Hey kids! Sorry I have been such a blogger slacker! Geez, this was almost a month ago....I'll do my best to catch up on all the wonders that have been Australia! I spent a couple days in Perth, on the West Coast, before heading to the Outback! My first realization (after getting over the culture shock, I mean, these people have highways, and speak english, and most of all no one is staring at me! Oh, and the food on the menus is absolutely normal! Salads, burgers, and pasta?) was that there were flies everywhere! You think the wisconsin mosquitos are [View Full Entry]

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Well, I have one picture from Singapore - smile Johnny! I went into reverse culture shock, travelers apathy, and a photo protest all at once! I got to Singapore and it's amazingly clean, well-organized, and Westernized! tall buildings, clean streets, normal cars, and of course the official language is English! There's a super clean efficient Metro subway, and on my way into town from the airport I met some very nice locals who confirmed - not much to do in Singapore, but WELCOME!! They said i must do two things - go to Sentosa island and the Night Safari Zoo. My [View Full Entry]

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Now the fun begins! I found the Scuba Junkies through my last hostel, and they had the brilliant insight to open a hostel, attached to a bar and restaurant, across the street from their dive shop! I arrived in the Scuba Junkie Triangle at about 6pm, and have to admit, I only left the triangle once in the first 72 hours! So even though the hostel was my cheapest ever - about $4/night - they still made sure I spent every other dime with them as well! I signed up to finish my open water dive course the next day, and [View Full Entry]

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WOW, I'm officially six citites behind on my blogging, so I'll be keeping the next few short and sweet! HIGHLIGHTS! I've been up to some pretty amazing craziness in the last few weeks! I headed over to Borneo for about a week and knew I wanted to divide my time between jungle-riffic touring and underwater splendor. My first stop was the sleepy mountain and coastal town of KK where I decided to venture into my first hostel staying experience! There was a highly recommended place, the North Cabin Borneo hostel, and for about $7/night, how can you go wrong? Right away [View Full Entry]

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I was super excited to get to KL, as I have been totally looking forward to admiring the twin towers! Turns out that's about the only thing to do there...well, kind of. The first day I set off on my own to explore town, and was making my way towards the botanical gardens and park when it started to absolutely DOWNPOUR! Rain like I haven't seen before - unrelenting - thunder and lightening - but rain rain rain never ending! Except it came out of nowhere, so I was stuck out in the middle of town trying to decide what to [View Full Entry]

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WOWOWOW! Thailand, and the underwater adventures that lie within, continue to amaze! I took a ferry from Krabi over to Koh Phi Phi on the most packed, weighed down boat I've ever seen! We were a can of sardines (sardines with huge backpacks!) and the entire ride over I felt like the boat was going to sink any minute! But as soon as we pulled into the harbor on this amazing island, I knew I was in for another day in Paradise! The island is super small, but manages to host about half of the European population in its tiny streets [View Full Entry]

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Good job everyone! I managed to find Paradise #2 just a few short days after the Maldives! I spotted a postcard in Bangkok with the most amazing picture and said, where is that!?! I'm going there next! And I found myself off to Krabi the next day, with the grand plan of exploring and diving Koh Phi Phi national marine preserve a few days later! (more on that in the next blog! You won't believe it!!!) I spent 2 nights on the beaches of Ao Nang, and was intent on starting my "divers life" in this paradise. The first night I [View Full Entry]

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My first thought in writing this blog is....I can't wait to come back! Thailand has truly exceeded expectations, and I have to thank Paul and Emma (that I met in Maldives) for their insight and inspiration to extending my time here! I was scheduled for a quick 3 day stop in Bangkok, but am now at the close of 9 exhilirating, action-packed, when-do-i-get-to-come-back-here days! I landed in Bangkok after another exhausting, 24-hour, why the heck did the airline cancel my reservation for no reason travel day. I had a guide book for southeast asia (very helpful in so many ways!) and [View Full Entry]

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WHoa!@ Today we went to a tiger conservation project run by monks and I pet some tigers! If you don't believe it, just check out these amazing pictures!!!! [View Full Entry]

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Well, I MADE IT!!! After the incessant spending in Europe and the weakened dollar, I almost bagged my side trip to Maldives....but then I remembered that my desire to go there was the inspiration for this entire trip, so I had to do it! I made the mistake of booking through a travel agency instead of on my own on the internet, and she had me go through the crappiest of intineraries to get to Paradise! After leaving my hotel in Goa at 5am, hanging around the airport in Mumbai for 6 hours, a flight cancelling, getting rerouted through Chennai, then [View Full Entry]

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