First Stop - Mollymook AU

The day -2 10/03/2017

At the ripe age of 31, I am officially homeless. It’s a curious feeling, I can’t really describe it. A little bit worried but so happy at the same time. But this peculiar feeling immediately disappeared once we hit Mollymook.

Mollymook is a coastal city approximately three hours' drive south of Sydney. Supposedly, the best place to stay is at the Bannisters. There are 2 of them, The Pavilion and by The Sea. They are within close proximity with each other. We headed to the pool bar by"The Sea" as our friends had dinner reservation at “The Bannisters”. As they haven’t arrived yet; we ordered drinks, admired the view – just to realise we rocked up at the wrong Bannisters.

Travel lesson number One – getting lost may result in happiness. I am glad we were mistaken - because the view was stunning!

What a time to be alive

Dinner: Bannisters Pavilion Rooftop Bar & Grill was yum. I had prawn linguine with copious amount of garlic and chilies. My breath could be smelt all the way to Sydney $$$ 

The day -1 11/03/2017

Main reason we were in Mollymook was to attend my beloved friend's wedding. The day started promising, considering the rains had been pelting down Sydney and surrounds.

Glorious day at Mollymook beach with Baywatch BF

I went for a walk, swam and soaked as much sun as I could, since we are going to -2 ℃ soon. Then around midday, we went back to our apartment Aquarius Mollymook. It's a clean 1 bedroom apartment, about 5 minutes walk to the beach and the shops. My laptop could pick up the wifi connection, but neither my phone nor Fabs' could from our apartment. Only at the car park our phones picked up the wifi signal.

Around 2.00 pm the bus picked us up from Mollymook to transport us to the wedding venue, Cupitt’s winery.  

What a glorious day to get married!

The bride looked STUNNING, the food was yum, sun was shining, amazing scenery, overjoyed groom who couldn't believe his luck scoring such a beautiful wife. It was a really gorgeous wedding, I am so honoured and glad we were part of it. 

The day 12/03/2017 😱 

This is it. The day that we were waiting for.

• Bag's packed ✔
• Passport ✔
• Not sure where all my stuffs are ✔

We stopped at The Huskisson Hotel for a quick lunch on our way back to Sydney. Then upon realising we had time to kill before our flight, we stopped by Berry as well - a quaint little town famous for its donuts and pies. We didn't get any of them.

1.5 half hours later, we dropped off Fabs's car at his friend's place and jumped in an uber to the airport. Seoul, here we come! 

Half Year Break

So, after many discussions/arguments and drunken chats for over a year – Fabs and I decided we are going to travel for 6 months in Asia and Europe. There were many times we questioned our decisions, and still do sometimes. I feel on the edge between elation and doubts whenever I start thinking about our trip. So I created a pro and cons table as per below

Pro	Cons
Travel!	No income
Get to see all the monuments/etc. I wanted to see	HUGE expense - can be used for something else?
Enrich experiences and point of view	People's opinions (??)
Not working (!)	Bottom-line. MONEY.
Real bonding time with Fabs
Bragging rights
Less or no chance to do something similar in the future

And this sticker at work to assure me

YOLOOOOOOO!!

My to do list is very long – but here are the highlights of the pre planning that I’ve done

·       Applied for credit cards that gave me free points. I have Westpac Black and BankWest cards. Why two? Because:

o   Westpac Black: gives access to airport lounges and 50,000 points free + as I am a Westpac customer, the 1^st year annual fee waived + comprehensive travel insurance for 6 months as long as we have return tickets to Australia (more on this later).

o   Bankwest: 0% foreign transactions fee + 50,000 points free. Downside $160 annual fee which I hope will be offset over and above by the foreign transaction fee saving.

·       Booked our tickets back from Manila for 56,000 points – covered by our credit cards! We only paid $90 tax for both of us. If we were to fly from Singapore, it would be $450! With points we can change our tickets (cost 5,000 points each) and even cancel (cost 6,000 points each). In case we change our plans….

·       Applied for Citibank Plus card – so we can withdraw money overseas with (again) 0% foreign transactions fee

·       Used combination of Trello and Excel for my planning. As I don’t want to plan everything but would like to know my options, I jotted down activities/eateries/etc in Trello.

·       Done my research using Lonely Planet, posts on Facebook and Instagram, and friend’s recommendation. Most of these places are saved as stars in Google map.

·       I mainly use Booking.com to book accommodations, as they are all cancellable and no prepayment required. I also used Expedia – but only when they are on sale. I also booked several apartments in AirBnB.

·       Downloaded AirPlay so I can watch Netflix offline using my PC!

There are boring stuff as well, like packing/selling our furniture, booking storage, cancelling gazillion subscriptions and other life admin not worth mentioning.  

I am currently battling deciding what to pack, as we start in South Korea (freezing) and will end in Greece/Asia/who knows (presumably boiling)! Wish me luck. 

UPDATE - I was chatting with another friend that did the 6 months break last year. He mentioned when he was looking for tickets or accommodations - he used incognito mode in his search so the 'cookies' wouldn't pick it up. He reckons it saved him $$$! 

Auckland, New Zealand

I am writing now with the most gorgeous view. Lavender bordering the sea, blue sky with specks of white clouds, greeneries wherever I look. It’s always good to be home, Aotearoa.

Day one – 26/11/2016, Auckland

My best friend of 14 years just produced an offspring. It seemed only yesterday we were downing tequilas, dressed as little as possible and danced the night away. She decided she had enough of the shenanigans; so after the “I do’s” 3 years ago; baby C came along to join our crew.

The flight from Sydney to Auckland was around 3 hours. But due to 2 hours’ time difference, we arrived in Auckland late afternoon.

Kia Ora adopted homeland

Lunch: Try It Out Restaurant, Otahuhu, Vietnamese $$

Dinner: Niko Pizza, Takapuna, Italian/Greek $$$

Both are 3/5 Pretty tasty, though on the expensive side of the spectrum for what they are.

Day two – 27/11/2016, Auckland

After our coffee fix, we went to Takapuna market. Every Sunday, there’s a morning market held in the carpark next to Burger King. It’s a combination of second hand and fresh food market, and it was really crowded. But, by the time we finished our lunch; they’ve managed to pack everything away!

We went to Countdown (supermarket) afterward. Our trolleys filled with; Me: booze. BFF: vegies and sensible things. In New Zealand, one had to show either their NZ license or their passport as the proof of age. Any other forms of IDs are deemed insufficient evidence that you are over 25 years old. And, if one person in the party can’t prove his/her age; NO ONE can get the alcohol.

So, we needed to go back home, grabbed our passports and ventured back to the supermarket. This time, we brought some steaks as well for dinner. I figure, I would need to eat too.

Bloke v Baby

Lunch: Burger Burger, Takapuna. Burger. 3/5 good burger place. Pretty standard pricing if you don’t add on anything else. But since we added ‘cheese, eggs & bacon’ plus some booze, the price skyrocketed. $$$

Day three – 28/11/2016, Waiheke Island

So not too suffocate my dear friend, we decided to spend some time away in Waiheke island. After a quick browse, we booked a studio apartment nearby the town centre: Oneroa, and managed to book last minute half day Waiheke wine tour through Groupon. I love a great bargain!

After lunch at Devonport, we caught the 1.10 pm ferry where upon arrival we were greeted by a very lovely friendly lady called Julie. We visited 3 wineries: Kennedy Points, Passage Rock and Bach winery. She also took us to 2 lookouts: Oneroa and Onetangi beach.

One of the many beaches in the island

I highly recommended the tour, only:

• If it is brought through Groupon, or
• Using the voucher code “Waiheke” to get 50% off the retail price, or
• If you are a single traveler.

Otherwise, I recommend getting a car and drive around to the wineries as the retail price is quite expensive ($149) per person.

Passage Rock

In saying that, the advantage of the tour is the transport. Both of us could drink without had to worry about driving. Second, we got a proper tour around the wineries and thorough introduction about the wines they produced. My personal favourite is Passage Rock (for the wine). We had quite a bit of tasting here that I forgot my sunglasses.

Julie kindly dropped us off at our accommodation: Watermark Studio Apartment. It is a beautifully decorated studio, with gorgeous view as described at the beginning of this entry. It is a 10 minutes’ walk to Oneroa town centre and beach. We went out to have dinner where I forgot my wallet, lucky Fabs has his!

Amazing backdrop

Lunch: Manuka, Café, Devonport. 4/5 Great food and big serving. Yummy coffee too. $$

Dinner: Vino Vino, Bistro, Waiheke. 3.5/5 Delicious garlic bread and fresh seafood. Oysters were amazing and my scallops main were on the point $$$$

Day four – 29/11/2016, Waiheke Island

BFF, hubby and baby C came to Island today. As I was hangry, we went to a café on the way down to ferry terminal and grabbed takeaway coffees and a croissant. Once we met them, we headed to rental cars kiosks; however, we were directed to their office about 5 minutes’ walk from the terminal. We had this battered looking car and started our day with brunch! Another day of constant eating and drinking.

First stop: Passage Rock, to pick up my sunglasses. We continued on to loop the island through gravel road and stopped at Man O’ War winery. It is a beautiful winery facing the bay. 

Rolled around at Man O' War

Second stop was Te Motu winery, where we did archery. My first round of shots was impressive, but it was a fluke. I fell from grace immediately, scoring next to nothing. 

Action shot

We headed to Cable Bay vineyard next, where we had (more) food. The restaurant overlooked rolling hills and the sea. After we dropped off BFF & co at ferry terminal back to Auckland, we continued on to Mud Brick winery. It has similar view to Cable Bay, though it has a more manicured garden and lovely looking cottages. 

Mud Brick

Breakfast: Fenice, café. 4/5 my coffee was delicious and the croissant was massive! $

Brunch: Wai Kitchen, café 3.5/5 another yum of caffeine in my system. We ordered the sambal prawn omellete. It was different but it works! $$

Snack: Te Motu, vineyard 2.5/5 the pizza tasted like it came out of the freezer aisle. $$

Lunch: Cable Bay, vineyard 3.5/5 food was good, didn’t blow me off my mind though.

Dinner: Oyster Inn, Bistro 3/5 oysters were amazing and fresh; farmed locally on the south east of the island at Te Matuku. Apparently, they have a shop next to the island Countdown. My fish and chips were spot on, Fabs's pasta was overcooked and close to tasteless. $$$$

Day five – 30/11/2016, Auckland

Back to the mainland. I conducted a reminiscence tour for Fabs, from Viaduct to Wynyard Quarter then up we went to Sky Tower Observatory. We did the obligatory visit to my favourite watering hole, Occidental; and straight to my university. Followed by lunch at Britomart area then we went back to BFF’s.

Auckland view from Sky Tower observatory deck 

As strong as concrete they said!

For dinner, we went to Ponsonby to catch up with my uni friend and her family. This is an upmarket area, bursting with ‘hip’ cafes and expensive restaurants.

Breakfast: Beach Club café, Waiheke 3.5/5 delicious breakfast; coffee not so much $

Lunch: Mexico, Mexican, Auckland 3/5 They made killer fried chicken and mojitos, quirky fit out and relax atmosphere. Other food that we ordered are on the average side though $$

Dinner: Le Vietnamese, Fusion Vietnamese, Ponsonby 4/5 food was really good, soft velvety spring roll and delicious curry. FREE, as my friend insisted to pay and we had no idea how much the bill was.

Day six – 1/12/2016, Auckland

Long time ago, I did my first horse riding at Muriwai beach. It was so memorable to me and made me fell in love with horses. So, we went for a drive there after baby C swimming lesson. Muriwai is about 40 minutes’ drive; though we went further, all the way to Helensville to find… nothing. Least we went to Key's electorate before he resigned! So, we did a U turn and headed to Muriwai beach to have lunch.

Gorgeous day for a horse ride

The horse park is located near the golf course. We went through the beach, marsh land and the forest. It was enjoyable, but it wasn’t as great as how I had it in my head! Nevertheless, it was good fun.

Lunch - Sand Dunz Beach Café, Muriwai Beach 3/5 standard café food. My suggestion is to take away the food and have it by the beach or the café’s outside seatings; the prices are significantly lower compared to having it in the restaurant $$

Day seven – 2/12/2016, Auckland

Nothing scream louder than the outdoor when one thinks of New Zealand. Hence, we woke up at 8 am to catch a ferry to Rangitoto island at 9.15 am from Devonport. Rangitoto Island is a volcanic island formed by a series of eruptions, with the most recent eruptions occurred between 550 and 600 years ago. There are several hikes routes around the island and the connected neighbouring island of Motutapu.  I doubt you can go around the island in one day. But, if you’re feeling extremely adventurous (and super fit), you can try by running it the whole way through.

Keep on walking... keep on walking

It was advised not to camp in Rangitoto, however, there is the option to stay at the Department of Conservation (DoC) managed campsite at Home Bay. For more info, see: http://www.backpackerguide.nz/guide-rangitoto-island-motutapu-island/

We took the map of the island at the ferry terminal, and we set for our day hike. The ferry ride was about 25 minutes; we took the summit walk route with a small detour to the lava cave. Then we went back down through Mackenzie lighthouse where we had our supermarket bought sandwiches with the classic: Bluebird chips. Fabs had a quick dip; he said the water felt ‘fresh’. We made the 2.30 pm ferry back to Auckland city, where we takeaway Nando’s for dinner. Fitbit told me the whole walk is about 20k steps or 16 km.

Dinner – Nando’s, chicken shop, Auckland. 3/5 always reliable grilled chicken!

Day eight – 3/12/2016, Auckland

I woke up seeing 2 additional kids in the house. BFF’s friend (they exist, though I vehemently deny their existence. Her only friend should only just be ME) dropped their kids for the morning. We spent the morning playing and making Christmas garlands. It was all so exhausting, so right after lunch we took a nap.

In training

Actually, the nap was necessary as we were going to watch BFF’s favourite band, Coldplay. We dropped baby C at the friend’s house, inhaled glasses of wines in seconds and run around amok. I enjoyed the concert so much, I think I said the “L” word to her so many times. She freaked out. We even went to McDonald afterwards!

Below is the snippet of how AMAZING the concert was - pardon the quality

Lunch: Chef Rasa Sayang, Malaysian, Birkenhead $ 3.5/5 good delicious food. We bought so much food that we had it for lunch AND dinner. And BFF had the leftover for dinner the next day!

Day nine – 4/12/2016

Time for us to go back to Sydney and face the harsh reality of life. Work. After lunch, BFF dropped us off in the airport and we said our “see yous”. It has been such a good holiday, thoroughly enjoyed it and super relaxing!

Lunch: Bali Star, Atrium foodcourt, Indonesian $ 3/5 can’t go wrong with fried chicken!

Ps : One thing I learned from this trip is to always have cash. Most cheap eateries don’t accept credit cards nor international debit card. Cash is king.

Pss: 
$ = $10 - $20 pp

$$ = $20 - $40+ pp

$$$ = $40 - $60 pp

$$$$ = $60 - $80 pp

$$$$$ = $80++ pp

Bolivia in one week

Bolivia. Some people don't even know where it is. But since I saw a picture of its salt lake sometime ago, I was determined to go and check it out. When Fabs told his Brazilian family that we are to go to Bolivia after Peru, they were totally against it; as (their words) it is unsafe, unhinged, and full of drug dealers. But..... We went anyway.

We caught a Trans Titicaca overnight bus from Cuzco to Copacabana. We booked it online via http://www.ticketsbolivia.com/ The journey itself was uneventful; albeit when we first seated we were video recorded in case bags went missing. So I was paranoid the whole trip. We reached immigration in the morning. We got out of the bus, went to get our passport stamped in Peru side then strolled through the gate to Bolivia.


Walking cross country

Once we reached Bolivia side, we get stamped some more then boarded the bus back to Copacabana.

First day - 12/12/2015

We stayed in Hotel Onkel Inn Torres de Copacabana. We were dropped off in the city centre and caught a taxi to our hotel. It looked new, and half of it was still being built. But it felt like it was already falling apart. But then, it felt like that for 90% of the city. I was intrigued how most of the buildings seem unfinished. And the whole place looked a bit.. neglected. I thought it was supposed to be a tourist spot?

I didn't realise our hotel was a bit out of the way from city centre when I booked it, and there were no street lights AT ALL from the hotel to the city. So we thought to have our dinner in the hotel. Alas, they were not open for dinner. Bolivia started to confuse me. What restaurants in a hotel that were not open for dinner? But hey, maybe Bolivians normally eat dinner at home. So we caught a taxi to city centre to eat; since if no food pass my tummy for more than 5 hours, I could transformed into a (more) crazy witch. Fabs would then need to cope it (even more).

Second day - 13/12/2015

At least the hotel had a decent spread for breakfast. Then we were off to Island of the Sun. For some more hiking. Since 4 days hiking in Peru was not enough.


Lake Titicaca - the world’s highest navigable body of water. Most efficiently done by one leg.

We were lost for a bit, then we were directed to a random house to pay a fee before we could continued on walking. We walked for about 1 km, before this happened again. I guesstimate in total we had to pay 5 times along the way to walk around the island.

The ferry to take us back to Copacabana was late. I was so worried that we were going to miss our bus to La Paz. But my worry was groundless. Running late seemed to be the norm for any type of Bolivian transports.

We arrived in La Paz around 10.30pm. I booked a hostel nearby the bus stop (Hostal Perla Negra), but we couldn't find it! We walked around with our massive backpacks. I could feel the piercing death stare on my back. Fabs thought we were about to get robed, drugged, killed, and mutilated. At last he couldn't contain his wild imagination and we resorted to hail a taxi. Then, we realised it was only 2 min walk up the stairs from the station.

Third day - 14/12/2015

Breakfast was appalling. No hot water in our room, pipe blocked, and Fabs wondered whether there were bed bugs. But then I chose this place because of its location and paid little attention to its amenities.

Today was La Paz appreciation day. What a city. So chaotic. So cramped. So dense. And so interesting. I never went to a city using cable cars to connect the suburbs instead of metro. Why do we build tunnels underground when we can have cable cars?! I couldn't see any high rise buildings. Maybe that's why.


So flat oh so fine  

We caught the cable car to the highest suburb. Apparently the higher the 'burb the more dangerous it is. Hence, as soon as we arrived at the highest station, we U turn and went straight down. To the cemetery area.


Interesting layout for a cemetery 

As we were getting quite edgy (lunch time), we hailed another taxi to take us to the lowest area we could go in the city. The transformation of the roads were amazing. Gone the graffiti and homeless looking people. This area were all about office workers.

Lunch was at Sabor Gaucho (El Arriero), really good Argentinian restaurant. We ordered lunch special which included chips, salad, soup, meat and the whole restaurant for about $20. Then we headed to Plaza de Monticulo. We got lost yet again, as we didn't know how to to get in the park. And once we got in, we couldn't figure out how to get out.

Once we went around the park for about 5 times, we decided we had enough and head back to the bus station to catch our bus to Uyuni. We used Todo Turismo, which was one of the fanciest overnight bus I`ve been. I couldn`t recommend them enough. Tea, dinner, some more tea, chocolate, the food stream were endless.

Fourth day - 15/12/2015

Uyuni. The reason we came to Bolivia. We joined Red Planet Salt Life tour after much research. The front lady looked like she just bit something really sour, but thankfully our guide (perfect English) and driver (perfect Spanish) were really nice. Today was about one site after another.


Train cemetery 


Dry salt lake - wear shoes, I wore jandals. Not a smart move


First hotel was made of salt - bags on bed because the ground are sandy salt!

Fifth day - 16/12/2015

One thing I learn - when one drinks beer in Bolivia; you need to pour a bit of your precious liquid to the ground. This is to say thanks to Pacha Mama - mother earth. They do this too with coca leaves before chewing them. Anyhow, another day on the road.


Llama = sheep here


Lunch on side of the road

All this time on the road, you might wonder, where does one go when the nature calls? Well, when you are in nature, you gotta blend with the nature my friend.


Pink birds, lake and amazing scenery! 


Geothermal activities in the dessert - OH&S pretty slack here 

After much driving, we settled in this little house out of nowhere. We only had electricity from 6pm, and lights off from 10pm. Food was served and we were told there`s no bathroom to shower. However, there`s a natural hot spring just across the road. We couldn`t see this so called hot spring as it was pitch black outside, but we trust our guide by now; so we went for a wander out in the cold. Then we found it. And it was AMAZING. It was HOT. And the sky, it took my breath away. We could see the milky way. No photos could do justice of what we saw that night.

Sixth day - 17/12/2015

The bad decision day. We were given a choice, to be dropped off in Chile or to go back to Uyuni. And I chose Uyuni. GRAVE mistake. If there's one advice I can give out about Bolivia, it will be this. Get dropped off at Chile. 


View on our way to Chile border. Salvador Dali`s inspiration 

We dropped off some smart people at the border, then we were driven a good 6/7 hours back to Uyuni. I reckoned I ate 2kgs worth of sand through my nose whilst our driver chewing his coca leaves along the way happily.


My little nostrils couldn't handle it

At long last we were back to Uyuni. Time to jump into our fancy bus to go back for another ride to La Paz.

Seventh day - 18/12/2015

Arrived at our hotel completely knackered, dusty, sweaty and I was pretty sure, smelly. We arrived into our hotel at Casa de Piedra Hotel Boutique. It felt like Hyatt after the hostel and the road. And it allowed us to check in at 8am! Shower, rest and wifi time!! We emerged from the room to go for lunch at Pacena La Salteña. Where we ordered our food using body language and paid this sweet lady at the front; then sat down and proceed to gobbled down numerous yummy empanadas.

Fabs did his contribution to this trip by suggesting the Red Cap `free` walking city tour. We met the tour in front of infamous San Pedro jail. The lady that run the tour was funny and really informative. Definitely worth doing and way better than us wandering around lost by ourselves.


Market sort of days

We went to the witch market, normal market and food market. We had some snacks and juice, sat around Plaza Murillo while she filled us in the history of Bolivia. At this point, I was getting used to Bolivia. Its hectic, disorder, cramped spaces, ladies with their cute bowl hats; but after this tour, I think I like Bolivia. We ended up in a Irish bar and paid donation for the walk while drinking possibly the most expensive beer in South America.

All those walking made me hungry yet again, so we ducked back to the food market and grabbed some chorizo sandwich that supposedly famous. It was sooooo good. I just love this chili concoction Bolivians perfected. A bit like salsa but spicy. It was delish.

We then headed back to our hotel for a nap and got out from our room (you guess it) for food. We walked straight to this night market and settled for Bolivian version of KFC. We went there because we thought it must be good food judging by the sheer amount of people in there!


Massive crowd! 

Those fried chickens were a good closing meal in Bolivia. Time to pack our bags and continued on to Fabs's birth place: São Paulo.

Peru - first camping trip

Last day of work before a big holiday - I am sure you felt this type of excitement before. We were so excited we popped open a champagne. And Fabs (other half) popped the cork straight to the window glass where it bounced perfectly square onto my forehead. He thought it was the most hilarious thing.

4/12/2015 Cuzco 

Travel time = 25 hours. From Sydney, we flew to Santiago → Lima → Cuzco. Arrived in Cuzco around 9 pm where our hotel driver picked us up from the airport and dropped us off at Amaru Hostal Inca. It was a cute hostal; I eagerly tried the freely available coca tea, hopeful that it would help with the altitude. We dropped our bags and realised our room is adjacent to the stairs. Hence, we could hear and feel others' footsteps going up and down the stairs.


Tiny roads with shared zones between cars, pedestrians, motorbikes, and all other methods of transport

The hotel is centrally located, so we just walked for a wander to find something to eat. We settled into this tourist trap looking restaurant, simply because I was so out of breath after 10 minutes! The food was actually quite decent. Fabs ordered a beer and I had a glass of wine; I reckoned we were drunk after 1 serving of alcohol - I blamed the altitude.

5/12/2015 Cuzco/Skylodge

Cuzco sightseeing day. All within walking distance from the hostel which was handy. We stopped by Peru Treks office to pay for our Inca Trail 4 days trek; we set to go!


Qorikancha


Impressive Inca stone masonry

Then we were off to our second hotel: The Skylodge (http://naturavive.com/web/). Fabs stumbled upon it on Facebook and thought it would be a good idea to stay there. It was probably his best suggestion to date.

It's located near Ollantytambo; about 1-2 hours drive from Cuzco. To get to our accommodation, we had to climb 400 metres of Via Ferrata. It is basically a transparent capsule hangs from the mountain. We had one guide per couple (there were 2 couples), and up we went.


Just hanging


Via ferrata 



The 'bridge'


View from the top

Once we got in our capsule; I proceeded to take my first ever wet wipe 'shower'. Dinner then served; I found it a bit awkward with the guide being there with us serving our meal, but not eating. After he left, with belly full and a bit groggy from the wine; we laid there staring at the sky before I promptly passed out in a matter of seconds.

6/12/2015 Cuzco 

Everything that goes up, must come down.

After spectacular breakfast, we started our descent by 6 really long zip-lines. I thought I was to crash to the mountain and turned into a pulp; ended up I just split my lip. Due to my own fault for not breaking correctly on the 4th zip.


Zip it

We went back to Cuzco; but we shouldn't have as the start of the trek is very close to the Skylodge. Alas, I didn’t know any better. 2 hours later, we arrived at our nice(r) hotel; Casa Andina Private Collection. After a proper shower, we went for a walk to stock up for our trek.

As always, I had all the restaurants and places I would like to go all saved in google map. I was so busy looking at my phone, I didn’t realise we turned into this really dodgy alleyway; away from the main road. Windows were broken, and it was close to the ‘douche douche’ type of club. Fabs started to twitch; I looked up, and found we could be in a deep shit. I suggested we do a U turn and get the hell out of there ASAP. He agreed before I even finished my sentence. He did a massive lecture of what could’ve happen, and we ended up in some other random tourist restaurant.

07/12/2015 Tent!

03.00 am start. Bus picked us up and rounded up all the crew by 05.00 am. On our way from Cuzco, our guide asked whether we would like to hire walking sticks. I thought we wouldn’t need it. How wrong I was. Lucky Fabs got one pair.


The start of a huge challenge for me

Terrain on day 1 of the trek was 'OK'. Once we settled in the camp site, we had this really awkward introduction to all 17 of our porters (oldest was 80+!), chef and guides. This would be my first time sleeping in a tent. Due to Fabs's height, we had to sleep diagonally. I wasn't convinced why people do this for fun.

08/12/2015 Dead Women's Pass

The name said it all. All warnings I’ve got about Inca Trail was toilet related. No one warned me how challenging this would be. I thought since many people have done this trek, it shouldn’t be THAT hard, right? WRONG.


See that mountain far far away? 

Whilst we were struggling with our tiny backpacks, the porters zoomed past us whilst carrying an entire house on their back.


The only way is up

To make matters worst, after lunch it started raining. I almost lost it. I considered to just curl in a fetal position and call the chopper; I couldn't go on any further. But since I don't think there will be any rescue chopper in Peru, we pushed on. Fabs saw me struggling so much, he gave me his walking sticks, carried my backpack on top of his own, his gloves and his hand warmers; as it started to became really cold.

Once we’re in camp, he told me to filled my aluminium water bottle with hot water and put it in my
sleeping bag. I am glad my first camping experience is with him, least one of us knows what to do!

09/12/2015 Winay Wayna

More walking. Heaps more. But at least it wasn’t steep uphill battle like yesterday. Today was actually my favourite, since there were loads of Inca ruins along the way.


Ruin ruin on a hill, which is the fairest of them all

They were just magnificent! How did they bring all those stones here?!

Awesome looking terraces with barely anyone around

10/12/2015 Macchu Picchu

0300 am start – we were waiting around at the starting line before we could actually go. Basically we needed to get out from our tents so the porters could packed them on time. About 05.00 am we headed to the sun gate, but the weather God wasn’t with us today, it was too cloudy to see anything and it started raining.


The sun was supposed to be behind him

Not long after the sun gate we saw IT! All that trekking for this beautiful magnificent structure.


Simply amazing

Once we reached the main entrance, all of us were DYING to go to a proper toilet! I would've loved to just hang out in the nice, clean, pristine toilet for the rest of the day. I think most of the people in the group shared my sentiment. There was even queue for men’s!

It was really crowded when we got there, because instead of walking the whole 4 days and almost died – main population opted to catch the train from Ollantytambo. We explored for a bit before heading back to Aguas Caliantes - hot spring town near Macchu Picchu. We had lunch and caught up with news/social media/family since the restaurant has Wi-Fi.

There was still time before our train back to Ollantytambo, so we decided to dip ourselves in the hot spring. It was HEAVEN. Afterwards we went for a massage. My calves were so sore, and the ladies kept giggling because Fabs is a giant for Peruvian massage table.

We were dropped off at our hotel about 10pm (Casa Andina), and I went straight to the shower. This trip has made me deeply appreciate personal hygiene and hot water.

11/12/2015 Cuzco

Last day in Cuzco before we catch overnight bus to Copacabana (more info about Bolivia’s here).

The hotel felt like a 10 star hotel. The bed, shower, temperature controlled room, connectivity (we even splurge on Wi-Fi in our bedroom since it was only available in the lobby); all felt so luxurious after our nights in the wild.

We went out for food and checked out the market.



Then went straight back to the hotel room. I requested late check out so we could lie around and indulged on Wi-Fi until our departure.

It was time to leave Peru. It is such a lovely place, far exceeded my expectations on so many levels. I dare say my camping experiment was a success and the experience were truly amazing and worth it.