Riah and Luke's big adventure: The Route

 

So the time has nearly come...we'll be leaving London Heathrow on the evening of November 30 to start our big adventure around the world. A lot of people have been asking us about our route, where exactly we're going and, most importantly, where the hell are we going to spend Christmas day!

These are our vague plans at the moment, they're obviously subject to Indian trains, not picking up a terrible stomach bug and presuming we don't get eaten by a tiger...

Dec 1: First stop Delhi

Instead of easing ourselves in gently, we've decided to spend our first two nights in possibly the busiest (and some say smelliest) city in the world. We'll then be heading to Agra for a couple of days to see the Taj Mahal... it would be rude not to while we're in the neighbourhood. 

Taj Mahal looking splendid.

Dec 6 to Dec 14: Rambling around Rajasthan

I think we're both pretty excited about this part of the trip. There will be lots of trains (both day and night) and we'll be heading to Jaipur, Ajmer and Pushkar, before spending four or five days in Udaipur which is famed to be one of the most romantic cities in India. It's going to be a hectic couple of weeks but it should get us into the swing of the Indian way of life. We'll then be heading on a mammoth two-day journey to our next destination...

Romantic Udaipur.

Dec 17 to Dec 20: Tiger spotting in Kanha National Park

We could have picked one of the many national parks in India to see tigers but we decided on Kanha because it has the highest population of wild tigers in India. It's also said to be the inspiration for Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book, so Luke will get to do his Mowgli impression. It's right in the centre of the country and quite hard to get to (train, bus, night train, bus, another bus etc.) but we're hoping that living in the jungle for four days will be worth it.

Luke in Kanha National Park.

Dec 22 to 26: Christmas in Hampi!

"The forgotten Empire" of Hampi is where we've chosen to spend Christmas 2013. It's a UNESCO World Heritage Site which formed one of the core areas of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. We'll be staying in a little hut on the river and will probably spend Christmas day going on a bike ride around the forgotten temple before enjoying a Christmas curry.

Hampi is where we've chosen to spend Christmas. 

Dec 27 to Jan 1: Luke's 30th birthday on Palolem beach

I know he only looks about 16, but believe it or not Luke hits the big 3-0 on December 28! We're going to spend his birthday and New Year's Eve on Palolem beach in south Goa. We visited Palolem last time we were in India and agree it's a tiny bit of paradise on earth.

Me admiring the view last time we were on Palolem beach.

After this the plans get a bit vaguer but here's a quick outline....

January 2014: Kerala, Pondicherry and Chennai

Here, we'll be meeting up with my friend Danni to do a spot of surfing, definitely go on a tour of the Keralan backwaters and hopefully visit the odd tea plantation or two. On February 7 we'll board a flight in Chennai to our next country...

February 7 to 14: Sri Lanka

This is a bit of a bonus country as we decided to extend our stopover after realising we'd change planes the capital, Colombo. If anyone has any tips on what to do here they'd be much appreciated.

February 15 to March 1: Back home to Thailand

After going to Bangkok, purely to stock up on toiletries in Boots and stuff our face with veggie food in Mai Kaidees, we're then going to the west of Thailand to Kanchanaburi  to see the death railway from World War Two which featured in the Pierre Boulle novel, The Bridge Over the River Kwai. We'll then be heading south to the beautiful Railay Beach where we'll have at least of week of fun (and possibly some luxury) in order to celebrate the marriage of our good friends Katie and Grant.

March 2 to March 16: Eating Penang curry in Penang

After Thailand we'll be heading through Malaysia on our way to Indonesia - it will mean lots of opportunities to eat our favourite Penang curry.

March 17 to April 21: Indonesia

Our last six weeks will be spent exploring Indonesia where we'll hopefully meet some wild orangutans, surf in Bali and meet up with the rest of the Matthews family in the Gili Islands.

April 22 (approximately): Adelaide, Australia

This will be the beginning of our Aussie adventure which we'll start at Katie, Grant and baby Bethany's house in Adelaide. We've got a one-year working holiday visa so who knows what 2014 will bring!

On arrival in Oz we'll be greeted by this smiley baby!

Vegetarian places to eat in Chiang Mai.

Pumpkin humous at Mai Kaidees. Yum.

There are lots of vegetarian places to eat in Chiang Mai - I can't recommend the food there enough. In fact, I got offered a job which was better paid in another part of Thailand, but turned it down because I knew the food wouldn’t be as good!! 

 I certainly can't say I've travelled the entire world, but I can confidently say that Chiang Mai has the best food options of anywhere I’ve ever been. 

So, what does Chiang Mai offer for vegetarians? So, so much! You can get everything from delicious, traditional Thai curries to amazing burritos and all-you-can eat buffets laden with hundreds of veggie options. 

Here’s my guide to the best traditional Thai veggie options in Chiang Mai…. 

 1. Mai Kaidees
Two years after leaving Thailand, I still dream about the taste of a Number 10 (curried tofu with noodles)at Mai Kaidees. It’s mainly traditional northern Thai dishes – Khoa Soi, curries, spring rolls etc – but she manages to make them taste so fresh and different to anywhere else. There is also tasty pumpkin humous on the menu and you must get something that involves her fabulous peanut sauce. It’s all veggie and very cheap at around 50/60baht a dish (£1 ish/ $1.60). The only thing I would say is that the service can be quite slow – I used to see countless people sit down for 15 minutes and then decide to leave because their order hadn’t even been taken. Persevere, I promise it’s worth it! There are also two Mai Kaidees in Bangkok which are just as good. 

46/32G Ratchawithi Road, Sri Phum (inside the old moat) 

2. Aum 
It was the first place I ever ate in Chiang Mai and I must have gone back at least 40 more times. I would recommend the veggie burger (70b/£1.40/$2.20) which is homemade and comes in a lovely granary bun and their Khoa Soi (60b/£1.20/$1.90) which was the best I tasted. If you’ve never had Khoa Soi then you must have it while in Chiang Mai – it’s a curried noodle dish which Aum serve with tofu and potato. They don’t have air con so it can get hot in here, but it’s worth sweating it out just to taste the Khoa Soi. (See my recipe for Khoa Soi here) 

65 Th Moon Muang (inside the old moat) 

3. Pun Pun at Wat Suandok 
This is a little gem. It’s quite far out the centre and is best reached by moped, but I promise it’s worth it. It’s located behind pretty Wat Suandok and only opens for limited hours (until around 3pm if I remember rightly). The food is really cheap – about 45b a dish (90p/$1.40) – and incredibly fresh. They do lots of traditional Thai dishes but also have beautiful salads with interesting ingredients such as bean sprouts and papaya. Just make sure you take some insect repellent as the garden location means you get eaten alive. 

On Suthep Road, west of the old city 

4. Khun Churn 
Located in the trendy Nimmanhemin area, where all of the university students hang out, Khun Churn is outside out the old moat but don't let that put you off. The most popular thing about Khun Churn is the lunch buffet which was 80b (£1.60) when I was there – I’ve got a feeling it’s probably gone up since then though. Still, even at 100b or slightly over, it’s a complete bargain as there is so much veggie food on offer. You can get fragrant soups, curries, salad and even make your own Khoa Soi. It’s also lovely in the evening when the menu is a la catre – try the penang curry. Yum. This is definitely not street food, it’s nice food in classy surroundings. 

Nimmanhemin, Soi 17 (50200) 

5. Blue Diamond 
The previous four were without doubt my favourite places to eat while living in Chiang Mai, but I’ve included Blue Diamond as it was always lovely but slightly expensive for me (I tried not spend more than 60baht on each meal!), however, I’m sure tourists can afford to be a bit more generous. Here you can get really fresh salads and rice dishes. They also have a bakery selling fresh bread and lovely cakes at a reasonable price. The dishes used to be around 90b (£1.80) which sounds cheap by British standards but was positively extravagant by my tight Thai standards! 

35/1 Moon Muang Road, Soi 9 (inside the old moat)

Itinerary for one month in Vietnam.



Beautiful Hoi An.


If you're deciding on an itinirary for one month in Vietnam, I hope this will be helpful. In 2011, my boyfriend and I spent nine months living in and travelling around South East Asia. While I was there, I was forever trawling the internet for information for travellers on a budget. So, here is my first blog on travelling which attempts to give some practical tips if you're planning to spend one month in Vietnam.

Itinerary:

We were there for a whole month and travelled from HCMC to Hanoi (south to north). A lot of people say it's better to travel north to south but we were already in Cambodia so it made sense to get the 10-hour bus from Phnom Penh to HCMC and head up the country.

Here's a rough idea of our itinerary...

HCMC (two nights)

Mui Ne (six nights)

Da Lat (three nights)

- Two-day/two-night Easyrider tour

Nha Trang (three nights)

- Night bus

Hoi An (six nights)

- Night bus

Hue (one night)

- Night bus

Hanoi (four nights with one night in Halong Bay)

I hope that's of some help. We found that if we loved somewhere (Mui Ne, Hoi An) then we ended up staying longer than planned and if we weren't so fussed (Hue, HCMC) then we'd make an exit ASAP - generally you only get a month-long visa so make the most of it. My advice is: be flexible and if you aren't feeling it, then get out!

Perfect t-shirt for a traveller

For a while now I've been looking for new t-shirts to go with skinny jeans for a casual weekend look.

I hate plain t-shirts and it's too chilly in the UK to wear vest tops atm (typical British summer), so I've been a bit stuck.

However, I went into Topshop last weekend and bought TWO new t-shirts. This is the first one - I really like the dipped back hem, I think it's such a flattering style. Also, the pattern is perfect for me because I love travelling, so while wearing it I can study the map and plan my next trip.

World Map t-shirt, Tee and Cake for Topshop, £25