I’ve put together a list of some of my favorite places I’ve visited around the world to help you narrow down some possible spots for your next adventure. Whether you are looking for an exotic location filled with souks and color or a small ocean-side escape, you’ll be sure to find what you’re looking for in the following list!
Exploring Bangkok for the First Time

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A Surprise Love Affair with Bangkok
To be totally honest with you, I didn’t think I’d like Bangkok or Thailand in general. I didn’t really have any interest in traveling there prior to this trip and frankly, the only reason we ended up going through Bangkok was because it had the best flight connections for us from India to Cambodia. Due to flight times, we ended up having to spend 2 nights in the Thai city, one en route to Cambodia via India and one at the very end of our trip before we headed home. I’ve never thought that Thailand was a place that I’d connect with and the connotations of it that I knew, I didn’t think would fit my “travel personality” if you will. I pictured a huge dirty city, a tropical culture (due to the amount of beach destinations in the country) and in short, sort of a party city (due to some of the seedy attractions that do indeed reside in Bangkok.) It just didn’t sound like me, it just didn’t appeal to me in the ways that other cities I’ve wanted to visit did.
And let me be brutally honest again, I could not have been more wrong. Bangkok turned out to be one of my favorite stops on our trip, a city that the more we explored, the more I loved. From its gorgeous temples, to river taxis and tuk tuks, from the bright pink taxis and the friendliest people, from the clean city streets to the exotic markets selling everything you could ever want, Bangkok was nothing of what I expected but turned out to be everything I loved. I was blown away by the smiling locals, the taxi drivers who spoke no English but carried on full conversations with us in Thai and smiling and laughing along the way like we had understood it all, throwing in a few English words here and there like “traffic” and “almost there” and trying in desperation to pronounce our hotel’s name: “Met-ro-pol-i-tan.” I was moved by the grand temples and exotic palaces, taking in their grandeur as a breeze blew off the River and created such a pleasant climate. I was amazed at the bounty of helpful people that would approach just to help us if we looked lost, not looking for anything in return, with the masses of monks roaming the streets in their orange robes, looking through the markets and talking on their cell phones. I was blown away at how much I loved the city, a city that I had no intention of loving.
I guess in that, there is a lesson, that often times the places that we think the least of will come to win us over more than we ever had expected in the end. It’s those places that often we end up loving the most in this world because they blew all our expectations out of the water, creating for us a new reality in which our first impressions were totally and completely wrong and what’s left in its wake, is a new found love affair with a city you adore.
Bangkok will for sure be a place we’ll return to in the future. The few hours we had to explore the Thai city were just not nearly enough and as we roamed the streets on foot, sped through tiny side roads in the back of a tuk tuk, and enjoyed the clean and efficient tram system, Nick and I kept saying to each other how much we want to come back and explore more of the city and more of Thailand as well. Bangkok for me started an affection in me for Thailand, something that I think will only leaving me wanting more of this beautiful country until the day we return.
Traveling to Thailand?
See all of my posts on the country!
Exploring Siem Reap : Angkor Thom and Pub Street

Pub Street
Siem Reap, Cambodia
On our second day exploring Siem Reap, after a very early start to the day to see the sunrise at Angkor Wat, we spent the rest of the afternoon at our hotel, resting and cooling down. About 3 in the afternoon, we headed back out, grabbed a tuk tuk and drove the 25 minutes or so from our hotel to Bayon in the Angkor Thom complex. We spent time wandering around there for a bit, then hired another tuk tuk for $4 to take us the kilometer journey down a very bumpy path into the jungle toward Angkor Thom’s lesser known East Gate. Also a scene location from Tomb Raider, Nick had really wanted to check it out. It was one of my favorite parts of our time in Cambodia, as we stood in the middle of the jungle, just us and our tuk tuk driver, monkeys roaming around and the beautiful old East Gate with its stone face staring down at us. It was one of those moments when you are almost catapulted back in time, imagining what this must have been like all those years ago with the sounds of the jungle echoing around us.
After another very bumpy tuk tuk ride back to Bayon, the sun was falling and we enjoyed the golden hour wandering around a very empty Bayon, which ended up being our very favorite temple of the ones we saw. The faces, the tall towers, it was beyond incredible.
Finally as the sun set, we met our original tuk tuk driver (who had gone and come back to get us) and had him take us to Pub Street in Siem Reap. We enjoyed the flood of a breeze in the back of the tuk tuk after a very humid and hot day and eventually ended up at a street cafe on Pub Street, ordered Cambodian BBQ, spring rolls and coconut milkshakes and had a leisurely last dinner in Cambodia. This meal was one of the best meals I’ve ever had while traveling and I find myself craving it daily since we’ve gotten home. We took in the scene around us, watching the people, enjoying delicious food and talking about our trip. It was such a perfect last evening in Cambodia and we ended on a much higher note than our time there began.
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Traveling to Cambodia? See all of my posts on the country! |
Exploring Siem Reap : Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm
Looking back at our time in Cambodia and as I am writing these recaps, I have a hard time describing my feelings on our time there. On one hand the temples were amazing and totally worth seeing and experiencing, the food was some of our best on the whole trip and we had some very lovely and memorable experiences while there. On the other hand, the heat and humidity really got to me and made it so unbearable at times that it was hard to focus on the positives, our hotel was somewhat problematic (which I’ll touch on in the hotel review when I get to it) and I was also sick at that point in our trip, which didn’t make things any easier. In all honesty, we did really like Cambodia the longer we were there, though I’m not sure it’s a place I’d go back to in the near future, which totally threw me for a loop, because after hearing so many amazing things about it, I thought I’d love it. And maybe that was the issue, maybe my expectations were too high and maybe the combination of that and all of the things mentioned above just got the better of me. I’m still not quite sure how I felt about Cambodia and I think it will take me a while longer to work out exactly how I feel about the country and our time there. Exploring the area of Siem Reap though was really a unique experience, especially seeing the most popular ruins at Angkor Wat and Ta Prohm.
Our last full day in Siem Reap started early at 4 in the morning as we left the hotel to make our way to Angkor Wat to get a place to watch the sunset. This was something Nick had really wanted to do to get a photo of the famous sunrise, and after 2.5 hours of sitting in the dirt crowded by people on all sides, the sun rose and we were somewhat disappointed with a less than spectacular show. Honestly, though, it was interesting to experience, I would recommend going to one of the other temples to see the sun rise, the crowd at Angkor was somewhat overwhelming and I got really claustrophobic toward the end as I was in the very front, with the water at my feet and there was literally about 10 rows of people behind me all crowded in. I finally got up and went back to where there was more space while Nick finished up. I’d recommend seeing Bayon or Ta Prohm at sunrise, something I wish we would have done.
Anyways, we then wandered around Angkor Wat a little more, then headed over to Ta Prohm. Ta Prohm is famous for many of the scenes in Tomb Raider and is overgrown by trees. I wasn’t expecting it to be as big as it was, which kind of threw me off and there is a lot of construction going on there currently to restore it, which kind of ruined the “intimate feel” that you envision. However, it was really interesting to see and walk around because it has such a different feel than the other major temples.
By mid morning it was so warm and humid, and we were exhausted from being up so early, that we retreated back to our hotel, had breakfast and then spent a few hours in our room, just cooling off and resting for a while in the air conditioning.
Another tip if you’re planning on visiting Angkor Wat, we hired a guide for the sunrise visit thinking that he might have some special places to show us and instead, he wasn’t really any help for us that we couldn’t do ourselves and we felt like it was a waste of money in the end. I would recommend just taking in the temples by yourselves and exploring on your own, which we ended up doing later this day (post coming tomorrow) at Bayon and really enjoyed it so much more.
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Traveling to Cambodia? See all of my posts on the country! |
A Few Hours in Bangkok before Arriving in Siem Reap
Getting back into our day by day trip posts as we made our way from India to SE Asia, we spent most of day 5 of the trip traveling. We started early that day in Udaipur flying on Jet Airways (which was great & I would highly recommend it) to Delhi. After a few hours in Delhi, we boarded our flight to Bangkok. It was a quick 4 hour flight and before we knew it, we were on the ground in Thailand speeding along in the back of a taxi at 7 o’clock at night headed toward the lovely Metropolitan hotel on Sathorn Road.
We arrived at the beautiful hotel, grabbed dinner in their restaurant Nahm (where I indulged in the local favorite of mango and sticky rice) and then headed straight to bed after a long travel day. We woke up early the next morning to head back to the airport to fly Air Asia (would totally recommend as well for a budget airline through Asia) to Siem Reap, Cambodia.
Upon arrival in Siem Reap, our hotel picked us up in a vintage range rover and drove us the 20 minute or so to the hotel. We got to see a great deal of the country on the drive in and a glimpse of the famed Angkor Wat as we drove around it. We arrived at the hotel and because our room wasn’t quite ready yet, we sat down in the restaurant and had a lovely (though expensive, by Cambodian standards) meal of spring rolls, fried rice and noodles. After lunch we checked into our room and rested a while. (I have more to say about this hotel on a few things, not my favorite, though I’ll save that for my hotel review.)
We spent the afternoon unpacking, getting adjusted to the tremendous heat and humidity which we hadn’t had in India or Bangkok and planning our evening ahead. We headed out around 4pm, grabbed a tuk tuk and headed to the ticket center for Angkor Wat to buy our day passes for the following day, which also allows you inside the temples after 5pm the night you buy them for sunset. We grabbed tickets ($20 per person for a 1 day pass + sunset for anyone anticipating going) and jumped back in our tuk tuk and sped off down the road for Angkor.
One of the nice things about the tuk tuks in Cambodia is that when they give you a price for their services, they mean that they’ll stay with you for as long as you need. For example, when we went to the ticket booth, the driver told us $10 which we immediately knew was way too much for the short drive to the temples. But he meant, and explained to us, that $10 would be to take us to the temples, wait until 6pm when they closed and then take us in to Siem Reap to the Night Market and Pub Street, then finally back to the hotel. For a good 4+ hours with us, $10 seemed like a decent amount to us and we agreed. It’s actually kind of nice, not having to wave down a new driver, you just go back to your spot and find your guy. Most of the time he’ll be watching for you anyway and come running and waving his arms when he sees you.
We spent our first night in Cambodia wandering around Angkor Wat at sunset, taking in the falling shadows, the golden light and many areas within the temple where Nick and I were the only people around. It was amazing to me to see how you can climb around inside the temples, walk on the stones and how close you’re allowed to get to the temples. They have stood for so many years and it was a very interesting sight to see them, to experience this place that has such a rich history.
When the sun was setting and 6pm was nearing, we made our way back out the entrance, over the water and found our driver, who then drove us the 15 minutes or so into Siem Reap and dropped us at the Night Market. We wandered around for a while, bought gifts for family back home and a few things for us, haggling as we went. Then we headed across the street at the opening of Pub Street and had Cambodian street noodles at a little cafe on the corner. For 2 plates of delicious street noodles and 2 sodas, I think we paid something like $5. The prices were amazing in Cambodia, everything was low (except food at the hotel.)
We drove back to our hotel in the back of the tuk tuk that night, the night breeze blowing through us, lifting the humidity and watched as the lights of Siem Reap sped by us and off to sleep after our first day in Cambodia, ready to wake up for the sunrise over Angkor the following morning.
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What to Wear Traveling in India

When planning our trip to India, I knew that we’d be going to a lot of different places and exploring a lot of temples, so it was key to have comfortable clothing and shoes, especially since India can get hot. We visited in the Spring so the temperatures were mild but layers were important as mornings and evenings could be chilly while the day could get warm. Most of our time in India, I wore maxi dresses which were the perfect way to layer but also match the vibrancy of the amazing locations around.
Outfit Details:
Old Navy Maxi dress (sold out) | J Crew linen scarf (similar) | Gladiator Sandals (similar)
Outfit Details:
Forever 21 Maxi Dress (similar) | Light Pink Jacket (similar) | Tan Flats (similar)
Ralph Lauren Orange Cross Body Purse (similar) | Scarf (similar)| Lumix Camera
Outfit Details:
Madewell Tee Shirt | Old Navy maxi skirt (similar) | Linen Scarf (similar) | Old Jean Jacket (similar) | Lumix Camera
Outfit Details:
Old Navy Maxi dress (sold out) | J Crew linen scarf (similar)| Tan Flats (similar)
Old Jean Jacket (similar)| Dooney and Bourke Cross Body Purse| Lumix Camera
Traveling to India?
See all of my posts on the country here!
Favorite Moments : SE Asia
I wanted to reflect on some of our favorite moments there first. For me, reflecting back on the things that meant the most to me through our travels is a way to hold on to what I learned from each place and how each location affected me, both physically and emotionally.
Our recent trip through SE Asia included many moments that I’ll always remember, moments of frustration, moments of language barriers and moments of misunderstanding, but among them as well were moments of pure magic, moments of awe and moments that truly define what that part of the world is about. Throughout our time in Thailand and Cambodia, I learned many lessons, took in many incredible sights and spent many moments taking it all in, embracing what those places are about and what they represent, letting it all sink in and enjoying the moments as they came.
In Siem Reap, Cambodia we visited all the major temples of Angkor Wat and the surrounding area, but my favorite and the most awe-inspiring of all of them for me was our sunset visit to Bayon in the Angkor Thom complex. Nick and I wandered around as the golden light fell in shadows within the temple ruins, casting an incredible light as we wandered through, in many places the only people, seeming to have the ruins all to ourselves. It was not only our favorite of the temples but an evening when the ruins seemed to come alive under the golden twilight, and as I sat there within the ruins as Nick finished taking photos, I couldn’t help but think back to all those that used this place so many years ago, never knowing then that they would be in such ruins now. It’s times like those when I feel so finite, like we never know what might come ahead and that each day should be lived to the fullest, taking in our world because it’s important to know what we’ll leave behind someday.
One of the places Nick really wanted to visit was the East Gate of Ankor Thom, an old and falling apart gate out in the jungle about 1 kilometer from the actual temple of Bayon. The gate, most famous for it’s scene in Tomb Raider, is not that easy to get to and is not a normal tourist spot. We hired a tuk tuk driver to take us the kilometer down a very bumpy dirt road (barely a path to follow) through the Cambodian jungle complete with monkeys all over, some with their babies clinging to their bellies as they ran along side us. The 15 minute drive to the gate was an experience in itself on this deserted road, in the middle of the jungle.
The gate itself, it was well worth the process of getting there. Totally empty except for us and our tuk tuk driver, we stood in the middle of the jungle, taking in the falling apart and decaying East Gate of Ankor Thom, once a glorious monument, now with stones lying around it as they have fallen over the years. The stone face that adorned the top seemed to still smile down upon us as the sun began to fall and the sounds of the jungle were our soundtrack to the excursion. It’s moments alone with monuments like this, in the middle of the wilds of our world that make me truly in awe of this world and of the civilizations that have come before us.
Our last night in Siem Reap, we went into town and had dinner on the famous Pub Street at the city center. We wanted to try the local favorite Cambodian BBQ and settled into a cafe with a table outside near the street. We watched the people go by, took in the scene and enjoyed one of the most delicious meals I’ve ever had traveling. We enjoyed the delicious Cambodian BBQ which included barbecued chicken along with a delicious soup of noodles and vegetables cooked around the roasting meet. We paired that with incredible fried spring rolls, white rice and the most delicious coconut milkshake I’ve ever tasted. It was a meal we’ll never forget, as we enjoyed the incredible food and took in the scene around us.
On our way home at the end of our trip, we made a stop over in Bangkok and had about 5 hours to go out and explore (which ended up not being nearly enough, as we fell in love with the city). We headed straight for the area with the Grand Palace and Wat Arun, taking the water taxi up the river heading there. We took it because it was Friday evening and traffic around the city was terrible and it seemed to be the fastest route, but the experience we got surpassed what we thought. We loved riding up the river, taking in the city all around us, feeling the breeze off the water to cut through the humidity. The temples that dot the river made for a scenic ride and it made our journey through Bangkok even more memorable.
In our final hours in Bangkok, we spent the evening in a park on the River across from Wat Arun (known as the Temple of the Dawn and a famous spot in Bangkok), taking in the twilight hours, followed by the sun setting and creating a painting of color across the sky. As the hours passed by, I sat on a bench a few feet from the river, with a Thai iced tea in my hand and taking it all in, watching as the night began to appear and the lights lit up the surrounding river banks. Finally, Wat Arun lit up, glowing against the deep navy sky and illuminating everything around it. It was a magical moment, sitting there, watching Bangkok go by around us, water taxis buzzing, people coming and going on their Friday night, and we sat there for hours, just taking in a city that we really fell in love with. It was one of those evenings that seems to fly by in the span of minutes instead of hours and it’s an evening I’ll never forget, a wonderful to end our magical trip in Asia.
Exploring Udaipur at the Oberoi Udaivilas
Our fourth and final day in Udaipur, India was filled with relaxing walks around the grounds of the incredibly gorgeous Oberoi Udaivilas where we were staying, spending time by the pool, delicious Indian cuisine and an elephant ride on a 50 year old elephant.
After arriving at the fantastic Udaivilas, we knew we wanted to spend some time just relaxing at the hotel and taking in the incredible scenery on the hotel grounds. We knew we’d have a few hectic days ahead traveling to Cambodia and Thailand, so we took the time to relax and unwind on our final day in India.
Nick woke up early and went for a sunrise walk around the grounds and I’m so glad he did, the photos he got are truly stunning and some of my favorites of the trip. I stayed in our cozy 4 poster bed and woke up when the sun was coming up and spent my morning in bed with tea and a view out to our pool and patio, with Lake Pichola shimmering in the background. Our time in Udaipur was full of moments like that, pure peace.
We spent the rest of the morning exploring the hotels grounds (which are huge) and I know we’ll be back to this incredible hotel many times in our lives, it’s just simply stunning in every possible way. I felt so much peace during our time there, it was really difficult to leave it, not knowing when we’d be back.
We enjoyed lunch in our room, relaxing and taking time by our private pool, watching the boats on Lake Pichola and the City Palace in the distance. We took in the peacocks, spotted deer and birds in the wilderness sanctuary behind the hotel and breathed in the gorgeous landscape, committing it to memory. After lunch we changed and headed out front of the hotel for our elephant ride. I knew before going to India that one thing I wanted to do there was meet and ride an elephant. My dream came true in the form of a 50 year old elephant, painted for a wedding it was going to later. He meandered down the grounds of the hotels and it was an experience I’ll never forget.
We spent the rest of the evening in our room, taking every last minute to soak up this amazing experience in India, not ready to leave beautiful Udaipur and talking about how we’ll most definitely be back. We watched our last Indian sunset as it dropped below the horizon and tried to get ourselves ready for the next stops on our trip.
There are very few places in my travels that have spoken to me on such a deep level as the “Venice of the East” as Udaipur is known, speaking to the many lakes that the city is built on. Romantic, peaceful, lush, sparkling, historic, spiritual… these are just a few of the adjectives I can think of to describe this place that touched me so deeply. In the years I have traveled, I’ve seen many places, experienced cultures on 4 continents and countless countries, yet only a handful of places stand out in my mind as some of the places that I hold close in my heart, Udaipur is now one of them.
I cannot say enough how much this city captured me, how much it brought to life all the things I love about India, all the colors, all the landscapes, all the markets, all the palaces, all the architecture. I cannot say enough to how much peace came over me here, a peace I have never felt anywhere else while traveling. Udaipur will forever be a place in our hearts and a place we’ll meet again someday.
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Traveling to India?
See all of my posts on the country!
Exploring around Udaipur
After a few hours in transit on day 2 of our trip in India, we arrived in beautiful Rajasthan. Our 45 minute drive into Udaipur from the airport provided some gorgeous views of the landscape of the area, crowned with mountains and adorned with lakes. Udaipur ended up being one of the most beautiful landscapes I’ve seen in all my travels. We fell in love with it immediately and I know we’ll be back many times in our lives.
Our driver from the hotel that picked us up from the airport drove us through the town, weaving us along roads beside beautiful blue lakes and finally stopping at a dock on Lake Pichola. He told us that the hotel wanted to show us something special on our way in and was going to take us to the hotel via boat. We left our luggage with him to drive to the hotel and hopped in a boat to be whisked over Lake Pichola as the sun set, taking in the mountains surrounding us, the City Palace shining on the shore and eventually arriving at the incredibly stunning Oberoi Udaivilas.
Upon arrival at the hotel, we didn’t think our trip could get any better, but oh how we were wrong. We were met at the hotel’s dock, walked up through the insanely beautiful grounds of the hotel and then as we walked into the hotel, rose petals fell over our heads (this is how they greet every guest), proceeded by walking into a gorgeous lobby and a quick tour of the hotel. We were shown to our room and while I had high expectations for this hotel beforehand, I was in no way ready for how much I would fall in love with it. Our upgraded room was complete with a gorgeous 4 poster bed, a giant bathroom with a claw foot tub and marble flooring. Our private patio, complete with 2 lounge chairs, an umbrella and a beautiful marble table was nothing compared to the immaculate semi-private infinity pool that flowed just outside our room.
We spent our first night in Udaipur in awe of our surroundings, of the beautiful landscape around us, sitting on the edge of our pool overlooking Lake Pichola, the City Palace and a wildlife sanctuary behind the hotel, watching the sun set and feeling like life couldn’t get a whole lot better than that.
The following morning, we slept in, enjoyed a delicious breakfast and then headed into town to explore. We fell even more in love with the town of Udaipur, full of shops selling sari’s, elephants carved from wood and silver. We meandered through the tiny streets, winding ourselves through the city toward the magnificent City Palace on the shores of Lake Pichola. We explored the thousands of rooms in the palace for most of the day, did a little shopping in town and then jumped in a tuk tuk to take us back to our hotel, speeding through the tiny streets in the back of the rickshaw with Hindi music blaring. It was one of those moments that makes you feel so connected to the country you’re in, that moment when you see it through new eyes, taking it all in. After we returned to the hotel, we spent the evening by our pool, taking in the stunning landscape and relaxing a bit after a hectic first few days.
I’ve had a lot of “awe” moments in my life, but not many of them have come close to our time in Udaipur. This magical place created a spot in my heart, it’s a place that I connected with, a place where I felt peace unlike anywhere else I’ve ever been in my life, a place that I’ll always remember and count the days until my return.
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