What a whirlwind of a month – three countries, four flights and non-stop adventures once again!
Our tenth month on the road started with our count down to our visit to Hong Kong, a city break where we were so excited for delicious street food, street photography, high rise bars and a taste of Chinese culture.
Hong Kong was such an awesome city to visit. It’s a place where most often stop for a day or two in between travels to other places – we were lucky enough to have 11 days to explore this incredible city.
We based ourselves in Tsim Sha Tsui, a perfect crossroads for exploring the craziness of Kowloon, including Mongkok – the most densely populated area on earth – and catching the Star Ferry over to the main island of Hong Kong. Having longer to spend in Hong Kong meant not having to rush any sight-seeing. We’d jump on the MTR, get off and explore a suburb, walking to whatever looked interesting and capturing photos of local life, market places and buildings.
We visited museums, skyscrapers, temples and bars, and took day trips out to Victoria Peak, Lantau Island, Hong Kong Disneyland as well as a day and night stay to the nearby region of Macau, which we loved and wished we’d made more time for.
The best part about our visit to Hong Kong was the slower pace, being able to spend days exploring and then hours in coffee shops, getting work done and making plans together, and having the opportunity to dress up for nights out. It was so nice to feel ‘fancy’ for the first time in a long time!
We left Hong Kong after a few early morning hurdles (someone may or may not have missed their flight…), back to Kuala Lumpur where I met up with my friend Alecia. The following day we flew out to Cambodia together – my second visit to the country where we had two weeks backpacking to both familiar and brand new places!
I’ve been fairly vocal about my lack of love for Cambodia after our last visit – it was a tough gig, but I blame it mostly on the fact it was our first proper backpacking trip, where I was very ill, suffered a lot of culture shock and had more bad experiences than positive ones. Which is why I wanted to give it a second chance, and suggested it to Alecia when we were discussing where to travel together months ago. I knew I was a lot more experienced with travelling to ‘difficult’ countries this time around, so I felt more prepared to tackle Cambodia again!
Cambodia was still tough to travel. It’s tourism industry is nowhere near as developed as say Thailand for example – and there are many reasons for that. English is well spoken, there are transport connections everywhere and it’s ‘easy’ to get around – but it’s hard work. The people are hard work. There is constant harassment from the locals – whilst friendly, it’s on a whole other level which becomes really frustrating over time. We also travelled out of peak season – being that it was insanely hot during our entire visit, which just added to the discomfort. It’s come a long way since my last visit, but it also hasn’t changed in many ways.
Our adventures in Cambodia started in Siem Reap, where we explored the famous Angkor Wat temples, before heading to the quiet town of Battambang, and then south to Kampot and Kep on the coast – easily my favourite two stops on the trip and where I’d go back first if I was to visit Cambodia again. We finished in Phnom Penh, a stop where I was ill for most of my last visit so hadn’t had a chance to explore properly.
I’m yet to get out any posts on Cambodia out, so I’ll reserve most of the details of our travels for those – stay tuned!
I’m now back in Kuala Lumpur where I said goodbye to Alecia – I’m here until Friday before we set off on our next adventure – China! Four weeks travelling the mysterious far-east! I have a list the length of my arm of things to get organised before we go – it’s going to be our most challenging adventure yet and we’re trying to be as prepared as possible.
If you have been to China and have any travel advice for us, please let us know by sending an email or leaving a comment below! We’ve got some pretty exciting things planned for our trip, including some off the beaten path adventures, and we can’t wait to share them all with you.
We’ve purchased VPN’s for our travels so we’re hoping to stay online for most of our travels, but that all depends on our Internet connections! To stay on top of our adventures, make sure you subscribe to our blog by entering your email address in the side bar – we have lots more content on Hong Kong and Cambodia scheduled for the next month. Also be sure to ‘Like’ our Facebook page and ‘Follow’ us on Instagram as well.
In the meantime, be sure to check out all our posts from the last month:
- The Happiest Place on Earth: The Magic of Experiencing Disney As a Grown Up
- How Much Does it Cost to Travel Japan?
- Observing ANZAC Day at Gallipoli
- Dreaming of Paris: My Favourite Instagram Accounts to Follow
- A Visit to Lantau Island
- I’m Flying! Paragliding in Fethiye
- The Peak: The Best View in Hong Kong
Til next month!
Mike & Amy
