#2curlyvegans

Langkawi Sky Bridge is a 125 meters curved pedestrian cable-stayed bridge, located at the peak of Gunung Mat Chinchang mountain, on Pulau Langkawi, an island in the Langkawi archipelago in Kedah, Malaysia.

After 13 hours on the second class sleeper train, we got our Thai exit stamp and crossed the border into Malaysia. We headed to the island of Penang via Butterworth (mainland). There are two ways to cross over and that’s either crossing one of two bridges or taking the ferry. Ferry journey takes approximately 20 minutes and costs about 40p per person. However, I’ll be writing more about Penang on a separate post.

Firstly, what a great start to our four night stay in Langkawi. We hired a moped- one with an almost empty tank.  And guess what? On our way to the closest petrol station which was about two kilometres away, the moped decided it cannot go any further! Yes it stopped in the middle of what looked like a dual carriage way. I had to walk ahead in the middle of the road while OK was behind pushing the thing and cursing till the cows came home. Don’t ask me why, but I found the situation quite amusing at the time- only because we looked like two foreign bell-ends…OK clearly didn’t find any of this funny at all.

OK took the lead and booked a night at the TStar Cottage costing us £12 GBP per night (trust him to find the cheapest accommodation on Trivago). We were given keys to a small hut in the middle of a jungle. Rather charming looking hut from the outside, but once you enter is very tiny and very basic. If you wanted toilet paper, extra pillows, a mosquito net, hair dryer etc. you had to pay extra. Oh! And all rooms had no hot showers.

There were signs all over the resort with “Do not feed the monkeys” and pictures on what the friendly monkeys look like versus the naughty monkeys. It was an uncomfortable night’s sleep because mosquitos were gate-crashing our sleepover. There were also weird noises outside our door so I suspected they were the naughty monkeys which didn’t bother me that much. Nevertheless, we changed hotel the next day.

We had another incident with our moped…OK decided not to wear a helmet as it didn’t look cool enough. And guess what? We were stopped by police on motorcycles and they issued OK with an on-the-spot fine of about £100 GBP. He tried sweet talking them by saying “We’re students, we don’t have money. In my country you only use helmets at your own discretion” – twenty minutes have gone by and I was rather impressed by OK’s persuasive skills. I made sure I kept my mouth firmly shut (who knows what kind of damage I would have caused). Finally, they let us go with a verbal warning and a picture – thankfully.

We didn’t get to do much beaching as there weren’t many beaches that were suitable – I say unsuitable because the tides are always low. Cenang is where the tourists go and the beach is pretty decent- quite small and the usual jet skis and water surfing on offer. But we stayed approximately 25 minutes north pass the airport in a town called Pantai. Here we met a German gentleman who gave us advice on local activities (which were very limited) and told us it will be a challenge to find anything at least vegetarian (so that’s Roti and white rice for the next few days). This man (who I forgotten his name) is retired, single, no children- he decided to leave his life in Germany to live and travel in Asia. He spends most of his days sitting in the front patio of the guesthouse with a book in one hand and a glass (which I assumed was a glass of either rum or whisky) in another. Although, that wouldn’t be my idea of fun, he seemed to be truly happy and content. He would say things like how great it was not to have any responsibilities and loves to feel free! But what drew my attention the most was that he managed to rent a room for £50 per month- How cheap is that? So what is there to do in Langkawi? Well, we took the moped for a spin and headed to the cable car and the infamous sky bridge with is located above the Oriental Village. Along the way we spotted a family of monkeys chilling on the road. We stopped to take a few pictures, particularly one which was rummaging through a garbage can. We went really close and all of a sudden the little guy came at us. We skidded off as quickly as possible – although he was little, he looked mad! Of course I didn’t want to run the risk of getting bitten.

The Oriental Village is purely catered for tourists. It’s filled with souvenir shops, fun activities for children and an exhibition centre. The queues for the cable car and Sky Bridge were incredibly long and waiting time was almost two hours! However, you can pay a little extra for the fast lane. We met a funny cartoonist who was selling funky caricatures! This dude use to work for the Disney Channel Malaysia as a cartoon voice over person (sorry I don’t know what this is actually called). So you can imagine how entertained I was when he was doing all my favourite Disney character impressions- I could have easily spent hours and hours speaking to him- Donald Duck was my fav!

We took the opportunity to drive further north of the island to find a waterfall. We got a little lost along the way but the trip was well worth it! The freshwater was at perfect temperature and it wasn’t crowded at all. There were a few local young boys who dared each other to jump from the highest rock. One boy climbed dangerously high (about 20 meters high and water isn’t that deep), it took him about 40 minutes to jump- luckily he didn’t hurt himself when his whole body smacked into the water. He had a massive round of applause when his head popped to the surface- brave but silly. I should have obeyed the rules of not feeding the monkeys though! I couldn’t help myself by giving one of the naughty monkeys my banana peel. One of his fellow monkey mates got a little offended I didn’t give him any and started running after me!! I was screaming, people were looking and OK desperately trying to calm me down. I’ve never felt so scared (apart from the recent bumpy flight) in a long time.

This is a very special post as its being co-written (or rather bullied into) by my childhood bestie Hasena.

After a somewhat bumpy and slightly hazy flight, we finally landed in the beautiful Indonesian island of Bali. As expected, as soon as you exit the airport, we were confronted by a whole host of uniformed taxi drivers.

Our driver although a friendly chatty chap, didn’t seem to know where he was going and had to ask numerous times what the name of our hotel was and asked the locals for directions. When we finally reached our destination, we learnt that the Nusa Puri hotel that we were looking for had changed its name to VOUK (and was called something else before that- so the name had changed three times in the space of two months). It was a beautiful place and we appeared to have the huge hotel resort to ourselves. If you ever go to Nusa Puri/VOUK/Mantra or whatever its name is gonna be, do try their Gabo Gabo which is a traditional Indonesian delicacy made with fresh vegetables, tofu, nut cake and a drizzle of spicy peanut sauce.

The local beach “Geger beach” was only a five minute drive away and we were escorted by the hotel tuk tuk. Hasena had the desperate urge for a massage and made friends with one the local beach masseuse. This masseuse kept coming back persuading not only Hasena (who always gave in!) but to also me and OK. Their tactic was to rub your feet and won’t stop until you give them a firm NO. Trust me, after the amount of walking we all did in KL and Singapore, a foot massage is definitely what the doctor would order. It was one of those “Yes, please carry on, no don’t I don’t want this, please stop, don’t stop…ahhhhh!” moments. After a couple of massage sessions, Hasena realised she was being ripped off as four local lady friends were charging 100,000 IDR (£5 GBP) instead of 60,000 IDR (£3 GBP) which is the market rate.

One thing we loved about Indonesia is their currency, because we always felt like millionaires. Their notes had extremely high denominations. We’d change £100 GBP at the Bureau de Change and was given $2M IDR. Hasena had to take a picture and send it to her family with the post “I’ve made it!”– We’re RICH, beyond our wildest dreams ;o)

Apart from the ever so rowdy Kuta (which was also the place where the devastating bombings occurred), Seminyak is the place to be in Bali. It’s a buzzing location filled with bars, restaurants and shops. This place was about a 30 minute drive away (which is about £5 GBP with a taxi). We spent many evenings there, mainly for dinner because we discovered an organic earthy restaurant called Earth Café. The restaurant also had a grocery section similar to Planet Organic in the UK but at the fraction of the cost so we bulked up with things to take home.  

Bali isn’t all just about paradise beaches, which is why we wanted to venture out. So we hired a driver called Made to show us what Bali is all about. He took us to Silver and Gold smiths, where Hasena and I would dribble over the precious stones and magnificent bespoke Indonesian designs and OK would sit in the corner keeping on a DL and play Backgammon on his phone hoping I wouldn’t drop hints on a certain piece of jewel I’d wish he would buy me ;o) Next stop was the Coffee and Cacao plantation and I kid you not, this place was absolute heaven for Hasena. After banishing her from any kind of coffee intake during her visit, she got away with experiencing different kinds of coffee in the name of culture- she was in total Euphoria (rolled eyes and all). However, one type of coffee she didn’t want to sample was the Luwak (Pea Berry) Coffee- which is supposed to be the most expensive coffee in the world as it is produced by an animal (looks a bit like a fox) pooping out the coffee bean, which is then roasted and grounded. I however needed to give this coffee a good go and for 50K IDR (£2.50 GBP) per cup, why not try a bit of shit once in your life…tastes like normal coffee though probably more nutritious.

You must go to Ubud because here is the home of Tampak Siring which is a holy water temple. Hasena heard that if you bathed under all circa twenty holy springs, it would enhance your beauty, health and wealth. So, we were all over this and made sure we bathed hard- the ritual was to wash your face three times, wash your mouth out three times, sip the water three times, and then wash your hair. There was an Indonesian school trip, where some of the students found us particularly fascinating and consistently took pictures of us and giggling as well.  

We discovered Made (our driver) was a yoga instructor and we requested he’d take us to his master who he kept banging on about- he told us the master had healing powers and the ability to read minds. But firstly, let’s rewind a little bit to explain why we were so eager to pay him a visit. As we were in a predominately Hindu region, we exposed to lots of information on Hindu related spiritual stuff for example Ayurveda, Chakra and the third eye. So, we hope a small visit to the master’s house would put our curiosity at rest. The next morning we woke up earlier than usual (6am) and drove three hours through steep mountainous roads and beautiful views of rice fields. We had to make a few stops along the way, as I have a very weak bladder. One of the toilet stops was a rather appealing one (I’m being sarcastic here)- as you’d probably imagine, it was a small room filled with all sorts of bugs and a hole in the floor. I had to go first as I was literally bursting and Hasena was contemplating being one with nature and do her business behind a banana tree-  but like a lady, she waited patiently. Unlucky, the toilet door was broken so OK took the job of holding it closed while I was in there. I took a little longer than normal having downed a huge coconut earlier and OK wasn’t making my experience in there anymore pleasant by yelling “What you doing in there? Hurry up!” me “Yes OK, you’re acting like I really want to be in here!!”.

A short nap in our tour bus later, we arrived at the master’s house. But first, we had to cross a river by foot! This meant getting a little wet- while OK and I sped through it, poor Hasena was strategically escorted hand-in-hand by Made (what a gentleman). This journey reminded me a lot of the film “Wizard of Oz” - Dorothy and her pals embarked on a journey to visit the wizard who lived miles away and had to encounter many inconveniences along the way. This journey is definitely one to tell the kids…The Master’s house was pretty run down in the middle of nowhere and we caught a naked man bathing in the river (literally washing his bum out). We were greeted by a host of people (who also took pictures of us) and the master who I imagined would be an old tanned, long white bearded skinny man with a turban. But he turned out to be a rather young, out of shape, casual kind of guy- I was a little disappointed (I should never stereotype). He was sitting in a school teacher type of desk with a white board near him- seemed he was giving a lecture. We felt slightly awkward because we interrupted his session and he didn’t get up to shake our hand- we also had to communicate with him through Made. I have to admit, I felt pretty nervous around him because I couldn’t help think that he knew exactly what I was thinking. For some reason all his attention was drawn towards me which made me feel even more nervous. He lectured us about yoga and why it’s is important, he asked us questions around our beliefs. He then offered to perform a ritual that he referred to as a blessing- I politely declined and Hasena politely fell asleep. I had to knock her a couple of times as her snoring was getting louder and louder- you can’t take her anywhere! He seemed pretty offended we didn’t take up on this offer, but it definitely wasn’t a wasted journey.

This is my third visit to Bangkok (OK lived here for about one year back in 2011) and I’m not gonna lie, I’m not a big fan of it- reason why… polluted, too much traffic and a lot of hassle and bustle (I’ve got London for that). The less time I spend in Bangkok the better and two nights is enough for me.

Where did we stay? The President Solitaire Spa and Hotel in Sukumvit Soi 11 just a short walk from Nana Station. Lovely place, reasonably priced and centrally located – what more can I ask for?

Had my first ever go at Bangkok street food on Kao San road. There is a small Pad Thai stall where they serve Veggie Spring Rolls for 50 baht (£1 GBP) for three. They reheat them in wok with a little oil and serve on a paper plate with a little salad garnish (rather posh) oh and a little sweet chilli sauce. Verdict… Filo pastry wasn’t crunchy which was disappointing but the filling was pretty good.

Well into the evening, we stopped off at another street food stall where they sell a selection of dishes both for meat eaters and veggie! We ordered veggie with rice but be careful and order “without fish sauce”. For 40 baht (80p GBP) you have a meal – CHEAP!

If you’re reluctant to eating street food but want to go cheap- go to the malls/shopping centres. Most of them have a food court. We went to one called Terminal 21 in Asok - Very modern and home to a handful of major high street retailers such as H&M, Guess, Boots and Bata. Head to the fifth floor and you come to a huge food court where they serve mainly Asian cuisines (there are well over 10 food stations). You need to queue up at one of their coupon stands to get a card which you need to top up. Use the card once you’ve ordered your food at one of the food stations. The court looks a little like a school canteen but seriously its awesome, very cheap (i.e. mango and sticky rice for 30 baht) and so worth it.

Unfortunately, on the second day I had a little upset stomach :o( so be careful with street food! It ain’t gonna stop me though- I believe this is good stomach training 😜

Thailand is also very popular for their massages and massage parlours are literally everywhere! On the first night in Bangkok I had a one hour foot massage for 250 Baht (approximately £5 GBP) and the following evening I had a full body (nice and strong and excluding happy endings ;o) for 500 baht (£10 GBP).

If you like shopping, head to the night markets and MBK (one of my favourite shopping malls in the world) is an absolute must! There you can find almost anything and make sure you barter with the salesperson- bartering I find a very entertaining experience and they like it too. I’ve managed to buy a selfie stick and a “Y” headphone splitter for 50% off the initial asking price. Be prepared to spend the whole day in MBK…

On the third day, we had to pack our stuff and head to Hua Lamphong Station (Bangkok’s main train station) to catch the train to Chiang Mai. We booked the VIP 1st class sleeper as we were taking an overnight train. I was advised to making the booking well in advance (like more than a month) as VIP get booked up pretty quickly. Total cost for 2curlyvegans = 3,306 baht (£61 in total). I booked these tickets with an independent Thai travel operator called 12Go Asia (read their reviews are they are one of the best). You do need to collect your train tickets in person and their offices are just a short walk from the station.

The journey from Bangkok to Chiang Mai took approximately 13 hours and I must say it’s probably one of the best travelling experiences I’ve ever had. The cabin is small (as expected) and the seats turn into single bunk beds. They provide you with bedding and water. Dinner and breakfast is also served but not included in the booking. We ordered one veggie option two share- this included a soup, mushroom stir fry, Cashew and veggie stew, jasmine rice, pineapple and juice- all for 190 baht (£3.52 GBP) – not use to paying these sorts of prices but it’s cheap ;o)

One hour before the train was due to arrive at its final destination- we were personally woken up by the train guard. I opened our curtains and was presented by a beautiful view! I’ve never seen Thailand like this! It’s very green, loads of hills, rice fields, secluded and simply amazing.

I was lucky enough to be in Basel on the weekend where they held their first ever street food festival. I went on the Sunday and I must say I was pretty impressed because it was a pretty good turnout. Even though the stalls were filled with endless meat options such as burgers and wursts! But we first stumbled across “Yemen Express” – This was the only stall in the festival where veggie/vegan was “in your face” and it had the longest queue. They make Vegetarian and Vegan pastry flat bread wraps both sweet and savoury. They only had two vegan options which were enough for us as we were only looking to sample the food at the festival rather than eat a huge meal. Although a tad bit bland, I liked it! It was the pastry flat bread that made it for me.

We also stopped by a Kenyan stall called The Jungle Kitchen- very small but the food was so yum! Try the Red-Red it’s a stew of beans and sweetcorn with Rice and fried plantain- we had to order seconds as it was so delicious. We then went to Grill & Fun where they served dumplings and got a portion of Veggie ones of course. To be honest, I’m not a huge dumpling fan and I need a lot of soy sauce but these were OKAY. Finally, from a distance I saw Feijoada/Acai!! Yes it was a Brazilian stall and a tiny one too! They were serving mainly burgers and sausages. I wanted something a little sweet so I ordered Acai and for 10chf you get a bowl with blended banana and acai, muesli and honey (we had ours without honey). I would give this bowl of ice a 2/10 – it was the worst Acai I’ve ever had – do not go there for this.

Okay, this is the first time I’ve ever written a blog and I’m pretty excited about it. The whole purpose of this is not only to show off and share my experience but also to avoid boredom, feeling a slight bit home sick and generally keep my brain active. But let me warn you, I’m the duchess of typos and grammatical errors- although a few of my trusty friends (you know who you are) have offered their editing services FOC (thanks guys :o). But, I’m gonna do this solo and let my fingers move faster than my brain and run with it. 

What is Chapter Asia? Simple! I’m going on a journey with a very special person in my life who goes by the name of OK. OK and I have always spoken about travelling the world and finally decided to take the plunge and do it. First stop, SE Asia! Why? Apart from OK’s love of Thai spiced crickets (back in the day) and Koh San Road, there are countries in this region I really want to explore. But, there is a small twist to this journey- we want to see how we can survive as vegans…(Vegans since 1st January 2015).

Destinations:- Switzerland, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Philippines 

Dates:- From 1st October till 24th December