Kyoto used to be the capital city of Japan hundreds of years ago and so it hosts some of the best temples in the whole of the country as well as many festivals around the year, we were luck enough to be there during Gion Matsuri.

Gion Matsuri

During our time in Kyoto it rained pretty much every day.  There was some doubt about whether this festival was going to be on but they decided to go ahead with it anyway.  Pelting with rain we stood in shelter and watched the people outside move around huge shrines chanting rhythmically.  Eventually the progression moved down the road and away from the temple.

Nijo Castle

One of the many UNESCO World Heritage sites in Kyoto, Nijo Castle was founded by the famous Tokugawa.  It served as a the residence for the Tokugawa shogunate when they were in Kyoto as well as a show of strength for the other feudal lords around the area.  It has been painstakingly restored by the Japanese.

Within the Castle is the Palace where the shoguns actually lived and held court. Recently restored, you can walk around the palace and learn about the history of the Tokugawa shogunates.  It also has some very interesting, although in Japanese, information about how they restored the palace.

Nishiki Market

Along this old, and very long, road Nishiki Market has everything you want from an asian market.  Food, drinks and trinkets line the road, there’s plenty of samples to try.  If you want fresh fish, sweet things or fruit then you’ll find what you want.

Himeji Castle

I think Himeji Castle is my favourite place in the whole of the Kansai area.  It’s beautiful to look at and the more you learn about it’s intricacies the more wonderful it seems.  I visited it last year but it was still under reconstruction at that point and covered in a protective scaffolding, so I was very excited to come back and see it for a second time when it was fully on display.

Constructed over 700 years ago Himeji castle was built as show of strength and power.  Although never under siege it has wonderful techniques for protecting the castle, all explained wonderfully by our guide.

It’s also incredibly beautiful.

Next to the castle itself are some beautiful gardens which you can visit for only an extra 50 yen.

Himeji is the most impressive castle I’ve seen in Japan and I was so happy to go back there again for a second time.

Next stop

Next we’re heading all the way up Japan to the northern island of Hokkaido.  It’s my first time to this colder part of Japan.  It meant to be an untouched wilderness and I have big expectations.

As we got into Vietnam and spoke to people that had recently been on the trip we started getting slightly different views, tales of bad boat companies, cramped conditions and rats.  

We decided that this was not a time to penny pinch on the experience, and to actually weigh the options before us to make a choice that is frugal but not to the extent where we sour the experience.

Costs

You can get a Ha Long Bay tour for as little as $40 or as much as $200 per person, with a whole range in between. Having heard the tales of rats and bad food from people at the lower end of that range we decided to go up just a little from the bottom and paid $87 each for the experience. This included one night and two days on Ha Long Bay, food for the time we were there, as well as transport there and back.  It also included some limited activities while we were there, such as kayaking.

Activities

For our tour everything was prearranged with very little “free time.”

We were picked up first thing in the morning and driven the three hours to Hanoi to Ha Long Bay – half way we stopped at a rest point for 30 minutes.  One of those typical places where bus companies are paid to drop customers for a while.  Overly expensive food and drinks, and plenty of tourist tat for you to buy, should you wish.

When we arrived on the boat we were given the keys to our room straight away, it was rather nice, even had an en-suite.  Very small, but didn’t feel cramped – and to be honest it’s a boat cabin, you can’t expect any more for that money.

We were sailed out into Ha Long Bay itself to enjoy the thousands of islands that dot this area of Vietnam.  We were not alone, there were hundreds of other boats around us.  Our guide said that there are 300 overnight boats in Ha Long Bay at any one time.  We spent some time just looking out at the islands and enjoying the peace and quiet.

We were unfortunate that there was lots of rain as we were moving into Ha Long Bay, a thunderstorm in fact.  Once it hit we sheltered in the boat and were fed a good lunch while the rain cleared.  There was some talk that if the rain didn’t clear we wouldn’t get to kayak, but thankfully it did and we moved to the kayaking station.

In a little mini bay you could kayak a two person boat around to your heart’s content, but if you wanted to go into the little cove with monkeys and interesting plants you had to pay 50,000 VND each – we opted for this.  It was a little short, 30 minutes, but it was interesting and I enjoyed the combination of drifting lazily and some speed.

After the kayaking we went to a pearl farm.  Not much to see really, a very basic introduction room with examples and very little description of what was going on.  There was a room where you could see them implanting the “seeds” into the oysters that, hopefully, became the pearls later.  It seemed very clinical and quick, they opened the oysters and were done in a matter of seconds.  Depending on the type of oyster they are then left for a number of years to grow a pearl, then they are cracked open and the pearls, if there are any, are removed.  The oyster itself is used for meat.  I did feel a little educated but I feel they could do with some more descriptions of what is going on.

Then it was back to the boat again to be taken to the “Surprising Cave”.  This is a series of chambers, each bigger than the last, full of interesting rock formations.  Having seen many caves in the past I expected to be bored, but there were things there that I didn’t expect.  The ceiling of the cave was pock marked, like a golf ball – I have no idea how that could have formed.  The last chamber was massive and we spent about 15 minutes just walking through it.

Our last stop of the tour was a beach island.  You could choose to either relax on the beach, or climb the steps to view point at the top of the hill.  We opted for the latter and set off up the hill.  Very tiring, by the time I got to the top I was breathing hard and needed a rest, but it was worth it.  The view was incredible.  Hundreds of islands stretching in all directions with boats and floating platforms dotted in between.   I’ve never seen anything like it before and I think it’s my favourite memory of the whole time in Ha Long Bay.

Back to the boat again and we enjoyed a very good, and varied, evening meal.  It even involved a demonstration on how to make Vietnamese spring rolls, which we even got to eat!

The morning after there was just time for a quick breakfast before we got back on the boat to go back to Hanoi.

I think Ha Long Bay was the highlight of our trip to Hanoi.  The city itself is busy and crowded, it was good to get away from it to somewhere that’s calm and serene.  It’s quite expensive on a backpackers’ budget but I think it’s definitely worth the money, just don’t go for the cheapest price!

Where next?

After Ha Long Bay we are flying to our next country, the Philippines.  We will spend a few days in the capital city of Manilla.  It’s home to an ancient Spanish fort built when it was a colony, as well as quite a few old churches and a cathedral, all built in a western style.  I can’t wait to walk the old walls and try to see what’s different from back home.

Getting there

Kampot is a large town with plenty of road links, one direct from Battambang.  However, all the buses still go via the central hub in the capital city, Phnom Penh.  This means an hour or so wait in a hot, sticky open air bus station, we used the time to catch some lunch at a local (and air-conditioned) Chinese restaurant.

Overall the journey from Battambang to Kampot took just over 12 hours and was not enjoyable.  I don’t think the “10 and 2” position for holding a steering wheel applies in Cambodia, the drivers are totally incapable of going more than 30 seconds without honking their horn at something, multiple times.  No catnaps were had on this bus.

The bus drops you off at either Kep or Kampot and at both towns within 10 minutes walk of pretty much any hostel and less than 5 minutes walk of some very good ones.  There is no need to get a tuk-tuk or a taxi, honestly, despite what the drivers tell you.

Getting Around

Kampot is a small town, you can walk from one end to the other in 30 minutes so there’s no real need to use any forms of transport.  The main eating and tour company area is right on the river-side and all within 5 minutes walk of each other.

Kep is around 40 minutes drive from Kampot and if you don’t want to rent a motorbike you can get a local bus for $3-5 each way.  Kep town is very small also, much smaller than Kampot.

If you want to go to attractions that are outside the towns, such as the pepper farms, salt fields, Bokor hill station, then you can rent a taxi or take a tour – tuktuks are not powerful enough to get up the mountain roads to take you.

The taxis are, frankly, a very expensive option.  We were quoted $15 to just take us to the pepper farm and back to Kep, a full day tour including the pepper farm, salt fields, a local cave and country side roads was only $12 per person.  It’s one of those rare, and annoying, situations where “doing it yourself” is actually more expensive than an organised tour.

Things to do in Kampot and Kep

Kampot and Kep are great places to just relax, we ended up spending more time here than in our plan.  There’s also plenty to do and see if you move outside of the towns themselves.

Bokor Hill Station

Just north of Kampot is Bokor Hill Station, a long abandoned French settlement nestled high in the hill.  A welcome retreat from the heat down in the town, this collection of buildings and stunning views are well worth a visit.

There are many smaller buildings as well as a few larger ones, such as this old casino.

As well as this Catholic church.

You can walk all around and inside the buildings, although all the fixtures and fittings have long been removed.

Everything isn’t so perfect when you move a little away from the old abandoned town.  The entire national park has been sold to a Vietnamese company and is currently being redeveloped.  Your first glimpse of this is a huge 30m high witch statue that greats you as you come up the mountain.

Their plan is to cut down national park forest to create a multi-square mile residential and entertainment area, complete with new casinos and hundreds of houses.  They have already started building lots of houses and you can see them scattered throughout the national park.

The plans are already in place and building commenced.  Bokor National Park will not be the same in 5 years time…

Ecran Noodles and Movies

Ecran Noodles is a small restaurant that doubles as the area’s only cinema.   The food is excellent and the noodles are hand made fresh for each dish.  You can watch the chefs amazing skill as he manipulates a lump of dough into long, chewy noodles.

We choose to get dumpling soup and I would recommend that to anyone that wants to visit Ecran’s.

As I said, Ecran’s also doubles as a cinema.  There are a few private rooms with 50″ televisions that you can watch any movie you wish.  They had literally thousands of movies in their catalogue.  We chose to watch The Killing Fields, a movie about the history of Cambodia during the reign of the Khmer Rouge.  Quite a sad movie as it’s based on the true life of a Cambodian that survived the genocide of over a third of Cambodia’s entire population in the late 1970s.  I would recommend that movie if you want to learn more about the, very recent, history of Cambodia.

Kep Crab Market

If you love fresh crab then Kep is a great place to eat it.  They catch it locally and cook it in front of you.

We ordered 4 crabs, and after we had finished we wished we had ordered more.  They were delicious and the fruit bought from the market complimented the crab.

If you like any sort of seafood then I would recommend a visit to Kep Crab Market as they have it all, and cook it all.

Pepper Farm

All around the Kampot province are, supposedly, the best farms for pepper in the world.  The soil and climate are both perfect for making good pepper.

You see them all over the hills, tall bushes of pepper plants with their pods of spice.

There are four types of pepper grown – black, green, red and white.  We couldn’t see any white but we did manage to see, and taste, the other varieties.

It’s all grown and picked by hand.  Workers remove each pod manually and place them into a wicker basket before they are taken to be dried in the sun and manually sorted into colour and grade.

Salt Farms

Up in the hills around Kep are a few salt farms.  They take salt water from the sea and leave it to dry in the sun.  Once it evaporates enough you can get salt… a lot of it.  They collect it in woven baskets and leave it to dry some more before packing it and selling it locally.  A very simple operation that allows money to be made from nothing but water and sun.

Sunset River Cruise

A quick, and inexpensive ($5), cruise up the river to watch the sunset over the hills.  We were originally worried we wouldn’t see anything due to the clouds, but they actually made the sunset more beautiful.

Where Next?

Kampot is our last stop in in Cambodia. Next we are heading to the capital, Phnom Penh, to catch a bus to Ho Chi Minh City (formally Saigon), Vietnam.  Time to go to our fourth country…

It seems to come down to whether you are willing to take a risk in the future or pay a little more now.

After reading about it a lot online I think I can sum it up like this:

On the border

• Cost: $30
• Length: 1 month
• Pros
  • Cheaper
  • You can use any Cambodian entry checkpoint
• Cons
  • You need to bring passport photos to the border with you
  • Potentially long, hot waits at the border and there has been some allegations of corruption and asking you to pay more
  • You may be harassed before you even get to the border with touts offering you their visa service. We even heard from one tout that you couldn’t get a visa at the border, which at that point we knew he was lying.

Visa before

• Cost: $30 + a $7 application fee
• Length: 1 month
• Pros
  • You know you have your visa in your hand
• Cons
  • More expensive
  • You have to carry around two or three copies of the visa on your backpacking trip; but you can staple one of them to your passport
  • Can only be used at main airports and sea ports (you can’t use it when entering from Laos)
  • You can only get the visa for three months in the future.  Look familiar?

In the end I decided to get it before hand, and the process was quite easy with just one little hiccup.  You need to

1. Decide who will be your primary contact. As I am dealing with all Visa applications for our trip, that’s me!
2. Fill in that person’s details on https://www.evisa.gov.kh/ContactInformation.aspx
3. You will then be asked to fill in information about each person that’s flying.
   • Some of it is required and some is optional.  Because we don’t know where we are going to be staying when we are there I couldn’t fill in that information so I just filled in our entry and exit information.  Didn’t seem to cause any problems…
4. Pay for your visa using a credit/debit card
5. Wait…
6. … and wait …
7. … and wait beyond the period they said you should wait

Okay, so they say it should get back to you before 5 working days.  10 working days later I hadn’t received anything so I chased them via email… 1 hour later I had the visas in my inbox, success!

Shame I had to chase but at least we have them.  Definitely easier and less than the Vietnam visa.  No sending my passports off in the post.

Does anyone have any experiences with getting a Cambodian visa on the border? Talk about it below.

We didn’t know much about this city coming into it and the little we did know came from the hostel owner of where we stayed in Kuala Lumpur at the start of our adventure.

Although not developed as a tourist centre it turned out that there are many things to see and do in this ex tin-mining town – even if the tourist information centre was closed at the time of our visit.

How to get there

Situated on the main land of Malaysia and on main roads and railways it is very easy to get to from pretty much anywhere.

Coming from the Cameron Highlands we took a bus down which cost us 18RM each. The journey took about 3 hours, of which a good two-thirds was spent going around mountain roads, not too good if you get a little travel sick.

Where we stayed

We found a reasonably cheap hostel (30RM) just outside of the city, Bed & Bike Backpackers Studio.  A tidy, clean, modern and open plan room housed all the beds and the common area.  We were impressed by the owner of the hostel, Eva, who spoke very good English and gave us some very good ideas about where to go, what to see and what to eat.  All excellent recommendations, try the chicken tikka just up the road from the hostel!

The only negative thing with the hostel is that it is just a little bit too far out of the centre of Ipoh and the public transport is quite bad.  There is just one bus that gets to the hostel from the centre and the last bus is 7:30pm.  After a couple of days this became quite tedious and so we decided to move on from the hostel.

Eva has told us that she intends to relocate the hostel right into the city centre.  If she is able to do that and keep the look, feel and cost very similar to what she has now then I think she will have a great hostel!

After Eva’s place we moved to Abby by the river for a couple of nights, also costing 30RM.  This is right in the city and within walking distance of the main attractions.  The Abby lacked the character of Eva’s but it was right where we wanted to be.

Getting around in Ipoh

Public transport is something we tried and then gave up on in Ipoh.  It’s not terrible, just quite unreliable.  There’s no obvious bus stops, and in fact we saw most locals just flagging the bus down anywhere.  I guess this works if you know the route, but as we didn’t then spent a long time trying to find where to get the bus. There’s no good maps of where the buses go, where the stops are, or the time table at each place.  I know in England we say our public transport is terrible but I think Malaysia has a lot to catch up on outside of KL.

In the end we walked most of the places within the city itself and relied on locals we met in the hostel to show us around some places, we even rented a car for one day to see some of the sights further away from the centre.

What to do in Ipoh

Although not set up as a tourist town there is lots to do and see in Ipoh and the surrounding areas.  We spent 5 days there in total and this is what we did.

Ipoh’s famous murals

Created by Lithuanian artist Ernest Zacharevic, these murals dot the city centre.  It’s your job to find them all!  In total there are 7 “original” murals and many copy cats.  We found all of them.

Han Chin Pet Soo

A surprise find, Serena had heard about this briefly but hadn’t mentioned it to me.  We were walking around trying to find the murals and she spotted this museum about the history of Ipoh from the point of view of the Hakka Chinese that were the predominant people here a hundred years ago.

The building itself is an old private members club for those Hakka Chinese working in the tin mining industry when it was still a big industry in Ipoh.  With the decline of the tin trade (and frankly the ageing of the members themselves) the club saw less and less use to the point where it was rented out to a private company which turned it into a museum.

I didn’t know what to expect coming into this museum but I found it fascinating.  It told the history of tin mining in Ipoh as well as how the metal is actually mined.  It also went into detail about the history of the building and how it was used during the various periods of its history, including the gambling, women and opium use that was rife at the time.

They have restored this building to an incredible level of detail and gone beyond, giving details about the history of Ipoh itself.

Very much worth a look!

Kellie’s Castle

A collection of old buildings built by a Scotsman, William Kellie Smith, that emigrated to Malaysia for his family.  Now a historical site and gardens.

Definitely interesting if you like historical sites – there’s plenty of information on the history of the buildings and how they were used.

Concubine Lane

An interesting, short street containing lots traditional shops and accommodation. At the end of the road is a bar run by an Englishman built in the style of an English Pub, “Big John’s”.

Gua tempurung

Ex-tin mining cave formation, this is a huge and impressive collection of natural formations.  Our guide pointed out interesting structures.  After a nice gentle walk through the formations our guide took us off the path and deep into the caves.  No lights, no walk way, no safety.

We made our way through flooded tunnels and tight holes.  Sliding down sheer drops to follow the course of an underground river, eventually coming out where we originally came in.  At no point did we have to put our heads underwater, for which I was grateful!

In total the trip took about 3.5 hours.  If you’re scared of tight places then I wouldn’t do this tour, but if you’re not then I would give it a go.  Very interesting.

Temples

We saw three temples in Ipoh, Sam poh tong, Kek lok tong and Perok tong.  Impressive structures but all pretty much the same as each other.

I think my favourite was Kek lok tong, it has a very impressive garden at the back with a lake.

What’s next?

Next we are going to Penang, an Island off the west coast of Malaysia.  Renowned for food and culture and a short bus trip away.  Time to tantalise our taste buds with more spectacular Malaysian food.

Oh and during our stay in Ipoh we met a guy that owns a hostel in Penang, you just can’t beat a local to show you around give you all the top tips on where to eat and what to see…

1. Cactus Valley – Perched on a hillside is this botanical show garden. It has a great collection of flowers and cacti of different shapes, sizes and colours. We easily spent an hour here meandering across the paths.
2. Big Red Strawberry Farm – this was our next stop. The weather in the Cameron Highlands is perfect for growing a variety of fresh fruit and vegetables. Strawberries are popular and there are rows and rows of strawberry plants. You can pick you own strawberries but only between May/June to late October, when they are in season. They also grow lettuces, kale and other vegetables hydropinically. At the cafe, they have fresh salads using the lettuces they have grown themselves.

We then tried to catch the bus to the famous Boh tea plantation. It wasn’t far to walk (3km in total), but the topography here is hilly – lots and lots of steep hills with no walking paths, so walking wasn’t really an option. The bus didn’t turn up, nobody knew if it even went the tea plantations. It was rather frustrating.

The hardest part of this whole backpacking trip was planning an itinerary. With an itinerary roughy planned out, we could go ahead to start planning the rest of our trip such as travel insurance, vaccinations, accommodation, mode of transport etc

With so many countries in Southeast Asia, 7 months to travel all of this is definitely not enough time.

Our itinerary was created with the following in mind:

• We wanted to visit all the countries we wanted to visit
• Use a combination of (mainly) planes, trains and a few coaches here and there to get us around to save time
• Book flights in advance so we could get a better price. As we were going during the high season we are betting that flight prices will increase during the Summer

Diving – There are lots of places to go diving. I’ve already highlighted my 10 top diving destinations and most of them are in Thailand, Malaysia, Philippines and Indonesia. When I started looking at where to go diving there was a good article on Southeast Asia Backpacker’s website → General scuba diving guide

If you have any suggestions and recommendations, please comment and let us know.

‘Money, money, money!’

Let’s face it travelling is not cheap. At the time of writing this (2nd February 2015) I have spent £2027.80 and I haven’t even enjoyed one bit of the trip yet. I’ve spent my money on flights, travel insurance and some backpacking gear but there is still scuba insurance, vaccinations, visas that I need to get before we fly out on the 1st April. You can see how expensive this is going to be and it is only going to get worse.

So I’ve decided to compile a list of things that I did to save money for our backpacking trip (there are many other things you can do so this list is by no means exhaustive).

I will list what I did, how much I saved, a little bit more detail and my tips and tricks for you. Finally see my summarised Top 5 Tips and Tricks to take away from this blog post if you forget everything else.

– We moved in together. We saved ~£300 per week (£3,600 a year)

Andrew rented his own apartment that costed him around £700 a month (£450 – rent, £50 – internet, £30 – water, £80 – council tax, £80 gas and electric). We decided to move in together and by doing so it meant all  our rent and bills were divided by 2. This was really useful for us because it meant we got used to being in each others company and saved us money immediately.

Tips and & Tricks for you: Could you save some money by buddying up with a friend to share the cost of living? Could you downsize from a double bedroom to a single bedroom? Instead of living on your own could you move into a houseshare?

– Shop around for your household utilites. We saved ~£540 a year with £130 cashback

We had a go at trying to save some money on our gas and electricity. This involved going on some comparison websites like moneysupermarket.com or confused.com. Eventually we settled for Martin’s Money Saving Expert. It’s actually really easy and he explains the process step by step. It worked out that we would save £300 a year by paying less money per unit of electric and gas we used. I also got £30 cashback for switching. Another thing is we got British Gas to come out and see if we were eligible for free loft insulation. They also offer cavity wall insulation but we already has this. A staggering 25% of the heat is lost through the roof, so if your house is not well insulated you are just paying for heat that is doing nothing but going straight out of your roof.

In addition, we decided to re-negotiate our internet package and opted for a slower internet speed, which was still Fibre internet so it was a good compromise. This saved us £20 a month.

Tips and & Tricks for you: Get a free estimate to see if you are paying the right amount for your gas and electricity. Could you easily switch and start saving? Could you turn down your thermostat by 1°C and potentially save £90 a year? Check whether you are eligible for free loft or cavity wall insulation. Could you re-negotiate your internet package for a better deal or because you are a loyal customer?

– We took our homemade lunches into work. We saved ~£45 per week (£540 a year)

Every Sunday I spent the afternoon or evening cooking batches of homemade lunches for the both of us to take into work. I then froze these on the day and then I would take them out the day before to defrost. I really enjoyed this because I love cooking. Even though my canteen at work was subsidised I always felt that I could make my own food that was even yummier. Andrew use to spend around £7 a day on his lunch and for me. With a bit of organisation we only spent maybe once a week going out to buy lunch.

Tips and & Tricks for you: Could you swap your takeout lunches for something you have cooked yourself at home? If not, could you make a little bit more for your dinner and have the leftovers as your lunch the next day?

– Change your mode of transport to work. We saved ~£20 per week (£1,040 a year)

For me I took the bus into work because it meant I didn’t have to pay for parking in the city centre where I worked. A weekly pass meant I could use that pass and have unlimited travel. Andrew took my car instead of his gas guzzler that does around 25 miles per gallon so he saved a lot of money on diesel. It was a bonus that it doesn’t cost me anything extra to add him onto my insurance policy.

Tips and & Tricks for you: Could you car share with a colleague from work? Would it be cheaper to get the bus into work?

– Cut down on your daily coffee/tea beverage. We saved ~£20 per week (£1,040 a year)

It’s easy to nip into Costa/Starbucks or your local coffee shop in the morning or afternoon for some caffeine. It’s convenient but it really does hurt your wallet. A little every day adds up to be a lot in one week. We both halved our visits. We both worked out the maths and decided to halve our visits.

Tips and & Tricks for you: Could you bring your own coffee/tea in your own travel mug? If you often go out for catchups could you go somewhere else like your canteen? Could you get your daily fix from your work canteen for cheaper? Use your loyalty cards to get a free drink after a certain amount. Take advantage when they do a 2for1.

– Get practical Birthdays and Christmas presents. We saved ~£200 a year

We both told our friends and families to give us things we needed for our backpacking trip. A simple ask and we got a multi-tool (£60 new), Eagle Creek Pack it Cubes (£30 new), Cocoon grid it organiser (£50 new), Convertible Pants (£50 new)

Tips and & Tricks for you: Ask your family and friends the same as we have done. Explain the situation and I’m sure they will be understanding. If you don’t know what you will need then ask for a gift card.

– Have less takeaways and meals out. We saved ~ £780 a year

Not only did this save us money but it also meant we were healthier by not exposing our bodies to all the MSG and the fat and oil in all those takeaways. We had one less takeout and one less meal out per month.

Tips and & Tricks for you: If you are going to eat out could you go for an early bird deal that is cheaper? Do they do deals such as 2for 1 with a loyalty card, or deals on a particular day such as a burger and drink for £9 or curry night on Tuesdays for £7?

– Start looking for deals and use your loyalty/cashback cards. We saved £466 a year

There are a number of thing we did:

• Cinema – we took advantage of the 2for1 Orange Wednesdays. With us going on average one a month, this saved us £8 per month.
• Started using our loyalty cards – With £50 worth of Boots points on my card I used this to buy things we needed for out trip like insect repellent. I also asked my mum for her Tesco Clubcard vouchers so I could turn them into 4 times their value online and his equated to a meal out each month.
• I learnt to use cashback websites which pay you a small percentage based on your total spend if you click to your shopping destination via the link on their website. This netted me £200 in total that went straight into my bank account.
• I also started using my M&S credit card more because I converted my points into M&S vouchers at the end of the month which was around £10 in vouchers.

Tips and & Tricks for you: Put your loyalty cards in your purse/wallet and remember to use them. See if there is a special discount if you buy something online. Ask your sister/brother/cousin to go shopping with you and use their student discount.

– Ad hoc items – We started using Freecycle and Ebay . We saved ~£300 a year

Buying big ticket items is expensive and I started using sites like Freecycle, where people list things they don’t want anymore for free and it is first come first served. Some are good quality items whereas some just do the job. Most of the time I wasn’t bothered by the brand or aesthetics, I was just interested in it doing the job (I broke 2 vacuums in one week!) I also used Ebay to buy a few things such as a computer desk. You can get items relatively cheap because only people who live nearby will be able to bid (postage would be too expensive) and the only option is to drive over and pick it up.

Some examples are below:

Tips and & Tricks for you: If you don’t know how to use those sites, don’t buy it at full price, wait until there is a sale. Do you have a social news at work where people post things they want to sell and you could get them for a good price?

Phew…..as you can see there are many ways to save money for your travels or backpacking trip.

To summarise here are my Top 5 Tips:

1. Spend less or make your money go further
2. Cook your own lunches
3. Live with someone and share the costs
4. Cut down on those daily Starbucks caffeine fixes
5. Reduce the number of takeaways you have

How did you save money? Give me some more tips as I can save more money for my travels next time! Leave me a comment below.

“We are going to do it,

we are going to travel

and we are doing it together.”

This is the place to hear all about our 7 month adventure. We are galavanting and munching our way through 10 countries. Yes 10 countries:

• Malaysia
• Thailand
• Cambodia
• Vietnam
• Phillippines
• China
• South Korea
• Japan
• Indonesia
• Singapore

Phew that is a long list!

This blog serves two purposes:

1. It’s our own photo album to look back and remember the things we did. Why have a dusty old book when you can have a fully interactive website?

2. A source of information for you (reviews, how to budget, tourist information, where to go, where to dive, where to eat, what to take with you). We are here to share travel advice if you are planning your own adventure.

Whilst on our backpacking trip we will:

• Give you budgeting tips by showing you how much we spend our money on
• Everything you need whilst you go backpacking – gadget reviews, checklists and hints & tips
• Advise you on the best hostels, hotels and places to eat
• Show you all the places to visit in Asia through our amazing pictures. Check out our Pinterest Board and follow me on Instagram (@Asian_adventure)
• Have a story to last a life-time

Join us on our adventure.  Take the journey with us, digitally of course.

Lots of love from
Serena and Andrew

Check out our 7 month Backpacking Itinerary → here.