Month: November 2016

As we left Thailand, we prepared ourselves for the next 24 hours of traveling to get to the first stop on our final country, Australia. The flight from Bangkok to Brisbane, Australia was about 9 hours. It was a red-eye flight, so Andrew and I were able to get a bit of sleep, but we all know “airplane sleep” isn’t the most substantial. Our first stop in Australia was actually in Northern Queensland, Cairns, so once we arrived in Brisbane we had to transfer to the domestic terminal and we had a 4 hour layover until our flight to Cairns. The flight to Cairns was 2 hours. Upon arrival, we got our rental car and had to drive about an hour north to Port Douglas, the first city on our stop. This drive gave Andrew his first experience at driving on the left hand side of the road. The road to Port Douglas was extremely windy and it was nighttime, but he managed to get us to Port Douglas with ease. Needless to say, we were completely exhausted once we arrived, so we grabbed a quick dinner at one of the only places that was still open at 9pm, Salsa Bar & Grill. We learned that because Port Douglas is a community where most attractions occur during the day, all stores close in the early evening and most restaurants are closed by 9 or 10pm. However, it is a very cute beach community and we learned that most Australians go here on holiday. We had decided to stay here for our first 2 nights in Northern Queensland, and then head down to Cairns for our final 2 nights.

We hadn’t made any plans in advance of arriving to Port Douglas, so we did a bit of research and found that the Daintree Rainforest is a popular site to see, especially if you have a car. The hostel we stayed at provided us with a great map of the drive up to the rainforest and Cape Tribulation, which is where the rainforest meets the ocean. The map highlighted the recommended stops along the drive, including lookout points, hikes, and restaurants that you can stop at along your drive. We were also told this was an all-day excursion, so we headed out around 9AM and set out for the 2 hour drive up to Cape Tribulation (the farthest you can drive without 4WD). We figured we would drive straight up to Cape Tribulation and then stop at a few of the different points along the way back. The first hour was like any other highway, but then we arrived to the ferry crossing where we had to drive our car onto a ferry to cross the water into the official Daintree National Park. It was pretty cool.

As we started our drive into the forest, we were amazed at all of the beautiful greenery.

We finally made it up to Cape Tribulation and it was beautiful. We stopped at the Kulki lookout point, where we saw the literal meaning of the water meeting the rainforest.

We also saw many of these signs along the beach – no going in the water here! Crocodiles!

We stopped at a place called Whet Bar & Grill for lunch, which was delicious and had an outdoor deck dining area that was situated right within the rainforest setting.

Whet Bar & Grill

As we made our way back down through the rainforest, we stopped at one of the boardwalks, which is a walking path you can take through the rainforest. The first one we stopped at was called Dubuji Boardwalk.

Dubuji Boardwalk

We then made our way to Mason’s Swimming Hole, a local swimming area. Since it wasn’t safe to go in the ocean due to the crocodiles, Andrew figured the swimming hole would be a nice place to jump in for a quick cool down in the humid weather. However, he changed his mind after seeing how shallow the water was.

Along our way up we had seen a sign for a crocodile tour, so we decided to take this tour, officially known as Cape Tribulation Wilderness Cruise. The tour was on a small boat, and went along a creek called Cooper Creek. The skipper was this nice older man who provided interesting information about crocodiles and the mangroves placed along the creek. Unfortunately we didn’t see any crocodiles during our hour tour. The skipper had told us that due to the hot weather, it’s sometimes very difficult to locate the crocodiles as they’re staying in cool resting places. We were pretty bummed at no crocodile sighting.

We saw on the map that there were 2 ice cream shops located along the drive through the rainforest, and rather than pick one to go to, we decided to share 1 ice cream at each. Our first stop was Daintree Ice Cream Company, where the flavors change every day and are based on what tropical fruits are available in their orchard. Each serving of ice cream contains 4 unique flavors, and each customer is given the same assortment. Andrew liked this ice cream, I didn’t love it too much.

In the picture below you can see the flavors we had. I didn’t recognize any of the fruits besides the coconut.

After leaving this ice cream shop, we headed to the other one, called Floravilla, which prides itself on being supernatural, biodynamic, and organic ice cream. Unlike the other ice cream shop, this place had numerous flavors, most of which were fruit-based flavors. We decided to try their newest flavor, which they appropriately named Daintree Rainforest. Our server at lunch had recommended this flavor, however, we were a bit apprehensive when we saw the ingredients. Luckily, it was delicious! It was probably the most unique ice cream I’ve ever tried.

After filling ourselves with ice cream, we headed to another one of the boardwalks called Jindalba. This walk was a bit longer and we saw some pretty interesting creatures and more beautiful greenery.

Jindalba Boardwalk

Our last stop before heading back to Port Douglas was the Mount Alexandra lookout, which provided a great view of the water and a couple of the islands.

It was Thursday evening, so technically Thanksgiving for us, so we decided to be true Americans and go to a brewery for dinner. Unfortunately we couldn’t find any restaurants serving an American thanksgiving dinner, or even turkey. Along the path to dinner, we saw a beautiful sunset.

We also saw one of the craziest things. We looked up and saw hundreds of birds fleeing the trees, and we noticed it was because the bats were chasing them out. As it hit nighttime, it looked like the bats were taking over and kicking all of the birds out of the trees. We don’t see bats in California, so this was a pretty incredible thing for us to witness.

All of the larger black birds in the picture below are bats!

We enjoyed a delicious pizza, salad, and popcorn chicken for our “Thanksgiving meal” at Hemingway Brewery. We walked through town a bit, but as everything was shutting down for the evening, we made our way back to pack before we headed out in the morning.

We had breakfast at one of the cute little cafes in Port Douglas before starting our drive out of town. However, we had planned to see one last site in Port Douglas before heading down to Cairns – The Wildlife Habitat.

As we entered, we were greeted by this (extremely loud) parrot.

As we paid the entrance fees, the lady mentioned a few of the day’s events that were set to occur. We were just in time for the Koala Presentation with Photos, so we made our way over to that exhibit before checking out more of the animals. Once the presentation began, the guide introduced us to Samson, a koala who lived at the Wildlife Habitat. She informed us that koalas are only found in the following 3 areas of Australia: Queensland, Victoria, and New South Wales. They sleep 18-20 hours a day (rough life!) and the remaining 4-6 are usually spent eating and filling their bodies so they’re filled with nutrients as they sleep. After her brief introduction came the fun part – I got to hold the koala! Apparently Queensland is the only place in the entire world where you can legally hold a koala. We also learned that koalas can only work 30 minutes a day, and since they did this koala presentation 6 times a day, it left 5 minutes for him to “work” during the time we saw him. They let us know that the reason they allow for people to hold koalas is with the hope that more people form emotional connections with these animals. They feel that if people form emotional connections with these animals, and get to know them, these people can help fight for these koalas and their homes when people want to come in and destroy the forests to build properties and whatnot.

Samson the Koala

After the koala presentation we made our way to the kangaroo exhibit where both Andrew and I got to feed the little wallabies. They would come up to us and take the food right out of our hands. Unfortunately there were a number of annoying birds around that kept trying to take the food, so we had to try and avoid the birds. At one point Andrew spent 20 minutes trying to coax one of the baby wallabies to come over to him so he could feed him since the wallaby was frightened by the birds.

Northern Nail-Tail Wallaby

We also saw a number of other animals, including all sorts of birds and we finally saw our crocodiles!

Sleeping Wallabies

An adult cassowary – very dangerous!

The 2 storks in the picture below just had babies, so you can see the nest where they held them.

Crocodiles!

We said our good-byes to the animals and grabbed a quick lunch back in Port Douglas before heading down to Cairns. We had driven up to Cairns in the evening, so we missed the view on the way up, but fortunately we were able to capture it on the way down. It was a spectacular view of the ocean and reminded us a lot of PCH back home.

Once we arrived in Cairns, we returned our rental car and took a short taxi ride over to our hotel. I was feeling a bit under the weather, so we grabbed a quick dinner and headed back to the hotel to get to sleep early. We had our snorkeling trip out to the Great Barrier Reef the next day and this was the main reason we had come up to Cairns, so I wanted to feel better for it.

Fortunately I felt better in the morning so we headed out to the marina to meet our group for our snorkeling day trip out to the Great Barrier Reef. We had done some research and had booked our day trip out to the reef with Seastar Cruises, which was the #1 company on Trip Advisor in Cairns for snorkeling at the Great Barrier Reef.

Our boat

Although the main thing to do is snorkeling, the company offers introductory dives if you’re interested in learning how to scuba dive. Andrew and I really wanted to try it, however, we were both getting over being a bit sick from a cold. Unfortunately if you have any signs of congestion you cannot scuba dive due to the dangerous effects it could have on your eardrums and the pressure under water.

We made our way onto the boat, excited for our day ahead. We were told we would be going to 2 locations – Michaelman’s Cay and Hastings Reef, while lunch would be served in between each location. The crew was extremely welcoming and made everyone feel very comfortable throughout the entire day, especially for those a bit nervous in the water.

Nice and shiny from the sunscreen

The ride out to our first snorkeling location was about an hour and 20 minutes. They let us hang out in the front of the boat, which was nice and relaxing. We had lucked out with beautiful weather.

Before we headed out to the water, we were told we had to wear stinger suits to protect ourselves from the sun, as well as potential jellyfish that could exist in the water during these warmer months. As a reminder, Australia is going into their summer season, so the weather every day was in the 70s and 80s.

We were fully covered, including feet, hands, and heads in our suits!

They provided a guided tour for the first 30 minutes of our snorkeling time where one of the crew members took us around different parts of the reef and pointed out various fish and coral. Fortunately, we got to see a sea turtle, grey reef sharks, huge clams, and numerous fish! The coral was absolutely beautiful and no other snorkeling we’ve done in the past even comes close to what we were able to see. It was so colorful down in the water and it was truly an incredible experience.

After lunch, we headed over to the 2^nd part of the reef we were going to explore – Hastings Reef. We went on another guided tour for the first 30 minutes and then spent some time exploring on our own. We got to see another sea turtle, which was awesome. We were told that sea turtles can stay underwater for up to 45 minutes and we were actually able to witness the sea turtle go up for air while we were watching him, which was pretty cool to see.

Below are some great pictures the crew was able to catch throughout the day on their waterproof camera

After each guided tour we were able to explore on our own for a while, which gave Andrew and I plenty of time to look around on our own and find some cool fish!

Here are some shots we were able to capture on our GoPro

After snorkeling they provided a tour on a glass bottom boat, where they took us around on a smaller boat to a different part of the reef and pointed out a few other different things underwater. It was a nice added perk. The picture below isn’t the best, but it gives you an idea of how we were able to see through the bottom of the boat. It was definitely a lot clearer in person.

Overall it was a wonderful day snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef and we highly recommend anyone to use this company if they plan to head out to Cairns and go snorkeling.

We were pretty exhausted from being out on the water the majority of the day, so we relaxed a bit in our room before grabbing dinner at one of the local bars nearby. We made our way back to our hotel and since there was a casino located inside our hotel, I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to play some roulette – I know you would be proud Grandma. 🙂 After getting some good gambling time in, we made our way back to the room to pack up for our flight back down to Brisbane the next morning!

After Beijing, we spent the next 8 days exploring a few of the islands in Thailand. We spent 5 nights in Koh Lanta, one of the less touristy islands on the west side, as well as 3 nights in Ao Nang Beach, which is right outside the main city of Krabi. Much of our time in both areas was spent either at the beach or eating some version of pad thai. We were really looking forward to our time in Thailand, and I’m not going to lie, it isn’t a bad thing when your biggest stress at the time is “what beach should we go to today?”.

KOH LANTA

We had to wake up at 3:45AM to leave Beijing and make it to the airport on time for our flight that morning to Thailand. Luckily we made it through check-in pretty easily, so we grabbed a quick breakfast before boarding the 5 hour flight to Bangkok. However, our final destination was Koh Lanta. So after a 2 hour layover, we hopped on another flight, this one only 1 hour, to Krabi. From Krabi it was a 2 hour drive to our hotel in Koh Lanta, but the exhaustion seem to disappear for a bit as we approached the island and witnessed all of the greenery and beauty. Since Koh Lanta is an island, the car we were in boarded a ferry to travel across the water and get to the island.

On the ferry

Upon arriving to our hotel, Chaw Ka Cher, we received some delicious beverages and appreciated the stylish decor in the reception area before checking into our room.

Welcome Beverage at Chaw Ka Cher & View of Swimming Pool from our room

Reception Area

After checking in, we ended up grabbing dinner at the hotel restaurant and then took a short walk down to one of the beaches nearby. Both Andrew and I knew we had made the right decision on coming to Thailand as it already felt very remote and relaxing. We enjoyed a couple of drinks on the beach as we watched a distant thunderstorm light up the night’s sky, which was already pretty bright with the full moon. Needless to say it was an extremely long travel day and the exhaustion caught up with us by this time, so we were looking forward to a good night’s sleep.

When we woke up we decided it would be a good idea to go for a run – however we immediately regretted our decision, as we didn’t take into consideration the humidity and the heat that already existed at 8 in the morning. It was a brutal run – we were both struggling. After we finally made it back to our hotel, we grabbed breakfast at the hotel before heading out to explore one of the nearby beaches. However, this was not before my daily morning ritual in Thailand, which consisted of putting bug spray over my entire body, and then sunscreen on top of that. Most people know that I’m extremely susceptible to mosquito bites, so I didn’t want to take any chances. Fortunately I only ended up getting about 4 bites during our entire time in Thailand!

There are 2 main beaches in Koh Lanta – Long Beach and Khlong Khong Beach. However, there are also numerous private beaches along the island, so we decided to check out one of these. We stumbled upon this beach that was a short 5-10 minute walk from our hotel and it was absolutely beautiful. The best part about it was that there were hardly any people there, so we basically had the entire beach to ourselves. The water was so blue, the sand was soft, and it made for a very relaxing beach day. In regards to the weather, we didn’t really know what to expect since the forecast showed thunderstorms and about 88 degrees every single day. However, we were lucky and had beautiful, sunny weather for a majority of the time we were there and only experienced a bit of rain.

The deserted path as we walked down to the private beach

After some prime beach time, we headed back to the hotel and rented a scooter. It seemed that this was one of the main ways to get around the island, as we witnessed both locals and tourists maneuvering around the island on scooters. The other major way to get around was on these vehicles known as “tuk tuks”, which we took plenty of. Not the safest vehicles, but a common way to get around on the islands.

Tuk Tuk

We decided to take the scooter down to Long Beach, one of the main beaches in Koh Lanta, and grab some lunch. One of the main things to note about food in Thailand, at least in the islands, is that when you sit down for your meal, you need to ask yourself if you’re in the mood for Thai food or Western food. Western food included things like club sandwiches, pasta, pizza, etc… Almost every single restaurant we ate at had menus with numerous items on the menu, as well as pictures showcasing what each item was. It’s interesting because in Europe we were told to not eat at any restaurant where the menu had a “long list of items”, as well as pictures on the menus, because those were considered tourist traps. However in Asia, multiple items and pictures on the menu seemed to be a normality in both China and Thailand. We opted for Thai food, as we felt inclined to eat as the locals do on our first full day in Thailand.

Another thing you see EVERYWHERE in Thailand is massage places, especially right on the beaches. They’re extremely cheap, compared to back home (around $10 for a 1 hour massage), so I was looking forward to taking advantage of this at some point.

View from our lunch restaurant

Long Beach

Andrew & I on the scooter

After a relaxing day spent at 2 different beaches, we decided to check out Saladan, the northern part of the island. Saladan had numerous restaurants, massage places, and night markets with a variety of items. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant we ate at, but it had OK Thai food. The real treat was the magnificent view we had of the full moon from the restaurant’s pier. It was beautiful and lit up the water. After dinner we checked out a few of the markets, where I worked on my negotiation skills. We had been told that you should try negotiating for anything you want to buy in Thailand and never consider the first price they give you the “final price”.

After checking out one of the local gyms the next morning, we went to explore the other main beach in Koh Lanta, Khlong Khong. The beach was OK – it was extremely rocky, so it was hard to find a good place to lay out. Although still beautiful, Andrew and I both agreed that we preferred Long Beach better. We enjoyed another beachfront lunch and then decided to take the scooter for a ride around the southern part of the island. We got lost as we tried to find a beach Andrew had found earlier on his map, but it was a good thing as we stumbled across some of the beauty of the island we wouldn’t have seen otherwise. There was so much greenery everywhere and magnificent views of the water from some of the higher elevations.

Khlong Khong Beach

Riding along on the scooter

After going back to the hotel and booking a few other items for the latter part of this trip, we decided we were in the mood for something other than Thai food. We decided to check out this Irish pub called The Irish Embassy for dinner before hitting up a few of the local bars. We checked out a place called The Funky Monkey, where I tried convincing Andrew to get up on the stage and partake in the karaoke, but unfortunately he didn’t want to unleash his beautiful voice on the people of Koh Lanta.  We ended the night at a bar on the beach where we enjoyed another beautiful night.

We went to a place called Lym’s Bar & Restaurant the next day for lunch and we both agreed it was the best Thai food we had thus far. The pad thai was delicious, and we had a yellow crab curry dish, which was full of flavor.

View from Lym’s Bar & Restaurant

After lunch we headed back to our hotel to get ready for a cooking class we had booked! After some online research, we had found a cooking class with a company called Time For Lime. One of the main reasons we went with this company was that a major portion of the cooking class fee goes to support Lanta Animal Welfare, which gives vital help both to stray and owned animals on the island, so we figured it was a win win for both us and the animals. The beachfront cooking class lasted about 6 hours, and we thoroughly enjoyed every minute of this interactive class. The Thai cooking teacher, Mai, was hilarious and spent the first hour teaching us the basics of Thai cuisine, including the different sauces and spices considered “staples” in Thai dishes.

Our cooking stations

Pre-cooking snack including a few of the main ingredients seen in many Thai dishes

Our teacher Mai instructing us on the basics of Thai cooking

After Mai’s introduction to Thai cooking, we each settled into our cooking stations in the kitchen. The first dish we all worked on was a Green Curry Paste, but unfortunately we were just making it for the next day’s class. However, it was interesting to learn how to make fresh curry, as opposed to using the pre-packaged ones in the stores.

Andrew chopping up his Green Curry paste ingredients

Afterwards, we began to prepare our first 2 (of 4) dishes for the evening. The first 2 dishes were Papaya Salad and Pad Thai, 2 of the most popular Thai dishes.

Papaya Salad ingredients

Cooking the Pad Thai

The final results – Shrimp Pad Thai and Papaya Salad

After enjoying both the Pad Thai and Papaya salad in the upstairs dining area, we went back into the kitchen to finish our final 2 dishes – Chicken(or Fish) with Sauce, as well as Stir-fried Morning Glory (also known as water spinach). Mai kept the entire class fun and interesting, while including a bit of insight into her life growing up in Thailand and the love and passion that goes into each dish.

The final results – Stir-Fried Morning Glory and Chicken w/ Sauce

Overall we had a great experience learning all about Thai cuisine and are looking forward to making a few of the dishes when we get back home!

The next morning we got ready to head out for the day trip we booked to the islands of Koh Phi Phi, a more populated and touristy area than Koh Lanta. We were picked up from our hotel in an open-air shuttle truck, a vehicle that would definitely not pass safety regulations in the US. Once on board, we met a couple from England, Megan and Jamie. We learned they were on holiday and spending some time in Thailand before moving to Melbourne, Australia. We enjoyed getting to know them and found out they were heading to Ao Nang Beach the very next day, which is where our next stop in Thailand was as well.

We boarded a high-speed ferry and set out for the first stop on our day trip to Koh Phi Phi, which was Maya Bay. For those not aware, Maya Bay was where The Beach was filmed, a popular movie starring Leonardo Di Caprio. While the area surrounding Maya Bay was beautiful, we were saddened to see how polluted the water had become with the constant boats going in and out of the bay. There were also hundreds of people on the beach, so it was extremely congested and not as relaxing as we might have hoped. However, we still managed to get some great shots of the beautiful scenery.

Maya Bay

Our next stop was Monkey Beach, where we were able to snorkel a bit and, of course, see some monkeys! There were so many monkeys on the beach and it was so fun to watch them interacting with each other. There were adult monkeys, as well as baby monkeys.

Monkey Beach

So many monkeys!

After leaving Monkey Beach, we headed to Bamboo Island. We learned the only reason this island is called Bamboo Island is due to this one stick of bamboo that exists in the middle of the island.

Bamboo Island

One stick of bamboo on Bamboo Island

We had lunch and relaxed on the beach for a bit before heading to our final stop on our day trip, Phi Phi Don. Phi Phi Don is where a majority of the actual hotels exist on Koh Phi Phi, as well as numerous restaurants, bars, and tourist shops. We were a bit “beached out”, so we decided to go to one of the beachfront bars with Megan and Jamie and grab a drink before heading back to Koh Lanta.

Phi Phi Don

The ferry dropped us back off on the beach in Koh Lanta and I decided I wanted to try one of the beach massages. We went back to where we had lunch the day before (Lym’s) and I was able to get a massage in a treehouse (only $10.50 USD for an hour!), while Andrew relaxed with a couple of beers and watched the sunset. We grabbed some delicious pizza at a local pizzeria (Bajen Pizzeria) before heading back to the hotel to pack up and leave for Ao Nang Beach the next day. It was a nice and relaxing way to end a long day.

My treehouse massage on the beach

Beautiful Sunset (Captured by Andrew)

We woke up early and decided to head back to our private beach one last time before leaving Koh Lanta that afternoon. We lucked out because we arrived early enough that there was not a single person on the beach with us.

We went into town down the road to grab a quick lunch before we left and we noticed that the tuk tuk had a Chelsea banner!

After lunch we headed down to the ferry, which would take us to our next destination in Thailand – Ao Nang Beach.

AO NANG BEACH

The ferry from Koh Lanta to Ao Nang Beach was just under 2 hours, and luckily it had AC since it was fairly hot and humid outside. We ran into our friends Megan and Jamie on the ferry, whom we had met during our day trip to Koh Phi Phi, and decided we would meet up with them later that night for a drink in Ao Nang.

Ferry Ride to Ao Nang

Upon arriving to Ao Nang Beach, we immediately noticed a major difference between this beach town and Koh Lanta. There were a lot more people in Ao Nang and it seemed to be built up a bit more, especially after we saw a McDonald’s and Starbucks. We arrived at our hotel, The L, and were excited to see it was directly across the street from the beach and right in the middle of the main part of town. We’ve noticed when booking places online, it’s sometimes hard to tell if you’re booking a good area, but we definitely lucked out with this place.

Honeymoon Love

Andrew right outside of our hotel

We unpacked a few of our things and took a look around before heading to dinner at a place we found called Jenna’s Bistro & Wine. Needless to say, we were craving something that wasn’t Thai food. This restaurant actually ended up being really good and they even had a meat & cheese platter, which was delicious!

During dinner it started to rain pretty heavily, so we were happy we had our hotel umbrella. It seems that the rain can come out of nowhere, as we experienced random outbursts of rain a couple more times during our time here. After dinner we headed to Boogie Bar, a local bar that is very popular and has a live band play every night. We met up with our friends Megan and Jamie and spent a few hours listening to some good music and enjoying some delicious beverages.

Boogie Bar – Acoustic singer before the band came on

Megan, Jamie, Andrew & myself with our server in the middle 

The next day we grabbed some Thai food for lunch and explored the city a bit. We noticed that like Koh Lanta, there were *numerous* massage places, as well as tourist shops with things like T-shirts and magnets. We checked out the actual Ao Nang beach, since it was a nice day, but decided to hang out by our hotel pool instead for the latter part of the afternoon.

We had decided to meet up with Megan and Jamie again that night and have dinner with them at one of the beachfront restaurants called The Last Fisherman. I finally got to to try the famous mangos with sticky rice – I enjoyed it, Andrew didn’t care for it.

After dinner we all headed back to Boogie Bar, as Andrew had found out they were going to be showing the Chelsea game that night. Fortunately Chelsea won, so the night ended well and Andrew was a happy camper.

The next day was our last full day in Ao Nang, so we decided to take a long tail boat to one of the nearby beaches known as Railay Beach. As we took the 15 minute ride over in the boat, we realized it was going to be a beautiful day and were thankful for the nice weather. Railay Beach is an absolutely beautiful beach, and we highly recommend you check it out if you’re in the Krabi/Ao Nang area. It’s a small beach, only accessible by boat, so there isn’t a ton of restaurants or shops, but it’s definitely a good day trip.

Railay Beach

 

Long tail boats that take you to Railay Beach

We enjoyed some delicious fruit smoothies, relaxed both on the sand and in the water, and enjoyed a nice Thai lunch during our day at Railay Beach. After we felt our bodies had enough sun for the day, we hopped on another long tail boat to head back to Ao Nang. We were fortunate enough to catch a beautiful sunset right outside of our hotel.

We grabbed dinner at a local Italian restaurant, which actually ended up being really good, before heading back to the hotel to pack up and leave the next morning.

Fortunately the hotel provided transportation to the Krabi airport, which was about 45 minutes from our hotel in Ao Nang. Once arriving there, we took a 1 hour flight back to Bangkok, where we had a 12 hour layover until our midnight flight out to our next destination. We took advantage of the time we had and planned to spend the day checking out the city of Bangkok.

One of the first things anyone visiting Thailand would notice is the numerous memorials and tributes that are placed around the cities in memory of their King who had recently passed. He was incredibly beloved by all of the Thai people and you could see the effect his presence had on the people of Thailand. We went to check out The Grand Palace in Bangkok, and there were hundreds of Thai people dressed in black, waiting in line to pay their respects to the late King.

We both had to borrow clothes to wear since my leggings weren’t allowed, and neither were Andrew’s shorts.

Royal Chapel of the Emerald Buddha

The Grand Palace

We also checked out Wat Po, a famous Buddhist temple right next to The Grand Palace.

Wat Po

Reclining Buddha

My friend Katie had let us know about a place called Thip Samai, which apparently was where pad thai originated, so we decided to check it out. The pad thai did not disappoint and we were lucky to get there before the line started to form outside.

On the left: Pad Thai wrapped in egg – Delicious

We decided to head back to the airport early so we could hang out in an air conditioned building until our flight. As we went to board the metro we had taken into the city from the airport, we were overwhelmed by the amount of people getting on the train. You would think it was completely full, yet a couple of people would walk by one of the door entrances and squeeze themselves inside so they didn’t have to wait for the next one. We were literally sardined next to each other in this metro train. Fortunately we got on and found a spot under the A/C, so it was nice and cool in a very small, crowded space.

Andrew and I really enjoyed Thailand and wished we had spent more time in the islands. We’ll definitely be back to explore more of the islands in the future. However, now we’re off to our final country to explore – Australia!

After spending almost a week exploring Hong Kong and Shanghai, we were looking forward to our final stop in China – Beijing. We said our goodbyes to Nick & Janet, and took off for Beijing with Jesse and Lu. As I had mentioned in my last entry, our friend Lu grew up in Beijing, so Andrew and I were looking forward to exploring the city she grew up in. Before I continue, I should mention that I really should be calling all of my entries for China mainly “food blogs.” Much of our time in Shanghai and Beijing was spent trying so many different types of Chinese cuisine. Lu introduced us to many different types, many of which Andrew and I were never aware of.

It’s an easy 2 hour flight from Shanghai to Beijing, and our hotel was only about 30 minutes from the airport. Unfortunately we landed around “rush hour”, so we hit a bit of traffic getting into the city. We learned there is A LOT of traffic in Beijing since there are so many people that live in the city – over 20 million people! It gets so congested there that people are only able to drive their cars on certain days, designated by the characters on their license plates.

On our first night in Beijing, Lu had planned for us to do dinner with her parents at a place called DaDong. Apparently DaDong is one of the best restaurants in the city to get Peking Duck, which is a famous duck dish originating in Beijing. As a side note, Lu’s parents still live in Beijing but Andrew and I got a chance to meet them a couple of years ago in LA when they came out for Jesse & Lu’s wedding.

As we entered the restaurant, Andrew and I were in awe of the beautiful aesthetics and decor inside. It was great to see Lu’s parents again and they took care of ordering all of the dishes for dinner. They wanted us to try a few things that Beijing and the restaurant are known for, so they ordered multiple dishes, which were all delicious. However, my absolute favorite (and Andrew’s as well) was the main course – the Peking Duck. The chef actually comes out to your table to cut the duck table side, and it’s an incredible thing to watch. He cuts it incredibly thin and presents it on the plate in a beautiful manner. We thanked Lu’s parents for a wonderful dinner and headed out to grab a drink before calling it a night.

DaDong – Peking Duck restaurant

The chef preparing the duck table side

On the right: The lady is teaching me the best way to eat the duck

Andrew & I, along with Jesse & Lu and Lu’s parents

The next day we grabbed a quick beef noodle soup lunch at the hotel before heading out for the day. One of the most significant sites in Beijing is the Forbidden City, which was the Chinese imperial palace from the Ming dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty, which ended in 1912. The area is surrounded by a moat and boasts numerous ancient buildings within. It was fascinating to hear the stories behind the history of the city. For example, we learned that the number of animal statues that were placed on the roof line of the building signified how important the building was in relation to all other buildings in the Forbidden City. If the building had more animal statues that another, it was considered more important.

Forbidden City

Entrance to the Forbidden City

Inside one of the buildings

After spending a few hours in the Forbidden City, we walked over to a nearby park called Beihai Park. It was a beautiful park surrounded by a lake, where Lu mentioned she used to ice skate nearby when she was younger.

Beihai Park

Afterwards we headed over to a little area full of shops and restaurants near the park called Hou Hai. We grabbed drinks on the rooftop of one of the restaurants before deciding we were all hungry and ready to grab some dinner.

Hou Hai

One of the other cuisines Lu wanted to introduce us to was known as “hot pot”, which is a very communal dining experience. With a “hot pot” dinner, you are given 2 different kinds of broth, generally one Sichuan (spicy) and one mild. Afterwards, everything you order from the menu comes out raw and you cook it in one of the heated broths. Andrew is really keen on spicy food, so he was looking forward to another spicy meal, however, I was happy they had a “non-spicy” option. We went to a hot pot restaurant called Haidilao, and since we were early we were able to get seated right away. Apparently this place gets extremely busy, which we saw when we left. The service was impeccable, another thing this restaurant is known for, and we had a great time.

Haidilao – Hot Pot Dinner

Ready to start cooking in our aprons!

The image on the right is a close-up of the spicy broth…so many peppers!

Our server wrote us a special note letting us know that she hoped we enjoyed the rest of our time in Beijing.

After dinner we decided to do a bit of a bar crawl. Lu had done some research and found a few unique bars that were located in actual apartment buildings. It was pretty interesting as the bars existed right next to actual apartments in a high-rise building. The first bar we went to didn’t have a drink menu, but instead asked their customers to look at this book that was filled with pictures and different phrases. It was our job to pick the page in the book that best described ourselves and then they would make us a drink based on the type of alcohol we wanted, as well as our choice of a “fruity” or “floral” flavor. The drinks turned out great!

The next bar we went to was in the apartment building next door and was known for having magicians. I was always very interested in magic while growing up, so I enjoyed being treated to some magic tricks while enjoying a drink at this bar before heading back to the hotel.

We had planned to spend the next day climbing The Great Wall since the weather was supposed to be good. We headed out early, as the portion of the Wall we were going to was about 1.5 hours outside of the city. We had heard that certain portions of the Wall tend to get very crowded, but we were very fortunate as the portion we climbed, known as Mu Tian Yu, wasn’t so busy.

The Great Wall of China (Mu Tian Yu portion)

Starting the climb up…

We climbed up to the farthest point accessible by the public. The final stretch was a very steep staircase and was hard to push through, but worth it once you saw the view from the top.

 

Made it to the top!

We were all pretty exhausted from a couple hours of climbing the wall, so we opted for the cable car to take us back down to where our car was.

We spent a few hours relaxing at the hotel before heading out to dinner to try yet another cuisine Lu wanted to introduce us to. The type of cuisine we had that night was food typical of Beijing, which tends to include “comfort food” type dishes, such as egg dishes and dumplings. Another very delicious meal!

Si Shi Tong Tang – Typical Beijing cuisine

The next day we headed over to a major shopping area known as Sanlitun, which contains a number of bars and shops. Lu had mentioned the last type of cuisine she wanted to introduce us to was Yunnan, so we went to a Yunnan restaurant for lunch, called Middle 8.

After lunch Lu and I went shopping, while the boys grabbed a few beers at some of the local bars. Lu took me to a shopping mart called Silk Street, where you have to be ready to negotiate for the price you want. They have everything from magnets to scarves to every kind of jewelry you can imagine. With Lu’s help, I was able to get a number of items without spending over $35 and we were pretty proud of our negotiating skills (mainly Lu’s since she could negotiate with them in Mandarin).

We met up with the boys at a local bar and grabbed a couple of beers before heading to a brewery that was near our hotel, Great Leap Brewing. We were all craving some American food, so we thought we would enjoy a traditional American meal on our last night, including things like caesar salad and onion rings.

Our very typical American meal at Great Leap Brewing

We headed back to the hotel after dinner as Andrew and I had a very early flight the next morning. Andrew and I both agreed that we were leaving China with a deeper appreciation for their culture, history, and especially their cuisine. This trip wouldn’t have been the same without Lu and Jesse and we were so happy to explore part of the country with them.

As we got ready to leave Hong Kong, we were finally feeling a bit better and were looking forward to our next stop in China – Shanghai! This was especially exciting because we were meeting up with our good friends from back home, Jesse, Lu, Nick & Janet. Both Jesse & Nick went to college with Andrew, and I’ve become good friends with the girls over the past few years. On a side note, Nick spent a year after college living in Shanghai, so he was pretty familiar with the city, and Lu grew up in China (Beijing to be exact), so we were excited to explore the next couple of cities with her.

Our flight from Hong Kong to Shanghai was pretty early in the morning, so we had to wake up at 4:30AM. Definitely not fun, but we were glad to be feeling better, so we packed up our things and headed to the airport. The 2 hour flight was easy. However, we were surprised at some of the differing customs on Chinese airlines. For one, you cannot use your cell phone the entire flight, even if it’s on airplane mode – it has to be completely off. I usually listen to music on every flight so this was a major bummer for me. The second thing we noticed was the decent sized meal you got for a 2 hour flight – something that US flights no longer offer, even on 5 hour flights across the country. It’s interesting to note differences like this as we’ve traveled between the different countries.

After grabbing our bags, we took a taxi to meet up with our friends. Nick and Janet had just come from spending a few days in Thailand so we were able to get some good pointers from them for our visit. Jesse and Lu seemed to have a good, yet long, flight in from LA. We caught up for a bit and then went to go check out the city.

There were some very interesting & modern buildings. We liked the one shaped like a bottle opener in the background of the picture below.

From left to right – Janet, myself, & Lu

Oriental Pearl Tower – Radio & TV tower

After grabbing a delicious dim sum style Chinese lunch, we headed over to our Airbnb to check in. We were all a bit tired from traveling, so we hung around the Airbnb and relaxed before dinner.

One of the main things that my friend Lu has taught me over these past few days in China is the various types of Chinese cuisine that exist. Fortunately, we were able to experience a different type of Chinese cuisine every night we were in Shanghai (and also in Beijing – but you’ll read more about that in my next entry!). We were also able to meet up with one of Lu’s good friends Jenny, who currently lives in Shanghai, for dinner every night. She used to live in LA, but since moving to Shanghai a few months back, she has been able to discover a number of delicious, and very unique, Chinese restaurants. We learned that crab is currently in season in the Shanghai region, so Jenny and Lu wanted to take all of us to a restaurant that specialized in crab dishes. We found out that these restaurants have separate menus for their crab dishes that they only put out between the months of September and November. Jenny and Lu did all of the ordering, since all Chinese restaurants serve most of their dishes family style, and they knew the “must try” items on the menu. Everything was delicious and the experience was wonderful.

Cheng Long Hang – Crab house in Shanghai!

From left to right – Janet, myself, Jenny, & Lu

The next day we woke up to find Jesse and Lu had gone out and gotten us some items that make up a traditional Chinese breakfast. We then headed out to Tian Zi Fang, which is a beautiful, enclosed area in Shanghai with small alleyways filled with shops and restaurants. We spent a few hours checking out some of the shops and enjoying some lunch.

Tianzifang

Beef Noodle Soup for lunch – Chinese fast food, delicious!

Andrew and Nick trying to recreate the statue

After leaving Tianzifang, we found an authentic and luxurious Chinese spa, so Janet and I decided to get our nails done, along with a massage, both of which were very relaxing and appreciated after our morning of walking around.

Lu took a picture of me getting pampered

On our 2nd night, Jenny and Lu wanted us to experience Sichuan Chinese cuisine, which is known for being spicy. However, we learned it’s more of a numbing spice, as opposed to a fire spice, which was very interesting. Andrew loved it since he’s a big fan of spicy food, and I enjoyed it, even though I can’t handle too much spiciness. At one point I accidentally bit into one of the full peppercorns that was in one of the dishes and (unfortunately) was able to experience that numbing spice.

Peacock – Sichuan Cuisine

From left to right – Jesse, Andrew, Me, Jenny, Lu, Janet, Nick

In the picture below, the bowl on the right is a spicy fish dish, and the fish is cooked in all of those red peppers that are shown on the plate. The server is removing a majority of the peppers from the dish before we eat it, so it’s not as spicy, since the peppers themselves are extremely hot.

After dinner we headed to a place for some drinks called Hotel Indigo, which had a few amazing views of the city of Shanghai and “the bund”, which is a waterfront area in Shanghai.

After Hotel Indigo, we headed to another bar that Nick mentioned he used to frequent when he lived there. They were known for their rum, which was served with dry ice. Pretty cool presentation.

The next day was Wednesday (November 9th) in Shanghai, which meant it was Election Day back home. Since our lunchtime was Tuesday evening back in the States, we scurried to find a bar where we could grab some lunch and watch the election results. After many failed attempts, we finally found a restaurant (Liquid Laundry) that had a pretty big set up for the election. Apparently this place is popular among a lot of foreigners, so we were able to watch the election results in Shanghai with other Americans in the city.

It was our last night in Shanghai, so Jenny and Lu wanted to take us to a traditional Shanghainese restaurant, so we could try the food that was typical of the people from Shanghai. This type of food was delicious and probably my favorite of the 3 nights.

Jardin de Jade – Lu & Jenny ordering all of our food, as they did every night

Peeling the scales off of the fish with a spoon!

After dinner we headed to another place that Nick used to frequent when he lived in Shanghai called Bar Rouge. It was another place on “The Bund” with spectacular views of the city. It was a great way to spend our last night in Shanghai before heading to our last city in China – Beijing!

Bar Rouge

 

I had mentioned in my last entry that Andrew and I were looking forward to heading to Asia since it was somewhere we had both never been. We were also looking forward to our flight since we had booked Business class seats months ago using miles we had accumulated through work travel and points – we figured it would be nice to treat ourselves to a bit of travel luxury halfway through the trip. One of the things that comes along with Business class seats is access to the Business Class lounge at the airport, so we got to the airport plenty early to take advantage of this perk. Unfortunately it took over an hour to get our tickets because of some mix-up on their end, so we were only able to grab a quick bite to eat before heading to board our flight. It was a very comfortable 11 hour flight, to say the least. We had originally booked seats next to the window, which put us one in front of the other, however, after take-off we moved to 2 pod seats that were next to each other. The flight crew was amazing throughout the entire flight and even gave us a “Happy Honeymoon” card that the entire crew (including the pilots) had signed, along with a delicious dessert and champagne. Overall it was a wonderful experience flying on Cathay Pacific.

Our original window pod seats before we moved…

Our new seats!

The sweetest gift from the Cathay Pacific flight crew!

We had left Paris around noon on Thursday and got into Hong Kong around 7AM on Friday morning. Needless to say, we were exhausted since neither one of us slept much on the flight, albeit the comfortable seats we had. It was an easy trip to get to the hotel from the airport, which was on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong, across the bay from the main island. While we had planned to check out the city a bit, we decided it was best to take a short nap first. Well, we ended up sleeping for 7 hours and woke up around dinner time.

Unfortunately Andrew started to feel a bit of the sickness I had on our last night in Paris, as he didn’t feel the best after waking up from our nap. I was still recovering as well so we decided to take it easy and walk around the city a bit and try a ramen place, Ichiran Ramen, that came highly recommended by our friend Lu. We waited about 45 minutes before getting seats, but the ramen ended up being well worth the wait. The layout of the restaurant was interesting as there were no tables together; everyone sat in individual cubbies and filled out their own custom ramen form. We learned they set up the restaurant this way so everyone can have their own privacy while enjoying their bowl of ramen. We really enjoyed this place and will definitely have to go back. Apparently the restaurant is based in Japan, so if you’re planning on going out to Japan any time soon you can check this place out there too!

Streets of Hong Kong

Ichiran Ramen

We wanted to explore the city a bit more, but both still weren’t feeling the best, so decided to call it an early night. The next morning we were feeling alright so we headed out to Victoria’s Peak, which apparently gives the best 360 degree views of the island. We had taken the metro around the city the night before, so we decided to opt for the Star Ferry to get a different view heading over to the island.

View of Hong Kong from the Star Ferry

After a bit of confusion with the bus lines, we made it over to Tram Peak ticket line, which was much longer than we expected. It ended up taking about an hour to get our tickets and take the tram up to Victoria’s Peak, but it turned out to be an awesome view from the top. We walked around a bit and checked out a few different look out points, and then waited in another 30 minute line to take the tram back down the mountain. At this point we weren’t feeling the best, so although we had planned to eat out somewhere, we headed back to the hotel to rest for a bit.

Victoria’s Peak

So many people waiting to go up!

View from the top!

After a bit of rest and relaxation at the hotel, we decided to head out to the Temple Night Market to check out all of the different vendors and see what they were selling. It was a pretty cool scene and we ended up walking away with a few things after some good bargaining!

Temple Night Market

The next morning Andrew and I woke up and still weren’t feeling the best so decided to spend the day in the hotel room just resting up. We ordered some bland room service food that we thought would be easy on our stomachs and rented a movie. Although we were bummed we weren’t able to check out a few of the things we wanted to in Hong Kong, we knew our bodies needed the rest.

After a full day of rest, we were able to work up enough energy to head over to the Intercontinental Hotel that night since we had heard the hotel lobby lounge had a great view of the entire Hong Kong island, as well as the nightly light show that happened at 8:00PM. We got there around 7:15PM, so were able to grab a great seat in the middle of the lounge area. Unfortunately the light show was pretty underwhelming. Apparently all of the buildings used to take part in the light show, and it was pretty grand, however, now there are only a couple of buildings that participate so it’s not that exciting. It was an enjoyable time though and it felt good to get out of the hotel room.

View of Hong Kong Island from the Intercontinental Hotel

We headed back to our hotel to pack up, as we had an early flight the next morning to Shanghai where we were going to meet up with a few of our friends from back home!

After letting my other half share his writing talents with you for the past few blogs, I’m back to recount our 5 night stay in Paris. Going into Paris Andrew and I had received numerous recommendations from various friends and colleagues about different sights to see and restaurants to try, so we felt fairly prepared on what we wanted to do during our time in the city.

After taking the train from Brugge into Brussels, we had our first international “bus” experience. We have taken local buses within the different cities, but hadn’t yet taken a long distance charter bus between cities. We decided to opt for this option for our trip from Brussels to Paris with the company Flixbus. After grabbing a quick bite to eat in Brussels, we hopped on the 4 hour bus to Paris. Fortunately, the bus ride wasn’t too bad. The seats were comfortable and there was WIFI available in the bus, so I spent most of the time watching Orange is the New Black, which has been my latest show addiction.

We arrived in Paris on a Saturday night and hopped on the Metro and headed over to our Airbnb, which was located in the Le Marais area of Paris. We were told this was a good area to stay if you wanted to immerse yourself in the Parisian culture with the locals. When we arrived in the area we were pleasantly surprised with the amount of cafes, bakeries, and cute shops that surrounded the area and knew we had chosen a good area. We ended up going to the local market to pick up some food items for the week and made a late dinner back in our Airbnb that night.

We woke up the next morning with the intentions of going to a local gym we found nearby. However, upon arriving around 8AM, we found out the reception desk didn’t open until 9AM, so ended up just going for a run around the area we were staying in. Afterwards, we headed out to meet our tour guide for another free walking tour with SANDEMANs. While we didn’t go to all of the major sites in Paris on this tour, we were able to see quite a few things and hear some interesting stories about the history of Paris. Our tour guide Hugo was entertaining and kept things fun throughout the 3 hour tour. One of the things we’ve really enjoyed is the overlapping of different stories we hear from different tour guides in different cities.

Fontaine Saint-Michel – Where the tour met up

The most narrow street in Paris…

Notre-Dame Cathedral – According to our tour guide, it took 184 years to build this beautiful cathedral, which is one of the most famous gothic cathedrals in the world today.

Beautiful architecture

Bridge in the picture on the left is the oldest bridge in Paris

After the tour we headed back to the area where we were staying and ended up enjoying lunch at one of the local cafe’s called Le Bar’Bouille. We did a bit of future trip planning at the Airbnb, then headed out to a local bar called The Long Hop, which was showing the Chelsea soccer game that night. Andrew was a happy camper as the team won 2-0. After the game we headed over to the Latin Quarter, which happened to house one of the most famous crepe places in the city, Au P’tit Grec, which came highly recommended by our tour guide earlier that day. We ended up having to wait about 45 minutes for the crepes, but they were well worth it!

We had no planned tours the next day, so were looking forward to sleeping in and getting a later start to the day. We ended up sleeping in until almost 11AM, and then decided to make our way to the local gym. On our way back from the gym we picked up a few additional items to make lunch back at our place and Andrew couldn’t wait until we got home to try his first Parisian baguette…

One of the things we had wanted to do in Paris was put a “love lock” on the lock bridge. We had heard that the original lock bridge (Pont des Arts) no longer had any locks on it since the weight of the locks had started to push the bridge deeper into the water. However, people have found a nearby bridge (Pont Neuf) to continue on with this tradition, so we wanted to add our own lock to the bunch.

We headed over to the original love lock bridge, Pont des Arts, to check it out, and stopped for some greats shots in front of the Seine River along the way.

Pont des Arts – Original love lock bridge that now has new railings with glass and wooden panels that don’t allow you to attach any locks

We explored some more of the city and beauty of the Seine River then headed over to a famous bakery, Laduree, and finally to the Arc de Triomphe.

Laduree – Known for their delicious macaroons!

Arc de Triomphe

It was Halloween night, so we had signed up for a Pub Crawl with the same tour group we did the walking tour with. We weren’t too sure what to expect, so we grabbed a quick dinner at a local cafe and made our way over to the meeting place. While we weren’t the oldest, we were definitely in the minority. A majority of the 50+ pub crawl participants were college students currently on break or visiting the city. However, we enjoyed the night as we went to 3 different bars and finished up at a local club.

Pub Crawl official with our wristbands…and introductory shots

Face Paint…The extent of our Halloween “costumes”

We were pretty scary…

We were both pretty exhausted from moving around so much the past few weeks, we decided to spend most of the next day just relaxing at our Airbnb and booking a few other parts of our trip. It was nice to spend the day this way, as traveling and constantly being on the go can be a bit exhausting.

While we spent the majority of the day inside, we had plans to have a picnic dinner on the grass below the Eiffel Tower that night.We had hoped to get some bread, meat, and cheese from local shops to enjoy on our picnic dinner. Unfortunately we didn’t plan very well because that day happened to be All Saints’ Day, which is a public holiday in France, and a day where a lot of local shops are closed. While luckily we found one bakery still open with a few baguettes to choose from, we couldn’t find a single meat or cheese shop that was open. After succumbing to picking up meat and cheese at a local grocery store, we headed to the Eiffel Tower where we learned that most of the grass areas were closed off for renovation. Strike Two on our picnic plans! Fortunately we found a nice bench right below the Eiffel Tower, with great views, where we were able to enjoy our food and some wine.

Eiffel Tower – We had learned on our walking tour that this tower was almost torn down, however it currently remains functional as the largest radio tower in the city.

Delicious dinner!

Our picnic spot

The Eiffel Tower lights up on the top of the hour every night and is a beautiful 4-5 minute show.

We headed to bed pretty earlier as the next day in Paris was our last full day, so we had booked a number of sights to check out. We went for a run along the Seine River before our day of sightseeing, which we later regretted after the amount of walking we ended up doing that day.

We spent the morning exploring The Louvre, which houses over 9,000 years of history, including Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. It is a pretty incredible museum and while we saw a lot of it, it is definitely not possible to see everything in one day.

The Louvre

Our handy audio-guides!

Great Sphinx of Tanis (and me!)

Venus de Milo – Ancient Greek sculpture sculpted between 130 and 100 BC

We obviously had to check out the Mona Lisa, one of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous paintings. As most have stated before, it was much smaller than expected! Our tour guide had told us the only reason this painting is so famous is because it is known as the painting that once got stolen from The Louvre. Now it is the most protected piece of art at The Louvre and sits behind bullet-proof glass.

Coronation of Napoleon – 2nd biggest painting in The Louvre (Painted by Jacques-Louis David)

The Wedding Feast at Cana – Largest painting at The Louvre

Such a model…

Psyche revived by Cupid’s kiss on the left; The original selfie on the right

Took some fun shots on the blocks outside of The Louvre, which we learned were actually put there specifically for people to take pictures on

After The Louvre we headed over to Chipotle for lunch. I know, a lot of you are probably thinking “Why would you go to Chipotle when you’re in Paris?!”. Well we were given 2 free coupons from the Regional Manager in London to use at any of the 3 Chipotle’s in Paris, so we thoroughly enjoyed our free, American lunch. After traveling for so long and experiencing a lot of international cuisine, a good meal that tastes like home is not so bad every now and then.

After walking through the city a bit, we headed over to the Eiffel Tower, where we had tickets to go to 2nd floor. Tickets are sold for the 2nd floor and for the very top, however, when we tried buying them online a few weeks ago, tickets to the very top were sold out. Fortunately upon arriving to the 2nd floor of the tower, you’re able to upgrade your ticket if you want to go to the very top, which we did. We captured some great panoramic views of the city and although touristy, it was definitely a fun experience.

The Eiffel Tower (again), but this time during the day!

View of the city from the 2nd floor – Loved the shadow of the tower in this picture

Views from the top! 300M up!

Back down on the ground

We had some time before our last sight we planned to check out that day, so we checked out the Montparnasse Tower, an office skyscraper and another large, famous tower in the city. We also spent some time relaxing at a local cafe and enjoyed some warm drinks and creme brulee! (Andrew’s favorite dessert)

Montparnasse Tower

The final sight we had planned to see in Paris that day was the Catacombs of Paris. These catacombs exist under the streets of Paris and contain the remains of over six million people. While a bit eerie, it was definitely an interesting sight to see. We had booked the 6pm time slot, which happened to be the last time slot of the day. While during the day this is one of the most popular tourist spots to visit in the city, we were fortunate to experience them with very few people. In fact, there were times when we were walking through some of the tunnels and we were the only ones in them. A bit creepy, but a very unique experience that you usually don’t get when you visit this famous site.

Heading down numerous stairs into the underground catacombs!

We’re the only ones here…

After a very long day, we had made reservations at a local French restaurant that came highly recommended from Andrew’s parents and sister. Since they had visited Paris a couple of weeks before us, they had gone to this restaurant that had delicious local cuisine and a nice atmosphere, so we figured we would try it out. We arrived at La Laiterie Sainte-Clotilde and appreciated the cozy atmosphere and friendly service. The food was delicious and it was a wonderful way to spend our last night in Paris.

After having one last glass of wine at a local cafe near our Airbnb, we headed back to start packing. We had planned to stay up late so we would be able to sleep on the 11 hour flight to Hong Kong, but unfortunately I was hit with a horrible case of food poisoning. The next 6 hours were not fun and I was a bit nervous I wouldn’t be able to make it on the flight. Fortunately I woke up feeling a bit better and we were able to make it to the airport on time for our flight. Although still feeling the side effects from the food poisoning, I was very excited as we were leaving Europe to travel to the next continent on our list, Asia! Andrew and I have both never been to Asia, so we knew we were in for an exciting adventure in a new place.