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TWO GREEN BACKPACKS

Travel blog on traveling South-East Asia on a budget!

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    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Laos
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    • Indonesia
    • Malaysia
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  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Countries
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Laos
    • Cambodia
    • Indonesia
    • Malaysia
    • Singapore
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • A beer on the beach, Thailand
    A Day in the Life,  Europe,  Food,  Ponderings

    Goodbye Island Life….

    September 23, 2018

    So long story short, we have now left Koh Tao. The place where we made our lives for the past 5 years; made a home, created life-long friendships (cheesy but true, especially when you work, drink, eat, even sometimes live aside one another!), and most importantly, started our diving careers from Open Water students, through to Master Scuba Diving Trainers. To run through it quickly, the biggest reason we left the comfort of our island home is because we are looking for the next challenge, and in that, we decided that we needed to find something that will set us up for our future. We love being Scuba Instructors, and…

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    emma 4 Comments

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  • Food,  Indonesia

    Food in Nusa Lembongan

    September 23, 2015

    #food in #Indo #nusalembongan #visarun A photo posted by emma.o (@elko.em) on Sep 11, 2015 at 12:56am PDT

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    emma No Comments

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    Jungle Trekking – Bush Bashing

    May 2, 2013

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    August 12, 2013
  • Cambodia,  Food,  Laos,  Thailand,  Top Things To Do,  Travel Guide,  Vietnam

    How to Do Street Food in South East Asia

    December 31, 2014

    Most times there will be a language barrier but this shouldn’t stop you from trying food carts. At first, we would move cautiously up to the food cart, looking at each other, whispering ‘do you think it’s safe to eat? What is that?’ and then point to something asking ‘how much?’ If you do ask how much, it may cause the street vendor to stop, think, and decide to tell you an inflated price. We now confidently walk up to the cart, have a look, put two fingers up, nod, hold out some cash, and hope for change. Just pretend you know what you’re doing! At times you will need…

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    emma 2 Comments

    Related Posts

    Any Doctors reading this?

    June 11, 2013

    Direct bus from Bangkok, Thailand to Siem Reap, Cambodia; the more sane way

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    So Far, So Good

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  • A Day in the Life,  Food,  Thailand

    Wok to Cook in a Wok – Cooking Dinner On An Island

    July 16, 2014

    We have a small electric wok that smells slightly of burning plastic. We also have one chopping board, one knife between the two of us, and some cheap cutlery. With some fresh ingredients from the local grocery store, a shop we’ve affectionally named ‘The Smelly Shop,’ and some meat from an esky of ice we’ve been eating quite well. Here’s a bunch of dishes I’m pretty proud of!

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    emma No Comments

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    Johor Bahru, Malaysia

    April 21, 2013

    After Six Weeks of Traveling..

    May 21, 2013

    Any Doctors reading this?

    June 11, 2013
  • A Day in the Life,  Diving,  Food,  Thailand

    Things We Do In Bangkok

    May 16, 2014

    24 hours in Bangkok to re-new Lionel’s new passport.

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    emma 1 Comment

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    Turtle at Lham Tien

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  • Food,  Thailand

    With Our Spirit Foods

    May 16, 2014

    This pretty much sums us up. Lionel with a healthy yogurt for breakfast, and me with a deep fried chicken leg. Two in fact.

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    emma 2 Comments

    Related Posts

    Trang night market

    May 10, 2013

    Banana leaf curry by hand

    April 25, 2013
    A beer on the beach, Thailand

    Goodbye Island Life….

    September 23, 2018
  • Food,  Ponderings,  Thailand

    Cooking? Now I’m Homesick

    February 10, 2014

    The biggest thing I miss from home? Cooking. I was a cooking show fiend back in Australia. I devoured Masterchef, My Kitchen Rules, Iron Chef, Heston’s shows, Nigella shows, Top Chef, and of course, all of those shows that concentrated on cooking organic, gourmet, English produce set in a a quaint farmhouse. Argh, I loved them all. In the past three weeks that I’ve been housebound, on account of the legs being burnt, I’ve had the chance to not only catch up on re-runs of Sex and the City, The Real Housewives of New York City, and my personal favourite, Pregnant in Heels, but also to tune into the Asian…

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    emma 2 Comments

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    Trang night market

    May 10, 2013

    Kampot Food

    June 9, 2013

    Koh Rong – Eating Sea Urchins

    June 5, 2013
  • Food,  Thailand

    Tesco Feast – Not Another Noodle Soup

    October 21, 2013

    For a while now we have been unexcited to try yet another variation of noodle soup and have been craving some real Western food. The options in places like Phayao are very limited and if there are options, they are usually way overpriced and not very good at all. Laying on the bed hungry, we decided that we had completely run out of appetite for noodle soups, mystery meats, coconut flavoured stuff, salty deserts, durian ice cream, sweet bread, MSG, pork floss, Mekong river crab, chilli, pickled cabbage, unrefridgerated meats, rice, soy sauce, fish sauce, mystery sauce, things we just don’t recognise, cinnamon beef stock… and we came up with…

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    lionel 2 Comments

    Related Posts

    What To Do in Hanoi Blog Journey in 25 Days

    August 12, 2013

    Things We Do In Bangkok

    May 16, 2014

    Cooking? Now I’m Homesick

    February 10, 2014
  • Food,  Thailand

    Weird Things to Eat in Thailand: The Edible, the Inedible, and the In between

    October 14, 2013

    This post is for my sister, the foodie and chef. She likes food. We like food too. And we especially like Thailand. We also like being on a budget. Everything below is food you would find in a random market off the beaten track or in a roadside hut. We tend to avoid the more Western options serving pizza, burgers, etc. because while we love pizza, burgers, etc. we kinda know the best pizzas won’t be anywhere near the border of Thailand and Myanmar. Sorry, truth. Anyway, here’s some weird things to eat in Thailand. “A Woman and her Curries” Most locals seem to buy their food from the markets,…

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    emma 5 Comments

    Related Posts

    A beer on the beach, Thailand

    Goodbye Island Life….

    September 23, 2018

    How to Do Street Food in South East Asia

    December 31, 2014

    Trang night market

    May 10, 2013
  • Activities,  Food,  Vietnam

    What To Do in Hanoi Blog Journey in 25 Days

    August 12, 2013

    Hanoi is a fascinating city and we chose to take a break from ‘backpacking’ to spend nearly a month in this place. (Though mainly because I needed to get my stitches out and fix my teeth from my bad motorbike accident in Danang!) We met expats, went on walking tours with uni kids, and visited some interesting museums. Below is our what to do in Hanoi blog post in case you need inspiration or want to know what else to do in this bustling city! Hanoi, Vietnam Hanoi in Vietnam is a pretty cool place. I actually prefer it to Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon). The Old Quarter in the…

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    emma 2 Comments

    Related Posts

    Mae Sa Valley Loop – Take One

    October 1, 2013

    Day 2 – Easy Rider – Around Lak Lake To Buon Ma Thout

    July 2, 2013

    Diving to join the under water world in Koh Tao

    May 20, 2013
 Older Posts

Hey! It’s Emma & Lionel

Two Green Backpacks

We quit our jobs in 2013 to travel South East Asia on a budget for 3 months. This turned into 5 years. Now we are scuba diving instructors on a tiny island in Thailand… with no plan to go home.

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We quit our jobs in 2013 to travel South East Asia on a budget for 3 months. This turned into 5 years. Now we are scuba diving instructors on a tiny island in Thailand… with no plan to go home.
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