Today wraps up Molly’s year long adventures abroad. If you missed her other two parts of her interview, read them here and here.
The one of me and my two friends wearing the paper hats was taken at the Floating Markets in Bangkok. Very popular spots with tourists but they’re fun to check out.
Asia is almost the equivalent for Australians as what Mexico is for Americans. It’s their travel spot which makes total sense. Before going to Australia I never had much of a desire to go to Asia, however after talking to people there and hearing how inexpensive it is to travel there, I felt it was a something I needed to see before I left.
The one of me up on a surf board, which was taken from my first surfing trip, which was in Byron Bay. It took a while and a few times but I managed to get up! (and then fell down shortly after) haha. Surfing is a must when you’re over there!
Yes- that was my plan. 6-9 months in Sydney living/working, then 3 or 4 months of travel.
The picture of the monkey on my shoulder was taken in Ubud, Bali at the monkey sanctuary. It’s also a very popular destination with tourists. The monkeys there are crazy! You buy bananas there and are supposed to walk around and the monkeys will come up to you and essentially stalk you for bananas haha. They hop up on you and will climb all over. It was really fun to see this place and I highly recommend going there if you can!
In Thailand we started in Bangkok, which is an insane city. We really were just thrown into craziness while we were there. The smell is one thing I will never forget. The driving is pretty crazy (which apparently all over Asia is), but we got around a lot by tuk-tuks which were really fun. You need to be careful with them that you don’t get ripped off- they’ll try to make all these stops and force you to buy unnecessary things from their friends. Thankfully we were very forward with them and they took us to where we needed to go. Only once did we end up at some weird, sketchy night club. Ah the joys of traveling!
After Bangkok we flew to Phuket which is also a pretty crazy city, but there are beaches there as opposed to Bangkok. Once we were there we couldn’t wait to get to the other islands, so we took a boat to Koh Phi Phi (also a must-see if you go there), and then Koh Samui, and Koh Phangan for the full moon party! We had a blast in Thailand.
Indonesia is also beautiful in it’s own way. The people were extremely friendly there as well. We stayed at this beautiful resort in Lombok, then took a boat to the Gili Islands (Gili Trawangan is the one we stayed on), which were absolutely breathtaking. The water is crystal clear, beaches are clean, and the vibe is so chill (Bob Marley and Jack Johnson played on repeat). I got my scuba certification there, and after diving in the morning, we would just hang out in these little huts and relax by the beach the rest of the day. It was perfect. The food was also pretty good there too! From there we took a boat to Bali which is a really cool spot. We were in Ubud (where Eat, Pray, Love was filmed) for one night, and went to the monkey forest, which I highly recommend going to if you’re there. Then we went to Seminyak/Kuta for another 2 nights and had a lot of fun there. That was the end of the trip and we were pretty ready to head back to Sydney by that point!
This was at the Grand Palace also in Bangkok, which is where a lot of the beautiful, iconic temples are. A must-see when in Bangkok.
Word of mouth and my brother recommended it as well!
It depends on the type of tour you do- we got a special on ours so it wasn’t too bad and definitely worth going through since they basically plan everything for you.
It ranges- on average there were about 30 people on our bus.
This was taken on the Gili T island- absolutely beautiful beach. That’s where I got my scuba diving certification and saw all these amazing fish, sea turtles, shark, etc. Highly recommend going there if you ever find yourself close to Bali!
Thrilling, massive adrenaline rush, cold, and fast. It was my first time and is something I would like to do again. I went in Kai Teri Teri which is a beautiful place to go!
I honestly didn’t know if I could do it. I did the Nevis Bungee jump which is the highest bungee in Austral Asia (134 meters). They do a really good job though once you’re up there of not standing out on the ledge too long and freaking yourself out. They tell you that you need to just walk out and jump, so I did! I watch the video of me doing it and I still can’t believe I did it. It’s kind of an out of body experience. Glad I did it but probably won’t go again.
This one is from when I went bungee jumping in Queenstown, which is the “adventure capital of the world.” Bungee jumping was one of those things that I had always wanted to try and couldn’t pass the opportunity to do it when I was there. It was a 134 meter jump and called the Nevis Bungy. Sooo thrilling and such an adrenaline rush!
I love them both for their own reasons so it’s really hard to pick one over the other. NZ definitely has the incredible landscapes and scenery. Driving through you’d see a mountain on your right hand side, and then these gorgeous pastures with streams running through them and sheep everywhere on the other side. I would love to go back sometime. Australia has the most incredible beaches and weather that goes along with it. It also has city life (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane), which NZ lacks, but I love that about each of them.
I hope you all enjoyed reading about Molly’s journey! I am so thankful and glad that she shared her adventures with the blog. She’s definitely inspired me to travel more and it’s been fun to hear how she did it.
Say Yes to Happy 