I like to think of myself as an intellectual moron. I love learning and I’m especially fascinated by new ideas and concepts. My passions range from Biophotonics and Neuroscience to Philosophy and Ancient History along with everything Tech. However I think a person should never take themselves too seriously otherwise people will never take you seriously at all. So there’s nothing I love more than acting stupidly with my friends.
So I’ll introduce you to my moronic self and let you judge my intellectual self through my future writing. I recently returned from travelling SE Asia and Australia for five months with two of my best friends Adam and Billy. So I’ll give you a few highlights.
From left to right: Billy, Sean (me) and Adam
The Stats
Countries visited: 6 – Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia
Duration: Intended – 3 months. Actual – 5 months Budget: Intended - £3.5k. Actual £9k
Credit Card Debt: Intended – 0. Actual – Lots
From the get go we decided our plan was to have no plan. We booked a flight to Bangkok and that was enough. I believe if you approach a situation with confidence, an open mind and an open heart everything will eventually work out. Probably not the wisest move but we took that philosophy to its logical extreme which is highlighted nowhere better than the glorious country of Vietnam, where we were joined by our Friend Joe who was on his Christmas break from university.
We surprised him at the airport in Ho Chi Min/Saigon (I’m never such which is better to use) wearing Vietnamese football shirts. We had planned to buy motorbikes as quickly as possible and begin our journey north. Cue 6 days of drinking, exploring and idiocy. One of our favourite games was to start in a random area of the city (usually lost) and play a game of fives at a cross roads. Once you were out you could pick a direction and begin the race back to the hostel. The only rule was no taxis. Eventually we dragged ourselves away from that fantastic city and headed north with a lot of catching up to do.
We had 4 days of amazing riding in front of spectacular scenery broken up by perpetual break downs and the odd close call with a lorry. We never covered enough distance causing us to stay in small out of the way towns and to not spend enough time enjoying that beautiful country. On Christmas Eve we had a long slog to make it to Hoi Ann where we intended to spend Christmas. Although at 7pm with one bike broken beyond repair and 60 miles left still to cover it looked as if we might have pushed our luck too far. Never to give up, after gifting the broken bike to a local mechanic as a Christmas present, we doubled up the bags on Adam and Billy’s bikes and Joe climbed on behind me and we set off to break the golden rule of riding in Vietnam. Never ride at night. Of course we made it! We rolled into our hostel at 11:30pm and began our celebrations.
Throughout my life I’ve managed to be a part of weird and wonderful things so I knew travelling would be no exception. One of the strangest occurred on the beautiful island of Langkawi in Malaysia. We spent our time drinking beers in the sunshine and recovering from the hectic bliss that was Vietnam. Billy had been talking to an English girl who had been living on the island for a couple of years when he came bounding over to ask us in an excited manner if we wanted to earn a little money and be part of an advert. Ever keen for an adventure we agreed before knowing what it would entail and we were told to be at the dock the following morning. We were going yachting. Super yachting to be precise.
We turned up to the obvious disappointment of the casting director in our usual well worn attire. So we were handed outrageous shirts and given a chance to scrub up nicely for the first time in ages. We spent the day being extras in an advert for Malaysian tourism that aired on Indian TV. The most you can see of my is a blurred silhouette and some Bollywood dancing at the end but we got a great story and the chance to take some cheesy boyband-esque photos. Let me introduce you to No Direction.
We’re English so as many of you will know, we love a drink. It was a main feature, if not the glue that held it all together, of our trip. I know we often get judged poorly for this trait, be that right or wrong, but it is undeniably the catalyst for some serious shenanigans. From using my hand as a dartboard and winning a competition to hold my arm in the air for the longest (four hours, try me) to Billy flossing his nasal passage with spaghetti and Adam long arming as many drinks as possible, I wouldn’t change it for the world.