2024 Another Year Of Backpacking Travels
Come read our 2024 travel recap where we share everything we got up to over the past year backpacking our way around Asia. Last year, our advetures took us through India, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand and Laos. During this time we revisited some of our favourite places and ticked off some major bucket list experiences! Read on to find out what we got up to on another year of full-time travel.
2024, where to even begin.
2024 was another year of full-time travel, living out of our trusty Salkan backpacks and adventuring our way across Asia. Over the past year, we have slept in 68 different beds, taken 413 different modes of transport (including a ride on a reed woven coracle!) and slurped up on far too many bowls of noodles to keep count of. We’ve ticked off bucket-list musts, explored lots of new places and revisited some of our favourite spots in Asia.
The year started back at home in Wales, celebrating the new year with our beautiful little niece, brother and sister in law. We spent the evening munching on tacos, playing board games and watching London’s new year fireworks on the TV at midnight. It was the perfect chilled out evening we needed to begin another year of travels.
January continued and we had a couple more weeks in the UK spending some quality time with family and friends before heading back to the airport to catch our flight back out to Asia.
Ellie patiently waiting for departure. Not captured John wondering if there’s time for an airport beer!
It was a strange feeling departing for the ‘2nd time’. Instead of not knowing what to expect, there was a feeling of excitement and an urge to get back to what we know. We have lived the nomad lifestyle for so long now, it feels so normal for us to pack up from somewhere and make a new base elsewhere. As we headed to Heathrow airport, all the fear, anxiety and feeling of the unknown we felt when we first departed in July 2022 was gone. Of-course there was the usual anxiety we always feel when travelling, but the fear of the unknown had gone. As we passed through security, found our gate and waited to board our plane, we felt like children at Christmas again. We couldn’t wait to get back out into the world and just explore!
Our first stop on this leg of the adventure was India. We had spent 4 amazing months exploring the north of the country in 2023 but this time round it was time to head south. We would be starting our Indian jaunt in the country's busy capital of Delhi, before heading east to Varanasi and then south to the coastal states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
During our stay in Delhi, we decided to stay in the true heart of the city in the popular backpacking district of Paharganj. As soon as we arrived, we took the metro straight from the airport into the centre of the city. Our metro ride was relatively calm, but as soon as we left the station we were thrown into the middle of the chaotic streets we know and love - we were back.
We had only a short walk from the metro to our hostel but it was the perfect Indian welcome. As we trudged through the busy streets, in every direction came a never ending stream of people, rickshaws, cows and street carts all flowing past us. Nothing can quite prepare you for the streets of India - there are no rules, nothing makes sense and it’s just utter chaos, but amongst this mayhem, there’s something addictive, something joyous.
We had arrived in Delhi the day before their Independence Day celebrations and under the thick January fog, every street, street corner, shop and restaurant was decorated with flags, bunting and balloons all in the green, white and orange colours of the Indian flag.
The fog from the first day soon lifted and we were greeted by bright blue sky and sunshine - Delhi is always full of surprises!
We had only a few days in the capital and we spent it exploring the incredible Jantar Mantar - Delhi’s ancient astronomical observatory, the Agrasen Ki Baoli - Delhi’s ancient stepwell and the Lodhi Gardens - Delhi’s green oasis. After Delhi we took an overnight train to one of the world’s oldest cities - Varanasi.
Varanasi really is like no other place on earth. As one of the world’s oldest and continuously inhabited cities, it’s full of history everywhere you look. The crumbling, historic streets are a riot of colour, noise and chaos. It’s a city full of religion, life and death.
We would spend our days in the city just walking along the riverbanks of the holy River Ganges passing by the riverside ghats, ancient temples and men swimming in the holy water of the river. In the evening we sat with hundreds of others and watched as Hindu devotees paid homage to the Goddess of Ganga with oil-lamps, chanting and the blowing of conch shells. On our final afternoon we hired a boat driver who rowed us up and down the river. We pulled up close into some of the most famous ghats and watched as death was celebrated out in the open for everyone to see. When we say there really is nowhere on earth like Varanasi, we really mean it.
After 4 days in Varanasi, we embarked on the longest train journey we’ve ever taken - a gruelling 34 hour ride south to Tamil Nadu’s capital of Chennai. Our journey would criss-cross us from the historic streets of Varanasi, across vast, dusty plains, before arriving at the tropical coastline of southern India.
To be honest, the journey sounded a lot worse than it actually was. We’ve been on the road for so long now and have taken countless 24 hour plus journeys so a long journey just doesn’t faze us at all. In fact any journey less than 4 hours is more of an inconvenience for us. We’d much rather have a long journey where we can settle in, put on our headphones and watch the world go by.
Travelling by train in India is always a fun experience. You never know what to expect, what you’re going to see, who you’ll be sharing your space with or even when you'll arrive - so far, no Indian train we've taken has ever run on time!
After pushing our way through a scrum of people all fighting their way onto the general class carriages, we found our beds and settled in for the long journey. Our travel companions adopted us and made sure we were well fed throughout our ride and even arranged breakfast to be delivered to our carriage from a family member somewhere in the middle of India! If there’s one thing that we’ve noticed about India is that everyone is extremely generous, and you’ll never need to worry about having no food on any journey as you’ll always be offered something to eat.
The next 34 hours were spent catching up on work, reading and being lulled into a peaceful slumber from the gentle rocking motion of the train until we eventually pulled into Chennai station. Stepping out of our carriage onto the busy platform we were blown away by the heat. We had been warned by everyone in the north that the south was extremely hot, but nothing could have prepared us for the dry heat that rolled over us. We had boarded the train in temperatures just over 10 degrees in Varanasi and had arrived at 37 plus degrees in Chennai. It was an extreme temperature change!
The city of Chennai was a stark contrast to the hectic, narrow streets of Varanasi. The city was made up of wide boulevards lined with trees, colourful temples and huge parks - Chennai felt like a world away from the north of India. We spent a couple of days exploring Tamil Nadu’s capital city, taking in the colonial fort, the views out to sea from the top of the striped red and white lighthouse and enjoying the peace and tranquillity of the Karaneeswarar Kovil Hindu temple.
Chennai is a coastal city, and after watching one of our favourite food YouTubers eat a huge feast of fried fish and curry, we knew we had to follow suit. Tracking down the beachfront restaurant, we headed in for what may be the best meal we ate in the whole of our time in India. A large banana leaf was laid out in front of us, and on top of rice, prawns in a spicy sambal, dahl, vegetables and egg. On the side we had the piste de la resistance, a whole fried fish! It was a delicious fishy feast, and a meal we’ll always remember, all for the princely sum of £5 for the both of us!
From Chennai we took a day trip to the small coastal town of Mahabalipuram to see its ancient cave temples carved into the rockface. After, we hopped onto a bus and travelled with the locals down the coast to the colourful town of Pondicherry.
Previously owned by the French, the city of Pondicherry is full of colonial architecture. It’s a beautiful mix of the Mediterranean meets the Indian subcontinent. The streets are painted in bright colours and there are pretty flowers everywhere. We spent our days just wandering around the historic Old Quarter, visiting the temples and churches and relaxing in the cute cafes. If you’re after a good croissant in India, Pondicherry has you covered!
From Pondicherry we headed into Kerala, stopping briefly in the Keralan capital of Trivandrum to see the golden roof of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple before heading to the red cliffs of Varkala. In Varkala we stayed at one of our favourite hostels of this trip and spent our days swimming in the sea and watching some incredible sunsets from the top of the cliffs.
The sunsets from the cliffs of Varkala are magical!
After some rest and relaxation on the beach, we headed down the coast to visit Kerala’s famous backwaters at Alleppey. We didn’t know what to expect from the town of Alleppey but it quickly became one of our favourite stops in India. The town has plenty of great restaurants to eat in, a beach facing the sunset and plenty of things to do. Our favourite day was spent exploring the canals. These waterways are beautiful and are vital in connecting up the smaller villages. We spent an afternoon basking in the Indian sun whilst being driven around the lotus filled canals. It was so peaceful.
After Alleppey, we headed north to the small beachside town of Mararikulam. Our guesthouse in Alleppey had recommended we visit the beach here and his recommendation was spot on. We arrived at a nearly deserted beach that stretched out for miles - it was the perfect beachside escape from the busy cities of India’s south. After Mararikulam we moved on to the historic port city of Kochi before catching an overnight local bus to the tea plantations of Wayanad.
Wayanad is located high up in the hills of Kerala and as we decamped, bleary eyed from our overnight bus we immediately felt the chill in the air. Hungry and in desperate need of caffeine, we found a stall selling warm chai and samosas. It never ceases to amaze us on all our travels that wherever we are and at whatever time of night we arrive, there will always be somewhere to get a hot meal - the UK has a lot of catching up to do! After chowing down our portable breakfast, we hailed a rickshaw and pointed to the clouds above. It was time to head up to the mountains!
Bundled in with our backpacks on our laps, our tiny rickshaw spluttered its way, switchbacking its way up the mountainside. As we climbed higher and higher the town we had hailed the rickshaw from disappeared into the valley below and all we could see in front of us was undulating hills full of tea plantations as far as the eye could see. We continued climbing and as we reached the cloud layer, the thick morning mist was punctuated by near vertical golden sunrays. Even before we had seen our accommodation we knew we were in a special place.
Our hostel, Zostel Wayanad, was possibly the most unique accommodation we have stayed in on our adventure so far. An old hospital used to treat the plantation workers has now been converted into a beautiful hostel with private rooms, dorms, an on-site restaurant and even a swimming pool. We spent nearly a week relaxing in the hostel grounds, walking down through the tea plantations to the local town, exploring waterfalls and watching some incredible sunrises and sunsets.
From Wayanad we headed to Ooty, another hillside retreat where we indulged in some of the best butter chicken we’ve ever eaten. We left the hills and headed south to the cities of Mysore and Bengaluru. In Mysore we explored the historic Mysore Palace and slurped down on endless cups of the super cheap, super caffeinated Mysore filter coffee. Bengalaluru felt like a completely different city to every other Indian city we have visited so far. This super modern metropolis was full of sleek restaurants, bars and cafes. We had a couple of days enjoying the city's botanical garden, parks and museums before catching a train onto our final major stop of this Indian trip - the ancient ruins of Hampi!
The landscape of Hampi was unlike anything we’ve ever seen before!
Hampi has been on our list for years. Known as the “city of ruins” and full of laidback backpacker charm, it was somewhere we couldn’t wait to visit. We spent nearly a week in this dusty, ancient town exploring the many stone ruins, chilling out in our hostel's common room and climbing up rocky mountain sides to watch the sunset over the ruin strewn desert plains. Even with our week-long stay in Hampi we only managed to touch the surface of its buried ruins and cannot wait to head back there to explore even more.
From Hampi we headed to Mumbai, our final stop on this Indian adventure. We didn’t have long in the city so we only managed to tick off the city's main attractions, but we know it's a city we’ll be returning back to in the future. After two amazing months in the country, leaving India was a weird one - it was a case of we couldn’t wait to leave, but also were really sad to be going. When you’re travelling India, the chaos can be a little overwhelming, and there will be days where it all gets a little too much, yet when you leave, there’s something that makes you want to return. India is like some kind of addiction - we’ll definitely be back!
Our flight to Vietnam arrived early in the morning and the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi greeted us with a thick layer of fog and drizzle. The weather was a welcome respite from the 40 degree dry heat we had experienced in the south of India! As we got closer to the city, the roads became busier and more clogged with scooters - we knew we were back in Nam! As soon as we got to the Old Quarter, we headed straight for a bowl of pho and a strong cup of Vietnamese coffee.
We ended up staying in Hanoi for nearly a month, splitting our time between the historic Old Quarter and Truc Bach Island. We explored nearly every inch of the city, taking an incredible food tour at dawn in the busy Long Bien market, visiting the city's museums and finding tranquility in its peaceful temples all whilst eating some of the best food Hanoi has to offer.
From Hanoi we embarked on what may be some of our favourite 4 days of our lives so far - it was time to tackle Vietnam’s famous Ha Giang Loop. The Ha Giang Loop was 4 days of some of the most incredible landscapes we’ve ever seen, lots of laughs, singing and memories we’ll treasure forever. There’s no better feeling than sitting on the back of a motorbike whilst switch-backing down a near vertical road.
The loop took us across vast valley plains, down steep mountain roads, through tiny villages and past roaring rivers. Each evening, our group would bed down in a local homestay, eat a huge feast, drink beer, take shots of ‘Happy Water’ and sing karaoke until the early morning. We absolutely loved the Ha Giang Loop so much, we cannot wait to do it all over again - next time we will drive ourselves! If you're planning a trip to Vietnam whatever you do, don't skip the Ha Giang Loop.
From Ha Giang we took a local bus to Cao Bang. As with a lot of our bus journeys things didn’t all go to plan with our bus breaking down twice but after switching buses, some hammering at the engine and some makeshift engineering from the driver we were on our way. We arrived in Cao Bang in the early evening, and headed straight out to the city for some Bia Hoi - possibly Vietnam’s greatest invention.
Compared to the throngs of tourists we had seen on the Ha Giang Loop, Cao Bang felt far away from Vietnam’s well trodden tourist trail. To get around and see the sights we arranged two easy riders to take us about. On our first day, we drove north stopping for some roadside noodles with local farmers and headed to the border with China to see the Ban Gioc Falls. The next day, we headed deeper into the province, stopping at the turquoise Lenin stream before heading to the amazing Angel Eye Mountain. Cao Bang was a complete surprise and we cannot wait to head back there to explore more of the region.
After Cao Bang we headed south to Vietnam’s “inland Halong Bay”, Ninh Binh. We spent a couple of days cycling and scootering around the flat plains. The landscape literally does look like Halong Bay with huge green karsts towering above the flat rice paddy fields. In Ninh Binh we took two boat trips with each boat rowed not by hand but by foot! A highlight of Ninh Binh was climbing the incredible ‘Lying Dragon’ mountain. We thought the climb up wouldn’t be too hard, but boy were we wrong. The hot and humid heat and extremely steep steps led to a super hard climb up. At the top we were sweating so much. The ‘lying dragon’ part of the mountain is literally a huge stone dragon statue that snakes its way through the jagged peaks at the top - the view from which is breathtaking. For miles and miles a huge rug of green paddy fields patchwork the valley floor whilst all around the humongous mountain karsts cast shadows down. The view definitely makes up for the hard climb up.
A very sweaty Jellie selfie in Ninh Binh!
From Ninh Binh we travelled to Phong Nha - the adventure capital of Vietnam. This small riverside town has plenty to do and was one of our favourite spots we visited in Vietnam. We spent our days exploring by scooter, driving through the Vietnamese jungle to huge caves that gave the Mines of Moria a run for their money. We drove up to vast viewpoints, walked through a botanical garden, swam in waterfalls and watched the sunset over the Con River. We were visiting during the town's rice harvest and all the main roads were littered with huge tarpaulins of drying rice, meaning that every drive we took became a mini slalom course!
It was also in Phong Nha where we spent the best £3 yet - we had a few hours with the very ticklish ducks at the ‘Duck Stop’ - whoever came up with this idea is a genius!
Possibly our funniest afternoon on our travels yet - lets just say ducks are very ticklish!
From Phong Nha we headed south to the imperial capital of Hue, exploring the city's ancient citadels as well as taking a DMZ tour to see some of the battlegrounds and key points of the Vietnam / American War. One of our favourite things we did in Hue was visiting Hue’s abandoned water park. We love a good ruin and after seeing images of this decaying waterpark on Instagram for years we knew we had to go. We parked our scooter and rounded a forested corner to come face to face with the crumbling remains of a huge dragon sitting in the middle of a lake. As we delved deeper into the abandoned waterpark, we found hidden amongst the overgrown foliage the remains of the old water slides, swimming pools and changing rooms. If you’re into ruins, the abandoned water park is a must!
From Hue we headed down to Da Nang and Hoi An. We had our very own Top Gear moment driving the Hai Van Pass and stopping for a huge seafood feast of clams and prawns. We spent our days swimming at the beach, exploring the local markets and watching Hoi An light up in the evening with colourful lanterns.
From Hoi An we headed to Dalat. Sitting high in the Vietnamese mountains, the climate in Dalat is a lot cooler than the rest of Vietnam. As you approach the city, the hillsides are covered in orchards, greenhouses and gardens growing fruit, vegetables and herbs for the whole of Vietnam. The city sits around a huge lake and we spent our days in the city walking around the lake, getting lost in the cities ‘Crazy House and Crazy Bar’, taking a roller-coaster ride through the pine forests and scootering around the valleys to find the huge, thundering ‘Elephant Falls’.
After Dalat we headed to our final stop in Vietnam, the bustling metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City. Our final week revolved around slurping up bowls of pho and bun rieu, drinking Vietnamese coffee morning, noon and night and even trying some Michelin recommended xoi (Vietnamese sticky rice). We absolutely love Ho Chi Minh city and if you’re a foodie, it’s an absolute must on any trip to Vietnam!
From Ho Chi Minh we took a quick flight back to Bangkok to spend a fortnight with my Dad. In Bangkok we explored the temples of Wat Pho and Wat Arun, shopped in Chatuchak Market and enjoyed a couple of beers in our favourite bar on the Chao Phraya River. After Bangkok we headed to Kanchanaburi to visit the ‘Bridge of the River Kwai’, walked along the Hellfire Pass and visited the multi-tiered turquoise waters of Erawan Falls. From Kanchanaburi we headed north stopping in the ancient city of Ayutthaya, visited the monkeys of Lopburi and finished the trip in Chiang Mai where we took a really fun Thai cooking class and watched elephants in the jungle with the Chang Chill Ethical Elephant Sanctuary.
Two weeks flew by quickly and just like that it was back to just Jellie exploring Thailand. We said goodbye to my Dad at the airport and headed to the bus station to head further north to the cities of Phrae and Nan.
The city of Phrae was an absolute delight. The town is packed full of beautiful temples, coffee shops and museums. The Saturday Night Market quickly became one of our favourites in the whole of Thailand. A huge market that was full of street food and local arts and crafts.
From Phrae we travelled north to Nan, another laidback town full of temples, night markets and good food. In the town we devoured (twice) possibly our favourite bowl of Tom Yum noodles and had an epic day out on the scooter riding from Nan to Pua, stopping at the famous curves on Road Number 3 and sipping on coffee overlooking vast vistas out over Nan province. We’ve said it before in this article and we’ll say it again, we absolutely love the freedom a bike gives you to explore the world. There’s no better feeling than the open road, the wind in your hair and just picking a direction to travel in. After another incredible month travelling Thailand it was soon time to leave.
The ‘curvy road’ of Nan’s Road Number 3!
From Thailand we crossed the Poipet border and headed to our first stop in Cambodia, Battambang. We were visiting Cambodia at the very start of their wet season and the weather was very hot and humid but that didn’t stop us exploring. We started our Cambodian adventure visiting some ancient Khmer ruins, taking a ride down the infamous ‘Bamboo Railway’ and watching as thousands and thousands of bats left the comfort of their cave at sunset.
Waiting to ride the rails of Battambang’s ‘Bamboo Railway’!
One of our favourite things we did in Battambang was take a Khmer cooking class. Unlike the class we had taken in Chiang Mai, this cooking class was all cooked over charcoal in the traditional Khmer way.
After a few days in Battambang we took a bus and headed to the cultural capital of Cambodia, Siem Reap. On our second day in the city we headed straight to the Angkor Archaeological Park and spent 3 days exploring the huge ruins by scooter. We visited the famous temples of Angkor Wat, Ta Prohm and Bayon as well as exploring lesser known, further afield temples including a hilltop ruin overlooking the biggest lake in Asia, Tonle Sap. As we were travelling in the low season we were extremely lucky to have the majority of the temples all to ourselves, a rarity in Siem Reap! Many travellers only head to the park for one day to tick off Angkor Wat, but if you are heading to Siem Reap, it deserves so much more of your time. In Siem Reap town we enjoyed breakfast with the locals in the central market, drank a few anchor beers on Pub Street and challenged each other to a game of mini golf.
After Siem Reap we took an overnight bus and headed south to the backpacker’s hub of Kampot. We arrived to biblical rain which continued for several days - we were definitely travelling at the start of the rainy season! Luckily we had booked ourselves into the amazing Karma Traders hostel and so waited out the rain with lots of other backpackers in their rooftop bar / cafe playing cards, listening to music and even munching down some very tasty tacos!
The best way to wait out the rain!
Eventually the rain stopped and we took a scooter up to the mountains of Bokor National Park. The National Park is full of old ruins leftover from the colonial French period and when shrouded in mist makes for a very spooky day out. We also had another fun day out on the scooter heading to the coast at Kep. Here we had one of our favourite meals we’ve eaten so far. A huge crab filled feast cooked in front of us in the very busy, very local crab market.
Our final stop in Cambodia was the country's capital - Phnom Penh. We only had a few days here and so we walked along the riverfront (it’s changed an awful lot since our first visit in 2015) and tried to visit as many of its bustling markets as we could fit in. From here, it was time to cross back over the border and head back into Thailand.
It's always been our dream to live in Bangkok and 2024 finally let that happen - well at least for a couple of months that is! The Thai capital literally feels like home to us, in fact we’re more familiar with it now than Central London. Whenever we arrive in the city, it feels as though we’re back home and back to where we belong. We can't put it into words as to why we’re so at peace in the city, but something just sings to us. We absolutely love the mix of modernity and the old, with concrete flyovers sitting next to wooden stilt houses, the delightful smell of chilli and smoke mixed with petrol and colourful market stalls piled high with goodies next to the neon lights of 7-11. Bangkok has an energy, a spark all of its own. It’s not for everyone, but we love it.
Our view from our apartment - Bangkok we love you 🫶🏼
We spent 2 wonderful months feeling like true Bangkokians living in a high rise apartment overlooking the Chao Phraya River in Bang Pho. We spent our days writing, editing and content creating whilst slurping down bowls of tom yum noodles and drinking Thai style-coffee. For lunch we’d head to the local market and pick up bags of curries of every kind - clams laced with a spicy chilli sauce, creamy green curries with pork and blood cake and omelettes laced with fish sauce and green vegetables alongside deep fried bananas and khanom buang - crispy, sweet Thai style pancakes. It was 2 glorious months of eating, drinking and soaking up the vibes of our favourite city.
As we had 2 months in the capital, we managed to explore new areas, delving deeper and deeper into our favourite city. We visited floating markets well off the normal tourist trail, cycled around the cities ‘Green Lung’ and travelled up and down the length of the Chao Phraya River.
By mid-September it was time for us to move on from Thailand and head back over the border to Laos. We decided to take the new Bangkok to Vientiane trainline. Our first stop in Laos was to be the UNESCO World Heritage City of Luang Prabang. We spent a fortnight exploring the temples, seeing the Kuang Si and Tat Sae Falls and finding a hidden jungle temple.
From Luang Prabang we travelled north to one of our favourite spots, Nong Khiaw. Despite saying we’d only stay a few days, our few days quickly became a fortnight. Whilst there we re-hiked some of our favourite viewpoints, trekked the 100 Waterfalls and took a dip in the swimming hole underneath the waterfalls at Tad Mok. We were visiting Nong Khiaw at the start of the harvest season and the landscape was stunning. All around the town, the paddy fields were vibrant green.
From Nong Khiaw we took the local ferry upstream to Muang Ngoi. This riverside town was exactly what we hoped to find in Laos. A small laidback village, full of riverside charm. We spent our days there hiking the viewpoints, getting lost amongst the paddy fields and watching life on the Nam Ou River from the comfort of our balcony.
After Muang Ngoi we headed back to Nong Khiaw and hopped on a minivan for a bumpy 13 hour bus ride across the dusty and rocky mountain roads to Xam Neua. From Xam Neua we took a local bus to Vieng Xai. The bus was stuffed to the rafters with Laotian families, Vietnamese tourists and crates and crates of market produce as the bus rattled towards the Vietnamese border. We jumped off at the small town of Vieng Xai. This small town in the far north of the country is incredibly important in Laos’ modern history and acted as the headquarters during the Secret War of the Pathet Laos Communist Party - the current ruling party. During our stay in the town we spent an afternoon exploring the caves and learning all about how the party continued ruling from these limestone caves even when the bombs were falling overhead. The next day we walked 25 km to reach a thundering waterfall we had seen marked on Google Maps. As with some of our explorations things didn’t all go to plan - if you want to know more, make sure you read our Vieng Xai article!
After our stay in Vieng Xai we headed south to Phonsavan and Laos’ mysterious ‘Plain of Jars’. These huge stone jars litter the fields around the Xieng Khouang Plateau and have baffled archaeologists and historians for decades. We had a full day exploring the 3 main sites, learning all about the conspiracy theories about how these fields became littered with these ancient remains.
Our trip in Phonsavan quickly came to an end and we headed to the backpacker haven of Vang Vieng. We were unsure about what to expect from Vang Vieng as we’re a little older than when we first visited it back in 2018, but we absolutely loved it. We spent an incredible fortnight climbing its viewpoints, swimming in the Blue Lagoons and having a few cheeky Beer Laos with other backpackers in the late night bars. We even managed to tick a major bucket list experience off the list by taking our first hot air balloon ride at sunset over the jagged karsts and golden paddy fields.
From Vang Vieng we headed back into Thailand - it was time for us to explore Isan! We started our adventures in Isan at Nong Khai with its long riverside walk and unique Buddha Park before heading deeper and deeper into the north east of Thailand. In Bueng Kan we visited an incredible hilltop temple made up of 7 layers and spent an afternoon exploring the huge rock formations known as the ‘3 Whales’.
From Bueng Kan we continued to explore Isan visiting the temples of Khon Kaen, taking a very cheap booze cruise along the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom and scootering around the different provinces. We have always wanted to explore more of Thailand by scooter and this time we did. There’s something so liberating about sitting on a small 125cc scooter and just going wherever the road takes you. On our scooter based exploration days we visited ancient Khmer ruins, beautiful temples, national parks and waterfalls. It really was the best way to explore Isan.
One of our highlights of the region was getting up at the crack of dawn and travelling to the ‘Red Lotus Lake’ near Udon Thani. As the sun rose up it revealed a bright pink blanket covering the whole lake made up of hundreds and thousands of bright pink lotuses. It was magical!
The ‘Red Lotus Lake’ was definitely more pink than red!
From Udon Thani we headed north to the small town of Loei. Loei was a big surprise for us. This small town quickly became one of our favourite cities we’ve visited in the whole of Thailand and one we could easily see ourselves living in. We had a wonderful afternoon climbing the viewpoint that overlooked the city and hills of the province and enjoyed the bustling weekend market.
From Loei we hopped into the back of Songthaew (flatbed truck turned bus) and headed to the quaint riverside town of Chiang Khan. This small town is super popular with Thai tourists but is still relatively unknown to Westerners. We spent 3 days exploring its night market, watching the sun set over the Mekong and getting up at sunrise to drive up to the top of Phu Tok mountain to see the ‘Sea of Fog’ - quite literally a sea of fog! All you could see was the blue mountain peaks rising up out of a thick ocean of clouds. It really did look like the sea.
As the festive period edged closer and closer, we decided we wanted to spend Christmas at the beach- so we planned a fortnight of island hopping between the islands of Koh Chang, Koh Kood and Koh Mak. All three islands were picture perfect - when you think of a tropical island you think of white sands, turquoise waters and palm fringed beaches, the islands of Koh Chang, Kood and Mak had all of this! During our time on the islands we spent our days swimming in some of clearest water we have ever seen, jumping into jungle waterfalls and lounging at sunset with beers on the beach.
On Koh Chang we even managed to see Koh Chang’s famous ghost ship - an abandoned resort that up until a month ago (before a huge fire) you could explore inside!
The fire ridden ruins of Koh Chang’s mysterious ‘ghost ship’!
For our Christmas dinner this year, we swapped the usual roast dinner for a seafood feast full of curried crab, freshly caught scallops, fried rice and morning glory. It was delicous! There’s something special about Christmas on a beach. There’s literally none of the festive pressure to do anything but sit, relax and enjoy your mini slice of paradise.
Christmas Thai island style!
Our island break quickly came to an end and we headed back to the mainland to Bangkok. We had a whistle-stop break in the city to refresh our wardrobes, visit a couple of night markets and explore more of Thonburi on the western side of the river. Our days in Bangkok flew by and before too long it was time to head north, cross back over the border and head back to Laos to begin our 2025 adventures in Pakse in southern Laos. After a very long overnight bus journey and a city devoid of people - everyone seemed to be at a new year party - we picked up a streetside Banh Mi, a couple of Laotian samosas and celebrated the new year in the comfort of our hostel ready to get up in 2025 and start the adventures all over again!
To see a tiny snippet of what we got up to in 2024, check out the video below:
In terms of our travel blog, it’s been an incredible year and we’d just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read it. With some turbulent months battling Google updates, the introduction of AI and a whole host of other things not in our control, it’s not been an easy year for blogging. But even with the lows, there have been a lot of highs and our website has grown by more than we could ever have hoped for. It’s been a huge year of growth and we really couldn’t have done it without our readers. Thank you so much to everyone who has supported us along the way both on our travel blog and over on our social media channels. We’d like to wish you all a very happy and healthy 2025!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
If you’re found this blog helpful, entertaining or you just fancy supporting us, please click the button below!
If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, why not save the pin below?
2023 The Adventure Continues - A Jellie Travel Recap
2023 was a crazy year for travel for us at the Adventures of Jellie. We travelled through Thailand (three times!), Laos, Malaysia, India, Vietnam and Indonesia. We’ve explored the snow capped peaks of the Indian Himalayas through to the coral reefs off of Indonesia, sampled street food in the hustle and bustle of Ho Chi Minh city and watched the sunrise over the volcanoes of Java, it’s been quite a year. Read all about what we got up to here!
Disclosure: This article may contain affiliate links. We will earn a small commission from any purchases made through these links.
2023, what a year!
Where do we even begin with our recap of 2023. As a travel year, we're not sure if this year can ever be beaten!
2023 has been a year of spectacular memories as we’ve continued our backpacking adventure travelling around Asia. We’ve seen everything from crowded megacities to deep jungle. We’ve been from the coral filled waters of the Andaman sea to the craters of some of Indonesia’s volcanoes. We’ve experienced countless sunrises, sunsets and late nights. Slept under canvas on the side of a volcano, and woken up to snow capped peaks high up on the Indo-Tibeten border in the Himalayas of India. It's been a whirlwind of memories, food and adventure!
2023 started watching fireworks from an overnight bus as we travelled from Krabi in southern Thailand to the bustling metropolis of Thailand’s capital, Bangkok. We arrived in one of our favourite cities in the world, just as the sun started to rise on the first morning of the new year. Leaving our bags at our hotel, we headed out on to the busy streets of Dusit to seek out breakfast. Dining on one of our favourite breakfasts of chicken and rice, whilst market traders set up for the day and late night revellers continued to sing out on the busy street, it was the perfect way to start the new year.
Our favourite street in Bangkok!
After a week exploring the bustling Thai capital, we took a flight to the colourful and tranquil UNESCO World Heritage city of Luang Prabang in Laos. We watched the sun set over the Mekong river and stood under the mighty Kuang Si Waterfalls. After a week visiting the many beautiful temples, eating breakfasts at the local morning market and having many bottles of Beer Laos at sunset, it was time to move on.
We headed north up the Mekong, on the famous slow boats of Laos. Passing by water buffalo wallowing and fishermen knee deep in the Mekong’s mighty waters, we made it to the halfway point of the slow boat journey, the small river town of Pakbeng. After spending an extra night in Pakbeng it was time for another early start to catch the slow boat to Huay Xai, the border town between Laos and Thailand. We arrived at the busy riverside pier and took our seats amongst the other backpackers and locals on the boat and watched as the morning mists rolled by. It was another magical boat ride full of orange clad monks, waving children and even a minor breakdown! We eventually reached Huay Xai, just as the sun was starting to set. After Huay Xai, we took a small mini bus through the winding mountain roads of Laos to the northern Laotian town of Luang Namtha. We had originally planned to do lots of hiking in Luang Namtha, but a stomach bug and Chinese New Year halted us, so we had a couple of days rest before catching a very full mini bus to Nong Khiaw.
Nong Khiaw was one of those places that, as cheesy as it sounds, will forever be in our hearts. This sleepy backpacker haven had everything we could ever want, with incredible hikes to spectacular viewpoints, great bars, cheap tasty restaurants and lots of fellow backpackers. We spent our days hiking, visiting local villages, scootering around the beautiful valley, playing pool and drinking beer with our new found traveller friends. One of our favourite memories of Nong Khiaw, is when we hired kayaks and watched the sun dip behind the mountains from the middle of the Nam Ou river. We’ve been lucky enough to see some amazing sunsets, but this is one we’ll always remember.
After a fun filled fortnight in Nong Khiaw, it was finally time to drag ourselves away back to Luang Prabang to spend the last few days of our visa.
After Laos we flew back to Bangkok in February to celebrate John’s birthday. Back in our favourite city, we made the most of it eating lots of street food, visiting temples and enjoying some riverside beers. We visited the arty district of Talad Noi during the Bangkok Design Week and spent a Saturday afternoon drinking craft beer on the island of Koh Kret.
We had just over a week in the busy Thai capital, before we took an overnight bus south to meet some of our friends who had flown over from the UK. We spent a week in the sun in Phuket, spending lazy days on the beach and sampling some southern delicacies before catching a boat over to the much quieter island of Khao Yao Noi. We spent the last few days with our friends biking around the island, watching the sunrise, swimming in the sea and eating a massive seafood feast!
Sometimes it’s worth getting up before the sun rises!
After saying goodbye to our friends on Noi, we were back on our own and headed to the small town of Phang-Nga. This small town is surrounded by limestone cliffs and is beautiful. We took a scooter out to the National Park to visit its waterfalls and ate our dinner in the local night market.
After Phang-Nga we travelled to Krabi town to visit the weekend market, before heading to the paradise island of Koh Jum. The island of Koh Jum was somewhere we had never heard of, but as with almost everywhere we’ve been in Thailand, it was a great decision to go there. This tiny island boasted white sandy beaches, turquoise waters and almost no other tourists.
After Koh Jum we took the speedboat to Koh Lanta and had a few days enjoying the incredible beachside sunsets, exploring the Old Town and visiting the Lanta Animal Welfare centre.
After Lanta, we took the boat back to one of our all time favourite Thai islands, Koh Mook. We spent a few days swimming in the sea, hiking the island and watching the sun set on Charlie Beach. After Mook we took a small boat to the island of Koh Libong. Pulling up to the island, we jumped from our longtail into the warm sea and found ourselves on what may be the most idyllic island we’ve ever visited. Crystal clear waters, miles of white sanded beach and barely another soul to share it with, Koh Libong was truly the perfect island getaway.
The water was so clear off of Koh Libong!
After a few too many weeks enjoying some of the best islands Thailand has to offer, it was time for us to head back to the mainland. Our first stop was Trang. This small southern city is renowned for its food, especially its Chinese sweet pork and dumplings. We spent four wonderful days here in the city visiting temples, eating lots of delicious food and spending our evening in the night markets. From Trang, we took a local mini bus to the small town of Phatthalung.
We had no idea what to expect from this small Thai town, but it quickly became one of our favourite stops we’ve had in Thailand. Surrounded by limestone cliffs that rose from the greenery, like tree-covered icebergs, this small town was full of charm, delicious food and wonderful people. It also gave us one of our favourite peaks in Thailand. To get there we not only had to climb up 100s of steps, but also had to have an unexpected rock climbing session to allow us to reach the summit. As we pulled ourselves out onto the smooth plateau, we could see for miles. The flat green paddy fields stretched away as far as the eye could see. It was well worth the climb!
From Phatthalung we took the train back to Hat Yai for a night of eating in one of our favourite late night markets before crossing the border to Malaysia.
Back in Malaysia, we had a few weeks to head south to Kuala Lumpur. We first visited Georgetown and enjoyed more of its tasty street food and visited the beautiful Kek Lok Si Temple. After Georgetown, we took the train to Taiping.
Taiping was a fantastic new destination for us in Malaysia. Staying at the only hostel in town, we dined every night with the locals in the large food market that dominated the town square. During the day, we took the long hike up Kaki Bukit Larut. This hiking trail snakes its way up the mountainside through thick forest and past waterfalls. As you near the peak, the trees thin out giving you a small glimpse over the city of Taiping.
After Taiping we headed back to one of our favourite cities in the whole of Malaysia, Ipoh. This city is a foodie paradise, and we spent our days eating in its many hawker centres, food courts and stalls. Alongside eating, we explored the picturesque Old Town spotting more street art, visited many of its cave temples and even went to a museum replicating life in the past. Despite this being our second visit to the city, we still had plenty to do.
Our time in Ipoh soon came to an end and we spent Ellie’s birthday in Kuala Lumpur. We decided to treat ourselves to a stay in an AirBnB. High up on the 35th floor, we cooked a massive pasta bake and watched the city come alive as darkness fell. We visited the aquarium and the Islamic Art museum as well as updating our backpacker wardrobe.
Our time in Kuala Lumpur quickly came to an end and it was time for us to head to the airport. It was time for a new country, India.
Landing in Delhi was a complete assault on the senses. From leaving the relatively calm and order of Kuala Lumpur, we were immediately thrown into a maelstrom of colour, noise and people! It was a complete sensory overload, but we loved it.
We stayed in the south of the city in a small district called Mohammadpur. This small village-like district was the perfect introduction to India, with a daily night market and only a short walk to the beautiful Deer Park and trendy Hauz Khas village.
Whilst in Delhi we visited the Red Fort, the Qutab Minar and the peaceful Lodhi Gardens.
We also took an amazing food tour in the Chandni Chowk area of Old Delhi. This narrow labyrinth of historic alleyways is full to the brim with people crowding round market stalls selling everything from food to clothes and ornate wedding supplies.
After Delhi, we took the train to Agra. As soon as we arrived, we checked into our hostel, and immediately headed up to the rooftop cafe where as the sun began to set, we watched the city come alive. With a backdrop of the Taj Mahal and the orange glow of the setting sun, the roofs filled with children and the sky filled with kites. It was magical!
The next morning we were up before the sun rose to visit the Taj Mahal. Despite seeing a million photos of this incredible white domed building, nothing could have prepared us for seeing it in real life. We were lucky enough to be there so early, that it felt like we almost had the mausoleum all to ourselves. It was amazing. To this day, we’ll never forget the white marble reflecting the orange rays from the morning sun.
After a day taking in another view of the Taj Mahal from the city's nature park we were back on a train headed back to Delhi. We spent another few days in Delhi exploring the tranquil oasis of the Sunder Nursery, the ornate Safdarjung’s Tomb and the architectural wonder that is Humayan’s Tomb before taking a bus to Rishikesh, the yoga capital of the world.
Rishikesh completely blew us away. Rising up on both sides of the Ganges, this peaceful, spiritual enclave felt a world away from the Delhi we had left. We spent our days walking to waterfalls high up in the mountains, exploring the ruins of the old Beatles Ashram and cafe hopping. Each evening, we would join the masses on the banks of the Ganges and watch the peaceful Ganga Aarti ceremony. Rishikesh was the spiritual retreat we didn’t know we needed!
Our time in Rishikesh flew by and before too long we were back on the train again and heading to Chandigarh. A clean, modern, grid city, Chandigarh was the polar opposite to everything we had seen in India so far. With the temperatures above 40 degrees celsius, we headed out to the famous Chandigarh Rock Garden. This bizarre sculpture park was full of water features, stone carvings and caves to explore. It was full of surprises around every corner. In the evening, we took the train to Kalka where the next day we were to board the Himalayan Queen, a small “Toy Train” that would wind its way up the steep mountains to the hill station of Shimla.
The old English summer capital of Shimla was a town of total contrasts. Vibrant Indian markets, selling saris and scarves opened up to the “Mall Road”, a bizarre, quintessentially English looking street complete with mock Tudor buildings, a church and even an amateur dramatic society. It made us feel that we had arrived in Surrey. It was only when you looked to the horizon and saw the snow covered Himalayan mountains that we were forcibly reminded that we were in the north of India.
The next day we were up early to begin what quite possibly may be the most amazing trip we’ve ever been on. It was time for Jellie to explore the Spiti Valley. Travelling on a mini bus we rattled our way from the busy streets of Shimla, up through deep river valleys, past landslides, gorges and goat herds before, late in the night, arriving at the last village of India, Chitkul.
When the sun rose the next morning we got our first glimpse of where we were. Sipping on a cup of steaming chai, with blue skies overhead and towering snow capped Himalayan peaks all around, we knew we were a long way from the busy streets of Delhi, it was time to begin our Spiti Valley adventure.
Over the next seven days we travelled deeper in the Spiti Valley itself, going higher and higher into the India Himalayas. We visited the highest post office in the world, crossed the highest bridge in Asia and had a cup of tea in the world's highest motorable village. From the market town of Kaza in the heart of the valley, we visited the ancient Buddhist monasteries of Tabo, Dhankar and Key.
The Key Monastery was a special treat. Rising up out of the desolate valley floor, it looked as though we had stumbled upon Minas Tirith from Lord of the Rings.
The Buddhist monasteries in the Spiti Valley were unlike any temples we have ever seen. Built from thick wood and laced with a heavy scent of burning incense, they were magical places.
On our last night in the valley, we wrapped up and spent the night stargazing with our fellow travellers. Stood together on the roof of our hostel, taking photos of the stars whilst being shadowed all around by the magnificent peaks will be a night we’ll always remember. After a week of surreal landscapes, high peaks and snow, it was time for us to move on. Spiti really was a world away from anything we had ever seen!
After Spiti we took an overnight bus to the mountain town of Old Manali. We spent a fortnight in this small backpacker town spending our days hiking to the alpine meadows high above the town, exploring the beautiful wooden temples and cafe hopping. We also had our biggest physical challenge to date. A three day hike, through deep snow to the Bhrigu Lake peak at an elevation of 4300m.
After Manali we joined the locals on a local bus and rattled our way down the valley to Naggar. This small hillside town surprised us with its many cafes, ancient castle and even a museum dedicated to the Russian artist Nicholas Roerich. From Naggar, we headed to Kasol. We spent a few days in Kasol, a bizarre little backpacker town nestled within the beautiful Parvati Valley. Full of techno raves, music festivals and falafel it was not what we expected but provided a perfect base to explore the valley around.
We left Kasol and had what may be the longest and most chaotic travel day we’ve had yet. We boarded the local bus first thing in the morning and drove along the Parvati Valley to the nearest town. One bus change later, and a couple more hours drive and we stumbled upon miles and miles of stationary cars. After a week of heavy rain, five landslides were between us and the next city.
We weren’t going anywhere for the foreseeable future. After a couple hours' wait, the bus driver came back and let us know that we wouldn’t be getting through the landslide today, and therefore he’d be locking the bus for the night and would return the next day. We asked him where we should stay and he just pointed to the two shops next to us and said we could sleep on the floor there. Not fancying a night on the floor with a thousand others, we decided we’d walk through the landslides. What came next was a mad dash through landslides, mud and large rocks.
Reaching the end of the landslides, we were given a bunch of bananas by friendly locals, had a million selfies and were picked up by a bus full of friendly Sikhs from Amritsar. We eventually made it to the city of Mandi, swapped to another bus and headed off. After the bus driver had his two dinner stops, we finally made it, late at night to our next destination, Bir.
Bir was a complete contrast to the busy Kasol we had left. Surrounded by Himalayan Peaks, green forests and incredible Buddhist monasteries, it was like we had flown to a different country. Bir is the paragliding capital of India, and despite not flying ourselves, we would go every night to the landing site and watch the gliders come in as the sun set. After a few weeks of extensive travelling, Bir was the perfect spot for us to reset.
From Bir we headed to Dharamshala. We stayed first in McLeod Gang, just down the road from the Dalai Lama’s residence where we were lucky enough to stumble upon his birthday celebrations. From McLeod Gang,we moved higher up the mountainside to Bhagsu Nag and spent a week sheltering from the rain whilst making jewellery and wandering the (if a little soggy) mountain paths.
From Dharamshala, we had another day of long bus rides (two buses, one tuk tuk and an uber taxi) to get to our next hostel in Amritsar. Home to the magnificent Golden Temple, we had breakfast in the world's largest kitchen, and had an evening at the border ceremony. This bizarre dance off between India and Pakistan is a daily ritual with both countries aggressively dancing against each other whilst closing the border.
After Amritsar we headed to Bikaner for the day to check out the fort and the famous rat temple, before taking our first overnight train to Jaisalmer. Jaisalmer was somewhere we had always wanted to visit, and it did not disappoint. This hilltop fortress town is full of intricately carved Jain and Hindu temples and feels as though you’ve stepped into an Arabian Nights fairy tale.
From Jaisalmer, it was time for our final stop in India, this time the lake side city of Udaipur. We spent our days exploring the palaces, museums, cafes and restaurants that line the waters edge, before being treated to the unexpected Muharram celebrations that took over the streets one night. After Udaipur it was back to Delhi and onto a plane. Next destination, Vietnam.
We spent a fortnight in Ho Chi Minh city, eating and drinking like the locals and feasting on as much delicious Vietnamese food as we could lay our greedy hands on. Ho Chi Minh was the perfect place to reset from four months travelling in India.
From Vietnam it was time to explore a brand new country, Indonesia. We would be flying into Jakarta in the west of Java and heading east. Jakarta was a city that was a complete surprise. Full of street food, interesting markets and friendly locals, it was the perfect introduction to a country. From Jakarta we travelled south to the city of Bogor. In Bogor we had our first introduction to a volcano and enjoyed a morning exploring the extensive Botanical Gardens that sit right in the heart of the city. After Bogor, we headed East to the capital of West Java, Bandung.
In Bandung we enjoyed many a cup of Java and ate in the excellent night markets. During the day, we took day trips to Gunung Padang, Indonesia’s controversial ancient pyramid and took an amazing bike trip to the volcanoes, hot springs and tea fields to the south of the city. Our final night in Bandung was spent camping on the edge of the volcano, Tangkuban Perahu.
After Bandung, it was time to get our surf on as we headed to the coast to spend a week in the small surfing paradise at Batukaras. We are no surfers, but we enjoyed our lessons here and loved the laid back vibes, beautiful scenery and great coffee. We even squeezed in an amazing crab feast!
After Batukaras we headed to Yogyakarta. This historic city is full of palaces, temples and street food. We visited the ruins of the grand Prambanan temple complex, and took a jeep tour to the volcanic slopes of Mount Merapi. It was during this jeep tour where we had to ask our tour leader to pull over for a phone call, as it was where we had the best news of the year, we were newly minted Auntie and Uncle to a beautiful new niece!
After Yogyakarta, we decided we needed a bit more beach time, and took an overnight bus and early morning ferry to the island of Karimunjawa. Set to the north of Java, this small slice of paradise was full of amazing empty beaches and beautiful natural landscapes. We took a snorkelling trip and saw the most crazily colourful coral and fish as well as having delicious grilled fish barbecue on an island in the middle of the turquoise sea. On our last night we were treated to one of the most dramatic sunsets we’ve ever seen.
After three blissful days on the island, we took the ferry back to the mainland and had a night in Semerang, to explore its heritage buildings and night market, before heading to the street art filled Solo.
In Solo we enjoyed wandering around its art district and ate an incredible seafood feast.
On one of our days in the city, we hired a driver who took us to a skybridge built high above some tea plantations, visited a waterfall and walked up to a mountainside temple.
The temple looked similar to those that you see in Bali, but opposed to those found on the paradise island, we had the temple all to ourselves.
After Solo we headed to the colourful city of Malang. A very early start (just after midnight) saw us pile in the back of a jeep and drive up the steep volcanic slopes to watch the sun rise over Mount Bromo. We’ve seen a few sunrises on our adventure so far, but this sunrise was unlike anything we had ever seen before. We arrived in the middle of the night with Bromo only a small silhouette against the sky. As the sky started to change from blue to purple, to pink, Mount Bromo became more and more visible. Stood like a smoking island within a sea of mist, it was breathtaking. It was a morning we’ll always remember! After the sun had risen, we climbed to the crater in Bromo and peered into its vast, sulphurous crater.
The next day we took another day trip to visit the magnificent Tumpak Sewu waterfalls and explored the colourful painted villages in Malang.
From Malang we headed to our final stop on Java, Banjuwangi. We had a couple of days in the East Javan coastal city and had another early start to visit Mount Ijen. Getting up at the crack of dawn, we had a two hour hike to reach the summit and crater of the volcano. Decked out in gas masks, we headed into the crater to see the famous blue flames from Ijen’s sulphur. As the sun started to rise, it revealed the sheer majesty, power and scale of Mount Ijen.
Seven volcanoes later and countless memories, it was time to catch the ferry for a week of relaxation in Lovina in north Bali.
From Bali, we took a flight back to Thailand for another two months of exploration. From Don Mueng airport we took the train straight to the historic city of Ayutthaya. Spending three days in the town, we explored the vast historic park, extended our visas and ate in the night market.
After Ayutthaya, we took the train to Lopburi. Famous for its temples, ruins and monkeys, we loved our time here. We then continued north by train, visiting the confluence of the Chao Phraya river in Nakhon Sawan, explored more ruins and the night market in Phitsanulok and spent the day at the stunning Sukhothai Historic Park.
We then travelled to Chiang Mai and spent a week wandering around the temples in the Old Town, eating some delicious northern delicacies and watching the sunset from the top of Doi Suthep.
After Chiang Mai, we took a mini bus through a biblical storm and arrived in the small town of Mae Hong Son. We stayed for three days in this beautiful mountain town, and enjoyed a daily walk to the temple that stood overlooking the town. We hired a driver and visited a beautiful waterfall, the Chinese village of Ban Rak Thai and walked around the stunning lake at Pang Ung.
After Mae Hong Son, we took the bus back to the popular backpacking town of Pai. Here we indulged in posh brunches, fancy coffees and even some cheese and wine. We hired a scooter and visited the large white Buddha statue that overlooks the town, went for a dip in the hot springs and climbed the Pai canyon.
From Pai, we moved onto Chaing Rai to check out its famous White and Blue temples then moved back to Chaing Mai for a few days before we headed south to the town of Kanchanaburi. Here we explored the beautiful tiger temple, cliffside Chinese temple and the enormous monkey tree, as well as the incredible Erawan Falls and sombre Death Railway museum.
From here we headed north to a town called Sangkhla Buri. This small town on the border with Myanmar, is a mixture of Thai / Mon cultures. With a long wooden bridge spanning the lake, and linking the two sides of town together, we spent our days here visiting the temples, taking a boat trip out on the lake to see some sunken ruins, and watched both the sun rise and set over the lake. Each night, we’d head into the town and dine with the locals in the daily night market.
After the quiet town of Sangkhlaburi we headed straight to the bustling Thai capital and spent a fortnight in Bangkok. Here we sampled some delicious street food in the neon-lit back streets of Chinatown and took a canal ferry to a lesser known district in the heart of the city. We also visited the modern art museum, went shopping in Chatuchak market, the largest weekend market in the world and drank more craft beer on the island of Koh Kret. We’ve been lucky enough to visit Bangkok eight times now, and every time we find more to do.
We flew back to the UK in the middle of December, and spent the festive period having a much needed catch up with family and friends in both London and Wales. We saw the New Year in with cuddles and cwtches from our new niece. It was the perfect way for 2024 to begin.
The UK was a bit chillier than the usual temperatures we’ve been accustomed too!
We’d like to say the biggest thank you to everyone who has taken the time to read our blog, followed us on social media, reached out to us and watched our YouTube videos, your support means so much to us. We’d like to wish you all a fantastic, healthy and Happy New Year!
Cheers 2023, you were a blast!
As for what 2024 holds, so far it holds a plane ticket to…. Delhi! It’s time for India part 2.
Thanks for reading and for all your support,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
If you’re found this blog helpful, entertaining or you just fancy supporting us, please click the button below!
If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, why not save the pin below?
2022 A Year To Remember - Our Recap!
Read our 2022 recap of our year in travel. Starting with our home life back in a wintery London. Read our travel adventures as we go from office work in London to backpacking around the world. 2022 saw us munching kebabs in Istanbul, being on a nearly empty flight to Sri Lanka, visiting the oldest rainforest in the world in Malaysia and island hopping through Thailand’s southern paradise islands. 2022 was quite a year!
How to recap this year? Where do we even begin?
This year has had more changes for us than a chameleon in a fashion parade. The year started, much as it had done in the last decade, with us living in London and working in admin jobs. By mid 2022, it was finally time for us to depart on our round the world trip. We left the UK with Boris Johnson in charge, Elizabeth the 2nd still our monarch and the pound sterling not an international joke! How times have changed… not just for the UK but for us too! Instead of welcoming in the New Year in Streatham as we usually do, we will end 2022 living out of our backpacks, somewhere in central Thailand on a 13 hour bus journey from Krabi as we head north to the buzzing metropolis of Bangkok.
2022 really was a crazy year…
A frosty morning on Tooting Bec common - doesn’t motivate us to go running!
Like all those worldwide, 2022 started very bleakly with the festive period underlined with an ominous undertone as Omicron started doing the rounds. Our New Year’s Eve was a tame one as John had tested positively for COVID, so it was just us and our good friends Mrs Prosecco and Mr Wine joining us to toast in the New Year’s Eve fireworks! January continued in a constant cycle of long work days and short weekends. With the only highlights of the week being our Flat White coffees from Batch & Co and our sourdough bread from the Blackbird bakery over the road (yes we are those stereotypical millennials who rave about coffee and artisanal bread - you’ve got to love Streatham for having so many choices). When not at work, any spare time we had together was filled with us planning and prepping mainly in the form of travel YouTube. With COVID showing no signs of ending, our round the world backpacking trip was becoming an even more distant dream.
February brought along some light relief to the constant cycle of work with the celebration of John’s birthday. With COVID restrictions finally easing, we both took a couple of days off and spent our time wandering around central London and visiting our favourite pubs. As the weather got warmer and the park became drier, our excuses as to why we couldn’t go for a run became less and less credible, and so every other morning (or lunch time in John’s case) became a constant struggle of motivation as we battled with running around Tooting Bec common. Big shout out to the Zombies Run app for supplying entertainment whilst we were running. To turn running into a game is a genius idea!
March quickly came and London fully emerged from the darkness of winter. As spring took hold, the daffodils came out and the London parks exploded into blossom. We explored most of the parks close to home, Brockwell Park, Dulwich Park, Streatham Common and Tooting Bec as well as and those slightly further afield with day trips to Greenwich and Bushy Park.
Spring also gave us our first sighting of a seal in the River Thames, definitely an unexpected treat that to this day no one believes! Possibly not helped by our fuzzy Loch Ness monster style photo of the event.
See he was real!
Sometime between the end of March and the beginning of April, John’s company let him know that there were going to be a large round of redundancies. Seizing on this, he let them know that he would be okay being made redundant and so we finally locked in our departure date! Following this news, I then gave in my notice at work and realised that there was no backing out now (even if my manager was eagerly hoping that I would). Finally our big travel dream was beginning to look frighteningly real.
In April, we went back to my family back home in Wales for the Easter weekend. We visited the book town of Hay on Wye, climbed the The Skirrid and ate and drank in the local village pubs.
For my birthday we visited the Garden Museum restaurant in London for a treat of a lunch. Seriously, look this restaurant up, it really is one of the hidden gems!
May and June seemed to blur into one. From warm summer evenings spent in Brixton village to a colourful walk around the Azalea plantation in Richmond. We were winding down at work, whilst frantically preparing for our fast approaching trip. The highlight of this time was that we finally got to celebrate our friend's wedding after the pandemic had delayed the celebration for three years in a row.
One of our funnest memories of 2022 was playing in a confetti filled church. No it wasn’t some over top wedding, but quite literally a church that was filled with knee deep white confetti. An installation by the artist C J Hendry, despite being widly more popular than we thought it was going to be (we had to queue for 2 hours plus to get in), it was an unforgettable experience!
In the last week of June my notice was up and I travelled to the Brent Centre for Young People for the last time. Goodbyes said to my colleagues, it was time for me to travel back to Wales to see my family. Whilst John finished up his last week of work. In between all of this we decided to chronicle our adventures, and so the website you’re reading now was born.
In July as they say “shit got real”. The first two weeks of July were absolutely manic. As soon as John had finished work, it was suddenly a whirlwind of packing, tidying our flat and saying goodbye to family and friends. The day before our scheduled departure arrived we were exhausted and mentally unprepared for what we were about to do. John had also made things a lot harder for himself by adding a surprise rooftop wedding proposal in the mix. I said yes on a Streatham rooftop whilst watching our final London sunset with a glass of prosecco in hand! Very early the next morning it was time to leave London. In a complete daze following a night of very little sleep (thanks to post proposal excitement and general anxiety about our trip) we clambered on board the N133 night bus and headed towards London Bridge station to catch the first train to Gatwick airport. Sitting in the North Terminal we had no idea what we were about to do. We kept questioning ourselves. What are we doing? Was this really a good idea? As our gate was called we knew it was time for us to depart.
After what felt like a really long travel day we finally arrived in Istanbul and our first stop on our round the world trip. That evening we hungrily devoured the best kebabs we’ve ever eaten, before heading back to our tiny apartment in the Beyoglu district for some much needed rest. Our week in Istanbul was a whistle stop tour of the city's attractions from the Hagia Sophia to the Grand Bazaar, sampling as many of the cities famous foods and even spending a day circumnavigating (by foot) the island of Buyukada.
Istanbul was a great first stop and given its location (the stepping stone between Europe and Asia) felt like a significant starting point to our Asian adventure.
Our second stop on our round the world tour was a little more daunting. We left Istanbul on a full plane, but after stopping in the Maldives, it was only us and a couple of families that remained on for the flight to Colombo. Sri Lanka had a turbulent time that year, grappling with a political upheaval and a financial crisis. We weren’t sure we should go, the Foreign Office advised that we shouldn’t go, but a combination of stubbornness and non-refundable tickets landed us in Colombo airport. This turned out to be one of the best decisions of our adult lives.
What was only meant to be a 30 day stay turned into a 3 month exploration of this beautiful and diverse country.
From the modern skyscrapers of Colombo, through the ancient capital of Kandy to the tea plantations of Ella. We rode one of the most scenic railways in the world, visited the vast ancient capital of Anuradhapura, saw hidden mountain top ruins in Ritigala, and of course visited (twice!) the incredible Lion’s Rock of Sigiriya. We were gobsmacked at just how different each region of Sri Lanka was. From the more arid north of Jaffna through the elephant strewn savannahs of Central Sri Lanka to the highlands and the misty mountains of Nuwara Eliya and finally the white sand beaches of the south. As cheesy as it is to say, Sri Lanka was everything we had dreamed of and even more!
Quite literally on ‘top of the world’ at the World’s End - Sri Lanka we will be back!
In mid October and with heavy hearts we left Sri Lanka and boarded a flight to Malaysia's ultra modern capital of Kuala Lumpur. We didn’t know what to expect, and were nearly overwhelmed by the hectic big city pace. Coming from sleepy rural Sri Lanka, it was a full on shock to the system. To soothe our anxious nerves we grabbed the first set of bao we could find and thus began our foodie adventure eating our way through one of the best culinary capitals (and countries) of the world. In Kuala Lumpur we watched the Diwali fireworks from the 32nd floor of a high rise condo and visited the colourful Batu caves.
From there we headed south to the colonial coastal town of Malacca and sampled its many tasty treats.
From Malacca we journeyed to Kuala Selangor and its famous sky mirror, then on to the vibrant green rice paddy fields of Sekinchan. Next up we moved to the oldest rainforest in the world at Taman Negara, then went trekking in the moss forests and tea plantations of the Cameron Highlands before heading to the food capitals of Ipoh and George town. We had no idea what to expect from Malaysia other than that the food should be pretty good. We were wrong, the food wasn’t good, it was bloody amazing and we have found ourselves craving it ever since! The country and the people were friendly, beautiful and a delight to explore. We will definitely have to be back as we’ve only scratched the surface.
The end of November saw us return to our possibly favourite country we’ve ever visited, Thailand. Leaving the food haven of George town we crossed the border and visited Songkhla. Feeling as though we had returned home, we couldn’t have asked for a greater first day in Thailand. A spicy curry, Chang beers at sunset and finishing the day with a plate of Pad Thai sat on the street side on plastic stools, we knew we were back! Songkhla with its colourful old town, funky bars and laid back charm was the perfect reintroduction to Thailand.
After Songkhla we headed to the markets of Hat Yai before island hopping between the paradise islands of Koh Lipe and Koh Mook. Christmas was spent in Ao Nang watching the sunset over the Andaman sea, swimming in the turquoise waters of Railay beach and having a spicy Pad Krapow for Christmas dinner. It was perfect!
Our final day of 2022 was spent hiking 1260 steps up to the top of the Tiger Cave Temple. Sweaty and legs shaking like jelly, we eventually made it to the top! Following our strenuous hike we boarded a 13 hour bus ride to what might be our favourite city in the world, Bangkok. We saw in the New Year speeding through the Thai countryside, villages like pools of light flashing by with the occasional firework bursting overhead. It wasn’t a traditional way to celebrate the New Year, but given that 2022 has been the start of our travel adventure, this was a very fitting end to the year.
We’d just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has visited our website, read our blogs and reached out to us on social media this year. We wish you all a very Happy New Year and all the best for 2023!
Cheers 2022, you’ve been epic!
Thanks for reading,
John & Ellie x
#adventuresofjellie
Cheers have a great New Year!
If you’ve enjoyed reading this article, why not save the pin below?
