yzarCritS
Matt Anderson Joined: June 3rd 2006
Logged in: February 3rd 2012
Logged in: February 3rd 2012
I'm fairly new to the whole international travel game. I'm hoping over the next several years to fill most of my free time with grand adventures overseas. I've got a long list of destinations where I hope to build numerous friendships and lifelong memories. Enjoy my ramblings as I document my experiences...
Travel Blog Posts
Halong Bay Fishing Village
Thursday October 13, 2011 – Monday October 17, 2011 Thursday: Arrived early afternoon. Walked around The Old Quarter, explored Lake Hoam Kiem. Watched Thang Long Water Puppet Theater show. Friday: Visit to Hoa Lo Prison, Quan Su Pagoda. Dinner at Quan An Ngon. Saturday: Drive to Halong Bay. Boarded Red Dragon junk. Cruise of Halong Bay. Kayaking and caving. Slept overnight on Red Dragon. Sunday: More Halong Bay crusing. Visit to local fishing village. Drive back to Hanoi. Drinks at Le Pub, dinner at KOTO. Monday: Off to airport in the morning.... read more
Tegallalang Rice Terraces
Friday October 7, 2011 – Wednesday October 12, 2011 Seems we didn't take a bunch of pictures in Bali. Monkeys definitely dominated our pics. The traffic was a bit of a deterrent for us to really explore Bali. Being in Nusa Dua proved poor placement for seeing some of the northern parts of Bali. Heavy car days were often followed up with a day of R&R in Nusa Dua. Friday: Arrival late evening. Saturday: Explored Nusa Dua by foot. Walked Geger Beach. Dinner in Nusa Dua. Sunday: Drive up to Ubud. Explored Monkey Forest, Ubud, and Tegallalang. Dinner in Nusa Dua. Monday: More beach walking in Nusa Dua and north to Tanjung. Dinner in Bali Collection shopping area. Tuesday: Drive to Tanah Lot temple and Uluwatu temple. Dinner at Tao in Tanjung. Wednesday: R&R in the ... read more
Playa Norte on Isla Mujeres
Friday November 27, 2009 - Thursday December 3, 2009 Pics only for now. Unfortunately, we didn't carry the camera often.... read more
Danube
Friday June 5, 2009 - Saturday June 6, 2009; Saturday June 13, 2009 - Sunday June 14, 2009 Random Observations/Nuisances - As a whole, the “service with a smile” premise seems slow to reach our Eastern European servers. - By far the coolest encounter was the large number of people who gathered outdoors nightly near the Deak ter metro. A mass of folks bringing their own alcohol, the scene felt very controlled despite no sign of law enforcement. Lounging in the grass, visiting clubs close by, I imagined the spot being a big “coming of age” spot for any youth in attendance. Overall, the large gathering had a great vibe about it. - Graffiti seems everywhere. Worse, it’s not even interesting graffiti. Most tags are bland and lacking color. My favorite spot where we saw graffiti? ... read more
Saddle Road
Friday January 23, 2009 - Wednesday January, 28 Last island stop for our Hawaii vacation is the Big Island. By far, our most enjoyable stop for our vacation. Friday: I loved the landing at Kona airport. Very cool feel with the runways surrounded by lava rock desolation. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought we were landing in a zone dedicated for evacuations. It was an eerie welcome to the unusual geography of the Big Island. Picked up our yellow, soft-top, rental Jeep (Short Bus) and headed to Hilton Waikolola Village for check-in. The resort was very large with numerous amenities. As a whole, we both felt a tad disappointed. Between ridiculous service fees, long commutes to our car (10-15 minutes), and uninformed hotel personnel, it just seemed the resort missed on all the ... read more
Waikiki From Diamond Head
Friday January 16, 2009 - Friday January 23, 2009 No time for a write-up. Just this quick list, and some photos for now. Hopefully I'll make it back for a write-up when time permits. Friday: Waikiki at night. Saturday: Resort and Waikiki at night. Sunday: North Shore Monday: Resort and Paradise Cove Luau Tuesday: Pearl Harbor, Diamond Head, and East Shore Wednesday: West Shore Thursday: Chinatown and Hanauma Bay Friday: Off to the Big Island ... read more
Hanakapi'ai
Tuesday January 13, 2009 - Friday January 16, 2009 We kicked off our 2009 Hawaii trip in Kauai; a very scenic, under developed side of Hawaii. Tuesday: Off the plane, I was dealing with sleep deprivation and jet lag. It was difficult to want to do anything but sleep. We split a pizza in Kapaa and then headed to the hotel to call it a night. Wednesday: Wednesday was our most enjoyable, productive day on Kauai. After a hearty breakfast, we rushed to the north side of the island to visit beaches and do a bit of hiking. We spent most of our afternoon hiking the Kalalau Trail along the Na Pali Coast. The trail ran along the cliffs overlooking beautiful views of the ocean. I found the 4 mile experience extremely rewarding given the challenge ... read more
Basilique Notre-Dame Altar
Thursday July 17, 2008 - Sunday July 20, 2008 Unfortunately, we didn’t take a lot of photos while in Montreal. Seemed the camera always got left behind in the hotel room. So Tegan and I headed up to Canada to attend Brian and Ghislaine’s wedding in Montreal. We spent 3 nights in Montreal and 2 nights in Quebec City. What follows is a brief description about our time in each city. Overall I really enjoyed the feel of Montreal. Festivals aplenty, the streets seemed very alive despite the unpredictable showers. A very friendly feel, I don’t ever recall a rude tone directed my way. On the downside, the city had a very modern feel. Aside for some sections of Vieux-Montreal, most of our city exploration didn’t live up to my typical visual vacation tastes. Thursday: We ... read more
Wat Pho Chedi
Friday January 18, 2008 - Tuesday January 22, 2008 Our final stop for our New Year vacation was Bangkok, Thailand. Based on past vacation destinations, I think we were both a bit skeptical on how we would enjoy Bangkok. We’ve started to recognize that for our preferences a big, modern city typically feels too much like home, and therefore fails to deliver that inspiring feeling of experiencing something very new. Kuala Lumpur and Stockholm are two past destinations where this held true. Fortunately for us, for a large city, Bangkok had a good measure of uniqueness that never failed to entertain during our visit. We arrived in Bangkok on Friday afternoon. After a 45 minute taxi ride into the city, we checked in at Citi Chic Hotel. We chose Citi Chic hotel for several reasons. First, ... read more
