Countries Visited

3 – Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam

How We Got Around

  • 2 international flights. Denpasar – Singapore – Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City). Total of 1712 miles (2756 km)
  • 2 domestic flights. Saigon (HCMC) – Da Nang – Hanoi. Total of 763 miles (1228 km)
  • 2 motorbike rides in Bali
  • 17 car rides including app based services, drivers set up by hotels and taxis
  • 2 trips on the metro in Singapore
  • 1 river boat cruise in Singapore
  • 2 one way trips (5 km each) on a cable car to Ba Na Hills
  • Some amazing snorkeling
  • Walked 129 miles (207.6 km)

Best Meal

Steph – This is sooo hard for me, so I’m giving you my top from each country. In Bali, my favorite was the sweet & sour tempe with vegetables that I ate many times while in Amed. It was made right at the hotel we stayed at and was so good and filling. In Singapore, we ate at a restaurant called Flying Monkey which was a tapas style Indian restaurant. We had three different plates and two cocktails during happy hour and it was amazing. I’m still thinking about how I can recreate the goat cheese patties covered in plum jam. Vietnam has been a rough place for us to find meat free options, but the egg coffee in Hanoi deserves a top spot on this list because it’s magical. It’s an egg whipped with condensed milk and poured into the very strong Vietnamese coffee. I’ll be having it multiple times while here.

Justin – Without question the best food I had in June was the fried noodles we ate at the Tamarind Tree in Da Nang, Vietnam. After getting off to a rough start in this country with my meals, it was so enjoyable to find a place that served a dish taking my top spot for the month. And that is saying something after the quality of food in both Singapore and Bali.

One Interesting Thing We’ve Learned

Steph – I have learned a lot more about the Vietnam War and the history of Vietnam. I cried at the War Remnants Museum learning more and seeing photos of the impacts of Agent Orange and have a much better understanding of the history of the country and its struggle for independence.

Justin – I have learned how much I prefer a solid, engaging community rather than privacy and isolation. I have always felt a bit more introverted than extroverted but being around people that engage each other and take pride in helping each other has offered me a new perspective that I am taking a liking to.

The Peak

Steph – I fell hard for Singapore. I didn’t even realize how much I missed big city energy until we walked out of our hotel in Singapore and just started walking. It is one of my favorite cities in the world and I loved everything about it. Learning about their innovations to help combat the environmental impacts that big cities have was fascinating. I also loved the diversity of religions and cultures.

Justin – I had the Golden Bridge on my list for a while now. I saw a photo of it when it was first completed last year and just needed to see it in person. I didn’t realize that the whole area surrounding the bridge was a little constructed village/theme park taking on French and European influences nestled into the Ba Na Hills. The village was fun and the bridge was beautiful. We rode an alpine slide and had AMAZING views of Da Nang below by the ocean. Escaping the heat was just the icing on the cake since it is set in such a high altitude. The mountain views set the whole experience off and left this as my high point in the last month.

The Pit

Steph – Weirdly, my pit comes from Singapore also. I had a full blown meltdown from the heat on our third day when we decided to walk around in the middle of the day and I just completely overheated. There were tears, my entire body was wet from sweat and I just couldn’t pull it together. It was that moment when I realized that there is a reason you don’t see many people out in the middle of the day. We have since shifted how we spend our days and use the early afternoon as our down time at home for reading, laundry and working on the website.

Justin – I started melting down in Ho Chi Minh City on day 2 amid the language barrier and issue of finding food. We set out on this journey to get out of our comfort zone and we definitely did that early in Vietnam as it was the first place our language was an issue and food was an even bigger one. Once we found our groove in Vietnam, I started to change my opinion of the country but, being honest, I was ready to leave here on only our second day.

Grateful to have…

Steph – Our friends with us for almost two whole weeks in Vietnam. It is so nice to have people we know and love to talk to and share these experiences with.

Justin – I am really embarrassed to admit this but I am grateful to have technology at our hands. I admire the globetrotters who were able to drift about the world long before information was at their fingertips. Some of this travel would be really hard without apps like Happy Cow to help us eat and without Google Maps to point us home. I’ve even enjoyed being able to run Netflix some nights when the internet is good enough. I realize how privileged this makes me sound but I just don’t know if I would’ve made it very long in the old days of travel. On the Oregon Trail, I’m pretty sure notice would’ve come to family that “Justin has died of dysentery.”

Missing this…

Steph – Cold weather. I never thought I would dream of snow, but we have been strolling around near the equator in June and it is hot.

Justin – Mouthwash. I brush twice a day and floss a lot more than most people I know so missing this part of my 3-stage cleaning has left my mouth feeling a little more icky than I usually like.

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What’s Next?

We are still working on a plan for the month of July. We have a Ha Long Bay cruise this week and then we are back in Hanoi after our friends leave to explore a little more and enjoy this wonderful city. Our next stop is Siem Riep in Cambodia. We also have a partnership lined up in Laos in the middle of the month, but we have some planning to do to figure out logistics and where else we want to explore.

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