The Crowded and Full of Traffic Jakarta, Indonesia

We flew to Jakarta from Singapore as a stop through on our way to Bali. This place is crazy.. I've never seen soo much traffic!  I've been in SE Asia for over a month, and I still felt quite a bit in awe over how crowded and populated it was..

Our first night, we stayed in a pretty dodgy place; with the 2 of us, we made a total of 4 in the entire hostel.We walked around a bit when we got there; went on small side streets along with big main roads. We ended up eating at this really really local place; it was basically in some lady's house lol. It was soo awesome!

Then we hung out at the 7/11 of course! lol. And just watched everything around us.. Soo much traffic, more than I've seen in all of southeast Asia so far... And the cars/bikes/vans got soo close to each other.. it was crazy.. and the honking.. it's insane.. soo much honking! That's really all you could hear sometimes.  And when you crossed the street.. you literally had to be on your toes, and be prepared to sprint or stop at any given moment as you were crossing through the cars.

The next day we went to a different hostel.. this place was great!! It was called Six Degrees and it was more in the city center, and much better than the hostel before.

We ended up having a local kind of day.. went walking to find an antique market and it started downpouring on us.. a local offered for us to stay under cover in their village area, which had a pool table.. so we ended up playing pool with them for over an hour!  Then we found the antique market (a street away lol). After walking through the antique market (and barely seeing any white people), we found this park area full of all locals. We ended up meeting and hanging out with some local college kids who were all playing violin!! 

I definitely had a moment. One where you just think to yourself.. is this really happening right now?  And then realize it is, and life is soo soo good. And God is soo good for allowing soo many different cultures to be able to communicate and get to know each other.

That night we hung out on the roof of the hostel.. it had a BEAUTIFUL garden on the top, and a nice view of the city. :) We also met a Dutch girl who we hooked up again with in Ubud!

<3

Headed to Bali next.

Chinese New Year at Kek Lok Si Temple on Penang, Malaysia (Georgetown too)

It's soo funny.. at the border, the bus literally just drops you off and the driver doesn't say anything.. so the only thing you can do as you leave and enter the next country is follow the person in front of you. It really makes me laugh.

Penang was my first stop in Malaysia. I stayed there for 2 nights right smack dab in the middle of Little India in George Town! 

I tried Roti Canai for the first time at the nearby restaurant to my hostel.  It is thin, layered/flaky dough that is served with curry. I then explored the city by walking around all day, passing many mosques and a few temples, went to a cathedral too! I also walked to the esplanade because George Town and Central Penang is actually on an island surrounded by water, and there are 2 ways you can get on it; either by a ferry or by taking one of the longest bridges in Asia!

After taking a breather (and maybe a nap) in the aircon back at the hostel, I decided to check out Kek Lok Si Temple and then Penang Hill, which were both a nice hour long bus ride away. I asked the guy at my hostel if he thought it was too late to be able to see both, because by this time it was 3 and the sun sets around 6:30. He said I'd have perfect time to go see the temple and then to go to Penang Hill to see the sunset! 

Well, by the time I got to the temple, it was about 5:00 or so, because of the traffic, then I ended up going too far on the bus so I had to wait for it to turn around, THEN I had to make the hike up to the temple, when finally, I saw a sign that said it closes at 6:00! Wonderful, I thought.. I figured I'd go in and see as much of it as I could until they kicked me out though.. I mean, I did make the trek all the way out there and I didn't want it to be for nothing.

So I was walking around, there were a TON of Chinese lanterns lacing the entire temple, it was pretty cool. At one point, it must've looked like maybe I was leaving, because a local came up to me and told me to stay until 7, because they will turn on all the lights!  They were staying open late for the Chinese New Year I found out.. lucky me!!

I decided to climb up the Pagoda Tower in the temple, to just get away from the crowd of people. I stayed up there until 7:00, when I met a girl from England (the only other white person I saw there) who was living in Penang.  We hung out for a bit, she asked when things were suppose to start happening, I said about 10 minutes ago.. lol. So we decided to wait. There was no one at the top of the Pagoda, so it was pretty nice and peaceful, whereas down below there were TONS of Chinese locals (or maybe tourists too).

After their meditation started, all of a sudden the lights came on.. all the lanterns were lit, the rooftops were laced with all different colored lights, and then.. fireworks started going off!  They were amazing!  And we were Soo close to them!  I've never been that close to fireworks before. At certain points we stepped back (even though there was only a wall behind us) because the fireworks were soo loud and close.. it was pretty cool.

We said goodbye and left and I found my way back to the bus stop, where I ended up meeting a guy from England. It's soo easy to meet people here because you know who the backpackers are. We rode back to Georgetown together, but had hostels in different areas, so we said out goodbyes after a nice long conversation. 

That night, I went to dinner with some people who were in my dorm, Lyndsey from Ireland and Rich from England.  We went to this place with a bunch of street food and it also had and awesome horrible Asian show.  There was dancing (non-traditional) and singing.. and the mic was waaay too loud for the gal's voice.  It was soo funny/ridiculous/hurt my ears.

Rich is also headed to KL (Kuala Lumpur) next, so we'll be taking the bus together!!

<3

Things I've learned:
More people speak English here, and better.
It's more expensive.
And they give oranges as a gifts for the Chinese New Year!

My bus left me at the border in Singapore...

Welp.. I didn't have the best experience while getting to Singapore.

The bus left without me at the border. Wtf.
  Who does that!?

I wasn't happy at all. It's funny now, but I hope that not many people have to experience that.. because it sucked.
Really bad.

No phone.
No money.
No bus.
No clue what to do.

I let some tears flow, and then after, I got my head on straight, got some money from an ATM, and asked someone about a bus into the city..

Much easier said than done of course... The ATM was a 15 minute walk away (and I wandered around looking for it for quite awhile), and there were about 10 buses to chose from.. and it was hard to understand the people I asked for help.

Ask me to tell the story in person when you see me.

Luckily I found Wi-Fi when I got into the city... After the bus driver gave me the wrong currency back, costing me about $5 more than it was suppose to.. I got a hold of my friend and we were able to find each other.

We planned our trip to Indoneaia a bit, and then went walking around and then into Chinatown and Marina Bay (with the Merlion) that night for dinner.

The next day we bought our flights to Jakarta, Indonesia!  Planned, met up with another friend we met when we were in Koh Samui, and then went out for a Chinese New Year dinner with his aunt, her sister, and frien! 

That was really cool! We got this dish (I forget what it's called) that they only serve during the Chinese New year... It's tradition to toss everything together in it; the carrots, salad, vegetables, fish, etc.
How it's done is we all got chopsticks and tossed it at the same time, lifting everything high into the air and mixing it!  All while we wished each other out loud, luck, happiness, health, and a prosperous new year.  It was really cool to have been able to experience that tradition.  :)

<3

Next stop:  Jakarta, Indonesia!

KL, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

I came to Kuala Lumpur with Rich, who was at my last hostel in Penang. I ended up staying 4 nights, unfortunately, because you definitely don't need that many for KL.. but I decided to stay that long, because I figured that it would be pretty crowded trying to get from city to city and trying to find a cheap hostel because of the Chinese New Year...
well..
turns out..
it wouldn't have been.

Oh well! 

I had an AWESOME time in Kuala Lumpur, and it was because of the company around me.

I arrived with Rich, and he helped me find my hostel, which we didn't end up finding lol. We walked all over the area that we KNEW it was in, but didn't find it. So we went to his hostel (we booked at different times and therefore, different hostels), and asked them for directions. They told me it was basically right where I came from.. I definitely had my doubts though. So Rich and I exchanged Facebook names, to maybe meet up at some point while we were both here, and I was on my way.

I followed the receptionists direction and sure as shit, it led me to a small sign with my hostels name on it!  Figures.. but something good that came of all that wandering was that I found some bubble tea shops! Well rich and I ended up meeting back up after dropping our stuff off.. we literally walked all over the city!  Through Chinatown and a smaller market, we walked to the palace, which ended up being lit up with really colorful lights, so it obtained the name Technicolor Palace for the remainder of our time together. There is a big grassy area just in front of it that gave a great view and we sat there for about an hour just chatting, it was great. Then I asked him how far the Twin Patronus Towers were, and he said about a 10 minute walk (see, he's been in KL before)... About 45 minutes later, we made it to the towers!  They were gloriously lit up, it was pretty cool. On our way back, we hit up a local Indian restaurant, where all the food was room temp and sitting out for hours.. but we didn't care because we were soo hungry! 

It was such a great night, Rich is good company, and it marked the beginning of our 4 day adventure in KL!

The next day I spent with Jazz, a girl I met from my hostel, we were bunk bed mates and got along crazy well!   We did a little shopping in China town, she had some things to pick up for her fam in Australia, and I needed some tanktops, or singlets, as they call them.. we got some pretty great deals, and I learned a lot about bartering, just by being around Jazz as she was buying things.
Then it was time for a beer, we headed to the Raggae Bar around 3:00 lol, where Rich was staying, as I was to meet him there anyway because we planned on seeing a movie later on.. welp, that didn't happen. We met some guys at the table next to us, one from New Zealand and the other from Canada.. then Rich showed up (if I haven't said it already, he's from England). So there we were.. and we found out what happens when an Aussie, an American, Canadian, a Kiwi and a Brit walk into a bar... You end up drinking for 12 hours.  Though, we did stop for dinner and a shower at one point too.. it was such a fun night, later on we met Soo many other backpackers too, it was crazy.

The next day Jazz left.  :(  We had breakfast together and then said our goodbyes. I then met up with Rich and we had lunch, walked to these gardens in the city, went to the really posh mall by the towers, walked around the area surrounding it which had an awesome 360° view of the city along with a water fountain, and then ended the day with a cocktail in the SkyBar which had an amazing view of the towers.

The next day, we went to Batu Caves, which is this area with quite a few temples and caves with monkeys!! That was exciting:) except there are a TON of steps in order to get into the caves.. it did give a nice view though!  And when we got up there... There were no monkeys!!  But then, just as we were talking about it, they started coming down the cave walls!!

After, we went back into the city and looked at the Technicolor Palace to see what it looked like during the day, and then later on we went to the theater to see Les Miserables.  It was good!

One night we also ate at a street food place where you pick raw meat, and then chuck in in boiling water that is in the center of the table in which you sit. It was pretty dang cool!!

I also tried Cendol..  it's shaved ice, coconut & coffee sauce, these green slimy jelly things, chocolate ice cream, and kidney beans... It was really weird, but surprisingly delicious!

Then it was time to say goodbye...

It's hard realizing you will probably never return to some places, and when you say goodbye, you have to say goodbye to them forever..

Rich walked me to the metro station, but then we said goodbye  :(  and I was off... The Kuala Lumpur BTS bus station is basically a legit airport. It's crazy..

<3

On my way to Melaka now!
Then it's off to Singapore.

Ps - totally stayed in a 24 bed dorm.. biggest dorm by far.. and it wasn't too bad!

One of my favorites so far.. Melaka, Malaysia (World Heritage City)

Melaka is a glorious little town.. I LOVED it SOO much!!  I could definitely see myself going back. I got there via bus, and when I arrived at the bus station, I took the local bus into the city.  There were soo many people and SOO much traffic as I was getting into Red Dutch Square, in the center of town. The day I arrived was a holiday and it was also the Monday after the New Year weekend... So it was crazy! 

I only stayed 2 nights unfortunately, because I am meeting a friend to travel to Indonesia with in Singapore, my next stop. The hostel I stayed at was called Rooftop Guesthouse.. and it was AWESOME!  It is owned by a family. I was welcomed by the son, who showed me all around this beautiful accommodation. I stayed in the 4 bed dorm... The beds were actually beds!  Not bunk beds (and I ended up having 3 amazing roommates, more info to come)! The food on the table in the kitchen was all complimentary as well.. and it was legit food.. bananas, crackers, bread, and anything the mum happened to make that day.. she would home make something new every day.. while I was there, she made quiche and English muffins.. which were both AMAZING!

I took full advantage of my first day.. it was crowded, but I went all over.. I started with going to watch the sunset.. I had no idea where I was going, but I just followed the Norfolk along the river through the middle of town for about a 20 minute walk, and ended up at the shore with a beautiful view of the sunset.. a local fisherman and I were the only people there.. it was soo great.

After, I just started walking around.. they have these little bicycle taxis that are COVERED in flowers.. and blast music.. usually Gangnam Style to be honest.. of course. And at night they are all lit up with lights as well. Its really hilarious.

There are ancient ruins in this city, a pirate ship, a Dutch square, canals, and a really long cheap shopping street called Jonker Walk... It really took a lot to not buy everything in sight.. it's a good thing my bag can't fit anything lol. But I did find some cheap singlets AND I bought a stereotypical Asian shirt.. can't WAIT to embarrass myself with that at home.  :)

I was on my own all night but I had such a lovely time, sometimes it's just nice to be alone. I can't figure out what it was, but I felt soo happy that night. :)  I also tried quail eggs on a stick!  They were lovely!  I also had this frozen lemon flavored popsicle in the shape of an egg thing. Hah, I guess it was an egg kind of night for me.. Later on I walked along the canal/river and then headed in around 11:30 for bed.  At night, Melaka is literally painted red with lanterns, flags, and lights all throughout the city.  I don't know if it is all the time or if it was because of the Chinese New Year, but it really looked beautiful. 

The next morning I met my other roommates!  Jamie (Ireland), Heather (America), and Kazushi (Japan)!  We spent the whole day together!!  We decided to just walk around.  

We headed to the street full of temples first.  Heather and I ended up meeting and going along with this local around who wanted us to follow him.. Jamie and Kazushi followed as well. It was soo awesome!  This guy took us all over.. took us to all the temples and different picturesque areas, all while taking photos of us and with us. it was hilarious!  I couldn't stop laughing.. in all the photos you'll see of me, the smile is really me in the middle of giggling. He gave us oranges and candy because that is tradition for the new year, which was sweet. Later on when we went back to look at the photos.. in every picture he isn't even smiling lol bit when we were following and talking to him, he was full of them!  Hah.. really funny. That was an awesome experience.. I'm still laughing about it.

We walked down Jonker during the day, it was less crowded than when I walked around it at night.. and then wecontinued to just wander around the rest of the city during the day.

That night we went to this free music show I was told about while buying my bus ticket to Singapore, at Discovery Cafe. It was a blast!  Afterward, we went to this famous Satay (meat on a stick with good sauce on it) place, which always has an hour long line.. we went at around 11:00 and sire enough there was still a line! We met some locals while we were in line and ended up sitting with them as well.. it was soo much FUN!!

I just seriously loved everything about my experience in Melaka.. it was soo great and fun and I was soo happy the whole time. The next morning was goodbyes and then Singapore!

<3

I just left Malaysia.  Melaka was definitely my favorite city I went to, out of the 3 cities I visited in this country.

You know you're in Asia when...

You hear Gangnam Style multiple times daily... I think I heard it at least 10 times yesterday.

There are cute cartoon animals all over... everything.

There's no cheese anywhere. 

When girl's iPhone covers have a bright & cute cartoon animal on it and beads dangling from it.

Many people have very very high pitched voices.

There are seaweed flavoured Pringles.

You hear boy band music everywhere.

You eat at the same table as ants.

When there's a temple on every corner..

When there's really no traffic pattern, but it works.

You take your shoes off before entering stores or homes as a sign of respect.

Ladyboys.

Bigger cars have the right of way... Well, maybe it's like that in Texas too.. not sure.

If you're white, everyone on the street offers you a taxi (Indonesia).

You see 6-9 year olds driving motorbikes.

Whole families fit on motos.

You get sick of saying no so much. (To fruit, jewelry, & clothing sellers/venders, taxi drivers, etc)...

Aaaand... MONKEYS!!!

I love it here soo much..

I <3 Asia!

What I've forgot to mention...

Always carry toilet paper.

Malaysia! Initial impression/differences from Thailand

It smells really bad at the border.
They use the same letters as in our alphabet!!
The highways are much better.. they actually look like highways!
Definitely more developed.
More people can speak English, and a bit better too.
Everyone really likes to talk.. locals just seem to love to chat it up with me as I'm walking around. :)
Chinese New Year!!

Transport from Thailand to Malaysia Update:

Koh Lanta to Penang:
this was just hilarious..
- Minibus
- Ferry
- Minibus
- Ferry (the guy in front of me said after getting on this ferry and looking back, "That ramp there.. I think it's meant to go up. And that safety gate.. I think that's meant to be closed." Hahaha. Awe mann..
- Minibus
- Taxi minibus
- Taxi cab
- Minibus
- Minibus
- Moto.

Over 12 hours of travel... What a day.

<3

The Adventures of Frank and Miranda: Koh Samui to Krabi to Koh Lanta

Well in Koh Samui I found a travel partner for 5 days! Frank: he's from Amsterdam, loves to dj (minimal house techno) and is on holiday for a few weeks. This is the tailend of his trip. We spent 1 night in Krabi town (which means we didn't see the beautiful beaches there, just the city portion), and then 4 nights at a resort on Koh Lanta! So we definitely got our share of beautiful views there!

We caught a taxi to the pier pretty early in the morning after saying goodbye to all our wonderful new friends we met in Koh Samui, and took a boat to the mainland.. the ferry was a BEAUTIFUL ride! With a bunch of islands in our distant view and gorgeous blue waters.. we sat outside of course. :)  Then we had to catch a bus to the bus station and then a tuk tuk to Krabi Town, where we ended up booking a cheap hostel through the travel guy..  it ended up being the dodgiest hostel either of us have ever stayed in... It was hot, muggy, full of bugs, bathroom was sick, bugs, cracks in the walls, bugs, stains on the bedsheets, bugs, and just all around dirty. Never again.. but at least it was only 200baht each! 

We spent the night just walking around the city, I found some bubble tea, we visited a temple, went to 7/11 (for every backpacker's needs), and went to this really awesome outdoor tiki/restaurant (these things are everywhere, I love them soo much)!

The next day we took a mini bus to the pier to catch a boat to Koh Lanta! The boat ride was great.. sitting on the front of the ferries and boats here is truly the best way to go.. the views were soo gorgeous!  We took a taxi to our resort, Moonlight Exotic Bay Resort, once we got there and dropped our bags in the bungalow, we headed right to the beach straight away!  It was a rocky beach with a gorgeous view of the sunset at night and the water during the day.  
We got a bottle of wine and just enjoyed life.
Later on we ended up meeting some locals and Frank DJ'd for them at the resorts Tiki Bar!  It was such a great, and very late night. And it was just all around awesome to be hanging out with the locals.. and on top of it, we were the only ones there that night!

The next day we literally sat by the pool and beach all day long. It was wonderful.

On our 3rd day, we rented a  scooter and rode around the island. It was really great. We just rode around all day, got a little sunburnt, and saw beautiful, beautiful views around the island. We stopped at many viewpoints and got many shakes, for me mango shakes :) and just cruised. We stopped in Old Town and walked on the pier, ended up seeing some surrounding land/islands, and we stopped in a shop with a bunch hammocks, I think it was called The Hammock House and Frank got one!  As we were leaving, we saw a cute white cat in a little hammock his size with a do not disturb sign on it.. it was pretty adorable.  Also, at one point, we saw a monkey on the side of the road!! It was really exciting:)

That night we met some Austrians when we went out to eat. They were great!  Ended up hanging out all night with them. We also met a woman who fell off her scooter because she was checking out a guy with nice blond long hair..  Hah!  She was hilarious.. when she fell, he ended up going to help her and she told him that she crashed because of him lol..  they ended up hanging out for a few hours to follow.. Hah! 

The sunsets at the resort were simply gorgeous, some of the most beautiful sunsets I've ever seen. 

It was a great time in Koh Lanta with Frank. After 4 nights there we split into out separate ways.. he was headed back to Amsterdam, and I was headed to Malaysia.

<3

Next stop Penang, Malaysia!

Koh Phangan & Full Moon Party

So I met some Aussies, Brenden and Matt, on my way to Koh Tao, and they told me to let them know if I'd be headed to Koh Pangan for the full moon party on the 26th/Australia Day, because they have a place where I could stay for the night and where I could chuck my bag. 

So after debating for a bit in Koh Tao, I decided to go and contact them via Facebook, and right away they sent me their room number and where they were staying. AWESOME. It truly solidified my decision.

When I got to the island I took a moto taxi and he full on dropped me off at the WRONG PLACE!  That sucked soo bad! So I started walking to the main road and got another taxi to drive me to the resort.. Yes. A resort.. not a hostel. This place was insanely BEAUTIFUL!  AND!  IT had an infinity pool!  Where it looks like it runs into the ocean!  And it had aircon, AND they got me a BED!  IT was sooo great!  By far the best place I've stayed.

On the night of the full moon extravaganza in which everyone goes to the beach, dresses in fluorescent colors, paints their faces, and has a blast on the night of the full moon.. we headed out to dinner, where I full on got a hamburger.. Yes, I got a hamburger in Thailand.. I was in need of some American food, I just couldn't help it! 

Then we headed off to the beach, Brenden bought some fluorescent paint and a paintbrush.. while him and Matt used the paintbrush, I attempted to create something on my shoulder with my fingers.. it looked pretty rubbish, and guess what!?  As I was wiping it off, a local Thai girl offered to paint me! and of course I said Yeah!! It was soo great!  We spent about an hour just hanging out and painting each other.  At the end I wanted to give her some money as a thank you, but she refused to take it! We took some photos, exchanged names for fb, of course, and we were on our way (after sneaking some Bahts in her bag).

It was a great time on the beach, lots of music, dancing, glowsticks, fire shows, and just lots of people from all over the world!

It was an utter blast! 

The next day I walked down the beach and just relaxed by the pool.. it was such a good time.

Thanks again boys.

<3 

Next stop, Koh Samui!!