Our feelings of apprehension were soon quashed upon arrival in Jakarta. To get around and see the sights we hired a driver for the day, which we convinced ourselves was a justified expense, as we only wanted to spend one day in the city and it was the best way to escape the debilitating heat. We visited Mesjid Istiqlal, which is the largest mosque in South East Asia. We felt very intimidated when we got mistaken for being American, but once we convinced the secur...

After a fantastically comfortable bus ride (the best one so far) and a tortuously long boarder control we arrived in Singapore and were absolutely amazed at how clean the city is. It's a great place and a fab shopping destination. Definitely a city to visit when the wallet is filled to bursting with cash. As travellers on a budget we found it really expensive and were glad to be there for only two days. Like most tourists we got onto a "hop on and hop off" tour b...

We left Phi Phi at 9am to catch the first ferry to Krabi for our connecting bus to Hat Yai, where we had to catch a train to Malaysia. The anticipated smooth journey turned into a nightmare when we were loaded into a taxi after having to part with more money, to try and catch up to the train at the next station on the Thai boarder. After racing at break neck speed and fearing for our lives, we were very relieved to board the train with less than ten minutes to sp...

We left Cambodia on a very bumpy, dusty dirt road and arrived in Bangkok a darker shade of brown. The great tan we thought we had, washed away in the shower along with all the dust and grime we swallowed along the way. The journey was very eventful as our bus nearly capsized whilst crossing a swollen river. After Bangkok we headed to the islands for some R&R (rest and relaxation). Our first port of call was Koh Tao (Turtle Island) where we chose the quieter...

We arrived in Phnom Penh, Cambodia in a record time of 5 hours, as our driver didn't think it was necessary to stop for a pee break. We stayed in a guesthouse overlooking Boeng Kak lake which offered beautiful sunset views and made you forget about the eyesore of a road that lay outside and the fact that the guesthouse doubled up as a brothel. Not really....we just witnessed a young girl being organised for an elderly gentleman. Shortly after introductions were m...