It safe to say the start of my 2016 was beyond shit. I had been through some major changes in my personal life and frankly felt a little lost, so I decided it was time to stop talking about travelling and to finally book my South East Asia dream trip. However it was a bit daunting going on my own and I had no idea where to start so ended up booking myself on the G Adventures Indochina Discovery Tour. Honestly it was the best thing I could have done, I met so many amazing people from all over the world, went to so many beautiful places and are tour leader Aef was so great I just didn’t have to think or worry about anything. The tour I went of was classified as ‘YOLO’ (cringe) which meant it was very basic but clean, it was fast paced which just meant we got to experience more and most of all it was so frigging fun.

Cambodia // DAY 2 – DAY 8

The tour met in Bangkok but we quickly travelled to Cambodia and the ancient ruins of Angkor Wat at sunrise which was absolutely stunning. We also went to a small fishing village of Tonle Sap for sunset, became a lover of cocktail buckets on Siem Riep’s party street Pub Street and headed towards the capital Phnom Penh where we treated ourselves to blind massages. I was deeply moved when we opted to visit S21 the Tuol Sleng Prison and the Killing Fields, two locations that demonstrate the horrors inflicted on the Cambodian population under the Khmer Rouge.  We then spent our last days in Cambodia chilling in Sihanoukville where we hung out on the beach, went snorkelling and of course partied some more.

Vietnam // DAY 8 – DAY 19

Vietnam was beautiful but I am surprised I didn’t develop webbed feet on this section of the trip as it rained so much! We visited Ho Chi Minh City, the Cu Chi Tunnels, a floating market on the Mekong Delta and experienced  some unforgettable over night trains. Hands down my favourite Vietnamese city was Hoi An a lovely destination which once was an important trading town with strong south Chinese influence. We spent most of our time in its atmospheric old town, walking through its beautiful streets which are lined with traditional lanterns, visiting its many tea houses and we had and amazing cycling trip around its nearby countryside.  Another firm favourite was kayaking around the world heritage site of Halong Bay. Unfortunately our Vietnam adventure came to an end on Christmas Eve while drunkly stumbling singing carols around the streets of Hanoi.

Laos // DAY 20 – DAY 26

Hot air ballooning, cave tubing and a kayaking bar crawl, Laos was a huge surprise and provided lots of fun activities but also some down time as we cruised down the Mekong River on a houseboat. Although we were only in Laos for a short time we did so much and I would say it is definitely worth a visit.

Thailand // DAY 26 – DAY 30

Day 26 brought us back into the madness that is Thailand, which was doubled as it was New Years Eve. We opted to get up super early on new years day to visit the unconventional Wat Rong Khun also know as the White Temple, we then headed towards Chang Mai where we managed to catch some traditional Thai boxing. We spent an unforgettable morning at an Elephant sanctuary, washing and feeding not only adult elephants but the most adorable baby elephant. Too soon it was time to board another night train back to the crazy and vast city of Bangkok and our last day.

Pop on the HD!