We kind of messed up our journey to Jeonju. We knew it was a fair distance—around three hours by train—but what we *didn’t* factor in was that it was a Saturday, and unsurprisingly, a lot of the trains were fully booked. We ended up spending most of the day hopping on slower buses or sitting around in train stations waiting for a later train with seats available. Not our finest travel moment!
On the plus side, we got to try a “meat donut” while waiting. It was exactly what it sounds like—a sweet, fried dough filled with a spicy pork and onion mixture. A very strange combo of flavours and textures, and I’m still not entirely sure if I liked it or not… but I finished it, so I guess that says something.
We arrived at our hotel quite late and tried to order takeaway, but had no luck without a Korean phone number. We even tried asking at reception, but after a lot of back-and-forth using Google Translate, we gave up and walked to the McDonald’s around the corner instead. Sometimes, you just need the easy option. Then it was back to our room for a bit of Netflix in bed—a rare and welcome hotel luxury!
The next morning, we were determined to make the most of our only full day in Jeonju. We started off at the Hanok Village, a traditional area filled with beautiful old-style Korean houses and narrow streets lined with little craft shops, cafés, and photography studios where you can have photos taken around town in traditional clothing. It’s a big tourist spot for locals, and it was buzzing with people. We kept being offered cake and eggs by friendly strangers—possibly because it was Easter, or maybe they’re just really enthusiastic about eggs here?
Grace got her fortune from one of those popular coin machines—they’re everywhere here—and apparently she will “find adventure in the east and be betrayed by a friend.” The first part definitely checks out, and as for the second… we’ll see if she manages to annoy me enough to fulfill the prophecy!
We tried to visit the calligraphy and paper museum, but it turned out to be closed on Sundays. So, in what’s becoming a bit of a trend, we decided to get another portrait drawn instead. This one actually resembled us a bit more than the last one, so we’re improving! After that, we wandered around the shops and ended up buying personalised stone stamps with our names written in Korean—such a cute little keepsake and a new way to sign off our postcards.
Next, we made our way to the mural village—an area filled with colourful street art, with everything from nature scenes to famous faces and cartoon characters. We had a relaxed wander, taking photos and just enjoying the creativity on show.
From there, we headed to an old stretch of disused train track where you can ride along in modified pedal carts. It was a fun, 30-minute cycle in the sunshine—nothing too scenic, but it was a quirky experience and a good way to enjoy the nice weather.
Our final stop for the day was the launderette. Sadly, the days of cheap laundry services are behind us, and in Korea, it’s all self-service. It took a little time (and some creative app translations), but we managed to figure it all out and got our wash and dry done—emerging victorious and with clean clothes in hand.Next up: our final stop in South Korea—the capital, Seoul! Don’t worry, this time we’ve *pre-booked* our trains.
We had another long travel day to get to Siquijor: a trike, a bus, another trike, a ferry, another trike, another ferry, and one final trike. Seven hours in total! But we finally arrived on another island, this time off the coast of Cebu. It’s bigger than Malapascua and might just be our favourite place we’ve stayed yet.
You can circle the island on its main road in about two hours, but the attractions are pretty spread out. So, after arriving in the early evening, we headed out to rent a scooter. Once that was sorted, we dropped off our laundry and grabbed a very un-local tapas dinner—then straight to bed.
The next morning, we set out to explore the island by scooter. Our first stop was Cambugahay Falls, a series of stunning turquoise waterfalls with four levels to swim in. We climbed up to the top level—it took a bit more effort, but it was far less crowded, mostly just local kids. They were very curious about us, asking where we were from, whether we were married, if we had a baby, etc.
They were especially fascinated by Grace’s snorkel, which bought us a brief moment of peace while they took turns playing with it. Then they spotted our Kindles and insisted on learning how they worked. One little girl even asked if she could read aloud to Grace—her English was excellent! She told us she was ten and that she and her cousins live in a nearby village and visit the falls on weekends. Then came the question she’d clearly been dying to ask: she pointed at Grace’s face and asked, “Why is your nose so big?” We explained that people from different places look different. Grace asked her, “Do you like it?” and the girl looked horrified and said a very blunt, “No.”
They asked for a selfie and made Grace add them on Facebook to send it over. We’re a little worried she’s now on a watchlist somewhere for adding random children on social media, but they seemed happy enough and finally let us leave!
Our next stop was an old monastery from the 1800s that had been beautifully restored. We wandered through the stone and woof buildings and peaceful gardens before heading to see the island’s oldest tree. It was pretty impressive, and you could sit with your feet in an artificial stream underneath where tiny pedicure fish nibbled at your toes.
After a late lunch, we spent the afternoon at Little Boracay Beach—another postcard-perfect white sand beach with palm trees and clear water. It was the perfect chill spot to end a busy day of exploring.
That evening, we freshened up and went out for sunset drinks and dinner at a local place with live music. A really fun way to wrap up the day.
The next morning we were up early for a boat trip to Apo Island, about an hour away. It’s designated as a marine sanctuary, so no boats are allowed near the shore and commercial fishing is banned. We were split into groups with local guides who swam with us to make sure people respected the rules: no touching wildlife and no stepping on the coral. Unfortunately, that didn’t stop some groups—especially some Korean tourists—who crowded around turtles, dove down next to them for selfies, and stepped all over the coral. It was heartbreaking to see, especially knowing how slowly coral grows.
Our guide tried his best—he shouted at the groups and even told off their guides. He later apologised to us for getting frustrated but explained that the turtles have started avoiding the area when it’s too busy, and he worries they’ll soon stop coming altogether. That would mean the locals, many of whom have lived on the island for generations, might eventually be forced to leave as their main source of income disappears. We totally agreed—it’s amazing to see the turtles, but this isn’t a theme park, and people should respect the wildlife.
Luckily, we found a few turtles away from the crowds and watched them from a respectful distance. It was just as magical, and way more peaceful.
Back at the hostel, we showered off and met a couple of Dutch guys in our room. We ended up going out for dinner and drinks with them—another not-so-local spot, this time an Italian place. But the food was incredible and it was my first pasta in weeks, so I had zero regrets. Filipino food is nice, but the variety can be a bit lacking, so we’re branching out when we spot something good.
After dinner, we went to a bar with live music and taught the Dutch guys a drinking game called “Higher or Lower Squared.” We weren’t drinking ourselves since we were driving the scooters, but they didn’t seem to mind being the only ones! It wasn’t a late night anyway—still so hot here even after dark, 30°c with no breeze, it felt like sitting in an oven. By 11 PM we were back at the hostel, grateful for the sweet relief of air conditioning.
On our last full day in Siquijor, we decided to make the most of having a moped and complete the full loop around the island.
Unfortunately, it rained for most of the morning, so our first stop ended up being a nice breakfast spot where we had bagels and cream cheese. Can you tell we’re enjoying the availability of good Western food on the island?
Once the rain cleared, we headed to a marine sanctuary to do some more snorkeling—but sadly it was closed due to poor visibility caused by the weather. We did, however, spend some time giving water to a very sunburnt-looking puppy. It’s heartbreaking how many stray dogs and puppies there are here, and how many seem to be neglected.
After that, we drove past some rice fields and into a beautiful forest. Unfortunately, I still hate being on the back of mopeds, even though we were only going about 35 km/h. I didn’t feel confident enough to get my phone out to take pictures, so you’ll just have to take my word for how lovely it was.
In the afternoon, we stopped at Salagdoong Beach and spent a few hours lounging in the shade and chatting. There wasn’t much else we wanted to see that day—and honestly, the heat and humidity in the Philippines are so intense that the only way to cope is to stay in the shade and dip in and out of cool water!
On our way back to the hostel, we stopped for some sunset drinks—which I was very happy about, because after an hour of bumping along on the back of the scooter, my backside was really starting to feel it. At least it was our last ride! We dropped off the bike and walked the rest of the way back, hot and sweaty, only to find there was a power cut… and no working showers.
That meant we had to take another classic Philippines special: the bucket shower. Not glamorous, but better than no shower at all.
After dinner, we returned to the hostel hoping the power would be back on—but no such luck. It was 32°C in the room, and without aircon, it was a pretty miserable start to the night. Thankfully, after a few hours of trying to sleep in the heat, the power kicked back in, the aircon came on, and we finally got some rest.
As beautiful as the Philippines has been, we won’t be too sad to be heading to much cooler South Korea soon! But first, one more stop: Bohol. I’ll tell you all about it soon.
Today, we took our first bus ride of the trip. Up until now, we’d been traveling to nearby places or sharing taxis—what we’ve jokingly started calling “flash-packing,” spending a bit more to stay dry and get places quickly. But with a taxi to Kandy costing £70, we decided to take the budget-friendly £3 bus instead.
We got up early to avoid the worst of the heat and headed to the bus station, mentally preparing for a long, sweaty, and cramped ride. Luckily, it turned out to be much better than we expected! The bus was old and not the most comfortable, but it was relatively quiet, and there was space for our bags, so we didn’t have to sit with them on our laps for four and a half hours. Best of all, the bus was air-conditioned!
We were quite chuffed with how smoothly the journey was going until the bus began making grinding noises once we hit 40 mph. Soon after, we heard a loud bang accompanied by the smell of burning rubber. Fortunately, we managed to limp along for another ten minutes until the bus pulled into a garage. The mechanics quickly jacked up the bus and fixed the issue—presumably a popped tire—in about ten minutes, and we didn’t even have to get off the bus. You really can’t ask for better service than that!
Once we reached the Kandy bus station, we needed to grab a tuk tuk to take us out of town to our hostel in the hills—but it seemed our luck with friendly drivers had run out. We checked the PickMe app (Sri Lanka’s version of Uber), which quoted Rs 200 for the ride, but since it was raining, we decided to hail one on the street. The driver initially tried to charge us Rs 1,000, and after some haggling, we got the fare down to Rs 400. However, once we were on board, he claimed he’d mixed up the hostel and that the fare should actually be Rs 700. After more back-and-forth and even asking him to let us out, he finally settled at Rs 500. Safe to say, next time we’ll stick with a PickMe-ordered tuk tuk, where the fare is fixed before you even get in—since we clearly aren’t very good at haggling and end up getting taken for a ride, both literally and figuratively!
At the hostel, we had lunch while waiting out the rain. Grace’s meal turned out to be a bit too much for her, and she got scolded for leaving the last quarter of her wrap—”Avocados are expensive, don’t you know!” the staff reminded her. Feeling we’d already ruffled some feathers, we decided it was best to head out for the afternoon. We booked a cultural dance show, mainly because it was indoors.
The show was really entertaining, featuring about 25 performers playing traditional instruments and dancing. Lasting an hour and 15 minutes, the dances flowed seamlessly into one another. We even received a fact sheet explaining the meanings behind each performance—some celebrating the harvest, others with religious themes, and others marking traditional events.
The grand finale was a fire ceremony where performers spat fire and walked across hot coals. At first, it didn’t seem particularly impressive until a drunken Dutch tourist rose from the audience and decided to run across the coals himself. His cries of pain, as he rushed across twice as fast, highlighted just how challenging the feat truly was. Fortunately, he wasn’t seriously injured—aside from a bruised ego when he was asked to leave.
After the show ended, we strolled over to the Temple of the Tooth—a temple built to house what is believed to be Buddha’s sacred tooth. Legend has it that the tooth was recovered from Buddha’s funeral pyre and was guarded by kings of Sri Lanka, ownership of the tooth came to symbolise the right to rule Sri Lanka and has therefore played an interesting role in Sri Lanka’s politics over the years.
Rituals involving the sacred tooth are performed three times a day, and we arrived just in time for the evening ceremony. The temple was bustling with locals, and obviously has deep religious meaning to them —many were crying and praying. A long line snaked its way into the inner temple for those eager to catch a glimpse of the revered tooth.
We opted not to join the queue and instead explored the other sections of the temple, admiring the beautifully painted walls and ceilings that are over 400 years old, along with a collection of texts dating back centuries. We also visited the museum, where we saw a massive taxidermied royal elephant. In comparison, the elephants on safari seemed much less intimidating—probably brecause they’re only about half the size!
After we finished at the temple, we strolled around Kandy, trying to decide how to spend the rest of our evening. Then fate intervened—a small bird pooped in my hair! Clearly, I hadn’t left a generous enough offering at the temple, and to make matters worse, I had no tissues. Fortunately, a kind tuk-tuk driver offered me a greasy rag, and with no better option, I used it to clean the worst of it out before catching a ride home for a much-needed shower.
We spent the rest of the night learning two-player card games and just chilling at the hostel before bed. For the first time in Sri Lanka, we didn’t have to contend with a rock-hard mattress—which my already bruised hips are very thankful for!
Our plan for our second day in Kandy was to get up early for a hike to beat the heat. However, some women in our hostel had an early departure—packing noisily at 5 a.m.—so we decided to hit snooze. We eventually started our walk around 9:45 a.m., and luckily, the morning turned out very cloudy, sparing us from a scorching sun during most of our ascent. On the way, we each grabbed a samosa for breakfast. I’d never had a spicy egg breakfast samosa before, but it turned out to be very tasty.
The trail we hiked is called the Pekoe Trail. It winds through various parts of Sri Lanka and is funded by the EU to promote positive tourism in remote tea plantation communities. The section we completed was about 14 km long, taking us through scenic tea plantations and two remote villages.
We started our walk at a tea plantation museum, only to find out that it was closed on Mondays, so we missed our chance to explore it. As we ventured through the fields, we passed several groups of women working hard, sharing the path with several whom carried large sacks on their heads. At one point, we stopped to ask for directions from three women, they scrunched up some tea leaves for us to smell—which, honestly, just smelled like ordinary leaves. The eldest of the group kept stroking my face and pinching my cheeks while cheerfully saying, “Photo, photo!” So I snapped a photo with them and gave them a small tip after the other two kept saying, “Tip, tip!” I couldn’t help but think that this might be their little side hustle alongside tea picking—and why not? Good luck to them!
It was a beautiful walk. We saw various fruit trees—though jackfruit was the only one we recognized—as well as numerous birds and monkeys. We even came across some cattle on the road. As we passed through two small villages, the residents initially watched us with stern, “get off my land!” expressions. However, as soon as we greeted them, their faces softened into huge smiles, and they kindly pointed the way and waved goodbye.
We bought some corn on the cob in one of the villages to keep us going—it was good, and we decided it would be our new go-to hiking snack. After about four hours, we reached the end of the train in a small town and stopped for an ice cream. A man came over to chat, which isn’t unusual in Sri Lanka; locals are always eager to ask, “Madam, where you from?” They love hearing about your travels and how you’re enjoying your stay, and it’s usually a short, pleasant conversation. However, this one took an unexpected turn when he asked if we were married and then blurted out, “I see your bottom, I like,” while pointing at my gym leggings. I panicked and replied, “No, thank you.” I’m not entirely sure why, but it did the trick—he just shrugged and walked off.
We ordered a tuk tuk back to Kandy, about an hour and 15 minute drive (I know, we walked so far!) and met the driver outside of a school, it turns out he was actually there to pick his kids up from school but the long journey was a good payment, so when his kids came to complain he gave them money to get another tuk tuk home. We felt so bad and tipped him extra at the end. It was a lovely journey home with a cool breeze as we drove back down the steep plantation slopes and could see various paths we had taken and points we had climbed to.
The rest of the evening we spent relaxing and resting our legs. Tomorrow we’re hoping to catch the train to Hatton. I’ll tell you all about it soon.
Anuradhapura is our first unplanned stop on the trip. Originally, we had planned to spend three days in both Sigiriya and Kandy, but we heard there wasn’t really enough to fill three days in Kandy, and the heavy rain in Sigiriya made hiking impossible. So, we decided to change our plans.
We had heard that the safaris in Anuradhapura are really good, with fewer jeeps crowding the area, and there’s even a decent chance of spotting leopards. With that in mind, we decided to take a day from both Sigiriya and Kandy and spend two days here instead.
in the hopes of avoiding getting all of our clothes wet, we got a taxi instead of waiting for the bus in the rain. Again we got a super friendly driver and he insisted on buying us corn on the cob for breakfast, which was actually super tasty, and putting on western music for the drive, which ended up being a ‘Justin Bieber top hits’ playlist. It was a fun if not unusual journey chatting with him, and he made us take a selfie with him at the end.
Unfortunately, the rain followed us to Anuradhapura. After arriving, we headed out for lunch, only for the heavens to open once again, completely drenching us. When we finally reached the restaurant, the staff hurried us inside and handed us towels to dry off.
At least the meal made up for it! We had rice with chicken and an array of delicious vegetable curries—dahl, aubergine, beetroot, jackfruit, green beans, and banana plant flowers. It was absolutely delicious.
We ended up staying at the restaurant for a while, waiting for the rain to stop, and then hurried back to the hostel. Unfortunately, the downpour stuck around all day.
On the bright side, this hostel has four kittens, so between booking our safari for the next day and doing some trip planning, we got to play with them—a welcome distraction from the biblical-level rain that seems to be following us.
A little later, five Dutch travelers arrived, and we spent the evening chatting and playing cards with them, making the most of the cozy indoor time.
On our second day in Anuradhapura, our positive thinking finally paid off—we had our first rain-free day in Sri Lanka! Well, almost. There was a brief shower while we waited for our safari pickup at 4:30 a.m., but as soon as we reached the park, the rain stopped, and the skies stayed clear for the rest of the day!
Our safari guide, a man in his 20s named Mr. T, was absolutely wonderful. It was clear that wildlife was his passion—there wasn’t a single question we asked that he couldn’t answer, and he had an endless supply of fascinating facts, local myths, and legends to share.
Mr. T had started out as a safari driver and worked his way up to running his own company. Unfortunately, not even he could change the fact that the morning’s rain had scared off all the leopards—there were no reported sightings all day. It was a little disappointing, but honestly, his safari was so good that we didn’t feel too bad about it.
Since we were the only ones on the tour, we had plenty of time to ask questions, and he took the time to point out different lizards, bats, and birds, even playing us recordings of their songs and calls. We still saw some incredible mammals too—wild boars, water buffalo, monkeys, deer, jackals, and even a sloth bear. The biggest surprise was spotting an elephant, which is super rare in this area. So, even without the leopards, there was still plenty to see!
Bear Spotting
We got back to the hostel around 1 p.m., and after running on just four hours of sleep, I was exhausted—I crashed for a two-hour nap. When I woke up, I panicked, thinking I had wasted the sunshine, but to my surprise, it was still dry!
Wanting to make the most of the clear weather, we decided to visit a Buddhist temple on Mihintale Mountain Peak.
We took a tuk-tuk, and once again, our driver was incredibly kind and helpful. Along the way, he made a stop at a site where we could see a 2,000-year-old tree, free of charge.
He also offered to wait for us while we climbed the hundreds of steps to the top of the mountain, which was much appreciated!
At the top of the mountain, there were three more sets of steps—one leading to a high viewpoint, another to a giant Buddha statue, and the third to a large pergola. We climbed up to both the Buddha statue and the pergola, taking in the impressive structures and the stunning views from above.
We also attempted to reach the top of the high viewpoint, but about three-quarters of the way up, the path narrowed, and we found ourselves stuck in a traffic jam of people trying to go up while others were coming down. It started to feel a bit unsafe, so we decided to turn back. Even though we didn’t make it all the way to the top, it was still a really cool afternoon!
In the evening, we went to a nice local restaurant, where I decided to finally try the “deviled” meat that we kept seeing on menus. I assumed it was a spicy rub, but I never actually found out—my order got mixed up, and I somehow ended up with a spicy chicken curry instead! Thankfully, it was still delicious.
They also gave us hoppers to try—crispy, bowl-shaped pancakes made from fermented rice flour and coconut milk. They were also very good.
Overall our detour to Anuradhapura has been a success. Our next stop is Kandy. Tell you all about it soon,
So the money is saved, the flights booked and the rucksacks packed. Everything is ready for our trip, except maybe me… I’m a ball of nerves! But regardless of how ready I feel, we’re off to Mexico for the first stage of our journey on the 20th of June. The plan is to update this site as regularly as possible to keep you all updated on what we’re up to, I can’t promise it will be well structured, grammatically correct or spelt well….. but hopefully it will keep you in the loop and will be interesting!
So the plan is to visit Mexico, Belize and Guatemala first and then fly to Columbia and work our way around South America. So far we have our flights to Cancun booked, the first 5 nights in a lovely hotel in Cancun booked to relax before we descend into backpacking and hostels properly (curtesy of my lovely uncle, thanks Coggs!) and flights from Mexico City to Bogota in Columbia on the 31st of July.
Above is our rough plan for the first month, however after the devastating eruption in Guatemala this has gone out of the window a bit and were just going to have to adjust the plan as we go.
I’ll keep you updated on how that goes,
Lots of love,
Alice x
P.s. massive thanks to George for helping me set this website up!
