A jungle trek: AKA: 9km of walking in the sweltering heat, everyone else in the group is that little bit fitter, dodging all kinds of dangerous creatures, steep mountains, sweating, thirsty, leeches, mosquito bites, and of course you’re absolutely knackered. This is the idea I had of trekking before I actually did one. Of course I was going to tackle one, but having no treks to compare it to and no real idea of how hard it was going to be I naturally thought the worst.

Chiang Mai is definitely the place to give it a go. I’m far from a ‘jungly’ kind of person-I actually hate all kinds of creepy crawlies too so if you’re anything like me this place is a good start. I can even recommend an excellent hostel which provides a trekking package.

We went with ‘Libra’ guesthouse, google it and you will find the address. These people are amazingly friendly and put on such a good tour. For 50 quid, you get so much for your money. Included in the price is, transport to and from the jungle, 4 meals, overnight in a hill tribe, elephant washing and riding, the guides for the 9k walk, walking shoes, hot springs, bamboo rafting, and white water rafting. At night after everyone had eaten, they lit a fire, so everyone can socialize etc and have a few drinks. It was such good value for money and you get to meet so many people.

I can’t recommend it enough for anyone that is planning on going Thailand. We shopped around and this place was the cheapest. It is really tiring and most of the things which I mentioned above are true, but you get a huge sense of achievement when you finish the trek and that’s not all you get to do, there’s much more to it.

If you can get hold of some loose tobacco, get some as it helps to keep leeches at bay. We wet it and rubbed it into our feet and legs. We didn’t think it would work but all of us that used it didn’t get one leech (thank god) whilst people that didn’t use any did.

The lady who runs Libra is really lovely too, she gives you a room to lock all your belongings in for the night!

Wherever you end up in Asia, it’s definitely worth testing out your culinary skills and adding a cookery course to your list of things ‘to do.’ We did one in Siem Reap, Cambodia and it really was worth the $10 each, which included a trip to the market (to work out what some of these weird looking veggies and herbs you keep spotting are), a t-shirt and 3 course meal, and of course the chef’s guidance.

The Khmer Amok is Cambodia’s signature dish, although I opted for the Khmer Curry, for the simple fact of this ‘supposedly’ being not as creamy as the Amok (for waistline purposes). I realised how mistaken I was when I found myself pouring almost a full can of coconut milk in. Oh well, you can’t be good all of the time can you.

This is a way to learn different spices you’ve never heard of, appreciate cultures of a certain Country as well as being able to cook something new for your friends and family when you return home. We had a really good day and stuffed ourselves big time!

Ingredients for spice paste:

2 sticks of lemongrass

1 shallot

2 cloves of garlic

1 lime leaf

1 finger of tumeric

1 slice of galingal

Chili’s (as many/little as you want)

Finely dice all of the above ingredients on a chopping board. Then, to turn into a paste add:

1 tbsp of crushed peanuts

4 tbsp of chilli oil

1 tbsp of olive oil

1 tsp of shrimp paste

1 pinch of salt

Half a teaspoon of coriander seeds

2 star anise

1 tsp cinnamon powder

Blend all of these into a smooth paste. Heat a pan and fry your paste for a minute, adding whatever meat you would like (I opted for shrimp).  Add coconut milk (as little or as much as you like) and leave to simmer for 20 minutes. Serve with rice.

So, face to face (ish) I’m giving my best hostels, the ones which have really stood out and provided the best services and the best nights sleep all for someone on a tight budget. I only remember the name but if you Google the name and the city it will come up I’m sure. We stayed in more than just the ones I am recommending, it’s just they didn’t stand out as much as the gems below.

                                                        USA

 Green Tortoise: San Francisco. My fave hostel ever. They have sooooo many free things it’s unreal, including free meal 3 times a week and free breakfast every day (they are delicious too) It has a kitchen to cook in, massive communal area and free coffee and tea all day. They really do provide an amazing service all at a good price!

Music City Hostel: Nashville. This place was so chilled out with a lovely garden area-really enjoyed it here.

Motel 6: Las Vegas. This place was spotlessly clean, modern, sooo cheap, provided free morning coffee and has a pool area. Motel 6 are slowly renovating all of the motel’s in their chain, we stayed in a few other places (Carpenteria, California) all were very nice too.

                                                               China

Rock and Wood international Youth Hostel, Shanghai: This place is decked out like it’s a 4 star hotel! Amazing value for money, excellent communal areas lovely staff.

                                                             Vietnam

Central Backpackers: Hanoi. Free beer every night, breakfast included. This was the cheapest place we found.

Sunflower: Hoi An. Amazing massive all you can eat breakfast, cheap, clean and spacious. They also provide a free minibus to the main area every hour!

Duc Vuong: Ho Chi Minh. Free evening meal and all you can eat breakfast-If you can put up with the whole ‘we are family’ thing then this place is well worth the money.

                                                  Cambodia

Rega, Kep. This place is stunning. It’s so private and the garden is lovely. The price is fantastic and the food is the cheapest in the area.

                                                  Thailand.

Thara house, Bangkok. It’s really hard to find cheap places in Bangkok, most of the hotels were high end ones. We struggled to find somewhere that was like a hostel. I wouldn’t say this was amazing, it’s very basic but very clean and the cheapest we found after walking Bangkok for about an hour,. It’s only 300B per night for a double room and free wifi, a little away from Khao San road too so you actually get a good sleep.

 Libra Guesthouse, Chiang Mai. This place is amazing, the people who run it are super helpful and friendly. It’s a very sociable place and the Jungle tour which they run is the best value for money we found.

                                                          Bali

Dewi Ayu, Ubud.  Very good value for money, large spacious rooms with extra friendly staff. They provide a good, filling breakfast. This was the cheapest in Ubud that we found.

Touching down at Denpasar airport Bali, tired, itching to get straight to your hotel, (or in our case-having to heave our backpacks in the blistering heat for at least an hour trying to find a place to stay) the last thing you want to do is get ripped off by a taxi to Kuta which literally is a few miles away.

You get swarms of taxi drivers ready to pounce on you as soon as you leave arrivals and they all claim to give you a ‘good price.’ Whatever you do, don’t get in any of these taxis. They are massively overpriced and the beauty of Denpasar Airport is that is is literally smack bang in the middle of everything. Most airports I’ve been to have been in the middle of nowhere, meaning you have no option but to take the rip off transport to your destination. We got a quote just out of interest to see what they would charge 250,000 Indonesian rupees (which is about 16 quid) which is ridiculous considering the short distance.

If you come out of the Airport doors after baggage collection, turn right and keep walking for a few minutes, you’ll come to a main road where you can easily flag a taxi down. This is the bit where you have to keep your eyes open, what you need to look for are the ‘Bluebird taxi group’. Many types try and copy the logo so tourists get confused. On the front window, you’ll see ‘The Bluebird Group,’ very light blue coloured with a small bird on the front doors. Like I said, many people try and copy this logo, but if it doesn’t have the writing on the front window, they are not the legitimate ‘Bluebird’ that you need to get.  We got charged 25,000 Indonesian Rupees between three of us, which is 1.70, compared to 16!

It might not sound very pricy to some people, but if you are on a tight budget like me, these little tips really do help and save you some pennies for an actual activity.

I just wanted to warn you, this actually does happen. Someone is in  where all of the bags are kept and they have a good 16 hours to trawl through everyone’s luggage! I’ll give them this, they put everyone’s things back in and close it all back up, considerate eh! We all had our bags rifled, all of my winter clothes were right at the top, I hadn’t touched them for months so I knew for a fact they were always at the bottom. This was the same for everyone I had spoken to. This seems obvious when I say keep all of your important valuables on you up top at all times, but we saw people throwing all of their bags under including laptops! Crazy! Nothing got taken as my clothes and toilets are pretty worthless.

I’d imagine that it’s all the same company from Bangkok to Chiang Mai for 350 baht so watch out. We wondered why they had all the bags off before we had chance to get off and why they sped off so quickly. This will just continue time and time again, as we would never go back to Bangkok in order to complain so they would just keep getting away with it!

For some reason, we overlooked this and as a result have been traveling Asia at the peak of their rainy season! Awesome planning eh! Oh and just as we leave Thailand (of course when their nice warm weather begins), we fly to Indonesia, where of course their rainy season should be in full swing! Great!

Well first of all, you mighth look at that statement and think, how stupid, it actually isn’t as bad as it seems. The peak season for people to travel South East Asia starts in early November, give or take a couple of weeks, had we known this, we would have been putting travel off for a very long time which we would never have wanted to do.

Another reason I like to use to justify my lack of planning is the fact that you can often get a room on a ‘how much you wanna pay?’ basis. So, we’ve been getting the same rooms for half the price and more. Also, the fact that the weather isn’t as hot on a night as it would be in peak season means you can get away with a fan room, again cheaper still. All working in our favour! This can also be true for trips and excursions too, haggling is a lot easier when there are fewer tourists.

Then, there’s the weather in general. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I am absolutely terrible at handling the heat. I can’t imagine how I’d get around site seeing in the stifling high season weather.

When you imagine what it would be like to travel in the rainy season, you immediately think of monsoon style, constant hammering down with rain. This couldn’t be further from the truth, half an hour here or there with actual sun in between, (unless of course you are in India :-/). Although it isn’t much of a laugh when you do get caught in a sudden downpour, rain macs and half and hour of waiting around until it eases will usually solve the problem.

Not to sound unsociable, but the fact that there are fewer people around in rainy season helps. You can get around easier; less crowds (especially in places like Bangkok which I imagine would be a nightmare) you can pretty much get a room on arrival and seats at your favourite places to eat etc.

Maybe there‘s hope for the weather on the beaches of the Thai Islands which we are yet to explore (or so I hope.)

Overall, it doesn’t seem like a bad time to travel. People are generally put off by the rainy season travel and it really isn’t a problem. We’ve managed it and even threw a few beaches in there as well. Don’t let it put you off, it’s fine, honestly.

Whitening, lightening and brightening are all words that are common in the world of beauty for an Asian woman. In fact, whitening is becoming increasingly common in both male and female products and as you look around any beauty counters you will see there must be a huge demand for it, the shelves are brimming with them.

The use of creams and make up etc to change the actual tone, shade and colour of your skin is something as normal to people here in South East Asia as it is to some Western people that choose to use fake tan.

You would think it was the same, until you actually realise that people here are applying something which is somewhat permanent, unlike fake tans which are washed off or fade, causing no damage to the skin.

Surely, something which bleaches skin pigments cannot be in any way good for the skin, never mind the unhealthy obsession with wanting to be lighter in the first place. I often see these women ferociously shielding their skin from the sun behind sun parasols, isn’t that a tell tale sign?

It has intrigued me for months now as I’ve tried and failed to buy skin creams for myself which don’t actually contain any kind of whitening.

I wish I could ask someone their personal reasons for wanting to lighten their skin and why they fail to realise the colour of their skin is lovely in the first place. Could it be the huge Western influence, maybe celebrities seen as being beautiful with a lighter skin colour? The list could actually go on for a long time.

I was personally shocked at how big the market is for this kind of cream over here.

Crazy!

Do you think it’s any different to just applying fake tan to darken your skin?

Before going to Vang Vieng I had a perception of the place which I’m sure many people had before they went themselves, its all about the drinking and tubing. Obviously that is true to a certain extent as it is the main cash cow of the place, so the locals do focus on it quite a lot. I’m pretty sure that lots of tourists only ever see the true beauty through glazed over eyes after a few beers heading down the Nam Song River on a tube.

I wanted to show people that there’s more to Vang Vieng than just tubing and it’s a shame to miss out on the other beautiful sights of the area.

You see tuk tuks and tour operators which have signs outside saying ‘waterfall tours’ etc. We totally avoided all of these ‘rip off’s’ to put it simply. As ever, we were looking for ways to get over these ‘tourist price’ scams, so we hired a moped, 40,000kip for 24 hours, (around 5pounds). This allowed us to visit places over a 2 day period, excellent value for money.

The bike shops give you a map so you can easily find all of the caves and waterfalls yourself. Everything is within 10km of the town so you don’t need to put much petrol in either. So off we went, having saved around 20pound per person!bargain!

Whilst there, we saw Khoung Si Waterfall, the Blue Lagoon and Phoukham Cave. These were all truly stunning, and all really cheap to get in. The fact that I’d been in Asia for a few months before coming to Vang Vieng, never seeing anything as beautiful as these before really made them stand out in my mind.

The Blue Lagoon takes a bit of effort, biking up a fair few hills and then the actual walk to it is a bit jungle like and extremely muddy. It is so worth it for the sights though, and if you are feeling adventurous, you can go caving. They provide a headtorch and you can work your way through this very tiny hole in the side of the cave. I’ll admit, that’s a bit much for me so we opted out.

There’s definitely more to see and do in Vang Vieng than just tubing, it’s a shame people actually miss out on seeing them too. I’m sure the constant, endless, depressing loop of ‘Friends’ episodes for 4 days straight will grind you down at some point. Maybe if you are lucky, you’ll get some Family guy thrown in there!

Stacey

Questions always arise like ‘What if you want to go but nobody else does? Or, you really want to sack the real world off for an extended period like a year, but don’t think you can hack your buddy for all of that time? Or, what if you go with your boyfriend and end up driving each other insane and maybe even breaking up as a result of being together 24/7? The list could go on and on.

There are stories of solid, life long friends falling out because they saw annoying habits on a daily basis and couldn’t hack each other any more, which is a massive shame in my eyes. Problems/issues that occur whilst traveling between groups of friends or couples are mostly magnified to be worse than what they actually would be if you were back home. You aren’t really in the real world in terms of how you may deal with things/handle your emotions due to things like the stifling heat, long (and I mean long) stressful bus journeys, different cultures, being miles from home and general home sickness.

You have to take that into account as stresses which can push people to the brink when trying to handle emotions in every day travel. Also, in what normal world would you spend every waking, eating, laughing, crying moment with the exact same people? You just don’t see people that much, and quite honestly, who is seriously happy every single minute of every day? You tend to share out your moods equally with people that you come across throughout the day, i.e bad mood take out on boyfriend for a bit type of thing.

So you are bound to see every single side of a person on a constant loop.

I have been lucky enough to go with my lovely boyfriend Alex who has been the best travel partner I could have asked for (he has put up with a lot from me to be honest). We’ve had our fair share of full scale rows, we wouldn’t be normal if we didn’t would we? Who else could you have a massive rant at about the most ridiculous thing in the world and make up 10 minutes later? I know that with friends this is difficult.

There has been ‘the chat’s’ where we have said look, we are partners in this and shouldn’t be battling against each other. Compromise is the key, and trying to remain calm when things out of your control happen.

Think about it, what have you got to be angry/moody about? You are seeing the most beautiful sights in the world, not working, and having the time of your life!

I just want to make people aware about these things so they don’t ruin their most precious relationships, I know this can happen!

Just think about who would be the best people to go with now you know all of this, maybe, nobody at all? Lone travel is definitely an option; although I don’t have any tips on this I’m afraid.

Good luck xx

‘Who to go travelling with.’ Answering this question isn’t as easy as it first seems, and is probably something you’d think of early on in the initial planning stages of your trip.

Questions always arise like ‘What if you want to go but nobody else does? Or, you really want to sack the real world off for an extended period like a year, but don’t think you can hack your buddy for all of that time? Or, what if you go with your boyfriend and end up driving each other insane and maybe even breaking up as a result of being together 24/7? The list could go on and on.

There are stories of solid, life long friends falling out because they saw annoying habits on a daily basis and couldn’t hack each other any more, which is a massive shame in my eyes. Problems/issues that occur whilst traveling between groups of friends or couples are mostly magnified to be worse than what they actually would be if you were back home. You aren’t really in the real world in terms of how you may deal with things/handle your emotions due to things like the stifling heat, long (and I mean long) stressful bus journeys, different cultures, being miles from home and general home sickness.

You have to take that into account as stresses which can push people to the brink when trying to handle emotions in every day travel. Also, in what normal world would you spend every waking, eating, laughing, crying moment with the exact same people? You just don’t see people that much, and quite honestly, who is seriously happy every single minute of every day? You tend to share out your moods equally with people that you come across throughout the day, i.e bad mood take out on boyfriend for a bit type of thing.

So you are bound to see every single side of a person on a constant loop.

I have been lucky enough to go with my lovely boyfriend Alex who has been the best travel partner I could have asked for. We’ve had our fair share of full scale rows, we wouldn’t be normal if we didn’t would we? Who else could you have a massive rant at about the most ridiculous thing in the world and make up 10 minutes later? I know that with friends this is difficult and arguements may occur at some point, as long as no grudges are held things should be ok.

There has been ‘the chat’s’ where we’ve said look, we should try our hardest and not be battling against each other. Compromise is the key, and trying to remain calm when things out of your control happen.

Think about it, what have you got to be angry/moody about? You are seeing the most beautiful sights in the world, not working, and having the time of your life!

I just want to make people aware about these things so they don’t ruin their most precious relationships, I know this can happen!

Just think about who would be the best people to go with now you know all of this, maybe, nobody at all? Lone travel is definitely an option; although I don’t have any tips on this I’m afraid.

Good luck xx

There’s something about traveling and being away from the UK which gives you this new found ability to become an expert haggler. I’ll admit, I’ve always been a shy haggler; not really daring to ask for a cheeky discount here and there when I felt something was overpriced. It is in our culture to accept prices in the UK as ‘set in stone’ and I know that it could be seen as embarrassing for some people to even attempt it. So why does it seem like something you must do on a daily basis when out and about in, say a travel agents in Hanoi, Vietnam? Or wondering around the bustling markets of Luang Prabang, Laos?

Personally, I think it’s because locals will try it on with you in the first place something which starts at $50 dollars could soon end up being brought down to $15. They see you coming and add an extra amount known as ‘foreigners’ prices.’

It is something which you should get seriously involved with if you want to save money and budget your trip. It is definitely a tactic to get involved with that will help prolong your trip. Some Countries, such as Cambodia usually expect this sort of thing and welcome it as some sort of banter! So, don’t be shy about it and give it a go, you’ll save so much money.

We’re shameless with it now we have mastered the art to perfection, clothes, hotels, bust tickets-you name it! However, It will stop in the UK on our return, It doesn’t have the same effect back home! Or could it?