SE Asia Travel Series : Bangkok and Krabi (The Conclusion)

So this is the last installment of my SE Asia travel series! I've been back for three weeks now and it's been somewhat of a challenge to get past the jet lag and get back into the swing of things. We started university two days after our return which didn't help. Anyway, now I'm all better and my energy is starting to come back which means I'm motivated to make blog posts again!

So let's pick up where we left off last time. We were in Hanoi just about to fly back to Bangkok. That night we had pizza and I bought a Vietnamese hat ( I had to carry that thing around for almost two weeks, such a pain in the rear). The next morning we left for the airport of Hanoi and one hour later we were in Bangkok. We didn't do much in Bangkok except hang around the MBK Center Mall all day, playing arcade games, eating ramen pretty much every day and going to the movies once or twice (I believe we went to see Total Recall and Ted).

We also spent some time on Khao San Road. Funny story, we heard that one of Quebec's local celebrities had opened a poutine shop (for those who don't know it, it's a dish from quebec consisting of french fries with gravy and cheese curds on top) in Bangkok recently so we decided to check it out. We ended up meeting him which was really cool. We obviously had some of the poutine which was really good and reminded us of home.

MBK Center :D

One of our favorite places to hang out and have a drink : Black Canyon Coffee :)

Most days I ordered tea which always came with crackers!

DJ Max Technica, this game is so hard X|

Another music game, also ridiculously difficult, lol

We love Pump It Up <3

One of Mathieu's favorite mid after noon snack : matcha ice cream :)

The menu at the poutine shop! We tried the schnitzel poutine, the hot-dog poutine, the italian poutine (missing from the menu apparently :P) and the bacon and onion poutine. All equally yummy!

The poutine place

This would be the bacon and onion poutine!

Hachiban ramen's menu. My all time favorite ramen bowl <3

 
 

The Tom Yam based ramen

Not 100% sure, since on the menu it's simply called "soup", but I think this is shoyu ramen with japanese style roast chicken. My fave <3! I must have had this bowl at least 10 times over two weeks.

I love gyoza :D

Mathieu with the poutine shop owner! He's a well know comedian in Quebec :)

Last but not least : Shabu Shi! I love this place. It's a all you can eat, shabu shabu. You choose your ingredients for the soup from a rotating conveyer belt. There is also a sushi buffet, drinks and ice cream. Love!

From Sha Shi's buffet

Right before I started making my soup

Night out in Khao San

Takoyaki!!! I can never get enough of this

After about six lazy days in Bangkok we left for Krabi on an overnight bus to conclude our trip with a bit of beach time. Unfortunately it rained most of the time we were in Krabi, but the few sunny days we got, we really took advantage of. We went rock climbing on the breathtaking limestone cliffs of Rai leh beach (it rained for at least half of the time we were there, but we had time for a couple climbs before the walls got too slippery) and we went on a island tour to a couple amazingly beautiful beaches. After that we went back to Bangkok, shopped around for souvenirs (and myself for some asian makeup :P) and flew back home!

Rai Leh Beach

Getting ready for some rock climbing in Rai Leh

In retrospect, I think it's safe to say that this trip was my favorite so far. It was unbelievable from begining to finish and we did so much, learned so much, saw so much. It was truly and incredible experience. Oh, and Thailand has the most gorgeous beaches I have ever seen. I really recommend anyone to go there sometime!

 Anyway that is all for this travel series. I hope you all enjoyed following me in yet another backpacking adventure :) Tell me in the comments if you would like to see more of these and what you did this summer! I would love to know <3

SE Asia Backpacking Series : Ko Tao, Ko Samui, Ko Phi Phi, Chiang Mai (again :P) and Bangkok

Hello everyone! Long time no post! I wanted to post this earlier but the internet here is not always great and uploading pictures can be a pain. Now I have a decent wifi in my room in Nha Trang Vietnam so I will update you on how the trip has been going. First thing we did in Ko Tao was find a good diving resort for a couple fun dives. Our friends wanted to do the PADI Open Water Course so we went diving in the meantime. We dived 6 times, in 6 different sites, all of which were very nice. I reckon it's some of the best diving I have done so far (not that I have done that much :P).

 On our last day in Ko Tao, Mathieu and I went snorkeling in Shark Bay, where you can usually spot black fin sharks. We were able to see a bunch of different species of fish including one shark!

After that, we left for Ko Samui. In Ko Phangan, we met two girls from Quebec and decided to travel along with them for a while. We decided to follow them to Ko Samui as they were going there to celebrate one of the girls' birthday. We only stayed two nights. While we were there, we went to the Green Mango, a popular night club there. It was all a lot of fun :)

We left Ko Samui and headed straight for Ko Phi Phi where we spent a couple days. There, we went for two more fun dives (this time we saw a bunch of sharks and a sea turtle!) and a snorkeling trip to the beautiful beaches of the area, including Maya Bay, the place from the movie "The Beach". I wasn't so keen on the island itself though. It felt too crowded for the ressources and there was usually quite a bit of trash lying around. There were many nice restaurants there though and we even had a poutine! Who would've thought?

From Ko Phi Phi, we caught a boat to Phuket, were we stayed the night. Our plane for the north was leaving from there so we walked around the city a little bit during the day. After a pretty uneventful plane ride to Chiang Mai we were back, once again, in the north. Our friend had never been and since I quite enjoy it there, we decided it was fine to go back. This time, we went to a tiger farm, where you can pet tigers and take pictures with them and took a day long tour to the golden triangle and the white temple. The white temple was simply breathtaking and the paintings inside were amazing (pictures inside the temples aren't allowed in Thailand so I don't have pictures). We also went to the night market in Chiang Mai for some souvenir shopping, to see a muay thai show and to get thai massages. As always, Chiang Mai was a lot of fun and I'd definitely would go back in the future.

 Our friend's trip was getting close to its end by this point so we caught a night train back to Bangkok. After she left, Mathieu and I spent some time there to relax, went to the cinema, the arcade and ate huge amounts of japanese food. There are many great japanese restaurants at the MBK Center in Bangkok, I had no idea until this time that there was so much of it there!

We have been to Cambodia briefly since then and are now in Vietnam. Cambodia hasn't been the greatest experience for us, but we didn't stay very long which means it's hard to judge. I'll update in a bit on how it's going here in Vietnam! Right now I'm kind of sick and might go to the doctor tomorrow if it doesn't get any better. Not to worry though, I doubt it's anything serious, but I might needs some antibiotics to help speed my recovery :)

  That's all for now, hope you all enjoyed this :) How's all of your summers going so far? Let me know in the comments!