Our Top 10 Places in South East Asia as a Family with Young Kids

Unbelievably, I write this blog having been back in the UK for a few weeks now. What began as a pipe dream in my head years ago, has come to an end. Very abruptly.

Before we left the land of good weather, we picked our top 10 places we have stayed during our 10 months in SE Asia. We started in Sri Lanka and went on to see Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Admittedly we did not see as much as we could have but this was outweighed by being able to stick to a budget, stay on top of home schooling and getting to know a place a lot better than you do in a few days.

So, in descending order, our top 10 places you should visit if you ever get the chance to come to SE Asia.

10. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

K.L as those in the know call it, became a bit of a second home to us, mainly due to the airport and the extremely convenient Air Asia. We always stayed in the same area, near K.L. Sentral Station and we always loved our time there. It’s clean, pretty calm in comparison to other cities in the region and above all you get a mean curry if you know where to go. We loved the food there – loved it.

Dosa and teh tarik at our favourite Indian veggie restaurant

It’s great for shopping – if you like old school Indian type hypermarkets you must visit Haniffa in Masjid India area. It’s got everything and its cheap. We could have spent £100s on cloths and materials alone. You also have the street market in China town for all your fakes, Central Market for really nice local crafts and Bukit Bintang for your more high end shopping, Dubai style, including Arab restaurants.

For kids it has loads. On the top floor of the Petronas Towers is the Discovery Centre which you could spend a full day in, especially if you home school. The Islamic Arts Museum was excellent and it is close to the Bird Park which is worth the entrance fee.

Masjid Jamek

Just a great little city all-round; but another little city that stole our hearts a bit more was

9. Banda Aceh, Indonesia

To be honest, I don’t know why we ended up in Aceh. I never realised it was so close to K.L. and that it was so cheap to fly to. Plus it seemed to have the sort of history only a place with gravitas can have about it. Ancient peoples, Islamic sultanate, fights for independence and of course, the tsunami. So it had a draw to it and if worse came to worse it wasn’t far to back peddle.

Traditional Acehenese marriage throne

But Banda Aceh was a surprise. The people were just incredible. I think perhaps the softest, kindest, warmest and most genuine people we spent time with on our trip. You constantly felt as if you were with family even if you were with strangers. You literally take photos with strangers who smile, hug, shake hands and speak to you as if they know you.

Banda Aceh itself is tiny; dominated by the Masjid Raya Bayturrahman. This was the impressive “tsunami mosque” and it was without question a jewel in the city.

I think any member of the family however will say that the Tsunami Museum was a highlight, in a good/bad way. Seeing something on TV is one thing, going and walking around a dome of a mosque that was dragged 7km away with people’s bodies underneath it still, or a boat on a house or speak to someone who lost their mother and two sisters that day, and it hurts you. Seeing what the people lived through was harrowing; yet their smiles, their love and their hope is also equally inspiring.

This dome was lifted off the mosque and carried 7km inland by the tsuanmi. The families of those who died underneath it asked that they remain in situ.

If you do ever go to Banda Aceh, please consider staying at Eddie’s. He is a bit out of town, and it is a place for surfers mainly, but Eddie is the nicest person you will meet in your life. In fact, it is worth going just so you can meet the nicest person in your life. On top of that you will be 5 minutes walk away from a beach yet untouched by the hands of money and foreign eyes.

The boys playing with Alex the Russian kite surfer who we used to have breakfast with every morning at Eddie’s and talk about wind (the weather variety).

I must also take this opportunity to thank Banda Aceh for educating me in what coffee really is. I had always been a milk and sugar man, however in Indonesia you don’t really find anything other than condensed milk which I find rank. So I was forced to drink black and I had stopped using white sugar. I am now reborn – a new man who has seen the light.

Yahya tries Kopi Luwak

Go see Banda Aceh before it’s spoiled and becomes overrun with tourists. Although, our next place, despite the bus loads of Chinese and other tourists, wasn’t so bad.

8. Galle, Sri Lanka

Although Galle claims perhaps the worst nights’ sleep with the most mosquito bite per hour ratio we had in 10 months, it still makes our top 10. It is just such a wonderful place with loads of history; it’s just the perfect walled sea fort city you want to stroll around. Lovely coffee shops, antique shops and of course the ramparts.

Slowly getting used to wearing sarongs

It is also in Galle, you will find our top restaurant for our whole trip in the entire SE Asia, ever…..India Hut. Just the best curry, in the best time at the best price, with the best view. We ate here a lot.

Perhaps Galle was so nice because we go to know a lot of the local community quite quickly. This really tapped us into the place’s history, what was happening now in terms of tourism and the few locals left in the old city walls and most of all the deep Sufi roots that Galle has.

Locals swimming outside one of the mosques in Galle

A top tip if you ever visit Galle, take a tuk tuk about 15 mins south of Galle towards Weligama and book yourself a night of two at a hotel on a small beach called Wijaya Beach. One of the nicest we stayed at in terms of calm waters, fish and beautiful coconut trees.

The very tropical Wijaya Beach, Galle

Galle is good for a few days, but after that you would have seen and done it all. Unlike, our next destination, which is also perhaps the biggest regret of the whole trip – we should have explored Vietnam more.

7. Ho Chi Min City a.k.a Saigon, Vietnam baby

Visiting Vietnam was bucket-list stuff for me. However, its left us all wanting more as we were so impressed.

Ho Chi Min city was mental. The traffic is mental, the energy is mental, the history is mental, the politics is mental but the people are far from it. The Vietnamese are a rather cool and cultured bunch.

We naturally did all the usual tourist sites like the Presidential Palace, War Museum, etc plus some other bits like the Dam Sen Waterpark which was superb and a trip down to the Mekong Delta to see a floating village and how they make food stuffs from coconuts.

The Mekong look

Highlight has to be the Chu Chi tunnels – if nothing will give you respect into what the Vietcong accomplished, this will. It’s mind boggling people lived in these tunnels for months on end.

Yahya in one of the tunnels

We also took the chance to indoctrinate the kids into Communist political thinking at KizCiti which was worth every single penny.

Vietnam was a bit of a struggle for us food wise. Although there are veggie options, they are fairly limited and we didn’t seem to find the right quality or the rice place(s) to eat. We won’t miss the food, although we will definetly say that about number 6.

6. Malacca, Malaysia

There was just something about Malacca. There is not much need other than to point to this blog about our time there to explain why we enjoyed it so much.

Highlight was discovering “escape games” which we were then hooked on for the rest of our trip.

Lockdown in Malacca – we passed 1, failed 2.

If you ever visit Malaysia, make sure you visit this funky little city. Loads of history, although perhaps not quite as much as Cambodia’s national treasure.

5. Angkor Watt, Cambodia

Just mind-blowing. Angkor Watt makes the pyramids in Egypt look like Aldi car park in comparison. The place is like being in an Indian Jones film. It’s just jaw-dropping.

The Lara Croft bit…

You spend your days in tuks tuks with the wind in your hair, whizzing past rural life in Cambodia and walking among ancient temples and jungle. Your afternoons and evenings can be a swim, markets or food. A “must-see” is the Phare Circus as well as the military museum. Your guide will be a veteran of the civil war and they will give you a haunting insight into what people went through in that war and how it was imposed upon them by foreign powers.

Russian tanks left over from the brutal civil war

4. Koh Lanta, Thailand

The sound of waves crashing, reggae of in the near distance, sky full of stars and nothing to do but relax. This was our evenings on the sublime island of Ko Lanta. By day we;d be zipping about on mopeds, walking, swimming or taking the boys to the local madrassa for Arabic lessons and for us to give English lessons; how I miss it.

The boys at a ceremony held by the madrassa

If you are looking for an tropical island, with stunning beaches, lots to do, good food and a bit of a hippy vibe, look no further than Ko Lanta. It’s essentially everything you would want other than the full moon party nonsense.

Top tip: prices tumble before the peak season and at the end of it. You can save serious money on hotels if you go at these times and get some of the best beaches in Thailand to yourself.

Another top tip: if ordering chicken soup, be warned, it comes with feet included.

Yet another packed beach…stressful

3. Chiang Mai, Thailand

The last stop on our trip, Chiang Mai is probably one of the best cities in the world. It’s got everything in the right proportions – it’s not too big, not too many people and it’s beautiful. Surrounded by mountains, rivers and lots of green.

Although the city we lovely, for us the joy was having our own villa after spending a month in Kuta, Lombok which we hated. We would spend the days homeschooling and the evenings cycling, playing sports or visiting one of the night markets.

Highlights:

Zak climbs the Bua Tong Waterfalls

The stunning Wat Phra That Doi Suthep

Boiling fresh quails eggs at San Kamphaeng Hot Springs

2. Pulau Weh, Indonesia

Heaven on earth. Simple as. This place is beyond stunning. If you can go see this island now before it’s ruined…which isn’t far away.

 Our front door

Daily routine: wake up, go to Dee Dee’s restaurant and have breakfast over an hour or so. Snorkel. Go to Dee Dee’s for lunch, again a long one. Snorkel. Go to Dee Dee’s for dinner. Watch stars. Sleep.

No it never became boring, not once. It was amazing. When you swim in waters as beautiful as these you live in a constant state of happiness…it’s hard not to love the world.

An underwater show

You can rent a hut, overlooking the sea, for £5-£10 a night. We ate like kings three times a day for £30 a day. It’s cheap, go see it and go see it now, you will thank me.

1. Weligama, Sri Lanka

 We saw some stunning places in our time in Southeast Asia. Weligama wasn’t one of them. However, it comes in at number 1 because of the warm memories we all have of our time there.

Locals playing cricket on Weligama beach at sunset

We found a hotel overlooking the ocean with a huge balcony. We found the most incredible fresh juice and smoothy bar (70p for an avocado smoothy – 70p!!). We found the best curry house in town. We found some brilliant shopping. We found beautiful people. The whole time there was one of joy.

If you have kids who would like to learn to surf, then please consider Weligama. It’s not too far from Colombo. it’s cheap, it has loads to do, it is surrounded by some amazing beaches, you can get to Galle in an hour on a local bus for 40p but you have to stand with your face in someone’s armpit, you can get really good local food and if you are into shopping for different types of odd bits and bobs, this is the place.

The surfing is perfect for beginners – ours loved every second of it.

Yahya nails it..duuuude

Perhaps though the best thing about Weligama was meeting this family. The family of Muhammad Abbas, the tuk tuk driver who randomly gave me a lift and turned out to be a meeting with one of the kindest souls on earth.

He took us to his house, made us curing herbal teas, cooked for us, took us around town and shared his heavy past serving in the army during the civil war.

People are good. Which perhaps sums up our experience of the past 10 months; people are good so get out there and meet some of them; they’ll change you.

Is Kuta, Lombok heaven on earth?

With our trip around SE Asia coming to an end, we wanted to find an island where we could unpack, put our feet up and chill out for a month before heading back west. We had read a lot about Lombok being a paradise on earth, as Bali was 20 years ago, an undiscovered jewel in Indonesia’s growing tourism industry.

With beautiful beaches, mosques aplenty and seemingly lots to do, Lombok it was and in particular the small village of Kuta on the south coast.

Heaven on earth?

Maybe for some, but most definitely not for us.

After 3 days we decided to escape but high flight prices and no clear idea of where to go instead kept us here. As we found some very cheap accommodation (thank you to Adi at Heavenly Homestay) and we needed to catch up on school work, we decided to stay, put our heads down and get through schoolwork– and boy has this been the longest month of our lives.

So why the negativity? Essentially it’s disappointment – more so out of seeing the potential for a place like Kuta, and what it is in reality.

The Beaches

I read lots about the beautiful beaches. Yes they do look beautiful from afar and on some online photos but the beaches were filthy and full of annoying people trying to either sell you a coconut, a sarong or some grilled corn.

View of Tanjung Aan

However, without question Mawun is gorgeous – a real desert island style beach where you feel in the middle of nowhere. For sure one of the best I have seen so far. Selong Belanak is pretty stunning too.

The boys roaming Mawun beach

The spoilers are however the peddlers. The ones on Kuta beach are relentless – we have not come across such people throughout our whole time in SE Asia. A polite “no” and a smile does nothing but give them encouragement to harass you for the next 10 minutes. It simply spoils your time on the beach as you can’t relax – you spend half your time trying to politely get rid of these people. You spend 10 minutes per peddler with an average of 5 peddlers per visit – 50 minutes is a lot of time! Maybe the first trip to the beach you stay polite, but after a few times your blood starts to boil – we stopped going.

And then you have the rubbish – in the water, on the beach and behind the beach. It’s a shame. We visited Tanjung Aan and had to get out of the water as you could not swim more than 5 seconds without swallowing a crisp packet or ducking under a floating syringe. What could be a world class beach is ruined.

We realise this isn’t the locals’ fault but its nevertheless disgusting. What can be controlled by the locals is the beach and the areas where they dump their rubbish. No effort is made to clean the beaches – they look foul. Look behind corners and you soon discover mounds of rotting rubbish, plastic water bottles, cans and anything else the locals discard. We were especially shocked with the state of Selong Belanak behind the restaurants and shops – it is beyond comprehension how the locals can see this as acceptable. So the beaches really aren’t all that great.

Kuta beach itself is a dump and no good for anything other than kite surfing. The only pleasurable thing we did find was going to the far end of the beach towards the Novotel at low tide and finding star fish and other strange aquatic life.

Peddlers

As mentioned above you are constantly confronted on beaches by over-zealous sellers. At every single meal, in every single restaurant, you are constantly having to say “no” to a continuous stream of kids selling you bracelets, women selling “cheap price” sarongs, knock off DVDs and “I love Lombok” t-shirts. It’s like being in groundhog day; every day, without fail the same faces selling you the same thing with the same sales lines.

The first place we’ve visited where the peddlers are more annoying than the monkeys

Without doubt the prize for most annoying are the children bracelet sellers – at first they are cute, cuddly and entrepreneurial  – then you want to throw them in a dungeon. We learnt from locals of Kuta that these kids drive in from surrounding villages enmasse after school – they are not Kuta kids. The locals, such as the restaurateurs, cant stop this because the kids essentially come from very rough villages where fathers, uncles and cousins have been known to drive down with baseball bats if anyone dares tell their children what to do or not to do. Don’t be fooled by their charm – these kids are bad for Kuta’s tourism.

Surfers

If you are a surfer, then I can see why Kuta might be “heaven on earth”. This is because it is full of fellow surfers who all seem to share a common culture. However surfers can be annoying. Not all of them of course, but definitely the majority.

They stroll around town and into restaurants in bikinis and bare-chested (do you walk into a restaurant bare-chested or showing your bum in Australia, France, Italy or wherever you come from? I doubt it), their language is trashy, couples behave in really indecent ways in public.  I’m no sharia policeman but there is a time and place. There don’t seem to be any red lines for them. Perhaps this is something the locals should take control of; they don’t seem to lay down any sort of lines in terms of what is decent and what is not. In Pulau Weh for example, locals made is known if you were dressed inappropriately. In Kuta they seem stuck between some very conflicting worlds. Anyway surfer duuudes and dudettes, I’m not feeling the love; you kind of spoil the place a bit 🙂

Surfing lessons at Selong Belanak

Dogs

The number of wild dogs here is ridiculous. You can’t walk more than 3 metres without some mongrel coming across your path and this includes on the beaches.

Everywhere….

The whole place is covered in dogs plus their shit and they are annoying. In fact, we stopped going to Kuta beach within the first week of being here because of the dogs… and the peddlers, which were a close 2nd in annoyingness. There is no control over the dog population which is dangerous – dangerous for the locals, for the tourists and especially the dogs. We have seen so many wondering up and down the main road with ears hanging off, huge gashes in their bodies or covered in blood and nobody does anything. Again, it reflects badly on Kuta unnecessarily.

Stupid road driving

We have seen crazy driving in Sri Lanka – I mean really crazy – but the driving here in Kuta is stupid crazy. The people here simply don’t give a damn if they knock you and your kids off your moped; in fact they laugh at you in the process. Whereas in some countries where the driving may seem chaotic, you can in fact come to understand the rules of the road. Here there simply are no rules – stupidity rules. Life is cheap and it shows in how little they care about their and others’ safety. Half of me is horrified by their absentmindedness, the other half is perversely enchanted by the idea of caring so little about the fact you’re a mortal being that you just don’t give a monkeys what you are doing and what’s going on around you. Oblivion….

Without doubt, perhaps the most annoying of all are the local cool kids who seem to think people enjoy listening to their large exhausts while having dinner or walking along the beach. It was like the sound of nails up a blackboard.

Smoking

Smoking seems to be a national duty for any male over the age of 13. They take it seriously…the men anyway. You never see a woman smoking. As a result smoking in restaurants and cafes is the norm. Coming from Europe, where we are now protected from the stench of cigarettes while eating, this is nauseating. However, there is nothing you can do as the owners of the cafes and restaurants all smoke and see you as impeding on their rights!

Rubbish

Kuta is covered in garbage, trash, rubbish, coconuts. We have visited many other islands where dealing with refuse is an issue but they always seem to be on top of it whether it’s regular burning of piles of refuse or using one particular area to throw their rubbish away. In Kuta it appears that the locals treat the whole village as one big dumping ground – they simply don’t care; there is no pride in the appearance of the place. You just have to walk down the main drag to see piles of the stuff covering any sort of green space. It’s foul. It’s bizarre.

Who needs a bin when you have no bin?

 

So, I’m sorry Kuta fans, but Kuta really isn’t any sort of paradise. If you have nothing to compare it to, it’s your first time abroad and if you’re a surfer, then yes, maybe it’s glorious. If however you have seen some of Thailand’s beaches or swam in the clear waters of Pulau Weh, then you would think differently. It is however interesting to see a place like Kuta at this stage – it’s had a bit of tourism, mainly from surfers, and now more people are coming. The money is flooding in, construction everywhere, same story.

The good bits.

There were a few plus points to the place.

The food is pretty OK. If you can get up and get out on a scooter you can see some amazing bits of rural Lombok. Some of the scenery is breathtaking. If you want to learn to surf then this is a good competitor to Weligama in Sri Lanka. Prices maybe a touch lower in Kuta. Accommodation is cheap if you spend time looking.

Our top tip for Kuta, Lombok? If you are travelling on a budget, go at least once to the Novotel for their buffet breakfast. It is expensive but it isn’t – you will eat way more than you pay for and it’s lovely food on a really nice beach.

Also, go to the bat cave. It’s on the road of Kuta towards Mawun. You can’t miss the sign. Take a rain mac as you will be covered in bat crap. There are tens of thousands of the things and they surround you. Amazing experience. Stinky.

The caves…it wasn’t very safe but it was cheap…and magical experience

If you do find yourself in Kuta, make sure you go to DJ Cafe for a coffee – it is rather super….and now Faris isn’t there to chose the daily specials.

Angkor Wat Temple: Krishna vs asura Bana

Today we visited the famous ancient temple called Angkor Wat. The temple was built in the early 12th century during the reign of Suryavarman II. One of the things that I saw and I thought was really bad was that people had chopped off the heads of loads of Buddha statues to sell. Zak and I climbed one of the towers and in the middle of the floor was a fire pit with sand in and burnt incense. Angkor Wat had some amazing history on its walls – below I’m going to talk you through Krishna’s victory over asura Bana.

In this carving it shows Krishna with eight arms riding Garuda.

Next, Garuda faces a wall of flames thrown up by Agni the God of fire who rides a rhinoceros.

Krishna appears riding Garuda four more times on the wall  as part of the battle before meeting Bana. Krishna cuts off all of Bana’s 1000 hands with a single discus. In the photo above Bana is riding a chariot pulled by lions. The one below is one of Krishna.

Krishna is victorious but forgives Bana. The end of the story shows Krishna kneeling before Shiva at Mount Kailasa.

At the bottom of Mount Kailasa are hermits praying.

I thought the day was very fun and joyful. I think everyone should visit Angkor Wat.

Beautiful Banda Aceh and Perfect Pulau Weh

Clock-face on Masjid Baiturrahman

“La illaha illallah, Muhammad rasulallah,” sings a local lady dotingly over her 6 month old baby; infused with the sound of waves crashing on the beach next to us, we wile away yet another evening eating, drinking Acehnese coffee and chatting life with locals and travellers from all over the world.

Welcome to the magical island of Pulau Weh and specifically the beautifully lazy Iboih Beach. A gem.

At the most northern tip of Indonesia’s stream of islands, Pulau Weh was within flying distance of Kuala Lumpur and the internet said it looked good – so we went. I was also curious to check out the infamous Islamic bad boy Banda Aceh – notorious for implementing sharia law – ooooohhh – as well as struggle for independence and of course for the awful toll the tsunami paid on its population.

Tsuanmi tourism has become a big part of our trip; everywhere we have been was affected by the tsunami. I remembered Banda Aceh from the news. Seeing the “miracle mosque” stood alone is what looked like miles of surrounding mud.

Our first stop was the newly opened Tsunami Museum; it was utterly distressing yet amazingly inspirational at the same time. The video footage they had of what happened was beyond terrifying; just unimaginable. We left the theatre in tears. But the Indonesians that we met there (and posed for numerous photos with), they were so positive. And that’s what was so inspirational. They weren’t down and out, with sad faces – they were bounding around with energy, wanting to take photos and sharing small talk. They remember, vividly, deep deep down, yet they accept it and they look at the now – they’re thankful for now and for peace.

“Peace” in different world languages at Tsunami museum

Naturally we had to visit the miracle mosque, Baiturrahman Raya Masjid. Stunning – both inside and out.

The gorgeous Baiturrahman

In one part of town, a boat had been left on top of the building it landed on. This is now on the tsunami tourist trail. It’s manned by a very sweet girl who studied English at uni. She lost her 2 younger sisters and her Mum to the tsunami – she does the job to ensure people remember. It was tough listening to her story. Even tougher was an old lady who came out of one of the neighboring houses to see who we were – she clung to a coconut tree and survived. Hardcore.

Boat left where it landed some 4km inland

Banda Aceh is tiny. Not much to do. But it’s nice and the people are lovely. Very very open in how they speak with you. The lack of tourism I suppose has protected them a bit from seeing a tourist as a walking ATM. You don’t get hassled here. People just want to help and have a chat and take lots of photos with you. And the sharia thing is no biggie – if you come and be respectful you won’t find any obstacles at all. If you come and expect boom boom beach parties laced with narcotics then expect either disappointment or trouble – big trouble or at least a big bribe.

If anything I would say the locals are extremely tolerant with tourists – they make allowances such as being able to buy beer in specific places or wearing bikinis on certain beaches/times. What they despise is when people go beyond the limits. And we have seen this with our own eyes, many times. Speaking with a young Danish girl in Banda Aceh, she complained how when she visited a waterfall near Banda that the men stood around and watched her. Seriously, wearing what she was wearing, what did she expect? I really don’t understand how some people come into places like this and expect it to be like Pattaya or Bali. It’s a state populated almost entirely by conservative Muslims who are governed by sharia law – come on – wake up a bit and realise you might need to adapt your dress sense and behaviour. I find it incredibly patronising that they complain that the locals don’t let them be “free”. If you don’t like it then don’t come. On Pulau Weh we watched so many times as men would bowl into a restaurant in speedos and women in bikinis. This infuriates the owners and antagonises the locals – it quite frankly takes the piss.

When in Rome…

We loved Banda Aceh. Indeed it was hard to leave. But snorkelling and island life beckoned so we jumped on the ferry to Pulau Weh and specifically Iboih Beach.

I had high hopes for Iboih. It seemed perfect on paper. But the first few days were rough as the food was pretty awful and the accommodation downright filthy. It is a bit of a shame how the locals have built accommodation, etc here. It could be so much nicer but I guess they get little guidance let alone finance from local government and do the best they can. You could say it resembles a shanty town in places but after a while this becomes its charm. You soon forget about stepping in goat poo, being chased by evil monkeys and the mounds of burning rubbish.

Lovely bathroom companion

After 3 sleepless nights in the “hell hut” (sweaty nights, countless mosquitoes, a toilet full of insects and a nightly concert by dogs) we found a nice place to stay. Even more uplifting for the spirits was the discovery of Dee Dee’s – a restaurant that sold more than the usual noodles/rice and cold fried chicken dripping in oil. The food as wonderful and it became our home as Dee Dee’s family and ours became very close over the next 3 weeks. Her son Faris became the centre of our attention; our Faris became the centre of theirs.

Amazing snorkelling

Iboih is known for diving and snorkelling. I don’t dive but all the divers we met rated it highly. We did however go snorkelling every day and that was just fantastic. Beautiful, calm, clear waters teeming with tropical fish. We saw every fish imaginable as well as sting rays and moray eels. Just breath-taking in every way.

Abundance of fish

We hadn’t really relaxed since leaving Ko Lanta, and relax is certainly what you do here. It is SO chill. Everyday blends into the next. Leisurely breakfasts, home schooling, long lunches, swimming, a movie and a dinner by the sea. We could have stayed forever.

Thumbs up from Zak

Opposite Iboih is Pulau Rubiah – long ago this small island was where pilgrims to Makkah would stop on the way there and on the way back for quarantine. We heard many local legends of Saints who ended up staying and the miracles they performed. The hospital that was used for the hajjis returning to Indonesia is still there, although disused. All fascinating stuff from a historical perspective.

Nikki takes the boys out on a canoe

Pulau Weh, was also important in WWII for control of the Malacca Straits. The Japanese invaded and we visited the bunkers and gun points that have been preserved from that time as well as an old graveyard for the Japanese war-dead. Zak is studying WWII in history at the moment so this was all fantastic for him.

Japanese bunker (yes Faris is wearing pajamas – don’t ask us why – we don’t know)

We were lucky to be on the island to catch the annual Sabang Fair. We decided to visit on the opening night. What a treat. There wasn’t anything spectacular (some live music, stalls, products & costumes from around Aceh) but what was nice was to be in a place and watch the locals doing their thing.

Traditional Acehnese head dress

There were no other tourists – just us and thousands of Acehnese. It was really nice as its rare you find yourself in a place where you don’t see other tourists.

Floral celebrations for the opening of the fair

The fair was also our first try of luwak coffee; if you don’t know, a luwak is an animal. In the old days people saw these animals would eat the best coffee beans then poo them out. People would collect the poo beans, clean and roast them to make coffee. Now however, we later discovered, it’s a cruel practice where the luwak are force fed the beans and are essentially kept in battery farms to meet the demand. We didn’t drink it again. If you are a coffee geek you have to come to Aceh – I never ever ever had my coffee black but I am now converted. The coffee is incredible.

Yahya tries luwak coffee

Everything comes to an end – and with Ramadan approaching we had to make our way back to Thailand for a pre-arranged rendezvous. We stopped in Banda Aceh again for a few days to visit our friend Eddie, who runs the homestay we used on our first visit to Banda. His house is right next to a beach which is fast becoming a surfing hot spot. During Nov-Jan apparently they get around 150 surfers in and it’s increasing every year. It is now dead; leaving this amazing beach all to us!

Lhoknga beach – deserted

We drove past what looked like a water park one day so of course we decided to pay it a visit. Boy that was an insight. The water was filthy – and you could soon see why as the people in the park had to walk along dirt and grass and then would jump into the pools. After trying a couple of slides it became apparent that no health and safety had gone into the design of the slides. They would bounce you up and crash you back down with a thump before spurting you out at the bottom of the slide into such shallow water that you’d smash your feet, arms, head or all onto the bottom of the pool. It was scary but the kids were just about small enough that they wouldn’t get hurt. Lifeguards? Don’t be silly – why have lifeguards? It really does make you think how health & safety obsessed we are in the UK. You see the value in it, but at the same time you also see how totally OTT it can be. Before any of us could smash our skulls open, luckily a storm put an end to the outing.

Boom – the sound your head makes when hitting the slides!

 Aceh is a bit of a diamond. Very few Western tourists visit due to the negative hype surrounding what sharia is or isn’t. If you are looking for somewhere in the world to visit, somewhere untouched, pure and unblemished by the demands of hedonistic tourism, visit Aceh. We fell in love and are already yearning to return.

Snorkelling in Pulau Rubia, Indonesia (a poem)

Deep breaths, deep breaths, snorkeling in the sea

Spying lots of beautiful fish

Making me happy.

Deep breaths, deep breaths, snorkeling in the sea

So excited when I saw an eel

Made me shout, shake and squeal.

Deep breaths, deep breaths, snorkeling in the sea

Colourful coral everywhere

Surrounding all of me

Deep breaths, deep breaths, snorkeling in the sea

Excited on the way back home

on a boat from Iboih.

by Yahya Payne

Why you should never visit Malacca for a holiday…ever

So, after Thailand we made our way down to its neighbour to the south – Malaysia. After a few days of exploring the very bubbly Kuala Lumpur we decided to head down to the old colonial city of Malacca (or Melaka depending on your persuasion). We had our dose of bright lights, curries and pollution and wanted something a bit different.

Boy were we wrong.

If you ever decide to go to Malacca, let me do you a favour – “allow it” – i.e. give it a miss, walk on by, just say no – i.e. don’t go. You’ll hate it. It’ll be the worst time of your life. No really.

What on earth does this place have to offer???

A COMPLETE LACK OF HISTORY

Malacca has no history…none of interest anyway. Dutch, Portuguese, Arab traders, jihadis from Aceh, the British – boring, boring, boring. Yawn. Look at this church for example from the 1750s – don’t make me laugh! You call this history? Walking the streets of Malacca you can’t see any history, smell any history or feel any. It’s historically dead.

BORING ARCHITECTURE

When we went to Malacca we were expecting a real architectural feast. No feast – only famine. This mosque from the 1700s had pillars inspired by British buildings and its minbar by Chinese. I mean how boring and monocultural can you get? Everywhere you look you see elements of Malay, Chinese, Arab, Indian, Dutch, Portuguese and British – you’re better off staying at home and watching the travel channels.

LACK OF ART

You walk around in Malacca and you are constantly confronted with blank walls, bare spaces and lifeless streets. Have these people not heard of art? And where there is art it looks old and tired, almost as if it was done many years ago telling a story of the past. I almost slipped into a coma when I turned a corner in Chinatown and came across this…it’s just so disappointing.

NOTHING NICHE OR SPECIAL

You know when you visit a city, you hope to find something a little funky, a little different, a little special? Forget it. All I came across was these really rubbish record stores selling vinyl from the 40s onwards. Awful stuff from the States, China and across the world. Sample hunters would hate it here.

NO FUN TO BE HAD

As Malacca was so boring, we had to try and search out something to keep our kids interested. In the end we had to settle for Lockdown escape games in a mall not too far from Chinatown. As you can see the boys had the worst 45 minutes of their little lives trying to solve riddles and puzzles to escape the wicked witch’s candy house. Poor kids.

AWFUL FOOD

If you are expecting good quality food, a heady mix of Malay, Chinese, Portuguese, Indian and Arab then you will be disspointed. In fact the food was so awful that I only remembered to take a photo of me stuffing my face on our last night when I had to eat this terrible steak. Look at me – look at the pain in those eyes 😦 If you come to Malacca, you may as well go on hunger strike.

 

So I hope you get the point – Malacca is flippin’ fantastic!!!

Creating with Clay: Natural Building Workshop, Ko Lanta

“And certainly we did make man from a quintessence of clay”

By chance, or rather by design, we recently met the owners of an initiative on Ko Lanta promoting sustainable living; it’s eco-education type place by the name of Asalanta.

It just so happened they were doing a course on natural building and were accepting kids. So the boys were up for it and we signed up!

Zak helping dig for clay.

The boys got involved in digging, making bricks, making mortar, brickwork, plastering, making natural paints and even making a mini-pizza oven. The most important learning however was why we were building in this manner – using natural resources as much as possible – as opposed to ready-made, packaged materials with lots of “embodied energy.“

If we think our housing and environmental situation is bad now,  our kids are going to be twice as bad off. This course taught them why conventional building is bad on & for the planet – plus how they can live to try and reduce the damage or even survive in the future.

It was eye opening in lots of ways but the toilet composting system, of course, was the most fascinating thing of all! And funnily enough, this is exactly what we built over the course of a few days from scratch – a toilet and composting system! All the materials came from the ground and were essentially different mixes of clay.

Yahya and Zak making bricks from the clay

Instructor Amanda Fischer explaining how to mash up mortar feety-style

Originally I signed up for the kids – I was meant to be a by-stander. However, after an afternoon of working with the clay in building the wall for the bathroom, something came over me; it was clay love. Clay was suddenly rather cool.

Brick-laying in my blood blud

Every element I worked with during the six-days was clay, from the bricks to the finish plaster – being covered in it, working with it, moulding it, switched on some real happy buttons inside – it was deep, like deep down in the depths of your soul.  It was like the earth equivalent of the happy feeling you get when you swim in the sea.

Le toilet plastered and start of the first coat of lime wash

Six days was not enough; had the opportunity existed I would have carried on volunteering to finish that toilet off! I’m hooked, so as soon as I get back to the UK I’m starting with a bling outside pizza oven and then who knows…

For anyone looking for some WOOFing or volunteering experience in Thailand or Ko Lanta specifically, check out Asalanta. They are 5 years into their project so have some good experience now and a firmer idea of their direction and vision. They have a really nice set up for volunteers with some rustic jungle living and nice food; you can learn pretty much anything about off-the-grid living although projects will be dependent on what’s going on at that time. If you are visiting the island, go check them out anyway and show them some support.

The week has also given us the volunteering bug a bit now. The English teaching and then this has made us really appreciate how much more you get from your travels when you are engaged with projects and people in this way. You learn so much about where you are than you will going to and seeing ‘places’. If you ever fancy doing the same then check out Workaway which I’ve been keeping an eye on recently for our next stop.

Head-messing Home-education

One of the things I really wanted to achieve during this time away is to mess with the boys’ heads – in a good way.

In life I have often found the most emotionally and intelligently flexible people to be those with a healthy exposure to the world. Being with other cultures and seeing how things can be done differently I believe gives people that flex. On top of that, operating outside of your ordinary surroundings helps build character and confidence.

Boys from the local madrassa

So, their learning to read Arabic has been great in that respect. When I watched one of the boys recently confusing his English/Latin and Arabic scripts when writing something, it didn’t worry me – it elated me. This is exactly the sort of head messing I wanted for them – this is pure brain exercise.

They are making good headway with their Arabic, which they do for an hour a day 5 days a week. All of them “get it” in very different ways. One writes it beautifully (like a calligrapher), the other has precise pronunciation and the other a strong memory.

Their time at the local madrassah has sadly come to and end due to the kids going back to state schools after their recent holidays. Their evenings at the madrassa was a great bit of head messing as they had to pluck up the courage to engage and interact with kids that didn’t speak a common language. After time they fitted in very well, getting involved with the games and making some friends. It was also eye opening for the boys to see kids coming to school in what is essentially a building site.

Nikki with her girls

This also meant an end to our English lessons which we were giving at the madrassah. Just as we were starting to get somewhere it came to an end! It was however a great experience for us both to don our TEFL robes again; the kids were a real joy – very sweet and playful and an amazing knowledge of the Premier League! Man U is still the brand to beat it seems.

My Boyz

It was also a nice way to get to know the community a bit and see what they get up to behind the tourist scenes. Last Friday the boys were invited to recite some verses of the Quran at an awards ceremony for the madrassa kids – which they did.

The boys being interviewed

Another fantastic head-messing moment as they stood on stage in front of some 200 people from the local community and recited four verses. As you can see though from the video, Faris mainly hid, despite the promise of ice-cream. Even so, to see them have the confidence to go up and do that was great – exactly the character building stuff we wanted from the school of practical life.

Although we could probably never homeschool back in the UK, taking time out to do stuff like this is so important as this is these are the things you can’t get in a school system. I think one of the things we’ll take from this trip is to keep doing practical things with them that complement what’s going on at school. It doesn’t have to be abroad, it just needs to be tangible and mess with their heads a bit, in a good way 🙂

The Visa Run: Ko Lanta to Satun and back…eventually

With days left on our visa for Thailand it was time to make a call on whether we stay or carry on travelling. If we wanted to stay it would mean a “visa run”. As the priority for us at the mo is for the kids to learn to read the Quran, we decided to stick with Ko Lanta as they were settled in madrassa and getting on with their teacher. So, the visa run it was.

I worked out the cheapest, quickest and easiest run would be to rent a car and drive down to the Wang Prachan border with Malaysia in the deep south. As well as do the visa run it was an opportunity to see some more of south Thailand and stretch our legs a bit.

Our first night was in Krabi and the difference between the chilled vibe of Ko Lanta and this tourist hot-spot was clear; it was heaving. As well as all the people, the bright lights, lady boys, mass produced trinkets and traffic also made us realise that Ko Lanta wasn’t as bad as we had thought – after 3.5 weeks we were getting a bit fed up of the food and the same same but different days. We now realised we had actually found a little slice of heaven on the island…it is very chilled.

Top tip – when you go to a foreign country, pay a little bit of attention to their local celebrations. Although I realised it was the Buddhist New Year, I didn’t quite take the next logical step in thinking “Oh stuff might be closed.” Not great for someone who sold cultural awareness training for 10 years…hmm.

And this is what ruined our next stop – Trang. I had read about the coffee the Chinese community serve in Trang and as we are coffee-lovers it seemed a bit rude not to stop and sample the local caffeine. However, upon arrival we were met with a town completely shut down. Ooops. So we decided to press on and just go get the visa done with.

So we sped on down the very civilized Thai road system to the Malaysian border. No idea why they drive on the left, but they do. The deep south was gorgeous – jungle after jungle after palm tree after rubber plantation. Green, green and more green.

I had never done a visa run before and although I know many people have done it, I was still worried something might go wrong. It just sounds “wrong” in that it’s so blatantly obvious that you’re taking advantage of a literal loop-hole. “What if they wont let us back in?” I wondered, imagining the 5 of us sleeping on the ground in no-mans-land for the night and being eaten by wild boar or mosquitoes.

We arrived at the border which was essentially a road in the jungle with market stalls on either side; we parked up in the middle of the road and walked to the Thai-Malay border. At the desk the Chinese-Thai border guard shouted that they close at 6pm (it was 5:15) and we had no time. WTF? Luckily his colleague assured me we would. After scrambling to fill in our exit cards,  a bit more shouting from the bad-mood border guard, they stamped us out and waved us away to Malaysia…all of 50m away.

At the Malaysian border, there were two windows next to each other. On the left entry – on the right exit.

“How long are you staying?”
“We’re not. We’re going back to Thailand.”

No response. Passports handed back with visa. I then stepped to my  right and we were stamped out of Malaysia by her mate sat next to her. So we literally spent around 90 seconds in Malaysia before walking back to the Thai border who welcomed us with bananas and smiles this time!! Seems they really take the welcoming bit to heart…they stamped us back in and that was that. All seems a bit weird and I can’t imagine Her Majesty’s Border Force being so cool about it, but I guess they are used to it in this part of the world.

Job done – another 30 days in Thailand.

With fresh visas in hand we headed down to Thailand’s most southern city of Satun. In this part of Thailand, Islam dominates –  they speak a Malay dialect and even have their signage in both Thai and Arabic script. We found an amazing boutique hotel with a salt water swimming pool and swam and ate and life was merry. To top it all off we had 2 live Premier League matches on TV that night (as well as Palace thumping Sunderland 4-1). Life was good.

And that’s where the visa run changed.

We had to leave the hotel due to it being fully booked; we couldn’t find another one – everybody booked. We ended up finding a cabin in a local national park. We spent the day exploring the jungle, being eaten by leeches, taking a dip in a waterfall and watching monkeys hanging out.,

As the sun went down, it was as though God had turned up the amp on the noise. Everything went berserk and it didn’t stop till dawn. Forget the odd cricket making some sounds – this was the animal version of a drum and bass rave – crazy sounds you’ve never heard before. With bats in our bathroom and the rave outside, it wasn’t the most restful night as we were 3 on the floor and 2 in beds.

The next morning we were awoken by a posse of bad-bwoy monkeys who raided the bin for breakfast; we took a little stroll around a lake and then jumped in the car to head back “home”.

But the car didn’t start – dead. Deader than dead. $h£t!!!! After a bit of miming with the people that worked in the park we were handed over to the Thai army who kindly got some jump leads and got us going again…until I realised we had lost the room key! The day was getting worse.

An hour later we found the key buried deep under a car seat and only 3 hours behind schedule we set off for what we hoped was going to be an amazing experience – Tesco!!!

On Ko Lanta there isn’t much choice when it comes to food shopping. Actually not much choice full-stop. So another reason for renting a car was to fill the boot with food to see us through the next month. But we left gutted – rather than seeing more variety in foods, we found there was just more variety in the normal types of food. So rather than finding 2 types of noodle, there were 15. Instead of 3 rices we could buy 30. Where was the hummus, bread, lentils, etc? Nothing we wanted was there. Thanks Tesco.

And to make our day brighter, the car didn’t start again…. I went back in and bought jump leads and then stood by the car holding them out hoping a kind stranger would realise what was happening and help us. They did but it wouldn’t start. This was getting stressful – like really stressful. Nobody spoke English – nobody – I mean not one word0 Nobloody body and all I can say in Thai is Hi and bill please. It was one of those “oh no” sinking feelings in the bottom of your stomach when you’re just completely lost in every way.

In the end we found someone who went and found a policeman, who then told me to go and find a mechanic. But it was New Year and they were all closed!

I ended up being driven by a stranger and his family for an hour, I found a mechanic who took me off the family’s hands and drove me back to Tesco to change the battery. The car was working; Nikki explained that 6 policemen turned up and jump-started it with bigger cables and they became a pop-up attraction as locals gathered round to watch.

So, we drove to the mechanics who upon arrival announced they didn’t have the right battery. There was nothing they could do. The only thing I could do was drive non-stop back to Ko Lanta so the battery would not die.

That was a long, long, long drive back. 6 hours non-stop, all the way. But oh the joy when we got on that ferry taking us back “home”.

Again, travelling proved to be quite a tiring experience. Despite the problems, it was also amazing to see simple, basic human kindness at work. With no common language other than “asalamu alaikum“, hi and bill please we still managed to get people’s help and they were ever so kind when they didn’t have to or need to be. I kept thinking, if a foreigner broke down in Tesco in Yeovil would they get the help I did? I would like to think so.

Anyway, mission accomplished. So we are back in heavenly Ko Lanta…and we are not moving for 30 days!

Gecko-mania

These incredible species are almost mythical. When I see them it makes me really excited and makes me want to catch them. Sadly lots of species of gecko are threatened with extinction or already extinct.

One of the funny things about a gecko is the noise they make when they communicate with each other, for such tiny animals they really know how to shout.

When they mate the female lays two sticky eggs, they take 1 to 3 months to hatch. Geckos are a type of lizard, and there are up to two thousand species. They live in temperate or tropical places. Also they have sticky hairs on their feet to help them climb. They have transparent eyelids. Geckos are omnivores so they eat insects, birds, mice, moss (etc).

by Yahya