Best of Asia- stuff Lonely Planet doesn't tell you.

When deciding on what my final travel post should consist of, I thought it would be appropriate to do a "Best and Worst" compilation. However, in efforts not to offend anyone out there, I decided it was more globally friendly and conscious of me to just include the best of the best.If you want to know the worst of the worst, email me.

Friendliest people as a whole: Indonesia. A Hindu and Muslim country that has much misconception around it, its people were still the nicest and most welcoming, especially on Java. It didn't hurt they thought we weren't just tourists, we were special visitors to be revered. Everywhere else, most locals look at foreigners either with disdain or as though we have dollar signs over our heads.

Best beaches:  Hoi An, Vietnam & Karon beach, Phuket, Thailand. Most of the Thai islands also compete as they have some of the most beautiful turquoise water- just like in the movies. Also, the Vietnam beaches we went to reminded us a lot of Southern California's best shores.

Beach front, Hoi An, Vietnam

Best food: Thailand (Curries! Stir fries! Spring rolls!) Seriously, as soon as we left Thailand we realized how much we had been taking Thai cuisine for granted. I think we assumed the Massaman Curry, Cashew Nut Chicken, deep fried spring rolls with no weird ingredients in them (cough cough, Vietnam & Cambodia), and Thai style pancakes would be everywhere else on the Asian map. They weren't.

Most precious children: Vietnam. I was this close to stealing 2 babies from a guesthouse in Hue. One's name was Potato. Plus, if the parents have any sense of style, they dress their kids to the nines, therefore making them even more precious.

Best shopping: Bangkok, hands down. I wish I could go back for one more day of pure, unadulterated shopping bliss. I know it's cliche, but the knockoff bags, trendy clothes, and cheap knick knacks made this place heaven. MBK- by far the largest shopping center I've ever encountered- took up a full day of our time.

Best beer:  Tiger & Beer Lao. Sidenote: Cheapest beer was 7 glasses for $1 in Hoi An, Vietnam. Since wine is hard to come by over here, and super expensive, I had to acquire a taste for beer I had never developed until this trip.

Guesthouse with the best bang for our buck: Chiang Mai, Thailand @ the Little Bird Guesthouse. I think we paid $3 each for a double room, in the best location. Plus, since most of the place had dorm beds, it was easy to make friends and mingle downstairs. The staff there was so helpful too.

A Little Bird Guesthouse

Best room:  Pineapple Guesthouse, Phuket. Stayed here at the beginning of our Thailand travels. It was cheap, had maid service, a fridge, cable TV, fresh towels, hot water, and free wi- fi. After Indo, this place was a godsend. 

Best locals to hangout with: Our gang in Pangandaran, Indonesia. We miss you Hilman, Araf, and everyone else at the Mini Tiga Homestay!

Best site to see: Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia. So cliche, but so true. Also, the Big Buddha in Phuket, Thailand. The many simple wonders of Asia also have a top spot: cows on the side of the road, watching herds of water buffalo out of the bus window, 3 year old children carrying their baby sisters and brothers...the list goes on.

A normal occurence

Best sunset: 4000 Islands, Laos. Did you catch our 10 pictures of it on Facebook? Also, Kuta Beach, Bali, Indonesia. The sunsets everyone raves about really are that beautiful. The sun looks gigantic, orange, and blazing all the way down to the horizon.

Best day trip: Pai, 5 hours north of Chiang Mai by motorbike. The most beautiful, winding roads leading up to a small hippie town. The stats leading up the mountain? 162km (about 100 miles), and over 700 curves. We had a great group, which made the journey even better.

Best bike ride on an island: 4000 islands on my birthday. Meandering through dirt roads on our way to see dolphins, we saw about 10 cows, 6 goats, 4 pigs, 11 chickens, and 100 dogs. When we finally reached our destination, there were no dolphins. So we got a coke and rode back.

Best drink: Pink Gay @ Lao Lao Gardens, Luang Prabang, Laos. 2 for approx. $1. They were so yummy. I think those two drinks alone got me ready for a night of dancing at the local club. We only left when they stopped playing dance music and put on the Laos tunes.

Best nightlife: Koh Phi Phi, Thailand. Beachfront bars with fire shows? Check. Bars with live Thai boxing? Check. $3 buckets (see Thai-light Reel post)? Check. With enough energy, travelers, and bars on this little island to last a lifetime, this is hands down the winner of Asia.

One of the many outdoor beach bars on Koh Phi Phi

Best birthday breakfast we didn't eat: French Toast in a bag. Ross being the loving boyfriend he is thought he would "surprise me" with breakfast in bed on my 24th birthday morning. Unfortunately, on an island with approximately 10 standing structures this proved difficult. The bakery had no baked goods (he was thinking a cinnamon roll) until "later" and the restaurants had no take away boxes. So, he returned with french toast. In a plastic bag. 

Best meal had on a beach: Pangandaran, Indo on the "White Sandy Beach". The local guys cooked up fresh fish on the fire, while we chilled on the sand and watched the sunset. We ate the fish & sticky rice with our hands and loved every minute of it. They brought a case of Bintang, a few towels, and an iPad. When it started pouring down rain an hour later in true Indo fashion, we all scurried under the trees for cover and hiked in the dark through a monkey infested forest back to civilization. 

Well, that about brings me to the end of our journey here. It has been filled with so many exciting, happy, and beautiful moments...& we've also had our fair share of unluckiness and horror stories. The past 4 months have flown by in a heartbeat and have made us contemplate so many aspects of life. I think the main thing we are taking away from this trip is: we can't wait to do it again.

Any suggestions for the next journey anyone?

Thanks to everyone who has been reading and following my blog from the beginning! Knowing people actually read it made it way more fun to write. :)

See you all soon! 

xoxo,

Linds

'Bodia, Snooky, and 'Nam

With only 10 days left (EEK!) of traveling throughout Asia, I wanted to give a quick recap of where we've been over the past few weeks. November was a blur to me...it came and went seemingly within only a few short days. The entirety of Laos and Cambodia were accomplished within this month. Ironically, the month that went by so quickly started with a slow boat into Laos, and ending with taking an even sloooower night bus out of Cambodia. For the past 10 days, we have been in Vietnam soaking up city life and the beach. Despite a nasty strep throat bout for a day or two, things have been peachy but we are still anxiously awaiting the holidays at home!

Some highlights:

1. Cambodia- Angkor Wat and the surrounding temples. (This is an obvious one.) What can only be described as "majestic," these sites made me feel as though I was back in time, thousands of years ago. For some reason, seeing Angkor Wat at sunrise heightened this feeling immensely--seeing the sun come up over the ruins and the tall trees made it seem like nothing had changed since it's inception. Bonus: Most of the temples were virtually empty when Ross and I viewed them. That made climbing in, out, and around them even more fun. It's not like in the US where there are ropes around every corner--it was free reign.

2. Cambodia- Sihanoukville (aka Snooky). Despite having to bribe a police officer with our lowly $5 "police fine", Snooky was amazing. The beaches- top notch. The beer- .25 cents a glass. This smallish beach town is what Thailand's most popular beaches were 15 years ago. Glad to have happened upon this little gem.

3. Vietnam:

a. Women dressed in matching outfits. All. The. Time. They look like pajamas, but are way more unnatural in daylight hours. (This photo comes after searching Google for 20 minutes..Apparently, the real outfits just aren't heard of online. This is a pretty good depiction though!)

b. Shirts that say, "Vietnam- I came back." Also, being able to say, "Well, back in 'Nam...."

c. Ho Chi Minh. Very cool, leafy green big city in the south. I may be biased about this one because we met a guy from Encinitas who opened up a Mexican restaurant, Gringo's, and fed us delicious California burritos and nachos for 2 days. Other than the fact that you may as well walk across the street blindfolded because the motorbikes are that insane, and the fact some bi**ches tried to steal my purse, unsuccessfully of course, I loved this city.

d. Hoi An- It's Paris on a smaller scale meets Tuscany meets Asia. A beautiful town on the river, as well as the beach. Had one of the best beach days in my life today; the beach and weather are a lot like San Diego on a beautiful day. Hoi An is known for having 200+ tailor shops that will custom make anything- from suits to shoes to evening gowns for super cheap. Unfortunately for them, and me, I have no more room in my itty bitty backpack. 

e. Christmas everywhere! Vietnam is the first country we have been to that celebrates Christmas. So, it is very fitting and lucky for us that we get to spend our December actually getting into the holiday spirit.

Hoi An, river view

Tomorrow morning we leave for Hue, our second to last stop on this 4 month long journey. After that, we will be in Hanoi for a few days before leavin' on that jetplane.

Our one request for post- airport pickup? California burritos.