After much consideration, I've decided to scratch the city destinations- Hong Kong & Taipei & Seoul from my itinerary for the beautiful island of Bali. After a full 5 weeks of adventures, a final 6 days of beach bumming, sunshine, and a little surfing just make sense. It will make for a nice wrap up of Oceania & SE Asia. It is approximately close to midnight in Bali, and I am le tired...went bumpin on a banana boat, parasailed, snorkeled & fed fishies, hugged a turtle, held a bat, got a snake wrapped around my neck, kissed(almost) an iguana, and walked [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in beautiful Nha Trang bright and early(boarded our 5 AM flight to Da Nang then layover and connecting finally to Nha Trang around 10 AM). Nha Trang was beautiful mainly because the temperature was ~27 C and we could feel the ocean breeze and see the coastline of clear aquamarine water. The next few days were just pure beaches and relaxation. After Nha Trang, we headed to Saigon, or renamed after North/South civil war was decided, Ho Chi Minh. Id been in HCM before but the experience this time's better, since I'm not with family, visiting a galore of [View Full Entry]

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A much better state of mind and ready for more adventures the day after. We set out to explore the town and mainly to find good food. Our first stop Pho, traditional Vietnamese noodle soup that's soothing to the body, mind, and spirit. One problem, we needed to find a place with Air Con...It's 33 C and we're not about to eat that hot hot soup dripping wet. After a good 2 hours and a few pit stops, we found a nice AC place that served up scrumdilicious bowls of Pho. The rest of the day, we spent exploring the Old [View Full Entry]

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We arrived at Hanoi in the nice sweltering heat of 33 C and the sky's filled with smoke. It was about 10 PM. We were informed the smog was due to the nightly burning of wheat to help fertilization of agriculture fields...not really sure what that's about. Met up with my friends Conall and Matt and we all went out for a late night happy hour. Conall is finishing his tour around SE Asia in Vietnam and Matt is halfway done before heading back to Melbourne, AU in October. I never thought I'd fall asleep with one beer. Well, I definitely [View Full Entry]

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Sunday Night, Sadiki, Amy, Ann, and myself headed out to the train station @ Bangkok, getting ready to board our 12 hour overnight train ride in First Class(which means Air Con, with fold out beds..the other option was outdoors on metal benches, sitting) from Bangkok to Nong Khai, Thailand, which is at the border of Thailand and Laos. Our train would leave at 8 PM and arriving in Nong Khai 8 AM. From Nong Khai, we'd take a Tuk Tuk to cross the Friendship Bridge(connecting Thailand & Laos) and head over to Vientiane, capital of Laos. We had planned on spending [View Full Entry]

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When in Paris, one must go see the Eiffel Tower. Similarly, when in Amsterdam, one must try the locals' brownies. The list goes on for must-sees at destinations around the world; some are on the list of world wonders and some are just for kicks. Well, we were in Bangkok, and the infamous *ping pong show* (for kicks) was calling us. ***As a word of caution, this post has no pictures for a reason. And as a disclaimer, I am in no way endorsing what goes on here, and actually strongly encourage it not to be pursued. Sometime, it is OK [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Bangkok and checked into the glorious Hilton hotel, our first real hotel accommodation in SE Asia. Needless to say, we were thrilled. Sadiki realized he had enough points to get us a free night at the luxurious Hilton with a view of Bangkok skyline and nicely located at the edge of the river that runs along the city. We checked in, at a special honor guest private check-in area, and were served tea and nice cold towels. After lounging around, forever, in our great, fresh, clean hotel room, we finally got ready and off we went to check [View Full Entry]

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Landed at Chiang Mai International airport (who knew it's international?!) and off we went to pick up our bags & to the reservation desk to book accommodation. After a 20 minutes of bargaining and being haggled by the guy, we left on our own with no reservation. Picked up a map and got in a cab and got dropped off in the center of Chiang Mai city. After touring a barrage of roach infested hole in the wall places, we settled at a place on "discount for you" at 450 baht @ an alley street. Dropped off our bags and off [View Full Entry]

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After a 2 hour ferry ride, a 30 minute "super-sized" tuk tuk transfer trip with 25 people with their 15 kg backpacks smashed like sardines along two wooden benches, a 4 hour bus ride, and 12 hour overnight trained crammed in our "1st class" 5 X8 cell, we got to Bangkok, Thailand. Off to bargaining with the taxi drivers from 600 Baht to a 350 baht ride from the train station to BKK airport(we saved 10 USD!...lol). Next, after a 4 1/2 half hour excitedly exploring and enjoying the luxurious facilities at the BKK airport, we were off to catch our [View Full Entry]

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I got up Saturday morning, hopped on the local bus at Kata Beach to head back to Phuket town and meet up with Sadiki, arriving from Singapore. Sadiki & I had no way to contact each other at Phuket- no cell phone, no nothing(you realize how dependent...or seem to think how dependent we are on that little thing. All we set up was, "Meet me at the Bus Station"- said I via email. Once I got to the Phuket bus station myself, I realized, the place was huge...with different areas that make up "The Station." O well. I guess it can't [View Full Entry]

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