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Janel's Journey

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Janel's Journey Traveler
Nairobi / Siana
Jun 7–9, 2024 in Kenya ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C
First time in the continent of Africa! One night in Nairobi prior to starting my 2 week tour. The first day of our journey, we set up at camp in the Masai Mara, and we do a village walk where we meet the Maasai people. They performed a welcome dance for us, then showed us where they lived and explained their traditions. They live an extremely different life to us. For example, boys at age 15 are given a spear and are sent to the wild for 5 years. If they survive those 5 years in the wild, they are considered men and can marry.Read more
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Dubai
Jun 5–6, 2024 in the United Arab Emirates ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C
24-hour layover in Dubai. I was able to check out downtown where the Burj Khalifa is. Didn't realize the foundations were only at night so couldn't see them. It was so hot outside though so I went to the mall haha. It's tax free in Dubai!Read more
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Phillip Island
June 3, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C
I DID IT, I FOUND PENGUINS! During my day trip to Phillip Island from Melbourne. We first stopped by the Brighton bathing boxes and then went to a wildlife Sanctuary. I took so many photos of all the aussie animals 🥹🤍 wombats, koalas, emus, wallabes, kangaroos, dingos, Tasmanian devil, and tiny blue penguins!!Read more
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Melbourne
May 30–Jun 4, 2024 in Australia ⋅ 🌬 20 °C
I really enjoyed Melbourne! My first night, the hostel had a paint and sip night (Does it look like a koala 🐨? 😂). The following days did lots of sightseeing. Went to the Queen Victoria Market, then checked out the library, flinder station, botanical garden, and the river. Also went to a few museums, including the national Victoria gallery that had a Picasso.

Very cool city! There were many hype streets, alleyways, events, and live music.

The food quality standards in Australia are much higher making it tastier I find.

There was more I wanted to do but didn't have time for. I look forward to coming back to Australia one day 🙂Read more
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Byron Bay
May 26–30, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C
Chill, surfer town where Chris Hemsworth lives (didn't find him lol). Mostly relaxed here and watched lots of sunsets. Did a nice coastal walk to the lighthouse with great views along the way. It's also the most eastern point in Australia. On my last night, I joined a team for trivia night. In addition to questions, they made us do musical chairs and limbo. It was my first time trying limbo, haha. I was average, not the best but not the worst 😂 then we went to the piano bar, which was really fun. On my last morning, I did a yoga class by the beach at sunrise 🙏Read more
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Sydney
May 22–26, 2024 in Australia ⋅ ☀️ 18 °C
Explored the infamous Opera House, harbour bridge, circular quay, botanical garden, queen victoria building, darling harbour, did the coastal walk from coogee beach to bondi beach, took the ferry to manly beach, and saw vivid Sydney. On my last day, I did a day trip to the blue mountains for hikes and wine tastings. I loved Sydney. It's such a vibrant and beautiful city.Read more
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Siargao
May 12–21, 2024 on the Philippines ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
Chill place with fun things to do with good restaurants and bars. Had a nice group of people to hang out with. Explored the island and found a coconut tree farm viewpoint. Went to a corgi cafe. Checked out cloud 9 (famous surf spot in the Philippines). Went island hopping with an amazing lunch. We also went through this cave filled with mix of fresh and salt water to get to this little lagoon. Then we went to the river where we jumped off a deck. Tried surfing again and was killing it 🏄‍♀️Read more
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Coron & Cebu
May 8–11, 2024 on the Philippines ⋅ ☁️ 32 °C
Had a lovely few days here with the people we met from the expedition. We spent some time at the hostels' rooftop pool/bar. 4 of us did another private boat island hopping tour, which was also beautiful.

We spent one night in Cebu as a layover. I tried Jollibee for the first time. Had a nice hotel room with a view.Read more
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El Nido to Coron
May 6–8, 2024 on the Philippines ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C
Did a 3 day, 2 night, castaway expedition with Outpost from El Nido to Coron. We island hopped with some snorkeling in between. At night, we stayed on huts on the beach. We had an interesting group of people with funny drama. It was a fun experience.Read more
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El Nido
May 1–6, 2024 on the Philippines ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C
Met up with a travel buddy and made lots of friends here in El Nido. It was so fun exploring the island via scooter with them. We went to many beaches, watched sunsets, and did a private boat tour for Island hopping.Read more
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Singapore
Apr 28–May 1, 2024 in Singapore ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C
There were so many beautiful buildings. People dressed nice. Lots of different types of things to eat from. It was also very hot so I didn't explore as much as I would like but it gives me a reason to return. I went to merlin fountain by marina bay, supertree grove, and explored chinatown. I really liked Singapore.Read more
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Kuala Lumpur
Apr 24–28, 2024 in Malaysia ⋅ ☁️ 33 °C
I enjoyed KL. It was a diverse and fairly modern city with lots to see and do. I wish I could have done more, but it was really hot, lol. I explored Bukit Bintang (area where I stayed), Chinatown, KL tower, petrona twin towers, and the massive mall right by it. I went on a street food tour one night also and learned a lot about local life in Malaysia. I also ran into my aussie friend, Ryan and he introduced me to a DJ, Daxson.Read more
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Yogyakarta
Apr 19–24, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 31 °C
Visited the water temple in the city.
Went to the largest Buddhist monument in the world, Borobudur and Prambanan hindu temple and its surrounding temples.
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East Java
Apr 16–19, 2024, Indian Ocean ⋅ 🌬 29 °C
Awesome time in Java as well where I did lots of trekking.

It was quite the journey to get over here, though. From Labuan Bajo, I flew to Bali and then had to take a 4 hour car ride to North Bali. I then got a 30-minute drive to the ferry. Then, a 45-minute ferry ride where my homestay picked me up.

Ijen crater - From Banyuwangi, I got picked up at midnight to get a health check. We then drove to meet our guide and the rest of our group. We started the trek at 2:30am. We had a steep incline for an hour and a bit of a rocky decline to get to the blue flames. You have to make it there before a certain time, or else the flames go out. Once you get to the blue flames, you'll want to quickly take photos/videos and get out of there because the sulphur gas is no joke. My mask didn't really work, and I felt like I was suffocating and my eyes were burning. But when I walked away and breathed slowly, it was fine. Then we continued to trek to the top around the crater to watch the sunrise. The blue lake in the crater is so beautiful. I was worried about the rain because it was pouring for a few hours at the beginning, but it cleared up, thankfully, and a pancho did the trick.

When I got back to my homestay, the host made me a huge traditional Indonesian breakfast, which consisted of rice, basko (soup with chicken balls), fritters, fried tofu and fruit. Then I continued my journey to mount bromo, a 5 hour drive away.

Mount bromo - it was so much cooler this area. I was so cold lol. Also woke up early for this trek, at 3am. We had a big offroading jeep bring us as close as possible to the sunrise point where we watch the sun and clouds around mount bromo. The best sunrise I've ever seen 😍 after that we drove to mount bromo itself and explored the crater of the volcano. The lava was active inside of it. Super cool!Read more
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Flores
Apr 11–15, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
Landed in Labuan Bajo, where I spent the night in a hostel situated in the local village. I met some young Indonesians who invited me to have dinner with them. It was fun to try local food with them.

I then set sail on a 3 day, 2 night sailing expedition around Komodo Island. It was a highlight of my travels. We snorkled and saw lots of amazing marine life and manta rays. Hiked amazing viewpoints where we watched the sunrise. We visited islands, including Pink Beach. We also, of course, found some komodo dragons! On the last sunset on the boat, we also saw thousands of bats fly over us going from one island to the other. It was really cool. The crew was so funny too. They taught us a dance from Flores that everybody knows. We also did karaoke after haha.

When I was back on land, I chilled at a nice hostel with a rooftop pool and live music.

It was such an amazing time here on Flores Island!Read more
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Gili Trawangan
Apr 6–9, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ☁️ 30 °C
Gili T, a small island off Bali where there are no cars.

Had a bad ferry experience getting here. It was soo hot on the boat, and the engine died. It delayed our arrival by 1 hour but got there eventually.

Went on a snorkeling tour where we saw not 1, not 2, but 8 sea turtles!! I was so happy to see them in real life. Some are huge! So amazing 🥰 there was also some cool underwater statues where lots of cool fish swim around.

Also tried shroom shakes here lol. I had a great time but these other girls did not. It made for an interesting experience 😂Read more
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Nusa Penida
Apr 3–5, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 30 °C
Gorgeous views of Keling King, broken beach, cliff, and crystal bay. The best sunset I have ever seen in my life at Amok Sunset bar. We stayed in a hotel in the jungle which was nice.
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Bali
Mar 29–Apr 5, 2024 in Indonesia ⋅ ⛅ 31 °C
Jen and I explored Bali together. We stayed:
- Seminyak, for some relaxing beach time.
- Ubud, we did some yoga, watched their traditional kecak and fire dance show, visited waterfalls, and a rice terrace (
- Canggu: enjoyed food and drinks by the beach.Read more
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Taipei
Mar 27–30, 2024 in Taiwan ⋅ ☁️ 25 °C
Went back to Taipei together as a group. This was fun too! Of course, tried more food, night markets, and bars.
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Hualien
Mar 25–27, 2024 in Taiwan ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C
Evan and I met up with friends, Jen, Curtis and Sam in Hualien. It was a lot of fun! We tried lots of food together, went to some fun bars, and explored Taroko National Park.

We visited one bar where we started as the only people there so we started karaoke music night and as more people came to the bar, the more karaoke. Most people were great singers! The owner wouldn't let us leave 😂

We were so lucky to have visited during this week and not the week after when the massive earthquake hit. 🙏Read more
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Kaohshiung
Mar 22–25, 2024 in Taiwan ⋅ ☀️ 28 °C
Pretty cool beach town with a good night market.

We visited an island called Cijin to go to the beach and the lighthouse. There was a party on the beach while we watched the sunset.

We visited interesting pagodas. When we went there, there happened to be a parade walking through. It was a nice cultural experience to watch.Read more
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Taichung
Mar 20–22, 2024 in Taiwan ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C
Spent a quick couple nights here in Taichung so we can visit Sun Moon Lake. We biked along the lake. Tried more food. I also had bubble tea at the shop where it was invented.
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Taipei
Mar 17–20, 2024 in Taiwan ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C
Evan and I reunite 🤍 we walked around Taipei, went sightseeing, few night markets, and tried lots of food. We also went to a traditional tea house to try teas from Taiwan.

We did a day trip to hike Bitoujiao trail. The trail was pretty easy. It was nice and quiet, not many tourists, and scenery was nice of the mountains and ocean even though it was cloudy.

We then went to Jiufen, a town that similarly resembles the movie Spirited Away. We tried lots of food here also.Read more
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Phnom Penh
Mar 14–15, 2024 in Cambodia ⋅ ☀️ 36 °C
The capital city of Cambodia. Busy streets, traffic, and markets. But lovely food and coffee. Visited the S21 museum and killing field. The history of their recent civil war is heartbreaking, but definitely worth learning about and passing along.Read more
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Kampot
Mar 11–14, 2024 in Cambodia ⋅ ⛅ 34 °C
An interesting part of my journey. I stayed at a hostel that was home to 44 rescue dogs. At first, they offered me a hammock to sleep in overnight, but luckily, they had a dorm for me. The dogs were sweet, but it was too hippy vibes for me. Overall, had a nice time in the town.

I did a countryside tour in my own personal tuktuk where they brought me to see farms, a cave, the secret lake, a pepper farm (kampot pepper is apparently famous in Europe), a salt field and the coastal town, Kep, where I checked out the beach and had crab & prawns stir fried with the kampot pepper.Read more
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