I spent four fantastic days in Bagan Lara Croft-ing (i.e., exploring temples. Lots of them). But, before I talk about these temples, let me tell you about two unexpected things I did: 1. I stayed in a hostel and I loved it. 2. I rented an e-bike. Hosteling? Me? Ahmar, the UCLA MBA alumnus I had been put in touch with, told me he had booked at Ostello Bello Hostel in Bagan, and that it came highly recommended. When I set out in this trip, I had resolved to not stay in dorms because I am a light sleeper and I was wary about sharing rooms with partying twentysomethings. My past experiences with hostels over 20 years ago weren't too favorable - they were primarily crash pads for people who stumbled in at all hours. At ... read more

I've never been to Sydney, believe it or not. Since I was flying into and out of Sydney on my Thai Airways mileage award ticket, I decided to stay for a day and a half to get a feel for this place. I didn't come to Sydney with a checklist of things to see and do. As some of you may know, I relate best to a place when I am at street level exploring, seeing, observing, hearing, and even smelling, and that was pretty much what I ended up doing. Walking From Bondi to Coogee The highlight of my trip was my walk along the coastline from Bondi to Coogee. After breakfast on my one full day in Sydney, I boarded a bus from Hyde Park towards Bondi. The ride took about 40 minutes, at ... read more

A few years ago, I learned about a field in the eastern side of Bangkok where several aircraft had been abandoned. I immediately knew I had to experience this myself. When planning this flashpacking trip, I blinked in disbelief when I saw on united.com that I could fly Singapore-Bangkok-Sydney and return on Thai Airways for a paltry 70,000 miles, with BKK-SYD in First Class and the rest of the sectors in Business Class. I booked this award ticket without hesitation and scheduled a ten hour layover so that I could seek out this aircraft graveyard. The Journey to the Aircraft Graveyard I arrived at Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport at 9am. Since I was flying First Class on my next segment, I suspected there would be someone to meet me at arrival. Sure thing, there was an earnest ... read more

This entry records my day trip to the east of Bali to visit Pura Lempuyang and Tirta Ganga. All my other activities in Bali were around Ubud, and these will be published later in a separate entry. Pura Lempuyang I recently learned about a particularly picturesque temple in East Bali. After viewing the photos online, I immediately knew I wanted to experience it for myself. The temple is called Pura Lempuyang, and it is one of the holiest sites in Bali. Incredibly, despite its Instagram-worthy clickbait credentials, it doesn't attract many tourists. Today was my splurge day. Because of its distance from Ubud, I knew I had to fork out some dough to hire a car and driver to take me there. I've been trying to keep my expenses to below $50 per day while I ... read more

So, My Lucky Streak Ended... I left off my last entry with a sense of foreboding that my streak of positive travel experiences was about to end. Well, it did. As you may recall, I decided to plan out the remainder of my time in Flores after hearing negative stories about accommodation from westbound travelers. My intended next stop from Bajawa was Moni, where I had planned to stay two nights - the plan was arrive and stay the night, to go to Keli Mutu for sunrise, hike back down, and stay another night. After that, I had booked a beach resort in Maumere as a special treat to myself after staying in budget places and traveling rough(ish). I also booked a ticket out of Maumere to Bali on August 9. I was wary about planning ... read more