The End… Or Is It?
Yes, it is… for now, at least
It’s almost too hard to believe that our travels have now come to an end. Just over sixteen months ago, Anna and I left on our flight to Bangkok with no idea of where our adventures would take us. We had a vague plan for the first few months, but planning something and experiencing that something are two very different things. For example, I assure you that I absolutely did not plan to simultaneously projectile vomit out of one end of myself, and squirt, well, you know what out of the other end of myself in a thirty-two-degree hostel in Ho Chi Minh City — I’ll leave you to work out which end was which. That was just one of those priceless experiences that almost no tour will offer you. I say ‘almost’ because who really knows?
Besides, although we knew which countries we were going to visit, that was about the extent of our knowledge. We made the details up as we went. We were on an organised tour while visiting Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, but as far as Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand were concerned, we were on our own.
We’ve been to so many amazing places and seen so many incredible things, and I wanted to take the time to go over some of our highlights. The initial plan for this blog post was for each of us to come up with our own top ten places. This turned out to be really hard and there was a lot of crossover between both of our lists, so we’ve decided to do a general list of highlights. It may seem like a long list, but we worked pretty hard to even keep it this short!
I haven’t ranked them because it’d be too hard; they’re just in the order that we did them. So without any further ado…
Thailand
Koh Tao
Koh Tao will always hold a special place in our memories because it was our first destination. Everything was new: the culture, the massages, eating out all of the time, the weather, the beaches, diving, etc. It was amazing to finally be there after months of waiting and it gave us our first experience of what the next few months of travelling through South-East Asia would be like.
Bangkok
After the relative peacefulness of Koh Tao, Bangkok was something else entirely. We discovered some amazing restaurants and visited so many temples and palaces. It was so different to anywhere else we’d been to in our lives up to that point and we definitely have fond memories of our time there.
Chiang Mai
The northern capital of Thailand was worlds away from Bangkok but still just as memorable. We did cooking classes, visited elephants, relaxed by the pool, and just generally enjoyed the more chilled-out atmosphere.
Laos
Slow-Boating Down The Mekong
Our first experience of Laos was hopping into a slow-boat and making our way down the Mekong River to Luang Prabang over the course of a couple of days. The food on board was great, and we had nothing else that we needed to do other than sitting back and enjoying the scenery in the sunshine. We also spent the night at our first homestay in a small riverside village where we had our first taste of the locally brewed rice wine.
Luang Prabang
Not only did we have our first taste of the delicious coconut pancakes that they sell at the markets in Luang Prabang, but we also visited one of the most beautiful waterfalls of our entire trip. We also watched an old film at an outdoor cinema and enjoyed some romantic cocktails in the lantern light at Utopia Bar.
Cambodia
Siem Reap
Not only was Siem Reap a great little city to explore, but the ruins of Angkor Wat were also incredible to see. As well as spending a day visiting all of the different ruins, we did an art gallery tour, celebrated Anna’s birthday by doing some pottery classes, drank cocktails at Miss Wong’s, and ate out at some amazing restaurants.
Phnom Penh
On a more sombre note, Phnom Penh stands out because it was where we learned about the Khmer Rouge and the Cambodian Genocide when we visited the Killing Fields and the S-21 Prison. It was a really tough day but it was also an extremely eye-opening experience. Neither of us knew much about it beforehand and it was very hard-hitting. It wasn’t fun, but it definitely deserves to be one of our highlights nonetheless.
Vietnam
Hoi An
Hoi An was stunning; particularly the old town which really came alive at night when all of the lanterns were lit. We ate some great food there, and both Anna and I got measured up for some tailored clothes. It was a unique place that was about as Vietnamese as you can get.
Hanoi
Hanoi had a great atmosphere — particularly when the U23 Vietnam football team played in the Asian semi-finals! We spent some time there eating out and exploring the city. The trip to Ha Long Bay was also a fun couple of days — even though we were completely underdressed for the cold weather.
Malaysia
Pangkor Island
We loved Pangkor Island. It was so nice to escape to the island paradise, and it was so quiet that we felt like we had the place to ourselves. We hired a moped to get around which was great fun, and we whiled away the days on the white-sand beaches and in the warm sea water.
Kuala Lumpur
KL was unlike anywhere else in Malaysia; the city was so huge and modern. We found so many amazing Indian restaurants to stuff ourselves in, and we visited the Petronas Towers, KL Tower, the botanical gardens, and loads more. Our Airbnb had great views of the skyline and a decent swimming pool to cool off in on the hot days.
Singapore
Singapore has a reputation for being an impressive place and that reputation is justified. It was immaculately clean and we were impressed by everything that we saw — except the prices. The Supertree Grove and the botanical gardens were our favourites.
Australia
Manly
We spent a whopping seven weeks living in Manly — a suburb of Sydney — with my auntie and uncle who generously put us up. It was one of our best times in Australia and it gave us a respite from backpacking and living in hostels. We spent time with my family who flew over to visit, and we just generally enjoyed living in such a beautiful place with amazing weather. Some of our highlights from that time are learning to surf — for me, that is — and visiting the Blue Mountains.
Fraser Island
Fraser Island was incredible. Driving the 4x4s along beaches and through rainforests was great fun, and the scenery was stunning. We swam in a number of beautiful lakes and had great views of the Milky Way once the sun went down. We spent a few days in the wilderness with only the wild dingoes for company, and it was sad when the time came for us to leave.
The Whitsundays
Despite the fact that our tour guide was a complete arse and the weather wasn’t that great, sailing the Whitsundays was still a very cool experience. The white-sand beaches were incredible and seeing the sunrise from the boat was something else.
Magnetic Island
We loved our short time on Magnetic Island. The ferry cruise over was great and things only got better from there. We went on a number of long hikes where we saw all sorts of wildlife, including koalas and wallabies. We also found the time to just relax on the beach and enjoy the secluded island life.
Around Cairns
We didn’t feel that Cairns itself had much to offer, but the trips we did outside of Cairns were great. The weather wasn’t amazing while we were there, but that didn’t stop us from enjoying the Atherton Tablelands and the rainforest at Cape Tribulation.
New Zealand
Wellington
As you know, we lived in Wellington for eight months and we loved living there. It had everything that you’d expect of a capital city and more. Beaches and scenic walks were a short stroll out of the city centre and other things like museums, galleries, and theatres were right on our doorstep. The harbour was even a great place to see wildlife as we saw orcas, dolphins, stingrays, and sharks in our time there.
Cape Reinga
The remoteness of Cape Reinga at the top of New Zealand meant it was a great place to escape civilisation. Camping at the secluded Spirits Bay was amazing, and we had the whole beach to ourselves while we were there. Sandboarding down the giant sand dunes was also a highlight of that area for me.
The Pinnacles
We did a number of hikes in New Zealand, but hiking the Pinnacles was probably one of our favourites. It was the first time we saw the famous New Zealand fantails which we came to love watching. We started early so the temperature and peacefulness of the hike were incomparable. The final ascent to the top was challenging enough to be rewarding and the views from the top went on for miles.
Hobbiton
Despite the fact that neither of us were huge fans of The Lord of the Rings, the magic of the Hobbiton set really captured our imaginations and we’re keen to watch all of the films now that we’re back. I’ve read The Hobbit and watched the Hobbit films, but I think they’ll be on the agenda again soon, too.
Geothermal Regions of NZ
The geothermal regions around Rotorua and Taupo were unlike anything Anna or I have ever seen or experienced. We had the chance to see the bubbling, colourful pools at Wai-O-Tapu and to relax in the hot pools at Kerosene Creek and the Spa Thermal Park. We finished things off in Taupo by hiking the Tongariro Alpine Crossing which took us through ancient volcanic craters and past more colourful alpine lakes.
Cape Palliser
Visiting the seal colony in Cape Palliser was one of the best wildlife encounters we had in New Zealand, and it was great fun watching the little seal pups clamber over the rocks. The views after climbing the two hundred and fifty-two steps up to the lighthouse were almost as cool.
Wanaka
Driving down to Wanaka gave us our first proper view of the impressive lakes and mountains of the Southern Alps on the South Island. The scenery along the drive was incredible, and the view from the top of Roy’s Peak was one of the best we saw in New Zealand.
Lake Tekapo
Like Wanaka, Lake Tekapo also had spectacular views of the lakes and mountains of the Southern Alps. We were amazed by the deep blue colour of Lake Tekapo and the incredible views of the stars at night as the region lies in a dark sky reserve. We did also manage to get the van stuck next to a river in the middle of nowhere at one in the morning which was good fun!
Mount Cook
Finally, our short day trip to Mount Cook was one of the most unique in the whole of our travels. The ice-capped mountains and the iceberg-filled lakes at the bottom of the glaciers were amazing to see and driving around the region just led from one stunning outlook to the next.
So there you have it. Our best efforts at distilling the best bits of our travels into a single blog post. There were plenty of other places that I’d have loved to write about but had to leave out for the sake of brevity.
We’ve been lucky to arrive back to some great weather in the UK — even if it is a lot colder than we’re now used to! Although this part of our travelling has now come to an end, it definitely won’t be the absolute end of our travels. If anything, the travelling we’ve done over the past sixteen months has made both of us realise that we want to do a lot more in future. We’re not sure yet when we’ll do more or what it will entail, but I’m sure that you’ll hear from me again when we do.
I’ll finish by thanking you — the reader — for keeping up with us this far. Hopefully, I’ll be writing more blog posts in the near future.
