Category: Asia

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You jinxed us!

These were the words Mark spoke to me when we arrived in Rome. I knew he was going to say it. I had thought it myself, but I was secretly hoping that he wouldn’t actually say it out loud – I felt bad enough already.

I should probably go back 48 hours and explain to you what had happened. It all started when we arrived in Ho Chi Minh. Our bags were some of the last to arrive on the baggage belt and I happened to say out loud what I was thinking. “Our bags haven’t gone missing yet” Mark pretty much had a heart attack then and there. He replied very franticly “I can’t believe you just said yet, you’re going to jinx us now.” If only I knew how quickly we would be jinxed.

The next day was when it all started to go wrong. The taxi to the airport usually only takes half an hour but there was so much traffic that we were running 20 minutes late which doesn’t seem too bad but we have our routine pretty down pat and it kind of threw us off a bit. It all seemed okay though because once we walked into the airport it looked empty and we walked straight up to the check in counter to drop off our bags. We got upgraded to Premium Economy which was a nice treat. However, we normally get access to a business class lounge because of Mark’s frequent flyer points but we weren’t given an entry pass and couldn’t be bothered going back to get one. This should have been our first clue as to how bad things could go. Then, whilst waiting for our flight to Hong Kong we were told it was delayed by half an hour, then an hour and it was at this time that we started trying to work out if we would make our connecting flight to Rome. We didn’t care though, we knew if we missed it we would get another one – after all we weren’t in a huge rush.

Arriving at Hong Kong airport we had 20 minutes to get off the plane, through transit security and onto another plane. The line for transit security was huge but there was a group of us who were rushing to get connecting flights so people let us through. Once through we had staff members telling us to run, so we walked really fast and got onto the plane in time. We were pretty happy with ourselves as we were seated 15 minutes before take off. I already had planned what movies I was going to watch during the flight and worked out I could sleep for maybe 5 out of the 12 hours. Neither of us said it but we were both hoping they would get our bags onto our new flight. And then, another delay. This time we were to sit on the plane, on the tarmac for at least 2 hours. I was so annoyed at this stage and starting thinking we should have just missed the flight, after all I could have at least slept in a hotel bed. It did occur to me though that they would have plenty of time to get our bags onto the plane so I watched the first movie on my list.

14 hours later when we arrived in Rome I was pretty stoked I would be able to use my Italian passport for the first time and I would get through security before Mark. My line took longer than his line and he ended up waiting for me. Not to worry though because we were in Italy and I was super excited. Once we got to Belt 9 to wait for our bags we jumped onto the free wifi to quickly tell our parents we had arrived safely. After a while of waiting our bags just weren’t there so we checked to make sure we had the correct belt and sure enough we did and this is where I started to realise that I had jinxed us. I didn’t tell Mark what I was thinking though because I was hoping I was wrong. After accepting the fact that our bags weren’t going around on Belt 9 we walked over to the help desk where we were told by a lovely lady that our bags “are not in Rome.” “Where are they?” I asked. “It doesn’t say that they are in Hong Kong but they aren’t here in Rome and there is no message to say they missed the flight so I do not know where your bags are.” We were then told that they would contact the airline for us but they only fly every second day to Rome so we worked out we would have to get back to the airport in 2 days time to make sure our bags arrived before we got on a flight to Turkey that day.

So our 2 days in Rome started with missing bags, us getting lost trying to find our AirBnb accommodation, having to go and buy some clean clothes and some toothbrushes, and then getting to the Police station to register Mark’s visa only to be told that they didn’t do that there. In normal circumstances I know that all of those things would have bothered me but they just didn’t. After a lot of help from our AirBnb host we worked out where we needed to go to get Mark’s visa registered, travelled an hour there, ran around the streets near the Immigration office looking for the post office so we could pay the registration fee, ran back to the Immigration office and sorted everything out all with an hour to spare before closing. I took this as a good sign and Mark told me that he kept thinking that the whole process was like a huge puzzle that had to fit together properly for our path to be cleared in time and that’s exactly what happened. Everything fell into place at the right time and worked out. We were only praying it would do the same for our missing bags.

And what do you know, the jinx was lifted. When we arrived at the airport super early  – Mark said he wanted extra time to sort out what to do if our bags weren’t there – we were taken through a staff security entrance where the same lady that had helped us days earlier was there with a smile on her face. I had the biggest smile on my face when I saw her and she told us that our bags had just arrived. We were so happy to have our bags back and know that we wouldn’t have to worry about trying to get them while we were travelling around Turkey.

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I couldn’t contain my excitement when we got our bags! Also, check out my bargain buy pants from H&M

Our flight to Turkey was delayed but we were too happy we didn’t care and once we arrived in Istanbul we went to our connecting gate to wait for our flight to Kayseri which was delayed as well. All up we were delayed by over 2 hours and when we were waiting for our bags in Kayseri they weren’t there. We had been told twice that our bags were going from Rome to Kayseri and we didn’t need to get them in Istanbul and re-check them but I started worrying. I didn’t want to have to go through this all again, so before we freaked out we showed the airport staff our baggage tickets and tried to explain that they weren’t on the baggage belt. They checked the tickets, looked at us as if we were simply tiring them out and told us that our bags were in the next building at the International arrivals. I’m not going to say I ran there, but I think I could have power walked for Australia. And what do you know – there they were, our bags, with 80% of our belongings for the next 12 months just circling around the baggage belt as if they were a glorious prize.

It’s been a hectic couple of days but here’s to our road trip through Turkey!

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Road-trip time!
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Same same but different

Sorry I haven’t written anything in a while. We’ve been traveling through Hong Kong and Shanghai as the last stops of our time in Asia. I find both cities quite amazing places, they are very similar to each other.

Our days in Hong Kong were spent traveling on the metro, shopping and eating dim sum at Tim Ho Wan – a Michelin star dim sum restaurant that doesn’t cost you and arm and a leg. If you ever go to Hong Kong you must go to one of the restaurants at least once! Hong Kong isn’t cheap though and it was fascinating to see how quickly we could spend our money. Of course we couldn’t miss going to Disneyland which I can only describe as the happiest place on earth. I think I actually skipped down the entrance.

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It was in Hong Kong though that stomach pains I had started getting in Vietnam were getting worse and worse.

We got to Shanghai after spending a couple of days in Hong Kong and Mark spent our first day there catching up with his friend while I declined and thought I would just stay in our room to relax, after all the pains seemed to have disappeared but I got really tired suddenly. Just before we left to go to dinner that night the pain was so bad that Mark took me to the hospital. The nurses there were so lovely and although it took them a couple of attempts they managed to get me onto an IV line. They kept saying I was “very thin and arms very small”. Why thank you Olivia Yen for that compliment. I don’t think it dawned on her though that she was in fact half the size of me. I’ll take it though 🙂

After being hooked up to this IV for hours while they pumped fluids and antibiotics into me we were able to leave and go back and I think I slept for a solid 10 hours. The next couple of days were spent with me recovering from the infection in my abdomen while also battling food poisoning from my lunch one day. It was a rough couple of days.

I was disappointed our time in Shanghai turned out the way it did especially because Mark was by my side most of the time keeping an eye on me but as I write this I am sitting on a plane that has been delayed leaving Ho Chi Minh and I’ve eaten a whole bowl of Pho soup so I think I’m on the mend!!

The next time you hear from me we will be in Europe! Until then, B xxx

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A free bed you say?

I mentioned previously how much Mark and I love Vietnam and how we were looking forward to spending 2 weeks exploring places we had never been before. That isn’t the case anymore. I’m still surprised by how quickly our plans can change while on the road. Mark got a call 3 days ago from a friend in China asking where we were and once Mark told him we were in Vietnam, he asked if we would mind going to Shanghai for a few days? We didn’t have any plans so checked the flights, and there are of course direct flights from Ho Chi Minh to Shanghai and there are also flights stopping in Hong Kong. I love both Shanghai and Hong Kong so we’ve decided to spend a few days in Hong Kong and a few in Shanghai before coming back to Ho Chi Minh. If I thought I would never be back to Vietnam I would have asked Mark if we could stay but I know that we will definitely be back so off we go. Who can pass up a free bed in Shanghai?

I think another reason we decided to go was because we’ve spent the last few days so relaxed in Mui Ne that we both secretly wanted to be amongst the hustle and bustle of a big city. Mui Ne has been amazing. When we first arrived at our hotel here after a 4 hour bus ride and 2km walk in the blaring hear the receptionist asked if we were interested in picking between 2 rooms – one in their budget hotel and one in their nicer hotel. Of course we were interested! So Mark ran off and picked the nicer room which as you could have guessed was not in the budget hotel so then after getting to our room we thought it was just a great start to Mui Ne that we should surely stay another 2 nights here especially when they would give us the room at the cheaper rate. I simply thought we were winning at life.

3 of our 5 days in Mui Ne were spent at the beach in the afternoons while Mark learnt to kiteboard and I read a couple books. 2 of our 5 days in Mui Ne were spent exploring the sites on offer. Quad biking on the white sand dunes at sunrise, wandering through the fairy creek, observing the fishing village and admiring the overall feel of Mui Ne. A place I think has the feel of an island but with access from the mainland.

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4 of our 4 nights in Mui Ne were spent down the road from our hotel at a small restaurant that offered the most amazing passion fruit mojitos which are my favorite.

I’m so content right now I feel ill just leave it there… Love B xxx

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Green hair be gone!

Those of us who know me and Mark well know how much we love Vietnam. We find when traveling though we meet people who don’t love it as much as we do and we just don’t get it. How could you not love Vietnam? The food, the people, the landscape, the cities, everything is just as it should be. After spending some time in Koh Chang speaking to other travellers we think we realised why people love other Asian counties more than Vietnam and it’s because most people we meet are from Europe escaping the winter there so they want amazing beaches. We love going to the beach when on holidays but they don’t need to be amazing beaches – we have amazing beaches back home.

Phu Quoc is an island south of Vietnam that is becoming increasingly popular year after year. It’s still at that stage where is quiet enough that we could ride a motorbike (something we never think of doing in other Vietnamese cities) but built up enough that we could go get a decent burger when we were over Asian food.

One thing Phu Quoc didn’t have was a lot of grocery stores so when I was searching for bi-carb soda (after a lovely message from someone back home) to tackle my green hair I quickly gave up and started searching for tomato sauce as I had read that the red and acid from the tomatoes removes the green from hair. I figured there would be tomato sauce at the store as I had seen it at pretty much every restaurant we ate at. Turns out I was wrong. Hardly any stores had it and then one store that I was certain would have it had sold it so heading back to our hotel one night I was certain I was going to have green hair for weeks to come which made me deeply distraught. What if I left it too long and it just stayed for months? Once we got back to our hotel Mark walked to the reception desk and asked for some tomato sauce for my hair. The girl who spoke relatively good English was really confused. By the time I walked in Mark was sitting at the reception desk on google translate explaining what the tomato sauce was for. Her response was “oh I thought that was what you said but I didn’t understand” she then wanted more information about why it happens so there we were at 10pm explaining why blonde hair goes green in chlorine and why she doesn’t need to worry because she has dark hair.

I read that I should wash my hair before putting the tomato sauce in so that’s what I did and half an hour later my dirty hair was washed and then subsequently covered in tomato sauce. I didn’t take a photo of my experience- I was slightly disgusted the whole time as I don’t eat tomato sauce let alone cover my hair in it on a regular basis… I must say though that despite the smell it actually worked! Pretty much all of the green was removed in one go.

Besides tackling my green hair we spent a couple of days on a motorbike riding to different parts of the island checking out the beaches and heading to the market at night to eat. It was there that we found ice-cream rolls. We have these back home at a place called Scrolls so we were stoked to find them on an island in Vietnam for 30,000 Vietnamese Dong (approx. $2). We ate them nearly every night for desert 🙂

We spent Easter Sunday face timing back home and spending the morning booking flights and hotels for the next part of our trip. We have 2 more weeks in Vietnam but are yet to book anything in so will just see how we go once we leave Phu Quoc on Tuesday.

We are really looking forward to coming back to Phu Quoc in years to come to see how much the island has changed. Mark is looking forward to coming back to try out all of the golf courses. Every time we pass one he always notes the name and when we get back to our hotel he is on google looking it up. I’m pretty sure he has a list going in his phone for places we will go back to just so he can play golf. #caddylife

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How relaxed can you be?

We are in Bangkok at the moment. Arrived here from Koh Chang – an island in the Gulf of Thailand – this afternoon.

We’ve spent the last 5 days so relaxed it was brilliant. We stayed in a hostel dorm room which we try to not do on a regular basis but the hostel we stayed at was really good. The beds were huge for dorm standards and the facilities were pretty good too. We slept in everyday, generally missed breakfast and chilled by the pool for the morning until we decided to go out and actually do something. For a couple of days we hired a motorbike and rode around the island. Generally in places like Koh Chang you can circumnavigate the island by following the same road. You can’t do that in Koh Chang, you can only go so far one way before the road stops and you can’t go any further so like what we did, you stop, have a look at your surroundings and drive back the other way until you reach the other end. We stopped occasionally to look at the views and one time even stopped to go check out a waterfall. The waterfall was more like a pool of water than actual running waterfalls. The climb up there was via a barely visible track covered in leaves which I was adamant would contain snakes, spiders and other things I’m scared of. Safe to say I did not enjoy the walk up to the waterfall while wearing my havaianas, especially because Mark has a tendency to walk off ahead and I was helped down a steep slippery section of the path by some locals.

So apart from riding around the island and checking a few things out we sat by the pool at the hostel because it was so hot and humid. Now normally I don’t actually go into public pools because they kind of gross me out but when it’s too hot outside I had no option but to go in constantly. When I was younger and did go into pools throughout summer my hair would always get a slight green tinge to it. I remembered this and mentioned it to Mark but didn’t actually think it would happen after only a couple of days. I was wrong. My hair is now green at the ends and I have to find a way to fix it while in Vietnam over the next couple of weeks.

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See! I’m not lying, my hair is actually green.

Koh Chang is different to other islands we have been to in Thailand. Phuket & Koh Samui can be relaxing but they also have a huge nightlight area which just isn’t present in Koh Chang. As well as the nightlight Koh Chang isn’t as built up and although there are a lot of travellers there, they all seem to be there for the same reason – just to chill out – and we did meet a couple of people who had been to Koh Chang weeks or even months earlier but were back there to take it easy before their next stops.

We are looking forward to having no plans the next couple of weeks and just travelling through one of our favourite places – Vietnam!

Until then, B 🙂

 

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Learning English

We had an overnight stop in Ho Chi Minh City so that we could organise ourselves and buy a couple of things we needed. I don’t think either of us expected Ho Chi Minh to offer much in the 24 hours that we were there as we will be going back soon and have been multiple times before. It did however offer up something to us that for some reason we had never experienced there before.

We were walking to a camera shop opposite Ben Tanh Market when we were stopped by a girl around my age asking us if she could speak to us as she was practising her English. When we looked behind her there were groups of Vietnamese students surrounding a number of different foreigners all practising English. We had to make it to the camera shop before it closed so we told her we were be back. I don’t think she believed us because she looked totally surprised when  we walked up to her half an hour later. She quickly sat us down with a couple of people and before we knew it we had people coming and going trying to get a few words it. It was a really nice experience as many of the people were our age and each had a different reason for studying English although all were loosely based around getting a good job.

Mark and I ended up having separate conversations with people. My conversation was around real estate, because go figure, the guy who first started talking to me wanted to work in real estate.I’m not sure what Mark spoke about but apart from really just talking and getting to know them we helped with any words or phrases they were stuck on. At one stage I had my group of 4 repeating the word ‘island’ multiple times each time with the ‘s’ disappearing more and more until it was silent.

We only planned on staying for half an hour, but didn’t end up leaving for an hour and a half, when we checked the time and realised that we had to race and pick up our laundry before the store closed.

We really enjoyed our experience and I honestly don’t know we had never seen the group before, especially considering they meet everyday… Maybe we’ve always just rushed past and never actually noticed.

B xxx

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It’s a colourful world we live in

We’ve decided not to go to India for the Holi festival. The costs were adding up very quickly and when we stopped to think about it we didn’t want to be rushing around trying to fit in a festival just because.

In our investigations though I did do a bit of research about the Holi festival and it’s meanings. Good old wikipedia told me that “The festival has many purposes; most prominently, it celebrates the beginning of Spring. In 17th century literature, it was identified as a festival that celebrated agriculture, commemorated good spring harvests and the fertile land. Hindus believe it is a time of enjoying spring’s abundant colours and saying farewell to winter. To many Hindus, Holi festivities mark the beginning of the new year as well as an occasion to reset and renew ruptured relationships, end conflicts and rid themselves of accumulated emotional impurities from the past.” (taken straight from wikipedia) So if I am to focus on the most prominent purpose of the Holi festival being the beginning of Spring then I don’t need to go to India to celebrate Spring’s abundant colours because if I was to take a screen shot of our Instagram posts I could see so many colours, if not more simply in the places we visit each day.

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Just a quick look at our Instagram.

Of course it isn’t the same as being at the festival but I am happy with simply enjoying the colours this world has to offer each day and I don’t feel like I will regret the decision we’ve made. How can I regret not going to one place when I’ll see more of the world than the average person? I count myself lucky to be in the position I am in and I know we won’t get to see everything this colourful world has to offer but we sure as hell will see a lot of it and I’m so happy with that.

love, a colour happy B xxx

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Beautiful Boracay

2 flights, many tricycle rides and a ferry ride later we arrived in Boracay. As soon as we checked into our accommodation we walked straight down to the doctors so Mark could get his foot checked as some of the sea urchin stings were starting to get red and puffy. Turns out though that there isn’t really anything you can do about from cut and pick at each sting without anaesthetic which I could have done myself had Mark let me. We left after Mark got a shot of something and some other prescriptions that came in the form of a scrap piece of paper with the names of the medications on it.

Boracay itself is extremely small when you consider how much they have managed to squeeze onto the island. There are so many hotels here and even more being built. Restaurants and bars are everywhere and so many stalls and shops. It is a lot more touristy than El Nido but it is set up well that we didn’t mind at all. In fact we probably preferred it. If we wanted to be around people we could head in the main part of town, but if we preferred to be by ourselves we just stayed at our accommodation and hung out in the rooftop hammock or patio.

There are so many different beaches here and they are all so picturesque. They are exactly what you see when you google Boracay. I’m glad we came.

  

 
We’ve used the past few days here in Boracay as a really laid back and relaxing holiday. The weather here has been so hot that we have been hanging out at our accommodation most mornings and venturing outside for lunch and the afternoon. Andy, one of our hosts told us we were definitely on island time.

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You could definitely check out all of the activities on Boracay…We were too relaxed to try anything of the sort
Andy and Stephen have been great throughout our stay and I feel like they have made our time here more enjoyable especially when they invited us to celebrate Stephen’s birthday with them. They had a roast pig, which the locals call a lechon as well as a banquet full of food. It was so nice of them to invite us. The food was amazing and we got cake for desert, which for us backpackers was a real treat. First time in 2 weeks I’ve eaten desert and I love desert!

Yesterday just after breakfast Mark got a message from a guy we met in India inviting us to celebrate Holi Festival with him and his family in Jaipur. In a normal circumstance I wouldn’t rush back to India but we thought it would be a great experience so we spent the morning looking into it. I don’t’ think we will end up going though and the cost is quite huge and some of the experiences from other travellers in previous years haven’t been so positive so I don’t think we will regret not going. We will look into a bit more though before we decide.

love, a very relaxed, B xxx

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Oh you little sea urchin.

The flight across from Australia to the Philippines was pretty good considering it was during the day so I wasn’t totally exhausted by the time we landed. I’m in 2 minds about whether I prefer day or night flying. I’m sure I’ll come to a conclusion by the end of our trip.

When we arrived in Manila I can’t say that I really took notice of much. We got to our hotel, checked in, ate some not so nice food at the restaurant downstairs and then went back up to sleep. The next day we were up and back at the airport for our flight to Palawan.

Ahhh Philippine Airlines. Thanks for the ₱3400 (approx. AUD$100) extra baggage cost – you made my day. Normally we never need to check our baggage. We always make sure we have checked baggage with our ticket and if we don’t we are well aware of it before we fly. This time we weren’t and the surprise was not a welcome start to our trip. The flight from Manila to Palawan was pretty normal and when we arrive in Puerto Princesa it started to feel like we were on more of a holiday so we were in pretty good spirits despite the baggage expense.

We walked around for a while after our late lunch/early dinner and came across a talent contest for the local schools. Each school performed a routine with drums, dancers, what I think is a xylophone and a leader with a whistle. Sounds weird I know but we were slightly mesmerised and watched 2 schools compete before it all started to sound the same and we went back to our hotel to get a decent sleep before our 5 hour van ride to El Nido.

5 hours in a car or van would normally be ok for me but I discovered on that van ride that I may suffer from motion sickness. Thankfully I wasn’t sick in the van but I was so glad to arrive in El Nido and get to our hotel.

We didn’t do much during our few days in El Nido. We got a kayak one afternoon and paddled across to another island which took us over half an hour one way! It was pretty amazing to sit on a deserted beach by ourselves. There was nothing there apart from an old boat and some wild dogs. We made our mark in the sand but who knows if anyone would have seen it before it was washed away by the high tide.

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Our destination from our kayak adventure.

On our last day we went Island hopping. We met a lovely mother of 2, Indre, who was doing the tour on her own while her husband looked after their daughters and we spent most of the day talking and getting to know her which was nice. On our second stop there was the option of getting a kayak and kayaking to the lagoon or walking/swimming. The 3 of us took the second option and early on we should have just turned back and got a kayak. Mark was leading us through, pointing out any jellyfish we should avoid on the way and as Indre and I were making our way to shallow water where he had stopped she thought she had been stung by a jellyfish and then a minute later I thought the same, but we both agreed it didn’t feel like a sting it felt more like a bite. Further along the way as we were trying to avoid the jellyfish and now what we thought were biting fish, Mark swore really loudly and told us he had stepped on something spiky. Now, when he said spikey I just thought he meant a spikey rock but as I got closer to him and saw he was in pain we back tracked a bit to more shallow and clear water so we could sit down and examine his foot. It was then he told me it wasn’t a rock but a thing with spikes that had been stuck in his foot that he pulled out. I immediately thought poison being the ‘worst case scenario person’ I am and told him to sit and sure enough there were still thorns in his foot. Indre went back to get a kayak so we could actually go look at the beautiful site we were there to visit. Back on the boat we all investigated our injuries. Mine looked more like a scratch so I was fine, Indre definitely had bite marks on her leg and Mark had thorns in his foot which the boat operator told us was ‘just a sea urchin. You need hot water and pee’. So Mark got both. Hot water from the boat and later pee from himself. Ha! All I could think of was that episode of Friends when Monica gets stung by a jellyfish and Chandler and Joey are there talking about peeing on it!

You can watch the Friends clip here!

Our next stop was another lagoon which we didn’t hesitate in getting a kayak for. This one, even though it was smaller was much more beautiful and mystical even than the first. It also didn’t have any jellyfish so after our kayak we were able to swim around. We stayed close to the boat though to avoid all sea urchins! Despite the seemingly disastrous start to our Island hopping tour we had an amazing time and we so glad we decided to go ahead and do the tour. We had been trying to decide for days before finally booking it.

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This is a local who I swear followed us from Island to Island selling beers to Mark. He must have known he was a sure sale. 

The tour was a great way to end our time in El Nido and I wish it just stopped there and we were teleported to the airport in Puerto Princesa except we weren’t. Mark got sick that night from the sea urchin sting and the 5 hour van ride the next day was so bumpy I actually think I fainted at one stage while trying to stop myself from being sick and Mark was pale faced the whole drive hoping he wasn’t sick again.

We leave tomorrow morning to get 2 flights and a ferry to make our way to Boracay which I think will be just as beautiful as El Nido was. I’m looking forward to more relaxing by the beach, although the weather here is so hot and humid at the moment we are trying to stay cool where ever we go.

Much love, B xx

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Part 2, starts now

Our 2 weeks back home are over now. It’s been a long 2 weeks but it has been nice spending time with our family and friends even though we didn’t get to see everyone we would have liked to.

It was different being back home. We saw things differently. We saw Melbourne through tourists eyes. There is so much to do here. The NGV is a must see when they have some of their amazing exhibits. Bourke Street Mall is a great place to shop or just to sit down and chill out while listening to one of the many buskers you can find there. China Town is great for a cheap meal and the quick trip out to St Kilda will give you a place to hang out and meet fellow travellers. Of course most people wouldn’t ever really think of heading out to the suburbs unless there was a specific thing they were going for but I would recommend people making the trip out if they could. The beaches are cleaner and quieter, some suburbs are so multicultural that you feel as if you have travelled to a different country. Our trains in Melbourne I will admit are confusing and not as straight forward as you will find in many other places around the world but if you can get out of the hustle and bustle of Melbourne you will experience a completely different atmosphere.

I don’t know about Mark but I also saw our family and friends differently. I tried to really focus on what they were saying and how they were acting. We’ve been out to dinner a lot this past week and on numerous occasions I tried to just stop and pay attention to what was going on around me. I watched a group of our friends walk towards their cars joking around with each other and laughing and I knew that I wouldn’t just miss them but I would miss how I feel around them – happy, young and carefree. I did the same when my family went out to dinner. Everyone was talking and eating and I knew that I would of course miss them but also miss how they make me feel – safe and loved.

I’m looking forward to the next year though. I can’t even begin to imagine what is in store for us but I know it will be worthwhile!

All our love,

The Places We