And every time I look at these pictures, I can't help but smile like a fool. I have a definite soft spot for these adorable little munchkins! 

I had never tried snowboarding or cross country skiing before, so I was rather keen to try both on this trip. Adam volunteered to teach me snowboarding, and Peter the cross country skiing. Although I got the hang of the carving on the board by the end, I never managed to leave the kiddy hill. But I did completely fall in love with the cross country skiing. I cannot wait to do it again!

While we were relaxing on Gili Gede in the final days of our post-PhD adventure, we took a day trip to Gili Layar. And let me tell you, Gili Layar turned out to be one of the most memorable places of the entire trip for me! The island is only 5-10 minutes away from Gili Gede via boat, and it has the most beautiful, crystal clear, blue waters. On top of that, the snorkeling is out of this world. I mean that literally, in fact, because it felt like I was swimming through Finding Nemo. Well hello there, Nemo. Oh hi, Dory. Nice to meet you, Pearl!

After vacationing with Josie and Bryan in Bali and the Gili Islands, they jetted their way back to the States with a pitstop in Tokyo. They had just enough time between flights to experience the glory that is Japan and, in turn, fuel their hankering to return in the hopefully-not-so-distant future. Meanwhile, Adam and I caught a ferry and then an epic cab ride and finally a fishing boat to a little, lesser-known island on the southwest side of Lombak called Gili Gede. Gili Gede is an island free of cars and accessible only by local fishing boats. It has limited electricity and no running water (i.e., salt water showers and manual toilet flushing). But what Gili Gede lacks in modernness, it makes up for in heart.

Gili Gede is just on the cusp of a tourism takeover. In preparation, you can find the local men and woman working hard to build up the infrastructure, one head-mounted pail of cement at a time. And to do their part, children sit in a circle under a big tree learning their English ABCs. They are eager to practice speaking with you and run to you with delight at the chance to see themselves on a camera screen.

Adam and I relished the last five days of our half-year adventure on this quiet little island in a tiny little hut at Madak Belo Guest House (the one in the first picture to be exact) reading books, going for walks, sunning, playing backgammon, and daydreaming. The beaches weren't perfect per se, and the food was sometimes repetitive (a lack of refrigerators will do that), but the experience was undoubtedly unforgettable. It was the perfect way to conclude our post-PhD escapades.

After Bali, Josie, Bryan, Adam, and I took a ferry to Gili Trawangan where we spent a couple of nights celebrating Josie and I's actual birthday. It is a funny place to visit since the island has been completely ransacked by young western tourists wanting to party, but it suited us for our big night. After a couple days, we moved on to Gili Meno for a bit of relaxation, and let me tell ya, it was quite an adventure finding our way from Trawangan to Meno. Who knew a 10 minute boat ride could be such a problem!

The vibe on Gili Meno is drastically different though— much more quiet and much less developed— and it was definitely worth the hassle. We enjoyed a few glorious days of sun, a couple of nice dinners on the beach, and some stunning sunsets. All in all, it was an absolutely fantastic vacation between Bali and the Gili Islands, and it was a super memorable way to mark such a momentous birthday. Thank you so much, Josie and Bryan, for flying across the world to meet up with us!! How about we do it again for the 60th? ;)

P.S. Merry Christmas everyone!

I found a bunch of photos on my phone from our time in Bali and realized how much I missed with my Canon. I was busy hanging with my peeps clearly. Anyway, after Bali we hopped on a boat and headed east to Lombok. Pictures from the Gili Islands up next!

After spending nearly a month in Japan (more pictures from that later), we jetted off to meet Josie and Bryan in Indonesia to celebrate Josie and I turning 30. Adam and I started off in the Denpasar area, which was filled with a million tourists from Australia, so once Josie and Bryan arrived, we rented a car and drove off, spending the first pre-birthday days in several different AirBnB and hotel rentals around the island. Amazingly, Adam chauffeured us around unscathed. If you have ever been in Bali traffic before, you know what a triumph that is!

We first hit up a relaxing AirBnB bungalow rental in a quiet yoga town in South Kuta. The bungalow was part of a resort called La Joya, which was situated on a massive cliff overlooking the ocean. The views were absolutely stunning! Next, we hit up a gorgeous open-air house somewhat close to Tanah Lot. We ate breakfast at a table in a pool. It was pretty sweet. Tanah Lot was unfortunately unwhelming, but I am not a huge fan of touristy stops during busy times like that so that is no surprise really.

After Tanah Lot and our spectacular table-in-the-pool experience, we headed to Ubud where Bryan bought bananas from a lady screaming "Banana for monkey!" and fed the little rascals. We stayed for a couple of hours to survey the thickheaded tourists who insisted on playing keep-away from the monkeys. Let me tell you, monkeys do not mess around when it comes to bananas. There was hair pulling and skirt ripping, and monkeys jumping onto backs and scratching faces. It was slightly insane.

After Ubud, we traveled east to a quiet and more 'local' area near Manggis. We rented a beautiful open-air house right on the ocean and completely relaxed playing board games, reading, snorkeling, listening to music, getting massages, and chowing on homecooked meals. And then, late into the evening a super venomeous snake dropped in to say hello.

To be honest, I do not remember very much from this quick pitstop in Matsumoto, except that we stopped in an absolutely delicous ramen restaurant shortly beforehand. The place was called 麺屋蔵人, and you can find it on Google Maps here. We arrived to the restaurant expecting it to be a mediocre road trip food quickie in the middle of nowhere, only to discover that there was a queque to be seated! The menu was most definitely not in English, but the drawings sufficed and so did pointing with a finger to order. I would love to get my hands on another one of those bowls, especially as I write to you from the dark, coldness of an approaching Danish winter.

A few pictures from a quick stop in Takayama.

While campervanning in Japan, we drove from Tokyo to the Noto Peninsula and back. The coastline along the peninsula is beautiful and served as a perfect turn around point. Although we were slightly jaded from our campervanning through New Zealand, the rice fields at Senmaida and the rocks at Hatago Iwa did not disappoint!

It has been a whirlwind since I last posted, and I have all sorts of fantastic things to share. After gallivanting around Japan for the month of August, we jetted off to Indonesia to celebrate my big bad 30th birthday with my twin and her boyfriend, and now Adam and I are setting up life in Copenhagen. The new post-PhD jobs start next week!

Anyhow, back to the pictures. After Tokyo, we hopped into a camper van and hit the road. Shirakawa-go was just one of the many stops along the way, but it was one of my favs for pictures. There isn't much to it to be honest, but it is still quite nice to walk around for an hour or so. It is basically an old historic village made up of a bundle of traditional houses that are perched between vivid rice fields and beautiful mountainsides. To add to the authenticity of our experience, we got naked with strangers at the local onsen. Gotta love that.

Tokyo has made it onto the list of my favorite cities of all time. There are surprises around every corner filled with awkward moments, silly mistakes, and small nuances. Like when I stepped off the plane, went to the bathroom, and couldn't figure out how to flush the toilet. And the time we ate croissants while walking to the train, only to find out later that the Japanese find eating while walking rude. And not knowing how to actually eat soba noodles properly, but clearly failing given the lack of slurping sounds at our table in comparison to the ones around us. And massively botching the business card exchange ritual at a trendy salon. Japan is one of the few places we have traveled where we were actually challenged by not speaking the local language, and it was refreshing. It felt more authentic, and in the end, it gave us a lot more laughs.

We stayed in Tokyo for eleven nights at a lovely AirBnB near Yoyogi-koen Station, which many people said would probably be too many days to spend in just one city. On the contrary, we were happy to have the chance to take things slowly, to get a glimpse into how locals actually live, and to relax a bit into a temporary home. Traveling for so long wears you out, and it feels so great when you can unpack your bag for awhile.

Of course, a Japanese dwelling comes with all sorts of unexpected surprises that quickly reminded us we were, in fact, in a completely foreign place. Those clever Japanese folk like to optimize everything, and most often it makes for a more pleasant and efficient lifestyle. They queue for the train along very precise markings on the ground, and the trains always come precisely on time. They have a plethora of car turntables in even the smallest of residential parking garages, and stackable parking systems too. Heck, their squares of toilet paper are actually big enough to use just one. But the bathroom is indeed where they sometimes overengineer. There was a control panel for the toilet, one for the shower room, and another one for the lighting system. I even saw a button on a toilet control panel in a couple places that would play a flushing sound continuously from a speaker for you.

Before going to Tokyo, we thought it would be a place with insane population density where you would be piled up on top of each other constantly crammed into trains or fighting your way through hordes on the sidewalks. While such areas do exist (e.g., Shibuya Crossing in some of the photos above), the Tokyo we saw most often was one with small, well-kept and windy streets, each containing their own tiny neighborhood restaurants, izakayas (small japaneese pubs) and a plethora of 7 Elevens (which we visited way more than we would like to admit). The buildings are rarely more than four stories, and the streets are always filled pedestrians and cyclists— no matter the time of day or the size of the street. The Japanese men and women have impeccable style, smartly dressed in neat combinations of black, white and navy and almost always carrying a fashionable handbag (yep, even the men). Residents and shop owners alike meticulously line the streets with potted plants, creating the atmosphere of an urban garden that spreads throughout the city. And much to our delight, the local coffee shops nearly all offer an expertly crafted pour-over coffee. The Tokyo we met, at least in the hipsterhoods we frequented, exuded nothing but whimsical coziness.

If you find yourself in Tokyo in the future, be sure to visit our new friends Chie and Hide at Pigalle. They are the sweetest and will most definitely provide for a night filled with great conversation, good laughs and delicious beer. For coffee, we were keen on Fuglen, in part because of its proximity to our AirBnB, but also because of its welcoming space. Omotosando Koffee was indeed another favorite, as was Little Nap Coffee Stand. For Japanese food, visit Tenmatsu Tempura and Sushi Nomidori and Afuri for ramen. For Western food, grab a burger at Arms, a sandwich at Camelback or pizza at Luccanalu. Check out the Tjusiki Market (the actual market and not the touristic stalls around it), and be sure to make time for random meandering and people watching.

After spending two months in Southeast Asia, Adam and I were ready for a change! So we hopped on a plane and headed to Hong Kong with little planned but to spend time with some of our friends who recently moved there from Sydney. Lauren and Martin were excellent hosts showing us everything from the food scene (ahem suckling pig and all) to the bar scene and an adventure into nature. From the very start, Hong Kong surprised me with its surreal beauty while riding the bus onto Hong Kong Island from the airport. I was transported into a scifi movie where it seemed that immensely tall buildings and modern bridges had been greenscreened into a landscape of luscious mountains and blue ocean. Among the hubbub of this massively dense city, I was pleasantly surprised by the livability of it actually, and also constantly entertained by how much taller Adam was than everyone else. Our 150 sf (14 sm) AirBnB apartment added to the amusement of the size issue, especially when we discovered that our bed was just twin-sized (i.e., the American term for a single kid-sized bed).

One night we were sitting at a traditional diner with Lauren and Martin, and we had been chatting amongst ourselves about the fish in the tanks and the little pigs on display just waiting to be eaten. There was one fish in particular that was gigantic, and we had all been jokingly wondering how much it costs to have them prepare a fish that big. Lauren was keen to practice her Mandarin, which I was quite impressed with by the way, so she went ahead and asked the waitress. We quickly learned through Lauren's translation that that particular fish was for the "fengshui" of the restaurant, which meant that we had basically asked them how much it would cost to cook their dog.

We spent one week driving the Mae Hong Son Loop while we were in Northern Thailand. We had quite a bit of rain, but with the rain came the planting of the rice paddies. Wahoo! We took a detour the first day and headed up the Doi Inthanon (the tallest mountain in Thailand). Although the mountain peak itself was a bit underwhelming, the rolling hills south of Doi Inthanon were stunning! I think my favorite memory from this trip was riding bikes around the cute town of Mae Sariang, where most of my favorite pictures from the slew above were taken.

Although the views of the rice paddies were certainly memorable, I do not necessarily recommend this road trip for anyone who is inclinded to car sickness because the roads are mega windy! Anyway, we stayed in the following towns along the way, which allowed us to move ourselves at a reasonable pace: Chiang Mai > Mae Chaem > Mae Sariang > Mae Hong Son > Pai > Mae Taeng > Chiang Mai. We had our car for six nights, but you could easily cut things down by spending only one night in Pai (it is very touristic anyway) and skipping Mae Taeng.

It has already been three weeks since we flew from Cambodia back to Thailand, and a lot has happened. Phew... time flies! I had a slight bout of bad luck when we woke early in Bangkok to catch a flight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. I clumpsily twisted my ankle while walking down the stairs, and moments after I sat down on the landing holding my ankle in pain, I fainted. I came to in slow motion just like in the movies with Adam yelling "Abbie, can you hear me?" or something to that effect in my face. I tried to reorient myself, but I in fact fainted again moments later. I woke the second time to Adam yelling "Call an ambulance!" and the hotel staff waving some smelly thing in front of my nose while Adam was swatting him away. Or maybe I have the two awakenings in reverse. I can't remember. Either way, scary stuff. I'm such a klutz sometimes.

Luckily with a bit of tender care, my ankle was operating normally again within a week, and we had plenty of time to explore the wonderful town of Chiang Mai. I honestly did not even know of Chiang Mai before the start of this trip, but it is an adorable place indeed! It has a blossoming coffee scene (e.g. Graph Cafe and Artisan Cafe) and tastefully designed hotels with superb hospitality (e.g., Zzziesta and Chalnatt Hotel) popping up all over. Bonus tip: visiting in low-season means nice hotels at nice low rates! ;)

Although we stayed away from the notorious elephant riding, we did indulge in a day long cooking course with Yui, and Adam and I both loved it! Yui, who made a guest appearance as the guru of northern Thai food on Gordon Ramsay's show (she appears around 6:15), was a wonderful teacher as well as refreshingly outgoing.

To wrap up our time in Chiang Mai, I had another round of bad luck. This time it thankfully wasn't self inflicted, but a bit of tooth pain forced me to find a dentist. Long story short, I need a root canal ASAP. Excellent timing, eh?