One day in Saigon and our final night in Vietnam

Got in by train at 5am this morning and have pushed through until right now, 10pm. Absolutely pooped- reunification palace, war remnants museum, posing for multiple photos with Vietnamese waiter and waitresses at breakfast, climbing through the cu chi tunnels with a lovely Swedish family that we took a car there with, big dinner at another nice and delicious charity joint (and re-running into the Swedes!) And a $1 taxi home in the rain. (Australian prices are going to suck!)

KL tomorrow, flying out at 10:35 then just over 24 hours in Malaysia before heading home. Back shortly after midnight on the 23rd. See yas all soon!!!!

posted from Bloggeroid

Nha Trang

Apologies in advance for a basic post, we're both pretty braindead after an awful sleeper bus trip from Hoi An. Expecting to arrive in a chilled out surfers locale, we arrived in the city of Nha Trang just after 6am. Our bus must have been broken in some way because the entire trip was a constant set of bolts and bangs. Ugh! This afternoon we're treating ourselves to a huge lunch and a trip to the Thap Ba hot springs & mud baths. Tomorrow night on to Saigon!

posted from Bloggeroid

Raining in Hoi An

For only the second time time on this trip, we've woken up to a grisly and rainy morning! That clearly means that we've done quite well up til now but is a bummer in our last week of travels.

The trip to Halong Bay was awesome, the bay itself is simply stunning and the tour was so much nicer than we expected! To be honest, it was almost too fancy for us, more like a one-night cruise, with a chef and bartenders, beautiful rooms with rainforest showers, heaps of seafood for 3 meals and a sundeck for lazily staring out into the vastness of the bay. Ridiculous!

The thousands of rocky formations that jut out of the ocean across the bay are just superb, even better up close as you 'sail' past them (sails not included unfortunately). We even went for a dip as the sun was setting, just the 5 of us who dared the ice cold water- our guide Happy just laughed at us from the deck. It was totally worth it though, tick that off the to-do list ;)

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Since then, Sean and I have been making our way south, aiming to be in Saigon by the 20th for our flight back to KL the next day.

We flew a few hundred k's and spent a night in Danang, with the intention to go to Hue from there. Learning that it was actually quite far away and accepting that we are both absolutely exhausted, we are instead spending 3 nights in Hoi An. (We did make a quick visit to the Marble Mountains though, they are cool with huge caves filled with marble sculptures carved out of the rock) It's our longest stay in one place since Krabi and we were definitely ready for a rest! Hoi An is a lovely town, plenty of things to see and do (and buy!!) so its a good rest stop. But like I said, it's raining. So time to crack out the ponchos, hop on our $1 bikes and get spending!!

posted from Bloggeroid

Vietnam- Hanoi

So now we are in Hanoi! And I am out of steam, and hung-er-y!

Hanoi is a cool little city, busy but friendly. Today we visited Ho Chi Minh's mausoleum, a bit creepy but very interesting from a fly-on-the-wall perspective. We also went to the Temple of Literature where Confucious studied and taught ["he is older than Jesus, if he acually existed"- Sean] which was very pretty and ate at KOTO "Know One Teach One", a not-for-profit restaurant that teaches hospitality skills to previously homeless kids. Awesome. Everyone is well-dressed here because cheap nice clothes are on every corner, which is a bit embarrassing for us stinky dirty backpackers but interesting to see on everyone else.

Tomorrow we are heading on a one-day, two night trip to Halong Bay, sleeping in a 'junk' on the water and visiting caves and such things.

Hello natural wonder of the world and goodnight blogger for today!

Skating across the top of Laos- definitely doable

As the 'shoestring' travellers that we are trying to be, Sean and I decided to attempt the much-written-about trip from Houay Xai to Tay Trang across the northernmost part of Laos to get to Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam. We had read many horror stories about getting to Hanoi from Luang Prabang and thought it best to avoid the "bus ride from hell" as it was called, and instead take the route less travelled: Houay Xai -> Luang Nam Tha -> Uodomxai -> Muang La -> Muang Khua -> Tay Trang -> Dien Bien Phu -> Hanoi.

To put it bluntly, it was easy and enjoyable. Each of these towns is a destination in its own right (mostly for trekking or hilltribe visits) and it was disappointing for us that we didn't have time to stopover for a few nights at each. We ran into a small group of backpackers at each place and there are places to stay in all locations if you're content with the basics. We stayed one night in Luang Nam Tha, a quiet place but popular for eco-tourism tours and one night in Muang Khua, a funny little town with a funny little bridge [read: floating pontoon half the size of the river that has to be pushed by a boat anytime a vehicle wants to cross- very funny to watch from above]. The local buses that we took were actually more comfortable than the tourist mini-vans and the rides were bumpy but bearable. Perhaps our threshold is higher than others, perhaps we were lucky or maaaaybe... it just ain't that bad. [read: everybody stop whinging!]

Name change...

In an attempt to make my blog less generic-sounding and to better fit the fact that I am ALWAYS writing about finding food, making food or eating food, we changed the name of the blog. Hope that's okay :)

Back a few days: The Gibbon Experience

Okay, so where to start? It's difficult to sum up the three days, two nights we spent in the Bokeo Nature Reserve and really do it justice in a few paragraphs (I feel that I could write for years!). Fingers crossed that it will be easier now than a few days ago when we were still in withdrawal ("why don't I always live in a treehouse in the jungle???"). I've made my blog search-able on google now, just because I want to dispel some of the rumours from blogs that I had read about the awful experiences people seem to have had- guys, it's not always like that!!


So here we go, I shall try to be succinct!
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We caught a minibus from our guesthouse in Chiang Mai (450 baht) to the Lao border, via the White Temple which is a slightly odd, newly built place of worship with movie characters painted on the inside walls and strange sculptures outside- such as a huge 'Predator' emerging from the grass! Once in Huay Xai after a quick long-boat trip across the Mekong from border to border, we met up with Dave and his Norwegian friend Anne-Sofie and spent the night at B.A.P Guesthouse, slightly average beds but mega cheap, cosy and with a very helpful (and a bit eccentric) owner!


Checking in with the Gibbon office was easy and they gave us a run-down of what to expect. Needless to say, we were all a bit apprehensive when they explained that the ziplines can be up to 200m high and 400m long! Especially with the Lonely Planet stating that we should double-check the knots in our harnesses! [they were absolutely fine and the guides geniuses at what they do, Mum!]. We were to 'trek' an hour into the jungle, fly hundreds of metres on these ziplines and sleep in wooden treehouses accessible only by zipline. Basic safety instructions: don't go down the red cable, be sure to wear gloves for comfort and socks against leeches, always put the safety cable on first and if your hair is "long or crazy" tie it up. [This seems complicated when they first show you the video, but after one go on the zipline it makes total sense and becomes easy- and this is coming from someone afraid of theme park rides!]



With us were two friendly-seeming Canadian blokes that we had run into the night before and an American girl traveling on her own. Other groups had left before us: 23 people in total, 4 groups to be chosen later. [It seemed like a lot of people and although we thought it to be too many, our group of 9 was perfect. There was a honeymoon private treehouse, one of 4 and one of 8 as well].



Our first day involved a short but fairly evil hike up some pretty steep hills, only for an hour or so but pretty relentless, particularly for the chain-smokers in the group of 23. The scenery was stunning from the very beginning- rice paddies that were brown because of the dry season juxtaposed against a pristine green forest, rocky tracks not spoiled by any man-made steps or railings and the sky was the bluest blue (just for us!). We stopped at 'the village' (seemingly the only one in this part of the forest) to get our harnesses (yay!) and split into groups.


[Damn! This isn't precise at all! And it's dinner time, the most important time of day!!]


Treehouse 7 was formed! Andy and Robby from Canada, Jenn from the USA, Yuri and Max from Russia, Anne-Sofie from Norway and the three of us Australians- what a great crew :)



The next two days we spent hiking through different parts of the Reserve, doing some hikes that were really tough slogs until the perfect final moment when we reached the next zipline! But trust me, from someone who doesn't go to the gym and can't remember the last time she played sport: each steep and painful climb is absolutely worth it when the reward is flying across a beautiful valley, wind in your hair (hair NOT in the brake!) and the jungle hundreds of meters below. It is just the most amazing feeling. The first zip is quite a leap of faith, but after that it's a piece of cake!



Our guides were also fantastic. Tong B and Pochua, both Hmong men whose English was far from perfect, helped us check our lines whenever we asked, told us which ziplines needed the brake and when, always went first to show us how [how the PROS do it!] and gave us the choice of continuing on or resting until later if we had had enough.

Treehouse 7 is one of the bigger options, and not as far from the hillside in zipping distance as the others. One of the other treehouses (number 5 I think) actually had a line that went straight out a window of the main floor which is awesome but we stand firm in that ours was the best. Just for the shower! I wish that I could attach a photo because it is hard to explain, but our shower was on the bottom floor (oh yes, did I mention it was a 3-storey treehouse?) so it was secluded from the main sleeping and eating area. It has no walls just a wooden railing and the floor is wooden beams [similar to a verandah for those who what I mean] so you can see the forest below and on three sides- and the forest can see you. It's a vulnerable place to be in, naked and for the whole jungle to see your cheeky bits, but it makes you realise how far away from civilisation you are! Here I am, world! The water runs like rain straight through the floor into the canopy below- incredible!


It would be remiss of me not to mention the food, which was always more than enough and totally delicious. Every meal was delivered to our treehouse dining table by the loveliest Hmong women, who are also pros at ziplining with food in hand!



Both mornings we were given the option of doing a dawn hike to look for Gibbons and other wildlife. There are plenty of fascinating animals in the jungle- apparently tigers and bears as well as the usual snakes and bugs not that we saw anything larger than.... GIBBONS!!!!! Yes, we were lucky enough to see two gibbons on the second morning. They were at the very top of a very tall tree and asleep for the most part, but it was very cool when Tong B pointed them out to us after a good hour of bushwhacking through the jungle. Our guides had told us that a Gibbon sighting probably only happens 2 or 3 times a week (there are groups that leave almost every day of the week) so we all went in with low expectations of seeing or hearing anything. They were two little fluffy black and white balls, cuddled up quietly until they were awoken by our loud crashing. Much to our surprise, they were also pretty darn noisy when they swung away through the trees. No, gibbons are not graceful! [It would also be great to report that one pooed on Dave, but we did definitely see one poo in the vicinity of him...]



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Maybe time to round this one up? Sean kept me company for the first hour of writing but maybe it is time to go have dinner now!


I'll try to conclude...

-for us, the dry/winter season seemed to be a perfect time to do the Gibbon experience. We saw 2 leeches, the weather was perfect and it wasn't too cold.



-safety is very important to the guides and they are very sure to make you feel comfortable and secure. If you ask for help, they will give it and otherwise it is on you to make sure that you are hooked up properly.


-any attempts to make the sleeping arrangements, trails or meals more 'civilised' [read Westernised]- as has been mentioned by many a whinger on the interwebs- would spoil the essence of the experience. Expect to rough it and you will be pleasantly surprised at the luxuriousness of your stay.


-although the Gibbon experience is expensive, it is worth every penny. Absolutely.
 

-failing any of this, take some advice from our Treehouse 7 gang and DWAI      [Don't worry about it!]


Nastrovia!

Interim post from Sean's phone..

We're currently not able to write a good blog, our source of internet is just on Sean's phone. But just a quick report that the Gibbon trip was absolutely amazing and Sean and I are now in Luang Nam Tha, trying to make our way to the Vietnam border. Currently only 1 hour south of China and a few hours from Thailand and Burma as well!
Will post about our fantastic Gibbon experience when we're at an actual computer.. Ciao for now!

posted from Bloggeroid

Thailand in pictures

Too tired for words after a massive day here in Chiang Mai! Heading to Houay Xai in Laos tomorrow by bus, Gibbon the day after. Sorry for the lack of writing, we have spent the last few hours at these SOB computers trying to work out how to get to Hanoi.... frustrating!!!!!!

KRABI

Erin and I at Ao Nang beach, Krabi

Our group of fearless adventurers in the cave (name eludes me..) near Krabi after a very short kayak trip

Kayaking back upstream was much more difficult!

KOH PHI PHI

Snorkelling around Koh Phi Phi Leh, beautiful crisp blue water, white beaches and amazing coloured fish

(no photos of Fabi & Kay on this memory card, sorry!)

CHIANG MAI

sorry, not sure how to turn this around on here- it's us on a bamboo raft!

tigers = AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! we love love love them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These were one part of our exciting day in Chiang Mai- which also included elephant riding (still a bit unsure about the ethics of the "park" with elephant shows..), a hill tribe village visit (again, ethics??) and a trip up to the Doi Suthep which is a beautiful buddhist temple at the top of a very big hill!

 And happy birthday to the Thai king for Monday! Because of your public holiday, Chiang Mai has been bustling (both a good and a bad thing!), we got to see some Thai dancing at the Doi Suthep temple and a full orchestra + birthday celebration at the Arts & Culture Hall that we chanced upon while walking home from the night market tonight.. we definitely made the most of our 1 day here!

In Chiang Mai, more to come..

just a little note to say that we are in Chiang Mai in the north of Thailand. We flew out of Phuket earlier today after spending two nights with my cousin Fabian and his lovely Kay.
All is well with us (stop stressing Dad! it's only been a week and we are fine I promise!) and looking forward to a nice cultural day tomorrow :)

Will keep you posted in the next couple of days before we head off to the Gibbon experience!
If you want to check it out, the website is below, and we are doing the Classic experience with Dave and his Norwegian friend Anne-Sofie:

http://www.gibbonexperience.org/

A taste of Malaysia- Penang and Langkawi

Selamat Petang!
Blogger tells me that it's only been two days since I last wrote, but we're cramming so much into our time that it feels like ages!

I'm currently in our hostel lobby, with what seems to be a Chinese movie playing behind me, American music playing in the street and a very cool mix of travellers heading in and out of the guesthouse.
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I wrote this two days ago and we got so sleepy that it never got finished! Two days later and Sean and I are now in Langkawi with Dave and his mate Scotty. Just had an absolutely amazing dinner at a local night market. I am seriously in food paradise! The market was full of food stalls, toys, drinks and various other odds and ends- more of a local market though and not filled with tourists like the rest of Langkawi. The 4 of us had about 3 or 4 things each- a variety of fried chicken (Dave unfortunately had some kind of offal instead!), fried noodles, chilli mango salad, spring rolls, samosas, pancakes with corn and coconut pancakes. Mmmmm... so good! And this post was meant to be about the amazing things we tried in Penang.. But I can simply report that we have had so much fun discovering many new and interesting tastes on both of these islands on the west coast of Malaysia. All I can say that this is some kind of heaven, with food as unbelievably cheap as it is here (all of those meals I mentioned were 4 ringgits and under, nothing over $1.50), fresh from the grill or mortar and pestle, and served by the sweetest and most lovely Malaysian people. Such a contrast to our first day with the awful bus issues when we were so disheartened about this new country, we of little faith back then! and on top of that, beach here is great, maybe comparable to those back home ;) Terima kasih Langkawi!






How is everyone anyway?

Cameron Highlands

We got up early this morning to get one of the first buses out of KL to Tanah Rata in the Cameron Highlands. The hostel that we stayed at last night, Le Village, was on Petaling St (the Chinatown of KL) and was a fairly dodgy joint but it had a good vibe and was a nice change from the shoebox of Zass. It didn't, however, have air conditioning so we were ready to get out by just after 6am.
The bus out here was only RM28 (Malaysian Ringgit, about AU$10) and was spacious and only diverted once to pick up more people! [Our reaction after Friday's efforts: Not everything sucks!!!!]
We got to Tanah Rata at 1:30pm, hoping to get a couple of dorm beds at Father's Guesthouse (Lonely Planet's "pick" of 2009) but unsure because we'd had trouble booking it online last night. Father's is up a few flights of stone stairs, at the top of a hill looking over the town. It's awesome! And for only RM15 a night each (5 bucks!) it's super awesome! The people here are friendly and helpful, helped us out with a bus ticket to Penang tomorrow and got us on a countryside tour immediately! Half an hour later we were on a mini bus driven by a (very) informative Indian-Malay man called Rajesh. We went to Taman Rama Rama- a buttefly house with cool bugs, creepy snakes and spiders-, the Boh Tea Estate where we saw tea being made and stood in awe at the carpet-like tea plantations, a strawberry farm (this is the only area in Malaysia where you can grow them cos of the climate!), to a rose garden and finally to a big temple (can't remember the name) rebuilt a few years back with donations worth about AU$850 000. It is covered in lovely tiling and has huge buddha statues inside!
It has been another massive day again though and now it's time for bed. Sean has already hit the hay about an hour ago and I think I'm out of stories for now anyway!

-Y


Also, we just realised that today is Sunday. That explains why booking hostels has been so difficult (when we're trying to book a room at midnight for 2pm check-in that day! silly us!) and means that I should have already said.. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR FINAL EXAM TOMORROW KIM, WE ARE THINKING OF YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

KL & Cameron Highlands

just a little note to let you know that we are now in the Cameron Highlands and heading to Penang tomorrow, we're doing a very quick-and-dirty style visit of Malaysia's West Coast!

Love to you all at home

Y&S

Singapore, city of the future?!

Okay.. so it's been a few days and not such a good start to the blogging but pretend that you are reading this 3 days ago and we are still in Singapore :)
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16th
On our first day in Singapore, we decided to get straight onto our visas for Vietnam, because we knew that they were going to be a major pain in the bum to get (you are supposed to get the visa before you leave home, but with everything else that was happening in the past few weeks, it got put on the backburner.

So, we caught Singapore's incredibly amazing, ridiculously simple and organised public transport system to Holland Park, where the Vietnamese embassy is.
The train and bus network is so good here that Sean can put our destination into his phone (even when we're not online!) and it tells us which trains or buses to get. The MRT (mass rapid transport) is super efficient and we have never waited more than 6 minutes for a train. And they are NEVER late. And there is no eating or drinking allowed so the entire place is spotless. Melbourne, you have a lot to answer for! (We reeeeally should have just taken their system rather than spending billions of dollars on making our own, Sean says "they could have built a children's hospital, but no!").
Arriving at 12:30pm, we discovered that the embassy's visas time ends at midday, so that was that and we would have to come back tomorrow.
We headed back into the city (which is funny to say, seeing as Singapore is really just a giant city, but we went back to the CBD) and wandered down the waterfront.
Lunch was from a hawker centre called Lau Pa Sat which is found in an old victorian-era building, Japanese lunch set. Not exactly Singaporean but yummy. And it seems that 'Singaporean' is actually very hard to pinpoint, because food in the city is a melting pot of so many cuisines and cultures.
Not expecting to see too much in the bay, we were just casually passing some nice waterfront cafes after lunch when BAM! between the buildings we saw this ginormous space-agey looking building. I cannot explain how out of this world it felt, it was three skyscrapers with a massive boat-thing resting on top of them. To explain why we didn't know that this landmark (eyesore?!) existed, our copy of the lonely planet (thanks Sue and Steve!) is from 2009 and it seems that Singapore has really developed quite a bit in the past few years! The building is actually a hotel/casino/skypark/mall and is called Marina Bay Sands- I recommend that you google it to understand what it is!
After discovering this alien landing pad (one of the many things we predicated it might be) we had a look at the Merlion fountain (exactly what it sounds like!) and the Theatres by the bay, called the 'big durians' by the locals because they look like the spikey national fruit. Many of the buildings in Singapore are really very modern and futuristic and it was very funny to walk around and see a UFO on top of the Supreme Court, a glove-like building for the Arts & Sciences museum and huge purple flower-like towers (these, it seems are part of the new Botanical Gardens currently being built and on preview for the International Orchid Festival, also not in our lonely planet!).
From the waterfront, we decided to find out exactly what the huge-ungous towers were. Full of swanky shops, casino and rather posh hotel, Marina Bay Sands is out of this world (or ours at least!) but it does have an amazing view of the city from the SkyPark on the 57th floor.
In the evening, we saw the nightly light show over the bay, which involves lasers coming off the Marina Bay Sands towers, fountains with lights shining on them and music played all around the bay and esplanade (seriously, there is so much money thrown into what I only describe as 'cool stuff' in Singapore, it's insane).
Dinner was a rushed affair as we had watched the lights show not realising how late it had become, laksa and chicken rice at a cafe called Toatbox. Do not recommend meals from a place that makes coffee and toast!
Sean fell asleep mid conversation as soon as we got home and I followed soon after. We were both so buggered!!!

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17th
This morning we headed back to the embassy, and decided that even though visas would cost S$145 each to have a one-day turnaround, we just wanted to have them done ASAP to have peace of mind (and we didn't want to have to hang around Singapore or KL for more than three days..). Left our passports with the surprisingly organised embassy staff (bit nervous but they seemed to know what they were doing) and headed back to the CBD to go to Sentosa, the 'Resort World' of Singapore.
For lunch I had Gado Gado, which was a delicious mix of vegetables smothered in peanut sauce and then covered in prawns crackers and Sean had some -very- chilli prawns and vegies.
Sentosa is on an island just by the port in Singapore, and is accessed by monorail and cable car. The entire island is chock-a-block with hotels, kind of fake beaches, rides and shops- all in a very small space and connected by the monorail. While it's only S$3 to get to the island, everything on it costs a hell of a lot and it would be very easy to spend a lot of money there, so we didn't!
Although indoor skydiving and segway-riding did sound like a lot of fun, we decided to hire some bikes and ride along the beach paths and roads instead. It was a good way to get a feel for the place without actually doing anything costly! And because it was such a beautiful day, it was lovely. We rode to the top of the ziplining hill and up and down hills in a mini-jungle, got sufficiently tired, dropped off our bikes and wandered through the vast array of fountains and tiled statues to the cable car station.
Hmm, how to describe the cable car? It was amazing. It goes super high and over the bay and you have a brilliant view and because it's Singapore it was very well designed and safe. But I was terrified!!! Only for about the first half of the trip into the city but it turns out I'm a massive scaredy cat! Sean took lots of photos for me and got me back safely so it's all good :)
For the evening, we took a stroll through Chinatown and started our hunt for the famous Singapore Chilli Crab. Long story short, it seems that the Chilli Crab is hard to find, too expensive for our shoestring budget and although it's a bit disappointing, the Indian that we had for dinner (for a quarter of the price!) was delicious and totally worth it. Perhaps we can find a yummy chilli crab in Thailand or Vietnam? It absolutely poured this evening and we have quickly learnt that this is a standard day in Singapore- beautiful morning, wet afternoon or evening, humid night.

From our short visit so far, I think it's fair to say that most people in Singapore are quite friendly- they are serious, cautious and well organised but very very friendly. Several times throughout the day when we were looking either a little bit lost or unsure, people had come over to us and offered to help. It is really lovely and comforting to know that we have some kind souls about.

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18th
Today we made our third and final trip out to Holland Village (quite a swanky area with lots of fancy houses and cars so not really too much trouble!) and picked up our visas for Vietnam. The guys at the embassy were so helpful (for the fee of course) but very nice to have that out of the way.
I had read about a place called the French Stall, which is owned by a 2 Michelin starred chef and serves relatively cheap but high quality French food so we headed there next, but were devastated to find that they were only open from 3pm, when we had planned to catch a bus back to Malaysia. Determined to try it (great french food at a fraction of the price!) we went back to the hostel to organise our bags ready to leave and then quickly went back to stall. We were totally disappointed when they only then told us that it's just drinks and dessert until 6pm, and the dessert options were chocolate cake, ice cream and creme caramel! Not the orange zabaglione or any of the yummy savoury snacks (pate, foie gras, bread and cheese??!!) that we would have liked. It would have been nice to stay for a meal, the banquet was only about S$30 for two courses and drinks, but we had a bus to catch!
Our bus from the Queen St bus terminal in Singapore to Johor Bahru (on the Malaysian side of the causeway) was good, the border crossing was easy, and as always the people at every point were incredibly friendly and helpful. Across the border though, we were bombarded with bus operators and food vendors and taxi drivers and who knows what else! Reality check: we are in South East Asia!! The bus that we caught from there to KL was godawful! It left an hour and a half late, stopped all over the place to pick up people and drop others off ("Yes miss, express non-stop to KL") and then on top of it all, we got dropped in the middle of nowhere! Fortunately for us, a lovely young Malaysian guy with great English (and friends who go to Monash apparently!) quickly told us that we were in KL and that 'this bus no longer stops in Puduraya', where we had planned to get off and where our hotel was. A bit of wandering and asking around found us a taxi (CRAZY lady with car seriously about to fall apart!) who with quite a bit of trouble and arguing eventually dropped us at our (dingy) hotel, Zass.. just after midnight. One hell of a day and what a contrast between the two countries. We were both pretty grumpy and over it by tonight and honestly hoping that things would look up!

Made it!

Sean and Yola have made it to Singapore! After a long and very tiresome journey involving two flights and much waiting around dyesterday, we have now had a much needed sleep and are about to take on what seems to be an amazingly efficient and still very friendly city. off to sort out or Vietnam visas now, wish us luck!

Much love from the Inn crowd backpackers

Sean and Yola

more to come..

prepare for the re-awakening of The Traveller.. Yola and Sean are heading to South-East Asia in 3 weeks from today!