Asian Adventures – An Amalgamation of the ‘Best (and worst) Bits’

This will probably be the trickiest blog I’ll ever write but I’d like to try and summarise the best and worst bits of my travels in Asia (Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Malaysia and Singapore). I’m going to be as objective as I can. These are still my own personal thoughts and opinions so don’t be offended if I think something was a worst and you think it’s a best. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and you’re allowed to have differing ones so no bees in bonnets please.

There’s some categories where I have winners and runners up because it was too close for me to call a single best or worst.

Here goes:

Best Hostel

WINNER:
Siholme Backpackers, Vientiane, Laos
Although I only stayed a single night I was still very impressed. The dorms were great, the bathrooms were clean and modern, the atmosphere was friendly, there was a movie room, a pool table, a bar, friendly staff and amusing murals/slogans painted around the place. Just a great all round hostel with, honestly, no bad points.

RUNNER UP:
Mojzo Inn, Nha Trang, Vietnam
This place was amazing. The breakfast included in your room price was cooked fresh for you and there was a choice of four things. The dorms were air conditioned all day and there were decent sized lockers in the rooms. The refillable water tap was great. The WiFi was fast and available all over the hostel. The place is a two minute stroll from the beach and the staff are so lovely it’s ridiculous. The only reason Mojzo Inn isn’t the overall winner is because the dorm was a little small for six people and the bathroom did smell a little bit musty.

Best Food

WINNER:
Taiwan
The food in Taiwan is plentiful, cheap, fresh, full of flavour and a great balance of traditional and modern novelty . I was not disappointed with anything from the food markets or restaurants in Taiwan. It was consistently superb. Taiwan has some amazing night markets where you can get some of the best food I’ve ever eaten. Do not miss the Taiwanese milk tea. It’s absolutely delicious and you can get it with tapioca pearls or jelly to make it more of a dessert than a drink. Don’t be surprised or concerned if your food/drink is served to you in a bag, that’s normal. Basically, go to Taiwan and eat all the food.

RUNNER UP:
Thailand
Thai food is full of flavour and reasonably cheap. It’s also on the milder side of spicy. Traditional dishes such as pad thai, thai red and green curries and massaman curries are widely available and generally very tasty. Restaurants and food stalls seem to turn out a similar quality of food. My ‘don’t miss’ food in Thailand is sticky rice. It doesn’t matter if you have mango and sticky rice as a dessert or get a savoury sticky rice wrapped in a banana leaf from a stall, just make sure you try it!

Best Locals

WINNER:
Cambodia
When it comes to resilience, determination and a forgiving spirit, I don’t think you will find a nation of people who can best the Cambodians. They are simply some of the friendliest, kindest, most welcoming and genuinely happy people I have ever met.

When you look at Cambodian history, it really does paint a grim picture, it’s all war, death and strife. The most recent horrors happened when Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge tried to reshape Cambodia as a self sufficient, farming Country. It ended with an incomprehensible genocide leaving around 1 in 5 Cambodians dead or missing. This was all very recent, we’re talking within my parents life time, so there are Cambodians alive today who remember the regime, their dead relatives and everything that went along with it pretty vividly.

Despite their recent and harrowing past, Cambodians are upbeat and optimistic. There’s no wallowing or ‘woe is us’ attitudes, only respectful remembrance and an upbeat attitude towards the future. For me, this is a singularly amazing thing. An entire nation was subjected to immense tragedy and hardship but have emerged the other side determined to right the wrongs and heal their communities.

This, coupled with their enthusiasm, genuine nature and overall loveliness, makes the Cambodians my favourite people in Asia.

RUNNER UP:
Taiwan
Taiwanese are incredibly hospitable and happy go lucky. I don’t have a bad word to say about them. If I needed help and someone didn’t speak English, other locals would pitch in to help and make sure I was ok. They really are fabulous and never got annoyed at any level of incompetence on my part. Simply lovely.

Best Shopping

WINNER:
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Amazing mix of markets and super modern malls. The shopping here really has something for everyone. Want some good fakes? Head to Petaling Street. Want something crafty for a souvenir? Get to the central market. Want to feel more at home with western brands? Any air conditioned mall will sort you out with a good range of budget to luxury brands. I really mean it when I say I think you could buy anything in Kuala Lumpur.

Best Historic Sights

WINNER:
Angkor Historic Park
I did three entries on the Angkor temples so I’m not going to repeat myself. I’ll just say, do not miss.

Best Natural Sights

WINNER:
Sapa, Vietnam
Again, I wrote a while entry dedicated to Sapa so I won’t re-cover old ground. Amazing views across an amazing Country. Make time to go to Sapa.

RUNNER UP:
Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
Truly lovely landscape in the Cameron Highlands. Lots of winding roads and walks to do. It’s the runner up here as the area does feel very much like it’s all for tourists but you can escape that if you walk the right paths. The touristy aspect does spoil the natural beauty of the area a bit for me though.

Best Modern Sights

WINNER:
Singapore
Singapore is a clean, shiny, modern metropolis with stunning high rise buildings. It’s well planned and executed better. Stunning modern city with a stunning modern price tag.

Best Border

WINNER:
Malaysia to Singapore
Overall it was the least worrying and easiest to navigate because the English spoken on both sides was of a good level.

Best Bus

WINNER:
Hanh Cafe Sleeper bus from Ho Chi Minh to Nha Trang, Vietnam
The route has decent roads, the bus was swanky and single seated (so no snoring stranger in your ear hole) and the ticket was a reasonable price.

Best Overall Value Attraction

WINNER:
Huê City, Vietnam
Lots of the heritage sites in Huê don’t have an entry fee so it’s incredibly cheap to see lots of important historic and cultural areas.

Best Overall Value Country

WINNER:
Laos
Accommodation and food in Laos is cheap and generally of good quality. Entry fees to attractions seem to be good value and shared taxis/tuk tuks make travelling short distances reasonable. Longer distances can be covered by boat or bus at, again, a pretty good price. Overall, Laos works out as the best value for me.

Best Overall Town/City

WINNER:
Tokyo
Tokyo might be expensive but it’s worth it. The city is huge, sprawling and complicated but it’s fabulous. There’s still plenty of hidden gems in alleyways nestled between modern high rises to discover. There’s also tonnes of heritage stuff to see and explore. The Japanese definitely put a lot of emphasis on preserving their history and culture. As modern as Tokyo is, if you look around, you will find temples nestled in the centre of busy metropolitan areas.

It’s a unique city that I enjoyed immensely. If you want more details, you can see my blog entry on Tokyo.

Personal favourite thing

WINNER:
SCUBA diving, Koh Tao, Thailand
Learning to dive was the single best experience I had on my trip in Asia. My dive school (Big Blue) was well organised, the instructors (and trainee instructors) were friendly and professional, the island is beautiful and the diving itself was fabulous.

SCUBA diving is the overall winner because it’s something I can do for the rest of my life and will be doing again on the rest of my trip.

RUNNER UP:
Elephant Nature Park, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Walking around with, washing and feeding elephants is something I probably won’t ever get the opportunity to do again and it was incredible. If you want more details on the park, please see my blog post on it.

Worst Hostel

WINNER:
Rainbow guesthouse, Khao San Road, Thailand
Hideous! Awful mattresses, dirty dorms, terrible security (the door to the room didn’t lock and the provided lockers in the restaurant are less than ok), disgusting bathrooms, air conditioning was inadequate and got turned off at 8am, sheets were stained and the whole place was just worn down and broken.

Worst Food

WINNER:
Hong Kong
The food in Hong Kong is questionable unless you are paying top dollar for it. I was never really sure what went into any of the food I ate and a lot of it was flavourless mush. There’s a few hidden gems but, on the whole, food in Hong Kong is dodgy.

Worst Locals

WINNER:
Vietnam
I found the people of Vietnam to be consistently rude and biased against foreigners or to be the nicest people in the world. There seemed not to be a middle ground. I found the prejudice really hard to deal with and the attitude of locals intent on not accepting tourists onto buses or into food places really tainted Vietnam for me. It’s a real shame because the lovely locals really were very helpful and sweet but they didn’t quite off set the venom I felt from everyone else.

Worst Shopping

WINNER:
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh didn’t seem to have much in the way of shopping. Even in the markets it was mostly food, household items or technology. Even though there would be many different stalls, they seemed to all sell the same items. Just not very varied or accessible for most people.

Worst Historic Sights

WINNER:
Singapore
Singapore is very shiny and new so it doesn’t really have much in the way of historic buildings or culture to experience. If you want new and modern, Singapore is for you. If you’re into history, maybe think carefully as it how much time you need in Singapore.

Worst Natural Sights

WINNER:
Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok really doesn’t have parks or walks you can enjoy. It’s all incredibly built up and concreted over.

Worst Modern Sights

WINNER:
Cambodia
Cambodia had a distinct lack of modern buildings and very few high rise buildings. Most Sights in Cambodia are old and for history buffs. There’s no shining buildings beautifully lit at night to stroll around in Cambodia, it all has a rustic feel.

Worst Border

WINNER:
Thailand to Cambodia
This border was the worst because it was the only one I could not get an international bus for. Having to work out onward transport from the border further into Cambodia was pretty slap dash. It’s a stressful feeling when you’re doing it alone, for the first time so I guess that’s why it was the worst.

Worst Bus

WINNER:
Luang Prabang, Laos to Chiang Mai, Thailand
This was an overnight bus along scary, winding mountain roads. The turns were so sharp that my head hit the widow on several occasions. It was a sitting bus so sleeping was an unlikely prospect anyway but the turns made it completely impossible. Just a long, scary journey.

Worst Overall Value attraction

WINNER:
Royal Palace, Bangkok, Thailand
600 baht is too expensive. Full stop.

Worst Overall Value Country

WINNER:
Singapore
Singapore is just heinously expensive for everything. Considering labour is still relatively cheap in Singapore, there’s no real justification for it.

Worst Overall Town/City

Bangkok, Thailand
I just didn’t like Bangkok. It wasn’t for me. I felt like everyone was out to fleece me for all the money they could and that the locals were insincere. It smells funny too.

Personal least favourite thing

WINNER:
The Climate
Asia is too hot and humid for me.

Swanky Singapore

Once in Singapore it was time for me to venture into another unknown. I was to be a ‘couch surfer’ for the very first time. I found my host on the couch surfing website and was, understandably, nervous about couch surfing as a solo female traveller. My host had numerous positive references on his profile so I felt like I was in safe hands. He lived nearer to Malaysia than Singapore but that suited me down to the ground as I only had one day in Singapore anyway. I found his place (far later than I had expected to) and met my host, Yesky. I shouldn’t have been worried. Yesky was genuine and a perfect host. He pointed me in the direction of what I wanted to do and looked after me wonderfully. I think couch surfing is an excellent thing to do but, like everything else in life, there is bound to be good and bad. Yesky was all good.

The first thing I wanted to do in Singapore was go to the zoo. I’ve only ever been to one zoo before (London zoo) and I’d been in told by a friend not to miss Singapore zoo so I didn’t. Entry was S$22 and worth every penny.

Singapore zoo is a rainforest zoo meaning that you’re walking past thick vegetation as you travel between animal enclosures rather than walking by concrete or bricks. It’s an excellent concept and Singapore zoo really pulls it off.

There’s a huge variety of animals at the zoo to see not only in their enclosures but also in performance shows. I saw the sea lion ‘Splash’ show, the elephant show and the rainforest show. For kids, and people who have never grown up, there’s a petting zoo you can go to. These shows and petting activities are all included in your entrance fee but there are paid extras on offer. You can ride an elephant, feed a giant tortoise, have your photo with a sea lion/snake (and then buy the print) or take a boat/bus ride for extra dollars. I didn’t pay anything over my entrance fee and walked around the park rather than using the bus/boats. It’s entirely possible to do this if you don’t have children (I think it’s too far for kids to walk all day) as I did the whole zoo in 5 hours.

Anyway, enough waffle. Here’s my favourite animals.

This is a gibbon who hung around like this for ages whilst visitors gleefully snapped many pictures.

Next, we see a hamadryas baboon Mum taking advantage of the primary function of the tail on her youngster.

The rest of the hamadryas baboons just enjoy the view of hairless weirdos staring at them.

You should recognise the next fella, it’s a cute otter who swam and jumped around at the speed of light. I’m amazed I got a picture.

These meerkats were on the look out for people buying overpriced insurance.

Here’s some people indulging in an extra I was too cheap to pay for, feeding a giant tortoise.

I think Gonzo (of Muppets fame) must have been modelled on these proboscis monkeys.

I cannot remember the name of this snake but I think you’ll agree the colour is stunning (if you know what it is, please let me know).

I think this is a python. It was HUGE. If it’s not a python and you know what snake it is, please let me know.

I believe this fella is an estuarine crocodile but I’m happy to be corrected on that if I’m wrong.

The size of these white rhinoceroses isn’t really represented because there’s nothing close by for scale but, trust me, they were big and you would not want to be anywhere near them if they took a dislike to you.

This pygmy hippo Mum and baby were just snuggling up at home.

As were the cheetahs.

The white tiger was taking everything at a distinctly more relaxed pace.

And the polar bear was Kung Fu fighting.

I LOVED the zoo. I’d go back again. I cannot express just how many animals are there and how many lovely places you can find to sit and relax if you want to. I had a fantastic time. Tips if you go through: Take your own food and drink because it’s expensive as hell inside the zoo. Do not buy the professional photos of you with animals taken after shows (the basic price was $35!), get someone to stand at the front of the stage and take one with your camera instead. Rest often and drink plenty of water, it’s boiling hot there. Go along for the free feeding times, you get to see the animals really close up.

Once I was done with the zoo, I headed into the city proper for a good walk around. There’s tonnes of impressive, modern buildings to look at but none so much as the Marina Bay Sands building. Simply stunning on it’s three ‘legs’.

There’s also some older buildings in Singapore. One of them is St. Andrews cathedral. There was building work going on all around it when I visited so I didn’t get very close to explore properly. It’s a stark contrast to the rest of the city’s skyline. It is possible to go inside and have a free tour but the hours each day are very limited. I suggest you check the St. Andrews website before you visit.

The last building I couldn’t stop looking at was the Fullerton Hotel. Set right on the water, and next to a very awesome bridge, the hotel is a massive building that used to be the post office. I would think a room there is more than a pretty penny or two.

Unfortunately I did not have time to visit any other sights in Singapore but I am assured there’s tonnes to do. I certainly got the impression there was as I passed a few museums and parks on my wanderings.

I definitely enjoyed Singapore. It’s a super clean, super modern city with super high prices for food and drink but I’d go back any day not the week without hesitation.

Border Bureaucracy – Malaysia to Singapore

In order to get from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, I paid 50 ringitt to my hostel and collected my ticket and caught my bus from Puduraya station. The station is pretty big and I would recommend checking out the specifics of your bus counter the day before or leave yourself plenty of time for walking around looking confused on the day of your bus.

My bus was due to leave at 9:00 so I was at counter 41 to collect my ticket at 8:30. I was told what platform I needed to go to and headed on down. The bus was running behind and we didn’t leave until after 9:30 but we also didn’t leave from our designated platform. We got rounded up by a member of staff and walked outside the station for our bus. Pay attention to the people with walkie talkies yelling stuff, they could be yelling for you. We all got on eventually and were underway.

The drive was fine. Roads in Malaysia are well done, no humps and bumps here guv. We got to the border after stopping at a few outlying bus stations on the way. Stamping out of Malaysia is easy. You walk up and they stamp you out. Getting into Singapore takes longer.

Singapore is strict with regard to their customs laws. They really do check your bags thoroughly and you won’t get waved through if they see something even a little suspicious. I got stopped at customs because a substance similar to cigarette filters was detected in my bag. Being a non smoker, I was baffled. After a rummage, the customs officer found a box of sticking plasters. That’s what had been detected and I was waved through. That’s right folks, my anti blister precautions had got me a customs search! Basically, check you’re not bringing anything into Singapore that they say you shouldn’t. They will find it and they will punish you accordingly.

Once you’re stamped in, you’re good to explore this incredibly clean and organised metropolis. My bus dropped me off on Beach road but transport in Singapore is good so don’t panic about how you’ll get around. An MRT station is never far away.

Note: This was my last land border crossing in SE Asia. I’d travelled through 6 (7 if you count the border run to Burma) countries without taking a flight. I wasn’t robbed, conned or imprisoned. How did I do it? I applied common sense, knew the rules before I got to the border and then followed them when I got to the border. I also only booked through my hostels for border crossing trips so that I had some come back if it all went wrong. Hostels want good reviews so it’s not in their interests to pack you off with a crap company. Just be sensible and you can do it.