Blue Dot Explore

Wow. 6 months. 6 months of living a dream. I have moments where I have to (figuratively) pinch myself to check that it's true. Don't get me wrong, not every aspect is dream-like, like when you show up at your budget hotel to find that the "mattress" is a piece of fabric-covered plywood. Or the hours and hours spent on an overnight bus, really regretting sleeping through that last bathroom stop. Or how it seems that none of the global population has ever heard of headphones and insists on playing a partial song clip on repeat, at full blast, from the seat next to you (why do so many of these have to do with buses?). But overall, I think Johnny said it best a few weeks ago when we were standing at a mountain outlook. He said something along the lines of "I've lived a whole lifetime in the last few months". Quitting our jobs and using a big chunk of our savings was obviously a big decision, but it feels like the right one and I would make it again and again...

June 19, 2023. Hoi An Night Market on the Thu Bon River. Lanterns are placed in the river with a wish. Trying to get this post off quick since we're about to head to the Sub-Saharan Africa portion of our trip and we'll be traveling with friends, so I don't anticipate having much computer time. I wanted to get something off about the rest of our time in Vietnam because I know when I look back a month from now to write it up, I won't remember anything, so here is part 2 of my favorite country so far, Vietnam. Flying back into Vietnam after Laos was a breeze (no visa issues this time) and our first stop of Vietnam, round 2, would be the beach town of Da Nang. Initially, we hadn't planned to make it a stayover, but after hearing about the beaches we decided to park it there for a couple nights and ended up loving it. We were there on the weekend so we were able to catch the Dragon Bridge fire show and found a night market for our dinners. They had incredible seafood spr...

June 1, 2023. View of the Nam Ou River from the Nong Khiaw viewpoint at  Pha Daeng Peak .  We decided to avoid the Visa hassle of trying to enter Laos via the Northern land crossing as we originally planned, especially given the fact that we hadn't gotten the necessary visa stamp in Hanoi, and visa on arrival or e-visa aren't accepted there. The change in plans ended up being a much better option and saved us about 30 hours on a bus, although unfortunately meant that we had to skip a stop where we were going to travel by slow boat between towns. One thing that I've been reminded of again and again on this trip is the fact that you can't get hung up on what you may have missed. There is just too much to see, and for everything you miss, you get to see something else instead.   We only had a few locations in Laos, concentrated in the North, in order for us to make our June 27 deadline to fly out of South East Asia. We pretty much stayed on the "banana pancake" r...

May 19, 20323, view from the top of  Mua cave, outside of Nihn Bihn, looking down on Tom Coc  After all the visa drama that left me stranded in the Philippines for a few days, I breezed into Hanoi without any further issues. Customs didn't even ask to see my shiny, new emergency visa.... alas, THAT particular Visa drama was over. (Still undergoing India Visa drama. Stay-tuned.) Reunited with Johnny, he was quick to show me his favorite haunts he had discovered in his few days of solo time, most notably his Vietnamese bar owner friend and his spot on the Hanoi train street. He treated us to corn liquor between train passings when you had to press yourself into the local shops to avoid the approaching locomotive. Johnny had also already found the best food spots, including a killer egg coffee. I happily ate my way through the Old Quarter in the short time I had before our transition out to Ha Long Bay. Hanoi had some of my favorite street food since Thailand for sure. Ha Long Ba...

The Philippines are somewhere I've imagined visiting for a while, ever since my cruise ship days. Most of my crewmates were Filipino, and many would regale me with tales of the beauty of their island...the MOST beautiful island in the Philippines. Having now visited just a few, I understand how they could all say that will such confidence, as each beach and island has proved itself to be worth the bragging rights.  With so many islands to visit, it was hard to know where to start, however after speaking with friends and co-workers (shout out to the Cardozo fam), we decided to visit the islands of Sirgao, Cebu, and Palawan. We went a bit off script by skipping the popular tourist destination of Boracay and Bohol, simply based on time and cost.  Our first stop, Siargao (pronounced something like sur-gow), was meant to serve as a relaxing, chill, beach-vibe introduction to the country. It did feel like we were a bit all off the beaten path in terms of the tourist infrastructure. ...