Tour Provider: G Adventures
Tour: Bangkok to Singapore (On a shoestring)
Group Size: 14 (of a possible 18)
After the inevitable street food in Chinatown and (attempted) night out down Khao San Road we left Bangkok and headed south towards Krabi on the night train. Arriving in Krabi the weather was perfect for sunset cocktails on the beach. The town was different from how I had envisaged, I was expecting something similar to the quaint small coastal towns on some of Thailand’s idyllic islands, Krabi was bigger and more developed.
Our first full day was spent island hopping along with the thousands of other tourists eager to catch a glimpse of the setting for the blockbuster movie, The Beach. The experience on Phi Phi was not how I expected; firstly, we had to queue on our boat to enter the bay and once ashore it was so busy you couldn’t quite picture how it ever looked so tranquil in the movie. To make things worse, some tour operators were so desperate to make as much money as possible and their much larger boats packed with tourists were constantly grounding in the shallow waters of the lagoon entrance throwing sandy water high into the air.
The day didn’t get much better as we had to squeeze in two hospital visits (one on Ko Phi Phi Don and the second back in Krabi [a stingray attack and one of the group who had a fight with the boat propeller and lost])! Things picked up in the evening, and the group certainly didn’t let the thunderstorms dampen our spirits, cue a wild night out. We started with the almost mandatory Ladyboy Cabaret show, quite bizarre but somewhat enjoyable, I was just relieved to not be dragged on stage… from here things picked up as we took over a karaoke bar, a party dance bar and later on, for some lessons in dancing on stage, a slightly more risqué bar! Most of the group had a go on the poles…
Heading south, we stopped off at Georgetown in Malaysia, which I found to be a pleasant town with lots of interesting street art and a fantastic roof top SkyWalk platform on the 68th floor! Perfect for dusk where you can capture the views by day and night.
Moving on to the Cameron Highlands, we had a productive day trip starting with a 2.5-hour round trip hike through jungle terrain to see the world’s largest flower. The flowers once open only live for 7 days so it is quite difficult to see them fully open, we were fortunate to see a 3-day flower. Later we took in a tea plantation that had some fantastic views of the tea plants hugging the hillsides as far as the eye could see, perfect for Instsa and that new profile pic! The highland roads seemed to be 24/7 traffic jam (it was a public holiday weekend), a lot of city dwellers head to the highlands and rather than opting for hikes and outdoor activities, instead just drive around taking in the scenery, visiting the pick your own fruit orchards and the tea plantations.
Arriving in Kuala Lumpur it was very different from what we had seen before, very developed, modern and clean. We had two nights here but could have easily spent longer. We did the usual city tour, which finished at the huge Batou Caves on the edge of the city. 300+ steps take you up the steep rock face in to a huge cavern. The steps are guarded by a 30m high Buddha, all very impressive but watch out for the aggressive monkeys! We saw too many people tease them and pay the consequences! KL has some fantastic nightlife and so naturally we had a big night out down Bar Street; drinking games, trance music and good company it was a great time and all the locals were so friendly. Despite some rough heads we managed to check out some rooftop bars the next day the two best being the Helipad Bar for sunset cocktails overlooking the city and then Traders SkyBar for late night cocktails overlooking the illuminated and impressive Petronas Towers. I would certainly recommend the former bar (arrive in good time, grab a drink at the bar and head straight up to the roof)!
We arrived at Singapore via an overnight stopover in Maleka (enter too many drinks before an early wake up call)! Singapore is one of my favourite places, everyone was so nice, the city was modern and clean and the first language is English! The Gardens by the Bay were far more impressive than the photos can do them justice. I lost myself here and walked around aimlessly in the sunshine for hours taking it all in drifting in and out of the massive greenhouses, the more impressive of the two housing the huge indoor waterfall! Whilst in Singapore, of course, you have to visit the world-famous Marina Bay Sands Hotel and head to the roof terrace to take in the fantastic views. A visit would also not be complete without stopping by the Raffles Hotel for an expensive Singapore Sling cocktail.
Highlights
Best Drink: Singapore Sling (the drink is ok but the whole experience coupled with the history behind it makes it my favourite), fresh tea in the Cameron Highlands wasn’t bad either…
Best Experience: sunset drinks at the Helipad Bar in KL (fantastic views and good vibes, take me back!)
