Two days in Yogyakarta, Java.

Two days in Yogyakarta, Java.

Tuesday, 19 September 2017

After getting myself so settled in KL, I was a little bit scared all over again when I arrived in Java. I got there late the night before so after heading straight to bed, I had no idea what I was going to do with myself in the morning; although that didn't take long to change. I sat down for breakfast and the next thing I know, another girl sits down opposite me with her banana pancakes, puts her tea down on the bamboo tables and knocks the whole lot over me. She apologised like crazy and that's how we ended up making plans for one of my favourite days of travelling so far. 

After we had finished our pancakes, we walked out on to the crazy main road in search of the Sultans palace. With only a hand drawn map, I still have no idea how we got there but we did before heading off to the water castle too. Obviously looking a little bit confused, a local man offered to walk us there. I was a little unsure of him at first, if someone had done that in England, there would definitely be some kind of ulterior motive but there wasn't. He took us through a residential area and said goodbye at the gate of the water castle. 

After doing all the local stuff, Clarence wanted to go and see Prambanan temple and she wanted to get a public bus there. Normal, anxious, UK me would not have even thought about it but I followed her up the stairs to the bus stop and bought a ticket without a second thought. Neither of us had any idea where we were going but most of the time, people were shouting directions at us before we had even told them where we wanted to go, they must get a lot of confused tourists. 

Prambaran is one of two very famous temples in Yogyakarta and obviously, it was pretty incredible we arrived half an hour before closing so we didn't have too much time but it was great to see the temple at sunset. Every few minutes whilst wondering around the ruins, we had crowds of school children coming up for photos with us, I now know what it feels like to be a z-lister.

When we finally found the bus stop again afterwards, it was doubly crowded and took twice as long in the evening traffic but I still felt super calm. We were both comfortable with each other by now; one minute we were chatting, the next staring into space with exhaustion and after that we were falling asleep on each other. By the time we got back, it was dark and late so we went to pick up some take away Chinese and ate it together back at the hostel.

The next day I got to do what I came to Yogyakarta for; Borobodur; but this time I was on my own and I was definitely not going to attempt six buses so I booked myself onto a private minibus to and from the temple. I ended up with the front seat so I had my own space and my own air con and it was great.

Borobodur was just as magical as it looked in the photos and I was feeling pretty happy with myself to be there. I had actually flown across the world, on my own and was at a temple that I never thought I'd get the chance to see IRL. I took half an hour to just sit and take it all in, again as the sun was setting; it was another one of those moments for me.


I hardly spoke to anyone all day and it was actually really cool. To go out and explore and not need to rely on anyone. I wanted to leave early so I could look at the market on the way back to the car; so I did, I spent far too long looking at all the Batik clothes and then I left. I hopped straight back in the front seat of the car, put my headphones in and fell alseep, before being dropped off right outside my hostel. 

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5 Safety Tips for Flashpacking South East Asia

5 Safety Tips for Flashpacking South East Asia

Friday, 1 September 2017

Whilst travelling to South East Asia is one of my absolute favourite things to do, it can be a very daunting experience, especially if it's your fist time doing so. Not only is it a long way away from home but arriving there, whether it's into a big, crazy city or a small island without any mobile signal, can be a huge culture shock (that's kinda one of the reasons I love it there so much.)

There is a whole different way of life from what I know here in the UK and whilst that means that there lots of new people, places and food to experience, it also means that there are different things to look out for and think about when keeping yourself safe so here are some tips and some things I like to do to keep myself reassured when I'm there.

Hidden Emergency Cash

The whole experience of having money stolen from you whilst you are out exploring a new place is bad enough; but the aftermath of being left with no money is also not very nice. If you are away from your accommodation on a tour for example, you were probably going to need it for food, water and transportation back so it is always helpful to have a secret stash on you that you can use in emergencies like this.

I also try to take as little cash as possible in my wallet on a day out. Just as much as I think I'll need and a little more I'd say, that way, if it does get stolen, I haven't lost too much. Apart from that, I find it very reassuring to keep one larger note easily accessible, on my body just in case. I'd either put it in my shoe or tucked away in my bra but whatever works for you.

Online Protection

Using the free wifi from hostels, coffee shops and airports when you are traveling around South East Asia might seem like the obvious thing to do when you need to get online but doing so makes it very easy for your online world to be hacked into. With access to personal information, someone can very easily ruin a trip, so installing something like Kaspersky Security Cloud is a great way to protect yourself online.

Having security means that any information input to a website when buying a plane ticket or booking accommodation for the next few days for example is kept safe. Also, things like passwords and other personal information such a private messages and data is protected against hackers; and because it is cloud based, you don't need to worry about it taking up precious memory on your laptop. More space for photos!

RFID blocking cards
Card skimming, also known as electronic pick pocketing, can be done from a distance and can result in credit card fraud and stolen identities. By just walking past you in the street, someone can skim all of your personal information from the credit card in your pocket. Passport and driving licence also have these chips in them FYI.

RFID stands for Radio-frequency identification and RFID blocking cards interfere with the radio waves, blocking the frequencies so that any information held in the RFID chip can't be read. They are pricey for a piece of plastic (I got mine as a gift but they were £8) but once you have them, they just slot into your wallet, in front of the important cards and could save you a lot in the long run.

Know Where You're Staying
This helped me out many times when I was in Vietnam and is something I wish I had thought about the year before when I was in Bali with Andrew. We were staying in a luxury resort but it was down a long, one way road and most of the taxi drivers hadn't heard of it before. If we had had a business card on us, they would have just been able to Google the address and take us there but as it was, we didn't and Andrew spent most of our taxi ride directing the driver which way to go. So this year, when I went backpacking through Vietnam, without Andrew (I have no idea where I'm going most of the time), I made sure to take a business card from the hostel out with me so I could just pass it to the driver and have him take me back.

Try To Blend In

Whilst I was very tempted to pack some of favourite holiday clothes and elephant shorts from my last trip (I snuck them in as pyjamas in the end), I think it is much more important to dress safely than fashionably when you are travelling alone. Instead of a bright pink co-ord that I might have packed if I was going on holiday with Andrew, I opted for a simple grey t-shirt dress so as not to draw too much attention to myself when wandering around the big cities on my own.

It's obvious that I'm not a local, of course, but I'd rather try to look like an expat that knows what they are doing than a tourist who can be easily taken advantage of.

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Halong bay on cristina diamond cruise

Halong bay on cristina diamond cruise

Monday, 7 August 2017

It’s kind of impossible to go to Vietnam and not hear about Halong Bay. Located in the north, 4 hours drive from Hanoi, Halong Bay consists of almost 2000 limestone islands and it’s pretty incredible. It'll probably be the priciest expense on your trip to Vietnam (it definitely was on mine) but it is worth paying for!

You can go for one, two or three days trip but it's a long drive there and back so overnight is recommended. With so many different boats, choosing one online was turning into a bit of a nightmare; they all looked exactly the same but the prices were completely different so in the end, I emailed the hostel that I had booked for Hanoi and asked for their help. They sent me some options at different prices and I picked the 2 night, 3 day Cristina Diamond Cruise which they went ahead and booked for me. Shout out to Nexy!

Our three day cruise cost $255 each which admittedly, was quite a lot (I opted for the luxury boat, come on - lady of luxury at heart remember? plus it was the only one with (terrible) wifi) although that included everything from the three hour transfer there and back, two nights on the boat, all meals and all entrance fees; we only had to pay extra for drinks which were actually very expensive for Vietnam; were talking $1 bottles of water (which really isn’t that much in the grand scheme of things.) 

Day 1

We locked our bags away in the luggage room at the hostel and waited in reception to be picked up with just our overnight bags and all of the extra Pringles and Oreos that I'd bought as a precaution. A minibus came to get us at 7.45am and along with about 15 other people we began our journey to Halong. After a tourist trap toilet stop, we were checking into our rooms on the boat by 11.30. Our twin room was a little bit old but it was clean and it was comfortable - I would have been upset if they were any nicer because we hardly spent any time in there at all. We had a big window, a rusty balcony and a very modern bathroom complete with products. 

After dumping our bags down, the first order of the day was a buffet lunch in the restaurant as the cruise got going. The food wasn't incredible but it wasn't bad and there was more than enough of it. I didn’t touch my snacks!

The first stop was to visit a pearl farm. I had read that this was a big waste of time and another tourist trap but actually, we took a 45 minute ride on a bamboo row boat to get there. We then spent 10 minutes watching how they make the pearls (this was actually really interesting) and spent less than 5 minutes walking through the shop to get back on the tender and then went straight to a beach so not a waste of time at all.

We were welcomed back on board with a ‘sunset party‘ on the top deck which involved some (free) wine and juice, some fresh fruit and some mini matcha cupcakes which I ate far too many of. It was all very romantic and on the first night there were a lot of couples which made me start to actually miss Andrew 12 days into my trip (sorry Andrew) but it varies because the next night was full of groups of friends.

Dinner was at 6.45pm back in the dining room and afterwards we spend the rest of the evening chatting to Tugen, the bar man who was the same age as us. I always find it fascinating talking to locals about their life in the country; he was super smiley and sounded like he loved working on a boat. After a little bit of unsuccessful squid fishing we headed to bed and were gently rocked to sleep. I always sleep so peacefully on water.

Day 2

The mornings start with 6.45am Tai Chi on the top deck so I left Nathan asleep in the room and went up to have a go. After 15 minutes of waving our arms around in the air; trying to follow the Tai Chi master, I went back down to the restaurant to meet Nathan for breakfast - I had a couple of scrambled eggs whilst he went a little bit more adventurous and had a pho.

 Then it was time to split from the two day cruisers. They went off to see a cave (what we would be doing on our third day) whilst we waited on the main boat for our day boat to come and pick us up.  There was only one other couple who had booked the three day trip like we had so we near enough had a private tour which was absolutely incredible. This second day we got a proper experience of Halong Bay so I would completely recommend booking the three day trip.

The day started with an hour of sailing in the sunshine. There wasn’t another tourist boat in sight all day, it really did feel like we were the only ones there and it was so peaceful. We lost all track of time and had started drinking beer before anyone realised that it was actually only 9am.

In between sailing, we stopped off to explore a deserted cave and go out fishing with a couple of local fishermen - they took us out in a tiny wooden boat that they had somehow put a motor in and were controlling it with a hook on a piece of string and a branch, it was quite the experience!

That was actually a replacement activity since the government banned both kayaking and swimming just a few days earlier. No one could tell us why but luckily we were more than happy to relax on the boat instead. With an on board BBQ for lunch and a nap on the sun deck, we returned back to the main boat at around about 5pm feeling totally refreshed and just in time for the sunset party again.

Whilst we were away, they had offloaded the two day cruisers that we originally got on with and loaded up with another group. Then we started again with the sunset party up on the deck followed by dinner. This time they prepared a different meal for the four of us so we ended up spending all day and all night with our new friends! Luckily we got on pretty well and ended up spending the rest of the night at the dinner table drinking cocktails.

Day 3

Again, my morning started with Tai Chi on the deck followed by breakfast and now it was our turn to visit the first cave from yesterday. I actually decided to stay on the beach instead as it was super crowded and it was making me feel a bit ill. Still, they came out 20 minutes later and it was time to get back on the boat and check out of our rooms. We had a spring roll making lesson (yeah it really is as easy as it looks) before our last lunch on board and the long drive back to Ha Noi.

Even though it was expensive, Halong bay is a must when in Vietnam and was a really special part of our trip! I would totally recommend although next time, I'd probably pick a cheaper cruise such a Lemon Cruise which is Cristinas cheaper sister!

Other Vietnam Posts: 

My two week itinerary

Where to stay in Ho Chi Minh City

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Town house 373 Hostel, Ho Chi Minh City

Town house 373 Hostel, Ho Chi Minh City

Wednesday, 26 July 2017

I  did a hell of a lot of research for my recent trip to Vietnam. I've been to Asia before but always though a travel agent so booking this trip by myself was a big thing. I knew that I was going to be a long way from home, very hot and very tired so it was pretty important that I picked places that I could come back to relax after a long day. I didn't want the stress of being unhappy with where I was staying ruining my trip. 

Whilst most of these things are a given when you book a nice hotel, it was especially important to me with my anxiety and OCD, that my accommodation was clean and safe; and good A/C was a bonus. Our hostel in Ho Chi Minh City was particularly important because it was going to be the first hostel we stayed at in Vietnam and the place we would go to having come off of a very long flight. I picked Town house 373 which was part of three town house hostels in HCMC.

With a 9.1 rating on hostel world, Town houses 373 seemed like a good choice. They helped with booking my airport transfer and we arrived at around 7.30am. Reception was bright, spacious and as soon as I entered, I felt totally at ease to leave my bags there in reception which is very odd for me. They continued to make us feel safe throughout - I was very pleased to see that they had a padlock on the door each night which they had to open for us to get in.

 

Although it is located down an alley way, a lot of places in HCMC were, it was the perfect location for me as it was close to the backpacker district but it was on a different street so it was very peaceful. Whilst at first I was a little worried about how far down the alleyway it was; after I walked down it on my own for the first time, I realised that alleys here are not like alleys in London and it was totally fine, there were other hostel and shops the whole way down.

The room was my biggest shock and that was in a good way. As we opened the door, we were hit with cool air. The photos on Hostelworld look a tad bit digitally created so I wasnt 100% sure whether to believe them but surprisingly, it looked exactly the same. Again it was very light with white walls and a blue stripe design behind the wall mounted TV. Yes, there was a TV; and a safe. Amazing. 

We paid $90 for three nights in a private twin en suite room ($15 / £11 per person per night) but were upgraded to a private triple room so there was loads of space. The beds themselves were quite hard but I actually prefer that when it's not my own bed - I'd also say that these were actually the cleanest of the trip with not a stain in sight.

The room came with a daily free bottle of water each, a complementary large and small towel and was cleaned daily - just like a hotel! The bathroom was also equipped with shower gel, shampoo and toothbrushes.

It was pretty perfect for what I wanted but I thought I better mentioned the bad points here. These things didn't bother us in the slightest but I guess it's worth mentioning. There wasn't a lift so we had to carry our stuff up two flights of stairs and the A/C was great but it was loud although that was nothing a pair of ear plugs couldn't fix - apart from that, it was actually very quiet at night time.

Lastly our shower leaked so the bathroom floor did get quite wet but as I said, it was cleaned daily and I brought shower flip flops so it didn't make a difference to me.

The wifi was fast and the breakfast was great with a selection of fruit including bananas, many of which we took out on with us for the day plus they did freshly cooked eggs. There was also a fridge with the cheapest water that we found in the whole of our stay; a small bottle there cost 5,000 VND which translates to 17p.

This hostel wasn't social at all but that was just what I was looking for. There was always someone to welcome you at reception but apart from that, there was hardly anyone around. For me, it was the perfect place to come back to after an exhausting day exploring the crazy city outside.

More Vietnam Posts: 
Two week Vietnam itinerary
Cruising Halong Bay 

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Flashpacking Vietnam: Two Week Itinerary

Flashpacking Vietnam: Two Week Itinerary

Monday, 12 June 2017

When I booked my trip to Vietnam, I had a 9-5 job that would only allow me to take two consecutive weeks of leave at a time; but I wanted to see Vietnam and I wasn't going to let my small time frame ruin that. I spent months researching the parts that I wanted to see most managed to squeeze 4 stops into two weeks. For a holiday, that was the perfect amount of time but I fell in love with Vietnam when I got there; I could have stayed for months - especially Hanoi. Funnily enough, I got made redundant the day I returned home so maybe that wont be as far off as I thought. 

  I started my trip in the south and moved north although everyone we met along the way did the opposite. My reasoning was that I wanted to start with crazy and relax towards the end and that's exactly how it worked out (like I said, months of research) but this itinerary would work exactly the same doing it the other way around. With more time, I'd suggest trying to work in a few days in Hue and SaPa but for the two weeks I had, this run down was utterly perfect and left me wanting more - hopefully it will do the same for you!

Day 1: Fly

From London Heathrow to Ho Chi Mihn City, it took 12 hours. We got a direct flight with Vietnam Airlines (definitely recommend) to save on precious time.

Days 2, 3 & 4: South Vietnam, Ho Chi Mihn City

We arrived into the city at around 7am, grabbed a map and spent the rest of that day exploring by foot. We did the war museum, the walking street, the wet market and Ben Thanh market before stopping off for our first bowl of pho at a little place full of locals.

Over the next two days, we did some of HCMC’s most famous day trips; the Mekong Delta and the Cu Chi tunnels. I found both fascinating and with very comfortable transfers from outside our hostel, a tour guide, bottle of water, entrance and lunch with the Mekong tour, they were incredible value for money at $9 each. We booked them both at a travel agents called Hallo Travel on Le Lai street and they were the cheapest we came across – some places wanted as much as $70! The evenings were spent exploring the night markets, drinking at a rooftop bar and of course wandering around the backpacker district.

Starting in the south, we had jumped in at the deep end as it was the warmest of our stops and also the craziest, in my opinion. The roads here were definitely the busiest and we very quickly had to forget everything we had ever been taught about crossing a road and just walk straight out into the incoming traffic to get across. One thing I will say about Ho Chi Mihn City that it was also our cheapest stop, everything cost noticeable less there. We stayed at Townhouse 373 Hostel (full review to come)

Days 5, 6 & 7: Central Vietnam, Hoi An

We were on a tight schedule with only two weeks and you know, flashpacking and all that; so we decided to fly from destination to destination rather than get a night train. We got an early flight to Danang and drove 45 minutes to our next hostel, Vietnam Backpackers in Hoi An (also review to come). After dropping off our bags, the first thing we did was go to explore the old town. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, and rightly so; with colourful lanterns hanging from building to building, Hoi An is a magical place with an almost Disney like vibe. It is pedestrianised so there were no cars or motor bikes to dodge here and instead of horns, we were able to hear Vietnamese music playing quietly in the streets. Hoi An is known for its tailors that can whip up a dress from nothing but a photograph so your first day would be a good time to get your order in so it can be perfected before you leave.

Be sure to sample some of the dishes that can only be found in Hoi An. The White Rose is very popular although my favourite dish had to be a bowl of Cao Lau from the indoor food market. Named  after its chewy yellow noodles, it comes with slices of pork, huge dried noodle croutons and a sweet BBQ sauce.

Whilst Hoi An is beautiful in the daytime, it’s when night falls that it really comes into its own. The lanterns light up the streets and candles float along the river; its pretty magical. We ate in the restaurants but my favourite evening was spent eating street food on tiny stalls on the bank of the river; we couldn't resist a boat ride afterwards!

During our stay here in central Vietnam we took a day to explore the My Son temples - another UENSCO site of ancient Hindu temples similar to Angkor Wat so I was told. It was very busy and of course full of tourists but an incredible place worth visiting. We decided to do the morning tour although they do have sunrise tours as well. On our last day, we took an afternoon ride in a bamboo boat to an eco-village. After our fun on the river, we were taken to our guides home where we cooked a traditional Vietnamese feast with her mum. 

Days 8, 9, 10 & 11: North East Vietnam, Halong Bay

After another early morning flight, we spent one day and night in Hanoi before we left for Halong Bay; that meant that we were able to leave our luggage at the hostel and just take a smaller bag with us for the short trip to the bay. We booked our tour though the hostel a few months prior which I would recommend as they got booked up quite quickly and this incredible place is a must for any trip to Vietnam. Our two night, three day cruise on Cristina Diamond was our priciest expense at $250 (that’s more than we spent on food, accommodation and activity on the other 10 days put together) but a definite highlight of the trip (yes, there is a full post to come don't worry) and you can find it cheaper on a lower quality boat if you are keeping to a budget. Whilst most people only book on to the 1 night cruise, we got to spend our extra day sailing around the limestone islands on an almost a private tour with just one other couple and not another boat in sight, we could have been the only tourist in the whole of the bay for all we knew. Whilst the government had banned any kayaking and swimming in the bay that week, instead we explored caves, took a row boat out and went out with some local fishermen as well as having a BBQ lunch and an afternoon nap in the sunshine. It was just what we needed.

Days 12 & 13: North Vietnam, Hanoi

Hanoi is a wonderful place to get lost in so that's what we did during our first day back there. The things we saw include Hoan Kiem lake, the train street, the temple of literaure, the flag tower and the Ho Chi Mihn complex. After ticking off some of the tourist spots, we spent a lot of time wandering around the Old Quarter. Like I said, I fell totally in love with Hanoi.

By the evening we had mastered the streets went off to explore the amazing weekend night market before finding ourselves on Hanoi's famous beer street. The atmosphere was electric with locals and travelers lining the streets on tiny plastic stools. Another fun thing to try one evening is the water puppet show on the edge of the lake before wandering around that area, it's full of activity in the evenings.

For food, we went back to a new day restaurant again and again for meals that were less than $2. On my last night, we spent the last of our dong on dinner at the lantern lounge which was a much more relaxed and classy affair. Of course there was also lots of street food, pho for breakfast, Che, which I didn't like so much and of course fresh fruit of demand. I bought a freshly chopped pineapple from this lady for 30p.

We did take one day trip out of Hanoi to visit Tam Coc which translates to Three Caves. There we took an hour long row boat along the river and in and out of the three caves. Whilst this trip could have been amazing, it cost us alot more than the others and we had a little bit of an issue with our boat lady demanding money from us once we were away from any other boats so I'm not sure that's a trip that I would recommend.

Day 14: London

Another 12 hours later and I was departing Heathrow airport, bound straight for the office.

More Vietnam Posts:
Townhouse 373 Hostel Review 
Cruising Halong Bay 

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