The Karaoke Incident

Of course there was a karaoke machine on our cruise boat, I mean, we are in Asia after all, right? So, after one too many drinks, a very flamboyant crew member convinces us all to sing a couple of songs. Just to be nerds, we make an Australian couple sing "The Land Down Under", and afterwards they request "Born in the USA" for us to sing. This is where things went wrong, VERY wrong.

Have you ever listened to the actual lyrics of Born in the USA? Well, if not hear ya go....

I got in a little hometown jam,
So they put a rifle in my hands,
Sent me off to Vietnam,
To go and kill the yellow man, (cringe, this is when we all start registering the words)
I had a buddy at Khe San,
Fighting off the Viet Cong (And this is the part we all throw down the microphones and run back to our rooms to hide)


I'm pretty sure the crew member who was singing with us did not understand the words anyways, but still, this was obviously a very dumb move on our part. Just remember this the next time any of you decide you're up for karaoke in Nam.

Vietnam

AH! So sorry for the delayed posting. I've been busy working and trying to figure out my next move after the holidays. Busy, busy, busy!

Now, back to the trip. After Indonesia, we headed home with Rachel to Saigon. We spent 3 days there before heading up to Hanoi. Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh really are very similiar places...both big cities crammed with people and motorbikes. Hanoi has a little more character, as there is more French influenced architecture around the city and the streets are a lot smaller and quaint than the big boulevards of Saigon. But having my sister as our tour guide in Saigon, definitely made for a more memorable experience (post on Saigon coming soon).

Streets of Hanoi...

Opera House in Hanoi...
After Hanoi, we headed over to Halong Bay for a 3 day cruise. We didn't have the best of weather, but met some amazing people, kayaked and ate a lot of great food. Halong Bay's limestone cliffs weren't too bad of a view either.

Our "junk", Oriental Sails

After Halong Bay, we headed down to Hoi An, quite possibly my favorite city in all of Southeast Asia. It's too good of a place to put in a paragraph, so look for a post some time next week.

Crossing the Street

Whenever I had to do this in Vietnam, my blood pressure immediately raised 10 notches. When reading our guide book before our arrival, it said "You will always remember the first time you crossed a street in Vietnam"...no joke.

As Matt and I take our first venture out onto the streets of Saigon, we attempt our first crossing. Now, the pedestrian green "walk" sign is flashing, so, I just start waltzing right across the street, when suddenly a Vietnamese woman takes a right turn without stopping, plowing right into me. I literally almost tore the 4 foot woman off her bike, it was such an awkard collision (probably would have been hilarious to watch on a hidden camera).

Luckily neither the woman or I got hurt, but I got the feeling she was used to running over westerners on a daily basis as she did not flinch once throughout the whole ordeal. But I literally was so scared I had to do a shuffle across the street and use Matt as shield for the rest of the trip. So stressful!

Mt. Rinjani Trek

Here's one lesson to be learned when traveling....DO NOT listen to Lonely Planet. When reading about the trek in our book, Lonely Planet describes the 2 day trek to the crater rim as an easy hike. However, they did not mention anything about hiking for 9 hours directly STRAIGHT up a mountain. Now, when I say straight up, I mean straight up. There was no zig zagging to make the hike a little easier, no, we hiked straight up the mountain.

The majority of the hike was through the jungle on the worst cut trail I have ever seen in my life, with every step being literally 3 to 4 foot high. After about 6 hours of hiking through the jungle, we thought we would surely be coming to some sort of a break. Oh no, the next 2 hours were spent hiking through sand, literally taking 1 step forward and then falling 5 back. And if that didn't seem like enough, we then had to crawl on rocks for another hour to reach the crater rim.

Once we were at the top, I have to admit this was one of the coolest experiences of my life. But that hike up was literally the most physically challenging thing I have ever done...literally could not walk for 2 days afterwards.

The view from the crater rim...
Me at the top, just happy I made it.
Our campsite...

Our porters busy at working making banana pankcakes. These guys deserve a lot of credit for making our meals and hauling all our supplies up the mountain...all while wearing flip flops.
The morning at sunset. The peak you see at the top of the picture is Bali and if you look very closely, you can see the three Gili Islands branching off from Lombok.

Bungalow Chic

Some of the places we've been staying. Definitely adding one to my backyard later in life.



I fell in love with outdoor showers. Nothing better!

The Gili Islands

When picturing Bali, most people get images of some exotic, far away place with beautiful, deserted beaches...something like what they disguised it as in the "Eat, Pray, Love" movie this summer I assume? Well, sorry to disappoint you all, but in reality Bali is chock full of traffic congested highways, drunken Aussies, littered beaches and all the KFC and McDonalds you can eat.


Since my sister had already discovered this let down on her first visit, we decided to stay only 3 nights in Bali and then head on to the Gili Islands for some peace and quiet. The Gili Islands are are a set of 3 islands off the coast of Lombok and are all only a few kilometers around in size. There are no cars or motorbikes on any of the islands...just horse drawn carriages that add a pleasant jingle to your entire stay. Gili Trawangan, the largest island, is the most touristy. We stayed there for 2 nights and then went on to Gili Air. And this is where I found my favorite place in Southeast Asia.

Gili Air is closest of the islands to Lombok, and from the eastern side where we stayed, you get magnificent views of the mountains on Lombok and Mt. Rinjani. Gili Air is not very populated either, so there was a very remote and secluded feel to our entire stay. It also has a great beach where you can rent snorkels and swim literally 25 yards out to a coral reef with the craziest fish I've ever seen.


Another reason to love the place- the people in Indonesia are amongst some of the nicest we met on the entire trip. Their language is not a tonal language like a lot of the others in Asia, so it is a lot easier for them to learn English....and they love to talk with you! Even little 5 year olds are running up asking you, "Hello! Where are you going?", So cute!

After spending 5 blissful days on Gili Air, we decided it would be a great idea to go climb a mountain. To be continued...

F U- Man on the Motorbike!!!

We have one day to go and I thought I was going to come home without having gotten anything stolen. WRONG! Today as Matt and I inched our way through motorbike drivers on a street in Saigon, one guy blew past and snatched my purse right off of me.

No worries though- I was fully prepared for this to happen since it has already happened to my sister and almost all her friends. My cheap purse broke immediately, so I did not feel a thing. And since I always give anything valuable to Matt, the only thing good he got was my cell phone.

So, Mr. Motorbike Man, please have fun with my $10 cash and Burt's Bea's lip gloss.

Return to the Islands

Ever since I first set sight on the islands of Thailand, I was convinced I had found heaven on earth. And upon returning two years later, I am still a believer. Beautiful white sand beaches, crystal clear water, and a bungalow for only $15 a night makes for the perfect getaway on the cheap.


I chose Koh Tao and Koh Phi Phi because they were my favorite islands from my last visit. Both amazing places but have completely different feels. Koh Tao is a very small, laid back island where most of the life revolves around the beach. We passed the time laying out by day, and eating beach barbecue and watching fire throwers by night. It was the most relaxing 8 days of my life.



Now, Koh Phi Phi has quite a different feel. Most hotels and restaurants are not on the beach and the prettiest beaches on the island are a bit of a hike to get to. Because of this, most people just walk to the port and take a boat out for the day to Phi Phi Leh island. It has great snorkelling (I swam with my first sea turtle!!) and you can go to Maya Bay where "The Beach" was filmed. So although it is not as beach centered as Koh Tao, the breathtaking limestone cliffs make it a must visit in Southeast Asia.




After 15 days of being complete beach bums, we flew out of Phuket to meet my sister and her boyfriend in Bali....my favorite part of the trip so stay tuned!

I promise I did not forget about you!

Wrapping up our tour of Vietnam now in Hoi An. Heading back to Saigon tomorrow for our last week :( I'll be posting next week so make sure to check back!

Miss you all!

Bangkok: by Matt

I had many expectations when arriving in Bangkok and Southeast Asia. Any food personality or writer I have followed has always described it as the land with everything. Delicious food, incredible smiling people, and yes, more delicious food.

Thai food has always been one of my favorite foods (not just to eat but to cook too), and this trip has fully reassured me on how truly amazing the food really is. Did I mention that you can have a meal with an appetizer, a main and a couple of beers for 200 baht? That's $6!!

The street food is cheaper and sometimes even tastier. Think about the average street food vendor...he or she makes this dish in a couple variations (chick, pork, veg) over and over all day, everyday. Basically, they've been able to perfect their dishes better than any restaurant. How can it not be good?

The list could go on for days about the good food that we ate in Bangkok and the Thai islands, but I can't remember it all and people don't want to read every last detail. There was so much curry and tom yum soup that I'm fine not eating it for a few weeks. The Thai spring rolls will be missed but excitement is building for the Vietnamese pork dumplings!

Enough about food though. Bangkok is a crazy and chaotic place. We stayed by Koh San Road, which is the backpackers area of town. The streets are full of cheap knock off clothing and is the place to stock up on goods before the islands where the price doubles.

A lot of our time was spent at travel agencies getting our plans together but we did have some time to check out the Grand Palace. Here are some of the pics.

Niklas Sister Reunion- Indo Style!

We arrived safely in Bali last night. My sister, Rachel, is due at the hotel in T- 5 hours....so excited!!!!

Guest Blogger!

Lookout out for Matt's blog on Bangkok in the next couple of days. He loved it and I thought it would be fun for him to write about his first taste of Southeast Asia.

The Greek Islands

I know this may seem a bit cheesy, but I really can't explain how amazing our trip to the Greek Islands was, especially Santorini, so I'll try and take a stab at it-

The night before we left for Greece, Matt and I were packing and watching tv, some special on the magician Chris Angel was on. He was doing his usual stunt, hypnotizing people on the streets of Las Vegas and levitating them and what not. Anyways, as he started the act, he told each person to think of the happiest moment in their lives. Now, this got me thinking, "what would be the happiest moment in my life?". I mean, don't get me wrong, I've been very blessed and have had many great moments in my life. But for some reason I couldn't pick out "the one".

Then it happened- It was exactly a week later. I was riding with Matt on the little ATV we had rented. We were driving along the cliffs of Santorini looking down onto the ocean during sunset. I literally could not wipe the smile off my face if I tried. It was the most beautiful place I had ever seen in my life. So, there it was, "the happiest moment of my life"... have you booked your flight yet? ha!

Our whole visit was amazing. We spent 4 nights in Mykonos and 4 in Santorini. Both islands are beautiful, but Mykonos is known as the "party island" and that's exactly what people go there to do, so we preferred Santorini more.

Santorini is an island literally set on top of a caldera right across from a volcano. The villages are all a stunning white and built into the cliffs of the caldera, giving you amazing views of the sunset. The island also has black sand beaches and the water is the bluest I've ever seen. Plus, Santorini is known as the "wine island" of Greece and has a dozen of great wineries all around the island.

By reccommendation of our guesthouse, we visited the Santo Winery. Their wines are amazing, mostly whites, and are only 2 euro for a tasting, which is basically a glass of wine (no skimping here!). The winery is also built into the cliffs of the caldera giving amazing views onto the volcano and the rest of the island. Best. Sunset. Ever.

View and sunset from the winery...

The Greek Islands were an amazing end to our Europe leg...now on to Asia!

Get a Bottle of Rum...

And read this book. Enjoy!

This is all I heard. All. Summer. Long.

This song was blaring EVERYWHERE we went in Europe. In the stores, on the streets...you could even hear it blaring in all the teenage boys ipods on the metros! Sorry if I have ruined your day, because this song will stay in your head for a LONG time.

Greek Life

Let me just start this post off by saying how much I loooooveeeed Greece. The people are the nicest and funniest people you'll ever meet in your life. Everywhere we stayed, I literally felt like I was staying in the home of an old family friend. And the food is to die for, even on a budget! 2 euro spinach pies and gyros, yes please! I lived on those alone for the entire 10 days.

Ok, so after Rome, we flew to Athens and spent 3 days there before heading to the islands. Athens was really a pleasant suprise for me. I had heard a lot of bad things about it so I wasn't expecting much but I found the city to be a really fun and interesting place.

Taking a stroll around the city literally takes you back in time. Walking around you run into ruin after ruin and you can stare up at the Acropolis basically anywhere you go.The whole city is really clean too (you could lick the floor of their metro stations, no joke), which I assume is due in part to the cleanup before the Olympics. And for some reason, I got a really island feel from the whole place. I don't know why, maybe because everything is white? Nonetheless, beautiful city that I'd highly reccommend.

We found a nice room at the Hotel Phaedra for 50 euros a night. Our room had the craziest view of the Acropolis, check it out!

After a couple days of sightseeing we took a ferry down to Mykonos and Santorini which I'll post within the next day or two.

Italia!

Well, I certainly do apologize for being such a bad blogger lately. So much has happened since my last post about Portugal, I can't believe it! Just to catch you up to speed, after Portugal we flew in to Rome for two days, headed up to Cinque Terre for three, Florence for four and then back to Rome for one more day. Then from Rome we flew into Greece and did Athens and the Greek Islands, but that will be an entirely different blog post...I have way too many good things to say about the country of Greece.

Where to begin? Well, for starters I am just going to be completely honest and admit that I was a tad dissappointed by Italy. Rome knocked my socks off. I mean literally everything anyone has told you about the city is true....its romantic, its ancient, its holy, its...ROME! The place is amazing, we had such a great visit. I guess when we visited Cinque and Florence, I was expecting them to be a little less touristy then they ended up actually being. For instance, Cinque has tours come in daily from Siena and Florence, so all of a sudden around noon a hundred tourists come flooding in to the small villages all wearing the same matching hats...annoying! As for Florence, I wish I did our whole visit differently. Since I really was looking for some peace and quiet, what I should have done was stay outside of the city, somewhere quiet like Chianti, drink wine all day, then make a day trip to see the sights in Florence. Instead, we spent all four days shoulder to shoulder with everyone and their mom that decided to visit Florence in August. Another downfall was the price of food. Italy had by far the most expensive food out of all of the countries we have been to yet. I mean, come on, a girl cannot survive on pizza and pasta alone! And even that was expensive.

Now, I realize from the comments above you would probably think we had a horrible ten days in Italy. But even though it was not what we expected, we still had a really good time in each place.

I'll start with my favorite- Roma! First off, we stayed in an amazing place in the Vatican City area, Colors Hotel. The room was huge with a flat screen tv, a fridge, and the most amazing crown molding I have ever seen (I know I'm a dork, but check the room out below). Plus a really good breakfast that is included in the room price. When checking in, we found out the front desk worker's mom had just moved to Durham, NC (where my family lives), so she was super helpful with recommendations and even mapped out a walking route for us that she takes her own family on when they come to visit. By the end of our first night we had literally seen all of Rome, which was good because we did the Vatican the next day and just walked around and relaxed that night.

We stumbled upon an amazing restaurant on our first night, called Il Fico. I am only including the address because out of all the cities we have visited, Rome is probably the most likely for anyone reading this to visit, so here ya go- Via di Monte Giordano, 49. Their eggplant parmesan and carbonara are out of this world and the prices are the cheapest you will find around Piazza Novano. Plus, the restaurant is situated on this really quiet cobblestone street and has really cool outdoor tables lining the road across from it. Needless to say, it was very romantic and we ended up heading there both nights.

After our stay in Rome, we headed up for 3 nights in Cinque Terre on the Italian Riviera. Cinque Terre literally means The Five Lands and it consists 5 small villages strung along the coast all connected by a 10 km hiking trail. Matt unfortunately was sick during our entire stay so he spent a majority of our stay in bed. I did the hike to 4 out of the 5 villages starting in Riomagiorre, the village we stayed in. Here's the view from our room below.

The trail from Riomagiorre to Manarola is the easiest and is known as the "Love Walk". Here's Manarola below..
....then Corniglia....
After Corniglia the hike gets a little more strenuous but you get amazing views along the trail.
next is Vernazza...
Then the trail ends in Monterosso, which is the most touristy spot of the villages so I just decided to stop in Vernazza. We spent the other days laying on the beach and relaxing. Matt started feeling better just in time for our train to Florence, which I will post about tomorrow.

Hope you all are doing well, miss you all!