Roaming Around SE Asia

So this is coming 2 months after the end of our trip but our time in Indonesia was so unbelievably beautiful that I wanted to not only share it with you guys but make sure I have this little blog to come back to whenever I miss the heaven we left behind :) By the time we landed in Jakarta, we were beyond spent! Our last weeks through Cambodia and Vietnam had all been 6 to 7 am wake up calls with long tiring days so we ended up sleeping in and didn't have time to tour Jakarta before our flight was due to Bali. We arrived late in the evening and took a boat the next morning to Nusa Lembongan, an island Southeast of Bali. It was much smaller and a lot less touristy, the ... read more

Sorry for the delay of this post but we haven't had too much of internet access lately, but no worries, we're good and still on the adventure! We left Siem Reap satisfied with our attempt at understanding the temples of Angkor. At least, what we did figure out was the schedules of the other tourists so by the second day we pretty much had all of the temples to ourselves. What an eery feeling it was walking around in such huge, intricate and deserted ruins! Unfortunately, the Tomb Raider temple (officially known as Thep Prohm) was always full with Chinese tourists, so after putting on quite the show for them as Dina tried to jump and pose in mid air like Angelina Jolie (and failed) for an action shot (the Chinese tourists gathered around and started ... read more

Our last days in Thailand were spent watching Thor in 3D, enjoying the blasting AC while eating at food courts in the mall, and riding the subway... Ok maybe I'm being a little facetious but it's very hard to like Bangkok once compared to the island beauty of the South and the serenity of the North... Painted all over the skyrail (and not subway) was : 'Bangkok, City of Life!' And justly so! The streets are crowded and bustling with sweaty people as the thermometer won't give, even at night. No taxi would put the meter on, no tuk tuk driver took us where we wanted to go without a fight as they constantly wanted to take us to buy crap, and no food was remotely more than eukh! We heard of a respectable Japanese quarter ... read more

After a slow and relaxing day, we decided it was time for more. Lanta (as the locals call it, koh means island so we shant be redundant here) was done with and we went looking for more spicy adventures. Our last meal at Lanta warrants at least a paragraph: we eventually found a place run by the two smartest women on the island. Two native Lanta sisters who understood the art of providing choices to their customers and catering to the tourists' palette without affecting the authenticity of the food. Enter fusion Thai food in a contemporary concrete and wood built hut, decorated the island way, with hammoks and bean bags. This is what the 7+ year European expats called home for what it appears: breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Hey, if it ain't broken... don't fix ... read more

Hakouna Matata Waking up to no alarms, by the beach, steps away from dozens of restaurants with no agenda for the day is a life I can get used to. The 4:30am wake up calls and the weekly commute to the airport seem to be from a past life.  Once in Kamala, after the mandatory morning coffee, we decided to rent a scooter and  explore the whole island. It didn't take too long before we got used to driving on the left and Simo's map reading skills came in handy. The roads are pretty well paved (much better than the hole-infested LA roads!) and naturally no traffic to deal with. Whizzing around the island brought over a sense of freedom and adventure (and ended with a sensation of a burnt back).  Our first stop was the ... read more