Punta del Este, Uruguay - Day 1

Punta del Este is an international beach resort in Uruguay about 1.5 hours from Montevideo. I was planning on spending 3 days there but a couple people mentioned that it's the slow season and that it would be dead there so I decided to take a tour and check out the town.

Some general observations from Punta del Este and Uruguay in general.

There is a flat fee for eating in a restaurant to cover the silverware, service, etc and it goes to house in addition to the tip

There is a typical Uruguayan dish which is a layered meat dish with steak, ham, sunny side up egg on top of French fries. Interesting but I do that at home with leftover food. The French fries in Uruguay are often not crispy…and slightly soggy and barely warm…like they put the fries in the fryer and took them out 3 minutes too soon as soon as they started to defrost.

The houses in Punta del Este are amazing. Like the coolest modern compilation of unique houses that I’ve ever seen. I wish I could have captured more of them but it was hard on the moving bus. I didn’t even get the best ones on top of the mountain.

Punta del Esta, Uruguay - Day 1

Rio de Janerio, Brazil - Day 1

So I made it after 16 hours of traveling. First day was rather uneventful as I walked wandered around the area trying to get a feel for the area and gather my bearings. One thing that I noticed was that were gyms on every block on the second floor of stores. You can also purchase protein and work out supplements in 2 or 3 shops per street – I guess in case you have a sudden craving mid block.

Rio de Janerio, Brazil - Day 1

Hoi An, Vietnam - Day 2

Today I rented a motorcycle and drove out to My Son (prounounced Mee Sun), a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I got extremely lost on my way there and a 25 minute trip turned into a 2 hour trip. I had to stop multiple times to ask in pointing sign language to figure out how to get to this national monument. While it wasn't fun to be lost in the middle of never ending rice fields and villages in the scorching sun, in hindsight, the experience was a rewarding one as I enjoyed the open road and time on the bike. I eventually got to my destination and wow what a let down. I had just come from Cambodia where the temples of Siem Reap were awe inspiring. My Son was about half the size of the smallest temple in Siem Reap and in much worse condition. It was also very architecturally similar so it was rather disappointing.

The rest of the day included a trip to Denang about an hour away to visit the Marble Mountains, a really cool mountain full of temples and nooks and crannies to explore.

Hoi An, Vietnam - Day 2

Hoi An, Vietnam - Day 1

So today I flew into Denang, a city in the middle of Vietnam, and took a 30 minute taxi ride down Hoi An. Hoi An, a UNESCO Heritage site, is a historic port town with the majority of the unique blend of local and foreign influenced buildings and architecture remaining largely intact. Besides the historic areas, there is also a nice beach, and lots of good local foods. I rented a motorbike in Hoi An for half the day and rode around the city sampling the various foods – I ate three dinners there was so much good food to try.

I also visited the beach and noticed something particular. A lot of Asian countries prefer the white porcelain skin as opposed to being tan, as the tan signifies a person who has to work in the fields. So during the sun light hours of the day there were no locals at the beach save those providing service to the tourists. However, as soon as sun started to set around 4pm, the Vietnamese went out to the beach in HORDES. Like the beach went from being empty to being packed in 30 minutes. People would come fully dressed from the office in jeans and a button down shirt and jump into the ocean for a dip and then sit down on the beach to food prepared by local vendors. What are they doing walking fully clothed into the ocean!?!? Aren’t there any bathing suits here?

Hoi An, Vietnam - Day 1

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Day 3

I took an island tour of Bamboo Island which is about 1 hour away. The waves were rather choppy and at least one girl regurgitated her breakfast for the fishes. We went snorkeling near one island and then had lunch on the beach at Bamboo Island. After lunch we hiked through a small forest and the discovered a uninhabitated beach on the other side of the island where we had the entire beach with pristine soft white sand and surfer worthy waves all to ourselves.

On the way back through the forest, we came across some locals who had smoked out a bee's nest and were enjoying the fresh honey straight from the honey comb. The honey was obviously amazingly fresh and included complimentary burnt bees as an extra protein supplement.

Sihanoukville, Cambodia - Day 3