Patong - Phuket

One thing I have to say about Patong is that the staff in hotels are not very polite. You pay on arrival which we have not had to do else where in Asia and once they have your money they don't care, literally.

My advise: Pay day by day then if something is not right they will want to sort it so they get your money.

We got a boat from Koh Lanta to Patong which went past Phi Phi islands. You could get off here but we stayed on until we reached Phuket.
We had already arranged a transfer from the ferry port to our hotel but you could easily pick up a taxi.

Our first hotel we stayed in was about a 10minute walk from the Mall and Bangla Road. It was in a nice local with night markets along the road and plenty of restaurants, very easy to navigate around.

We had 2 nights in this hotel which we thought we would spend by the pool but unfortunately this did not happen. We spent 2 days arguing with the hotel over our room and money. We had arrived about 8pm and there was only one guy on the desk, he checked us in and gave us a room key. The room was massive and we were very impressed with it, until the morning came when we had a rude awakening by a member of staff telling us to leave the room. We asked what was wrong and they she said we had been given the wrong room, she showed us to another room which was falling apart. We refused to move rooms and wanted to speak to the manager. On speaking to the manager we found that our card had been charged 2 days prior to our arrival. When we book hotels through booking.com we always check that we choose payment on arrival as our card company will charge us for using our card otherwise. So this was a shock and not a good one. After hours of talking to the staff we eventually spoke to booking.com direct and within minutes we were issued a refund for the hotel which included our bank charges. This was great so off we went shopping with a spring in our step.... or so we thought!!

NOTE: Any problems your having with hotels which have been booked through booking.com, call them straight away as they will have it dealt with in minutes.

After our 2 nights in this hotel we moved to another one which was further from the hustle and bustle of Bangla Road. It was about 30 minute walk to the mall, but we thought this was fine as the hotel provided a shuttle.. NO NO NO that was the old owners of the hotel, the new owners could not care less if you stayed or went. There was no staff in the hotel after 3pm until the next day so if anything goes wrong your on your own. Some people were left a note and their room keys on the desk, not a very warm welcome from the hotel. We had problems with the WiFi and our friend was coming from the UK for a holiday, we had arranged an airport transfer through the hotel but her flight was delayed by 2 hours so who do you inform?? the non speaking taxi driver of course. After about 30minutes of trying to tell him we finally had it sorted and my friend arrived safely. We did not pay the hotel until the end and we called booking.com which they arranged for us to get a discount because the shuttle bus was no longer running.

Anyway Patong itself is great, we really enjoyed the area. There is so much to do in and around Patong, things that cost and things that are free so plenty to please all age groups.

Attractions we did:

• Roof Top Mini Golf:

This is 18 holes on top of Banana Walk, which looks down onto the busy party streets below and the Andaman Sea. I love playing mini golf and do it on most of my holidays so i really enjoyed this evening. It cost 500 baht per person with a cocktail of your choice at the end.

• Ping Pong show:

You walk down Bangla Road at night and you will approached by at least 50 people offering ping pong shows. The entrance is free but they do request you by a drink. The drinks are expensive, a bottle of beer in the supermarket is around 50 baht and in the ping pong bars you will pay around 900 baht, but they are an eye opener and a great laugh. Something you have to experience while in Patong definitely.

• SF Cinema:

The cinema is on the top floor of the Jungceylon shopping mall. It is super cheap 180 baht and Wednesdays are even cheaper 120 baht,with all the new release movie so a must while in Patong.

• Fantasea:

This is a evening show is for all the family, with many different things to look at. The magic starts at the door with a beautiful waterfall, and into a village of shops selling souvenirs to jewellery, etc. Have your picture taken with parrots or looks at massive cat fish in the small rivers that run through the palace. Before the show you enjoy a sit down all you can eat buffet, which has everything from Chinese, Indian, Steak, Pasta, Salads and a great selection of deserts. After dinner you head over to the main stage where you can ride of touch the elephants that are walking around outside. Inside while you make your way to the seating area you can have you picture taken with baby tigers. We booked the day before so our seats were high but good views but i would advice booking in advance so you can be sat near the front and really experience the show. They has everything in the show from elephants, tigers, goats, rabbits etc a real fun thing to watch. We paid 800baht each but this can be bartered down and if you book as a group it will probably be cheaper.

• Quad Biking, Elephant Trek and Monkey Show:

We booked this as a package to do both but you can book separately. There were 11 of us so we got a good price of 800 baht each, it is usually about 1,500 baht. We first watched the monkey show, this was more for kids, I didn't really enjoy it, felt too sorry for the monkeys as didn't seem very happy. The preform tricks for food and then come sit on your knee for photos. It only lasts about 15 minutes.




The quad biking was the best part, zooming down the dirt tracks pulling in on occasion to admire the views across Rawai Bay. Standing on top of the hill the guide was telling us when the tsunami hit you could watch it coming across the sea before it hit the land, The views are amazing from up there and you can see how close the hotels are which got hit, but have now been rebuilt.
Advice when on the quad bikes, don't be at the back. I was and my lovely partner thought it would be funny to wheel spin the sand which blow up into my face...Twice! Pay back was given don't worry.

After that we went on the elephant trek, not the best one Ive been on, was a small walk, those stood on the platforms could see you so good for pictures. I wasn't sure how safe it was as our guide told me to get off the seat and sit on the head mid walk, was very scary as nothing to hold on to so i quickly got back into my seat. The best bit of the ride was at the end playing with the baby elephant and feeding it milk for kisses. Very cute.

•  Night market:

As a large group we organsied a bus to take us to the night market and pick us up again but you can get the local bus for 34 baht each. The local bus is called a Songtaew and is blue, you can hail it down if your not at a bus stop. The market was huge but a lot of the stalls sold the same stuff. The food market was the best bit as it had a variety of food on offer and for those of your who are brave... fried bugs, worms etc. I did try the bugs and they tasted like peanuts as long as you didn't think about what you were eating. Did get a leg stuck in my teeth though. lol. The market was really cheap, cheaper than Patong area itself so was happy to look around.

• Big Buddha:

The big Buddha sits on top of a mountain between Chalong Bay and Kata Beach which can be seen from almost anywhere from the southern part of the island. The Buddha is still under construction and weighs 22 tons of brass and stands 12 meters high. Its is amazing at how big the Buddha is and the detail which has gone into it. You can have your name carved into the bricks they are using to build the Buddha so it will be there for ever.

• Gem Gallery:

To enter the gallery you take a small train ride inside the gallery which talks you through how they mine for the gems and how they are made into Jewellery. Once the train stops you can walk around and watch the locals work on  making earrings, rings etc and the detail/time that goes into making them. After that you are shown into 2 huge rooms containing the finished products which you can buy, and given a free non-alcoholic drink of your choice.

• Beaches:

The beaches in Patong are very clean and not over crowded. You can hire umbrella's and beach mats or for the more adventurous jet ski's and paragliding.

• Bangla road:

This is an attraction in itself, there is always something to look at with plenty of bars all along the road, with kebab shops at each end for when you fall out the bars at 2am, oh sorry we are in Patong i mean 6am. lol.

We were lucky enough to be there for their New year, (Songkran) In Thailand they celebrate New Year a lot differently to what we thought, They celebrate with a 3 days water fight on the street. Be warned you can not walk anywhere with out having a bucket of water thrown over you. Everywhere has and sells super soakers and even our hotel got involved and set up water stations outside to throw over passer by. Groups of people drive through the streets and throw water over you its crazy but in the best possible way. Was the best new year Ive celebrated.

Hotel we stayed in was booked through booking.com
Alfresco Phuket Hotel, 1,890 Baht (today's exchange rate £131 ) for 2 nights. This was the first hotel mentioned at the start so we did get it at a reduced price but this is that booking.com advertises it as. Worst hotel we have stayed in.

See Sea Hotel, 28,800 Baht (today's exchange rate £ ) for 12 nights. This was for 2 rooms and it has so much potential to be a great hotel, the rooms are big and decorated nicely it is just a shame the owners don't care about it.

Buasri Phuket Hotel, 4,893 Baht (today's exchange rate £ ) for 7 nights. I never mentioned this hotel above but after See Sea Hotel we moved here. It was closed to town with plenty of places to eat near, there was a cut through from the hotel to the mall which took 5 minute walk but i think this has been closed off so the walk round to the mall will now take 10-15 mins but plenty to see along the way. The hotel had only been open for 2 months so was very clean, the staff were great and provided anything we asked for, there was a large pool but the owner was in there a lot of the time which put us off going in and there were only 2 double sun beds but the hotel was not very busy. We loved this hotel it gave us everything we wanted and would stay here again.

Krabi and Koh Lanta

So as I mentioned in my last blog to get a 30 day visa in Thailand you need to arrive via air so the cheapest and shortest flight from Siem Reap was to Krabi.

We stayed at a driving range, although we are not golfers and have never played we thought it would be fun. The owner picked us from the airport and it took us about 30minutes to the hotel. It is outside of Karbi town about 40 minute bus ride but there are shops in a Mall including a Tesco which is in walking distance.

The owners at the hotel were very nice and helpful, our first room unfortunately had a big problem with ants, it was like something out of a horror movie coming out the wall but we were soon changed to a new room which was a lot better. Although the hotel was out of the town it was so peaceful and this is what we liked.

We did play some golf, but i wasn't very good and couldn't hit it very far. There is potential for a mini golf course which i think they had at one time and its a shame they let this slip.

We grabbed a lift into town with the owner, which is a small main square with a market on but lots of hotels and restaurants around it. We had to go to the immigration office while we were in town to extend our visa, (as i can not count and missed 3 days off our visa so we would have over stayed) this is NOT in walking distance. We however did walk it on what seemed to be the hottest day. There is nothing around and is a very long walk so if you need to go get a taxi.


We got the bus back to the mall near our hotel, this was easy to find and very cheap. (you can hail the bus to stop if your not at a bus stop). We didn't stay long in Krabi so we never got over to the beaches which are very popular.

We organised a bus to Koh Lanta through the hotel and a minibus picked us up in the morning and took us across the ferry crossing into Koh Lanta. This cost about 350 baht (today's exchange rate £7) and took a couple of hours.

Hotel we stayed in was booked through booking.com
Palm Driving Range & Resort, 2,000 Baht (today's exchange rate £84) for 2 nights, breakfast was not included. The staff were very polite here and it had an on site restaurant where the food was very good. It is a very basic hotel and has locals coming and going to play golf but don't let this put you off, it really was a peaceful place to be.

Koh Lanta

At the ferry port we jumped into a tuk tuk which took us to our hotel. It was about a 15 minute drive, not far from the ferry as we did walk it. The whole of Koh Lanta is small and easy to walk, although we did find it more expensive.

At arriving at our hotel we were shown to our cabin, to find the air con not working and at 30 degrees it was definitely needed so we asked to move rooms.

The main attractions in Koh Lanta are the beaches, there are very clean and white sand with a variety of restaurants/bars. Very peaceful place and only 5 minute walk from our hotel. The shops are up towards the ferry port which will take you about 30 minutes to walk, there are some great restaurants along the ferry port as well so worth a walk. We were there March and many of the restaurants/shops were getting ready to close as the tourist season was coming to an end.


We were not very happy with our hotel so we looked at others in the area and found a great one up near the ferry port, it was very large and hardly anyone there with a huge roof top pool which most days we had to our self.

We organised a boat ride to Phuket through a travel agent near to the ferry port, they were very good and beat the price we found elsewhere, although i do think any travel agent would do this as they want the business.

Hotels we stayed in was booked through booking.com
Escape Cabin, 4,590 Baht (today's exchange rate £192) for 3 nights, including breakfast which was at a restaurant across the road. We felt this hotel was very over priced for what you got. The cabins are very small, ants everywhere in the bathroom and towels are only changed every 2-3 days, (we've stayed in cheaper places that change towels everyday), The pool was small and not very deep, there was also dead frogs in it. I thought frogs could swim?? we had to ask the staff to clean it or even clean it ourselves on a daily basis. The sunbed were poor quality and uncomfortable. Overall i would not stay or advise anyone to stay here.

Hotels we stayed in was booked through booking.com
Lanta Residence Boutique, 1,916 Baht (today's exchange rate £38) for 1 night, breakfast not included. (This price is what booking.com offers but we spoke to the hotel direct and there offered to beat the booking.com price and include breakfast, which i thought was very good). The hotel was very quiet which was a good thing as we had the pool all to ourselves. It had a huge roof top pool with views across the mountains. The staff were brilliant here and the hotel was close to shops and restaurants. I would definitely stay here again.

Siem Reap Cambodia

So where we got off the bus in Sihanoukville, was a travel agents where we booked another DAY bus to Siem Reap. We used Giant Ibis, which only runs from Sihanoukville to Phnom Penh and Phnom Penh to Siem Reap. There is only one direct bus to Siem Reap and that is a night bus with Virak Buntham but this is rated the worst bus in Cambodia so you have been warned. The bus took in between 12/13 hours and left at 7:45am and arrived in Siem Reap at around 8:30pm with stops along the way. It cost $23 US Dollars (today's exchange rate £16.

We arrive late in to Siem Reap but our hotel pick up was just sat waiting for us and took us straight to the hotel. We were welcomed with towels and drinks and shown to our room. The room was very spacious with a bath and shower, although a little dated it was still usable and clean.

The hotel was about a 15-20 minute walk into the centre of Siem Reap which was fine, there were places to eat along the way and a couple of hotels, the lane was well light at night so we didn't have a problem walking around after dark. (We don't like to use tuk tuks if things are within walking distance). The main square is packed with market stalls, restaurants and travel agents so there isn't a short of things to look at. The markets are all light up at night and there is a lot of hustle and bustle around. In the centre of the main square there is a pub street which has all the bars and restaurants with promoters trying to entice you into their bar or bar crawl.

The main attractions:
Of course the main attraction in Siem Reap is Angkor Wat. We arranged a tour through our hotel and there are so many temples you will need a tuk tuk to take you round them all.

• Angkor Wat: A World Heritage Temple.

Cambodia is very proud of the temple as it is classed the heart and soul of the country and many thousands of traveler flock here each year. As you will see a lot of the other temples are more ruins and not what they used to be but the Angkor Wat temple has never been abandoned and is still in continuous use. It will take you about 3 hours to look round the whole grounds but go on a cool day. When we went is was nearly 40 degrees centigrade and was just too hot to enjoy anything, and all we wanted to do what
 get in an air conditioned room. You can buy a multi
 day pass so you don't need to see it all in one day. The costs are : 1 day $20 US Dollars (today's exchange rate £14), 3 days $40 US Dollars (today's exchange rate £28) and for 1 week $60 US Dollars (today's exchange rate £42).
 
 


Note: There are a lot of steep steps and uneven surfaces within the temple so please be careful when walking around.

Kickboxing:
There is an arena just on the outskirts of the main square which hold kickboxing 2/3 times a week. Some of the matches are televised but cost $15 US Dollars (today's exchange rate £10) for foreigners to watch. If you get a tuk tuk there the driver can get in for free to watch as well. We did this and it was our drivers first time at the arena and he loved it. Drinks are available at the venue and can last anywhere from 1-3 hours.

• Markets:

There are many markets to choose from, most selling the similar things you just have to barter them down. There is also a food market which has a variety of things including smelly dried fish so hold your nose when your in there.

• Cinema:

There is a cinema which is on the second floor of the Angkor Trade Center. It is very basic with private viewing rooms but the movies are not of the best quality. The staff are very helpful and bring your drinks/popcorn to the room for you.

After our stay in Siem Reap we looked at the next place to go to and this ended up being Krabi in Thailand. This was because it was the cheapest place to fly to.

Remember: If you fly into Thailand you will get a 30 day free visa but if you go over land borders you will only get a 15 day visa.

Hotel we stayed in was booked through booking.com
Landing Point Hotel, $283 US Dollars (today's exchange rate £198) for 7 nights including breakfast. This was a lovely hotel and great fresh breakfast. The pool was small but deep and just what you needed after a day in the heat. There were only 3 sunbeds but this was ok as the hotel was very quiet.  a good size and quiet. The staff were very good and polite in this hotel.

One of the most memorable places - Phnom Penh, Cambodia

We arrived in Phnom Penh at night time and had no clue as to where we were or which direction the hotel was in so we jumped in a Tuk Tuk to make things easy.

We were greeted with cool towels and fresh drinks while we checked in. The hotel had made a mistake and pout us in a double room as apposed to the superior room we booked but this was immediately corrected and we changed rooms. This hotel had only opened a month prior and was in very good condition with new amenities, it was busy but only had 13 rooms with a lovely pool to jump in on a hot day.

We arrived in Cambodia in Feb/March time and it was extremely hot around 40 degrees Celsius every day, which sometimes was unbearable to go out so we stayed in our room with the air-con on.

We were situated very near to the Independence monument which sits in the centre of the traffic circle so if you get lost this is a good point to head back to as your only 5 minutes away from The Royal Place and shopping area.




Phnom Penh is full of history and this can be seen within the buildings around the city, if you hire a Tuk Tuk for the day they will take you round the city to see different temples. The main attractions of course are the Choeung Ek Killing Fields, the S-21 Prison and The Royal Palace. There is deep history in these places so show respect and really listen to the story's told, some can be quite moving. It pains me to think of the terror and torture that occurred in such a beautiful country.

Attractions:
We hired a Tuk Tuk for the day to take us round the attractions, they are cheap but of course you have to barter for the right price but the drivers get lunch at each stop if they take someone so better to use them than a corporate company that may rip you off. 

• Choeung Ek Killing Fields:

Here you are given an audio headset to listen too as you walk around, it is in sections and you just press play when you move into each new section, which means you can walk round at your own pace and really listen to the stories. The cost to get in is $6 US Dollars (today's exchange rate £4.20)




Between the years of 1975 and 1978 around 17,000 men, women and children were brought to the killing fields from the over crowed S-21 prison. A lot were tortured to death so not to waste bullets. There is estimated 8985 peoples remains were exhumed from the killing fields in mass graves, some of the human remains and clothing are still present in the fields. While on the tour you will here stories from the victims who survived the Khmer Rouge and from Him Huy who was a guard and executioner at the fields.

A Memorial Stupa of clear glass was erected in 1988 to house bone fragments and skulls all arranged by sex, age and how they killed.

•   S-17 Prison also known as Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum:

Admission is around $2 US Dollars (today's exchange rate £3) there is no audio around the prison but facts and pictures on walls. You can have a guided tour for $6 US Dollars (today's exchange rate £4.20)

This was not always a prison, it started off as a high school before Pol Potts took over in 1975 and it soon became the largest centre for detention and torture in the country.






The leaders kept detailed logs of each prison who walked through the gates  by taking their photograph, name and where they came from. Most of the photographs you see in the prison today are of people who were later killed. When the Phnom Penh was liberated in 1979 only 7 prisoners were found alive, they had used their skills in photograph and painting to do this.

• The Royal Palace:

(This is a small section of the Palace)
Admission here is $10 US Dollars (today's exchange rate £7)
NOTE: you MUST cover your shoulders and forearms. A scarf or shawl will not do it must be a t-shirt or jumper, we did not actually visit the Palace as i had my shoulders exposed.


 
There are many more attractions and temples to see around Phnom Penh, like the Independence Monument I described earlier, the Cambodia-Vietnam Friendship Monument (picture) which is in between the Palace and the Independence Monument and the large markets in the centre of town. Be careful at these markets as they are very tightly packed and very busy so there are a few pick pockets around. It all depends on how long you are staying in Phnom Penh as to what you see, also it was extremely hot when we were here so doing a little is tiring.



Hotel we stayed in was booked through booking.com.
The Sam Boutique Hotel: $302.40 US Dollars (today's exchange rate £ ) for 7 nights including breakfast. Although the cooked breakfast wasn't that great as it was very small, you could also have cereal. Very clean bright hotel, great swimming pool and the rooms were very clean and modern. i would definitely stay here again as the staff were brilliant and it was in a good location with lots of eateries around to choose from.

Moving onto Sihanoukville we booked a 12:30pm Giant Ibis minibus from their head office in Phnom Penh (street 106) which is situated in the night market and cost $10 US Dollars (today's exchange rate £7). It took 4 hours with stops along the way to Sihanoukville. When we booked the bus we asked to be picked up from the hotel but as this was a new hotel they didn't know where it was so we had to give the name of the hotel next door which they were fine with. There are only 2 bus companies that run to Sihanoukville these are Sorya and Capitol Tours, they are classed as typical Cambodian bus companies which are cheap but only good for short trips, and then there are 2 minibus companies called Giant Ibis and Mekong Express

NOTE: We did a lot of research on TripAdvisor to see which is the best company to go with, and Giant Ibis had the best reviews. It was comfy big seat in only a 16 seater minibus. (Sorya company tend to break down often and have falling apart buses, which make the trip longer.)

BEWARE: Please be aware the roads in Cambodia are not all finished in lovely tarmac, so if you are getting a bus please get a day time bus and NOT a night bus around Cambodia. If you have ever been before you will know what I'm talking about and if you haven't well, hold on to your seats your in for a treat. The roads are sometimes narrow, or have huge holes in them so through the day at least the driver can see where he is going at night he can not. The night buses are also most prone to accidents. See this link (Night Bus) for 5 reasons you should not get night buses.

Hoi An to Nha Trang

The train took 9 hours from Da Nang to Nha Trang which left at 11:41am and arrived at 8:41pm The station is not in the centre of Nha Trang so i would get a taxi when you arrive to take you to your hotel.

I don't think there is a main area of Nha Trang to stay in as there are many shops on every street. The hotel we stayed in was very popular and only a 10 minute walk to the beach.

Nha Trang is very busy and very popular and there are lots of lovely places to eat on every street. We just used Trip Adviser to see which restaurants were rated the best.

Not far from the hotel is a lovely stretch of white sandy beach that you can do a number of water sports on from kite surfing, jet ski's and banana boating. There are lots of bars long the beach which have seat actually on the beach so you don't have to go far.
There is also an outside swimming pool/lazy river which is open to the public, with sunbeds around the edges although you do have to pay for these.


You can get your hair cut and a shave on the street in Nha Trang as local people set up stalls with mirror attached to trees. You can also get your ears cleaned.

While in Nha Trang there are many different activities you can do but as we were only here for a few days we only did the Egg Mud Baths which cost about $12 (Today's exchange rate £9) These are egg shaped pods filled with natural hot mud you bath in for 30 minutes and there are hydro pools and swimming pools to relax in. Although this sounds a nice novel thing to do I wouldn't do it again, as it is not worth the money and was a small complex. Within our ticket we could eat in the restaurant which we were the only people in and the food wasn't that great.














We were here for valentines day so went out for a lovely sushi meal which again we found on trip adviser and went to the cinema which is very small but quiet and cheap. This is about a 20 minute walk from the beach in the direction of the train station.

We booked a night bus from Nha Trang which picked us up from our hotel to Ho Chi Minh City which took 10 hours and cost around $24 (Today's exchange £17 each) there are two that leave a day either 8am or 8pm. We took the 8pm bus. The bus will arrive at Ho Chi Minh City but the bus station is not in town so you will have to get a local bus into town. Ask a local for directions and they will tell you what bus to use they are very helpful. Once we arrived in the city we went straight into a travel agents and booked the next bus to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

NOTE: You can not book a bus in Nha Trang all the way to Cambodia you will have to book them separately as we did above.

Hotel we stayed in was booked through booking.com:
The Summer Hotel, $103 (Us dollars). (Todays exchange rate £72) for 4 nights. This included a buffet breakfast which was very nice, but a lot of the rooms don't have window and is so very dark and smells musky. We were a floor above the kitchen and you can hear everything and they start early in the morning so be warned. There is a roof top pool but its small and has about 8 sunbed so in high season you will struggle to get a bed. The hotel was ok but there were points that let it down. Not a hotel to stay in for long periods of time.

Hanoi to Hoi An

Thank you for coming back and reading our travel blog. Today we are talking about moving from Hanoi to Hoi An and the attractions around Hoi An.

We booked our flight to Hoi An via a travel agency for around £25 each excluding baggage. We flew into Da Nang as this is the closest airport to Hoi An, where we were picked up by the hotel which we had pre-booked via Booking.com.

Our hotel was about 30 minute walk from the old town which is the centre of Hoi An but it was very peaceful right on the river front. The nice thing about our hotel was it was only a month old so had brand new amenities and the staff were excellent. They invited us to join them for evening tea which was free and throughout our 2 week stay offered us to join the family for dinner and all the guesting within the hotel. It is only a small hotel but that's great for us, we don't like a lot of people.

Most of the hotels in Hoi An offer free bicycles to use as it is very flat and the town is about 15 minute bike ride and the beach is about 20 minutes from our hotel.







The Old Town:
The Old Town has a maze of cobbled streets all winding down towards the river and only walking or biking is allowed, no cars which is great. We loved pedaling through the streets is was very peaceful and lots of things to look at. There are plenty of dress shops for the ladies to choose from if you wanted a handmade dress. They all vary in price so ask around and there are so many i couldn't suggest which is best.
Other than dress shops you will find leather shops, souvenir shop, cafes, restaurants and lantern shops.

The lanterns are all hand made and look amazing at night when they are all lite up.

If you cross over the red bridge there are more restaurants and night markets. On the bridge at night you can buy small lanterns to let off down the river and it is a lovely atmosphere.



Attractions

• The main attractions in Hoi An are to rent motorbikes which we didn't do because we like the skin on our legs and not on the roads.

• You can join push bike tours which take you round Hoi An but it is a small place you can do it yourself its very easy and hard to get lost.

• On the river in the old town there are small boats which the locals offer to take you in down the river and to where the locals do their fishing with massive nets.

All attractions can be booked through your hotel or travel agencies.

We had our clothes washed through our hotel which they did at a reasonable price, within competition with shops offering it in town. A little bribery for a good review on TripAdvisor helped to reduce the price. (Little tip there they always want good reviews)

Hoi An was a place we absolutely loved and surprised at the amount out tourist we met that never went. The whole place is calm and easy to access and the locals are some of the nicest people we have met. The food here was also some of the best food we had throughout Asia and if you do get a chance to go visit a place called "Red Dragon" this really is great food and they also offer cooking classes.

We booked through our hotel a train ticket to Nha Trang, but I would recommend you getting a local bus to Da Nang train station and buying yourself as you will save a lot. On the train ticket the price says $22 (Us dollars). (Today's exchange rate £14)  but the hotel did charge us a lot more than this.

Hotels we stayed were booked through Booking.com

• Oasis Riverside Boutique, $126 (Us dollars). (Today's exchange rate £111) for one week. We extended through the hotel for one more week which they did as the same price as Booking.com. Breakfast was included within the price and it was mad fresh. (The pancakes were great). The rooms were big and modern with a large shower room and large wardrobe space. TV reception was good and we even had our own WIFI router in your room so it was very fast. I would definitely recommend staying here as the staff and hotel are lovely although the price has increased since we were there so not sure its worth anymore than we paid for it.

Chiang Mai to Luang Prabang (Laos)

So from Chiang Mai we headed to Luang Prabang, Laos via bus which took around 21 hours. We purchased our bus tickets from a travel agent in the centre of Chiang Mai. It is definitely worth asking for prices in different places as they differ slightly. It cost roughly THB1200 each (today's exchange rate £22).
A minibus will pick you up from your hotel in the morning, and you will be on this until the boarder of Thailand.

The Bus travels through the countryside to Chiang Rai and will take about 4 hours to get there. Take food as you may not get chance to get any. We only stopped in Chiang Rai for 30minutes and I wish we had longer as there was the most beautiful white temple I have ever seen. Its called Wat Rong Khun and made from fragments of mirrored glass which reflect the light and makes it shine. The queues where too long for us to get near the temple but I would have loved to see it up close. If you get the chance maybe stay a day so you get to see the temple as it is comprised of many buildings.

After the stop we carried on to the Thai boarder called Huay Xai, where you will have to fill out immigration forms and pay for your visa. The price of visa's depend on the country your from so with a  UK passport it cost 35 US Dollars. (Today's exchange rate £23). After this you change to coach and onto ferry to get across the Mekong into Laos. It will take about 15 hours to get from here to Luang Prabang.

When arriving in Luang Prabang the bus station is not in town. There are many tuk tuk drivers waiting at the station but when we arrived we didn't have the correct currency on us, so we decided to walk. How hard could it be, right? It would have been very simple if we had know where we were going but we took the wrong turning and i think we ended up walking around the whole of Luang Prabang that morning. So if your like us and prefer to walk then remember this: You want to turn right out the bus station then  when you reach the roundabout you want to turn right again. Follow this road over an old wooden bridge then turn right again. Continue walking straight (as you can) until you reach the main street. You want to turn left up this street to the main area and the information centre. (See map above)

Now the currency for Laos is Kip and the banks will issue you this, a maximum of 2million Kip can be withdrawn at any one time. (Today's exchange rate £160). However many prefers to take US Dollars like the travel agencies. Some travel agencies even tried to charge us extra for using Kip as they get charged to exchange the Kip into Dollars. So its up to you what you use but dollars would be easier when booking and paying for things.

Things to do in Laos:
Even though Laos in the poorest country in Asia we found some of the attractions to be expensive, like the elephant rides which were twice as much as the one we did in Chiang Mai, so this put us off doing anything.

The weather was not in our favour in February its a little cold so we didn't go to the Kuang Si Falls, which is a very popular waterfall in Laos. If you do plan to do to this it is cheaper to get a minibus which you catch outside the travel agencies, it will leave early in the morning but its is cheaper than getting a private tuk tuk.








We took 3 hour river cruise down the Mekong to the Pak Ou Caves, which are filled with thousands of Buddha images and statues.

There are two caves to see here the first one is a short climb up some steep metal steps and is very narrow inside and the second cave is a bit of a hike up to the top of the hill. This cave is bigger but very dark so you don't see much. If I'm being honest they weren't that great I wouldn't go again but they were part of the trip so we looked round anyway.





After this you are taken over to the a village called Ban Xang Hai. Here they produce there own whiskey and wine, (which is very strong), hand crafted scarfs and clay jars. There also isn't much to see here except a few stalls, we did find a lovely little puppy we played with while we waited for the other people on the tour. After the village you head slowly back to Luang Prabang. You are fed on the boat, it was OK nothing special but i maybe just too picky. I'm not sure I would do it again but at least I've done it and tried it. It cost about 60 Us dollars. (Today's exchange rate £40).

The food in Laos was very good from the stalls which sell french baguettes near the information centre to local food and Indian cuisine.

If you cross over the bamboo bridge from the centre of town then walk straight up the road, there is a turning on the right, well on the left hand side there is a school and down the side of the school to the back is a small pizza restaurant called Phan Luang and these are amazing. Its very secret where its positioned but most definitely worth a try.

You should also try the BBQ food. This is where they place a hot cement pot in the middle of your table with a lid over the top and you cook your own food from vegetables to meat or fish.








Hotels we stayed in are: (Booked through Booking.com)

• Soutikone 2 Guesthouse, $203 (Us dollars). (Today's exchange rate £134) for one week. At the time we didn't think this price was too bad, but as our journey continued we realised it was very over priced. The rooms were very small, no wardrobes and old style. The bathroom smelt of sewage all day. Not worth the money.
• Salaphet@Home, $182 (Us dollars). (Today's exchange rate £120) for one week. We also felt this was over priced but had modern big rooms. Very clean and there was always a member of staff at the hotel. This hotel was over the bamboo bridge on the other side of the Mekong.

Heading to Chiang Mai

After our 2 weeks were up we headed to Chiang Mai via train. We purchased our tickets from Hua Lumphong THB841 (today's exchange rate £15). We were in the second class sleeper and it was the best night sleep we ever had.

The seats change into beds and the stewards come round to set them up and take them down for you.

I would not advise trying to do it yourself, an impatient man in the bed next to us tried and got his finger trapped and cut it open. A bit risky when the beds are old and rusty and there were a few cockroaches running around. The stewards know what they are doing and are fast at it so just be patient. They sell food on the train but it looked a bit questionable so eat at your own risk.


The train journey took 12 hours through the night and passed small towns built on the side of the train tracks, but the scenery of the countryside was great to see.
Once we got off the train we grabbed a tuk tuk to take us to our hotel. All the tuk tuk's were the same price at the train station so there's no point trying to barter, but it’s still fun to try.

In Chiang Mai there is a main square in the old city which is in the centre of town and the shops run from either end. Will take about 30 minutes to walk from one end to the other. The main gate to the shopping streets, is called Tha Phae Gate. When looking for hotels just set the filter to old city.

We were here for New Year and they had street celebrations, a live band, fireworks and everyone let off lanterns into the night sky. This was held at the Tha Phae Gate. A wonderful atmosphere to be a part of.






We did meet a few travelers who had not booked any accommodation and were just going to look for one once they were there and after looking around there are lots of hostels to choose from in the centre.

Things to do in Chiang Mai:
There are a three markets I would suggest seeing:

• Sunday market (or walking street) which starts at the Tha Phae gate and stretches for 1km. The locals sell handmade products and souvenirs.
• The Night Bazaar market which on Chang Khlan Road sell more designer brands and jewelry etc. 
• Chiang Mia's night food market is one to visit for its traditional Thai food and if your adventurous the deep fried bugs, cockroaches and anything else that moves. It is held on Sri Chum Road.

There are many different elephant rides/experiences in Chiang Mai and you can spend days looking at them all just to decide on one.

We were recommended the tour Ran-Tong and we were not disappointed. They are a rescue centre for elephants which have been used in log moving in rural parts of Thailand. We did the half day tour which cost us THB2400 (today's exchange rate £43) for one elephant two people. There are longer tours where you learn more about the elephants and more commands but we decided against this. The camp is about an hour’s drive into the country from the old city.


 A thing to note about this camp is there are a few steep steps to walk down, but once you’re at the bottom it’s very flat. All the elephants are within a squared area where the trainers lived, fed and bathed them. We were given time to see the elephants, touch them and feed them before we were given a quick lesson in the different commands they respond too.
Don't worry about remembering them they will only listen to their trainers but it’s fun to participate. After the lesson you are given clothing to put on as you will get mucky when you go into the water with them. You got to pick the elephant you wanted to ride and thanks to my partner we got the biggest (and the naughtiest). I sat on the back and held onto a rope which was put around the elephant’s body. Now this is not comfy at all as you’re sat on the spine (don’t worry it doesn’t hurt him) so be prepared to get a numb bum. My partner sat on the neck with his feet underneath his ears to guide him in the right direction.
The great thing about this elephant camp is you ride them bare back. What I didn’t know before is when saddles are used it puts more strain on their backs which results in back pain and sores from where the saddles have been. So we set off on our ride, and the guide was brilliant. You have individual guides for each elephant and ours took our camera and took lots of pictures for us. Our elephant didn’t like to follow the group, he liked to go his own way so we fell behind a little but this was OK as it was all within the camp.



After about 30-40 minutes we were taken to a big pond where you could walk the elephants in (while you’re on their backs) to get a bath, luckily ours didn’t like the water in the pond as they also poop in there so we just gave him a shower which he loved.






After the ride we were given a lovely lunch while looking across the countryside. (any pictures of the lunch?) Now as I mentioned earlier our guide took pictures for us as he advised the pictures taken by the camp are expensive, which they were. A good deed he didn’t need to do, so we tipped him at the end. They don’t have a lot at these camps so if you can help even just a little it is appreciated.


While we were in Chiang Mai we picked up a tuk tuk for the day THB400 (today's exchange rate £7) and went off to see the tigers.

At the tiger kingdom you get to go inside the cages with the tigers (scary I know!). They have big, medium, small and smallest cats. We paid THB1560 (today's exchange rate £28) to see the big, small and smallest cats. It’s not cheap to see them but a great experience. A lot of people worry about them being drugged in places like this and no one can say for sure if they are but you have to remember tigers sleep for 18 hours a day so are very dopey. They were very active always moving around and there are always trainers inside the cages with you.

It is great to see them up close and how big they actually are, their paws are huge! Bigger than my hand.

 

I would not recommend seeing the smallest tigers, although they are very cute they move around a lot so being able to stroke them is hard and also they are not allowed to sit on your knee like the pictures showed so we felt it was a waste of money to see them. Great for the children though as they are small. I would definitely do this again. There are other tiger kingdoms around Thailand.




After the Tigers we went on to visit a crocodile farm called Maerim crocodile show. This cost THB300 (today's exchange rate £5). This seemed very run down, and over crowed with crocodiles. The show began and if you don’t know, crocodiles are fast and these seemed very lethargic. The performer put his head inside the crocodiles mouth and held it there for several minutes. I'm not sure any crocodile would allow you to do this for that length of time if it wasn’t drugged. The performer dragged crocodiles around by their tales and got in the water with them and they didn’t do anything, I am not a crocodile hunter or trainer but I'm sure they wouldn't just sit there. I felt very uncomfortable watching this show and would not recommend supporting it.

Another attraction which is popular in Chiang Mai but unfortunately we didn’t do as the weather was not in our favour is the holy temple of Wat Phra That. It is located at the top of the mountain visible from the centre of Chiang Mai. Most tuk tuk drives will want to take you up the mountain to see the temple but you will need your walking boots as there are around 300 steps to the top and you will need your rain coats as it can get a bit wet at the top of the mountain.

The locals here are very friendly and one stopped us in the street to ask if we needed help, which we didn’t but he was still happy to chat us and he recommended going up the mountain as the views over Chiang Mai are worth the trek. A must for the next time we are there.

We did our first load of washing in Chaing Mai and we found only one coin laundry which was North of the square inside a shop which sold flip flops and next to a supermarket.








The hotels we stayed in are: These were booked via Booking.com

• Jira Luxury Boutique Residence, THB8,400 (today's exchange rate £153) for one week. This was about 15 minute walk to the main square but it was right next to the night market, with very modern big rooms.
• Lyceum Home THB8,000 (today's exchange rate £146) for one week. This "hotel" was a youth centre during the day downstairs. The rooms were old but big but I wouldn't stay here again as I didn't like the fact people could walk in and out. Also the breakfast was terrible, they left soup out in the open from 6am.

Next week we move onto Laos.

Bangkok

Thank you for returning to my blog. One thing I forgot to mention in my last blog is don't fall into tourist traps. What I mean by this is do what you like doing and don't feel just because someone has said 'this is a tourist thing to do' that you have to do it. We have wasted money doing thing people have told us to do and we haven't enjoyed it. So do things YOU enjoy.

First leg: Bangkok
Below is a map of our route starting in Bangkok.

So we started off in Heathrow London and flew with Air India to New Delhi and then onto Bangkok. The flight cost us £303 each with 30kg baggage. This airline was very good, we had meals included in the price, seats were spacious bearing in mind I'm 5 foot 11 and my partner is 6 foot 2. We stopped in New Delhi for 2 hours. The airport was clean and big and accepted all major currencies which is great as you don’t always have the correct currency on you if you’re doing a connecting flight.

We continued onto Bangkok. We had not pre-booked a taxi to our hotel but there is an information desk called Airport Authority of Thailand Limousine Service (AOT) where you can get a private taxi. The price varies depending on the type of car you want but we just got the cheapest one which cost around £20 for a 40 minute ride. There are other options if you’re on a budget, you can use public taxis which you can pick up outside the airport building or you can get the train into the city. The train line is called ARL city line and if I was to return to Bangkok I would use this, as I realised later the train lines are very easy to navigate.

Travel Tip: Print out the name of your hotel in Thai for the taxi driver as there are lots of hotels with similar names.

The hotel we stayed in was called Prom Ratchada Residence and cost THB16,250 (todays exchange rate £296) for 14 nights. It was a bit far from the main tourist area of Siam Square and the Grand Palace but as I mention before trains are within easy access.

Now we may have booked too long in Bangkok and even the locals thought 2 weeks was too long as we got laughed at on numerous occasions, but as a first time traveler we weren't sure how long we needed in each place. So we were there for 2 weeks, which we didn't mind as there are great cinemas at cheap prices, around £3 a ticket and fantastically clean and modern shopping malls to look around.

The public transport was very easy to master. We got the train into the "posh" area called Sukhumvit. The mall here is unique as each floor is based around a different country selling that countries products and souvenirs. A must visit.




We also went and looked round some temples but to be honest once you've seen one you've seen them all so I would just pick the big ones and leave the smaller ones. This temple is called Wat Trai Mit and is about 20-30 minute walk from the Grand Palace.






 The ones I would recommend seeing are:

• Wat Phra Kaew (Temple of Emerald). This is within the walls of the Grand Palace. Just looking at the detail of this temple is incredible, carved out of Jade it really sparkles in the sunlight.
• Wat Pho (Temple of Reclining Buddha). This is one of the oldest temples in Bangkok with a large reclining Buddha covered in gold leaf.
• Wat Saket. Now this one is a bit of a hike to get too so take some water as it is built on top of a high hill in the old city of Bangkok, with amazing views.

Although I never did a river cruise on this occasion I did do a long tail boat tour around the Klongs (canals) the last time I was in Bangkok and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Tours usually last about one and a half hours but our tour lasted about 3 hours but I think this was due to the propeller being broken. You can pick up a long tail boat from Saphan Taskin, or if your hotel is on the canals they will probably have boats waiting there, this is where I got my boat from. It was amazing to see how some people had so much and others had so little, with all the shacks only a few meters from the water level. On this tour you get to see some of the floating markets. I never went to see the large floating markets but I have heard they are great to see.

A big thing in Asia is a lot of restaurants and shopping malls close at 10pm except for local eateries but you have to be brave to eat here as you might not know what your eating, so keep this in mind.

I think if I were to redo my Bangkok trip I would only stay for 4 days at the most.

Next week we will be moving into Chiang Mai.....

About us: An insight into Jane and Lee

Thank you for visiting our blog. This blog is about our travels across the world, our personal experiences and views on each place. It is not real time as we started writing this blog 12 months after we started the trip so it is based on previous experiences but as we go along we may catch up with ourselves.

About Us.
I'm Jane and my partner is Lee from North Yorkshire in England. We met on Christmas Eve 2013 even though we only lived 10 minutes away from each other all our lives. After 6 months of dating we went on our first holiday to Mexico and this was by far the best holiday we have ever had. We stayed in an all inclusive hotel in Puerto Adventuras and it is such a beautiful place. If you would like to know more regarding this holiday, where we stayed, what we did, attractions etc. please leave comments and we shall answer best we can. After our holiday (which we all know 6 months into a relationship can either make or break it) we knew our relationship was strong and started talking about how amazing it would be to go travelling. Lee was made redundant in January 2014 so it was up to me to decide if i should leave my job or not. I worked within a dental practice for 4 years so was hard to make the decision but "you only live once" and if you have the opportunity to do it then DO IT!! We saved £11,000 each and estimated this would last us about 1 year allowing us an average spending of £1,000 per month.  When we told family and friends we got mixed reviews most of which was very supportive but a few had some negative feedback, I guess when you get to late 20's early 30's people expect you to be settling down buying a house and having kids, but we thought if we did all that we would never get to go travelling so now is the best time to go when we have no ties. So if your thinking of travelling the best advice to give is do what YOU want to do, its your life and only you can decide. We hope you will stay tuned as we post about our blog.