Christina Marie's Travel Blog

If there was one destination in all of Southeast Asia that I could revisit, hands down, it would be Bali. Even though the island is small, there are so many different types of landscapes and activities so there’s something for everyone. Once I got off the plane, picked up my luggage and went outside, I remembered to try to catch a cab from outside the airport gates. By doing this, I eliminated the airport tax!

The airport in theory is only a 15-minute drive from Kuta, a town known for shopping, bars and surfing; however, because of all the traffic, it took at least 40 minutes to get to where a few guesthouses were located. I’m lucky I came during low season (May) because everything was cheaper than normal.

Kuta usually attracts students from Australia and New Zealand during Spring Break. Although I was enjoying my solo traveling experience, Kuta would have been a good place to travel with at least one other person. It wasn’t the easiest place for me to meet people and I didn’t want to be one of those creepers sitting at the bar alone. The best part during my trip to Kuta was the most amazing hour-long massage I got for only $10USD (after tip)!

Instead of staying there longer than two days, I headed more inland to Ubud, which is where Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love lived. I easily met two other foreigners on the van ride over who let me tag along. They found in their Lonely Planet that locals in Ubud curse the book because of the influx of tourist that flock to their small town. 

Ubud was an amazing place to visit and I wish I could have stayed there longer. It was so quaint and I was in good company. Two attractions that we enjoyed included the Sacred Monkey Forest and watching a traditional Balinese dance performance. 

In summary, Bali is worth visiting and I highly encourage people to take a trip if their able to. To view photos from my time in Bali, please visit my Flickr photosteam by clicking here.

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Video: Traditional Balinese Dance
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It’s been five months since I’ve lived in Vietnam and I STILL get emails from students. I can’t describe how much I love them.

“Dear Teacher! this morning I took a speaking test, I tried my best and I got 4.5/5.Thank teacher so much! I am having trouble with my listening,but I promise I will try and practice more to improve it.!!!” - Moon

“How are you today? it’s long time no speak. We really miss you, do you think about us. Where are you now? New york, or where! are you happy with whatever you’re doing? teacher, do you usually remember or tell about us to your friends? but we usually tell about you, you guys are very lovely.” - Julie

One of the last destinations on my five week backpacking adventure was Jakarta, the capital and largest city in Indonesia. Before I arrived, I learned that Jakarta was dubbed ‘The Big Durian,’ which for those who are familiar with this type of fruit, know that it smells like swamp ass; however, to many people, it has a sweet, delicious taste.

When my friend and I arrived at the airport and picked up our luggage, we were overwhelmed by number of taxi drivers trying to win our business. (Tourist Tip: we were forewarned by a few friends to not take any of the taxis inside the airport gate, but to rather walk outside and hail one there. By doing this, you avoid the any airport tax and save money.) 

After arriving to a friend’s house to drop our stuff off, it was time to tour the city. There were a couple destinations we enjoyed visiting, but overall, Jakarta doesn’t have many attractions or get a large influx of tourists, and apparently has been the target of numerous terrorist attacks.

On the other hand, almost all the people I’ve met from Indonesia in general, turned out to be some of the nicest people I’ve ever encountered. If any of you should decide to visit Indonesia and check out Jakarta, you wouldn’t need more than a day.

Here are a few images from our trip:

To view the rest of my photos from Jakarta, please visit my Flickr photostream by clicking here.

On next week’s Top Chef, they’re leaving D.C. and hitting up Singapore, one of my favorite countries! I was completely obsessed with the architecture, the cleanliness, and their top notch bus and train system. I wanted to share one of my favorite photos from the area: a picture of me with the popular Merlion statue. I’m so adorable it hurts!

To view the rest of my photos from Singapore, visit my Flickr photostream by clicking here.

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Architecture in Singapore
Singapore Photos

After making it to the top, it was time to get back down. Everybody has this preconceived notion that going down is always better than going up. Those people have obviously never tried climbing down Mt. Kota Kinabalu. My legs were in absolute pain since I worked a whole different set of leg muscles, muscles that I haven’t used in quite some time, and I needed assistance from my tour guide for the last six kilometers. 

Here are a few images before the descend!

To view the rest of my images from Kota Kinabalu, visit my Flickr photostream by clicking here.

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Video: Mount Kota Kinabalu: Above the Clouds
Climbing Mt. Kota Kinabalu (Part 1): Pushing my body to the limits