After visiting Angkor and the amazing temples of Siem Reap you might be wondering what else there is to do in the small city. The temples might dominate most visitors agendas and indeed the majority of their time here, and rightly so, but if you want to escape the flashing lights of Pub Street and […]
South East Asia
A guide to Saigon: The crazy, chaotic and claustrophobic second city of Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City!
Known as Ho Chi Minh city since the late 70’s the city is still often referred to as Saigon by pretty much everyone…even VC vets we’ve spoken to! Saigon is a busy, bustling, crazy kind of place, it almost makes you feel like you can’t get your breath at times. With the worlds largest number of […]
The unbelievable paradise Gili islands between Lombok and Bali where you can swim with turtles! Indonesia!
The Gili islands Indonesia are three small Islands (Gili actually means small island in the local language of Lombok) off the coast of Lombok in the sea between it and Bali. These three islands are complete paradise, no cars, continuous immaculate beaches, crystal clear turquoise waters filled with corals and amazing sea life, little cottages […]
Why you shouldn’t judge Bali: The beautiful, culture filled and diverse island beyond the tourists!
Bali is a destination that seems to split opinion. Many flock their due to its popularity, especially backpackers and Australian tourists. Others avoid it like the plague exactly because of that, considering it to be too touristy and lacking in real culture. The truth is we were very interested to visit to see the reality […]
How to get to the paradise islands of Java, Bali, Lombok and the Gilis in Indonesia
Travelling between the islands of Indonesia is pretty easy with most of the most visited being close enough to comfortably take the ferry. However there are many options and booking them can be confusing and often the most irritating part of the journey is organising transport once on the island as public transport in Indonesia […]
Climbing the smouldering live volcano Kawah Ijen in protective masks for sunrise over the sulphuric acid lake and blue flame crater, Indonesia!
After being on a packed bus for 15 hours, sleeping for 2 and heading up to the impressive Mt. Bromo on Java we could have been forgiven for taking a break! But no, not us! It was onwards and literally upwards to climb our second active volcano in as many days and with probably as […]
A guide to Yogyakarta, the historic heart of Java we fell in love with, Indonesia!
When we heading over to Yogyakarta (pronounced Jogjakarta and often spelt like this too) from Jakarta we had really no idea what there was to do here. In fact we always just saw it as a kind of pit stop for heading off over to Mt Bromo rather than a destination in its own right. But […]
The incredible ancient Borobudur temple: The largest Buddhist temple in the world, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
The largest Buddhist temple in the world, a huge monument to this religion standing mysteriously atop a hill on the outskirts of Yogyakarta. Ever since I saw images of the characteristic and unique perforated stupas around the top of this enormous temple I knew it was somewhere I just had to visit. One of the […]
A guide to Jakarta, the surprisingly beautiful and interesting capital of Indonesia!
After being in Manila directly before coming to Jakarta, a city we had mixed feelings about, somewhere overcrowded with traffic, poverty, inequality, grime and crime, we expected much the same in Jakarta. Though there were shades of similarities, being huge sprawling cities with unregulated development, traffic jams and chaos, we found Jakarta to be surprisingly […]
A guide to the isolated island of Coron and its many beautiful islands, Lagoons, wrecks and beaches, Philippines.
Most people have gathered by now that the Philippines is paradise, though there does seem to be some out there that still need a little convincing of this. Sure it’s not Thailand or The Seychelles, but that’s a good thing! Here on the small and unassuming island of Coron off the northern end of the […]
How to get from El Nido to Coron: A Guide for the Coron to El Nido ferry, Philippines
The tiny island of Coron off the north end of Palawan might seem quite remote and hard to get to. However for such a small and unassuming place the sheer beauty that can be found here means many flock to its turquoise waters and powder white sand beaches for a slice of paradise! However, depending […]
El Nido island hopping: unbelievable turquoise waters to the awe inspiring Big Lagoon and hidden beaches of Palawan, Philippines!
El Nido, on the island of Palawan in the Philippines is paradise on earth! Crystal clear warm turquoise waters, amazing limestone formations, pristine secret beaches, hidden lagoons and perfect weather! No wonder after 9 months backpacking we couldn’t wait to drop our bags and hop straight onto one of the traditional wooden boats and sail […]
Exploring the Bako National Park Borneo: Stepping into the real Jurassic Park that is teeming with amazing animals, wildlife and jaw dropping landscapes!
When we decided to visit Borneo we did so to see the amazing wild life, to explore the dense and otherworldly jungles and rain forest, to delve into nature and see some unforgettable sights. One of the best and easiest to reach places to do this is Bako National Park Borneo, from the Croc infested […]
The two day trek up the 13,435 ft Mt. Kinabalu on Malaysian Borneo, a true adventure!
Climbing Mount Kinabalu, one of the tallest mountains in South East Asia had been one of the first things I wrote down on our “to do” list in the region. As the list inevitably grew over time and encompassed some amazing and immense bucket list experiences and many more we didn’t even know about until […]
Seeing Orangutans in Borneo: A magical experience seeing this fascinating endangered animal in its natural setting.
Flying over to the Malaysian part of Borneo most have one main objective: To see the endangered Orangutans in their natural environment in the only place in the world where they exist. With dwindling numbers over the last few decades this bucket list item is even harder to tick. However with many amazing conservation areas […]