Vietnam

From Phmon Penh in Cambodia we went to Ho Chi Min City in Vietnam. Everybody uses a motorbike, so traffic is insane!! The roads are full of scooters...it's a total chaos!!

Then we flew from Ho Chi Min City to Hanoi in the north of Vietnam. The flight was very smooth, but still the locals kept throwing up. Yep! don't know why!!

The worst part, was that on the mini bus from the airport to the city, they continued puking!! unbelievable!! we were on the ground and the bags of puck were filling up rapidly! I guessed we should have suspected something when the driver starting handing out plastic bags as soon as we sat down.

The plan was to go to some beaches east of Hanoi, but the weather was pretty bad (actually there was a typhoon!) so we stayed in Hanoi for a couple of days, just relaxing and recovering from the puke saga!

Cambodia continues

In Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, you can go to the Killing Fields, which is where a large number of people were killed and buried during the Khmer Rouge regime. Also, there is a former school that used to be a prision where Cambodians were interrogated, tortured and murdered. From 1975 to 1979, 1.7 million people died. Visiting the sites was difficult, you can feel the pain. Really really horrible!!!

When you leave these places, there are lots of disabled people and naked children begging, some of them would sell water, bracelts and even books written by the survivors of the Khmer Rouge. I decided to buy one of the books to learn more about the history, and also to try and help. The problem is that you CAN'T really help. There is so much poverty!! There are so many people asking for money...they say "just one dollar", and yes! that's not a lot of money...but if you give one dollar to the 40 people you see in 2 hours...that's different. I felt uncomfortable, guilty, angry, frustated and annoyed at the fact that I couldn't do anything to help these people.

I wish I can be rich, so I could build a school for the children that are begging...

Cambodia - Angkor Wat

Again...I thought I was going to see Angelina Jolie running through the temples (Tomb Raider was filmed here), but nop!

The place is incredible!!

One of the wonders of the world!!

South of Thailand

We went to Ko Phi Phi, Phucket, Ko Samui and Ko Tao

To summarize: Phucket is all about sex...old westerns with young local girls!! they walk together holding hands...really disgusting!!!

From Ko Phi Phi, we did a tour on a boat and we ended in a wonderful turquoise water lagoon!! I thought Leo Di Caprio was going to appear...but no! instead I had my sexy Irish man!!

Ko Tao was amazing for snorkeling!! we got a piece of bread and in an instant we were surronded by crazy fish!! it was great fun!!

Enjoy the pics!!

ps: the boxing fight was staged!! the things one do for a free bucket of alcohol!! haha no worries, I didn't get hurt!

Malaysia

Next stop, we flew to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia. What is there to see besides the Petrona's Towers? mm...not much! Bintang Walk is a famous area where you can find restaurants and do some shopping. We stayed in a beutiful 4 star hotel (yes, we took a break from the backpacking scene), and there was a pretty cool swimming pool (those who know me, understand how happy that makes me!). Well, I decided to go for a swim and do a few laps...when my husband reminded me that this is a muslim country and that I should cover my shoulders going down in the elevator. I was wearing a black bathing suit and a shawl, before I left I added another shawl to cover every part of my body! The strangest part of all was that I felt so naked in the pool! yes! the other women were fullly dressed watching their children enjoying the water, and the 2 other women actually in the pool were wearing a one piece bathing suit with a little skirt over it! I felt quite uncomfortable! weird! In the hotel's room there are arrows indicating were one should pray...I believe always facing Mecca.

After a few days, we went to Lankawi, an island on the north west of Malaysia. It is gorgeous! We stayed in a beautiful place, we rented a scooter to exlore the island, and we celebrated our anniversay with a bottle of champagne watching the sunset! unforgetable!

Hope you like the pics!

Indonesia continues (Bali)

We went to Prambanan (the largest Hindu temple) and to Boroduru a Buddhist temple; both of them are in Java- Indonesia. They are quite impressive! Both part of Unesco World Heritage. Lot's of school children go there as a field trip with their teachers; and since they are noy used to seeing many foreigners we felt like celebrities when they asked for pictures with! haha...yes! Specially Enda...they kept saying: "Picture please! so beautiful!". For the record I agree!! My husband is absolutly gorgeus!

We also went to see a traditional Ballet...I loved it! for Enda...mmm... a bit too long!

At 3 am we woke up to see the sunrise in Gunung Bromo, and active volcano. Here again, the locals wanted pictures with us. The view spectacular! Absolutely worth it!

Finally, Bali...well, let me tell you that I had high expectations for this place! I thought it was going to be absolutely amazing...well not quite! Kuta, the beach, is very turistic and full of surfers (I prefer shallow waters...just realxing with my floti).

Ubud however, in the island of Bali if beautiful! It's a tiny cultural town-very pretty. With lots of rice fields and an average of one temple per street. Something that called my attention was the offerings they leave on the temples/streets (check the last picture).

Jakarta + Yogyakarta - Indonesia

Ok, so we are finally back from the trip and I am starting to sort out the over 1,000 pictures we took! Don't worry! I promise I will only post 30 pictures at a time! ;)

Here you can see pictures of Kraton: The Sultan's Palace, the market, the town (not much too see) and the most common method of transport: the tuk-tuk

Hope you like it! There is more to come!