Today we arrived in Bangkok! The markets are buzzing with tuk tuks, motorbikes, market sellers and a background of rustic dusty coloured buildings. Annabelle got us lost on the way to Chinatown and we found ourselves in the impoverished backstreets with groups of people staring at us and shouting that we were going the wrong way. We could laugh about it later eating magnums in our air conditioned hotel room!

People told me Bangkok would be an assault to the senses but I didn’t realise the extent to which this was true. I could still smell the market smells of rotting vegetables and meat whilst eating dinner at a 1930s restaurant in Chinatown 😩

We finished the day looking at the Bangkok skyline from our hotel roof. Overall we’re really enjoying all the craziness!

Today we saw another side to Bangkok - the beautiful uptown area filled with temples and palaces. We started at the Grand Palace (home to Thailand’s previous Kings). Here we had our first challenge when we were promptly stopped by security at the gate and told that my white shawl was too see-through and my shoulders needed to be covered. We begrudgingly were taken to a little shop where I had to spend £5 on a cringey ‘Thailand’ top filled with multi-coloured elephants. The palace was so beautiful though.

Later we visited two temples. The first, Wat Pho, has an enormous reclining golden Buddha. Here we were able to see a Buddhist monk bless several families. In the second, Wot Arun, we got caught in a monsoon. We waited for half an hour wondering whether we should just brave it and run back to the boat or stay until they kick us out. We eventually went for it and arrived on the boat completely drenched. So desperate to get home we called aside a tuk tuk and bartered to get home. He definitely tried to capitalise on our desperation but we stood our ground.

At night we saw a ping pong show which was interesting...

We woke up feeling a bit worse for wear after a fun night out. In the last place we went to on Khao San Road (famous street for backpackers) we searched for a bar to serve us. We hadn’t realised that we had decided to go out on the night of a national holiday in Thailand which prohibits bars staying open after midnight. No place would serve us...except one. A lady smuggled us into a small Thai bar where we had our drinks and were asked to speak quietly as the police were patrolling outside. The lights were off and there was no music but we made the most of it.

Today we took it a little easier and went to the home of a famous silk maker and businessman, Jim Thompson. The house was designed in the traditional Thai style with a beautiful jungle-like garden.

After this we gathered our things and went to the train station. There was quite a strange moment when the national anthem blared out of the TV and everyone stood to join in.

We are now taking a sleeper train to Khao Sok National Park to visit the rainforest.

We woke up having not slept too well on the sleeper train as the cabin was bright and hot and some guy was laughing randomly every 10 minutes. We got off at our stop at 6.30am and went to the first cafe we found which served us coffee made with condensed milk and some unknown battered delicious pastries - all for 45p!

We took several shared vans to Khao Sok national park. From the pier we took a boat along the lake through the rainforest to our floating bungalows. We ate traditional Thai cuisine including green curry and chicken soup made with chunks of melon.

We then took a trek through the rainforest. At the end the guide stopped me to take something off my leg - it turned out to be a leech! This wasn’t ideal but at the same time I felt pretty adventurous and quite enjoyed bragging to the rest of the group about it. We took a second bamboo boat out towards some caves and did some caving. The guide had fun showing us tiger spiders and hunting for scorpions which again wasn’t ideal. On the main boat back to the bungalow we were caught in a monsoon (again) and arrived for dinner like we’d just swam there.

We finished the day off sitting on the veranda listening to crickets and watching little lizards climb up our windows.

This morning we woke up bright and early for a ‘morning mist boat ride’ down the lake. We then took our kayak and rowed some more towards a little island before quickly heading back as the rain came in.

On the boat ride back to the mainland the monsoon decided to return. We gave up searching for our raincoats (which were soaked from yesterday) and took the rain head on.

We travelled to our next venue, a tree house deeper in the jungle. As we were quite restricted with the torrential rain we decided to skip out on the jungle life for the night and watch ‘The Beach’ on my tablet with a fanta and rum🍹

We started off the day at 7.30 with banana pancakes at the treehouse restaurant. I thought I hallucinated when I saw a large creature jump from a tree and then stopped to realise it was a monkey! I stood watching it in awe for a full 10 seconds.

We left the jungle and got 4 buses and a ferry to Ko Phangan. Driving through the town we saw lots of shops with motorbikes for rent. We discussed renting one and then witnessed a guy fall off his quite dramatically in the rain. After initially swearing we’d never ride one, we’ve been convinced by the desk lady at our hotel to try it out because ‘it’s a cheap way to see the island’. I hope we don’t die tomorrow.

We’re staying in a beautiful little community of Bungalows built on the sand overlooking the sea. It comes with a volleyball net, infinity pool and wooden swing on the beach! All the people here were recovering from the full moon party last night. We overheard some interesting conversations at lunch which included:

‘I got a tattoo on the side of my leg...and I don’t even know what it means’

‘Do you want to go to a sweet techno party on Friday night?’

‘That girl was a boom ting’

Also, when we went to check out the infinity pool and have a swim we witnessed a full on instagram photoshoot which went on for over an hour - I’ve never seen so many angles and poses. Annabelle could not do her breast stroke.

This feels quite different to the jungle!

So we decided against the motorbikes. Actually we bounded down the stairs to reception excited to rent one before the owner hastily advised us against it. This was because we’d never ridden one before and apparently ‘Phangan is not the island to start...people drive like crazy down the roads, some drunk and it’s also very bumpy’.

So instead we decided to walk along the south west coast. Ko Phangan literally means ‘the island of the sand dunes’. We found this to be the case and found lots of sand banks on our walk. We set up our towels on one of them and imagined it was our own island surrounded by water. I searched for crabs and sea cucumbers whilst Annabelle crawled in the shallow waters waiting for it to get deep enough to swim (it didn’t - she went out the length of a football field and it was still way below her knees!)

We went through town on our way home. It was full of restaurants, beauty parlours, tattooists, coconut shell dump sites and people zooming down the road on motorbikes.

We were inspired seeing all the massage parlours to get Thai massages back at the Bungalows which was lovely.

Today we got a ferry to Koh Samui. I was recommended this island by several people who all said it was one of the most beautiful islands they’d been too. One of my friends actually got married here. Visiting today I could see why. The sands were white and the waters were very clear.

We docked on the north eastern tip of the island on a beach called Bang Rak. After exploring the food market and having lunch we headed down to the beach. We realised we had a huge chunk of the beach to ourselves which we initially thought was amazing... ‘This never happens’. And then we understood why no one else was there...Annabelle descended into the water and yelped out that she was standing in 5 inches of sludge. Looking around we also noticed rubbish along the beach (including a lighter and a flip flop) and a lot of dead fish. The first one I thought may still have a chance to live and so I threw it back into the sea. But the dead fish didn’t stop coming and we walked past 20 or so on our way up. Turns out we were near the fishermen docking point. So we decided to go find where all the other people were.

I’d read about the two most famous beaches on the island and found that one of them, Chaweng, was close. We hailed a cab and took off there. Chaweng was like a piece of paradise. Jewellery, ice cream and sarong sellers walked up and down the beach. We bought matching anklets, joining every other western visitor who wants to show the world they’ve lived the ‘traveller life’. We swam in the sea and drank cokes on our towels - it was lovely!

On our way back home we sat on the beach waiting to board our ferry. Here I had one of the best times I’ve had on this trip, watching the sun setting over the sea.

The majority of today was spent travelling from Koh Phangan to the Phi Phi Islands. It took 11 hours to get from the Bungalows to our new accommodation.

Nothing much interesting happened other than on the ferry ride from Krabi to Koh Phi Phi. I sat on the top deck to read my book in the sun. It was all peace and quiet until ten minutes in a group of 8 rowdy Irish guys (clearly on a lads holiday) came up. They were yelling, taking photos and just generally being loud. Everyone on the top deck got up and left...the peace was ruined. And then to make it worse one took out portable speakers and started blasting club music. But then something strange happened. The music changed from generic dance tracks to the least likely songs I’d ever imagine to hear from them. The boys sang along to the following (and not in a taking the mick kind of way):

- Halo by Beyoncé

- A whole new world by Zayn for the new Aladdin film

- Teenage dream by Katy Perry - the Glee version

- My Hearts a Stereo - the Glee version

- My Heart will go on by Celine Deon

- Roar by Katy Perry

- Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus

Annabelle joined me on the deck and we sang along too.

We’ve come to the Phi Phi islands and are staying on Koh Phi Phi Don which is the only one of the five islands to have inhabitants. It’s very compact and built up with small winding paths snaking through the markets. There seems to be a pirate theme going on and sometimes I feel like we’re on a Thai version of Tortuga. There are also cats EVERYWHERE. They’re lounging around on street corners and market steps enjoying life.

We spent the evening exploring the market and eating sushi at a restaurant on the pier.

Last night we booked onto a boat excursion which we went on today. It was a full day trip around our island (Ko Phi Phi Don) and the second largest island Ko Phi Phi Leh. We took a speedboat at 12.30pm firstly to ‘monkey beach’. This is a tiny beach on the island which has lots of monkeys roaming around! We saw a mother monkey breastfeeding her baby as the father watched over them protectively.

We also snorkelled several times today. Under the water we could see all sorts of tropical fish and coral. The first time we went one of the guides grabbed my hand and took me to see some clown fish. The second time we snorkelled was at ‘shark point’...I wasn’t sure whether to go in or not but the guide told us they were only ‘baby sharks’ so I gave it a go. Unfortunately the same clown fish guide took my hand and swam me out to rocks below a cliff for 50 metres or so. I thought we were only going a couple of metres and then he wouldn’t stop going! We went on swimming against the tide for 5-10 minutes. We then saw several BIG sharks. I saw what looked like a family of sharks following after one another. Despite being scared of them, in that moment I thought they looked really beautiful. He later told me the biggest had been 1.5-2 metres long.

Other things we did today included jumping off the boat in a lagoon, taking photos of Maya Bay (filming location of ‘The Beach’) and snorkelling at night to see bioluminescent plankton.

We woke up late after a night out at the bars/clubs along the beach. Everyone wore fluorescent green rags and body paint and would jump from bar to bar doing different tasks for free shots e.g. skipping using two ropes; hanging from a bar for 1 minute. We did the limbo several times and watched in awe as one man did it on the lowest setting whilst holding a woman.

Today was a bit of a nothing day where we lazed on the beach and went to get a massage and manicure/pedicure. My manicure was stupidly cheap but the downside of this was that the lady took my old nail varnish off by filing it and then painted them grey instead of my chosen pink.

Mainly I spent the day taking pictures of cats (below).

We finished the day at 10pm eating traditional Thai deserts - sticky rice with mango and coconut milk and fried banana dipped in chocolate.

Today was a travelling day. We took the ferry to the mainland (Krabi) and then two planes to Sihanoukville, Cambodia.

We arrived late night. Our first impressions of Cambodia were that it’s quite scary! The roads to our venue aren’t yet roads but bumpy dirt tracks and there were no street lights so it was pitch black at times. Construction sites are everywhere.

We’ve read that Sihanoukville isn’t the prettiest place by far but it’s a ‘gateway to the best islands of Cambodia’ so we’re excited to explore!

We woke up to a much brighter and less scary Cambodia. Our resort is beautiful. It is predominantly made from wood (even the furniture is made of woven pieces of wood) and has a thatched roof. This all adds to the safari/jungle feel here which you properly see outside as there are huge tropical trees everywhere.

For breakfast we had banana and cinnamon pancakes with dragonfruit. We also got coffee to wake us up after crashing from last nights fear-induced adrenaline rush.

We spent the day exploring the beach, eating, drinking cocktails and getting another massage (we don’t know how we’ll live without them when we’re back in England).

We finished the day watching a film on the Khmer Rouge regime, ‘First they killed my father’. Even though it was emotional, we’re glad we watched it to get more of an understanding of Cambodia’s history.

Today we took a ferry for a few hours to another island, Koh Rong Samloem. To get to the pier we went through the main town which was very underdeveloped. The roads were once again beaten tracks, there were construction sites everywhere, workers taking breaks on heaps of debris and litter on the ground.

Koh Rong Samloem was a completely different story. The beach is renowned for being very clean. The sands were the whitest I’ve seen and the sea was the bluest. We spent the afternoon sunbathing, swimming, lounging in hammocks in the sea and drinking coke. Feeling so relaxed we weren’t too keen on going back to the mainland; Sihanoukville - or ‘shit town’ as we overheard some travellers call it.

We took a tuk tuk ride home through the town and that was just another experience entirely. There are no rules on the road, people just go where they want and beep if they’re coming for your space!

We finished the day going to a local shop to buy some aloe vera for our sunburns. The shop owner told me that if my sunburn was still hot she could slice up an aloe vera plant she had and put it in a tub of ice, all for two dollars! I bought it and slathered the natural goo all over myself feeling like a new woman.

After we saw the best of what Sihanoukville has to offer yesterday, today we saw the worst. We went on another snorkelling excursion after we enjoyed the one in Thailand so much. We came across this excursion when a man Mickey found us on the beach a couple of days ago and told us about the delights of ‘Mr Mickeys Tours’. We were promised breakfast, lunch, free soft drinks, access to snorkelling kits, fishing and even the chance to eat sea urchins! What did we get? A day on a boat with a bunch of Cambodian teenagers (presumably Mickey’s friends) having the time of their life eating all the good food and offering us none of it. The snorkelling equipment was filthy and there was no breakfast. Lunch, a baguette with chicken, was on a small beach full of litter. There was no fishing...no eating sea urchin...no soft drinks (just a singular coke). Annabelle prepared herself to find Mickey afterwards and give him a piece of her mind but alas Mickey was nowhere in sight. The lady who looks after us at our accommodation, Ruta, heard that another couple also had a negative experience with ‘Mr Bonds tours’. Ruta thinks Mickey and Mr Bond are one in the same, switching aliases daily and luring naive tourists into his awful tours.

To get over the trauma we finished the day with Khmer massages - it was necessary.

Today was another travelling day. We took a plane from Sihanouk to Siem Reap in north west Cambodia.

Siem Reap is completely different to Sihanoukville/‘shit town’. The streets are much cleaner, there are actual roads (!), and tropical greenery overgrows everywhere.

A tuk tuk picked us up from the airport and took us to our new accommodation. For only £13 each per night it’s like a 5 star hotel! It has two pools - one with salt water and one with spring water. The buildings are in the beautiful traditional style you associate with Asian architecture and there are huge wooden Cambodian carvings on the walls. As soon as we arrived staff gave us fresh mint towels and passion fruit juice. We were shown our room which has the first smart TV we’ve had (thank god!). They even think about the little touches like the soaps which are mini pink Angkor Wats.

We spent the afternoon lazing by the pool and then finished the day watching a documentary on Angkor Wat which we’ll be visiting over the next few days.

Today we visited Angkor Wat, a complex of temples which make up one of the largest religious monuments in the world. We were taken aback by how beautiful it was when we arrived. Then we were surprised by how many monkeys there were climbing the temple walls. Then we were shocked when one of those monkeys went for Annabelle’s leg and bit her! Before we knew it a crowd of tourists jumped to our help, whipping out tiger balm and plasters and helping to gather her things before they fell through the cracks of the staircase. Our tuk tuk driver Mesa was driving us to the clinic 15 minutes later. Annabelle was very brave and the medical staff were very efficient. She had a rabies vaccine and her cuts looked at - they’re very shallow. Within a half hour we were back on the road for take 2 of Angkor Wat.

It was really stunning. I’ve never been to a place like it. We climbed lots of steps and admired all the carvings of battle scenes and celestial nymphs (of which there are over 3000!). The original staircases are very steep and hard to climb because they represent how the path to enlightenment is difficult.

Secondly we visited The Bayon Temple and thirdly, Ta Prohm Temple. This third one was my favourite. It’s the temple that’s had the least restorative work and so when you walk through it you see how the jungle has grown over and around it. Seeing this you can imagine how explorers would have discovered the temple in the jungle hundreds of years ago. It’s also where Tomb Raider was filmed!

We spent the day visiting more Angkor Wat temples such as Preah Khan Temple, Neak Poan and Ta Som.

The tuk tuk driver then dropped us off at the market. After visiting yesterday we were apprehensive to go back in. Unlike Thailand, the Cambodian market sellers’ tactics involve emotional manipulation. Annabelle was told yesterday that ‘business hasn’t been good today and I need to feed my family’. We felt mentally exhausted after 15 minutes in there. Today though we were ready. We walked in confidently and bartered assertively for the items we wanted. If the price was too high we’d walk away and if it wasn’t, we’d sigh in relief and hand over the money (well I would, Annabelle would try and throw in another product for a collectively cheaper price - I don’t know how I’m going to survive bartering life without her!)

When we came back to the hotel we swam in the pool and screamed as 4 or 5 bats flew above our heads. We’re quite sensitive to these things now after the monkey/rabies vaccine incident.

For Annabelle’s final night we had a last supper of sushi whilst watching ‘My Best Friend’s Wedding’.

Today was a bittersweet day. It was sweet because we had a relaxing morning at the hotel before check-out - we fit in a quick swim and got an extra coffee at breakfast which we weren’t charged for. We also went back to our new playground to feed our addiction i.e. the market place to barter for the best prices. We got lost in the maze of markets and bought a few more bits (I bought earrings made from bullets!). We ate at our favourite restaurant and got Mesa, our hero tuk tuk driver from the monkey/Angkor Wat day, to drive us to the airport.

But then it was bitter because at the airport me and Annabelle had to part ways. In all the craziness and continuous moving around Annabelle’s been my one constant these past few weeks. We’ve seen so much and laughed so much together, cheesy as that sounds. I’ve really had the best time with her. But she’s back to work on Monday and I’m off to Hanoi, Vietnam. I’ll keep her in my mind when I barter ‘you can go lower Kate...no their price isn’t good enough, walk away’.

Arriving in Hanoi I got a taxi to my hostel. Hanoi seems much more modern than Thailand and Cambodia. Skyscrapers light up in pretty patterns and there are actual road rules people abide by. The hostel I’m staying at seems really cool. Almost like being at uni again.

Today I explored Hanoi with a friend I met at the hostel - Jenny. She’s from Holland and she’s a real foodie so she took me to a few places she’d researched for some good Vietnamese cuisine. The first was a coffee shop which did ‘egg coffee’. The Vietnamese invented it when there was a post-war deficit of milk. We also had banh mi - a Vietnamese baguette for lunch and for dinner we had the best noodle soup I’ve ever tasted. According to Jenny it was done the traditional Vietnamese way, with rice flour noodles.

We did a few things in Hanoi including visiting Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, the One-Pillar Pagoda and the Hoan Kiem Lake. But the highlight was meeting the guy in our dorm room - Eric. He’s a polish guy who’s lived in China for 6 years. He has a lot to say about China...and communism. We were enchanted as he ranted for an hour. He showed us a Ho Chi Minh medallion he bought today. Apparently he collects souvenirs of previous communist dictators in countries he travels to. He says this is so that if ever anyone can accuse him of anything criminal in China, he can take them to his house and show them he’s a good loyal socialist.

Another highlight was getting an Uber motorbike to a water puppet show.

I spent most of today with Jenny again. We were quite restricted on what we could do as it was pouring outside. A tropical storm had made its way over from Hong Kong. We got massages and then tried a couple more food places Jenny had researched. We went to a restaurant where a lady cooked everything in pots and pans on the floor in the entrance. Here we tried banh xeo which are Vietnamese savoury pancakes stuffed with vegetables and meat. The batter is made from coconut milk. We also had ha cao (fried dumplings); nem cuon (fresh spring rolls) and quay (Vietnamese donuts).

Unfortunately, Jenny then had to leave as her boyfriend had arrived in Hanoi and they were staying somewhere else. I wasn’t on my own for too long though as a couple of uni friends happened to be in town at the same time! We went out for dinner and had drinks in a bar which we last minute realised was the number 1 recommended trip advisor bar for Hanoi. We went to a couple of cheaper places before I went to bed dreading the early wake up for my excursion to Halong Bay.

Today I travelled to Halong Bay on a group excursion. Whilst trying to keep my eyes open in the back, the tour guide gave us some facts...Halong Bay literally means ‘descending dragon’. The legend goes that when invaders came through Halong Bay on ships to attack Vietnam, a God called down the Mother Dragon and her children to protect the local people. They burnt the enemy ships with fire and blew giant emeralds onto the sea to form a barrier. The emeralds scattered and this is Halong Bay today.

It was a really fun day! I befriended a couple of girls from Ireland (one’s just graduated as a clinical psychologist!), a boy from India and a boy from Argentina. We had a spread of seafood dishes for lunch including squid and huge prawns. I shared a kayak with one of the guys and he gave me an uplifting speech on the wonders of being young and single. I felt quite zen at times hearing him with the backdrop of the ‘emerald’ islands and islets until he’d yell at me to focus on rowing. We later jumped from the second deck of the boat and then went caving on an island.

We finished the day with a Vietnamese cooking lesson which sounded much more exciting than it actually was. I was expecting an hour long class involving whipping up different exotic dishes but instead we each spent a couple of minutes filling and rolling spring rolls. We ate our spring rolls and washed it down with some Vietnamese coconut rice wine.

I spent today travelling from Hanoi to Kuala Lumpur and then took a second flight to Kathmandu, Nepal. So really today was just eating plane food, willing Netflix shows to download with minimal WiFi and sitting.

I met a French girl on the bus to Hanoi airport and we happened to be getting the same flight. She’s graduating medicine and is considering being a plastic surgeon. Time went quite quickly as we looked at before and after pictures of people with strange surgery requests e.g. a French man who wanted to look like an alien.

Arriving last night was quite an experience. I’ve booked onto a two-week Buddhist monastery experience in Nepal and was told I would stay the first couple of days in the ‘Happy Home Volunteer House’. This gave me a bad vibe from the start. Nowhere with the word ‘happy’ in the name is ever going to be a fun place. The trip co-ordinator picked me up from the airport and took me to the volunteer home at around 11pm. It was dark but worse than that - there were no volunteers. He just took me to a room which had his nan snoring in one of the beds. I stayed awake for ages trying to rationalise all my anxious thoughts that this was a hoax and I was going to get kidnapped in the morning.

Luckily when I woke up I came to breakfast and found my volunteers. I was so relieved that when they asked for my name I replied with ‘I’m fine thank you’. I got to move all my stuff to their room so I’m sharing with some girls...phew. To be fair though, the nan seems quite nice. She told me with hand signals to have a lie-in.

The volunteers have been here a few days and were shipped off to their monasteries today. One of them, this lovely English girl Megan, gave me a tour of the house. When I went to the roof and looked over the city with the hills surrounding it, I realised why I chose to do something like this.

I went to the local backpacker district Thamel with two of the girls and explored the shops. Once everyone had left I was on my own in the house and so had a solo lesson on Nepalese culture and how to say some basic phrases. I also learnt a lot about the monasteries. I had dinner with the family and went to bed.

Today’s been one of the most packed days I’ve had on the whole trip. I’m exhausted even typing this. I woke up, packed and went to visit Monkey temple (Swayambhunath) with the project co-ordinator. It’s a temple overlooking Kathmandu, with monkeys climbing the walls. These monkeys are much more docile than the ones in Angkor Wat - although one did jump for my water bottle! There are strings of prayer flags overhead in different colours representing the five elements. They are used to ‘carry prayers and mantras through the wind’.

After this we drove straight to the monastery. The one I’m staying in is called the Khawalung monastery. From the outside it looks very peaceful but once you’re in you see the young monk boys running around and peaking their heads over the many roof tops. I don’t know why but I assumed that they would be very quiet and disciplined. They’re not. They’re cheeky and boisterous and are always teasing each other...and the volunteers...

After leaving my bags in my room I went to my first class. I was meant to be observing a Chinese volunteer, Vicky, but she felt less confident in English and so asked me to take over. There was no plan whatsoever. We stood outside the door whilst the boys waited and brainstormed what we could teach them...seasons, body parts, colours. In the end I taught them about the different sentence structures for ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘we’ etc. The class ages ranged from 4-12 so it was hard to tailor it for everyone’s level. I don’t think the little 4 year old at the front learnt much. He kept saying ‘Katie Katie Katie’ and mimicked our actions for different phrases. He was adorable!

I later went for a trek up a hill with the other volunteers to another monastery. The view once again was incredible. I got to know the volunteers pretty well. They’re a mix of Chinese, Spanish, Australian and Swiss. They’re all lovely so I’m feeling much more at home here than in the ‘Happy Home Volunteer House’.

I was woken up at 4.30 this morning to the sound of the alarm waking up all the monks for their morning meditation. I realised I’d made another wrong assumption about Buddhists. I thought that meditating at 5am would be a silent practice. It’s not. Mediating can actually involve drums, trumpets, loud chanting and worst of all the loudest horn I’ve ever heard in my life. I skipped 7am breakfast to lie in. Who knows if I slept this morning or if I was just in and out of day dreams.

I finally got up at 9am and went to find Vicky to sort out what we were going to do for our morning class. She’d been very organised though and had already made a plan. It involved playing an English song for the children, writing the lyrics on the board with blank spaces, and having the children fill them in. I don’t know if the monks knew what a ‘Broadway show’ is or what it means to ‘check for cops in the rear view mirror’ but they wrote it down with perfect spelling.

We had the afternoon off as the boys were shaving their heads. When I went to sit outside some of them were practicing martial arts moves - it was so impressive!

At 3pm it was tea time. The monks all sat outside and one went around pouring the others cups of tea. He served the volunteers first out of respect. It was so cute(!) - the huge tea pot was half the size of the boy holding it. It was a really surreal moment all sitting outside drinking cups of tea with a couple of dozen monks.

The volunteers went out to Boudhanath which is one of the largest spherical stupas in Nepal. It’s surrounded by a beautiful old market. We went to one of the cafes and then skipped the monastery dinner for a Japanese restaurant.

Today I met back up with Megan and Kirsten from the “Happy” Home Volunteer House. The project co-ordinator (whose name translates to ‘Prince’) was taking us on a weekend trip as we had time off from teaching at the monastery. I’m kind of gutted we weren’t there though because today the monks got to choose a film and apparently they went with ‘The Conjuring’. I got a picture from the volunteer WhatsApp group of all the monks gathered around one tv - this included the little ones!

We went to Nagarkot which is a ‘rustic resort village on a ridge at the edge of the Kathmandu valley’. It’s one of the best spots to have a view of the Himalayas. My new roommate, a Spanish girl called Almu, came along too. We trekked up the hill for nearly 4 hours in the blistering heat. We arrived at our accomodation ‘The Viewpoint Hotel’ mid-afternoon. It’s like a 5 star hotel compared to staying at the monastery. Our monastery room is just 3 beds on the floor and a table in the middle. This place has air con and warm running water! It also has western toilets unlike the hole in the ground toilets we saw in the rest stops on the way up. I could have cried in happiness.

Staff told us to go the rooftop. We weren’t expecting anything too different to what we’d already seen but actually being at one of the highest points in the village was incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a beautiful landscape and I gave up taking pictures because they never did the view justice.

We finished with dinner on a rooftop restaurant. The waiter asked if it was ok for us to not order individual dishes but to eat from the buffet which was being prepared for 150 guests. As soon as the lids of the dishes were being opened the 150 people started to pile in. We made a run for it and managed to beat the queue. We also arrived at the restaurant in time to get our first view of the Himalayas. At first it looked like clouds against a silhouette of mountains, but we soon realised the ‘clouds’ were actually snow.

We woke up at 5am to go to the rooftop and watch the sunrise over the Himalayas. Unfortunately it was too cloudy to see them but it was amazing to see the clouds below us with the hills peaking through. A dog followed us up the stairs and kept looking over to watch too. I couldn’t tell if he was really interested or freaking out at where he’d ended up.

After breakfast we hiked back down the hill. It was a completely different trek to yesterday as we didn’t take a main road but went down rocky tracks. On the way we saw villagers ushering goats across paths, women preparing sweet corn and packs of dogs lazing in the sun. We stopped at a temple on the hill and a group of children approached us to sell brightly coloured handmade bags covered in sequins. We each bought one for the equivalent of 70p.

When we arrived at the bottom of the hill, we took a bus to Bhaktapur. Bhaktapur is an ancient town which was built in the eighth century. In its heyday it was the capital of Nepal and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s essentially several market squares connected by cobbled streets with shops outlining them. The town looks like it hasn’t been touched since the 800s. The only items sold are handcrafts, art, pottery, puppets (very creepy), jewellery and religious statues.

We spent the afternoon exploring the markets. The German lady we’re with, Kirsten, stumbled across a paper maker in one of the back streets. We followed her to meet him and he gave us a tour of his workshop. It was a maze of several floors with wooden staircases taking you left, right, up several roof tops and underground. He explained how the oldest Hindu and Buddhist scriptures were made on Nepalese paper and distributed worldwide. He makes his books using the same method and bark. What I found more impressive though was that he was a collector of old pillars and wall carvings from temples and palaces dating back to the 6th century. He restores them and keeps them safe in his workshop.

Today was quite relaxed after our crazy weekend. It mainly consisted of travelling back to the monastery - which was an experience in itself! Me and Almu (my roommate) took the bus from Bhaktapur. I never thought I’d say this but I’ve found a mode of transport which is worse than driving through Cambodia (where road rules don’t exist). Here in Nepal there are no actual bus stops, you just need to know a local who can tell you. Then you need to ask another local which of the unmarked buses will take you to your destination. When the bus finally comes, you need to pray there’s a seat...and pray for your soul if there isn’t. A man hangs out the side of the bus collecting bus fares and shouting at the passengers to rearrange themselves every time someone comes on - Tetris style. The aim of the game? Fit as many people as he can on the bus. It’s hot, it’s bumpy and you have several people at one time leaning into you. Personal space doesn’t exist.

Once we got off the bus we felt we needed a sit down and a coke. We walked back to the Boudha Stupa and ate pizza and momos which are traditional Nepalese dumplings. There seemed to be a parade going on the street outside with people dressed up in traditional Nepalese wear and banging drums.

We got back to the monastery in time for tea and settled more into the monk family. Within half an hour we went from sitting apart from the monks, to them teasing us in Nepalese, to getting everyone up and playing loads of western games. At first only a few joined and the older ones stood back but they eventually gave into their inner child and got involved. We managed to get a big group to play duck duck goose, what’s the time mr wolf? (I thought I’d be smart and change it to tiger), bulldog and some others.

Today we had two new volunteers join after most left on the weekend - an English/Polish girl, Zusia, and an Australian girl, Kirsten. I gave them a tour around the monastery and introduced them to the three goats and Tommy the dog.

Whilst everyone went off to the Buddha Stupa, Almu and I stayed in our room relaxing after our packed weekend. We’ve not been feeling too well after the lack of sleep and constant moving about so we took some painkillers and watched Netflix. \240On the plus side we’ve nabbed the best room in the house(!) after the volunteers left on the weekend. We now have our own balcony and not one, but two tables.

For my lesson today I taught the monks about countries in the world. Zusia shadowed the lesson. I’ve realised that there’s quite a big gap in knowledge between students - some can spell countries which others haven’t heard of. To try and keep them engaged we played a couple of games testing their geography knowledge.

We finished the day with a meal made just for the volunteers. There’s been this random Chinese man walking around the monastery with his son the past few days. They keep having photo shoots with a photographer using the monastery as a backdrop - I thought I hallucinated it the first time I saw it! It turns out he’s a project coordinator working for a volunteering programme. I don’t know his name but he made us Chinese and bought us all beer. We drank and played cards until bed.

We only taught in the morning today as the boys had a half-day holiday.

In the afternoon the volunteers went out to Thamel, a part of town filled with markets, cafes and bars. I came here on my first full day but I feel I didn’t appreciate it to the extent I did today. We looked around all the markets which sold some of the most beautiful items I’ve seen such as hemp bags, handmade jewellery with precious stones, dream catchers and gold ornaments. We got lost in the maze of streets. I could have kept going for hours. I withheld my inner shopaholic though and only bought a couple of things.

With our new room I’m in homemaker mode. I bought some candles for the tables and gave it a good clean, using a broom made of twigs to sweep it up. I brought in the monastery kitten to add to the homely feel. She stayed for all of 5 minutes.

After dinner all the volunteers sat on the terrace and watched the sunset. We listened to music for ages, watching the little dots of lights turn on in the mountains.

Today was another relaxed day. Nothing much happens here in the monastery which is actually really nice after all the busyness in life. The most thrilling thing that happened in the morning was that I hand washed and hung all my clothes. I’m quite enjoying the process of doing these things the old way. What takes a few minutes at home is an hour long process here. It’s weirdly therapeutic.

I had a new class today and thought we’d do something more creative and so they had the hour to draw whatever they wanted. I’ve never seen the class so engaged! They only started milling about and messing around in the last 10 minutes. And then they all assigned each other jobs to help me stick the pictures on the wall - one would cut the cellotape which two others held out and then one would pass to me.

The highlight was having one the volunteers do a yoga and mindfulness session on the terrace in the evening.

I gave my camera to one of the older monks today who’s really into photography. He took some great candid photos of the monks which I wouldn’t have been able to capture as they always do silly poses for the volunteers.

He also photographed me and the other volunteers cooking Chinese food. It was the Chinese man’s last day and he wanted to make a special last meal for the boys. I was in charge of snapping long shoots of peas into smaller chunks. I then helped the two Spanish volunteers, Almu and Adriaan, make tortillas. A couple of monks helped.

We ate dinner all together and even the infamous Lama joined. The Lama is essentially the headmaster of the monastery. He always looks serious and never says hello when volunteers greet him. The one time he spoke to us was to ask if ‘there’s a problem(?)’ because we were laughing during dinner. When I came to sit, I saw a space available next to him. I made the snap decision to cram myself on the end next to Adriaan and another monk. I’d worked hard on the tortillas and didn’t want to eat in an awkward silence whilst the Lama judged me for drinking beer!

We all then left to go to a Karaoke in town. It wasn’t how you’d normally have it though. It was just groups of people sitting on cushions or sofas, watching a projection of YouTube on the wall. You could go to the laptop at any point and pick your song with it’s lyric video. A microphone was passed around. We sang a strange mix of Asian, Spanish and American songs including Mr Brightside, Despacito, Ain’t no mountain high enough and a number of Shakira songs.

A couple of volunteers had gone off for a weekend safari in Chitwan so there weren’t enough of us to cover all 5 classes. We therefore decided to round all the monks up and play a movie for the them. They chose Ip Man 3, a Chinese film about martial arts. By some divine power Netflix had it. However, a teacher asked the Lama if this was ok and he apparently “scorned” her saying they weren’t allowed to watch films during the week. She told us to play the film just for one class which we did in the morning. But by afternoon we thought it wasn’t fair and secretly ushered all the little ones in. They were bundled on top of one another watching it with some watching from ABOVE the TV. I don’t know how half of them could see but they were engaged for the full hour.

In the evening the remaining volunteers went to the Buddha Stupa for a meal on a rooftop restaurant. It made a nice change to rice and dal which we have for lunch and dinner every day in the monastery.

Today I went back to monkey temple (Swayambhunath) with Almu and Adriaan because Almu hadn’t yet visited it. We ended up enjoying the sites and also the souvenir shops! We spent ages looking at jewellery whilst the shop keeper taught us about the various inscriptions and symbols.

We then went to a place I hadn’t yet visited but had heard a lot about. It’s called Pashupatinath Temple. It was built in the 5th century and is the largest temple complex in Nepal. It is primarily Hindu but there are also Buddhist temples on site. What really took me back was that there were open cremations along the river bank. We sat and watched one group of men prepare a body for the cremation on a raised platform on the edge of the river. People watched from over the bridge and next to us sitting on multiple concrete platforms. It was strange to watch it all happen in front of you so openly. We all sat and I tried to reflect on life.

Walking around the complex we also saw a lot more monkeys. We got to one path where there were literally packs of them. I flashbacked to Angkor Wat but also remembered that the monkeys here seem much calmer. I reassured Almu that we’d be fine and we started walking. Unfortunately, we weren’t fine. One jumped at Almu’s bag and she realised in the taxi home that she’d lost the necklace she bought for her mum in the souvenir shop. I’ve officially learnt never to trust monkeys.

Today we decided to take some of the boys to the local swimming pool. It was open to the public but no one else was there so it was just 3 of us volunteers and a group of 11 or so monks. The strangest and most awkward thing about it all was what we wore. At the monastery me and Almu are constantly making sure our shoulders and knees are covered. Here at the pool we went against all these instincts we’ve cultivated by wearing our swimming costumes. We wanted to wear T-shirts in the water but the lifeguard told me off as I was getting in.

It was really lovely seeing the boys enjoy playing games and practicing flips into the pool. A couple of the younger ones had never been swimming before so we bought them swimming costumes and attempted to teach them to swim. One boy had been swimming for the first time last week and I’ve never seen a child so happy in water! He was completely in his own world swimming small laps (very well!) in the shallow end. By the end he could do backflips into the water.

We finished the day having a last supper at a Spanish restaurant by the Buddha Stupa. It was hands down the best food I’ve had this whole trip. We got the Spanish volunteers to order everything - an assortment of tapas - and we drank our sangria whilst eating it all.

Today was a sad day as it was my last one in the monastery. I tried to make the best of it and soak it all in but I couldn’t help feeling down. For my last day of classes the other volunteers said I could have the first class I taught, the nursery class. In the afternoon they did drawing. I said they could draw whatever they wanted but strangely there were 4 recurring themes - 1. carrots; 2. a house next to trees; 3. the Nepalese flag; 4. a collection of tiny animals (tended to include elephant, ox and cat). I think several students copied images from the walls or text books and the others would follow suit? It was a mystery.

I said goodbye to all the monks before they started their evening meditation. And then I said a big goodbye to my roommate Almu. It was all quite sad and weirdly I’d rather stay here an extra two weeks, with the cold water and hard beds, than go to Bali. I never thought I’d say that!

I spent the whole night travelling, getting a flight to Kuala Lumpur and then to Denpasar. I left the monastery at 7pm and arrived at my hostel in Bali at 1pm. I was in a bit of a funk feeling exhausted and missing my friends at the monastery despite being surrounded by so much beauty. I ate lunch alone feeling sorry for myself which I kept mentally chastising myself for.

To snap myself out of it I went to the Monkey Forest Sanctuary. It worked! I spent most of my time just watching the monkeys (there are 200) in their own worlds. I’ve realised they dedicate their days to eating papaya and sweet corn, stealing each others papaya and sweet corn, fighting over these thefts and then making up and playing. Some had quite serious looking fights and there would always be one little monkey sitting on the sidelines living his best life eating fruit. The forest itself is dotted with temples and shrines which seems to pay homage to monkeys.

I came back to the hostel and properly met the people in my room. It’s a real mix of cultures again including Japanese, Korean, Brazilian, German, Chilean and Bangladeshi. A few went to the night market and brought back a strange dessert. It was banana with chocolate and...grated cheese. We all sat outside and tried it. It was so good I’m going to buy some on my night market visit tomorrow!

Today I woke up early and went with some people from the hostel to Campuhan Ridge Walk. This is a nature trek with forests and rice fields either side of the ridge. Two people went straight home after but I stuck around with a girl, Camilla, to visit Ubud Palace. Camilla’s on the top bunk directly next to me and so I got to know her a bit last night. She’s a producer from Brazil working on music videos and reality TV shows...this is by far the coolest profession I’ve come across. We walked through the palace and then found a market on the way home. Bali seems very boho/hippy. Most markets I’ve been to in SE Asia sell the same products batch produced with some extra ones reflecting the individual culture. In Bali these extra ones tend to be dream catchers and tie dye tops.

In line with this vibe, I was really basic and went to a place called ‘The Yoga Barn’. I’d heard about it from the other hostel people. It’s a centre that runs yoga and meditation classes every hour of the day. Classes include Tibetan Bowls Meditation, Head Space Community Gentle Grounding, Chakra and Aura Meditation and Women’s Circle. Camilla and I thought this was the ultimate commercialising of Eastern practices, fed to tourists at crazy prices. It completely was...but it was also really fun! I did a meditation class and sat cross legged for an hour humming.

In the evening we went to the night market which sold second hand clothes and lots of street food. We all had the banana with chocolate and cheese which was the highlight.

Today I went with our hostel owner Nick and a boy from the hostel, Tafsir on a tour around sites in Ubud. Nick is the highlight of this hostel. He’s always checking in on everyone and trying to get groups together to go on trips. He also loves Instagram and will bound in at any given moment during a group conversation to ask for a selfie to upload. His little boy ‘Sunshine’ is also adorable and very shy!

We started the day going to the Kumulilir coffee plantation. The tour guide took us through the process of making coffee from growing the coffee bean to sieving the powder. There was quite a strange middle section though! Once the coffee beans are red, they are fed to an animal called a luwak. The luwak then ‘processes’ the bean and poos it out for it to be roasted and ground. The final product apparently tastes rich with a hint of chocolate. I read later that the enzymes in the luwak’s stomach break down the proteins of the bean to give it this ‘exotic’ flavour. We tried various teas and coffees on the terrace which overlooked rice fields and forest.

Later we went to the first temple built in Bali, Besakih Temple. It’s built on the slopes of Mount Agung. Nick told the story of how a holy man wanted to bring people to Bali from Java when it wasn’t yet populated in the 13th century. When building this temple however, many people got sick from malaria and died. The holy man travelled back to Java and whilst meditating, he was guided by a God to bring offerings to Bali to protect the people. He did so and this is why Bali literally translates to ‘offerings’. This is all what Nick told me in the car and I haven’t checked it on google so I hope it’s right.

We had lunch overlooking a beautiful rice field and then went to a waterfall within a cave - Tukad Cepung Waterfall. Tafsir and I walked down loads of stairs and through the cave which had a stream running through it. We gave up trying to hop on boulders and braved it barefoot. It sounds childish but the waterfall was really magical.

In the evening I had dinner with the new volunteers. One girl was from England so instead of learning about different countries (we were with a girl from Austria and boy from India) I spent most of the time talking with her about the best bars in London and Hamilton.

I’ve come to Nusa Penida, a small undeveloped island next to Bali. I was recommended coming here by one of the guys I met in Halong Bay. We talked about how much we enjoyed water sports and he said I’d have to come here as it has some of the most beautiful snorkelling and diving spots he’d seen.

After I got off the boat I went on a scooter with a local to my resort. Driving through the north west side of the island I could see how rugged and undeveloped it was. I was reminded of Mamma Mia (with the addition of secondary school aged children riding scooters...)

I arrived at my hotel mid-afternoon. I thought I’d treat myself and take a break from hostels. This is the first time I’ve slept alone in a room since I left England. We’ll see how it goes as I’ve learnt that I’m quite dependant on company and can get bored easily!

I chose this place because it’s near a great snorkelling spot - Crystal Bay. One of the hotel workers took me on a motorbike here. First thing I did was grab lunch in a restaurant/shack and ordered fish and rice. I didn’t expect a dollop of rice next to an entire grilled fish (eyes included!) I felt guilty knowing I was going to swim with his friends after.

I drank a Bintang beer on the beach and then rented a snorkelling kit and went for a swim. The tides were so strong! Every half a minute me and all the fish I could see would lurch in a random direction. It was really cool though because sometimes I wouldn’t need to swim - I’d just fly through the water and enjoy the view.

Today was a big nothing day. Literally nothing happened. Because it was cloudy outside I did life admin (remaining flights are booked - yay!) and lazed around in bed watching YouTube - the WiFi isn’t strong enough for Netflix...

I’ve rediscovered Rihanna because they play her a lot in the restaurant which is great. I also had ice cream for dinner. Those are about the only notable things.

I’ve booked diving for tomorrow but I don’t think the hotel workers understand what I mean when I ask for a person to take me there on a scooter. Let’s hope I make it before the boat takes off!

The hotel workers understood what I meant when I asked for a scooter AND the man knew where the diving school was so I felt like I was winning before breakfast had started.

When I arrived at the school, I was put in a group with 3 guys from Catalonia. I don’t know if it was just these 3 of if it’s a cultural thing but they were some of the most expressive and hyper people I’ve ever met. The boat ride was really rocky, speeding over huge waves, and all the boys got up and started jumping in time with the bumps. One jumped too early (or too late?) and fell badly. He lay on the floor for the rest of the trip like a wounded footballer, worried that he’d broken a bone. It was nice having them there because they were so friendly. One offered to film me diving on his GoPro and will send me the footage when he’s back in Spain.

We went to two diving spots - Manta Point and Crystal Bay. The mantas were HUGE! They looked like little spaceships in the water. Crystal Bay was my favourite because it was much brighter and there were loads of exotic fish. When you’re diving it feels like they don’t shoot away from you if you get close - maybe at that depth they think you’re in the fish family? Just before we went up we saw a big sea turtle relaxing on the sea bed which was amazing.

This morning I left Nusa Penida and took a boat back to Bali.

I went to Kuta, the party district, to meet two friends from uni who have come out to join me - Alice and Hannah. They arrived late last night and slept in until early afternoon. I saw them as I approached the hostel sitting down and speaking with an older man. I was really confused until I saw the tour package leaflets laid out. We’ve booked a two day package starting tomorrow visiting Ubud (different sites to my last trip) and Lovina.

We were going to have a pretty relaxed night with possible cocktails by the pool until a group of people from the hostel asked if we wanted to go out with them in the evening. For £6.50 there would be unlimited food and alcohol. How could we say no?

It was a place called Lxxy. The food was amazing but even better...it had a swimming pool. I ran back with a couple of people to grab our swimming costumes and we spent the rest of the night in the pool and jacuzzi drinking watered down cocktails.

We took a tour today heading to the north of Bali. A group of 7 from the hostel went, all from England.

First we went to Lake Bratan Temple and then did a short jungle trail to Munduk Waterfall. I was happy to stand on the sidelines and take pictures but then one-by-one everyone stripped to their swimwear and jumped in. I caved in and joined - it was FREEZING! I tried to enjoy the view despite the goosebumps and jagged rocks.

We then did Mayong Cultural Walk with a tour guide who told us all about rice farming. I’d seen the rice terraces from afar before so already knew they were beautiful, but walking along them and seeing the farmers up close was even better. We had a little boy follow us for 20 minutes - it was cute at first but then I started to feel like I was in a horror film when I saw his face watching us every time I turned around...

The last (and best) thing we did was go to Air Pansas Banjar - Hot Spring. It’s several layered pools of green water (somehow though we had orange muck on our bikinis!). The fountains on the edges feel as hot as a shower so I stayed under them for half the time.

We stayed the night in a hostel in Lovina on the north end of Bali. It’s a really quirky place with a coconut tree entrance, a live band and lots of Native American headgear on display. We had a few drinks and requested the band to play random songs. We got on the tables ready to go crazy for Bohemian Rhapsody but experienced the biggest anticlimax when they played a slow acoustic version.

Today we did a few more cultural sites including a coffee plantation, and going to a mountain viewpoint. But the highlight was going dolphin spotting at sunrise.

We sat in single file on the boat and road out with a few dozen other boats. Every time dolphins were spotted one boat would zoom towards the site and all the others would follow suit. It was a race between the boat drivers to see who could get their tourists the best views. We lucked out with our driver though - he never spotted them first and so by the time we got to the spot we’d only get a few seconds of dolphin viewing before they swam away. We were annoyed because Brad, the man who had sold the tour package, said he’d seen (an oddly specific) 56 dolphins when he went. We all cursed Brad as we rode through the waves. But then we were blessed... for the last 20 minutes pods of dolphins kept jumping right next to our boat. It was really surreal.

In all honesty though, if we hadn’t seen as many dolphins the trip would still be worth it just for the sunrise. When I look back on the pictures, I have to remind myself that there’s no filter on.

Today we travelled to the Gili islands. There are three of these islands, and each provide a different holiday experience. Gili Air is quiet and a good place to relax; Gili Meno is for romantic getaways; and Gili Trawangan (T) is the party island. As I’m with Alice and Hannah we naturally ended up on Gili T.

Gili T has a really nice rugged and undeveloped feel. There are no cars on the island, only horse drawn carts take people and goods around. Everything is within walking distance, with the harbour on a strip of beach which has lots of little shops and restaurants looking out to sea.

We had a relaxed afternoon going down to the beach and sleeping for a couple of hours. Alice and Hannah woke up looking like squishies with their defined pink tan lines.

We then met up with the group of Kiwi boys we met on our first night in Kuta. They happen to be staying in the same hostel as us! For some reason all the tourists we’ve met are doing more or less the same route and many are staying in the exact same hostels. A group may deviate from the route and arrive a day later but eventually everyone comes together again to enjoy food and alcohol on a different island. We got pizza and Bintangs and had a beer pong tournament (I’m shockingly bad). Later the bars and clubs closed at 1am so we all hung out on the beach.

I had the best day so far since Alice and Hannah’s arrival. Last night we drunkenly arranged with the Kiwi boys to all go snorkelling. We got up for breakfast and bought a day package with the first tour seller we found. As there was such a big group of us we managed to get a private boat to take us around main snorkelling spots for £10 each(!)

The first place looked really mystical. On the seabed there were multiple statues of men and women positioned in a circle. I had no idea why they were there and was too busy feeling like a mermaid discovering an underwater trove to think about it. We then went to Turtle Point. The water here was much deeper and a much darker blue but every now and then we could see a big turtle sitting by himself on the seabed. Some were huge and looked to me like little dinosaurs.

We saw more exotic fish and coral before having lunch on Gili Air. Afterwards we snorkelled above a shipwreck (triggering more mermaid fantasies!) and swam by blue coral which had an ecosystem of brightly coloured fish of all different shapes and sizes.

We went out again at night and I said my goodbyes because I knew everyone would be dead to the world when I woke up for my boat.

I woke up feeling worse for wear, said goodbye to a sleeping Alice and Hannah and took a boat to Lombok. I then got a flight to Kuala Lumpur. I’ve come to the airport three times now on this trip but this is the first time I’ve walked out through arrivals.

I took a taxi to Desa Park City, which, according to the taxi driver, is a “fancy place”. I’m staying with my uncle Richard, aunt Katya and two little cousins Camilla and Nicholas. It’s a slice of luxury staying here after all the hostel living the past few weeks. It’s also nice to have a home cooked meal! It feels like a home (very far) away from home.

Today I explored Desa Park with Richard, Katya and Camilla. Everything you need is within walking distance - a plaza (with shops, bars, restaurants and a fountain that lights up at night); a country club (with pools and fitness facilities); a lake within a park and another string of shops which include a Starbucks and McDonalds. It’s like a luxurious uni campus and I’ve decided I want to live here!

I had a great afternoon watching Camilla swim and Nicholas play in the sand pit. It’s just nice to spend time with family after watching so many Asian, Australian and British families enjoy their holidays during this trip.

One thing that really sets this place apart from the rest of SE Asia is their love for dogs. Every other person seems to own one. And they’re not any old dogs. They look like they’ve stepped out of a pageant with their accessories still on. While all the other dogs in SE Asia seem to be doing all they can to survive on the streets, these ones sit on the chairs at restaurants, rocking pink bows and angel wing harnesses.

Today I had a nice and relaxed day. I went for a morning and evening swim with the family (we have to avoid the middle of the day because of the heat) and I went to the mini mall for sushi.

The best part was dancing to nursery rhymes on Spotify with Camilla. There’s no stopping her, even with all the heat she has so much energy! She puts me to shame.

I left the compound today and went to the centre of town. Firstly, I visited the Petronas Twin Towers. These are the tallest twin towers in the world and they’re connected by a sky bridge which slide in and out of one of the buildings. You can go up and stand on this bridge but I decided to buy a viewing ticket for the KL Tower instead.

I walked to Bukit Bintang, the shopping and entertainment district. A plus of seeing KL is that you’re forced to take it easy. I have to moderate my inner need to see as much as possible in the most time efficient way. Here, because it’s so hot, you physically need to see less and sit down for a drink after each 20 minute walk. I went to a beauty shop which sold products from all over Asia. I didn’t intend to buy anything but then I saw a ‘comes from Korea’ sign above one brand. Knowing Korea is renowned for beauty products, I couldn’t help but get a foundation. Their marketing ploy totally roped me in - it could be the the worst Korean make up brand but I’m having it.

I spent the afternoon in KL Tower, a broadcasting and telecommunications tower. It also has a mini zoo and aquarium on the grounds (hence why I chose to spend my money here over the Petronas Tower). I traded in getting a ‘Sky Deck’ ticket for the less impressive ‘Observation Deck’ BUT it came with a zoo and aquarium pass. There were no regrets. The observation deck was fine but the zoo was great because you got to interact with and feed the animals. It was such a bizarre zoo because they lumped loads of random animals into the same room. For example, one pen was just for the turtles and guinea pigs who seem to live in harmony. In another, rabbits and chickens run wild and watch the turtles swimming, whilst in another a turtle is watching the meerkats chase each other. The best bit was when I got to hold a ferret.

My ticket also allowed me entrance to the ‘Upside Down House’. I didn’t really know what to expect but essentially it was an opportunity to take photos of yourself in rooms where the furniture was upside down. I met a woman called Zoe who’s a diving instructor from the Cook Islands. We took loads of pictures of eachother and then walked to a public square, Merdeka Square.

This morning I went back into central to explore Chinatown. It was full of stalls selling knock-off goods. I saw a lot of Supreme, Adidas, Mont Blanc etc. Behind the stalls there was a tunnel of hidden shops which sold ridiculously cheap things but in clean cut modern settings with smiley Asian shop attendants. I stopped myself buying anything (my finances are dwindling now that I’m coming to the end of the trip) but the items were so cheap and the ladies were so smiley...I got a bag and walked straight out of Chinatown.

Today was another relaxed day. I’ve made the decision to go to town less so that I stop spending money. Instead I went to a cafe along the waterfront and then to the club for some swimming.

Katya made a delicious dinner of pumpkin soup with banana cake for dessert. Later, when the children had gone to bed, we went to the plaza to enjoy the nighttime atmosphere. The fountain was lit up in different colours and all the bars and restaurants were buzzing. We sat and had drinks whilst soaking it all in.

The smart TV has been installed so I fully enjoyed having some tea and toast whilst watching ‘The I.T. Crowd’ this morning. It almost felt like I was at home - other than the fact that I was getting ready to see Hindu temples in an old cave.

The site is called Batu Caves and is on a hill made of limestone said to be 400 million years old. At first, it all wasn’t much to look at and I got confused searching for the entrance whilst evading monkeys who were getting into fights. But then I did the sensible thing and followed the tourists to a square with multicoloured steps leading up to the caves. There was 272 of them... in 34 degree heat...

It was worth it when I got to the top though. The cave was large and a little dark with a bright pocket of light on the other side. All around were prayer areas and Hindu statues with people worshipping and lighting candles. Outside, monkeys and chickens walked side by side - unknown how or why the chickens were there!

I said goodbye to Richard, Katya, Camilla and Nicholas today and took a plane to Singapore. I’ve really enjoyed spending time with them and getting a glimpse of their new life. If I didn’t have a job to come back to I would consider begging to stay and be their babysitter.

I arrived in the evening at a fancy apartment next to the Orchard Road (Singapore’s retail heart). I’m spending the last few weeks here with my friends from home. We originally booked to stay in a pretty basic Airbnb but then Tim figured out that the owner was housing people illegally as she didn’t have a permit. After informing Airbnb they said they would cover the extra cost for any other venue of our choosing. Tim naturally chose one of the more expensive ones worth almost £50 each per night(!)

I spent the evening catching up with the boys by the swimming pool. We drank gin and tonics as they quizzed me on my travels.

This morning we went to the Raffles Hotel, a colonial-style luxury hotel which has had guests like Charlie Chaplin and the queen. We arrived for a buffet breakfast but unfortunately it was fully booked so ‘breakfast’ became cocktails on an empty stomach. We had our drink at at the hotel’s ‘Long Bar’, famous for being the birthplace of the ‘Singapore Sling’ cocktail. In 1913, women weren’t allowed to drink alcohol in public and so bartender, Ngiam Tong Boon, concocted this drink made with fruit juices and clear liquors so that they could drink on the sly! We all had one. It was quite strong which I’m sure women at the time appreciated.

Afterwards, we went to the Marina Bay Sands Hotel, a famous hotel with the world’s largest rooftop infinity pool. We went up to the bar on the rooftop and had our drinks overlooking beautiful views of the city. We also got a look at the pool. All the people were guests and as predicted, approximately 3% were swimming whilst the rest were having photo shoots.

We finished the day going to the ‘Gardens by the Bay’. Although, rather than look at flowers, we pretty much went straight to the dining area for food and beer. Thinking about it now, literally everything we’ve done today has revolved around food and drink...

This morning we went to the ‘National Museum of Singapore’. I found it really interesting learning about how Singapore never really had it’s own unique cultural identity because so many nationalities have always made up the population. It was nice seeing how they celebrate all the cultural differences but ultimately view themselves as one people.

We were recommended by a couple of friends to visit Little India at some point, and so came here for lunch to try Indian cuisine. The food at the restaurant we went to was delicious but the portions were MASSIVE! We could barely fit all our plates on the table.

We were so tired from walking around that we went back to the apartment to have a sit-down and a cup of tea. Unfortunately, when we sat down we got way too comfy and couldn’t get up again to do anything productive. We only left the apartment to get take-out Thai food and then returned to the comfiness of our sofas to watch Django Unchained. It was just what we needed!

Today we went to the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve. Dan was recommended this place by a friend from work who apparently ‘wouldn’t stop raving about it’. You can walk down the trails through the forest and on your travels you can come across lots of wildlife! Within a minute, we saw a huge iguana waddling across the path. We also saw a crocodile in one of the viewing areas(!) It took us several minutes to notice that what looked like a log was in fact the crocodile. It’s scary to think how well they blend in with their surroundings! With that in mind the ‘Watch out for crocodiles’ sign on the pathways didn’t leave me feeling too good.

Later we went to Sentosa, an island resort off Singapore’s southern coast. Coming out of the metro we could see a collection of brightly coloured buildings across the bay. This was in fact Universal Studios. We went to the Hard Rock Cafe inside, feeling absolutely exhausted, and got some drinks. Tim’s also been on the hunt for vending machines selling salmon (which he found out are a thing in Singapore). We didn’t find one but he came close to the dream when he found a ‘crab vending machine’.

We finished the day, walking around the edges of Universal Studios, admiring the multicoloured lights, statues and fountains. At the end of this walk we came to the famous Merlion fountain; a symbol which has widely been used as a mascot for Singapore.

We woke up bright and early and took a morning flight from Changi airport to Hong Kong. I’d read that Changi airport has been voted the ‘World’s Best Airport’ and includes a cinema, an aviation gallery, the world’s largest kinetic sculpture (titled ‘Kinetic Rain’) and several spas. Tim and I dipped our heads into the Butterfly Garden on our walk to McDonald’s for some hash browns.

We took a taxi to our Airbnb in Kowloon. I hadn’t realised before but Hong Kong isn’t all on the same piece of land. There is one island named ‘Hong Kong Island’ and across the harbour in mainland China you have ‘Kowloon’ and the ‘New Territories’. Hong Kong Island is very westernised and is the financial district whereas, Kowloon feels more traditional Chinese. To get from one to the other you can get the metro or the Star Ferry across Victoria harbour, which has been operating since 1888.

I’ve noticed that where Singapore is very clean and modern (almost clinical), HK has much more character with bustling markets, streets packed with dozens of tiny shops and huge billboards advertising fashion/beauty mountaining over everything.

The first place we went to was a restaurant my friend Almu (from the monastery) recommended me. She lived in HK for a year during uni and frequented Mr Wong’s restaurant. She’d written to me ominously to “Go to Mr Wong’s restaurant (it’s illegal) but the food and drinks are very cheap and it is very well known for young western people”. Mr Wong’s didn’t disappoint. We were taken to the back where we helped staff lay out tables and chairs for us. After eating a huge spread of Chinese dishes, Mr Wong showed up. It turns out he is an avid brexiteer. He raved about how brilliant it is for us to be independent and then left only to resurface with a MAGA hat. He also kept getting us free beer from the fridge - we discussed how he turns a profit as he seems to continually replenish everyone’s beers. At some point the police came and staff ushered everyone outside (and technically not on the premises) into the restaurant. We watched as the police took pictures and Mr Wong was given a fine. Ten minutes after they left all the customers were brought back out again and helped reset the tables.

Mr Wong recommended we go to the Happy Valley Racecourse for some horse racing. We took the Star Ferry to HK island and took in the stunning views of the skyline at night. When we got to the races, a couple of the boys bet on horses...and unfortunately lost. But we all felt like winners for having met Me Wong.

We took the Star Ferry to HK island this morning, appreciating it differently in the daylight and feeling much more sober. We then travelled up to the highest point of the island - Victoria peak. I hadn’t realised that Hong Kong has so much greenery. I’ve always imagined it as an urban jungle. To get to the top we took the Peak Tram, a 131-year-old tram which is scarily steep the whole way up.

As we couldn’t go to the Raffles Hotel for brunch in Singapore, we decided to treat ourselves to the Ritz Carlton here in Hong Kong. According to Tim this has the highest rooftop swimming pool in the world. We had afternoon tea on the 102nd floor overlooking incredible views of the harbour and the financial district towering above it.

We saw more of the natural beauty of Hong Kong today by travelling to the south of Kowloon to visit the seaside village of Stanley. Looking out at the sea, it felt like I was back in Thailand or Cambodia, not the ‘urban jungle’ I imagined Hong Kong to be.

We hadn’t realised but we happened to be in Hong Kong at the time of the Mid-Autumn or ‘Full Moon’ festival. This is an ancient festival celebrated on the 8th full moon of the lunar calendar. The festival is held in honour of the moon as the ‘circle’ symbolises unity in Chinese culture. People spend the festival gathering with family, playing lanterns and eating moon cake.

Every year, locals light incense sticks formed in the shape of a dragon. We stood on some railings to get a better look and watched the dragon running up and down the street. Everyone was cheering and taking pictures whilst children were sitting on the shoulders of family to get a better look. Tim said that traditionally people chase the dragon through the street so we rang alongside it.

We also had a chat with a Swedish guy who is studying in Hong Kong. He showed us pictures of protests he’s attended including a selfie he took after being tear gassed. He said protests are all very well organised and quite civilised. We watched a video of protestors helping a man to find an alternative route after they barricaded a road. One of the next pictures though, was of pavement which has been broken up into rubble for protestors to throw at police. I’m in two minds on how sensationalised the protests are in the media. We haven’t seen any breakouts despite all the busy areas we’ve been to, but tear gas and throwing rubble seem dangerous, despite attendees (and Mr Wong’s) indifference to it all.

Today was my final full-day of this entire trip. It’s strange because even though I know I’m leaving tomorrow, it’s also not really registering in my mind. I just want to keep going as I have been the past couple of months.

We saw several last sites in Hong Kong starting with the Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Gardens which unfortunately wasn’t as impressive as we’d hoped. The orangutans were amazing to watch though!

We then headed to one of the cheapest Michelin star restaurants in the world - Tim Ho Wan. It was bizarrely inside or under(?) Central Station. I’m not a huge fan of Chinese food but this place was insane!! My all time favourite was the pork buns.

Afterwards, we went to Temple Street Night Market which is hailed as the best night market in HK. We personally thought the one on the doorstep to our Airbnb was better!

Come home