Our three week tour of South East Asia began with an overnight stop in Singapore on the way to Bali.  Singapore is a very westernized city and a great place to spend a day cruising around the harbour and rivers.  A mandatory Singapore sling at Raffles Hotel (quite possibly the most expensive drink you will ever buy) was had, and being the typical backpackers we were, were surrounded by the free nut shells by the time we left.  Then it was off to the harbour area for a pub crawl at the many restaurants and karaoke bars.  It is a great, clean and friendly city and perfect for a one or two day stopover as you head to your South East Asian destination.

 

The next day we flew out to Bali for three days of lying around the hotel pool and beach.  We were a short walk away from Kuta beach, and everyday at sunset there is a gathering of hundreds of people sharing a few drinks and watching the sun set over the sea.  After that, the usual ritual is to head off for a night of madness at the many cocktail bars and nightclubs in that area.  The locals are great and we stumbled onto a few having a party in the street and were invited to join – however, be sure not to trip over one of the many shrines to their gods that they have on the street!  The hotel we stayed at was perfect – a huge pool and restaurants and a room with a balcony, and after a cheap and relaxing break there we caught a low cost carrier to Kuala Lumpur – a great cosmopolitan city with the massive Petronas Towers dominating the skyline.  We spent a couple of days sightseeing and taking in the many sights and sounds the city has to offer.  There are many young and like minded travellers all around so it is easy to make friends.  After the hustle and bustle of the big city, it was time to fly to Phuket on a direct flight from Kuala Lumpur.  We were all very happy when we looked out of the plane window and saw the fantastic beaches in Thailand that we would be spending the next couple of weeks on.

 

Phuket is a great and diverse part of the world to visit, with no trace of the tsunami, the beaches are perfect with my favourite being Kata beach.  A thatched roof reggae bar nestled into the corner cliff face was our preferred vantage point to see the beach from after spending hours tanning and swimming.  It was from here that we took a two day tour of Phi Phi Island, the highlight of which was hiring our own personal boat and motoring around, with the driver stopping off wherever we wanted for snorkelling and swimming.  After a few hours on Maya Bay (where they filmed The Beach), we got a few beers and told the boat when we were ready to leave.  He sailed us around and dropped us off at the hotel, where we went down to the infinity pool and lazed around there for the rest of the night.  We headed down onto the beach again where there were loads of restaurants with tables in the sand and we sat there all night.  Probably a good thing to remember when your friend loses his credit card, is not to go ahead and loose yours a few hours later!  The next day we were of the Koh Samui and Koh Phangan for the Full Moon party, but that is a whole other story!

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