Signing Off....Until Summer!

Well, this is my last blog post for Winter in Asia. After visiting 10 countries, taking 30 flights and countless trains, buses, bikes, etc, it feel great to be back. Many of you have commented to me recently that you have enjoyed the pictures. Thanks for tuning in! I received over 5,000 hits, so I am glad someone was actually reading this!

Now that Asia is over, I am already thinking about my next trip. I am applying for a scholarship at Northwestern to do a project for a non-profit organization this summer. I will either be headed to Eastern Europe, Africa or India. So, I will keep you posted and hope to share my pictures then too.

In the mean time, here are a few of my favorite shots from this winter abroad. Thanks again for visiting!

Cambodia

Laos

Singapore

The Philippines

Nepal

Indonesia

Japan

Thailand

Vietnam

Malaysia

Thank You!

I wanted to send out a thank you to all of my friends and family who have supported me during this trip. Thank you for all of the well wishes and welcomes back. I missed everyone so much! So, it is great to be home and catch up with everyone. Thank you for all your love and support.

And, to my parents, Bryn & Cindi, Jim & Cheri - Thank you so much for your love and support during my trip. You never question why someone needs to move to Asia. You are always excited for me and were the most avid followers of my blog. Thank you so much! I love you.

And, to Kevin - Very few husbands would let their wives leave them for three months during the cold of winter. Especially while you stayed home and worked to pay for my trip. You never complained. If fact, you were always so happy for me. You told me when I got home how happy you were for me during this time. I feel so lucky to have someone like you in my life. I love you so much!

My Travel Buddies

I wanted to send a shout out to all of the people whom I was fortunate enough to travel with. This trip was filled with opportunities to travel with others. I am grateful to have had such wonderful company. It is always good to become even better friends through travel.

Adrienne & Ben - We hung out almost every day for two months. We were in every class together, went to dinner every night and lived in the same building. We got along so great and I feel I have two really wonderful friends now. Thanks for a great trip and I can't wait to hang out in Evanston.

Tiffany - We went to Singapore, Nepal and The Philippines together. What a blast! So great to get to know you and looking forward to more fun times this spring!

Everyone from Sasin, UNC, Duke & Kellogg. It was great to get to know you or get to know you better. I hope we can stay in touch!  I am sure I will see most of you at the Keg, just like last night.

John, June, Kevin and Brad - Thanks for coming to visit me! I am so lucky to have such great friends to fly around the world and see me. Thanks to June for all the translations and for the wonderful hospitality of your family. We had a wonderful time because of it. I can't thank you guys enough.

Laura - We had such a great time in Japan.What a trip! I think we will remember it for the rest or our lives. Thanks for making it a reality!

Love you all! Thanks for making my trip a fantastic one. Sincerely, Holly

My Last Day

Here is a picture of my last day in Southeast Asia. We are still in Bali and I rented a pretty horse to ride on the beach. I can't help but think about all of the interesting places that I have been an seen. I feel so blessed to have this wonderful opportunity to travel here. I have meet so many amazing people and have so many people to thank.

Even still, it will be great to get home and see all of my dearly missed friends and family. See you soon!

People of Bali

I have to write a post about the people whom I met in Bali. I was consistently surprised by how hospitable they were. Each and every person that I met ask me where I was from and how long I could stay. They were genuinely interested in me and how I like the island. It was surprised for a place that is quite touristy, especially (they told me) after the book Eat, Pray, Love became popular. One person even drove and hour long on his motorcycle to give my hotel my necklace which I had dropped. It was truly amazing. Here are some photos of people whom I met while touring the rice fields.

Beaches in Bali

After leaving Ubud, the mountain and zen capital of Bali, we moved to the beach. I had to post some pictures of the beautiful scenery seen here. The resort we are staying has some amazing views of the cliffs and ocean below. There is a lot of good seafood to be eaten here too. I am definitely going to enjoy staying here for the last few days of my trip!

Cat Poop Coffee

Here in Indonesia we visited a coffee plantation to try the local coffee. I am not a huge coffee drinking but everyone else says it was good. The local delicacy and supposedly the best coffee in the world is call Lawak Coffee. It is basically a coffee bean that has been digested by a palm civet (looks like a cat) and the beans are then harvest from the cat poop. They are thoroughly cleaned and this process is supposed to make the coffee lest bitter and rich in taste. I didn't try it be Kevin thought it was pretty good and even bought some to take home. I tried the Ginger Tea and the Lemongrass Tea, both of which were really good!

Visting Volcanos

Yesterday we went to visit the volcano's in Bali. The one pictured erupted in 1960 and killed around 500 people. You can still see all of the black lava on the side of the mountain. The lake views of these volcano's were beautiful. You could also see active hot springs at the base of the volcano that were still steaming. I had never visited a volcano before so this was pretty cool!

Super Cute Monkeys

We went to the monkey forest today in the mountain area of Bali. The monkeys were super cute, especially the babies. However, they were kind of aggressive. There were way more monkey than humans, so they would come up an grab your purse looking for food. I was starting to get nervous when they surrounded us. But, at least we got some good pictures!

Holy Water Swimming

Today we visited some of the temples in Bali. There are thousands of them and they seem to be everywhere. The one we visited is a fountain of holy water. The local people were entering in the water and bathing in the holy water. They were even taking jugs of it home for the temples in their houses. The surong is the local dress, both men and women wear it. You can see us trying out the look....

Our House in Bali

We are now visiting Bali for the last week of my travels. Kevin and I rented a meditation house in the mountains of Ubud. It is totally straight out of Eat, Pray, Love. It is super relaxing and the views of the rice patties are amazing. I think I am going to love it here. This morning we are going to do some yoga and enjoy the views....check out the cute house.