It’s been a great week at MostlyVictoria – The Travel Treasure Collection has been a real hit! So with excitement and anticipation, we have our second entry – be inspired and share your treasure too.
Sleeper Trains, Cockroaches and White Sandy Beaches
by Gabriella Sears
© Gabriella Sears
Bright blue seas. Tuk Tuks. Ping Pong shows. Mopeds. Buckets. Tubing. Temples. Elephant riding. Water Buffalo riding. 10 minutes of torrential rain directly followed by 40 degrees of scorching sunshine. I can only be talking about one place. Having spent 6 weeks travelling around Asia (Thailand Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos) I was lucky enough (or unlucky enough?!) to see the good, the bad and the (very) ugly parts of backpacking.
One major revelation was that I now know how much I have taken English Taxi Drivers for granted. Being able to hop in a taxi and know they won’t rip you off for all you have is a definite rarity in Asia. Another rarity? Toilets. Well, when I say toilets, I mean the toilets we are used to. A toilet with a seat that is. Oh and a flush. Asian toilets have neither. They are, in basic terms, a hole in the floor. There, on top of a mountain travelling from Vientiene to Vang Vieng in Laos, having just spent the last 4 hours dodging landslides, a seated (western-style) toilet made that trip worthwhile! It is also the only time when a toilet with a glass floor to ceiling window is acceptable! A loo with a view!
The complications and confusions when trying to organise tickets with very limited English spoken, the near death experiences when crossing roads in Vietnam (moped roulette it should be called) and the culinary delights of dog, cat, turtle, snake and rat being freely available in many road side huts, together with an incredible world wonder, Halong Bay, Tomb Raider temples in Angkor Wat, snorkelling with sharks in Shark bay, Koh Tau and lazing around on the beaches you could only imagine having in paradise, have all contributed to the trip of a lifetime.
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