist.  After being bounced around from agency to agency for the better part of 3 hours with tuk-tuk drivers threatening to drive away with Chelsea and I in the back when we refused to get out, we finally made it to the port. Only our ferry didn't actually leave for another 3 hours, not exactly the news we were hoping for.  Having wasted a full day on travel that should have been a mere 1.5 hours, we finally arrived at our hotel in Lamai, Koh Samui.  Sam and Noah had booked the place, and if we ever needed a nice place to cheer us up, that was the time. We walked into our respective rooms and collapsed on the soft beds in sheer happiness.  The hotel and rooms were beautiful, luxurious and right on the water.  Exactly what we needed after our long day, well that and a few stiff Thai whiskeys of course.  Happily, I can say that (at least so far) that has been the one and only unpleasant experience of our trip and the rest of our time in Thailand passed not only without incident, but with peals of laughter, raucous card games and great nights out.

Perhentian Islands Fast facts
Currency: Ringit  5 = £1
Local Beers: not really local but we drank Anchor
Average price of a vodka tonic: too expensive to consider, so we drank Monkey Juice - a local spirit
Average price for dinner  for 2 incl. drinks (restaurant):£6
Average price for dinner  for 2 incl. drinks (street food): no street food available Average price for a manicure: no manicures :(
Favourite national dish: probably Kuay Teow

Finally arrived in Koh Samui, just in time for dinner.

Following the trail into Cambodia and Laos

Well, this is long overdue, but being a traveller can be very busy what with all the beaches to lie on, and bars and restaurants  to explore.  Ok so maybe not the best excuse...you'll just have to forgive us.  From Vietnam we headed into Cambodia and Laos.   Well technically we went to Cambodia first from Ho Chi Minh then returned to Vietnam and then after working our way up the coast we headed to Laos. There was probably a more direct way to do it, but at the time it made sense.

Skulls at the Killing Fields and Singapore Slings at Raffles

Cambodia was interesting.  Phnom Penh was very developed and OVERRUN with Lexus’.  You owned a pharmacy, you drove a Lexus.  You owned a convenience store, you owned a Lexus. You ran a restaurant, you guessed it, you owned a Lexus.  This was in stark contrast to the people living in mud and straw shacks not 5 minutes outside the city.  We visited the Killing Fields and the Genocide museum, by day (both thoroughly depressing) and by night sipped Singapore slings at the Raffles hotel.  But 2 nights was more than enough and we headed to Siem Reap.   Now this was a town we loved.  Wats aside, we stayed in a beautiful hotel where we were greeted every day with chilled lemongrass towels, a nice and much needed gesture in 38 degree weather.  The restaurants in the town were tasty and to top it off beer was  a mere $.50 US a pint.  Now that we could get used to. 

Of course, we also visited the famed ancient city of Angkor.  

Angkor

A truly magnificent piece of history, I think I can actually say that Angkor Wat was only my 3rd favourite ruin on site, as Angkor Thom with the thousands of faces and the astonishing mix of nature versus humans at Ta Prohm were even more incredible.  After a long, hot day touring the temples we ended up once again on the aptly named bar street for some seriously delicious papaya salad and curry amok. 

Our wee plane

Laos was a different experience altogether.  After boarding an impossibly small plane, we flew for 45 minutes before landing in Vientienne.  Not much was happening here, and after a pretty good dinner from street stalls lining the river bank, we were about to head home for the night when Noah noticed a big door with piles of locals filing in.  Not ones to miss out on anything, we quickly jumped in line and headed in.  Reminscent of the après ski bars in whistler, this massive live music venue was packed with locals listening to the latest talent and drinking bottles of Johnny Walker red.  Although we couldn’t understand a word, the music was almost country in tone so we had a great time.  We were off early the next day to Vang Vieng and the infamous tubing river. 

While our place in Vang Vieng wasn’t exactly luxury, it was clean enough and had nice balcony looking out into the mountains and down into the river.  In fact it was from the said balcony that we watched one of the most incredible storms we have ever seen.  It lasted only about an hour, but I have never heard thunder and seen lightening and rain like that before. 

First bar on the Vang Vieng river

After an afternoon of wandering the streets passing scores of backpacker bars/restaurants playing either Friends or Family Guy on repeat, we found a bar and had a few buckets (buckets, for those not acquainted with the uber-classy drinks, usually consist of: whiskey, coke, and red bull in a plastic pail served with 5 or 6 straws) before heading home for the night with a freshly cooked nutella pancake in hand. The next day we rented our tubes and jumped in a tuk-tuk to take us to the top of the river where the next 5 hours would be spent floating downstream, drinking at the many bars scattered along the banks, and swinging on giant rope swings into the murky water.   Tacky? Yes, maybe.  But was it fun?  Definitely.  Our second day was much tamer and was spent on bicycles peddling  around the rice paddies and stopping at organic farms for lunch.  Thus concluded our time in Laos.  Next up, we headed to the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia.

Cambodia Fast facts
Currency: Riel  6,472 = £1 but more commonly used is USD
Local Beers: Angkor
Average price of a vodka tonic: £1
Average price for dinner  for 2 incl. drinks (restaurant):£6
Average price for dinner  for 2 incl. drinks (street food):£2
Average price for a manicure: £3
Favourite national dish: Curry Amok
 

Laos Fast facts
Currency: Kip 13,000 = £1
Local Beers: Beer Lao
Average price of a vodka tonic:£2 (but in bucket form £3 -way better deal)
Average price for dinner  for 2 incl. drinks (restaurant):£4
Average price for dinner  for 2 incl. drinks (street food):£2 
Average price for a manicure: £5
Favourite national dish:
Aisling -Larp (a ground mix of mint, beef, chili peppers, onion and lime juice - I really liked it, Noah not so much) 
Noah - Noodle soup with chicken or beef

Doubling-up on the swing!

Good morning Vietnam

After a quick one night stop in Jakarta, that was mostly spent inside the mall getting our computer fixed, we arrived in Ho Chi Minh city a.k.a. Saigon. Our first stop in Vietnam, we quickly made our way to the first Pho place we could find and tucked into a large bowl of beef noodle soup washed down with a cold Saigon (beer).  Venturing out the following day we were struck by the millions of mopeds in the city....crossing the road appeared to be impossible until a local let us in on the secret.

One of the tamer intersections in Saigon

Step 1: Take a deep breath.
Step 2: Walk out, with confidence, into what looks like an impenetrable wall of mopeds zipping by
Step 3:  Keep up a steady pace, and like magic they will just move and ride around you
**BUT under no circumstance can you stop, reverse or run**
Doing this worked as well as Moses parting the red sea and before you know it, we were pros.  

Entrance into the Cu Chi tunnel system

That first adventure completed, our next cultural activity was a trip to the Củ Chi tunnels.  Located about 2 hours outside of Saigon, these tunnels were used by
the Vietnamese to hide from the Americans during the war.  After an extremely biased (but understandably so) introduction we wandered around the area and got to try out the tunnels ourselves.  All I can say is that after five minutes of crawling through the tunnels on hands and knees I was ready to keel over, so living in them must have been a nightmare.  Like all good developing countries, they also had a gun range for us eager tourists to test out some big guns.  Noah and I opted for the AK-47, bought a round of ammunition and emptied the chamber in about 5 seconds each. Quickest 5 quid we ever spent...but hey, how often do you get to fire a real AK-47 without proper safety constraints?

Noah taking his turn with the AK-47

I am a sushi nut, and crave it on a regular basis so when we found a cheap, but VERY good Japanese restaurant we had to try it.  3 times in fact.  But not to ignore Vietnamese food entirely, we still managed to have numerous Banh Mi ‘s from the street vendors, along with massive bowls of Pho.   We spent a few days wandering around the city, getting hair cuts, head massages and manis and pedis and just generally spoiling ourselves before a 6 hour bus ride to Cambodia.

mmmm sushi

Ho Chi Minh Fast Facts
Currency: Vietnamese Dong   25,000 = £1
Local Beers: Saigon, Hanoi
Average price of a vodka tonic: £2
Average price for dinner  for 2 incl. drinks (restaurant):£9
Average price for dinner  for 2 incl. drinks (street food):£2
Average price for a manicure: £1
Favourite national dish: It’s a tie between Banh Mi and Beef Pho

From Bali to Gili

Sunset on Gili Trawangan

Our first thought upon arriving in Kuta, Bali was that it was much more developed than we expected.  Our second was that we had somehow stumbled into the Aussie version of the Brit’s Magaluf, or Canadian/American’s Cancun.  That being said the beach was long and beautiful and there was plenty to do.  We arrived one night before our friends  from Vancouver with whom we were going to be travelling for the next 10 days, so took the opportunity to ....ahem ...try out a few of the bars and cocktails on offer.  Well someone had to do it.  After a few happy hours along the main strip, we ended up in a giant bar called Bounty.  A bit tacky (ok a lot tacky) it nevertheless had a certain appeal as it was a giant pirate ship divided up into 6 or 7 different bars all playing different music.  We spent the rest of our first night here dancing the night away.  Our friends arrived late the next night and after one or two ‘quick’ catch up drinks that lasted until 3am, we went to bed eager to hit the beach the following day.  

Kelsey, Nicola and Noah in Bounty

After a good day  on the beach we got ready to go to a highly recommended Italian restaurant in a neighbouring town for Nicola’s birthday.  A few pastas, pizzas, and beef carpaccios later we headed back into town to ...where else? Bounty.  Again we spent the majority of the night on the dance floor after watching the more inebriated patrons slosh around in the foam pit.  After some slightly more relaxing nights, we woke up early and headed to Gili Trawangan, off the coast of Lombok.

Gili T was a welcome change. The small island has no cars, no motorbikes just horse drawn carriages and bicycles.  Things are a bit pricier on the island as everything has to be imported from Lombok but, especially thanks to our fabulous accommodation, we loved it and extended our time there.  Noah and I went diving a few times, including a deep dive certification course solely so we could descend to depths where the sharks live. Good visibility, warm water, shark sightings and a fairly strong current made for some really exciting  underwater adventures.   Aside from some beach side Spanish tapas and Japanese food, we stuck to the local Indonesian food which was always a cheap and safe option.

Marta's Villas, Gili Trawangan

Five days flew by and before we knew it, we were headed back to Kuta for two last nights. On our last full day in Bali, Noah and I rented a driver and headed up to Ubud for the day. What an amazing place. The picturesque village was only a couple of hours drive from the hectic Kuta, but felt a million miles away. Beautifully ornate restaurants, shops and guesthouses lined the narrow streets all the way to the base of the town where there was a large monkey sanctuary. I have never seen so many monkeys up close in my whole life. With no fear of humans they would steal your camera from your hand if you weren’t careful. About five minutes into our walk through the sanctuary, a monkey ran up to me, climbed up my leg and onto my head. Noah was hurriedly taking pictures while I was just slightly freaking out but I think the monkey might have been even more scared than I was (or just had a really good sense of humour) because he peed on me. All down the front of my shirt. After a quick trip to the nearest bathroom where I took off my shirt and rinsed it out under the tap Noah and I were finally BOTH able to laugh about it. It was certainly a memorable way to finish our time in Indonesia.

Indonesia fast facts:

Currency: Indonesian Rupiahs 13,000 = £1

Local beers: Kuta, Bintang

Average price of a vodka tonic: £2

Average price for dinner for 2 incl. drinks (restaurant):£8

Average price for dinner for 2 incl. drinks (street food):£3

Average price for a manicure: £2

Favourite national dish: Chicken Satay

Chili crabbin' in Singapore

Having left the dusty dry heat of Delhi, we arrived to a much cooler, albeit more humid, Singapore.  30 degrees to be precise.....every day without variation.  We were lucky enough to be staying with our friend's from Vancouver/London (Kari and Brent) whose flat was located just at the bottom of Orchard Road, a shopper's paradise, and next to the president's home.  A five-star experience from start to finish, their beautiful place was located in a truly stunning complex, complete with a perfectly heated pool in which to cool off after a long day of shopping/sightseeing.   At Shling's request, the first night we went out for the famous chili crab (complete with plastic bibs for us novices). Wow.  It was even better than she expected and even Noah had a few bites and conceded the sauce was pretty yummy. We also tried the black pepper crab at Brent's suggestion which was equally delicious but in a different way...spicy and with a dry sauce it packed a good punch.  The following day, we wandered up and down Orchard Road, with a short pit stop for the girls to watch Sex and the City 2 while the boys shopped for their sailor hats for theme party we were attending that night. At around 10:00pm the four sailors headed off to the Swissôtel's New Asia Bar to meet up with the rest of the crew, located on the 71st floor, 226 meters (or 741 feet) up in the air.  After joining in on Kari and Brent's tennis lesson, we spent the next few days wandering around Singapore eating at every hawker market we could find and doing just a wee bit of shopping.  Meeting up with another friend for drinks on Monday we were truly amazed.  It would seem that the entire city was created by Disney.  With themed bars such as The Clinic where drinks are served in IV bags by doctor and nurse lookalikes while you rolled around in wheelchairs, and the obvious absence of any crime, it was such an easy city to visit.

On our final night we had dinner with Noah's colleagues from the Singapore Ernst and Young office, and in order not to be rude to our hosts Noah confirmed that he was happy to eat anything.  We arrived at the restaurant earlier than our dining companions so had a quick chance to peruse the menu before his workmates took it away and ordered for us.  Much to Noah's chagrin EVERY dish contained seafood, but like a good sport he ate everything set in front of him throughout our 6 course seafood menu and of course Shling loved every minute of the prawn, chilli crab, squid, scallop, lobster, and sea bass menu.  

Packing up we were sad to leave our hosts and everything Singapore had to offer, but Bali and the beach was beckoning. 

Things we learnt from India

After a thoroughly eye-opening trip to India, here are the top things we have taken away from our time there:

Fez from that 70s show is a fashion icon

All that is needed for a wedding is a 10 year old groom riding a horse and lots of fairy lights

Cows are like chuck Norris... they fear no one

Who needs blinkers when you have a horn?

We will walk another 10 minutes rather than get ripped off 30p on a rickshaw

Noah's stomach is stronger than Shling's

Prescriptions drugs are the only way to get through a 15 hour overnight bus ride, luckily, you can walk into any pharmacy in the country and get whatever you want, except sleeping pills for some reason.

We will carry an empty water bottle for 2 hours searching for a garbage rather than littering, though we accept we are the minority in that respect

A bed is defined as any surface that fits at least a 1/3 of your body whether the side of the road, a wooden cart, a bicycle or the hood of your car

Street food vendors are licensed to sell delicious chicken tikka while sporting a shotgun in a hip holster

Because of preservation issues in the Indian production of Kingfisher beers, they contain glycerin which will without fail give you a wicked hangover

And most importantly of all: NEVER trust anyone that calls you 'My friend....'

Mountain living

Manali was unlike anywhere else we had visited in India.  Nestled at the base of the Himalayas, it was lovely and warm during the day and then dropped in temperature at night which just provided us with an excuse to drink copious amounts of chocolate chai.  With a whistler like atmosphere, minus all the big resorts, Manali was the perfect end to our time in India.  The hippy town had everything, a beautiful setting, puppies, good food, and a chilled out atmosphere.  Noah was the only male in town without dreadlocks, and in every restaurant and cafe there was at least one group passing around joints ...leading us to believe that we might have walked into some kind of time-warp taking us back to the 1960's.  Groups of men and women roamed the town playing guitars and drums, singing "This little light of mine, I'm going to let it shine...." much to our amusement and delight.  With 3 restful and relaxing nights in the most beautiful setting, we concluded our time in India.

Wonders of the world

Initially planning on doing a day trip to Agra from Delhi to see the Taj Mahal (no trip to India would be complete without it), we heard that the only way to see it and not have 200 people in the background of every picture was to get there first thing in the morning. A day trip from Delhi is 4 hours each way so unless we got up at 2:00am we would be seeing the Taj smack the middle of the day. Since we weren’t sold on spending a lot more time in Delhi anyways, we decided to stay in Agra instead. Being the off season, a lot of nice hotels were offering large discounts on their rooms so we got a room at the Trident, a 4.5 star hotel for £55 a night. After staying in places for £15 a night in Jaisalmer, we were both looking forward to a nice bed and more than anything a pool. Our time in Agra passed fairly unremarkably, with the exception of two interesting things:

1) The sheer amazement of the locals that we actually wanted to walk anywhere, on mentioning that we wanted to walk the 8-10 min to the Taj they looked so aghast that we couldn’t help but think we had inadvertently suggest they take a long walk off a short plank.

2) On our second night we visited a popular street food stall that we had noticed the night before. The manager of the stall brought over our chicken tikka (by far the best of our whole trip), we had a chat and then he headed off but not before we noticed a shotgun prominently displayed in his hip holster. I guess things can get pretty crazy when the chicken is that good.

After some much needed pool time, popcorn, and eyebrow threading we left Agra to make the long journey up to Manali.

Roasting in Rajasthan

We left Mumbai, luckily for Aisling, we took a plane this time instead of another bus. We arrived in Udaipur to a cooking 44 degrees, but little did we know it was only going to get hotter from here. Udaipur is called the Venice of the east but it was almost more like Lake Como with the town built up on a cliff overlooking the lake. We only had one day to see the city so we rented a tuk-tuk (autorickshaw) for the day. In just a few short hours we had seen the tombs for all the kings of queens of Udaipur for the last few hundred years, a wedding parade complete with a 10 year old groom mounted on horseback, an elephant walk through streets that were barely wide enough to fit a car, and some kind of celebration involving women in brightly coloured saris carrying similarly decorated vessels on their head.
We then headed off to eat at a lakeside restaurant with a beautiful view of the Pond Pal....sorry I mean LAKE Palace. Due the time of year, and a less than wet monsoon last year, the city of lakes was more like a city of large puddles, but nevermind, the dry lakebed made for a great cricket ground for the locals.


Next we were off on a night train to Jaipur, the Pink City. We had one day of sightseeing the hectic bazaar that surrounded the Pink Palace, before a dodgy papaya shake ensured that Shling didn’t see much but the inside of our hotel room for the next two days, the slightly healthier Noah was relegated to fetching fresh drinking water duty. Feeling much better a few days later, we then made tracks to Jaisalmer...the hottest yet.


Topping out at 50 degrees, the idea of doing a camel safari in the desert sounded more like torture than a treat, so we opted to stay around town knowing that we had a nice air conditioned room to come home to at night. Having made a quick stop at the Bhang shop for some special cookies (recommended by Lonely Planet), we then made our way to the only restaurant crazy enough to be open at the hottest time of the day ...Little Italy. A veggie pizza and 2 litres of water later we braved the heat to wander through 1 of only 2 lived in forts in all of India. The stunning fort was at its best at night, the view from the top extended all the way into Pakistan. After a dinner that was definitely overpriced (£2.50 for chicken tikka ... seriously??) we decided to follow the light. From our vantage point on the rooftop restaurant we could see a bright glowing light off in the distance and the unmistakeable sound of bhangra music. Like moths to a flame we were off, only to discover that since it is the off season, the locals take the opportunity to play cricket every night, with games kicking off at 6:30pm, 9:30pm, and 11:30pm. There we met a friend, who despite promising not to sell us anything, the following day tried his hardest to sell us a giant wall hanging and a duvet cover despite our insistence that travelling another 5months with it on our backs was near to impossible. But still, after a few beers we left amiably, ordered a pizza to go, and headed off for our overnight train to Delhi. All in all Rajasthan had undeniable beauty, however everyone who told us that it was a place not to be missed has obviously not visited in 49 degree weather. We will have to re-visit it in the future, when there is water in the lake and we don’t have to take a break every 20min to recover from the heat. Next Agra and the Taj Mahal.