Journeys

A list of the journeys we took, how far they were, how we got there and how long it took us to reach our destinations!

From | To | Mode | Time (hours) | Distance (miles)

 Totals

Miles travelled: 17,210

Kilometres travelled: 27,700

Time spent travelling: 144 hours (6 days)

Roll-Call

Honourable mentions for all the cool people we met on our travels.

Liang family and friends





Dennis - the Canadian



Julia and Caroline - Germans



Som - excellent dancer

Vishnu - superb shisha

Holly and Emma (x5!) - scousers



Song - tuk-tuk scammer

Matra and Nong - Siam Reap hotel peeps

Peter - friendly advice

Russell - very feminine



Ahren - Canadian teacher

Fatman - proprietor of Laughing Fatman Guesthouse, Phnom Penh



Raksmey - short, but service with a smile



Andy - retired playa



Aty - pool player, nice smile



Ernie - great burgers, average man

Julian - German socialite

Alejandro - Spanish lothario

Liam - ladladlad



Pow - barmaid at Serendip

Gary - eccentric Southend-born bar owner in Sihanoukville

Bee - scorching in a bikini, awesome personality, amazing girl



Nghia - moto conman

Jimmy James - Ozzy lad



Mid-life James - English chap

Rudi - German clubber
Davis - bouncer from USA / cool dude



Justine - fun Frenchie



Soton crowd - helpful people

Steve - Phuket guesthouse owner

Kind man near Big Buddha - sleepy!

Drake the kitten - mrao

Back to KL for the final weekend and journey home

It was really great to see Pearl and Tucky again, and we told them plenty of stories of what we had been up to on the car ride back. Once we arrived at chez Liang Tucky went straight back out to get us some burgers for supper, while OCD Pearl made us shower because we 'smelled like travellers' - which we probably did! The burgers were very tasty and just what we needed. Auntie was a superstar as usual and took most of our clothes for washing and generally made us feel very welcome, along with Uncle. We stayed up and enjoyed being back at our home from home with such good friends before going to bed around 2am.

The next day was our much-anticipated return to Petaling Street (Chinatown, lots of market stalls selling cheap 'designer' gear), where Andy and I got our shop on. After a sumptuous lunch, (and a bag of Andy's favourite street food, ngap kiok pow), I bought:

• Ray-Bans - £3
• Ralph Lauren polo - £4
• Diesel and Armani boxers - £4
• I heart KL shirt - £2
• Diesel shirt - £5
• Some presents for family

Lunch

Ngap kiok pow!

My haul

A good haul! After all that bartering and walking around in the heat we headed back to chez Liang. With Pearl's help, I packed my bag ready for our departure in two days time. Then Andy and I received our Christmas presents from the family, which included a goody bag of Chinese and Malay delicacies for us to try at home. 10/10 for thoughtful presents!

Later in the evening, we had another succulent meal of chicken and beef satay sticks, rice, fish balls and omelette. After that, Tucky took us out to get some of that sweet KL shisha with Edward, and we also met his friend Sieu. It was a great night!

By the time we woke next day, Pearl had already gone for karaoke with some friends. I was gutted as I wanted to go too! But never mind. Tucky and Auntie took us to a place called The Curve, which is something like a combination of three different shopping malls.

Entertainers in the mall

Nearly spent 7 weeks in Asia without having a Pokémon related photo taken!

After we explored a while, we went to Pearl and Tucky's grandma's place for dinner. She is a very welcoming lady, and an excellent cook! We also met Pearl's aunt and uncle and cousin. The dinner was called Nasi Lemak, and comprised of many different dishes, including a pretty spicy one!

After dinner, Tucky took us to Sieu's house, where she was hosting her graduation party. It was a swanky affair, as her parents are very successful. There was lots of food, and the drinks were flowing freely. We stayed for a couple of hours, staying in our little group with Edward, Wayne and Sieu. Everyone was having a good time. Eventually it was time to go, and Tucky took Andy and I on one last shisha run, for our final night in the Malaysian capital.

Monday. The last day of our adventure. Fortunately we didn't feel too down. Pearl had work and Tucky had class, so Andy and I slept in and spent the day packing up our last bits and pieces. I added a lot of the clothes I brought to Asia with me to the family charity bag, which was going out to help the people in the Philippines affected by the typhoon we narrowly missed. I had replaced them all with new stuff from Petaling Street and Chatuchak Market, among other places, so my suitcase was still full.

Pearl and Tucky got home around 3pm, so we were able to hang out a bit before dinner. Auntie cooked up a storm in the kitchen and gave us an incredible send off with another delicious meal:

We had plenty of time to say our goodbyes and thankyous before the taxi arrived. It was an emotional moment, especially as we drove away. I hope to return one day. Although we have already said it, we would like once again to say a huge thanks to Pearl and Tucky for driving us around, showing us the sights, and generally making our time in KL as awesome as it could be. Massive thanks also go to their parents, who we call Auntie and Uncle, for letting us stay in their home and making us feel so welcome. You are all welcome here in England, any time you like :)

The journey back went very smoothly, although it took over a day! Watched some good movies on the plane, no problem at customs, and we arrived back at Ipswich at about 5pm. My parents gave me a great welcome, and seeing them dissipated the end-of-holiday glumness that had settled over Andy and I since we touched down in Gatwick. We were home.

And that's it! Thanks for reading, and keep your eye out for a couple of follow ups, including our 'Epiblogue', where we talk a little about the things we have learned from the trip, a roll-call of the people we met and a summary of the journeys we made. Hope you can find time to give them a look!

A&A

 

Krabi

We left Phuket by bus, and arrived in Krabi 4 hours later on Tuesday 26th, at around 6pm. We had broken tradition just this once and not booked a hostel in advance, so the first thing we did as we got off the bus in Krabi Town was look for somewhere to stay. After a bit of walking around and asking prices, we found a very welcoming looking place called Number 7 Guesthouse which gave us a twin room for only 300 baht (£6) per night. That's only £3 each!

After showering and resting up, we went downstairs to go out for dinner. As it was monsooning, we just ran to the Italian restaurant called Firenze across the road. I had pizza and Andy had some Italian noodles. The rain stopped, so we went exploring, and found the night market. We had a look around and soaked up the atmosphere a bit before turning in.

The next day, we got up at about 9 for breakfast at Firenze's, and informed the guesthouse we would be staying for another night. Then we decided to go and see how Krabi Town looks in the daytime. We bought a couple of things and stumbled upon a big temple (Kaewkorawaram Temple) in what seemed to be a small Buddhist complex, so we looked around there. Then we met Drake the kitten down by the river, and tickled his belly for a while, before we realised we were covered in fleas.

Traffic lights are interesting here!

Kaewkorawaram Temple from street level

Peculiar

Andy pretending he can read Thai

They thoughtfully hid these guys in a small cave to make people jump

Drake Jr.

We went back and showered off before venturing out again and buying some souvenirs. Then we intended to rest a while before dinner, watched some of The Dark Knight, and accidentally napped for a couple of hours. We went and got street food for dinner, and were going to go to the pub, but we weren't sure whether we would be able to get back into our hostel if we stayed out late. We were still a bit hungry though so Andy and I both made runs to the nearby 7-11 for snacks.

Our final day in Krabi, we took a very early songthaew - Krabi's combination tuk-tuk/bus service where you are picked up from your hostel by a pickup truck modified so that the back can seat up to 8 people and taken to a predetermined destination - and went to Ao Nang Beach. At first, when we were approaching, it seemed as though the tide was out, but fortunately the beach was very beautiful at our final destination.

We walked down the beach a little and found ourselves in an area comprised almost entirely of massage parlours. I'm not sure if parlour is the right word as there were no private rooms, everyone was just lying on cushions on the floor. As the weather wasn't brilliant at this stage, I had a one hour full body Thai massage, which was sensational.

After that, Andy and I went for a relax on the beach and a swim in the sea until it started monsooning, but when we emerged we realised we hadn't brought any towels. The heat and humidity took care of that problem (we stayed under cover), and we were quite dry by the time we jumped on another songthaew back to the hostel. It was pouring with rain so the back of the truck had its covers down.

Once there we wasted no time getting changed and heading out to find dinner in the heavy rain. After a few trademark indecisive moments, Andy plumped for a coffee place fairly near the hostel that sold cheap local food and had free wifi. Andy had something typically adventurous, and I elected to try some green curry, which blew my head off (I finished it though)!

When we returned to the hostel we booked our transport to Kuala Lumpur for the next day, which should see us arrive there at 10:00pm on Friday 29th. We also asked if there was a way to get in after the front door was locked, and were gently reminded that we had a key to the door on our keyring. We felt dumb. Anyway, I took Andy out to a pub I had found the previous night while searching for food, and soundly thrashed him at pool five times, over a drink. Understandably he had had enough pool by then, so we went and took one last moonlit stroll around Krabi Town and savoured our final night in Thailand, before turning in.

We woke at 5:30am to make sure we had time to pack and get ready, and the minibus arrived at 7:00am. We were taken to Hat Yai, which seems to be the connecting point for most of Southern Thailand, along with Malaysia. At Hat Yai we transferred onto a very comfortable coach with reclining seats and more legroom than you could shake a stick at, so it was a very comfortable 10 hour ride down to KL, with plenty of rest stops. The border posed no problems at all, we arrived at KL bus station at around 11pm, and were soon picked up by Pearl and Tucky and taken back to their home.