After having a blast in KL.. we hopped onto a bus to take us to Singapore. I underestimated how quick this journey was from Malaysia so in no time, we were in Singapore soil.

Got there so early, it was still dark and we were still half asleep. Lucky, people speak very good English here so was directed to the nearest metro to get to our hostel. It was so early, that we ended up crashing out on the front steps of the hostel because they weren’t opened. Hunger strikes time and the only place opened was an Indian restaurant just down the road. I love how I can laugh at these awkward, spontaneous moments now.

Settling in at the hostel which was actually lovely, probably the best bed we slept in. Had two comfortable massive pillows and a huge duvet that kept me cosy at night. These lil perks meant everything to us back then.. oh how we take these things for granted now :(

Singapore has got to be one of my favourite cities, it’s damn expensive and yes it is as clean as everyone says it to be but the vibe and atmosphere was something else. We were lucky to be in town when the Grand Prix was happening, so cars galore all over Orchard Road. Too bad we couldn’t get tickets to the actual event, I’m sure that would have been fun.

Doesn’t matter, we got to experience the other sights of Singapore. Head to Sentosa Island, where you can visit the man made beaches or head to Universal City and have fun on the rides. I must admit, Universal City wasn’t at all in our budget but it wasn’t every day that we were able to splurge out but it was a great day and I defo recommend it.

I’ve never been to a night safari before but the one in Singapore was fantastic. We got to see all these amazing animals that I never thought I would see ever. Although they do not come close to my love of pandas.. note: must make a visit to Edinburgh Zoo.

I also got to meet my lovely cousin Fiona who currently works in Singapore. I can’t even remember the last time I saw her so it was great to catch up with even for a short while.

I would definitely go back to Singapore again. It’s another place that has great shopping. Again, they love their malls but one thing I loved was the fact they had fast food spots that sell salad and soups. One thing I craved out there was fresh salad and not just the bit that comes on the side of your plate when you order a rice and meat dish. A proper salad with fresh ingredients and dressing that makes you want more. Singapore food courts had everything I wanted and more which is another reason why I will be back soon :)

If something’s a bit too good to be true, it probably is.

Having booked a hostel months in advance and having no problems at all with other places, we thought everything would be fine. What could go wrong?

Giving the address of the hostel to the cab driver, we passed by the beach and was taken to a massive condo. Hmmmm, did I really book this? Looking at the address, we definitely was at the right place but the man at the gate had no idea what we were talking about.

The kind cab driver lent me his phone and I managed to get through to the owner who informed me they no longer were letting out their room and we should have never been sold this?!? Absolutely raging!!!!!!!! All we wanted was to put our bags down, take a shower and have a nap but nope, we were hit with another obstacle. The cabbie drove us around to find one for a while, all over our budget so we decided to find one by foot. Eventually we got a hostel just outside the beach but was incredibly dirty. Not forgetting at 4 in the morning, we would be woken up by the mosque just outside our window. AHHH nightmare!!

To be honest, I can’t really remember much about Penang, I’m sure we did make the most of our time there but we also decided to head back to KL earlier than planned.

Maybe when I look back at pictures I can remember what we actually got up to :(

After a pleasant stay in Malaka, we headed off back to KL with our fellow hostel-ers to take another bus to Cameron Highlands. This was yet another bus journey that took way to many turns for my stomach to handle but the view was fantastic.

Cameron Highlands was the first place where we felt cold. No air-con needed, duvets wrapped around us, hoodies needed while we sat around the bonfire that our hostel made every evening. It was a great place to be! We felt relaxed and kinda one with nature. Cameron Highlands is filled with beautiful hills and was a great place to just walk.

Our first day we met up with other travellers who recommended trekking. It seemed pretty easy, get a map from the reception and there would be at least 6 routes you could follow. However, this map was not easy to read. With a bit of help from the map, me and Matt made our own route. It was pretty wet that day and I didn’t think to even pack any hiking boots or trekking clothes at all.

We would trek past river streams with no barriers to stop you from falling, climbing up rocks that my trainers wouldn’t grip to and knowing there were a million bugs just metres from me. I was slowly dying inside while Matt bravely stormed way ahead in front of me.

There were loads of lil things we visited here, the Buttefly/Bug centre *gag*, the Strawberry Farm.. ohhh the Strawberry Milkshake we had was ah-may-zing!!!, the Rose field, the Tea fields. It was only an hour at each place but it was more than enough. As much as I loved it here, I’m sure 3/4 days would be sufficient enough to stay unless you wanted to trek the whole time and make the most of it.

Ok.. I’m slightly cheating a bit. I was totally rubbish keeping this blog up to date. I’ve been back in London for 3 weeks now and it’s only now that I’ve had the time to sit down and come back onto this. Reality sucks big time!! .. I’m going to try my best to remember what we’ve done but hey ho.. let’s see how this goes.

On my birthday we travelled a few miles to Malaka. Our lovely hostel was just 5 minutes from the center town so everything was outside our doorstep. Malaka is a very small town, you probably could see everything in a day which we did.

A nice old blue eyed Malaysian man gave us a tour around the city on his bike. Bless his lil’ cotton socks.. he seemed so old and frail to the point where me and Matt were wondering whether we should ask to drive the bike or not. Going uphill with two passengers who was double the size of him was awkward to see especially as all the other bikes were overtaking us big time. Haha! But he was such a darl and he knew so much about the history of Malaka. He didn’t try selling us things we didn’t want and he even bought us coffee and mooncake and offered to take us to the nearest mall. The perfect tour guide!

Malaka is full of pretty boutique shops that sell all these handmade accesories such as purses, jewellery and of their famous pineapple tarts which are to die for. The people here are super friendly as well.

One night me and Matt found a spa type place, Matt really wanted to get cupping done and I just wanted a good ol foot massage. We ended up making friends with the owners who also ran a restaurant. They invited us for breakfast the next day for Malaka’s other famous dish.. chicken and rice balls and cendol. Amazing dish which was cheap as chips.

The owners must have taken a liking to us as they also invited us out for dinner that night so we could taste Malaka’s other local dishes. Food.. we couldn’t say no. Again, me and Matt had our guards up wondering why these people are being so nice to us.

The guy who owns the hostel we were staying at also organised a lil night out to town with all the guests which we decided to join. This was a really nice way of getting to meet other people as sometimes your so busy in the day by the time you get back to the hostel, you just feel knackered and want to go bed. We met people from Spain, Singapore, England also guys who were joining the army in Malaysia.

Had a nibble at one of the local restaurants before walking around the night market. It was some sort of celebration while we were there so there were thousands of people on the streets. It was then time to meet the couple from the spa/restaurant, Matt still was hesitant in going but I thought they seemed harmless and of course they weren’t.

As soon as they saw us amongst the crowd, they happily waved us over to their table surprising us with all these local treats.. for free! Knowing that not everyone was here to con you for your money was refreshing to see. All along we thought there must be a hidden agenda when really, they just wanted to talk to us about our life back in London and teach us more about Malaka’s culture. It was too bad that we were leaving the next day because I’m sure we would have seen more of them for the rest of the trip. :)

Another shaky and reckless drive back to Phnom Penh to catch our flight to KL, Malaysia.

Another flight, another day of a few hours sleep.As much as all this travelling malark has taken its toll on us, it is so totally worth it!

We arrived in KL to see my cousin and her husband waiting for us at the airport. It was great knowing that someone would take us straight away to a a place of comfort rather than me and Matt running around like headless chickens trying to find out the easiest or cheapest way of getting to our next destination.

My cousin kindly took us around the city, driving from the airport I felt like I just arrived from Heathrow. The road system was completely identical to London. Again, it was nice to have a system in place. I’m all about having systems.. I feel slightly unsettled when there’s no civilised system in place. Oh the joys of travelling the world!

We had a great couple of days in KL going up the Petronas Towers, one of the highest towers in the world and also the KL tower. Unfortunately, it was pretty foggy so the city didn’t look as great as it should have.

We loved KL that we made sure that we would come back again before we left Malaysia.

I got to celebrate my birthday in KL quickly before we headed off to Malaka in the evening. It was a great day celebrating with family I have not seen in years although strange that I was not at home celebrating it with my nearest and dearests who have always been there on my birthday. There was one point where I felt extremely homesick but thanks to my monkeyface, Matt made sure I wasn’t missing out on anything.

Another day, another city, next up - Malaka

We thought the roads in Phnom Penh were shaky.. the route from Phnom Penh was worst than any turbulence I’ve encountered. I felt like I was about to fly out of my seat, we couldn’t even catch up on any sleep because my head was constantly banging against the headrest. For those who travel or even those who travel long distance on a daily basis, any spare moment you have, sleep is VITAL! I definitely was not a happy bunny after this ride.

So after catching up with a few needed hours of sleep, we took a tuk tuk to the famous Angkor Wat temples. Unfortunately, it was raining so we couldn’t get a glimpse of the sunset here which apparently is meant to be amazing from here. The temples were definitely different to anything we’ve seen. They seemed the most original rather than being refurbished every few years. There were a few heads missing from statues which we were told later that the locals would cut the heads of to sell. Not sure whether that’s true or not. 

It was raining like crazy and we didn’t have an umbrella or raincoat so I probably did not appreciate being there as much as I should have which I kinda regret right now but I’m in love with Cambodia so I’m sure I’ll be back again one day. 

Ok… so my FAVOURITE part of Cambodia or my whole trip in general was visiting ACODO. Our friends from Canada recommended visiting this orphanage. There was no entrance fee, just a donation and the kids will perform a traditional dance for us.

I was a bit skeptical about this. I wasn’t sure whether the kids were forced into dancing, wasn’t sure if the orphanage was the real deal or not. We came to the orphanage where we were greeted by one of the kids, then the boss came out and thanked us for coming. He then took us around and showed us what they were saving up for. Not being sponsered by companies and relying on tourists and fundraising, it’s hard for them to provide a lot for the kids.

Still with my barrier up, I was still skeptical especially since we were the only ones who came to see the show. But the kids still performed which was the cutest thing ever, I wanted to take them all home with me and have them dance for me everyday lol. After their dance, we took pictures and they all came to me and Matt and spoke to us.

They seriously touched my heart!!! There are 70 children all living under the same roof, no family but the love for each other. They don’t have anything yet these kids were the most happiest kids ever, they laughed with us, they played jokes on us, told us about themselves and they all said they love to DANCE!!! It was actually really hard to say goodbye. I just hope when I get back to London, me and Matt can raise enough money for them to have the books to read, the food to eat, the clothes to wear. I’m so happy it was just me and Matt that day or we wouldn’t have been able to interact with the kids the way we did that night.

If anyone does want to help a charity out, please help ACODO and help these kids have a better future.

Love Nat x

I wasn’t sure what to expect of Cambodia coming off the plane. If anything, from the stories I’ve heard.. I was hoping that Cambodia will be the place to take me out of my Western comforts. From the moment we came out of the airport, we were greeted by the usual flock of eager taxi drivers, the famous “where you go?” will haunt me for life.

We got to our hostel and saw that our beds were just two thin mattresses laid on top of each other. I’m sure my back still hasn’t forgiven me for those restless nights.

We started our Cambodian trip in Phnom Penh - the capital city. On the drive to the hostel, we definitely felt a difference between Cambodia and the other countries we’ve been to. The roads were crazy bumpy, kids were either begging or selling goods left, right and centre and most homes were built just feet away from water below. It was hard for me to get my head around this, I couldn’t understand or should I say believe there were people living like this. You see it on documentaries on TV but until you actually see it in front of you, it hits you hard.

We went to the usual temples and palaces in Cambodia and walked along the Mekong River. I loved the fact that we were walking along this river, when we were also on a boat from Thailand to Laos on this same river just a few weeks ago.

A good thing about Cambodia is that they sell books ridiculously cheap - of course, they are rip off’s but its the content that matters :) .. and the money also helps the kids who sells them.

One thing we found out about Phnom Penh was their lack of street lights at night. I swear we were walking along roads where we couldn’t even see what we were stepping on. This was slightly unsettling especially since we saw a mahoosive rat running around near the market but luckily our hostel was just a few roads down from the the tourist spots.

It was a short three day stay in Phnom Penh but it has definitely been a place I would not forget easily.

Hope everyone is well :)

Love Nat x