We woke up early and got ready for our first move. Traveling in a large group can prove difficult if everyone doesn't stick to the plan. We had a great group though and I wasn't too worried. We met in the lobby to check out and make our way to the train station. I loved Axel, our group leader, for one reason...he was as addicted to coffee as I am, so every morning move included a coffee shop stop! My kind of guy!! We dragged our bags to the station and onto a train heading toward the Wakayama prefecture, where we [View Full Entry]

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My flight from Singapore to Osaka was wonderful! I had a whole row to myself..the three seats I was in, plus the four middle seats and the three on the opposite side of the plane that were all empty, which made sleeping that much more comfortable. Singapore Airlines is phenomenal! The food was wonderful, I had everything I needed and I was so relaxed. I got a bit of rest, woke up for the most delicious airplane breakfast ever as well as the sunrise, then arrived in Osaka at 8am. Now Japan is a whirlwind! I picked up my bag and [View Full Entry]

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Singapore is lovely. I landed in the evening and caught an airport bus to my hostel in Little India. On my way from airport to hostel, I saw: McDonald's, Carl's Jr., Burger King, a massive Ferris Wheel...civilization. I was amazed by the height of the buildings and the amount of lights. I ogled the city from department stores, to name brand fast food, to the narrowing streets with textile and rug sales of Little India, until I arrived at The Inn Crowd, my hostel for the night. I checked in quickly, dropped my bag in the room and headed straight back [View Full Entry]

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We'd heard people rave about diving in Koh Tao and although it was good, it wasn't the best. The visibility was okay and the people were super nice. We enjoyed our dives, but the best part was the price. It turns out that Koh Tao is raved about because it has both the cheapest diving and the cheapest diver certifications. So it is a lot of new divers raving about it and if those were my first dives ever, I would rave too! The coral was beautiful. We saw lots of blue-spotted stingrays, moray eels, trigger fish, shrimp, crabs, parrot fish, [View Full Entry]

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We did have a great nights sleep, woke up late and booked an over-night bus to Chumphon, Thailand, including an early morning ferry boat from there to the island of Koh Tao. With our next travel plans in order, we enjoyed breakfast and a day of shopping in Bangkok, our last stop in this big, unique Thai city. That night, we boarded a night bus. We were seated in the front rows, which I was happy about, because that meant I could hang my legs over the railing in front of me, lean my seat back and have a better than [View Full Entry]

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So after waking up at 5am to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat, you'd think we wouldn't be able to hold our heads up by midday, but nonetheless, Cameron and I decided to start downing coffee shakes and these little cold coffee drinks from 7-11, like the Frappucinos you can buy at the store, and by 6pm we were ready for dinner and drinks! We grabbed some cheap Angkor Beers from 7-11, ate a nice meal, then headed to the Angkor Night Market. Here, Maren and I shopped around, while Cameron sat with his feet in a pool of fish for [View Full Entry]

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And so our tuk tuk picked us up and took us to #10 Happy, just as promised. It was a 6 hour bus ride North and luckily the road has been paved in the past few years, so it was a pretty breezy drive. Also, the bus wasn't full, so we each had two seats to ourselves, which always makes the journey that much better. We had one stop along the way. The rest-stops on bus rides in Asia are pretty standard. Toilets and people selling fruit, fried rice and some sort of chicken or fish being cooked, while the man [View Full Entry]

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We took a long bus ride from Saigon to Phnom Penh, Cambodia and stayed at a hostel called #11 Happy. I love the names and signs in Asia...they try so hard to make sense, but usually just miss. The other amazing thing is the disorganized organization. We got on and off of our bus 3-4 times at the Vietnam/Cambodia border, taking our luggage off with us half the time. We also had to hand over our passports 3-4 times. We find ourselves constantly wondering, "If someone explained to us what was going on, maybe it would make sense, but still, there [View Full Entry]

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Saigon, now Ho Chi Minh City, is similar to Hanoi, but busier and much hotter. It was insane to see traffic at rush hour. The motor bike is like the Asian minivan...they get whole families and a weeks worth of groceries on those things at one time. It's amazing actually. We spent our first day at The War Remnants Museum and our second day at the Cu Chi Tunnels. The War Remnants Museum was shocking, depressing, amazing, frustrating, and enlightening all at the same time. The photos were absolutely graphic and many of the descriptions spoke of American soldiers who wanted [View Full Entry]

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In Hanoi, Vietnam we went to The American War Museum and in Saigon aka Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam we went to The War Remnants Museum. I have learned two things: 1. I don't know shit about history and 2. there are two sides to every story. It's amazing how seeing the remnants of history makes it interesting. History has never been something that grabbed my attention and it all seemed like boy-stuff growing up..guns and wars and fighting. I usually like to live my life under the notion of 'what you don't know can't hurt you,' but I am grateful for [View Full Entry]

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