Malaysia

I never new Chinese New Year was such a huge celebration.  I guess I must have been living under a rock.  We had a huge day-celebration at school with lots of food, performances, and dancing dragons.

We also celebrated CNY by enjoying a four day break from school.  So, I decided this was a perfect time to get out of Indonesia and explore more of SE Asia. :)

I have a friend who lives in Kuala Lumpur (who is a teacher as well) so I decided to go visit her!

It was a great cultural experience--but my FAVOURITE part was eating American food like PAPA JOHNS (gasp!), pretzels, and even TGI Fridays!

We spent the weekend laying by a city-view infinity pool, going out, eating sate, and venturing two hours to a beach on the coast. All in all it was a good vacation. :)

Here are some pics I took of my trip:

CNY celebrations

Fresh Chinese lunch! mmmm :)

What else do you need for a plane ride?

Just the cutest welcome sign :)

Infinity pool on the roof.  Breathtaking!

Caught a little too much of the sun at Port Dickson

"Xtreme" boat ride

Local transportation takes 100x longer than anything else

Chinatown in Kuala Lumpur on Chinese New Year!

That's all I have for Malaysia!  I had a great time in Kuala Lumpur and Port Dickson.  Just another country to check off the list. :)

Stay tuned for: Gili Islands

xoxo
Kat

Land Down Under (New Zealand)

After Thailand I grabbed three separate flights to get to New Zealand.  I can now check 'falling asleep on an airport coffee table' off my bucket list.

Just from my layover in Sydney I was tempted to stay.  I am making it a priority to see Australia sometime in the near future!

I flew into Auckland on the north island of NZ where I got a hotel and stayed the night.  I only had about 4 hours to sleep before my flight to Queenstown on the south island the next morning. Needless to say, the next morning I needed COFFEE COFFEE COFFEE.

I arrived in Queenstown and was immedately surprised.  I'll be honest, I did not do much research on it (I was going to visit friends) so I was taken aback by the town.  It is completely surrounded by mountains and the flight in was the best scenery I've had in a plane.  We landed and the airport was so teeny tiny (almost the size of Malang's!). I was expecting a larger city, but it truly is just a little mountain town!

Right when I walked through the door I found my friend (who had just arrived from a flight as well) and I have never been more happy to see a friendly face!

Here are some pictures of my time spent in New Zealand!

View in the plant over Sydney

iSpy the Opera House

Flying into Queenstown

Is that Frodo?

So much off-roading - so little time

Kayaking through some canyons

BLUEST glacier water I've ever seen

Beach day at a super secret hidden lagoon in Wanaca (shhhh!)

Yes, the background is real.

Kids at heart

View from a friend's deck.  Could you imagine Sunday morning coffees here?!

Literally walking through Isengard

Skippers Canyon

Cheers to the New Years!

Goblets of drinks with an enormous pizza pie :) Perfection.

That's about all I have for New Zealand!  I have some videos of me surprising my friends who didn't know I was going, but they don't seem so work on here!

The 10 days went by in the most amazing and fun blur.  Queenstown is most definitely a place I will be visiting again - whether just for a quick visit or perhaps longer. :)

Next adventure: Malaysia

xoxo
Kat

Thailand

Let me preface this by saying I do not have many pictures of this trip.  I got my phone stolen my second day in Bangkok, then accidentally wiped all my new phone's pictures off by "restoring" when connecting it to iTunes. But! I was able to grab some pictures from social media that I had already uploaded, so things worked out!

Having the most wonderful job I do, I was given a month's vacation from the middle of December to the middle of January.  I made the decision to get out of Indonesia and explore a little more of Southeast Asia!  First stop-Thailand.

I flew into Bangkok where I spent three days.  I stayed at "D Hostel" and it was sooooooo nice (aside from the seven flights of steep stairs I had to take to get to my room).  I would definitely recommend it for anyone who is looking for a cheap, clean and friendly place to stay in the city!

The city was dressed up in its nicest decor for the holidays.  The streets were full of glittering lights and oversized pictures of their prime minister.  I enjoyed my time here.

HOWEVER, I did have my iphone stolen when I was eating dinner at a street market. To be fair, it was extremely broken and gave me a great excuse to by a new and improved one. Who said you can't treat yourself to a little Christmas present? :)

 Here are some pictures I was able to recover:

Khao San Road, Bangkok, Thailand

Pad Thai.  One of the most delicious meals I've ever had!!

A temple in the middle of a bustling city. Props to anybody who can find meditation here.

The CRAZIEST tuk tuk ride of my life.  I thought the whole car was going to tip over!  Living in SE Asia has definitely helped with my driving control issues.

Thailand is a very colorful country.

Offerings in a cute little shop where I bought a travel bag!

Asia knows how to build breathtaking malls.

After three days in Bangkok, I headed down to Phuket island.  This was by far the most beautiful and my favorite part of my Thailand trip.

How about that ride in?

First stop-beach!

Patong Beach

We wasted NO time finding a pizza place. :) We may have stopped back here at about 3am the next morning...

Where we discovered Mai Thais.  Life will never be the same!

Nasi Goreng in a delicious pineapple!  Street food and live music - a perfect Christmas Eve!

Christmas Day 2015 - Krabi beach

The view I had while eating lunch.  PERFECT.

Merry Christmas!

  I was able to spend a little over a week in Thailand before hopping on a (few) flights to New Zealand!  Stay tuned--I'll be sharing some pictures of that adventure next. :)

xoxo
Kat