LAST LEG OF MY JOURNEY BEGINS!

I'm currently in the Thai capital city of Bangkok where tomorrow, I will be starting the last leg of my world tour in Australia!

Since I last posted, I spent my time travelling through Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia before a relaxing time on the island of Bali! 

It's been about 2 months since my last post so get ready for a lot of photos!

LAOS

 Beautiful waterfalls!

Stalactites and stalagmites. Which is which? 

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VIETNAM

water puppet show

Tunnels that Vietnamese soldiers built during the Vietnam War - people had to sleep, eat and even go to school in the tunnels!!

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BALI

(update) I arrived in Sydney a few days ago and it is much colder than I have been used to in Asia! It is around 18 degrees in the day but when I arrived in the morning it was about 10 degrees! But I am flying to the North-East of the country to a place called Cairns tomorrow, which is in the Tropics, so it should be nice and hot there!

This will probably be my last post before you all leave so I want to wish you all the best for the Summer holidays and good luck to those of you who are leaving! I will see you when school starts again in September!

Mr Dienn

3 DAY WATERFIGHT! - THAI NEW YEAR (SONGKRAN)

BORNEO

Before travelling to the North of Thailand, I visited the island of Borneo for a wedding! Borneo is a large island in Asia that is split between Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei (I visited Kota Kinabalu in the Malaysian part).

I only had a few days on the island but I got to stay in a five star hotel resort, which was a lot different to the other places I had stayed in :)

BACK IN THAILAND

When I returned from Borneo, I got an overnight train from Bangkok (the capital city of Thailand) to the North of Thailand to a city called Chiang Mai.

The seats on the train folded out into bunks for people to sleep in. Each bunk had their own green curtain for privacy. The journey took roughly 14 hours!

I wanted to be in Chiang Mai at this time of the year to celebrate the Thai New Year (Songkran). Thai people celebrate the new year between April 13th and April 15th. They traditionally celebrate it with a ritual of throwing water (basically, a huge, nationwide waterfight where everybody joins in). The tradition is based on the ritual of 'washing away your sins' and starting over for the New Year.

We took to the streets with waterguns and were soaked as soon as we left our guesthouse. As we explored the city, we saw everyone holding waterguns or buckets and people would drive around in their cars with huge buckets of water to throw at random strangers. In the 40 degree heat it felt very refreshing as we were completed soaked from head to toe! The good thing about it was that it was all done in good nature and everybody had a smile on their face! Also, the 'fighting' generally stopped at 6pm which meant you could go out into the streets without fear of getting all of your clothes and belongings soaked.

Water guns were on sale everywhere and everybody joined in, regardless of their age!

It was common to see cars like this driving through the streets with people in the back with buckets of water to throw at passers-by.

Unfortunately, after 3 days of water fights, Songkran was over! I visited a temple on a mountainside that contained the relics of the Buddha:

PAI

As I write this blog post, I am in a small town called Pai in the mountains to the North-west of Chiang Mai. I love it here! It is much more relaxed than Chiang Mai as it is more remote and there are hardly any cars or hustle and bustle. I have my own hut and am really enjoying my time before I travel East to a country called Laos next week.

I have a mosquito net on my bed to prevent myself from being bitten at night.

I visited a Buddha statue on the mountainside that had yet to be coated in gold.

One of the nearby waterfalls in the area.

The sunsets here are magical!

THE START OF MY ASIA ADVENTURES!!

I am currently in the capital city of Thailand, Bangkok, where my family are originally from. I have been here the last few weeks catching up with family I haven't seen in years, as well as family that I had never met before (cousins, aunts and uncles).

Before flying to Thailand, I visited Malaysia and Singapore:

MALAYSIA

The Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur

Malaysia is home to many religious groups and, as a consequence, I saw different kinds of temples:

I visited the Island of Penang in the North of Malaysia but unfortunately, was struck down with a severe case of food poisoning for the majority of my time there :(

Penang is home to the largest Buddhist temple in South-East Asia!

SINGAPORE

Singapore is a tiny country to the South of Malaysia. As it is on the coast, there is a bit of a breeze around the city which really helps as I have been struck down by the extreme heat since arriving in Asia.

Singapore is known for being a beautiful and extremely clean country (you are not allowed to eat, chew gum or drink [even water!] in certain places such as on the railway system). The crime rate is the lowest in the world but it also tops lists as being one of the most expensive places in which to live.

Merlion statue in the Marina Bay Harbour:

The city looks even more incredible at night!

I happened to be in Singapore on the night they were celebrating the country's 50th anniversary!

Rooftop views:

THAILAND

I have spent the last couple of weeks in Thailand with my auntie and grandma doing a bit of sightseeing here and there. However, I have devoted most of my time to relaxing and catching up with family before I begin to explore outside of the capital city (I plan to head North to Chiang Mai to celebrate the Thai New Year [Songkran] in April) and into the neighbouring countries (Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia).


picking mangoes in our garden:

On my uncle's rice farm 4 hours outside of the capital:

The Bridge Over the River Kwai - a famous bridge built by prisoners-of-war during WW2 under terrible conditions in order to allow Japanese troops stationed in Burma to be supplied by train.

One of many extravagant temples:

In the next few weeks I will be making a brief detour to fly to Kota Kinabalu on Borneo for a friend's wedding, before flying back to Thailand to meet up with some friends to explore the Northern part of the country.