HoChiMinh 13 1024x683 - Quick Stop in Ho Chi Minh City

Getting to Ho Chi Minh was quite the affair. On our way to the airport, our diver told us that there was a big typhoon to the north of us and another one on the way. We had no idea this was happening and wondered if this would effect Lauren and Chiara’s flights back to Hanoi and NYC. When we checked in for our flights, we saw that nothing was delayed or cancelled…yet. Then slowly but surely flights started getting delayed and none of us ended up leaving until after midnight.

Once I arrived in Ho Chi Minh, it was roughly 2am and I was exhausted. I was hoping to take the public bus to my hostel, but of course that wasn’t running at 2am. I hopped in a cab and the driver made his way through the empty streets of the city. Many streets in Vietnam are too narrow for cars to go down, so I hopped out when we were close to the hostel and walked the rest of the way. I rang the doorbell and was greeted by a very sleepy young man who then told me they had put me in a different room in their sister hostel. Partially confused and also just wanting sleep, I said ok and hopped on the back of his motorbike with all of my bags. Thankfully only a 1 minute drive away, we arrived and I had an entire room to myself. By 3:30am I was finally able to go to sleep.

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HoiAn 23 1024x683 - Falling for Hoi An

Heading south from Hanoi by plane on the next part of our journey, Chiara, Lauren and I landed in Da Nang, a seaside town in Vietnam. It’s located about 18 miles north of Hoi An, so we had a driver pick us up from the airport to take us into town. We didn’t really know what to expect from Hoi An, but I think we all fell in love.

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Hanoi 10 1024x683 - Crossing Streets in Hanoi and Cruising Ha Long Bay

I was so excited for my friends, Chiara and Lauren, to experience Vietnam with me on my grand adventure! The first part of our itinerary had us starting in Hanoi for 2 days and then heading east to Ha Long Bay for an overnight stay on a traditional bay boat. We hadn’t really planned out exactly what we were going to do each day, but getting them here was step one!

I’ve had two months to acclimate to the time change, but Chiara and Lauren- not so lucky. They were such champs when I met up with them at our hotel. Even after more than 20 hours of travel, they were still in good spirits! We knew the rest of the afternoon was going to be spent leisurely walking around, and I was tasked with making sure they didn’t fall asleep until at least 9pm, which was a struggle for them starting in the early evening- but they made it!

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Sapa 33 1024x683 - Swooning Over Sapa

When I first arrived in Hanoi, Vietnam, I had about a week by myself before two of my friends from NYC came to visit. I didn’t want to go sightseeing before they got here, so I decided to book a short trip to Sa Pa, located northwest of Hanoi in the Lao Cai province.

I didn’t know that much about Sa Pa before arriving there, only that it was a popular trekking town in the mountains that was adorned with many rice fields. I was excited to do a bit of trekking and also spend the night at a local village in a homestay.My hostel booked my trip for me, and since I still wasn’t feeling well from getting food poisoning, I decided on a quick three day trip.

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IMG 6901 1024x768 - Two Weeks in Cambodia

Compared to my almost four week stay in Thailand, I only planned about two weeks to explore Cambodia. My main goal was to see the Angkor temples, which I’m so happy I got to check off the bucket list! Knowing I didn’t have a lot of time to travel the whole country and needed to be in Phnom Penh for my flight to Vietnam, I decided to stick to the western side of the country and see the cities of Siem Reap, Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh.

Siem Reap

Siem Reap is best known for its proximity to the Temples of Angkor, but since Bob and I were there for about five days, we did some exploring. Bob’s friends, Bryce and Bennett, joined us for a few days and had been told about this ATV tour that took you through villages and rice fields, and they were excited to try it. On a rainy Wednesday morning, we were picked up at our hotel around 7:45am and taken to the main office. There we were given safety instructions on how to drive the utility vehicles and went on test rides.

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TemplesofAngkor 27 1024x683 - The Magic of the Angkor Temples

It’s safe to say that a trip to Cambodia would not be complete without a visit to the Temples of Angkor. Housing the largest religious monument in the world and grounds encompassing 402 acres, its grand scale and incredible architecture holds so much history and culture.

The temples of Angkor were built between 800AD to 1300AD. Many Khmer kings built the temples that now lie just over three miles from the surrounding city of Siem Reap. The most famous temple, Angkor Wat, was built by Suryavarman II (King of the Khmer Empire from 1113 AD to 1145-1150 AD) in the early 12th century and was constructed as a Hindu temple dedicated to the god Vishnu. It was meant to function as his state temple and mausoleum when he eventually died. Angkor also served as the capital of the Khmer empire and a strategic military post. In the 14th or 15th century, the Cambodian people transformed Angkor Wat into a Buddhist temple, which continues to the present day. The temple has become a symbol of Cambodia and can be found on their national flag.

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KohTao 17 1024x683 - Island Hopping in Thailand

After spending two weeks in cities and mountains, I was excited to explore the beaches and islands to enjoy some much needed relaxation and get some scuba diving in. I’d heard so many wonderful things about Thailand’s beaches that I couldn’t wait to get there…so much so that I was ok with booking a 6:30am flight out of Chiang Mai to Krabi.

Krabi- Ao Nang

I didn’t really know much about Krabi before booking my ticket other than I’d heard people telling me it was better than going to Phuket, which apparently is now overrun with tourism and hard partying. Thankfully four girls from my hostel were also on my flight and happened to all be staying at the same place in Krabi, so I decided to tag along. I found out that they actually weren’t staying in the town of Krabi because it’s not on the beach, but about 20 minutes away in a town called Ao Nang. I hopped on the bus with them and headed down to the little beach town.

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IMG 5104 768x1024 - Elephant Heaven at Elephant Nature Park

When I was little I used to see the elephants in the circus and was totally mesmerized by them. I rode them at summer carnivals and always dreamed of riding them through the jungles of Asia. What I didn’t know was how harmful each of these activities were to them.

I knew when I was planning my trip abroad that I wanted to do some volunteering. I love animals, so I started researching what my options were. After reading some articles, I realized that everyone was giving the same advice about picking the right elephant park to go to. “Don’t go to places that let you ride the elephants” and “Make sure you know where your money is going” were all too common to see.

As I started to do my own research around elephants in Thailand, I quickly learned there is a dark side to elephant tourism. Illegal logging, street begging, circus performing and elephant trekking are just a few of the abuses elephants are forced to do. They are beaten, speared, burned, whipped, malnourished, and most work to their death.

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ChiangMai 9 2 1024x768 - In The Mountains of Chiang Mai

I just got back from a week with the elephants and didn’t have much wifi, so I’m catching up on some posts! Truth be told I was kind of excited to leave Bangkok. It’s such a big city completely filled with tourists, and coming from New York City this was the last thing I wanted to deal with. So I was really excited to make my way to Chiang Mai, as it’s surrounded by the mountain ranges of the Thai highlands.

I arrived in the late afternoon to my hostel and decided to relax for the rest of the evening and plan my next day. Saturday morning I woke up early and wanted to go explore the Old City, which is surrounded by a moat. Within the Old City there are many temples, so I just wandered through for a few hours and ate some delicious noodle soup called Yen-Ta-Foo. I walked over to Wat Phra Singh, which is the most revered temple in Chiang Mai, located on the western side of the Old City. I walked the grounds for a while and admired the structures and monks walking around.

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Bangkok 1 2 768x1024 - Bangkok, Can I Get A Wat Wat

Somebody please pinch me because I still can’t believe I’m here. After a 15 hour flight to Taipei, Taiwan, a 3hr 45min flight to Bangkok, 2 train rides and a tuk tuk ride, I made it to Bangkok in one piece. With a population over 8 million, Bangkok is a huge city, and with only a little over 2 days to walk around I knew I couldn’t waste time before exploring.

After settling into my room at the hostel, I decided to stroll around for a few hours before I ran out of steam from traveling. My hostel was located just off the infamous Khao San Road, which is a backpacker’s heaven.

Bangkok 2 1024x683 - Bangkok, Can I Get A Wat Wat

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