OK so I'm not technically in KL anymore, but it sounds a lot more exotic than Southport, my current location! I've found myself at a bit of a loose end since returning from my Asian adventure, so I thought I'd write one last installment before the whole experience is erased from my mind completely, it already feels like I never went away! So welcome to the first ever Bollywood Backpack Awards, a tribute to all the amazing places we visited our on travels… ...

It only took us 6 months but we finally found our Paradise Island & guess what, its not in Thailand! The Perfect Perhentian Islands are 25km off the North East Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, we hadnt even heard of them until we started this trip, but they did not disappoint! A chance encounter with an crazy old Mancunian guy in India, told us we had to come here & I'm soooo glad we did! There are actually 2 islands, we chose the smaller Island - Kecil, w...

All is forgiven Thailand! After the horrors of Koh Pagnan, we finally discovered that all the beautiful beaches were hiding on theWest coast. I'm talking picture perfect; powdery white sand, crystal clear blue sea, amazing sunsets & towering limestone mountains sitting like bookends on either side of the beach, creating the perfect horizon! Phi Phi was our first stop & we totally lucked out with the weather & had glorious sunshine the whole time, whic...

After the trauma of Diving & the carnage that followed, I was really looking forward to chilling on some beautiful beaches & preparing ourselves for the half moon party in a few days time, but arriving on Koh Pangnan we were majorly disappointed. We stupidly headed to Hat Rin which is where the notorious full moon party is held & is basically like the West End of Ibiza, hideous. The place is full of Gap Year Students drinking buckets & the beach i...

For the last 4 days, I have been back to school, training for my PADI Diving qualifictaion, which has been traumatic. Despite my previous Sincronised Swimming experience, it turns out that when it comes to Diving, rather like my hair, I'm not a natural. It all started off so well, we did 2 hours of classroom on the first day, then hit the swimming pool on the second day, learning how to breathe underwater & set up all the equipment. Piece of Piss, or so I t...