One hundred days of Solitude

HOI AN – 3 Days

This town is just oozing charm and history, having largely escaped the destruction of the wars. Definitely a tourist town packed full of hotels, restaurants, bars, tailors and souvenir shops in the town centre, but, despite this, it's character really shines through. Easy to get around and great to explore their well respected crafts of high grade silk wear, ceramics, teas, lacquer wear and Chinese lanterns. There's a pretty river with 2 small islands to cross to and also a couple of simple beaches and a beautiful Japanese bridge. Still roasting hot so scooter required asap on arrival! Met some really friendly locals in this relaxed, small town atmosphere. Everything is so colourful; beautiful architecture, a mass of twisting food markets along the river, ornate temples dotted around and such an abundance of tasty eateries, we felt quite spoilt for choice.

Hoi An is also shopping heaven for clothing and footwear, reason being that most of the shops are tailoring specialists who show off their wears outside to tempt you in with the promise of making you anything within a day. Thing is, they can and they do, so it's just rude not to try it out!! Any colour, shape, size, fabric, style and finish, everything made to measure, so we had a splurge and now we have a large extra bag to lug around with us, but well worth it.

MY SON – half day

1 hour away from Hoi An, set in the jungle, My Son (pronounced Meson) is regarded as Vietnam's most significant archaeological site. The temple remnants once served as the country's chief place of worship during their 'Champa' kingdom, but, unfortunately, the majority of the ruins were bombed in the war by the US as Vietcong hid there. My Son is a World Heritage site, considered smaller but on a par to Cambodia's 'Angkor', Thailand's 'Auythaya' and Indonesia's 'Borobudur, the latter of the two we visited. Afraid to say that not at all as impressive visually as there's not much left standing but still the history and importance of it makes it worth a visit. What was also interesting is the way the Champa people built and constructed the brickwork it seems to be moulded together so well. There are a few theories surrounding this yet to be discovered secret, so it's amazing how the remaining structures still stand and some with the bomb holes in.

NHA TRANG – 3 Days

Massive beach, 6km long strip of sand with a very large and immaculate boulevard followed by a big, noisy and busy road. Very bizarre sight, the scale of this beach resort is amazing. To be honest, you could be anywhere, certainly didn't feel very Vietnamese until you notice the stunning mountain surround stretching out into the sea, or listen to the continuous blasting of scooter horns on the road behind, or spot the beach sellers in colonial hats selling strange looking giant crackers. There are so many hotels on the beach road fighting for space and attention by which one is the tallest, more brightly painted or has bigger flashing signs, it's all a bit tacky but not too offensive. We treated ourselves to one of these very civilized but non-descriptive, zero character rooms facing the prime sea front view on the 8th floor. The view from the balcony was just WOW, we'd just chill and admire the sights and sounds for ages.

The hottest of hot places so far, everyone disappears during the day to escape the scorching sun, morning and evening is the time to be seen. Locals gather early to 'power walk' along the beach path or swim in the sea, evening comes alive with everyone and their families gathering to eat, swim or just socialise until the early hours. Other than beach life, there is little else to do here. We did scooter around the town to explore, it's very big, but just found a normal bustling array of Vietnam's working life going on behind the scenes and a couple of fairly interesting temples. A relaxing stop off between busy cities, good beach and great sea for swimming.

HO CHI MINH CITY (Saigon) – 3 Days

Vietnam's largest metropolis and it shows. Bustling with scooters galore, this city beats the likes of Indonesia for the amount of scooters, they are like bees swarming the road. Busy, city life mixed with a lively local buzz in the back alleys, this is a manic but strangely appealing city. Packed full of markets, street cafes, massage clinics, old pagodas and temples, big sky-scrapers and little shops selling spices, silks and handmade baskets cram into this city. Really enjoyable to walk round, the city is divided into districts, we did spot many new looking bars, nightclubs and posh looking eateries trying to appeal to tourists, but still plenty of local made grub to satisfy us as usual. To be honest, we didn't do loads here, just relaxed and pottered around due to running out of energy at the end of our trip. It has a great vibe, extremely friendly locals, very busy with travellers, but still managed to hide away when required (possibly due to the satellite tv we had in our hotel room!). Minde went to the Cu Chi tunnels which was a real eye opener and a little depressing but fascinating also.

Final stop is Bangkok (for the third time), our temporary home-from-home, before flying back to UK.

Last Word...
One of the most enjoyable reasons to travel is the people you meet on the way, so we have to mention just some of the many travellers who, without their stories & entertainment, our trip would not have been half as fun: Georgio in Lovina beach Bali; Peter, Marc & Nico, our German students we travelled with on and off throughout Java & Malaysia; Margaret & Dic, the bubbly Dutch couple we kept bumping into in Java; lovely Laura who came on our Panganduran day trip; Anna & Lisa who were our English neighbours on Juara bay, Tioman, Malaysia and Lisa who we met again on Kecil, Perhentians; sweet Kiren & Eleanor, young Irish couple who we met on the way to Kecil Long Beach and kept Lily entertained; more English chalet neighbours, Chris and Natalie who we spent an evening with chatting for hours about our travels; funny Jack in Auythaya, Thailand who gave us tips for Vietnam; Di & Neil, teachers from Milton Keynes who we met and travelled with in Vietnam from Hoi An to Nha Trang and finally Stella & her daughter Nervah who kindly looked after Lily in Ho Chi Minh for a couple of hours one evening.

We have been on 15 buses, 10 coaches, 12 boats, 4 planes, 3 trains which have all covered approx 28 visited destinations, totalling 172 hours worth of travel (roughly 2 weeks).
Blimey, we need another holiday after all that!!

See you all soon.

SUKHOTHAI – 1 Day

Heading South from Chang Mai back towards Bangkok we stopped off at Sukhothai, the 1st Capital of Ancient Thai (Siam) to visit it's World Heritage remains. We stayed 12km out in the new Sukhothai town, it was pleasant enough. We had a lovely guest house/home-stay with a young family, hired a scooter and set off to explore. The ruins are set within a huge parkland, an extremely peaceful place and incredibly old, dating back to 1000 AD, surrounded by lakes, you could easily build up a picture of how it use to look. Lots of temples remain and it's been preserved extremely well. It felt good to be in a town where, although lots of tourists, if you want to eat you go to local cafes and there is not a souvenir shop in sight.

Pic 1. Sukhothai Ruins

AUYTHAYA – 2 Days

Further South, we went to another World Heritage sight, the town of Auythaya. It's kingdom succeeded as rulers of Siam after Sukhothai's decline and was one of the strongest powers in Indo-China. It is a large city a couple of hours away from Bangkok. We hired another scooter and whizzed around the city as the ruins are scattered around within easy reach. They are pretty impressive, a lot to see and it's great to get the chance to take in the city sights as you look around. The area we stayed in, which is basically one long street off the main town centre, is the complete 'tourist ghetto' hangout, barely a real local in sight, apart from the obvious tuk tuk taxi drivers and travel ticket geezers, but as soon as you turn the corner, you see city and working life thriving on their outdoor markets and shops selling various odds and sods. Before we left, we managed to squeeze in an afternoon/evening boat trip along the river to visit 3 of their famous temples. To be perfectly honest, we were pretty 'templed' out by now!! (Forgot to mention that Chang Mai has c. 300 temples in the city so we saw a few). Lily has been struggling with the dogs as practically every temple has many dogs hanging around, a lot of old dogs get left there for the monks to look after. Sometimes we are lucky to get past the gates, let alone inside!!

Pic 2. Auythaya Temple Ruins

BANGKOK – 2 Days

Just really love this city. It felt great to be back again. Previous time we had explored the 'Siam' district right in the centre of town, so this time we hit the infamous 'Khao San Road', heaving with tourists, markets stretch along both sides of the street selling the usual stuff you kinda want, but not really. Bars line the pavements squeezed together playing familiar pounding music, tuk tuk drivers trying to persuade you to go to a temple or two, street food sellers pushing their carts up and down, the un-licensed ones running from the scooter police, guys standing with large signs flogging beer at cheap prices and promising to get you drunk, old ladies in ridiculous hats and heavy baskets seemingly appearing from nowhere try to sell their braided goods and wooden croaking frogs, we could go on. Nevertheless, sitting and watching the world go by on this street is entertainment in itself.

Pic 3. Khao San Road

We visited the Grand Palace which was nearby and it was truly mind blowing. A home to Thai kings for over 150 years with very pretty temples around the Palace. They are very colourful, with lots of tiny details telling a story of Buddhism and now a very important place of worship. One of them holds an Emerald Buddha's statue, made of green jade (rather than emerald), clothed in gold, and about 45 cm tall, it dates back to 14th century and has a very mystical religious legend surrounding it, now every month the King by himself changes the robes around it.

Pic 4. Grand Palace

VIETNAM

Good old Air Asia flew us safely into Hanoi, nearly a two hour flight from Bangkok. Oh, it's roasting hot here, at least 35c, rainy season does not kick in until September.
A very cheap country, they use Vietnamese Dong and US Dollars everywhere, but it's also so easy to get ripped off as the Vietnamese are no push over, they are tough negotiators, similar to Indonesia, but at least there you could have fun bargaining, whereas here it's just tiring! There are no guarantees you will get a good deal. There is a clear price for locals and at least double or triple price for tourists.

Whichever town or city you visit, especially as you head from north to south of the country the local specialities of food and beer start to vary by regions. Both the food and beer are probably the best we have had yet. Each city brews their own beer which you can buy in bottles or fresh from the tap as draught from little street sellers and some local cafes for about 15p per glass. Food specialities include Pho (great noodle soup), Vietnamese spring rolls, deep fried wontons, great sizzling beef etc.

We are very pushed for time here so following the real tourist route that most travellers do, but to be honest, it can be hard to get off the beaten track here in terms of bus and train connections. One of the best ways to travel the country is to take an 'Easy Rider' bike ride with a guide who will take you where ever you request or recommend a route. We have experienced 'soft sleeper' buses here, never seen them on the rest of our travels. Bit like a bouncy castle ride, but they are quite cool, just wish it could be possible to actually sleep as Vietnam roads and drivers are the worst yet!!

HANOI – 2 Days

You can barely take a breath for all the car & motorcycle horns blasting in your ears. You need at least 4 sets of eyes; one for the horrendous traffic, another to take in the abundance of tiny shops, food stalls and tightly packed alleyways, another to remember to look up and admire the long and thin tangle of the houses and buildings that tower above you with their funny balconies, hanging washing and array of colours and the last to keep a watchful lookout for taxi scammers and fruit ladies ready to dump their heavy baskets on your shoulder, shove a colonial hat on your head and demand payment for a photograph. This place makes you head spin constantly – it's fantastic!! We stayed in the Old Quarter and to take a little time out of the chaos we went to Hoan Kiem Lake, south of the old quarter. It is lovely, very serene with a Ngoc Son temple in the middle of it.

Pic 5. Hanoi Old Quarter

Went to a wonderful 'Water Puppet' show which they are very well known for, it has travelled in many European cities. About 10 short stories all animated with wooden puppets and singing with live traditional instruments set in the water, also quite funny even though it was all in Vietnamese.

Pic 6. Water Puppet Show

We had a great evening eating on the street (literally) on tiny plastic chairs, sharing a table with a grandmother, who cooked us 'Pho' and sampled a few glasses of draught 'Hanoi' beer, again, on the street with the locals, watching the hectic night-life pass by.

Pic 7. Hanoi Street life

HA LONG BAY – 1 Day

Such a beautiful setting and a vast stretch of mountains and islands as far as the eye can see, 3000 or more to be precise, it would apparently take one month to explore the whole of the region. We had a day to look around on a lovely old wooden traditional boat out into the lagoon and stopped off at one of the floating villages to see how simply they lived, had an amazing 6 course lunch freshly prepared for us and also explored one of their famous caves, discovered by a Frenchman, with huge lime stone stalactites and stalagmites decorating this massive cave, which they are trying to get as a 7th wonder of the world (good luck).

Pic 8. Ha Long Bay

HUE – 2 Days

It's still bloody hot in this country, 36c+, so again for ease and due to time we hired a scooter to explore the 'Citidel' which Hue is most famous for. Once Vietnam's capital and home for the forbidden city. In 1804, the emperor built a wall 2m thick and 10km length in square to protect the city and his palace. We saw the grandiose palace, what was left of it, as like with many sites in Vietnam it had seen many wars and bombs.
Hue is also known for it's imperial cuisine, so we tested out another speciality of wafer thin rice paper rolls with stir-fried meat and fresh vegetables with mint leaves and herbs. Also sampled the freshly squeezed sugar cane drink which is a fine refreshment in the heat and not forgetting another chance to try their 2 local brews.

Pic 9. Hue's Forbidden Palace

THAILAND

Rai-Leh Beach - 3 Days

This is a real treasure of a place! It's actually a peninsular rather than an island but only accessible by boat, also no public transport which is great. After our usual day long traveling, we sped by long tail boat into Rai-Leh West beach just before the sunset. Jumping into the warm water and soft sand with bags in tow, we were completely up-lifted at the relaxed and 'zen' like quality of this place. There's Rai-Leh West and Rai-Leh East; West is pricey but with an amazing beach cove surrounded by massive rocks, East is cheaper with great eateries and places to stay. A lovely pathway with a scattering of shops connects both, just a 5 min walk between them. We stayed on the East in a 3rd floor wooden hut. It felt like living in a tree-house as we were the highest and could see monkeys jumping from roof to tree from our balcony. Found the most amazing and heavenly bay with white, whispery sand 10 mins walk away called 'Hat Phra Nang' with a magnificent overhanging cliff . Minde spent a day rock climbing here, which Rai-Leh is very famous for, while us girls sneaked into a posh resort overlooking the beach, customised a sun lounger and used their pool!

Definitely busier here than we had seen so far with a real mixture of tourists, but not over crowded. Appealing to the young and trendy but not pretentious at all (yet!) but also quite a few families which was great company for Lily. Such a mixture of people but all blended in so well to the vibe here which we just loved. Relaxed music playing in the evenings while people chill in stilted bars, lounging on Thai style mats. Local eateries serving simple but tasty food. Stalls selling hand made jewellery but not pushing sales, beaches free of sun loungers and plastic chairs, just the odd massage and sarong sellers. We will be back, let's hope over development does not kick in too soon; with it's own community feeling here we think this will be a favorite of ours.

Ko Phi Phi - 7 Days

1 & half hour ferry from Rai-Leh, we arrived at Ko Phi Phi Don main jetty, jumped straight on a long tail boat south round to 'Long Beach'. Best beach for swimming, white strip of softest sand and the most luminous turquoise water we've seen yet. Very quiet and secluded here, not much to do, only 4 resorts to stay and 3 restaurants. This is a relax-and-do-nothing type of place. As beautiful as it is, there is no buzz like Rai-Leh. It's quite a polished looking bay from the carefully placed ornate plant pots along the perfectly cobbled path to the movie-style raised platform areas for massage with soft drapes blowing in the breeze. Town is 20 min walk through the jungle. Very busy, bit tacky, we were about to give up here until we stumbled upon a selection of hidden outdoor eateries, best Thai food and cheapest so far! Lily left her signature on the partition wall, along with all the other travelers that have passed through over the years. We followed the narrow pathways into a local market area but it did not take long until we spotted an Irish pub and far too many ticket touts selling boat trips, however, if you really squint your eyes you can just see the culture briefly peeping through.

Days here have consisted of eating, sunbathing, reading, swimming, more eating etc...Best experience was a day trip by boat around the island for swimming and snorkeling. A visit to Phi Phi Lay, the smaller, un-inhabited island to Maya beach where 'The Beach' film was shot. Also Monkey bay, to see monkeys and a Viking cave to see Vikings (joke!). Had great lunch and freshly cut pineapple on our boat while Lily fed the fishes. Rounded the day off with a well deserved massage!

Phuket - 2 Days

Great to be back in a town. Phuket reminds us of a smaller, more watered down version of Melaka and Penang with the beaten up but pretty Chinese style buildings with their peeling colourful paintwork, glorious temples dotted around, arts and crafts stalls, cute tea houses mixed in with trendy-ish bars and tons of tempting souvenir shops to get lost in. We decided to give the beach life here a miss and explore the street life again. Found a fab place to stay called 'Talang Guest House' bursting with character, cheap, cheerful and breakfast included! Just passing through here really before heading to Ko Samui, trying to make up some time after getting stranded in Phi Phi due to a foot ailment and a monsoon!. Phuket is definitely worth a stop over despite some peoples more negative opinions.

Ko Samui - 2 Days

Not overly impressed with this island, very non-descript. So over-developed and still continuing everywhere you turn your head. Main Chaweng Beach seems impressive but at closer inspection is just average with rough sand. Packed full of resorts and 'Package' hotels, we got no sense of a real Thailand. We did have a tour around for half a day with our chalet bungalow owner but were still struggling to get any feel for the island. We stayed north at one end of 'Bo Phut' beach; said to be more relaxed and family orientated. It's considered a French Riviera as visited for many years by the French. It does have that Riviera look with the boats and beach side villas. There's quite a nice small town area called 'Fisherman's Village' that runs along Bo Phut beach, pretty, worth a walk round. But, In general, very touristy and quite seedy places to go out. Not our cup of tea at all but this is only down to our personal taste. Of course the scenery is lovely and if we were staying longer we'd probably head south of the island off the beaten track. Highlights - each given a good luck wrist bracelet by a Monk at 'Big Budda Beach' Temple and finding a great tasty, cheap eatery outside a locals house and having papaya salad with sticky rice.

Ko Tao - 4 days

Came here for the 'Padi 4 day diving' course which Minde successfully passed!! One of the top places to dive around this part of Asia and also known for being the cheapest, plus you get accommodation for free. Lovely, lovely island, small, easy to get around, very attractive, quaint pathways running just behind the beach-front with young crowds and families enjoying the laid back feeling and decent bars and restaurants. Had a cute wooden chalet in a complex with a super swimming pool for Lily to play in. Just a lovely place really; if we had more time we'd have hired a bike and gone around the island as some of the tucked away beaches are suppose to be stunning. Ours was great, the largest stretch of beach on the main strip, but not over touristy or tacky at all. Wish we had longer.

Chang Mai - 5 days

People we've met always ask if we've been to Chang Mai as it gets raved about a lot. We did not think we'd even get this far north in Thailand but very glad we did. Must just brief you on our truly epic journey to get there - 2 hr ferry at 4pm from Ko Tao to mainland, 8 hr overnight bus to Bankok, arriving at 4am, left Bankok at 8pm that evening on an overnight sleeper train for 14 hrs direct to Chang Mai - cool, loved the sleeper train! Great to get a little taster of Bangkok before we visit it properly. Was on a mission that day to buy a new camera and did so we left there happy. Not as overwhelming a city as we thought it would be, but looking back, after hitting the Java cities and KL, we are not surprised that less and less is starting to phase us.

Anyway, back to Chang Mai - great to get a real taste of Thailand to be honest, although the beaches south are stunning, they are so tourist orientated that you forget where you are sometimes. This is a fab city where we stayed within the moated old town district . This area felt more like a town where the majority of places you stay or eat at are local Thai and not made for the tourist as such, instead you fit in with them. It is very busy here but the city is big enough that you're not constantly bump into travellers. It's cheap, at least half the price of south, it's pretty and friendly and easy to get around, one of the greenest regions in northern Thailand. We had a packed few days. Firstly a traditional Thai cooking course at Baan Thai School, OH, it was just so much fun, we made 5 dishes and could eat each one once we'd cooked it and had a great group with us, 2nd day Lily finally got her dream – a ride on an elephant, that was fun, we also visited a waterfall and did bamboo rafting. Final day hiring bikes and riding to Chang Mai zoo. Great place, MASSIVE, built within their countryside, you actually have to use the tram or an electric bus to get around. Highlight, seeing real panda's and they also have just had a baby one there, just amazing. Loved it here! We had also decided to head to Vietnam for our last 2 weeks so got visa sorted and off we will go...

MELAKA – 3 Days
We had no preconceptions about this town & had not really met anyone who had been there. If it had been one of these dodgy places we probably would not have been surprised, but it actually turned out to be extremely charming. One reason for this is the old Portuguese & Dutch history, clearly seen in the well preserved and beautiful architecture, along with the mix of Chinese, Islamic, and Indian mosques and temples all intermingled on the streets. Second reason, it's a 'World Heritage' town & over recent years, the Malay government has invested a massive amount of money for all sorts of improvements and this shows everywhere and is still continuing. Once arriving at the main bus station outside of the town, we took a local bus to the centre and were dropped off at the most picturesque central square with their famous 'Melaka Christ Church'.

Pic 1. Melaka Christ Church

We stayed in Chinatown district, a moments walk from the square which was so quaint and pretty. Spent one evening being served Chinese tea in a stunning old tea house run by a local family and drunk it the way tea should be consumed! Another evening on a boat ride tour up the river , known as their version of 'Little Venice', which runs through the town, learning a little more about it's history and the last evening doing a spot of shopping at their surprisingly elegant local super-mall.

Pic 2. Melaka river at night

Must just mention food here, it's suppose to be one the best regions to eat in and this we'd say is true, what we loved in other cities & towns are the food halls and this had a super one where we ate all sorts of dishes from traditional Malay to Indian and Chinese. All in all, a very peaceful place with a quiet & calmness to it, definitely worth another visit!!

PENANG – 2 days

No peace & quiet here! After another 8 hour journey on the bus through nearly the whole of the Western coast we ended up in Pulau Pinang, or plainly Penang as everyone knows it, apparently the oldest of the British Straits settlements in Malaysia, pre-dating Melaka and Singapore. Georgetown, named after King George IV, is the capital of the island and a big town with nearly 2m population. We headed for Chinatown again because it was centrally located and probably due to impressions we had from Melaka, pretty old buildings and good accommodation. Again, we weren't disappointed; found a very nice place just off Love Lane, not far off the hustle and bustle, but there's a lot of that here, bursting with street stalls spilling into the road with the shouting and bustling of locals.

Pic 3. Penang Chinatown

We were hungry and gasping for a beer, so we went on a hunt for 'our type' of place. We always try to eat where locals eat, in the hawker stalls or simple eateries just on the street as they are always more fun, everything is fresh, you can see how they cook it and it is generally cheaper. Also, you get to mingle with locals and sample various local dishes. We found this place where you choose your un-cooked 'satay' style meat, seafood, sausage, veg, fishballs or tofu on sticks and boil it by yourself, then dip it in a choice of sources and have it right there where you stand!

Pic 4. Food stall

Penang's architecture is similar to Melaka but on a much bigger scale. It has lots of nice little restaurants, hotels, all the usual shopping malls and other businesses. It is largely a Chinese city so there are a lot of colourful temples and small shop houses which are full of character, whether it is a little market, antique shop or a tiny print house.
We wandered around the colonial district and went to see the town from 'Penang Hill'. The Hill is 800m above the sea level so it is around 5C degrees cooler, it made a nice break from the humidity of town (35c), but also reminded us how hot the climate is in comparison to England.
We also visited this amazing 'Kek Lok Si' Buddhist temple, a massive settlement on the hill overlooking Penang. The temple took over 20 years to build from 1890's and it is still being added to, full of little pathways of market stalls leading from one prayer room to another. We went up to the top to see a 37m Bronze statue of 'Goddess of mercy' which is having a massive roof constructed over her, with 16 highly decorative dragon pillars supporting it and a thousand 6ft bronze statues of the goddess are planned to surround her, it will be an astonishing sight. We donated some money to have one of the roof tiles installed on our behalf, Lily drew a sun on it

Pic 5. Penang Hill view of city

Pic 6. Kek Lok Si Temple

FRUIT
We've eaten some amazing fruits during Indonesia & Malaysia, some of them colourful and tasty (the pink dragon fruits), sour & crunchy (brown snakeskin fruit) and some small & fluffy (red/green rambutan).' However, it is now the season of the 'Durian' fruit. Very famous, very, very sharp and spikey and VERY stinky!! Bit of a delicacy apparently, tastes amazingly sweet, looks interesting but only when you open it do you get hit by the smell, like a stale sweet & sour sicky poo!! In Singapore, they are banned from all public transport but since we've been passing through KL, Melaka & Penang, this smell lingers on street corners everywhere as it seems to be the only place to cut them open. Durian ice cream is extremely popular, Minde is still on a mission to get some but it seems the locals always get there first and it's sold out already!

Pic 7. Durians!!

LANGKAWI – 4 days
The biggest island in Malaysia & apparently the most popular. We seem to have caught it off season so luckily not heaving with tourists yet. If Langkawi had been the first of the Malaysian islands we'd visited before Tioman & Perhentians, i'm sure we would have been delighted, however, the latter of the two are considered 'nature reserves' to protect the coral so firstly, you did not get any a) banana boats, b) windsurfing, c) para-sailing, d) jet skiing or e) locals on mopeds racing around. Unfortunately, on 'Pantai Cengan' beach in Langkawi we got all of these!! Secondly, there are not many cute chalets or A-frame wooden huts or sweet beach houses here that blend in nicely with the scenery, instead most parts looks a little like a mini concrete village. However, saying that, there were two exclusive resorts close to us which looked idealistic! Thirdly, the water is very warm but the sea was not clear so this was a bit off putting to begin with.

Pic 8. Langkawi's Pantai Cengan Beach

However, despite our initial impressions, the backdrop to the sea is pretty good with beautiful islands dotted around and the atmosphere very laid back and friendly. The locals use the same beaches so it's great to have a mix of people and we did find a good spot to swim and sunbath on at a quieter part of the beach. We had a fantastic day island hoping on a boat and visited some lovely, deserted bays to swim in & also watched the brown eagles diving for food into the sea at one secluded bay. You can see them circling around the islands, it's an amazing sight. (The name 'Langkawi' combines the old Malay words Helang; eagle & Kawi; strong).
Evenings were the best here as we found a great beach bar playing chilled music, while watching the tourists & locals slowly winding down for the sunset whilst keeping a watchful eye on Lily playing in the sea with local kids. Lily is definitely at her best by the sea. She is slowly learning to swim as well. Just can't get her out of the water unless you bribe her! She still loves an evening dip until the sun goes down. The energy she has but also the patience to paddle & play in the water is just great for us to watch.

Pic 9. Langkawi Island Hopping

Next stop Thailand, heading to Rai leh beach...

Kuala Lumpur – 3 days

Considering we were dreading to leave the relaxed beach life behind and hit the big, hot capital of Malaysia, KL is actually a great city, the best we have been to so far. It's a mass of city buildings mingled in with the colonial architecture and the character of Chinatown, where we stayed. So much better than Singapore, this city feels really alive and buzzing. It kind of feels more touched and lived in and, although extremely busy, much more friendly. Difficult to walk down the street though as there are so many people, this is a real change for us as we are use to having pavements to ourselves!

Price of beer is more than UK so there's not much point going out to drink here as it's just not worth it. Being a very Muslim country it's also a little more difficult to get alcohol. But food is just amazing; we had a great snack in Little India on an open street cafe where all the locals eat with their hands – Lily loved that and was shoving rice down her neck! She is very good with food now and will eat, or at least try, anything as long as it's not spicy.

It's easy to find your way around but the layout of the big roads look amazing as they have constructed these literal 'flyovers' that just go over your head all over the city. We visited the 'KL Tower' one evening for the views, which is higher than the famous 'Petronas' towers. Also the night market in Chinatown is somewhere worth visiting to buy any fake designer product you could ever want. The indoor markets are great as well, little more expensive, but you can find a lot of local gifts and souvenirs. I had the most amazing experience in a 'Fish Spa' where for 10 mins, you sit around with other people and dip your feet into a pool of 'doctor' or 'cleaner' fish and they come over and nibble your feet to give them a good clean to remove dead skin. Okay, it may sound disgusting to some of you but it felt great, really tickled to start with (had a massive attack of the giggles) then it felt like rough sandpaper. My feet were so smooth and soft afterwards – if i could, i'd do it on a daily basis, so relaxing and therapeutic!! (Annie, you'd love it! x).

We would probably spend a couple of extra days here but, being a busy city, it's difficult with Lily as everything takes twice as long!! Maybe next time. Spent the last evening saying a final goodbye to our German friends who are all flying home in a few days. This obviously consisted of great local street food and we treated ourselves to a beer!

Off to Melaka next by bus, then more island hopping to Penang & Lankawii...

Helen