LOMBOK, INDONESIA

Lombok Island is just off the coast of Bali, Indonesia. Sengiggi is one of there most popular towns. Its about an hour from the Lombok airport and close to the pier to have access to the Gili Islands.
We stayed in a gorgeous hotel by the name of  Villa Mantano in Senggigi. This hotel was by far the nicest place we stayed our whole vacation. We wanted to treat ourselves a bit & this place was defiantly the place to do so!
The hotel was newly renovated & they were still working on a few of the rooms while we were there. During our stay we had complimentary breakfast as well as snacks throughout the day! We got to enjoy a huge pool all to ourselves & soak up the sun from our own private sun bathing terrace. The room itself was outstanding! A large rainfall shower & a huge king bed! Our stay here cost us roughly $40 a night & included Wifi, A/C, TV, Breakfast + Snacks like I mentioned.
During our stay in Sengiggi we decided to rent a motorbike from our hotel for $4 a day and check out everything Lombok had to offer!
We saw the monkey forest, a few waterfalls, amazing beaches & of course went to the Gili Islands.

We also spent a full day with some locals at the beach. This day was by far one of our favorites. Although Indonesia is known for there Ultimate Frisbee the little island of Lombok is not to well known for it. While on the beach, Cameron and I noticed we were starting to have a crowd of children around us watching us play Frisbee. We tried a few times to get them involved but the children were far too shy. Soon some of the parents started to join in & ask what we were playing. We taught the parents how to play & they finally got some of the kids involved. After a few hours of tossing the Frisbee around we decided we wanted to continue on our adventure around the island so we gave our Frisbee to one of the families. The children were so excited & the parents were too!

We captured this picture of them playing right before we headed out. 

Below are a few more pictures of our time on Lombok. 

 

GILI GUIDE

 

The Gili Islands are located off Lombok Indonesia. They are 3 islands in total & they are seriously heaven on earth! Today I'm going to share my guide to Gili Trawangan Island! This small island is known for having no cops and no motorized vehicles. Everything is done by walking, biking, or taking horse drawn carriages. You can walk the whole island in about an hour and a half. If you don't want to walk it, rent a bike and bike it! Its totally worth it!

HOW TO GET TO GILLI T: 

The most common question I get from my friends who are looking to get to Gili is how to get there. There are a few ways but they all include boats! If your staying in a hotel, hostel etc ask them for legit boat companies. Usually they will book them for you & have a shuttle driver pick you up. The reason I say "legit" company is because there are a number of fake companies located at the pier itself. Also note: There are a few different boats you can take. One being a fast boat (a little more expensive, but worth it!!). The other boat being the local "faerie" boat. (I would not recommend this one, it was a pretty scary! I also heard they capsize a lot because the boat is too full)

PLACES TO STAY: 
We stayed at two different places on Gili & loved both!! There are a ton of hotels all over the island & finding one the day of is no problem!! The places we stayed were:
Thank You Bar & Restaurant - We thought this was amazing! We loved how welcoming & friendly all the staff was! The room was clean and comfy & the hostel was close to everything! It was $20 CAD a night & included Wifi, A/C, T.V & Breakfast

Ricel Homestay - We loved this place! Located at the end of the street, it was very quite and the owners were awesome! It cost us roughly $20 CAD including Wifi, A/C & Breakfast 

WHERE TO SNORKEL:

Although there are A TON of different places that offer snorkeling with sea turtles etc I highly recommend NOT to do any of those tours. They are super expensive & totally not worth it! What I recommend is going by yourself! It was SO easy to find snorkels and fins! It costs about $4 CAD for the day! The best place to find sea turtles was a spot on the island called Turtle point. Its right down the street from the main pier & in front of some cheap restaurants that will watch your stuff all day (as long as you buy something) The best time to see the turtles is 2:00pm & you don't need to go far either! They swim really close to the shore!

WHERE TO EAT: 
We loved the food at our hostel & it was super cheap!! I highly recommend going to Thank You Bar & Restaurant. The food is fantastic & the service is outstanding! P.S If you order a pizza here they will ask you Magic? That is because they are asking if you want magic mushrooms on it! Be careful!
Another great place if your craving pizza is Regina Pizza! Its delicious!!!

Those are two of our favorite spots but there are also tons of places to eat around the island!

BEST SUNSET SPOT: 

The best sunset on the island is by far the Sunset Bar which is on the West side of the island! Anywhere that you can see the volcano is perfect!!

Here is a map of Gili & where the best spots are! 

TRANSPORTATION IN THAILAND

Getting from point A to point B in SE Asia is pretty easy! There are numerous ways to travel like bus, train, plane, boat or even by car. The way you get there is really up to you and what you can afford. I thought I would share my tips on what I found to be the cheapest and most reliable! 

When traveling anywhere in Thailand my fiancé and I always stuck to taking the bus! The buses are fantastic, affordable and reliable! Depending how cheap you are you can get a pretty great deal. Traveling from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on a VIP bus that included free water, snacks, movies, blankets and pillows & reclining seats cost us 488 baht which is roughly $17 Canadian! Pretty awesome considering the bus ride was 10 hours long. 
The same went for when we traveled to Krabi province which was about 12 hours away. 
The bus terminals are easy to find and we found they always ran on time & never broke down. 

If your thinking of taking the train system throughout Thailand, I would highly suggest to double think that. The train system is never on time, always has delays & usually costs more. We also heard they are notorious for being de-railed. 

If buses are not really for you, another great means of transportation is by plane. The tickets are pretty affordable & you would save a ton of time! For anyone who isn't backpacking or is on a strict time line, the plane is a great option! 
Air Asia has tons of booths around Thailand & you can also buy your tickets online. To get from say Bangkok to Chiang Mai would roughly cost you $60 Canadian & the flight is about 1 hour! 

Boats!! Boats are great if your traveling the islands of Thailand! You get to see some pretty amazing scenery and the price is pretty affordable as well! You can usually hire your own personal long tale boat & haggle them down to a great price. We found taking the public boats from larger ports to be the best price! To get from Krabi to Koh Lanta cost us $4 Canadian & took about an hour and a half! 
An important note I wanted to mention about taking any boat in Thailand is that if the boat looks too full and they keep packing it full, get off!! Ask to take the next boat! These boats often tip or flip due to them being over packed. The boats run every hour on the hour so don't feel rushed! Use your own judgment & be safe! 

As for taxis, car rentals and Tuk Tuk's in Thailand they are always usually affordable unless they scam you! If you are in a taxi, always ask for them to use the meter. They will likely say no because it's too hot and the meter doesn't work but that's a lie! 
If your traveling from the Bangkok airport to Khao San Road (a popular tourist area where you will find cheap hotels & shopping) should cost you no more than 500 baht or $20! Do not let them scam you at the airport! 
As for Tuk Tuks... Anywhere but Bangkok they are a fantastic means of transportation! In Bangkok they are greedy & will never take you to your exact location without taking you to some sort of tourist shop where they get compensation. If you decided to take a Tuk Tuk in Bangkok, just be firm! Do not them stop at other locations and try and use exact change, if you don't have exact change they usually say they don't have change to give you & your out of luck. Also, if a Tuk Tuk driver says they are going to take you to a bunch of different temples that are only open for 1 day - don't do it! It's a scam! & beware of the people on the sidewalk who walk up to you & act like they are your friends & then recommend you to take a Tuk Tuk - these people work with the Tuk Tuk drives to increase their business! 

Overall it's pretty easy to get anywhere in Thailand, it really all depends on you and how you want to travel! My best advice would be to do your research & know how much your willing to spend. Again, we loved the bus system and highly recommend them to anyone who is backpacking and on a budget! 
I hope some of these tips helped & if you have any questions, leave them in the comments below! 
Thanks for reading! 

WHAT I SHOULD HAVE PACKED

After backpacking for a little over 2 months now I have come to realize I missed a number of things while packing! I also realized I over packed on numerous items as well.
In this blog post I'm going to go over some of the things I wished I had packed and some of the things I wish I left at home!
So lets get into it...

WHAT I SHOULD HAVE PACKED...

T-SHIRTS - This was such a silly mistake on my part!! I honestly have no idea how or why I over looked such an essential item! T-Shirts are a HUGE item I wish I brought more of. Currently, I am only working with 1 t-shirt & I cant even begin to tell you how much it sucks!
T-Shirts are great for so much here in Asia! Since your in the sun almost all day they are great for covering your shoulders & back from the sun. I cant stress enough how important they are to bring!
LIGHT WEIGHT PANTS - Since one of the main things Cameron and I enjoy doing in Asia is visiting temples I really wish I had brought more light weight pants or sweat pants. Sure, there super easy to find here in Thailand and very affordable but they also rip very easily! I brought a number of leggings and workout style pants but they don't really do the job here. In some temples you are not allowed to wear tight fitting pants making my yoga pants off limits. So, if your going to be doing some temple visiting, make sure you bring some light weight easy to wear pants!
LOOSE FITTING TANK TOPS - Like T-shirts, tank tops are also great here, there easy to wear and very breathable.. however, the tank tops I brought were again workout tanks with built in bras from LuLu Lemon. These ones are cute BUT they get uncomfortable fast! I really wish I had brought some more cheap loose fitting tank tops.
MORE SHORTS - I brought 4 pairs of shorts but I wish I had changed some of my pants out for extra shorts! Shorts are great here because it does get super hot & there easy to pack! So ditch your
leggings for shorts!
SUNSCREEN - This is pretty obvious... I really thought I would have had enough sunscreen but when you wear it here everyday all day you go through it super quickly! Plus buying sunscreen at home is way more affordable then buying it here. In Asia for sunscreen the cheapest you'll find a small & I mean TINY bottle is about $10. So pack extra!!
SHAMPOO & CONDITIONER - This is also a small thing I over looked while packing. I thought it would be easy to buy both of these items here & I was wrong! Shampoo is super easy to find but it does get a little expensive. However, conditioner is impossible to find! If you do find it, you'll pay an arm and a leg for it! So stock up! If your like us and your cheap, a great way to save some money is when your in a hotel that offers shampoo - TAKE IT ALL! We would re fill a water bottle with any shampoo that was given at the hotel, it comes in handy for doing your laundry too!!

WHAT I COULD HAVE DITCHED...

PANTS - Simply too hot here for pants on the regular, you really only need them for bus rides & visiting temples. One pair will be fine!
FIRST AID ITEMS - I brought so many first aid items that I thought I might end up needed but honestly haven't even touched. Anything you may need you can find here at any local convenience store. A few good items to bring are: Band-Aids, Pepto & Advil! Other than then, leave the rest!
MAKEUP - This I know most people wouldn't have even brought but I did. I thought maybe we might go somewhere and ill want to throw on a little mascara etc but I honestly haven't even touched any of the makeup I brought.

If your deciding to go backpacking for more than a few weeks just remember to pack smart! I thought I had it all figured out but as the days go on I realize how much useless stuff I brought and things I really wished I had. Less is definitely more!! Make your bag as light as possible - that is the key since you might end up walking with your bag for hours & the lighter & smaller the bag the easier it is to get on flights, buses etc!
Keep checking back because in my next post Ill go over my perfect backpack & whats in it for traveling South East Asia!
Thanks for reading!

10 THINGS TO DO IN KRABI, THAILAND

Krabi Thailand was by far the highlight of our trip thus far. The province has so much to offer and many of the top things to do here are absolutely FREE!
After arriving in Phuket, I looked back on our time in Krabi and thought I would throw together our 10 favorite things to do in Krabi Province!
Here is goes...

1. TIGER CAVE TEMPLE 

Like I mentioned in my last post, Tiger Cave Temple was amazing!! The views from the top were breathtaking and roaming around the grounds of the temple was so much fun! Not to mention it was all FREE!

2. AO NANG BEACH & TOWN 

We LOVED Ao Nang, sure it was pretty touristy and pretty busy but we love to people watch and this was by far the best place for that! We loved walking around the town and shopping at night. It was so fun to haggle with the locals and get some great items for super cheap! Ao Nang had a great beach as well, it wasnt the nicest beach we went to but it still had some great views!

3. RAILEY BEACH
Railey Beach was a beach we were thinking of skipping because we heard it was pretty busy and not worth it. However, after running into one of our old friends in Ao Nang she convinced us to head over. After arriving we found it was super busy and packed with tourists but we made our way to Princess Cave, a cave filled with.. well.. you can look in the picture.. in the thai culture this cave is great for praying to the gods if you are looking to get pregnant or having trouble conceiving. Right in front of the cave there was an awesome beach that took us into a really cool cave! Also on Railey there is a hidden lagoon!! If you follow the signs it will lead you to an amazing lookout with a gorgeous lagoon! The hike to get there was long, steep and muddy but totally worth it! If your into rock climbing, there were a ton of great spots to climb! The boat to get from Ao Nang to Railey was only 100 baht, so pretty affordable!

4. VOGUE SHOPPING MALL 
Vogue shopping mall was so much fun! Its located in the heart of Krabi town & is 3 stories. Each level was filled with tons of shops with great deals! On the main level there was a food court where Cameron and I decided to take a night off our fried rice diets and indulge in some pizza!!! The pizza was by far the best pizza we have had!

5. NIGHT MARKETS
Night Markets were & still are our favorite things to check out in each town we go to, We love trying all the local street food and shopping! You can get some great deals if you know how to bargin!

6. DRAGON CREST MOUNTAIN 

This was one place I wanted to see so badly but we unfortunately didn't have the time, we want to do this hike so badly that we might have to make a trip back to Krabi! Dragon Crest Mountain is the highest peak in all of Krabi province. It has some amazing look out points and even a little waterfall. From what we read the hike is pretty intense and takes a total of 4 hours but the view at the top is worth it since you can see all the way to Phuket & the surrounding islands. You must also be careful because we read of a few people running into King Cobra snakes.

7. VISIT KOH LANTA

Koh Lanta was our favorite place in all of Krabi! This little island has so much to offer and had the best beaches we have seen!! The people there were amazing, they were all so kind and welcoming! The food was awesome & there was so much to do!! We loved renting motor bikes and touring the whole island finding new lookouts each time! 

8. ISLAND TOURS
Island tours are pretty popular in Krabi since there are tons that surround the province. The 4 island tour is the most popular and the best place to buy a ticket is from Koh Lanta. It costs around 800 baht each. The tour will take you island hoping and snorkeling all day! A pretty great way to see a bunch of islands in one day

 

9. RENT A MOTOR BIKE & TOUR! 
Renting motor bikes is another one of our favorite things to do! It only costs 200 baht for the whole day!! Pretty great!! We would just jump on our motor bike with no plans and end up at some amazing lookouts! A pretty awesome way to see as much of Thailand as possible for $8 a day!

10. MUAY THAI!!  

Muay Thai... what an awesome experience!! It was a little pricey but totally worth it!! We watched 9 fights and had pretty much front row. Its a definite must see if ever in Thailand!!

TRAVELING THAILAND - AO NANG, KRABI

Ao Nang... Where do I even begin! This beautiful beach town was probably my favorite place thus far. There were tons of hotels, restaurants, shopping and of course beaches!

We stayed in Ao Nang for only two nights and I really wish we had stayed longer. There was tons to do and see! Our favorite part of Ao Nang was window shopping at night. There were so many shops and tons of tourists out that it was great to people watch!
We even got to see a few lady boys out promoting their show! It was hilarious because they loved Cameron! They kept following him around wherever we went.

There were so many back ally ways filled with bars! It was so hard to choose where we were going to eat, but if you know us, you know that were pretty cheap so we stuck to the street food. The food is so cheap, it cost's us roughly $4 CAD to both enjoy a huge plate of fried rice.
To be honest, we have pretty much been on a 3 week fried rice with chicken and prawn diet!! Its so delicious and cheap, how can you go wrong!

After two days in Ao Nang, we booked a fairy ride from Krabi to Koh Lanta for $10 each that took about 2 hours.

If you are ever in Thailand I would highly recommend Ao Nang, its gorgeous and there is so much to do and see! We are definitely heading back there after our week here in Koh Lanta!

Below are some pictures of our time in Ao Nang! Enjoy!

     

BANGKOK DAY TWO

Day two in Bangkok was A LOT better then our first day. That's for sure! On our second day we decided we wanted to leave the city and head down to the islands and relax on the beaches. Before heading to the bus station to grab tickets to Krabi we decided to see some temples and popular things in the city.
Our first stop was The Grand Palace since it was around the corner from the hotel we stayed at. However, we completely forgot about the clothing restriction To enter the Grand Palace you must be fully covered pretty much from head to toe. Cameron and I had decided to walk around the outside of the building & when we return to Bangkok we knew we would put this at the top of our list!
Here's a picture outside the Palace!

Once we passed the Grand Palace we decided to head over to the Reclining Buddha. To enter we had to pay 50 baht each which is about $4 each. Pretty cheap to see some amazing sites!
We LOVED the Reclining Buddha and would totally recommend this to anyone who is visiting Bangkok. Once in the grounds there was plenty to do! We saw the Buddha and then also toured the grounds and saw many other Buddha's and some breathtaking architecture! We spent about 2 hours touring through the beautiful scenery.
Here's a few pictures from inside!

After we checked the reclining Buddha off our list we knew we wanted to take a water taxi and head over to the Wat Arun. We decided to walk threw this neat little market where there was tons of shopping and street food! We stopped for some fruit & headed to the water taxi. The water taxi cost us 15 baht each and took us right in front of the Wat Arun. The Wat Arun was under construction so we didn't get to walk all the way up to the top to see it's amazing views. We still got to walk around the grounds and see the great architecture!
Here are a few pictures from the Wat Arun.

After seeing the few placed we wanted to see in Bangkok we knew we had to get over to the bus station to be able to buy tickets to take us into Krabi. We jumped in a cab that took us about 15 minutes to get to the bus station in Bangkok. Since we had done our research the night before we knew exactly which bus terminal to go to, to buy our tickets. Our tickets from Bangkok to Krabi cost 550 baht which is about $20. Not too bad considering it was a 12 hour bus ride!
The bus station was great!! Tons to do and see, there were many restaurants and choices for food. Even a KFC! & there were TONS of shopping options on each floor. We even saw there was a huge night market outside the bus terminal that started around 6pm and went almost all night! We loved sitting in the bus station and people watching! Mind you, the people in the bus station also loved watching us! Haha
Once on the bus Cameron and I slept most of the way. The bus ran over night and we arrived in Krabi around 9 am! It was perfect, we basically got a free nights stay and even some snacks and free water on the bus! We would highly recommend taking the bus over the train as we heard the train's are pretty non reliable.
Interested in what we get up to next? Keep checking back as Ill be updating you more on our travels!
Thanks for reading!
xoxo Alilcia  

BANGKOK THAILAND - OUR FIRST DAY

Bangkok... where to begin! The city was gorgeous and there was SO much to do! BUT it was also very stressful. Since it was our first time in a foreign country Bangkok really took a lot out of us. We had done a lot of research on scams to avoid but still managed to fall into some scam artist and some tricky tuk tuk drivers.
On our first day out exploring we knew we wanted to head straight to Koh San Road, a popular road for backpackers that had tons of great shopping and awesome street food.
On our way there we were approached by numerous people asking us where we were going and if we wanted to take a tuk tuk. All of these people kept telling us that for today only there were 3 temples you could visit and it was free because it was some type of holiday. They all mentioned that the tuk tuk could take you for 60 baht & then drop us at Koh San Road. We turned down each person and continued on our way.
All of a sudden we run into this very nice women who saw Cameron's Jay's hat and said hey! your from Canada! My brother is in Montreal. At the time we thought this lady was just being super nice and wanting to talk. She gave us great advice on things to see and places to go. She then also mentioned the same 3 temples to visit & said the same thing about it being a holiday and we MUST see it today, however she told us it should only be 40 baht. She then asked if we wanted her to call a tuk tuk for us and tell him where we wanted to go. We agreed.
After getting in the tuk tuk we thought this was a great deal we found! The tuk tuk driver took us to 2 different golden Buddha's & we were having so much fun riding around on the crazy streets of Bangkok. All of a sudden the tuk tuk driver drops us off in front of a tourist shop & tells us he will wait there. We thought that's because we had told the other women we needed to buy bus tickets to get to Krabi that she must have told our tuk tuk driver and that's why we were here. We were wrong! The tourist shop was filled with tourists like us who were about to be scammed into buying expensive trips to Chang Mai or to the islands. We sat down and listened to what the guy had to say and at first we almost bought into it!
We knew we could do the trip for way cheaper than he was offering so declined his offer and left. Once back in the tuk tuk we thought we would be going to our last temple and then off to Koh San road... Nope! We pulled up to another tourist place where the tuk tuk told us we have to go in because he gets free food for dropping us off there. We said No! Take us to Koh San, we are sick of this! He then argued with us & told him we look bad because we keep saying no to all these travel agents. After arguing with our tuk the drops us off down the road and points to koh san which was about 200 meters away, we got out gave our money. Of course didn't receive change back as he jetted off.
We ended up only seeing two Buddhas which we then realized were free everyday and the lady we thought was so nice was actually working with the tuk tuk drivers. Needless to say, that was our last tuk tuk in Bangkok.
We were so tired at this point since we had landed earlier that morning and jet leg was slowing kicking in. We headed to what we knew best which was McDonald's! We knew we wanted to try McDonald's in Thailand since we love it so much at home.
After enjoying our food we took a walk over to Koh San road and walked up and down the street a few times checking out all the neat clothing, bags, etc!
It was about 6pm and we were so tired!! We had been haggled all day and the sun and lack of water had now hit us! We returned to our hotel and decided to hit the sheets since we knew the next day would be full of excitement seeing the Grand Palace, Reclining Buddha and Wat Arun!

Here's a few pictures from our first day in Bangkok