Singapore We were delayed leaving Kuala Lumpur but other than that our journey ran smoothly. The border crossing was very efficient but I am still very glad that this was my last land crossing! I arrived in Singapore at 4pm and caught a taxi to Singhi’s house. Singhi is a good friend of my Dad’s from University and he very kindly offered to let me stay with him and his family whilst I was visiting. They don’t live very far out and the centre was easily acc...

Malaysia The journey to Penang took a long time but the crossing to Malaysia was very easy. We arrived at about 9pm and checked into our hostel which was very nice; Jess described it as 'an ikea show room'. The following day we were picked up at 11am by a lovely lady called Jennifer. Jennifer and her family lived in Singapore with my Dad's family between 1966 and 1969 and my Grandparents kept in contact with her parents. She very kindly took us on a mini tour o...

Thailand On our first night in Bangkok Jess and I met up with a couple of my friends from Borneo and explored the Khoa San road area where we were staying. It was very very busy and loud but had a good atmosphere.On Saturday Jess and I had a lie in before heading to the Chatuchak weekend market. I bought 5 fake pairs of ray-bans for Chris to take back; not a cultural present but I thought I may as well get my family something useful and I got another pair too bec...

Cambodia We had the easiest border crossing so far into Cambodia and arrived late on Sunday to our hostel in Phnom Penh. On Monday we woke early and, after a mission to find a cashpoint, we were driven in a tuk tuk to the S-21 museum. The site is a former high school which was used as a prison and execution centre under Pol Pot and the Khymer Regime. We were lucky to get a guide who spoke perfect English with little accent so that we could fully understand all ...

Vietnam On Thursday, we started our stay in Hanoi by going on the free walking tour run by the hostel. We were shown around a church, walked around the lake and told all about the legend of Hoan Kiem, the turtle and the sword. The tour also took us to Ngoc Son temple on Jade Island in the middle of the lake and then continued to the old quarter and the massive market. Unfortunately I was feeling very ill that day so I went back to the hostel to sleep. In the ev...