Friday Adventure: Vietnam

Photo: Riding Vietnam's Reunification Train

How is it nearly May? My lack of blog posts the past week+ is proof that time is flying and I can’t keep up! Again, I do believe that time flies when you’re having fun so it’s all good.

Last Friday, our weekly adventure was more of an errand than an adventure, though one could argue that any activity could be called an adventure. Wow - I think I hit the record for the amount of times the word ‘adventure’ can be used in a sentence! Anyways, we made a trip to the Vietnam Consulate in the city so I could apply for my visa for my trip to Vietnam. Yup. You read that right: I’M GOING TO VIETNAM. Ah. So excited.

I’m leaving the end of May for a 11 day trek through the country with a tour group. I knew I was going to travel some while I was over here, but I was thinking more along the lines of Fiji or Bali (a week of lying on the beach? yes, please). Ash convinced me that Vietnam is the place to go though. She did the same exact tour 9 years ago and said it was the best trip of her life. That is convincing enough!

This adventure was sort of a two-part one since I had to go pick up my passport + visa from the consulate this week. My friend Rebecca is visiting (lots more on that to come!) so yesterday we ventured into the city with Anderson to pick it up. We took the bus into the city, met Ash for coffee, took the train to Edgecliff (where the consulate is), and then went back into the city to celebrate at the Max Brenner chocolate cafe (of course!) and then home again. Good day!

Tres amigos in the city

Buggy was chatting up a storm to random strangers on the bus!

Chocolate covered strawberries at Max Brenner

Much, much more on Vietnam to come!

Exploring Sydney

I can’t believe I’ve been here nearly a month! Where does the time go?! I’d say it’s a good sign though. As ‘they’ say: time flies when you’re having fun. From the moment I landed in Sydney, life has been pretty busy, but definitely a good, fun busy. Here is a glimpse into my first few days exploring the city again:

A {new} friend from back home arrived in Sydney a couple days after I did, looking for someone to tour the city with. I had done the hop on, hop off tour bus when I was here almost 3 years ago and it was a lot of fun so we decided to spend a day doing that. It’s a fairly inexpensive, super convenient way to see the whole city. Plus, it’s a double decker bus: it doesn’t get much cooler than that! We spent a whole day riding the bus and probably could have used a couple more days just to get off and see everything. Sydney is definitely one of my favorite cities - so many fun things to see!

We stayed on the bus most of the time, but hopped off at a few places. Our first stop was Wooloomooloo (isn’t that name the best?!) where we grabbed lunch at the famous Harry’s Pies. They have the best meat pies.

We also hopped off at the Opera house. The view of the Harbour Bridge and Opera house never gets old. I’m pretty sure I already have a million pictures of the two landmarks and I’m sure I’ll only add a few million more in the next 8 months.

Our next hop off was Darling Harbour. We wandered around and grabbed some ice cream/sorbet. It seems there was a theme to most of our stops: food! Plus, it was really warm out so we needed to cool off somehow, right?!

One of our main goals was to get to Bondi Beach. Conveniently, the tour bus made a stop in Bondi. The beach is amazing, but it was starting to get late so we weren't able to stay long. I’ll definitely go back a time or two while I’m here!

The weather was amazing the whole day though. I even managed get to my first sunburn from sitting on the top deck of the bus. Gotta fit in with all the tan Aussies somehow...burning definitely put me ahead some. ;)

Day two was spent at the zoo! I’ve been to Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle a lot, but there is just something about visiting a zoo in a different country. One of my favorite things about the Taronga Zoo is that it is set on a hill across the water from the city. The views are amazing. One of the highlights in the actual zoo is the seal show. I saw it when I was here 3 years ago, but it’s definitely worth seeing multiple times. The seals are so awesome!

We got to see some Kangaroos up close, but they were sleeping and it was pretty much impossible to get a good picture. The Koalas were sleeping too, but they more interesting because they were sleeping propped up in trees! The giraffes at this zoo are my some of my favorites because it’s a two-for-one special: awesome animals & an amazing view. It doesn’t get much better than that!

After we finished at the zoo, we took the ferry to Circular Quay, which is right at the edge of the city. Ashley met up with us and we went out for dinner in the Rocks. Afterwards, we went to the Hyatt for tea since you can see the Opera house from inside. We felt pretty posh. ;) The Opera House at night is pretty cool though!

It was a great couple days exploring the city! It never gets old. So on that note: come and visit and I'll happily play tourist with you. :)