Up, Up, and An Update!
Friends! Concubines! Fellow travellers on this long road called Life! Lend me your ears, but only for a brief moment because we’ve got to get out and explore Saigon some more! It’s been too long since I’ve posted an update. Apologies for that. Reason being, I’ve lacked reliable internet and uninterrupted computer time that hasn’t been dedicated to making future travel plans.
To date, we’ve been away from home for 156 days. Our target number of total days on the road is 330, so we’re a mere 9 days from our 1/2 way point. Time flies, as the cliche goes, but really it’s hard to believe we’ve already been to 5 countries since the start of 2017 (considering we started off in Malaysia and we’re now in Vietnam). Our budget is really fairly on track too, which is exciting! We’ve spent about 1/2 of our money and we still have two more months in Southeast Asia to “make up” for some of the more expensive things we’ve done.
A few days after 2017 began we headed to Australia! This was a dream of mine, but not initially of Jason’s, so it took some convincing (and discovering cheap flights) to get there. We headed to Western Australia because it was basically due south of Singapore and about $150 each way to fly there. Not bad to get another continent marked off the list! We stayed for three weeks, mostly doing a work exchange in Bullsbrook. While there we met several new friends, including Diane and Andrea. With these two we travelled south to Margaret River, renowned wine country with some of the most beautiful ocean waters I’ve ever seen. It was really difficult saying goodbye to our friends, but we do hope we’ll meet them again someday soon.
After Australia, we stayed in the Southern Hemisphere for 10 more days in Indonesia. While in Malaysia we were nearly in Indonesia, just a few miles from the border at one point during a waterfall excursion, but this time we got stamped into Denpasar, where famed Bali is located. Did you know Indonesia has the 4th largest country population in the world, right under the USA, and it’s a 17,000 island archipelago? On the small island of Bali alone there are 5 million residents and they see millions more tourists come through each year. Bali has no “industry”, but they export art and culture to the world and it’s clear why when you’re there.
While we didn’t have as much time as we expected in Bali it was still eye opening and culturally stimulating. We went to an art museum that featured both modern and historical pieces, watched Balinese dancers do a traditional performance, and went to an ancient temple in the Sacred Monkey Forest. Our hotel was nice and a little bit luxurious for our standards. They brought us breakfast every day! Prices on Bali are higher than the rest of Southeast Asia, something we didn’t know/expect going in. Didn’t break our budget, but put a dent in it. Especially since after that we went to Singapore!
I think the world’s nicest city is probably Singapore. Modern, clean, great food at reasonable prices, diverse people, and high end culture make this a top choice. Singapore is only 52 years old, making this city state one of the world’s newest countries, although it holds a rich heritage and has been a highly important seaport for centuries.
Our time was short in Singapore because it’s an expensive place. While food is priced really well, accommodations and alcohol are insanely high. Our hotel room was higher than we’d normally spend, due to the fact that we were celebrating our four year anniversary during our stay. It was worth $60 per night because, while small, it had an insanely comfy bed and a real coffee maker downstairs! No instant coffee required!
Our hotel was also in the heart of it all and we tried to walk as often as possible while there. It had been quite some time since we had an epic 12 hour adventure day, but you just needed that to fit it all in. On our adventure we went to Gardens by the Bay to explore their cloud forest, flower dome, and supertrees! These massive structures host a lights and music show after sunset for free. Glorious! We also ate at our first Michelin Star restaurant, a special anniversary lunch, for $8 for the two of us. It’s a former hawker stall turned restaurant so while the stall itself actually won the award and not the location we were at the food was still great and well worth eight bucks!
Singapore flew by and before we knew it we were in Vietnam, a country so many of my friends have fallen deeply in love with. Before arriving I couldn’t understand this love affair. Having been to a few parts of SE Asia before I figured there would be some of the same here, but Saigon thus far has been different. The prevalent art here reminds you of the 70’s, and it’s captivating to say the least. Never have I been to a place and wanted to buy so many souvenirs. I’m not a “stuff” person and sometimes finding one small token takeaway from a country is difficult (but I persevere) but being here only a few days and I want to buy it all!
Saigon is cheap. America may have lost the war, but at least they still like us here (thankfully). It’s bustling, beeping, bursting with people and banh mi. We’ve even found two craft breweries! One is named Heart of Darkness (look it up, kids) and the other features a brewer from Colorado. Regular beer is really cheap here — dangerously cheap. English isn’t as difficult as I thought it would be, at least not yet. We’ll be in Vietnam for a month in total most likely. Saturday we fly up to coast to Hanoi, the Northern capital. Then, we’ll skip over to Halong bay, train down to Hoi An and Da Lat and perhaps a few other spots, then eventually make it back to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to head to Cambodia for a few weeks. We’ll see Angkor Wat and Phnom Penh before going back to Thailand to make our way to a Thai beach or two.
April 5th we leave Southeast Asia and head to India! We’re going to spend two weeks there, flying into Kochi and flying out of Mumbai. Details for that are still flushing out. India is a world of it’s own, so we’ve heard, so we’re not sure what exactly to expect except to be overwhelmed.
After two weeks in India we’re meeting up with Jason’s sister and her boyfriend in Athens, Greece! We’ve made our ticket purchase on Turkish Airlines yesterday, so we have a direct flight path into Europe now! We’re heading there April 19th, a little later than originally expected, but this way we’ll be better able to make our budget happen.
After spending two weeks or so in Greece we’ll head over to eastern Europe for some time in Croatia, Romania, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, most likely. We’re going to spend at least a month in Eastern Europe, I imagine, as there’s so much to see and it’s so much more affordable than Western Europe. It is a dream of mine to farm in Southern France, so in June that’s what I’d like to focus on achieving, along with seeing Rome, Amsterdam (again), and a few other major cities.
In July, we meet up with my mom and Aunt Monica for a two week Ireland excursion that I am completely stoked about! We’re going to do the touristy tour stuff, which is going to be a big break from what I’ve been used to doing throughout the trip. After the touring Jason and I head to Scotland for about a month, then we fill up two more weeks of travel somewhere in Europe (or maybe Iceland 🙂 and then we head home!
That’s that! There’s the last two and a half and the next 5 months of our trip laid out in all of it’s lived and tentative glory.
Sending love to home!