Routinely offering flights specials and notorious for its low-priced, luxury accomodation, it's no wonder that Bali remains one of the most popular holiday destinations for Australians. We finally made it to Bali to see what all the fuss is about, and learned just a few tips and tricks along the way that might help you make the most of your Indonesian adventure. Rent a scooter! I know a lot of people will[...]
For Callum’s birthday, I lovingly booked a fun trip that would include a trek up an active volcano, Mount Batur, and white water rafting. Then, of course, I got violently ill 1 hour before we were scheduled to be picked up and we were forced to cancel with no refund. Obviously, I feel cripplingly guilty about ruining his birthday present, so we decide to take ourselves to the volcano on our motorbik[...]
Happy birthday to this ancient lobster! After an amazing bday brekky in Canguu, which is absolutely rife with gourmet cafes and hip juice bars, we get onto our trusty Scoopy scooter and zip down south to Uluwatu temple. We were lucky to discover a great offline nav app in New Zealand that also works for us in Indonesia, so getting around is super easy, and Callum, being an avid mountain and dirt biker, is loving[...]
With both Shapiros in tow, I am off to Shanghai to explore the world's largest city (!!). I actually just googled that― I knew that Shanghai was the largest city in China, but I had no idea just how big that would be. Nearly 25 million, as it turns out, which is actually larger than the population of the entire Australian continent. All the details: Shanghai Getting there: Take the world's fastest[...]
My Chinese friend once told me (2 days ago) that I could never be a great man until I visited the Great Wall of China. I’ll probably never be a great man, for obvious anatomical reasons, but apparently this wasn’t a personal insult to my manhood—there’s a famous Chairman Mao quote: “He who has not been to the Great Wall is not a true man”. And so we set out to become true men.[...]
After a crazy Friday night out (you know it’s a good night when you lose your dress), and the subsequent full day of recovery, we are finally able to get out of bed and do some exploring around Hangzhou. All the details: Hangzhou Getting there: Fly into Hangzhou Xiaoshan International Airport, and then take a taxi to your accommodation from the rank out front. There are a number of buses also[...]
So excited to have left rainy, cold Sydney behind for some summer days in Hangzhou. If you have no idea where that is, don’t feel too bad about yourself, I had to google it many times. And I nearly booked flights to the wrong airport, but I'm sure that wouldn't be the first time it happened. It was about 12 hours flying to Beijing and then another 2 to Hangzhou, which isn’t horribly long,[...]
After returning from 2 months in Southeast Asia, I have to say that Thailand indisputably takes the cake for most photogenic destination. While Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos all offer plenty of beautiful spots and interesting culture, when it comes to jaw-dropping turquoise beaches and nearly deserted tropical islands, there is simply no contest. Here are some photo highlights from my month in Thailand this February.[...]
We arrive via ferry and wander around to find beachfront accomodation, which ends up being an expensive ($25/night) bungalow on the sand. Techno music pretty much plays all night, but I am way partied out from Full Moon Party, even though weeks have gone by, so I find it a bit annoying. It is a fairly touristy spot that I wouldn’t really visit again, but the whole point of coming is to get some more scuba diving i[...]
For me, the undisputed high point of our time in Thailand is on Koh Lanta. It is, in every way, exactly what you’d envision if someone said the tropics. We’ve just come across Thailand from Koh Phangan, where we all nearly died from the metho they pass off as mixed drinks for Full Moon Party, and then spent a few days in Patong being absolutely grossed out by a ping pong show. The journey is long, so we[...]
Our journey to Phuket, on the west side of Thailand, is no small task. From Koh Phangan, we take a taxi, a bus, a ferry, another taxi, another bus, a tuk tuk, and one more bus. This last bus has overbooked so, even though we paid the same money as everyone else, we ride on the floor for 5 hours and finally arrive at 1 am. Well, the bus actually breaks down, so we have to take another taxi the last 10km to our destin[...]
After extending our stay on Thailand’s Koh Tao to finish our Advanced Diving cert., we are many days late to meet friends on Koh Phangan for the infamous Full Moon Party. Tad is already in Thailand and reaches the island without much trouble, but Ash flies in to Bangkok and has to navigate her way down the coastline on a series of buses and ferries, before arriving in Koh Phangan and learning that the hostel[...]
After an agonisingly long journey from Bangkok, we are finally living the Island Life. We’ve booked in to do our dive certification at Ban's, the second largest dive company in the world, beaten only by ProDive in Cairns. It’s pennies on the dollar to get certified in Thailand compared to Australia, so we are loving life. Not to mention the free resort accommodation that comes with our class! Koh Tao is a pre[...]
Inspired by The Beach, which I just finished reading, I want to stay right in the thick of things on Koh San Road. We are not disappointed, arriving in the evening to absolute chaos. The street is filled with market stalls and food vendors, but it is also largely occupied by the thousands of chairs and tables that restaurants and bars have placed out in the middle of the road. Those tables are filled by drunk and dr[...]
After 6 hours in a shockingly cramped minibus, we arrive in Siem Reap, eager to perk up after a very somber few days learning about genocide in Phnom Penh. Unfortunately, we run into serious challenges trying to find a room for the night. To be fair, there is some available accommodation when we first arrive, but naturally we scoff at offers of $14/night in favour of something cheaper. Ov[...]