We left Huacachina on the 6th to head for Arequipa. When we arrived back in Ica to book our bus ticket for that night, the bus had already sold out. So we were going to be stuck in Ica for the rest of the day and most of the next, as it is an overnight bus to Arequipa. So we found a hostel off Tacna that had the water pressure of a leaky faucet and gave me the creeps because I was pretty sure we were the only people staying there... Still pretty sure we were. Our initial plan was to head down to the Plaza de Armas and walk around looking for a hostel but our cabbie informed us that if we don't drop our bags first, we will be robbed. So after dropping our ... read more

Today was all about being in the right place at the right time. This morning we headed back to Parque Kennedy area to find some breakfast. On our way, the catholic church was just letting out and gathering outside to start a procession. We hung out and observed as the priest hopped on a truck covered in flowers that drove the streets around the park with a ton of people walking around it. We heard someone say that it doesn't happen very often, so we were happy to catch a glimpse of it. After breakfast, we grabbed a taxi to Central Lima. The city center was different than Miraflores and was jam packed with people. The Plaza de Armas was beautiful surrounded by many old buildings including the Government Palace, Lima Cathedral, and the Archbishop's Palace. ... read more

Since we have returned to China we have been keeping very busy. After a couple of days of relaxing and doing nothing back in Shenzhen we decided to check out another touristy thing. Splendid China and the China Folk Center were next on the list. Splendid China was just like Window of the World only it pertained only to significant places in China. We spent a couple of hours checking out most of the models before moving onto the Folk Center. The Folk Center contained traditional style dwellings from different villages in China and gave some insight into how people lived in different conditions. This place was kind of disappointing as most of the attractions inside had closed for the day already. At the end of the day we were lucky to catch two shows with ... read more

The Malaysia/Singapore border crossing station is huge and beautiful! It was almost like walking through two brand new airports, their efficiency was incredible with tons of que’s- the wait was nothing. Comparatively- the China/Vietnam station where you cram into a tiny hot sweaty room, throw your passports into a stack of other passports and then crowd around a window for an hour uncomfortably with a bunch of other people waiting to hear your name so you can get your passport back and cross the border. First impressions of Singapore were that it was the least Asian city of all of Asia. Everything is in English, everyone speaks English, and the only thing Asian about it is that the population is 75% Chinese. We hopped off the bus in the blistering heat and grabbed a cab to ... read more

It was time to leave Phi Phi for Ao Nang. We packed our stuff and headed for the boat which took us to Krabi Port. We took a bus into Krabi town which dropped us off at some random guest house and we were off to find a way to Ao Nang. We were about to head to the main bus station, which was about a 7 km walk, when some random Aussie woman on a scooter informed us of where we needed to go to catch a ride to Ao Nang. We automatically trusted her because she didn’t seem local. The cheapest and most efficient way of getting to Ao Nang from where we were was to take a Songthaew(a pick-up truck with benches on either side of the box) for 50 Baht each. Sounded ... read more