Today Oliver and I started our two month adventure! Phew!!! It's been a long time coming and here we are.
Commuting from Johannesburg to South Korea can be a long trek in itself (between 16-18 hours of flight time) add in a 16 hour stop over at the Malaysian airport and it becomes crazy.
We landed in Malaysia shortly before 7am and realised that we had misjudged our stop over time quite drastically....eeeek!!!
So it was the makings of a great excuse to get out and se what Kuala Lumpur was all about. It is hot and humid...that is for sure. And because we left all our backpacking stuff in Seoul I had no other options but to travel in jeans...not a good idea.
We walked aropund the streets of Kuala Lumpur and got ourselves very lost! We managed to stumble on Litle India, China town, Central market and some awesome food stalls!
A little aprehensive about sitting down in a local store for lunch we walked around for ages until eventually the hunger took over and we sat at a street vendor and ate some rice with meat sauce and vegetables!!! Tastey!!!
Then it was time to share the eating love. We walked past a store where you stick your feet into a pond and have little fish eat their way through your dead skin. Sounds gross I know but it is actualy very tickilish and quite relaxing!!! It was exactly what we needed...some reprive from the heat outside.
Then it was more market strolling before the flight caught up with us and we decided it was time to head back to the airport, find a bench and hopefully catch some Zzz's.
This time tomorrow we will be in the land of Morning calm driving the country with Oliver's father!!!!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Friday, March 25, 2011
Getting underway!
Things are finally starting to roll and the reality of our next adventure is becoming more and more real...
This week we have bought our plane tickets. YAY! We land in Vietnam late on the evening of the 20th of May. We have also booked our Cambodia and Vietnam visas...we just need to pay and then we are all set.
As for the other countries (Laos, Thailand, and Malaysia) we don't need to organise anything beforehand. Awesome!
So now I have been doing some reading about what amazing things we should do.
So far on the list.
Vietnam
Hire a scooter
Stay on a junker in Halong Bay
Visit a coffee plantation
Visit war memorials
Cambodia
The killing fields
Ankor Wat
Battambang
Laos
The Gibbon Experience
Travel by boat along the Mekong river to Thailand
Thailand
Island hop
Go to Elephant sanctuaries
Indulge in a Thai curry
Malaysia
Sleep in a forest with nothing but a tent in the Cameron Highlands
Malay Curry
Check out the high rise buildings in Kuala Lumpur
It promises to be epic!! If you have visited the area and can think of must see places and things to do...please let us know! KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
This week we have bought our plane tickets. YAY! We land in Vietnam late on the evening of the 20th of May. We have also booked our Cambodia and Vietnam visas...we just need to pay and then we are all set.
As for the other countries (Laos, Thailand, and Malaysia) we don't need to organise anything beforehand. Awesome!
So now I have been doing some reading about what amazing things we should do.
So far on the list.
Vietnam
Hire a scooter
Stay on a junker in Halong Bay
Visit a coffee plantation
Visit war memorials
Cambodia
The killing fields
Ankor Wat
Battambang
Laos
The Gibbon Experience
Travel by boat along the Mekong river to Thailand
Thailand
Island hop
Go to Elephant sanctuaries
Indulge in a Thai curry
Malaysia
Sleep in a forest with nothing but a tent in the Cameron Highlands
Malay Curry
Check out the high rise buildings in Kuala Lumpur
It promises to be epic!! If you have visited the area and can think of must see places and things to do...please let us know! KNOWLEDGE IS POWER!
Friday, March 4, 2011
More changes
As a result of some family issues I had to leave Korea for a month and head back to South Africa. However, now I am back in the land of the morning calm and Oliver and I have been talking about what impact the emergency has had on our upcoming adventure.
We are reluctant to give up on our hopes of backpacing around South East Asia so we have had to make some adaptations in order to make the trip a little more affordable.
China is the most expensive country to visit on our list, it is also the biggest meaning that a short trip there is just not worth it. We initally had 12 days dedicated to China so as to allow for a decent amount of sightseeing while heading south to Vietnam. After the incident I thought that maybe we could visit China, Beijing, for a couple of days before taking a train ride down to Hanoi; but the train ride is two days and the flight is a little more than we are willing to pay just for a couple of days in Beijing.
We are sad to see China go but have promised ourselves that when we return to explore Mongolia, China will be there with it!
One benefit of dropping China is that we have more time in the South and may even be able to add Laos to the mix. Laos is the least explored of the awesome countries in South East Asia and is often dubbed the "forgotten" country. It sounds right up our alley and I think we would have an amazing experience there.
With just over two months to go before we head off on our adventure we need to start getting things in order. Visas, etc!
Eeeeeeek, it's just too exciting!
We are reluctant to give up on our hopes of backpacing around South East Asia so we have had to make some adaptations in order to make the trip a little more affordable.
China is the most expensive country to visit on our list, it is also the biggest meaning that a short trip there is just not worth it. We initally had 12 days dedicated to China so as to allow for a decent amount of sightseeing while heading south to Vietnam. After the incident I thought that maybe we could visit China, Beijing, for a couple of days before taking a train ride down to Hanoi; but the train ride is two days and the flight is a little more than we are willing to pay just for a couple of days in Beijing.
We are sad to see China go but have promised ourselves that when we return to explore Mongolia, China will be there with it!
One benefit of dropping China is that we have more time in the South and may even be able to add Laos to the mix. Laos is the least explored of the awesome countries in South East Asia and is often dubbed the "forgotten" country. It sounds right up our alley and I think we would have an amazing experience there.
With just over two months to go before we head off on our adventure we need to start getting things in order. Visas, etc!
Eeeeeeek, it's just too exciting!
Monday, January 17, 2011
Oh the joys of planning a trip!
I now have a new obsession, as soon as I have a minute to spare I am reading and researching for mine and Oliver's upcoming adventure.
I am so sad that we will soon be leaving Korea but I am thrilled at the prospects of backpacking around South East Asia.
As we start to look at the finer details of our trip we have come to some stark realisations. One, China is huge! Two, travelling between countries can sometimes pose a couple of challenges. Three, small things you have to get and do before you leave can really add up.
Our initial plan was to get a ferry to China, go to Mongolia and then work our way down to Malaysia. We were sure that 53 days would be more than enough time to make this a reality.
Unfortunately, friends that have done similar trips gave us some bad news saying that train journeys can sometimes take days and that you don't want to spend under 10 days in any of the countries because you are simply doing the country an injustice.
In addition to that, getting to Mongolia was going to cost us the same amount of money as doing the trip in Mongolia. Yikes.....Just to get from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar and back would cost us each roughly 500USD (possibly more)...dry mouth.....
So after much thought and many tears we have decided that Mongolia will need to be dropped from the list. Noooooooo!
Yip, it is just a little too far out of the way and will cost us just a little too much!
Sniff sniff weep weep!
Nonetheless, we still have an epic journey planned:
Now with almost four months to go until we set get on the Ferry we have a lot to do and buy!
We will keep you updated on our progress and frustrations
I am so sad that we will soon be leaving Korea but I am thrilled at the prospects of backpacking around South East Asia.
As we start to look at the finer details of our trip we have come to some stark realisations. One, China is huge! Two, travelling between countries can sometimes pose a couple of challenges. Three, small things you have to get and do before you leave can really add up.
Our initial plan was to get a ferry to China, go to Mongolia and then work our way down to Malaysia. We were sure that 53 days would be more than enough time to make this a reality.
Unfortunately, friends that have done similar trips gave us some bad news saying that train journeys can sometimes take days and that you don't want to spend under 10 days in any of the countries because you are simply doing the country an injustice.
In addition to that, getting to Mongolia was going to cost us the same amount of money as doing the trip in Mongolia. Yikes.....Just to get from Beijing to Ulaanbaatar and back would cost us each roughly 500USD (possibly more)...dry mouth.....
So after much thought and many tears we have decided that Mongolia will need to be dropped from the list. Noooooooo!
Yip, it is just a little too far out of the way and will cost us just a little too much!
Sniff sniff weep weep!
Nonetheless, we still have an epic journey planned:
- Ferry to China
- China for 12 days
- Vietnam for 12 days
- Cambodia for 12 days
- Thailand for 10 days
- Malaysia 7 days
Now with almost four months to go until we set get on the Ferry we have a lot to do and buy!
We will keep you updated on our progress and frustrations
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Our Backpacking Adventure
As our year in Korea draws to a close (http://www.cokoreanadventure.blogspot.com/) we have started paying more attention to our backpacking trip around South East Asia.
Our itinerary (which can be viewed here) is something like this!
Get a ferry from South Korea to China
Take a train to Beijing
From Beijing take a train to Mongolia
Do an 8 day tour in Mongolia
Travel from Mongolia back to China
Take nine days to travel south through China
Enter Vietnam
Spend a week in Vietnam
Go to Cambodia
Spend a week in Cambodia
Go to Thailand
Spend a week in Thailand
Go to Malaysia
Spend five days in Malaysia
Head home to South Africa.
All in all we will be back packing for 53 days.
We have limited funds and a trustworthy Lonely Planet which will take us on our journey through South East Asia.
This promises to be a trip of amazing proportions and we hope that you will join us on our adventure
Our itinerary (which can be viewed here) is something like this!
Get a ferry from South Korea to China
Take a train to Beijing
From Beijing take a train to Mongolia
Do an 8 day tour in Mongolia
Travel from Mongolia back to China
Take nine days to travel south through China
Enter Vietnam
Spend a week in Vietnam
Go to Cambodia
Spend a week in Cambodia
Go to Thailand
Spend a week in Thailand
Go to Malaysia
Spend five days in Malaysia
Head home to South Africa.
All in all we will be back packing for 53 days.
We have limited funds and a trustworthy Lonely Planet which will take us on our journey through South East Asia.
This promises to be a trip of amazing proportions and we hope that you will join us on our adventure
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