East Coast Adventures!

After a week in Perth during a heatwave the rain in Cairns came as a bit of a shock. We spent 4 or 5 days in Cairns which is in the north of the east coast of Australia, which looking back was maybe a bit much given the rain.

On our second day we got to dive the Great Barrier Reef. It had been about a month since we had our last dive and so we were a little rusty but soon got used to it again. Unfortunately the weather hadn't improved and it was raining and cloudy. Our boat went to the outer reef so the weather was a bit nicer there than the coast but it was still cold. Thankfully at 30 degrees it was warmer in the water, and we really enjoyed our two dives at Saxon and Hastings Reef. We even saw some sharks, huge 5 metre Great Whites although the instructor claimed they were only metre long reef sharks.

We also did a 2 day, 1 night trip to the Daintree Rainforest and Cape Tribulation, it was really beautiful but the constant rain put a bit of a 'dampner' on it.

In the rainforest at Mosman Gorge

On our way up the coast during which we seen a huge croc swimming in the sea, it was amazing to see. We then had a trek through the rainforest where we saw some wildlife, ancient trees and the powerful river above, apparently you can swim in normally but due to the recent heavy rain it was a raging torrent. We had the afternoon free to explore the beach and surrounding ourselves but it was raining so much we just stayed in our room for most of it. We did venture out enough to see the huge spiders everywhere, we weren't scared at all!

It was honestly the size of my outstretched hand

The next day we were picked up and taken on a crocodile spotting river cruise, after seeing the huge one yesterday we were quite optimistic about seeing one but the tour guide told us that because of the heavy rain the river levels were very high which meant the crocs couldn't lie on the river banks, their usual spot, so we probably wouldn't see any big ones. We found a few small baby ones early on, they were only about half a metre long. The guide told us the parents probably would be close by so we kept our eyes peeled but unfortunately we didn't see any.

Isn't he cute??

After Cairns we headed down to Airlie beach to sail the Whitsundays. If we had longer and the weather wasn't so bad we would have probably stopped at a few places on the way down but we thought it was probably best to just try and skip the rain. Our trip to the Whitsundays was something we had both been looking forward to since planning our trip so we were both a little downhearted when walking to the boat in the torrential rain. Thankfully we got on well with the other people on our boat, Powerplay, so we still enjoyed our trip in the rain, we had 3 days 2 nights on the boat and sailed around some of the islands. We did a bit of snorkelling at a few stops and I (Rob) tried paddleboarding....

Looking pretty steady

...and a handstand...

...which either failed miserably or Leanne was too slow to capture it, we will let you decide which one is more likely!

The second day we woke up early and went to Whitehaven beach, which should look something like this...

...but in the rain looked a bit like this...

looking great in our wetsuits (they were needed as there were deadly jellyfish in the water)

Thanks to the rain and our early start we had the whole beach to ourselves which is apparently really rare, it was amazing. We had a swim, but the current was really strong and we all nearly got washed away. The sand on the beach is really fine and 98% silica so Leanne and the other girls used this chance to polish their silver jewellery, we are backpackers, every freebie we get we take advantage of! I even managed to get myself a little snack...

It was a bit rubbery!

Go go  Powerplayers

We also managed to complete a night dive on the second night. We were both really nervous about this but thankfully it all went ok. It might seem obvious but it was so dark down there. We each had a flash light and a number of glow sticks attached to our tanks for light. When you looked around away from the beam of light it was eerily dark, like nothing above water, it was scary. There wasn't as much life as during the day but we got to see sleeping fish, squids, cuttlefish, nudibranchs and the biggest lobster we have ever seen. We were both a little relieved to surface again but it was a great experience and we are pleased we did it. Dangerously Leanne nearly ran out of air in her tank, we went through it a lot quicker than normal, I guess as we were a bit scared and breathing quickly.

Looking good

Ready to go down!

After we finished our dive we tucked into a much needed bbq feast. We got our first taste of some Kangaroo sausages, Aussie steaks and tried some fish that someone caught off the back of the boat, it was nice but a little boney.

The next day we sailed back to port in more rain. There didn't seem to be a whole lot to do in Airlie beach, I suppose this was made worse by the rain. Considering how well known Cairns and Airlie beach are around the world their small size has surprised us.

From Airlie Beach we were due to get an overnight bus at 11pm to Bundaberg. The rain however had continued falling and had got increasingly worse so we were a little worried that we wouldn't make it out as the only road in and out is liable to flooding. Our nerves weren't helped when by 2am the bus hadn't shown up and the rain had flooded the bus stop almost to our ankles...

This was taken a little earlier in the night when we first arrived. 

...thankfully the bus arrived 4 hours late at 3am and we made it out. Some of our friends who were scheduled to get the bus in the morning weren't as lucky and got stranded in Airlie beach for 2 days. We later found out a cyclone had formed further north and wiped out a lot of Townsville further north.

Stay tuned for more of the East Coast...

Perthfect

After a great 13 weeks in Asia our Australian adventure started in Perth. Rob's cousin Paul, his wife Anne and their son Dylan live in Perth and kindly let us stay with them for the week. They live in a beautiful house around 30-40 minutes north of Perth CBD in Darch. On our first day there we just relaxed, caught up with Paul and Anne and got to play with Dylan after he finally got over his initial fearfulness of us. We saw in our first night in Australia with a few drinks and a 'Barbie'...Perfect!

The next day was a Saturday so Paul was off work and they kindly treated to a great breakfast at 'The Blue Duck' which over looks Cottesloe beach. After breakfast we all took Dylan for his first beach experience and our first in Australia. It was a beautiful beach, the water was a little cold but as it was around 40 degrees it was much needed! Luckily we didn't get attacked by any sharks - only last week a man died in the waters off Perth due to shark attack.

Cottesloe

We also managed to get to see 'Sculptures by the Sea' an annual outdoor art exhibition on and around the beach. It was pretty cool to see. Paul and Anne had already left to go home as it was really hot for Dylan but Paul kindly let us use his car so we could stay and explore a little more, on our way home we had to stop at get ice-cream at this van...

The next day we had a picnic and walked around Kings Park which is a huge park that at some parts overlooks the city of Perth.

Paul, Anne and Dylan

It was another blistering hot day and after an afternoon spent playing with Dylan at home, we took Paul's car and drove to Hillary's where we had a drink and watched an amazing sunset. Not a bad way to spend our 4th year anniversary!

For dinner Paul made an amazing lasagne, despite all the amazing food we had in Asia I (Rob) had been craving a good lasagne and this hit the spot!

We visited Fremantle or Freo' which is a smaller city south of Perth. Freo had a great atmosphere and a hippie vibe to it; we walked around Fremantle markets, visited the old prison and had lunch and a drink at 'Little Creatures' which is a brewery. We had chili tomato mussels and bruscetta, it was delicious. On the way back to Paul's house we stopped off at North Fremantle beach, another beautiful stretch of beach for a sunbathe and swim.

There were also loads of people doing exercise and running along the beach, felling bad about not doing a single bit in 3 months I (Rob) joined in and had a little run up and down the beach, the best part was the refreshing swim in the sea to cool down after. Leanne also felt bad about doing no exercise but still couldn't be bothered so just slept on the beach!

Another must-do in Perth was a trip to Rottnest Island - Rotto in Aussie speak. It was another day of 30+ degree heat we hopped from snorkel spot to snorkel spot, including one called Geordie Bay (Note to James - and Armstrong Bay but that was a bit rubbish, no surpise really with a name like that!). We had a lovely picnic on the beach in between snorkelling. I (Leanne) even caught a lucky glimpse of the island's famous inhabitants, a quokka- a rat like marsupial. Rob didn't get so see one and bitterly disputes that I actually saw one, he is just a bad loser!

We were spoilt for choice on which beach to choose

The following day we visited the Swan Valley region, famous for its vineyards. Anne took us to a Chocolate factory where we gorged on handfuls of free chocolate buttons; we visited Houghton's winery where we sampled their wines and had lunch; then to Supagolf a pitch-and-putt with oversized clubs and balls (Rob won-no surprise there) and we finished off the day to a visit to Mash Breweries for a local pint. What a great day!

Chocolate...

...wine...

...and golf, a perfect day!

 Paul and Anne treated us once again to lunch at the revolving 'C Restaurant' with scenic views of Perth from high above the CBD.

Casper

In the afternoon we injected a little culture to our day by visiting the WA Museum. Followed by a little walk down the Swan river during sunset. With beautiful views of the city over the river. We also got a chance to go to an outdoor cinema to see "The Girl with a Dragon Tattoo", where we sat on beanbags and had a lovely picnic dinner.

Can you spot which one isn't a Kangaroo??



'Swan' River



We spent our last full day in Perth in a suburb called Subiaco, as with most other places in Australia it has a nickname - 'Subi'. We walked around the local markets, had a look in a few shops and to recharge we sat watching the world go by in San Churros a famous chocolate cafe. We spent the rest of our time soaking up our time with Dylan (and Paul and Anne) as we would not know when we would see them all next.

During our week in Perth we quickly realised how expensive Australia is, even more so to us coming from Asia. Travelling around Australia will be very different to what we experienced in Asia, we will be making our own food a lot more (even if its just once, that is once more than Asia), staying in dorms and trying to stick to a budget.
We left Perth with a mixture of feelings, we were sad to leave Paul, Anne, little Dylan and Paul's amazing cooking but at the same time very excited at the prospect of continuing our Australian adventure on the East Coast.

Asia Summary

We have now left Asia, so we thought it might be cool to do a little summary so far:

Number of countries visited: 7 (India, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore)

Money spent so far: 5190.48 GBP

Modes of transport: Plane, Bus, Ferry, Speedboat, Tuk-tuk, Catamaran, Car, Pick-up Truck, Flip-flops, Van, Kayak, Scooter, Bicycle, Longtail Boat,

Number of times 'ran over' : Once

Highlight:

Rob - This is a tough one but I think the Temples at Angkor just edge it. It was quite early on in the trip and it was just incredible. Getting to see the ancient temples with the trees and jungle growing around, in and sometimes on them was great. Also riding the bikes around them in the sun and getting up for the sunrise over Angkor Wat made it stand out a bit more.

Leanne - Halong Bay, Taj Mahal, Temples of Angkor, Birthday in Koh Rong, seeing an elephant in Khao Yai, scuba diving in Koh Tao....

Biggest Disappointment:  

Rob - We have been pretty lucky I think and haven't had many but the one that stands out is the Mekong Delta trip. We were really excited and looking forward to seeing some amazing floating markets but instead got a murky, empty river and annoying tour guide.

Leanne - This one is a hard one, as all the disappointments have redeeming features. Aside from Rob's I would say it was Vietnam in general. Our experience as a tourist was not as I expected. I felt like most people were trying to trick us or wanted us to buy from them, it felt like money was the most important thing to them. For example a woman at the hotel was so nice to us at first but once we booked our Halong Bay trip (with her) she was miserable and rude. Of course this is not true of all Vietnamese but I felt like our 3 weeks there was ruined by some of the local people. Another small disappointment was Maya Bay where "The Beach" was filmed. the place was over crowded with tourists and was the complete opposite from the beach paradise the film portrays it as.


Most Unexpected:

Rob - Getting invited to an Indian wedding. Even more so as it came the day after we got ripped off and conned in Delhi, our first day traveling. We were both feeling a bit low and now wary of everyone. But two boys, one around our age and one younger were really friendly and after talking to them invited us to the wedding. Everyone there was also really friendly and seemed genuinely happy we were there and especially  loved us when we got on the dance floor.  

Leanne - Mine would have to be Khao Yai National Park, just outside of Bangkok. After the hustle and bustle of the city we arrived in the little town of Pak Chong and then to the beautiful lush green jungle. Our day and a half was one of the most exciting times of the trip and what made it better was that I wasn't expecting it to be good at all and it was off the usual backpacker route. The animals were beautiful and the excitement of the guides was contagious. Others would be the Fairy Spring in Mui Ne (who knew there were sand dunes in Vietnam!), Amber Fort in India ( I had never even heard of Jaipur before we went) also not freaking out during scuba diving and not getting Delhi belly in India.


Favourite Country:

Rob - I think Laos is probably mine, Cambodia and Thailand come close though. After Vietnam Laos was so much more laid back and friendly. It has so much natural beauty as well. When driving from one town to another, it was amazing going through, up and around the mountains looking out over them. I wish we had spent longer there and got to see a bit more of the country. I would definitely like to go back. 

Leanne - It's between Laos and Thailand, I think Thailand has the edge. The people are so so kind, the country is beautiful, the beaches are spectacular and the food, oh the food is the best!  There is no wonder so many people flock here every year.

Best Beach:

Rob - There has been a lot but the one at the other side of Koh Rong in Cambodia wins. We had a hard trek through the jungle to get there and we just thought Wow when we saw it. It stretched for miles, had beautiful white sand and clear water that was stayed at the same depth for a while so you could walk out really far. The backdrop of the trees and the fact pretty much noone else was on it made it just a little bit better.

Leanne - Cambodia has some beautiful beaches, my favourite was Otres in Sihanoukville. My favourite of Asia has got to be Koh Lipe, they were PRISTINE, the water was crystal clear, you could see the bottom perfectly and great for snorkelling with little Nemos every few metres.

Favourite Food:

Rob - This is the hardest one, we have had so much amazing food since we started traveling that choosing one is almost impossible. It's between Masala Dosai, Roti Canai, one of the many Thai or Indian curries, or the Thai dish of beef/chicken with rice basil and chili. I think maybe the beef with chilli and basil just wins although I'm sure there are many I have forgotten and if I answered this again I would have a different answer.

Leanne - This is so hard... every country had its yummy offerings India (curries, dosais, thalis, naans), Lao's was the most surprising, and really good. Vietnam (banh mi, pho bo) Singapore (chilli crab, hawker food courts), Malaysia was great for food (satay, roti canai, apom), but once again Thailand has it (pad thai, tom yum, sticky rice by itself, som tum, glass noodle salads, noodle soups, fresh fruit stalls, laab, aromatic curries the list goes on!) but my favourite has to be Mango Sticky Rice, if you haven't tried it before please do. It's like a fresher, slightly healthier rice pudding, but better. It makes me smile just thinking about it.


Favourite Drink:

Rob - The most refreshing drink has to be Lemon/lime juice (in asia it seems to be the same thing). I don't really like fizzy drinks so only drink water but when it has been really hot and humid, a nice cold lemon juice has gone down a treat! Other than that one of the many cheap local beers around asia or a Mojito at Neng's in Koh Lanta or a bar in Singapore (it was more like a tank of Mojito here than glass).

Leanne - It would have to be Vietnamese Iced Coffee or cà phê đá. Vietnamese coffee from a filter drip and mixed with a little condensed milk. Like the French baguette it was introduced by the French during the colonisation and the Vietnamese have their own slant on it. Yum.


Favourite City:

Rob - Out of the big cities we have been to Singapore would be my favourite as I could see myself living there, it is clean, has quite a bit of green space for a city, alot of the bars, restaurants are more outdoors and it seems like there are plenty of different areas to explore. However Chang Mai was also really nice, I wouldn't live here but it terms of traveling to a city it was great. Lots of great cheap food and lots to do.

Leanne - Either Chiang Mai or Vientiane, I can't make up my mind. They are both laid back and atmospheric, just a great place to be.

That sums up our summary! We are now enjoying Australia and hope to have another blog ready soon!!

Goodbye Asia

We ended the last blog (a long time ago) just before Koh Lipe as we lost some of our pictures, thankfully we were able to recover some of them but still lost a few sadly, anyway lets pick up where we left off...

Koh Lipe

Koh Lipe was amazing, the best island we have been so far. It was a little more developed than we thought it would be but still nothing compared to Phi Phi etc. The sand there was white, the sea was a light turquoise and crystal clear, even when we were swimming where we couldn't stand up you could still see the bottom perfectly. We stayed here 3 nights but didn't do too much other than laze on the beach and have a swim and snorkel. We had a little walk round most of the island one morning which took us around 2-3 hours and that included a few stops for swimming and snacks, so you can how small the island is.



Paradise



Not a bad spot to have breakfast

From Koh Lipe we got a speedboat to Malaysia and the island of Langkawi. You would think that the boat would be equipped with a gps, sat nav or at least a compass... it turns out no, it had none of this. After an hour on the water (the whole journey was only meant to an hour) the captain obviously had no idea where he was, and was scanning the horizon for any sign of land etc.

Trying to find out where the hell we are

We found a boat and pulled up alongside it to ask directions, that was a first, and then with the help of a small travel compass and a blackberry from one of the passengers we made to to Langkawi over an hour late. Apparently the captain does two trips a day and says he can usually see the island and doesn't know what happened. Note it was a beautiful, clear sunny day.

We only had a few days in Langkawi and to be honest it was probably enough for us. We went up to the top of a mountain in a cable car there which had some great views, although it was really cloudy for most of our time there. There was a suspension bridge at the top linking two mountain tops and when the cloud came across you couldn't even see halfway across the bridge.

The view across the suspension bridge

Other than that we spent a bit of time on the beach, there was probably more to see on the island but it was all quite far away from where we were staying, I think the island is probably more for holidaying families than backpackers.

We then made our way to Georgetown, Penang, food capital of Malaysia, so I guess you will already know we loved it there. It has a lot of local and Malaysian delicacies, I think we managed to get through most of them in our 3 nights in Georgetown. Malaysian food is mix of Thai, Chinese and Indian food...Perfect!! We explored most of Georgetown walking through Chinatown, Little India and the rest of Georgetown tasting seemingly everything we saw. Georgetown is really nice to walk around, the architecture is beautiful and as with their food and culture a real mix of different styles. On the same street there was a Church, Mosque and a Chinese Temple which gives a good reflection of how multicultural it is.

Eating from, street stalls, food markets and kopitiams (old Chinese coffee shops) we managed to eat:
Baba Laska (curried noodles), Assam Laska,  Cendol (an interesting dessert with ice red beans and jellies, it looked a little bit like sick), Roti Canai (the best breakfast ever, kind of like a mix between a pancake and a naan bread with a Daal dip), Nasi Lemak (rice with a spicy sauce and dried fish served in a banana leaf), amazing Samosas, tandoori chicken, Dosi (look back at the india blog), a few curries, beef rendang, satay sticks, chicken rice and Char kway teow. Not bad for 2 and a half days!! We estimated that all of that for both of us was probably about 20-30 pound.

Char Kway Teow

Aaah Satay sticks...and yes these are from the same meal, and only the beginning

And on our final night in Penang it was pancake day and luckily we didn't miss out and had the amazing Apom, a very delicate coconutty pancake. There are also a few variations, a fatter one, more like a Scotch Pancake with a banana or coconut filling. They are just served from street stalls that change their location nightly so we were lucky to find them on pancake day.

APOM

We were sad to leave Penang and our next stop was Kuala Lumpor, the capital of Malaysia. I was quite excited about visiting here but it was a bit of a disappointment, I can't really say why but it just didn't do much for us. We still had a good couple of days here exploring the city. On our first day we worked out that we walked around 8-10 miles around the city. We visited Petaling street(a famous street in Chinatown with a market running down it), a butterfly garden, the Central Market, a beautiful Mosque and an art gallery amongst other things.

Leanne with the Mosque behind her

At night we went to the top of the Menara KL tower to get a view of the city at night. It did have really good views and it was nice to see everywhere including the Petronas towers lit up but it wasn't very well presented and wasn't a great experience. It was a viewing floor in the tower so it was all glass windows but really close to the windows they had stalls trying to sell souvenirs which were lit up so you could hardly see through the glass due to the reflections. They could improve it a lot if they wanted to.

View of the Petronas Towers

We then walked down to Little India to an Indian restaurant, I was loving the Indian food again. The food at the restaurant was amazing, some of the best Indian food we have had outside India.

On our second day we woke up early to go and queue for tickets to go up the Petronas Towers viewing platform and Skybridge. We got a bit of a shock when we got there as instead of being free as we expected, it was in the Lonely Planet and all of the internet sites we had been on, it was about 20 pound each. Apparently they had only started charging a few weeks before, it wasn't too much so we still did it. The views from here were great and the whole experience was a lot better than the Menara KL tower.

Petronas Towers

One of the views from the Skybridge

After this we kind of felt at a loose end and weren't quite sure what else we could or wanted to do in KL so we just had a bit of a walk round and looked in a few shops. We left the next day and went to Melaka, another day in KL would have been too long.

Melaka is a small town about 2 hours outside Kuala Lumpor and it used to be under British and Dutch rule so again it has really mix of architecture styles.

The town hall and main square

The main street in Chinatown is Jonkor street which at the weekend is closed to traffic and street stalls set up along it. It was interesting to walk down but most of the stalls were just selling junk and tourist tat. There were a few more interesting stalls and some more different foods to try. On our way home one night it began to absolutely chuck it down, most people took cover and seemed to be waiting for the worst to stop but being only a few minutes from our guesthouse we made the wrong decision of running there in it. It is possibly the wettest I have ever been the rain was torrential and even though we were out a few minutes everything was dripping wet. The streets had huge drains along side them for weather like this and they quickly filled up and spilled over into the street meaning we were running through an inch or so of water. It was crazy how fast it got that high.
When running back to our guesthouse we seen a restaurant that, despite all the rain, had a huge queue down the street. The next day we decided to check it out and waited in the long queue. It was amazing, in the middle of our table there was a big pot of boiling Satay which was regularly topped up by the staff. There was then a bug fridge on one wall with hundreds of different satay sticks, chicken, prawns, beef, vegetables and anything else you can think of. So we went up and chose what sticks we wanted before taking them back to our table and plunging them in the the satay to cook them. A new and delicious experience!

Our seventh and final country in Asia was Singapore, only a 4 hour bus journey from Melaka. Unfortunately we only stayed there for 3 nights but we loved it and could have stayed a lot longer. We were lucky and grateful to stay with Leanne's family friends Geoff and Cathy and their 3 year old twin daughters. They very kind and showed us some of what Singapore has to offer and treated us to a few very nice meals and drinks. It was really nice to sleep in a proper bed and be in a home after 3 months of traveling. Their apartment was also in a great in a great location.

The view from our bedroom window

We packed a lot into a short time and got to see quite a lot. In the evening we had food and drinks at a few different areas across the city, such as Clarke Quay, Club Street, Robertson Quay and a hawker centre. We went to the top of the Marina Bay Sands Hotel (the weird building with 3 towers and a boat on top) and experienced the great views of the city and ports. Unfortunately we weren't allowed access to the beautiful infinity pool and gardens at the top as that was reserved for guests.

The Marina Bay Sands hotel, city skyline and Merlion

View from the top of the Marina Bay sands

We also met up with Leanne's Auntie and daughter (more family friends) for lunch and they kindly showed us round more of Singapore in the afternoon rain.

Singapore is very different to the rest of the Asian countries we have been to, although they all have their difference the other countries are also quite similar. Singapore is very clean, modern and more western than the others. The other main difference is the price, it is so much more expensive than anywhere else we have been. It was about 12 Singapore dollars (6 pound) for the cheapest beer here compared with no more than 1.50 for the most expensive everywhere else in Asia.

After a busy last week of so in Asia trying to fit as much in as we could and spending only a couple of nights in each place we headed for the airport to get our flight to Perth, Australia which we would be staying with my cousin Paul, his wife Anne and their baby Dylan for a week. We were both really excited to see them and visit Australia but also sad to leave Singapore and Asia.