Bariloche

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Laura: The bus journey from Buenos Aires took about 23 hours and showed four absolutely awful rom coms (why is that blonde from Greys Anatomy always in them)!! The bus was adequate but not as comfortable as the ‘cama’ bus we took last time. We couldn’t afford that one this time around but even still, this bus cost us £75!! We got to the bus terminal and found a very helpful young man who spoke great English. He informed us that you can get a bus from Bariloche to El Calafate directly (we were worried that this would be impossible) Continue Reading →

Buenos Aires

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Ahmad: We got onto the bus and were astounded by how comfortable it was. The seats were huge and as promised went almost all the way back. We were given a soft drink just after boarding followed by a snack (consisting of the best biscuits known to man – Alfa Jores, these are generally a chocolate or cream layer sandwiched between two soft biscuits and are hugely popular in Argentina). Around 10PM on our journey we were woken by the stewardess for our evening meal (argentinian time) which was something like a meal on a plane. After eating we went Continue Reading →

Puerto Iguazu

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  Ahmad: We had booked the most basic bus from Sao Paulo to the Iguazu falls, so we were expecting something of an African chicken bus, we got the bus station and the bus was actually really comfortable. One thing about overland travel in South America (so far at least) is that whilst it’s relatively expensive it’s also pretty comfortable (so long as you don’t forget your sleeping bag – the air conditioning on the bus was on full blast all night, it was actually warmer outside so I froze all night)

Brazil

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Rio de Janerio Due to the fact that STA Travel are officially evil, we had to spend 24 hours in London before heading to Brazil. Yes, yes, it’s nice to have a few home comforts and see one of your best friends for the afternoon BUT THIS JUST REMINDS YOU OF HOW HOME SICK YOU ARE!!!!! Needless to say, I cried for most of the day. I was a little shocked at how much it affected me, you should have seen us when we changed our Malaysian Ringgit for pounds – we were so excited just to feel a 20 Continue Reading →

Singapore

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  Part 1: We flew to Singapore with Jetstar, a really good budget airline in Asia. On arrival we were instantly happy – it was organised, cosmopolitan and very friendly! We took the subway to our hostel, found it no problem and checked into our dorm. Singapore is a complete mix of cultures and ethnicities which appealed to us instantly. After sorting through our stuff we headed downstairs and were basically forced to drink beer by the hostel owner to celebrate the upcoming National Day! We met a nice couple from Italy who gave us loads of tips for Tioman Continue Reading →

Malaysia

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  Kuala Lumpur We arrived at KL Sentral Station and then got totally confused by their transport systems. They have subway, monorial, komuter trains and others – of course the sign posting was pretty useless – so it took us a while to locate the line we needed. We found our hostel straight away and checked in. It was quite a nice place with unlimited supply of coffee and toast which is a nice touch when you’re skint like us!

Cambodia

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  Siem Reap Laura: We awoke at 6 am to catch the bus to Siem Reap in Cambodia, an 18 hour journey with border crossings. In typical fashion the bus failed to depart on time and the driver wasted a further hour by stopping for gas, buying bbq chicken and getting his wind screen washed! Buses in South East Asia are good quality, all air conditioned and pretty cheap HOWEVER, they are completely disorganised which surprised us a lot considering the amount of tourists who come here. After about 3 hours we arrived at the 4000 islands to collect the Continue Reading →

Laos

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  Luang Prabang Ahmad: After heading back to Kunming, we spent a couple of days relaxing, doing a little shopping (no H&M in Laos or Cambodia) and generally building ourselves up to deal with some bargaining again (I didn’t enjoy it in India, and I don’t enjoy it now). We had booked a sleeper bus from Kunming, China to Luang Prabang, Laos, a 28 hour journey, though it did have sleeper beds. After speaking to the hostel (who arranged our bus tickets) we got onto a local bus to the bus station, the hostel told us to get off at Continue Reading →

Kunming & Dali

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  Laura: We arrived into Kunming (the capital of Yunnan – a province in China famous for it’s beauty) in the morning. We exited the train and were over the moon to discover it was about 25 degrees and low humidity! In Yangshuo we only had to walk for 5 minutes before our sunglasses were falling off our ridiculously sweaty faces. We were collected by a lovely girl called Jenny from The Hump Hostel. She took us on a public bus to the hostel and we got checked in no fuss. The hostel had great communal areas but the dorms Continue Reading →

Yangshuo & Xingping

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  Ahmad: We got a hard sleeper train to Guilin from Shanghai, and had a pretty uneventful trip. Both of us agree that Indian trains (when you manage to book one at least) are superior to Chinese trains, the berths are more comfortable and you get some semblance of privacy as most of the cabins have curtains.