#tb to vietnam, april 2018

in march, one of my best friends announced she was getting married in april, in vietnam. after all of the congratulating and general screaming, we all started planning the trip. we didn’t have much time, and we needed to sort out the visas first, which always takes the longest. april is my busiest month work wise, because i am a teacher, and my kids sit their exams in may. but i knew i needed to go on this trip, and anyway, i had already planned a trip in the last week of march, so i just extended my holiday. 

traveling is something that is really important to me, and i love it. traveling with my best friends is a once in a life time thing, so i am forever thankful for the opportunity. i’d never been to vietnam before, so i was extra excited to visit a new place. 

v gloomy flight, and the dreaded malaysia airlines logo

unfortunately my flight was one of the worst experiences i’d ever had. i was flying with one of my friends (everyone else was meeting us there) and we first had issues because i had written her name wrong on the ticket (that was entirely my fault, but it was so frustrating). then, our flight was delayed by 12 hours, in 2 hour intervals. thankfully, we weren’t at the airport the whole time, but the stress of the name drama and then the constant flight delays were terrible for my anxiety. at one point i just wanted to stay home lol. but, after more than 24 hours of travel, we finally made it, and seeing the rest of my friends made us feel instantly better.

pool!

the wedding was in hoi an, which is a little tourist village in east vietnam. we flew in to ho chi min and then to hoi an, and the difference between the two was insane. ho chi min is so hectic and crazy (and we were there at like 2 am), and hoi an was so silent and chill. it was perfect.

the village is full of little stores and this is a picture i took while i waited for my friends to finish shopping (my feet were killing me so i had to sit down)

we stayed for a week, and the wedding was on the day before the last. it was such a calm and relaxing holiday. honestly, all we did was eat great food and hang out. there were so many bars, cafes and restaurants that had amazing food (i ate so many spring rolls, it was INSANE), and just wandering around the markets and streets was an adventure in itself. it’s also worth mentioning that everything was ridiculously cheap, which meant i didn’t have to go home and cry at the state of my bank account lol.

affogato (i am craving one rn)

our view from the restaurant we had the bachelorette party in

they sold alcohol by the bucket (i’m the one drinking the coke lol)

much needed coffee the morning after the wedding, at a very aesthetic cafe

coconut ornaments (how cool do these look)

the actual wedding was on a boat, which meant we had an amazing view the whole time (although the sun did blind us randomly lol). it was an awesome ceremony, and i enjoyed every minute of it. 

just as the wedding started, the sun was blinding

but when the boat turned around, everything was great

sunset

post sunset and post wedding, on our way to get fooooooood

 

i would love to visit vietnam again, because mostly when i go on holidays, everything seems like a huge rush. this one was the total opposite, and i loved it.

#tbt to istanbul, 2017

i found a post i had written for a newspaper about my trip to istanbul which wasn’t published, so i thought i would post it here. it’s definitely more formal and not how i would usually write on here, but i am proud of it, so i want to post it 🙂

winter in istanbul

istanbul is a extraordinary city. lying on both sides of the bosphorus strait, which divides europe and asia, the city is awash with the cultures and traditions of the east and the west. i was lucky enough to spend the last week and a half of 2017 in istanbul, and i enjoyed every minute of it.

flew over the desert to get to istanbul, and this is one of my fave pics from the trip

having never spent any time in temperatures below 16º c, i was nervous about a holiday in winter, where the average temperature was 7º c. turns out, the cold really isn’t so bad. while the winter months don’t allow for interesting street food and outdoor seating at cafes, that’s pretty much all you miss out on if you do visit at this time.

the season also has the added benefit of less tourists, which means visiting typical tourist areas is not hectic at all. the old city, which houses the blue mosque, the hagia sophia and the basilica cistern was calm and quiet. unfortunately, i didn’t go inside the two mosques because that required taking off layers, and it was a very cold day, but just looking at them from the outside was enough – they’re both impressive and gorgeous.

blue mosque

basilica cistern (it was so creepy, i really wish i had a better lowlight camera to capture it better)

our hotel was situated in the modern part of the city; the architecture was both modern and traditional, which made for some interesting sights. despite what i thought, there was quite a lot to see in the new city – just walking around made for some interesting discoveries in terms of cafes, places to eat and random mosques and parks. i definitely didn’t feel like i was missing out.

getting around the city is very easy – all you need is a travel card and since it works on the metro, bus, tram and ferry, it meant i could go anywhere. google maps was my best friend, and although a sim card with data was a little expensive, it was definitely worth it; as friendly as the people of istanbul are, almost no one speaks english, so asking for directions can be difficult.

the language barrier was quite surprising to me – since istanbul was the most tourist friendly area, i assumed there would be people who spoke english, but i was wrong. there were definitely more english speaking people in areas close to the blue mosque and basilica, but that was it. technology came to the rescue though, as all i had to do was type in my question into google translate and handover my phone, and the person i was talking to would type their reply and give it back to me. it was obvious they were all used to it and it was nice to see how seamlessly technology was integrated into their interactions with foreigners.

i was most excited for the turkish food, as i had heard so many amazing things about it. honestly, it wasn’t as great as i expected, but that was probably because my exceptions were very high. a lot of the food was a quite bland, but not to the point where it was tasteless. what i loved, though, was the extensive selections of (halal) meats and cheeses. i have never seen so many cheeses in one place than i did at the breakfast buffet; it was great!

spicessss

moar spices!

found this diner that had the best food omg

fruits near our hotel

one of my favorite things to do was have hot coffee at one of the many cafes that are spread out across the city. this was perfect pick me up after a few hours of walking around in the cold. my favorite cafe was located two minutes away from my hotel, and it was a coffee shop as well as a bookshop and a library (basically heaven). the coffee was great, but what i loved was the atmosphere – it was so quiet, and the owners were so inviting and hospitable.

amazing subway art

i had to do it

my trip was an amazing experience. i would love to visit istanbul again, maybe in the summer. it was an unforgettable holiday, and the perfect end to 2017!

Adventure: Irrakkandy, Sri Lanka 2016

Last weekend, my friends and I had the opportunity to go to Irrakkandy, which is a tiny fishing village on the north east coast of our island, Sri Lanka. When I say tiny, I am not exaggerating, the village is literally just 150 – 200 meters end to end. This was my second visit, the last time I went was back in March. One of my friends has a holiday home there, which is why it’s slowly becoming a regular vacation spot.

I had so much fun on the trip, even though all we did was just relax on the beach and in the ocean. I took loads of pictures, but I took them on my phone, so the quality isn’t that great, but it’s better than nothing!

So, on Friday night we left Colombo, which is on the west coast, and 7 hours and 270km later we were in Trincomalee, all the way on the north east coast. We took the bus, which had the air conditioning on the highest setting probably, so we by the time we got to the bus stop we were ice cold. From there, we took another bus to Irrakkandy which took around half an hour. At this point it was almost 7 am and we were so sleepy and tired. The last time we made it in time to watch the sunrise, but this time we were too late, so we took our bags to the bungalow and waited for breakfast.

This was our awesome bungalow.

This was our view from the bungalow.

Hammock that we all sat on while one of us struggled to open the door every time we came back from the sea (The doors were all antique, so the keys and locks were totally uncooperative).

I didn’t take any pictures inside the bungalow, because it was constantly a mess, oops. We were more concerned with going to the sea than being tidy 😛 It was just two rooms and a living room, which is where we spent most of our time. We had to walk five minutes away to this other bungalow where we got our meals. Because Irakkandy is a fishing village, and extremely rural, all of the fresh seafood was extremely cheap, so naturally we ate it everyday, for all our meals, when it was available. SO GOOD.

The sea here is actually a lagoon, so it’s essentially a huge pool with a few small waves. We could walk around 1 – 2 km into the ocean and the water would be up to our waists. There were also small “islands” that we could climb up and explore depending on the tide, which was so much fun.

These were the “islands”. They look really far away, but we literally just walked up to them.

This is what the beach looked like early morning.

This is what it looked like in the late afternoon.

On our last day we came across this lonely cow, which was on the sandbank far away from the shore. She had gotten separated from the rest of her friends and I think she didn’t know how to come back to shore, which was kinda sad.

This is where the lonely cow was.

This was where her friend was, all the way on the shore.

The ocean was in season, which mean there were no dangerous monsoon currents, so it was perfect for swimming. However, the waves were a little smaller and more rough than regular waves, which didn’t hinder our ability to swim, but they did destroy and bury the shells on the shore, which was really sad. The last time I came, my friend and I spent hours looking for shells, and for some reason, it was a very therapeutic thing to do. I still did manage to find a few shells this time though.

Bits of broken shell an coral left behind as the tide went down.

I love the little trails left behind in the sand.

Better view of the stuff that’s left behind.

Adorable fully intact shell! I was so excited to see this.

The water that was flowing in the morning had gone down with the tide in the evening, and it left behind this awesome design in the sand.

Here’s a closeup.

Another intact shell.

Coolest looking shell ever.

Smallest and cutest shell I have ever seen in my life.

The water leaving behind more cool patterns in the sand.

We were also there for most of the sunset.

Almost gone.

Here’s the lagoon getting quieter as the sun sets.

We also went to the shops a little away from the bungalow to get some snacks. The lagoon separates the two ends of the village, so it’s connected by a bridge which is probably the most modern thing in the whole area. It looks cool but also so out of place.

Here’s the bridge….

..and here’s the view of the lagoon from the bridge.

I had such an amazing time on this trip and I honestly can’t wait to go back. We are hoping go every three months, so hopefully I will be back soon!

Currently:

Reading: Check out my Good Reads widget

Watching: Stranger Things on Netflix, it’s so good!

Playing: Best Fiends on my phone LOL, it’s so damn addictive