Doug and Kerry Hudson in South East Asia

In February 2003, we left South Africa for the final leg of our world trip: South East Asia. First stop was the ultra-modern, ultra-clean and ultra-organised Singapore. But we only had three days there before flying north up to Thailand, and that quintessential Asian city: Bangkok. Our visas limited us to only thirty days in which to explore Thailand, so we maximised our use of this time:

Soaking up the chaotic bustle and charm of Bangkok,
Cycling around the seven hundred year old temple ruins at Sukhothai,
Paddling around the famous floating markets at Damnoen Saduak,
Trekking through the unspoilt jungle wilderness of Khao Sok National Park,
Experiencing the rather traditional market at Songkhla,
And snorkelling and relaxing in the beautiful island paradises of Koh Pha-Ngan and Koh Lipeh.

We even had time for Doug to spend the night in hospital on a drip after getting food poisoning in Hua Hin!

Eventually though, we had to make our way south to Malaysia. Actually the boat trip across the border turned out to be rather interesting in itself. We soon got over that and immediately started tucking into the delicious food available everywhere in peninsular Malaysia. With just a handful of days there before flying back from Singapore again, we only had time for:

Two days hiking in the Cameron Highlands,
A day trip to Kuala Lumpur,
And three days in the historic port town of Melaka.

So did we make the right choice, by deciding to visit Asia instead of Australia? We think we did. Not only did we encounter cultures completely different from our own, but we also experienced a much simpler way of life. In fact, we were humbled. The material things that were so important to us in our day-to-day lives at home just didn't seem to be quite so important any more. In our opinion we would not have gained this much in Australia.

World Trip >> Asia

Last updated: Sunday August 27, 2006