Hidden Paradise….Fiji!

 

Probably one of the best and most spontaneous experiences so far being off the ship. A friend Jay and I grabbed a taxi and we were going to head to this rain forest he had heard about…then our friend Brianna came running along so we scooped her up and we were well on our way. Jamming out to Fijian music and some American tunes in between on the radio we really had an amazing day ahead of us and I was full of joy and laughter!

Laughing…Singing songs…taking pictures and really just thoroughly living in the moment we were in the taxi for about 30 minutes or so and we had arrived to the rain forest…we walked along the paths and a security looking kinda guy stopped us…stuck his hand out in a half handshake and half “do not pass” kinda hand…and said in such a firm voice “BULA!” Jay and i both just looked at each other in confusion and giggled. Then I remembered the taxi driver had told us “Bula” means “Hello!” hahah so we shouted it back to him and continued on our way. As if the heavens were to open up and the beautiful singing voice would come through “Ahhhhh” and a beautiful waterfall with a natural looking pool of water was right in front of us. I was in awe…this was stunning and so peaceful and all you could hear was pure live nature. We continued to see if there was anything else to appreciate ahead of us…of course the whole area was full of the same type of natural beauty and I was so happy about all of it.

We headed back toward the first waterfall we saw and ran into a handful of local boys who were on the rope swing into the pool. Of course…knowing me…I had to be the first one to try it out….and scared out of my mind!! Hahaha. Jay had this brilliant idea for me to keep my dress on and he would get pictures of me jumping as my dress would be beautiful…flowing into the air…sigh….sounds too good to be true, ‘eh?? Well I’ll just show you with pictures what happened next… 

  Hahahah…there you have it. You tell me…how flowing and beautiful does my dress look while delicately dropping into the water? Nicely done…I know. haha. Loads of crew started showing up and we ended up all having a little rope swing swimming party…so much fun! We also had a shot of cava root…its a muscle relaxer and it just sort of numbs your body but keeps your mind in check and sharp! Interesting experience I’d say.

Brianna and I kind of wandered off into the pool then into the waterfall….Yess…we hiked up the actual waterfall and had the best free deep tissue massage. I’ll show you…   It really was a day full of laughter and new experiences that I couldn’t change for anything. So happy to have had the opportunity to explore the hidden beauties of Fiji. There was also some beautiful markets around with beautiful people…beautiful large people as well selling beautiful goods. Fiji was overall just a wonderful place to be…I’d love to go back there someday. ;)

    

Australia…my LOVE!

 

Honestly…where do I even begin?! November 13, 2010…What a significant day in my life…the day I was born 23 years ago and I was lucky enough to spend my 23rd birthday…in all the places in the world…Sydney, Australia?!#(!&@#)*&) You’ve got to be kidding me!!!!!!!! This has been THEEEEE one place in the entire world that I’ve always wanted to visit and here I get to on my birthday. Wow…I feel so blessed. Okay enough of that…Sydney, I’ll get back to talking the world about you ;)….

….First stop: Darwin, Australia….I wasn’t able to get off the ship this day but my first impression of Australia absolutely blew me away…my heart was racing and pounding out of my chest just by seeing a sign that said we were in Australia. I had to pinch myself a few times to bring me to reality which was we were actually in the land down under. Wonderful!! Cairns, Australia was next on the iternary….it was all so beautiful I wasn’t able to get off the ship this day either but mostly everybody went scuba diving into the Great Barrier Reef…hmm, next time perhaps.

  Okay okay from Cairns we headed to Brisbane, Australia…which I really enjoyed my time there. We were able to hop on a complimentary shuttle from the cruise ship into this rather large shopping area…me and a few friends and we really just wandered around the streets just soaking it all in…walking into the little shops and still trying to get myself to believe we were still in Australia…haha I’m such a nut but It’s an exciting thing, c’mon now!!! We stopped at this local place to get some grub and everything was quite expensive I must say…I had a regular sandwich with turkey and some vegetables (dad, you love it…i know!) and it cost me about $12 JUST for the sandwich…So that’s a slight downfall of the beautiful land down under is everythings much pricier but It was well worth the extra buck or five. Continuing to wander around we just went all up and down the sidewalks enjoying the accents and the crazy lingo the locals have…ended up walking to this beautiful park area with a ferris wheel and some exciting folks participating in an outside workout bootcamp exercise which I would have loved to join them if i were dressed properly. Okay so Brisbane was stunning and I adored it as much as I could and would have moved there instantly that day if I could have! Let’s move onto the stunning, breathtaking, and glorious….drumroll, please…..ba da da da da dum…..SYDNEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here we go…Sydney literally took my breath away. I’ll start you with this:

To be honest…do I really need to explain or say anything more about Sydney? She’s a true beauty in my eyes and I plan on visitng her more than twice in my life.Give me a three times a charm, please. Anyway…I’m getting distracted here. Let’s focus…so its my birthday now and I’m estatic. My dear friend, Jay, and I hopped on the ship as soon as we were able to that morning…we practically flew off the gangway and scurried our eager bodies straight near the opera house.  Obviously snapped handfuls of pictures…capturing absolutely everything around me I was so excited and full of life and couldn’t get enough of any of it at this point!

After we practically filled our memory cards I had to get back to the ship, change clothes and fly away to go on a run around the bold and beautiful, Sydney! I was ecstatic…and could hardly contain myself I figured I’d rid some energy and exhaust and challenge and enlighten myself with a wild run I was about to encounter.

Singapore

Well well well…the stunning and immaculate Singapore. I LOVED it here…and it was the cleanest country I had ever seen besides Japan. My dear friend Jackie and I..and of course baby Graeme ended  up meeting some strangers from Minnesota & Wisconsin…and they were just visiting as well so we just figured we’d all go venture around together.

We hopped on a bus headed to Sentosa and went to Siloso beach where there was beaches, of course…and plenty of places to eat so we sat and had some pizza and some of the most expensive bottled water…EVER. I figured i would play it safe and not drink tap water because I didn’t want to get some joys of drinking foul water in a foreign country…well shoot!..joke was on  me after i paid for an $8 for a small bottle of water from Fiji. Lesson learned i suppose.

After we finished lunch my stomach was gurgling like a lion! hahah and speaking of lions…we walked to see the famous Murlion. ---> 

As we continued to walk we came upon one of the many HUGE malls…and they were all so beautiful and elaborate!! There was also a Universal Studios just right outside one of the malls…you could easily get lost but we just stuck in between the lines this time. It was all so Beauuuutiful. We grabbed a bus back to the port where there was another big mall and we found a place where Jackie really really reallllllllllly wanted to experience the fish pedicure…but I was NOT about it. I was so grossed out and didn’t understand it…so you put your feet in this tub-like deal…and small fish just swarm to your feet and start nibbling on them and cleaning them off. I couldn’t understand why on earth anybody would be psyched about something like that…for me especially growing up on the river being petrified of anything swimming in the murky waters of the Mississippi. Jackie put her feet in and i wanted to scream..i was squirming so much for her while trying to hold the baby! Hahaha. Finally…Jackie convinced me to just put my feet in for a couple minutes just to say that I’ve done it…okay okay FINE. I held my feet out psyched out of my mind thinking back to terrifying moments in the river back home with minnows hahahaha…..okay i did it i did it and i hated it!! It felt so gross! It was definitely an experience…and in the pictures below you can see how much I enjoyed it. haha.

After we made our way back to the ship i needed a workout..so i grabbed on of  the Spinning bikes and brought it outside on the deck and had the best view of the city while also viewing the cable cars. Can’t wait to go back to Singapore!

Indonesia…

 

families of crew came aboard to visit….over 900 visitors were on board..such an emotional time for everyone. it was so nice to see a lot of the crew with their loved ones…and now we have about 90 new crew from Indonesia. Most of the crew is either from Indonesia or the Philippines.

Komodo Island..to see Komodo Dragons. Astonishing views…absolutely gorgeous. I don’t have all that much to say about the Komodo Island…it really was beautiful and the dragons were really neat to see. Our guide was really informational and we saw a handful of komodo dragons….and sorry to disappoint some of you but they were not fire breathing dragons. I know….disappointing. haha.

There was a little market at the national park and I bought a fresh water real pearl necklace for $10. Very pretty and great price! Yesss. Off my check list to see dragons in Indonesia. I would love to come back to Indonesia…and make my way to Bali…I heard lovely things about it and the people are lovely from there! Some day ;)

 

Eyes wide open in Cambodia…

 

I thought Vietnam was an eye opener…but Cambodia definitely took first in the poorest country I’ve ever witnessed. I learned a lot and I really appreciate everything I’ve been blessed with in my life and growing up in the United States in a beautiful healthy home and town. Being exposed to all of the poverty in Cambodia was unbelievable…to see people all around you grabbing you and begging for you to buy their bracelets or take a 'tuk tuk’ (their way of transporting people) was overwhelming. We were offered a free shuttle service from the ship to the town market and wow…as you can see by the photos on the bus still people with signs for their Tuk Tuk service and advertising themselves. Immediately when we stepped foot off the bus we were being grabbed at and poked and spoke to and like i said it was overwhelming. I remained  calm and just went with the flow of it as opposed to a couple other people I was with started yelling at the people to stop touching them…i chose to just be open minded about it and just relax and get a tuk tuk driver to the resort/beach we were all going to meet up at. It was a large group of us out of the crew and we went to this beautiful resort…the Tuk Tuk ride to and from the market was probably about 10-15 minutes and for the entire day…we paid $5.00….total. On the way to the resort there was a young girl who followed us from the shuttle with bracelets and necklaces she made with embroidery floss…She handed us what she had made and wanted us to purchase some. So of course she was such a trooper and persistent so I bought a nice bracelet from her and I’ll never forget the story behind it the way she followed us…she sold it to me on the scooter not ever holding on while we were moving. $1.00 I’m sure goes such a long way for them.

Once we got to the beach I was blown away by the outstanding beauty it had to offer….absolutely gorgeous as you can see. We went swimming a lot…and my roommate attacked me in one of the pictures! Here we were going to do this nice picture posing in front of the water….and she comes out of nowhere full blast running at me and dove for my legs in full attack-mode! haha…it was great! I went for a nice long long walk on the beach alone thinking about how lucky I am to have this brilliant opportunity at the age of 22 years old…Unreal. Its been so amazing so far! We were at the same resort the entire afternoon soaked up the sun…then we went to the pool at the resort and it started down pouring while we were swimming. Ahh that was so much fun…I snagged a picture of me and a couple of the other spa girls. Overall such a great day! 

 

Adventures in Thailand!

 

Ohhh my goooooodness! Where do i even begin with Thailand?! First of all I must enlighten you with this wonderful experience I was lucky enough to be a part of…it was my first tour with the crew only. Really a special experience! I knew this day was going to be worth every dime…well it all starts with an elephant ride through the jungle and that within itself was incredible. I had been on an elephant way back when at the medieval festival in Minnesota but trust me this was much different especially when its authentic jungle ha..seriously! It was thee real deal…the elephant was really rough feeling on your feet and the sunshine was beaming on me and it felt amazing! I love the sun on this end of the world!! We also were about to learn about the process of silk which was fascinating to me….then an interesting walk with a gibbon on your head through the jungle. (A gibbon is different from a monkey…gibbons do not have a tail)

Elephants, gibbons, food, rain, oxen, free laughs….