Hue- A medival town

Hue is a pretty town near Hoi An. We dropped out bags at our hotel which was probably one of the best hotels we stayed at. It had welcome fruit and drinks and a swimming pool and all you can eat breakfast. We walked about the little town past lovely little shops and walked along the river through a park to the train station.

At the train station we bought tickets to Hoi An for the next day and then went to a temple.

It was on the outskirts of the main town and was quite peaceful.

Then we had something to eat and went to the swimming pool as it was getting late and we were really hot. The swimming pool was lovely and after a while we had to share it with a group of english backpackers so we left to get something to eat. The little streets round about were quite european and very touristy but had really good food. They also had clothes shops where they would make you clothes. After taking ages looking at the clothes we went to bed.

The next day we went to the citadel.This was amazing as it was a city within a city full of ancient ruins and old temples. The gardens were also very peaceful and full of vietnamese with their trademark hats working by hand in the gardens.

Then after we had another walk around the city and went to the train station to catch our train to Hoi An. The train was interesting as there were people watching a comedy program on the TV screens in vietnamese and sleeping in the corridors etc but the trains were reliable and quite comfy.

I liked Hue as it was full of ancient ruins and temples which were really amazing. I would recommend it as a side trip from Hoi An.

Dulat- I miss Alice!

We arrived in Dulat early morning to find the temperature to be cool which I was so happy about. We were picked up by a shuttle and driven through really pretty countryside and taken to our hostel which turned out to be really nice. Our room even had a balcony. We dumped our stuff and headed off to explore Dulat. We first walked to the lake (where I didn't sweat the whole time). The lake was beautiful

and as we started walking round the lake we had a little follower:

At first we thought she belonged to someone but when she kept following us we weren't so sure. She followed us all the way round the lake to the flower garden so we decided to adopt her. We named her Alice after our other holiday buddy who couldn't be with us this time. Everyone thought she belonged to us so we went with it.







The flower garden was lovely and Alice had a wonderful time.

It was a bit strange as there were loads of odd statues.

Lucy couldn't find her wine no matter how hard she looked.

Then we walked to the old railway station where we had coffee in one of the carriages so Alice could rest.

We then went to the crazy house. Which is an oddly designed hotel.

After which we came to the heartbreaking realisation that we couldn't keep Alice...so we tried to run away! It didn't work. She followed us. We then realised Alice was a boy. We decided to still call him Alice in honour of our holiday buddy.

So we went to have dinner where he fell asleep under the seat and we crept out of the restaurant and left him. Sad times.

Next day we caught a bus to Thien Vien Truc Lam temple. This was really peaceful.

There was also a lovely lake.

We then went to the night market which wasn't as great as we thought. It was full of clothes and flowers. We then had dinner in a restaurant that had tyres all over the place and went to bed as we had a very early start the next day but not before secretly looking for Alice to see if she was ok.

I liked Dulat. It was colder then the rest of Vietnam and prettier and had lovely greenery. However, I do miss Alice!!

Ho Chi Minh City- We survived!

I ordered a taxi from the airport to Ho Chi Minh city (Saigon) and in true Saigon fashion, he tried to rip me off! However, me being the savvy traveller knew how much it should cost and refused to pay him more. He eventually went off in a huff. I arrived at my hotel to be told by the hotel staff to be careful in Saigon and to keep your bag in front of you as bike thieves may try to steal your bag. Great start to Vietnam! I then met Lucy Watson in the hotel who had being staying here by herself for the last couple of days going on food tours and a tour of the delta. After chatting for like 3 hours we were hungry so went to get some food. It proved slightly difficult navigating the streets with motorbikes parked on the pavement and driving on the pavement and crazy drivers not stopping to let us cross at zebra crossings, all the while trying to keep our bags in front off us and watching to make sure no one was going to steal anything. This was still a step up from Nepal. We eventually came across the western party scene but we couldn't find anywhere else to eat so had dinner there. After which we chatted some more then went to bed.

The next day we started off by going to the art gallery which was really good. It showcased Vietnam art by Vietnamese artists and was housed in a lovely french building.

Then we headed to look at some of the french architecture at the theatre and town hall. We then had a nice coffee overlooking the chaos of the roundabout outside the theatre.

Then we went walked through a park and did some exercise on the outdoor equipment since had been a while.

After we walked to the Independence palace! This was a museum about the communist party and what happened during the war.

This took a while to look at. Lucy went to a water puppet show and then we went to dinner, had a wonder and then went back to the hotel to sleep.

Our final day and we started off seeing a vietnamese temple. Since we had both been to Japan we agreed that this now ruined all temples for us. it was nice but not amazing. So we headed for the War Remnants museum.

This museum depicted (rather biasedly)  the war against America. It was extremely interesting nevertheless and I learnt a lot about the Vietnam war (or the American war if you are in Vietnam) This took most of the day.

After, we wandered to a hindu temple which explained hinduism to us.

We then walked to the skybar and had a really expensive orange juice where they then ripped us off as they couldn't do maths. No matter how much we explained they were wrong we were just ignored. But the views were awesome.

We then went for dinner and back to our hotel but along the way Lucy insisted on taking pictures of the hospital we saw to show her brother (who's a doctor) how awful it was.

I think we both agreed that it was an interesting place even though it was dirty and unsafe and we were glad we visited but we were also glad we had each other and we probably wouldn't go back.

We survived Ho Chi Minh City...Just! Next stop Dulat.

Langkawi- no public transport so make a friend with a Moped!

I left Georgetown in the morning and boarded a ferry to Langkawi. My first stop when reaching langkawi was Kuah. I wandered to the eagle square, which was a square with a massive eagle in it which is Langkawi's symbol.

Where I met a chinese girl who was also travelling by herself. We then went to Legends park together which is a park depicting the legends of Malaysia

 and then shared a taxi to Pantai Tengah. She was only staying the night in a different part of langkawi so we said goodbye in the taxi. I arrived in my hostel which was quite nice and had a pool and really friendly staff.

I then immediately went to the beach!

The water was really warm and lovely and the beach was quite quiet so I had a lovely time reading my kindle. It was quite late by that point so I went to get dinner and it started thunder and lightening and raining heavily so I ended up staying in my hostel for the rest of the night.

Day two was a tour to the mangroves I had arranged the day before. I was picked up from my hostel to be met by an English- chinese family on the bus. There was a girl who was with her parents. Turns out she was an accountant living and working in London and we were the same height so her mother kept saying we were twins for the whole trip and wanted pics of us together and everything. She was great and we hit it off straight away. Her father was hilarious as well.

The mangrove tour, as the name suggests, took us to the mangroves on a boat. Our tour guide was a local who thought he was funny but as none of us didn't understand half of what he was saying, he wasn't!

We also went to a bat cave home to hundreds of bats.

Then a girl from South Korea turned up as they had forgotten to pick her up and she made friends with me and my new twin!

We were then taken on the boat through the rivers and mangroves where we saw monkeys. One jumped onto our boat which was scary but eventually left after the tour guide fed him left.

We then saw some eagles,

visited a fish farm and had lunch on a floating restaurant. After which it started raining again so it was back to the boat and we were brought back to our hotels. Of course everyone else was staying in a fancy 5 star hotel, thankfully I was dropped of last so they couldn't see my little hostel!

The next day I hired a taxi to take me to the langkawi cable car which off course when I got there was cloudy so I never saw very much.

But the ride through the forest was nice and I chatted to a malaysian family who yet again couldn't believe I was travelling alone!

Then I took a taxi to Tanjung Rhu beach. This was the best beach on the island and was quiet and very tropical like. I stayed there for a few hours reading my kindle and swimming.

After which I bartered with a private hire car to take me back for the price of a taxi.

I then met Li from France at my hostel who had a moped and agreed to take me round the island over the next few days.

The next day Li and I went to the seven wells waterfalls and had a run through the island.

We then made friends with a japanese boy and a korean girl and we went to the night market in the japanese boys car. It was quite busy and there was lots of street food. I had these pancakes with sugar and sweetcorn in them. Yes it actually worked as a combination. I also had some noodles and loads of little coconut cakes. It was so cheap. We then went back to our hostel to hang out and eat our food. They were really interesting people. I also met a very odd old woman from England who comes to the hostel regularly from georgetown. She was strange but leant me her hair dryer so also nice.

My final day and Li and I went to Gunung Raya mountain. It took us ages to get there and was really steep. We eventually got there and were rewarded with amazing views of langkawi.

After which we had lunch in a lovely tropical looking cafe and then went to Pantai Cenang beach for a couple of hours before dinner. We then had dinner in a fish restaurant that kills the fish on sight! Li had lobster which he had to choose from a tank. Luckily I didn't have to choose my prawns!!

On my last day I said goodbye to li  and went to the airport to catch my flight to Vietnam to meet up with Lucy Watson my holiday buddy.

I liked Langkawi. It was quite modern but retained its Island appeal. It had some nice places to eat and some nice beaches but no public transport. So you either need to hire a car, be confident on a scooter or do what I did and make friends with a man on a moped :) (Thanks Li)

Georgetown- Home of the street art!

I arrived in georgetown a lot later than I anticipated due to the bus from Melaka to Penang breaking down for several hours. But the boat ride across to Georgetown was lovely. I arrived at my hostel which turned out to be the noisest hostel I had ever stayed in. Firstly it was across the road from a night club and was full of a group of chinese students who occupied most of the hostel and wouldn't shut up! Then on top of this there was building works directly below me from 8am til 6pm every day. Constant drilling, and to top it all off the internet didn't work in my room. But the staff were nice.

I started of in Georgetown by walking about to see what was going on. There was a temple close by

followed by a massive church and loads of european looking buildings. 

















i then went to water village where a whole chinese community lives on water on stilted wooden houses.

I saw lots of different temples

and of course street art. These were all over the walls in Georgetown.

I then found a nice cafe to spend my evening in browsing the internet as there wasn't any at my hostel.

The next day I went to Kek loc Si. A massive temple on the outskirts of Georgetown. It was really impressive.

There was also a giant Buddha.

I then walked to Penang Hill. I had to get a funicular up to the top to see the views of Penang.

After coming back from my day trip I agreed to meet up with a girl from Germany (Jenny) who had been travelling for over a year. She was also with an Indian girl called Somdutta. They were both lovely and we had dinner together and watched some live music. Somdutta was only there for the day so I agreed to meet up with Jenny the next day after my trip to the smallest national park in the world.

I set off for the smallest national park in the world called Taman Negara Palau the next day. The bus journey was lovely and air conditioned and I saw all the beaches in Penang. The bus took an hour and when i got there it was beautiful. I started my walk towards monkey beach in the national park. The first 15 minutes were easy and was loured into a false sense of security as the next 1.5 hours were really tough. An actual hike as some of my friends would say to me! The path was non existent in places and there were trees fallen over the path, which I had to climb. It was very hilly too, not great in high humidity and 35 degrees celsius. Eventually I arrived at monkey beach and was rewarded with beautiful beach views.

I then had to make my way back which again took almost 2 hours. However, I saw monkeys and big lizards and birds along the way and chatted to some other hikers while walking.

It was worth it and gave me a sense of achievement as not many people hike the national park or even know of its existence.

I then met up with Jenny and we went to this place that had over 50 types of cakes and watched some live music. I then had to pack for my next journey- Langkawi!

I liked georgetown. It had lots of lovely cafes and a nice village feel. I just wasn't very impressed with my hostel.