Back to the beginning

Having made it back to Indonesia where I first started my Asia tour feels like a good way to also end my trip. Indonesia is going to be my last stop before I move on to Australia. I have acquired the visa and have already booked my tickets there. Feels like it's going to be a completely new adventure.

I meet up with my friend Britt in Kuala Lumpur and we flew from there to Jakarta. Last time I was in Indonesia other travellers told me not to go to Jakarta as there is nothing to do there and it's just dirty, noisy and full of people.

However I have to say I have had a great time here so far! The people are extremely friendly and they love to take pictures of the two of us! Yesterday we asked some police officers for directions, before even attempting to explain they had their mobiles out and wanted to pose for pictures. This happened to us a few times yesterday and we found it rather cute. Today we went to a massive theme park, with different areas, such as ocean adventure, sea world, fantasy land etc. these are all different theme parks all within the same area. Before even getting into the first park we were jumped by a whole family of about 10 people who wanted pictures, after that we felt like we were the main attraction. Let me also first tell you that we were the only western people in the entire area, so having people staring at us was normal. Walking from one attraction to another we would have school classes, families and groups of friends stop us and ask to get a picture taken with us. We went to a dolphin show where before and after the show we were holding photo sessions, where it was one after the other that kept on coming up to us wanting more pictures with us. At the end of the day our cheeks were hurting from all that smiling. I think we must have had around 100 photos taken of us today!

It has been a truly enjoyable experience and I can't wait for what tomorrow is going to bring us.

Chinese New Years celebration in Chinatown

Staying in Chinatown during the New Years celebrations can be a great experience. However when hungover it's not! Britt and I got woken up by the sound of explosions. We thought that world war three had started. We later realised its the firecrackers that are being let off. Whilst walking down the street to get breakfast we see that there several dragon dances going on on Jalan Petaling ( the Chinatown market street). We thought it was only going to be one show. We were wrong. The drumming and dancing as been going on all day since 9am and it's now 4pm with no signs of the noise stopping. Every now and again a shop or restaurant will light the Chinese fire crackers which explode with noise for minutes and then the drumming continues yet again.

If you want to see a small sample of the noise, check my facebook for the videos I have posted there :)

The Hong Kong life

My visit in Hong Kong has been amazing. I have had the chance to meet old friends and new friends. Been sightseeing and done things tourists wouldn't normally know about. There are so many fun places to go to that are not in any guides and can only be found by living here. Which is also the reason I love travelling to places where I already know people. You get more of the local experience.

Hong Kong is a fun and quirky place. It's modern and yet still has some old traditions. One thing I can not always quite get my head around is the food, such as gecko on a stick. That is one thing I don't think I would like try.

I only have a few more days left here and am going to make the most out of it! Anyone have any advice on things that I absolutely should do while I'm here?

Hong Kong so far

Hanoi to Hong Kong

I left Hanoi in just the right time. The day I was leaving the city was covered in a thick veil of fog which liquified the air and there was a thin layer of moisture on everything and everyone. I travelled all day and finally arrived in Hong Kong at 23.00 as it was way to dark to see anything I can't tell you anything about the views so far. When I woke up this morning the sky was blue and the sun shining! I have been told its been grey and rainy the past 2 weeks, which means I am really lucky with the weather. This also means the perfect day for sightseeing and shopping!

Sapa

My days in Sapa have been one of the highlights from my entire Asia trip.
I arrived in the morning, dropped my bag, had some breakfast and went straight on to a trek. My group had a total of 5 people. The perfect size for a trekking group. Our guide was a 17 year old girl from the black H'mong tribe who live in the mountains just outside of Sapa. It is unseasonably warm at the moment which meant we had the perfect weather, blue sky without a single cloud and it wasn't to warm or to cold. Just perfect for trekking!

As we started through Sapa to get on to the road which would take us to the path down the mountain, several other tour groups started at the same time. There must have been about 50 people walking along this road, as we went through a market area several tribes women and children decided to follow us. Eventually the different tour groups split up and started going different ways. We had about 5 or 6 women and children who had joined us. There was even a ancient looking woman who must have been around 70 years old, she was jumping around and walking better then most of the young westerners and most impressively she was doing it wearing blue rubber boots! All the women were friendly and chatty. They would ask us things and we would ask them about their lives and villages. We walked all day and went through several villages. We ended up staying in a village called Tavan. It is a village where two different tribes live, the black H'mong and the red D'zay. We slept at a home stay and the host family were incredibly friendly. They even gave us a bottle of rice wine to keep us warm during the cold night!

Our second day was just walking through the breathtaking landscape and then eventually being taken back to Sapa. This has been the best trek I have been on in Asia and everyone who comes to Vietnam has to come here. It's an absolutely amazing place.