Singapore and Detour to Honk Kong

After leaving Bali we flew into Singapore for a few days, which was a very impressive city! The people were extremely friendly, everywhere was noticably clean, there was amazing food, a fun night life and overall it was just a great place to explore. We stayed in Little India in a really nice hostel. We loved all the Indian food we had, which neither of us had really ever had back at home. The first day we wandered around the city. We went to see a temple that had a huge, massive Buddha in it which was cool and just wandered around checking out the city.
The next day we went to the Singapore Zoo. It was an awesome zoo-they allowed you to get so much closer to all the animals than they do at home. We finally got to see Kangaroos, too (nevermind the month we spent in Australia, searching for them with no luck. )
We went out that night to a really fun bar/club area. However, we quickly found out that a beer was about $13-definitely not on the backpacker budget! So, being the budget girls we are haha, we headed to 7-11 and bought beer there instead haha It was great though because you can wander the streets with open containers so we just cruised around with our beers and then headed back into the bars. It ended up being a really fun night out! Our last day in Singapore we headed to Sentosa Island. Basically, it felt like Disney created a beach! It's hard to explain; it was really pretty and there were rides on the beach and everything seemed kind of man-made. When we both called home to tell our moms we were planning on detouring a little and flying from Singapore up to Honk Kong and back down to Vietnam (so we could fly on their United passes and not have to pay) almost simaltaneously both of our moms said "why don't you stay in Hong Kong a few days, it's such a great city!?" So we took their word for it and decided to throw in one more country to the mix and check out Hong Kong. We were really glad we listened to them because it was such an awesome city! The skyline at night was absoultely incredible, as was the food and shopping. Although, our hostel was pretty horrible. It was small and dirty and just not nice at all (it's the fifth floor of the picture of that gross-looking building below). We went out to watch the laser/light show they put on every night on the skyline. We ended up taking a ferry across the harbor and stumbled upon a really fun stip or bars. There were tons of people and it's great because everyone spills out from the bars into the street and it's like a massive block party. They even have servers who take your drink order from the middle of the street, it's amazing!
Of course of all times, though, we were here in our gross hostel when Shanna got the flu-or something Asian that made her sick. So she spent the next day in the dirty hostel and Britt explored the city while she was asleep, going to a nightmarket and spending way too much money without another voice of reason! All in all, a really cool city!

End of Bali: Mt. Batur

I know it may be hard to believe, but yes, this is the active volcano, Mt. Batur, we hiked at 3:30am. We left from Kuta at 2am and reached the beginning of the volcano at 3:30am. We were met with an english speaking guide and a coke man. (We later found out at the top that the only purpose of the "coke man" is to try and sell us drinks at the top of the volcano. They are a complete rip off, and you don't really want a coke at 5am but you can't help but buy one.) The four of us began our hike in the pitch black with only small flash lights and the two other men to lead the way. The beginning of the hike was no big deal and we thought "this was going to be a piece of cake". The guy we had booked this trecking adventure with the day before said the hike was slightly up hill, but really easy. About 30min into the hike we were dying and still had an hour and a half to go! We looked up at the top of the volcano and our guide and thought there was no way we were going to make it. At some points through the hike the english speaking guide was literally dragging Shanna by the arm and the coke man was dragging Brittany. There isn't a really clear trail and the rocks on the side of the mountain are really slippery and difficult to climb up.


WE MADE IT!!! At about 5am we had reached the top and even quicker than expected! We bought a $5 coke (should have been $1, but figured it was a tip for dragging Britt up the mountain!) and waited for the sunrise. Surprisingly, it was freezing at the top of the volcano so we wrapped ourselves in our surongs to try and keep warm. We both decided that were pretty sure that was the 1st time we had ever intentionally been up early enough to watch sunrise! Once the sun was out we were served breakfast and watched the monkeys play in front of us.


After we had eaten we headed off to see some of the craiters. It was incredible to see the steam coming up from the ground around us. Apparently in some of the really small craiters created from the steam you can hard-boil an egg by just sticking it into the ground.



The hike down was interesting to say the least. All of the really steep parts we had hiked up, we now had to hike down. You basically just feel like you are going to face plant down the mountain every step you take. The first 30 minutes you are waking in black sand and your feet sink all the way down to your ankles. Our shoes had enough sand to build a playground with by the time we had finished the hike.

Here is a picture with us and our guide:

After the hike our driver took us to a hot springs where we could let our muscles relax. It was so amazing after the hike!

Looking at the Mt. Batur after the hike, we both still can't believe we actually made it to the top!

Our next stop of our trip will be Singapore but we are going to be sad to leave Bali. The people here have been so nice and it has also been really nice to relax and not be on such a time schedule. It has also been pretty interesting interacting with the local people. New Zealand and Australia for the most part are very similar to home culturally.

In Bali, basically everywhere we go people ask you three questions. What is your name? Where are you going to? Where did you come from? It isn't meant to be nosey, it is just their general concern for your welfare. If you don't have an answer to these questions they are concerned for you (that you are lost, either literally, or in life in general). As soon as you answer that you are from California, USA. They either say "ARNOLD!" or "Tell Obama I said hi!" Obama we guess is expected, but its pretty funny to hear people's fascination with Arnold. Our names are another funny one. People generally have no clue what Shanna is and when Brittany says her name they go "OH! Britney Spears!" and are extremely excited.

It has all be AMAZING here the food, the people, the beaches, the sunsets, the diving and the snorkling! We hope the rest of SE Asia is equally as amazing!