Taking Timeout In A Yoga Retreat

There many awesome yoga retreats in South East Asia and of course, India but during our three months travelling these wondrous places we hadn’t visited a single one. After enjoying the beautiful countryside around Kampot we headed to Sihanoukville, Cambodia’s main beach resort which was actually a complete dive with dirty sea, dirty sand and a rather seedy nightlife scene for ageing men. We spent a couple of days tanning by our hotel pool near the underwhelming Victory Beach before eagerly hopping aboard a night bus to Siem Reap where the peaceful Angkor Zen Gardens and our first ever yoga retreat experience awaited us. 

"Zen lives here..."

A Cambodian Countryside Tour By Tuk Tuk

Our next stop after Phnom Penh was about five hours minibus ride south to the small coastal town of Kampot, which is famous for producing Kampot pepper. If you've ever eaten dinner with Vicky you’ll know she puts puts black pepper on everything, so we were both intrigued and looking forward to a taste of the worlds best! Plus, just under 30km along the coast is the quaint seaside village of Kep, the fresh crab here is proclaimed locally as the best in Asia! As we love our food, we were easily sold on a one day tuk tuk tour around Kampot and Kep.

Phnom Penh City Highlights

We were coming to the end of the South East Asian part of our trip and decided to squeeze in a couple of weeks in Cambodia thanks to some cheap flights with Tiger Air. Our first stop was Cambodia’s capital city Phnom Penh, we’d agreed that we were up for a bit of a party so chose the young and lively Mad Monkey hostel. After a much needed afternoon nap (we’d slept overnight in Singapore airport) we headed straight to their rooftop bar for $1 beers and later, 3 for 2 Happy Hour making friends quickly with an eccentric Irish/Texan guy. 

Hiking An Active Volcano

Indonesia has over 147 volcanos many of which are still active and climbable, so as we were in the country it would have been rude of us not to give one a go. Our research led us to Mount Bromo on East Java at 2,329m ASL. The best time to view Mount Bromo is at sunrise when if you are lucky you get to see low blue clouds circling the rim of the crater. 

Six Beauty Must-Haves For Female Travellers

We're now three months into our epic round the world adventure and I can say from experience that I've figured out my ‘Ultimate Traveller Beauty Kit'. Below are the six beauty must-haves I rely on to keep my skin and hair as healthy as possible whilst I switch between dry, humid, wet and freezing climates. Yup, it's a *cough* hard life as a traveller but that's no excuse to return looking like Magda!

Beach Beautiful Gili Meno

Just a ten minute boat ride from Gili T is gorgeous Gili Meno, of the three Gilis its the smallest and least developed island. Much loved for its extremely laid-back vibe and chosen by many including us as the perfect place to get away from it all for few days to relax. Gili Meno is just 2km by 1km and ringed entirely by silky white sand so you are literally spoilt for choice when it comes to finding your own spot of beach. Its so dainty you can do a lap of the entire island in 90 minutes!

The Two Sides Of Paradise On Gili Trawangan

Our next stop after Bali was Gili Trawangan the largest island of the three Gilis, a stunning archipelago of the North West coast of Lombok in Indonesia acclaimed by many as island paradise. We’d also heard that it's a popular swimming and breeding ground for turtles and as we love turtles we were very excited for our visit and boarded the early morning two hour fast boat.