Cameron Highlands

We are currently in the Cameron Highlands which are famed for their amazing hilly scenery, tea and strawberry farming.  Apparently they cover an area about the size of Singapore (thank you wikitravel).  We figured that if we stayed in Penang any longer we might never leave, so we should go somewhere else.  We took 2 buses from Penang starting at about 6am and arrived around 5pm.

Penang

We decided to get the hell out of KL and head to Penang which I understand to be the food capital of Malaysia.  We got off the bus and as per usual set about looking for somewhere to live.

Vipassana Meditation

We originally wanted to do a meditation retreat in Thailand when we were first there but ran out of time.  I had wanted to do something like this for a few years.  I met a guy at a house party a few years ago who was raving to me about this meditation retreat near Wales where you are silent for 10 days and just meditate.  Admittedly he was gurning like a bitch at the time so i took it with a grain or 2 of salt but it definitely stayed in my mind.  So I'd known it was something I had to do but I just hadn't wanted to take time off of work to it, but as fate would have it, it's something you can do in SE Asia.

Walking to the centre which is about 2/3 hrs out from KL.

Malaysia - KL

We didn't realise it but the wkend that our visa's ran out was a bank holiday and so everyone was legging it out of Bangkok for the break.  We were therefore forced to fly and bus it into Malaysia as trains were booked up.  We flew down to Hatyai in the south of Thailand and then got an overnight bus to Kuala Lumpur.  I actually managed to get to sleep on the bus and then was rudely awoken when we had suddenly arrived in KL at 4am.  Ouch.

Welcome to KL.

Koh Samet

As we had 15 days in Thailand,we decided to head to a Thai beach because it seemed silly not to.

Yes this really did happen.

Bangkok (again)

We boarded a bus at about 6.30am in Phnom Penh and started a 15hr bus journey back into Thailand to Bangkok.  I was sooo tired and then kept getting dive bombed by mosquitoes.  Not what you need at that time of day. We got into Bangkok at about 8.30pm in the end which wasn't as bad as I thought.  Immigration was painless and we got an ac minibus into Bangkok in which I actually had 2 seats to myself - Bonus.

Phnom Penh

We decided that we would miss out Vietnam and had head back into Thailand and down into Malaysia overland. We trekked back to Phnom Penh and spent only a couple of days here.  It's quite a busy crazy city.  The traffic is insane.  It took about an hour to drive just 10k through the city.  Mopeds and cars are forced to mount the pavement at peak times so as a pedestrian and a tourist to boot this took some getting used to.  It was almost like being back in India.  Andy almost got run over about a million times.

Sihanoukville

We left Siem Reap and headed to the coast via Phnom Penh which is the capital of Cambodia.  We stayed here for one night and got the bus down to Sihanoukville which has a number of beaches on the Gulf of Thailand.  After a long old bus journey we finally arrived and after much bartering got a ride to Otres Beach which was apparently not so crazy built up and fairly quiet we set off for Otres.

Siem Reap

On first impression Siem Reap feels much like an Indian city.  The rickshaws and the beeping and the smells all felt like I could be in an Cambodian/Indian city. We found a big clean room with a TV for $5 a night which I was happy with.   There was still building work going on but it was fine because it seems every guesthouse we stay in has some form of building work going on...

Kratie

We eventually arrived in Kratie which was alright.  I couldn't really say much about it.  We were there only for a couple of days.

Don Det

Don Det is just one of the islands that are dotted about in the middle of the Mekong river.  You bus it to a certain point and then get on a tiny boat.

Vang Vieng

After much procrastination we decided to head south to Vang Vieng which has a reputation as the party capital of Laos.  I wanted to go just to see what it was all about and also because I'd heard that there  was a lot of beauty that was overshadowed by its unfortunate reputation.

Minibus of doom!

Luang Prabang

Our journey into Laos started with a sad farewell to Chiang Mai and a bus ride to Chaing Rai which is somewhere that we would have gone had it not been for our overstay drama.  From there we boarded a local bus to the border town which is where we would cross the river into Laos.  The bus journey kind of reminded me of our Indian bus rides in rickety old tin cans that may or may not get you there. Apart from a eccentric American who kept trying to smoke on the bus and rain leaking onto me it all went swimmingly.