SayLittle

We left Gili Air to travel east to Flores, where the Komodo Dragons are at, via a live aboard boat. The journey started via a ferry transport from Gili Air to Lombok and then a bus across Lombok. A couple really cool things about this bus trip; the first - AIR CON, the second, was we picked up our food for the boat on the way and we picked up 9 live chickens that road in the bus with us! I felt so bad for them knowing they were going to be our dinner, I felt even worse for them when I learned they rode in a cage off the back of the boat. The boat was very basic. The 13 passengers slept on the top deck on very thin mats, while the crew slept below. ... read more

I felt like if I didn’t acknowledge how much I loved Perth in my travel blog, I would be committing a crime. I didn’t spend much time in the city itself. I did see most of the town area when posting “For Sale” signs for Cricket. It reminded me a lot of Seattle, and made me miss home terribly. We spent a day in Fremantle a smaller city just south of Perth; this area reminded me a lot of West Seattle. Once we got the car cleaned and things packed up for the flight to Indonesia we spent the last two days in Swan Valley, the wine country just to the north east of Perth. The area had vineyards, rolling hills, horse pastures, with rivers and lakes; aka beautiful. To my surprise we only visited a ... read more

There has been a lot of driving and national parks in the Northern Territory. I think pictures are going to say a lot more about this state of Australia than I ever can. Hiking, swimming and driving has pretty much been the agenda on the itinerary. The first stop was Uluru Kata Tjuta National Park. This park is pretty iconic for Australia tourism and for a good reason. I enjoyed the hiking through Kata Tjuta, and the sunset over Uluru was amazing. The following day Watarrka National Park was destination for hiking. This national park is more commonly known as Kings Canyon. I loved the day of hiking there. It is about a 6 km walk that should take about 3 hours; it took 3 hours just to do half of the hike for me. There ... read more

The last three months in Australia, I am sad to say have been pretty normal… I arrived in Melbourne the second week of May, Dave had found us a great house just north of the city in an area called Brunswick. It is an alternative neighborhood that reminds me a lot of a straight Capital Hill. The local pubs always have live music, and there a lots of little trendy shops in the neighborhood. Because of our location transportation was so easy. Melbourne’s public transit is awesome and I will miss it very much. We lived in the house with two Aussie’s. Brett was from Sydney and Rowena is from just four hours away from Melbourne. It was an awesome living arrangement, I couldn’t have asked for better roommates. There was also a lovely cat named ... read more

Vietnam is a country that is very hard to explain. When I first made the choice to go there, I honestly thought that I would be far off the tourist beaten path. I was wrong. Tourism is booming in Vietnam, and it appears to be quickly becoming the same old song and dance. Vietnam war past is unspeakable. The Chinese, the French, the Americans and the list can go on have all tried to take control of this country. The war history is complex and so heart breaking that I am not sure I have the faintest grasp on what really has happened. I was expecting as an American to get a lot of grief but in all honestly, no one really talks about any of the wars unless you specifically ask about it. What I ... read more