I got 3 vaccines: Typhoid, Yellow Fever and a Tetnus Booster. Total price, more than $400. That pricetag hurt more than any of the shots!

When we got to Korea, we priced some vaccines and found them about half the price of the same ones in the U.S.

Better still, we waited until we got to the Kingdom of Low Prices – India. While waiting for our flight out of Delhi, we stopped by a clinic and priced vaccines again… and found a winner. I got 7 vaccines, (Lifetime Hep. A, Hep B, Meningitis, Rabies, Typhoid, Polio and TB) all for a total of $115. Griffin had several shots as well and we both drank lots of fluids and rested for a few days.

We had to get second and third doses of Hep. B and Rabies, for which we had to do some searching in other parts of the world. We found Hep. B for $15 in Indonesia (As long as you’re away from the touristy areas in or around Bali) and the 3rd dose of Hep B. in Spain for 5 Euros.

Unfortunately, we never priced a 2nd dose of Rabies for less than $100, which didn’t seem worth it after the $7 initial dose, so we just called that one off.

The bottom line is, if your home country is over-pricing their travel vaccines, a little research could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars. If you don’t get your travel vaccines at home, it’s more than okay to leave home without them, as long as your DO get them.

After debating a while on whether or not to go to Thailand after an exhausting trip through India, we decided to give Indonesia a try, as we had previously visited Thailand on our honeymoon.

We did some research and found that you can rent houses in Bali, world renowned for surfing and beach life, for only a couple hundred dollars. We booked into a little hotel for a few nights to relax and find a place to spend a few weeks.

We arrived in Bali on November 23rd, which was pretty much perfect. Although a lot cooler temperature-wise than the burning sun of India, we weren’t complaining of feeling the Summer heat while our friends and family back home in the states were bundling up for Winter.

We quickly worked out a housing deal with Bernard, a seasonal worker in Bali, to rent his house for the next several weeks. Because Bernard’s place came with high speed internet and several other perks, it was a bit more expensive at right about $430 for just under a month. It was just what we needed to get away from the chaos of the surfer laden Kuta area, but still have internet access to fit Griffin’s growing freelance design business.

The house was two bedrooms and situated near the beach, although the walk down proved to be a larger task than we thought. It also had a full kitchen and pretty large bathroom. Strangely, the kitchen and bathroom were separate from the bedrooms. We’re still a little unsure of the architectural design there. Perhaps the best part: it came with a daily maid! Every day the sweetest lady would come and make the beds, sweep, dust, wash dishes, clean the bathroom, change the sheets or whatever else she noticed. It was awesome.

Meanwhile in Bali we took in the sights and even tried our hand at surfing. Griffin, who had been surfing before, got it straight away, while I had to work a little longer. I’m not saying we’re professional or anything, but… yeah. Throughout the month we had lots of opportunities to play in the water, walk on the beach, try out cool restaurants and just relax.

Finally toward the end of our trip we headed out of the island of Bali and ventured North to Java to check out attractions there.

We were a little disappointed because the famous Ijen Volcano, known for it’s sulfur mines and huge crater lake, was not open to visitors due to an eruption only a few days before we arrived. So, we carried on to our next volcanic destination, Mr. Bromo.

Mt. Bromo is known for it’s volcano inside a volcano structure and for it’s ash cloud eruptions that happen about every half hour or so. The volcano has spread ash over the nearby region of Cemoro Lewang at least a few times over the past decade or so.

We checked out Mt. Bromo at sunrise which was a beautiful and awe-inspiring site. To get there, we just booked a jeep ride at one of the mountain side homestays that took us most of the way up to the view point. From there, some stair climbing was a good way to get some warmth as it was pretty chilly in that higher altitude at 4:30am. We watched the sun come up over the beautiful landscape and stayed a little longer to see the ash clouds erupting from the mountain. Then back down to our hostel for a nap!

From Mt. Bromo we headed to Yogyakarta to visit Borobudur Temple. This magnificent architectural wonder is one the most spectacular buddhist temples in the world and probably the coolest one we’ve seen. It dates back to the 8th or 9th century. The bell shaped stupas each house a buddha statue inside. Again, we were up early for a sunrise tour of the World Heritage site. It did not disappoint. As much as I hate waking up before daylight, it’s always worth it to see such beauty.

Yogyakarta also boasts another World Heritage Site, the Prambanan Temples, which are Hindu temples first built around 850 and rediscovered in the early 1800’s. It reminded us a bit of Angkor Wat, a site we got to see while visiting Cambodia on our honeymoon.

During our month long stay in Indonesia, we relaxed, saw some awesome sites and made some new friend. We even got to attend a wedding there, which was definitely a highlight of the trip.

After so much time in Asia, we decided to check out a new part of the world and booked a quick flight to Cairns, Australia. Check back soon to hear about our tour of Eastern Australia.

Big thanks to One Source Network for providing us with the Velbon UT 43D tripod as many of the shots in the post would not have been possible without it.

While living in Bali for a month, I was exploring some of the nearby area one night and came upon some sort of ceremony at one of the nearby temples. Curious to see what was going on, but not wanting to intrude or offend, I hung around near the entrance for a bit and listened and watched as the ceremony progressed. I exchanged smiles with the people going in and out and even tried to ask a few of them what was going on, but most spoke very little English, so I just enjoyed the atmosphere and continued to observe.

Not much time had passed when a very friendly man came and spoke good English and invited me to come in and watch. Up until this point there had been a lot of praying and ceremonious worship going on, so I was a little hesitant and offered that I was not Hindu, but he said that the prayer part was ending and now it was time for a show of some sort, the name of which I cannot remember. He welcomed me into the temple area and introduced me to some of the people there. As it turned out, everyone there was related in one way or another and this was their biannual family gathering. The kind man had to leave to go to his home a good ways away and so introduced me to his cousin Kadek.

Kadek welcomed me just as kindly and, after giving me one of his traditional dresses so I could enter the temple area, even offered to take me in and show me the inside of his family’s temple. We had visited a few temples in Indonesia at this point and I knew that non-Hindus were not supposed to be in the temples, so I politely refused, but was very humbled and touched to have been asked.
The ceremony commenced and was quite a sight to behold as different family members who had been secretly selected came out in full costumes dressed like some of the Balinese gods and demons. They shared stories, told jokes and overall made sure everyone was having a great time. They even made some jokes about me as I was the only white person and maybe wasn’t sitting quite right with my dress spread open or something. It was all in Balinese, so I am not exactly sure but I heard “American” as they motioned towards my legs and then everyone laughed, all in good humor.

I had to leave the ceremony a little earlier than it ended as Valerie was waiting for me at the house, but made sure to give Kadek my email before going so that we could keep in touch. Before I left, he also introduced me to his sister who also spoke perfect english and was a pleasure to meet.

The next day Kadek emailed me and we conversed back and fourth and set up a time to meet again and shared pictures from the ceremony.

A couple days later Kadek let me know that his sister whom I had met at the ceremony was getting married and wanted to know if Valerie and I could come to the wedding. I told him we would be honored and we asked if we could bring food, presents or anything else, but he said having us there was special for them and no presents or food would be needed. He did ask for us to bring our cameras and help document his sister’s special day and we were more than happy and excited to do so.

About a week later we met Kadek at a local supermarket and he showed us the way to his house. He again lent me some traditional dress as well as a headdress this time and also had a dress for Valerie (which she of course looked stunning in;-).

We arrived in the morning before most of the family were there and got to see the beautiful bride as she got ready for her special day as well as all the preparation for the food and drinks for the reception. The ceremony lasted about five or six hours as the Groom arrived and they were blessed by a priest and then the bride went into one room maybe to get advice and things from the women, while the groom stayed outside and was surrounded by elders who seemed to go around the circle giving him advice, sharing stories and maybe just letting him know about what an important role being a husband is and how he should honor and cherish his wife. After this had finished, most people ate the delicious lunch provided, left some offerings in woven baskets and went home. We stayed around for another hour or so as some more ceremonies took place and got a quick picture with Kadek and his girlfriend Acik before heading home to rest at about 3PM.

After we left, the family and the bride and groom were to drive the two hours to the husband’s house and continue the ceremony there until well after diner time. We also were fascinated to learn that part of the ceremony for becoming a husband in Bali meant that the groom has to have his front tooth filed off just a little presumably so others will know he is taken.

We really enjoyed our time in Bali and a lot of it was because of the friendship of Kadek and his family. Many people have visited Bali before and many will visit after us, but one of the things we love about traveling a little slower and with a lot more flexibility in our schedule is amazing friendships and experiences like this one that cannot be planned for, paid for or booked in a tour package. This is one of the main reasons we enjoy travel so much is because of the opportunities to make new friends, experience new cultures and see things from a different perspective. We hope to visit Bali again in the future and when we do, we will look forward to meeting up with Kadek and Acik again and would be honored to have them as guests in our country as well.

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Photos taken using a Tamron AF 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD LD Aspherical IF Macro Zoom Lens

Travel Photo Of The Week Sponsored By Tamron USA.

For more information about Tamron and the lenses we use, check out our sponsors page here.

As we have traveled around Asia, we have had a lot of fun visiting different temples.  Now you may think it a little strange to have a lot of fun visiting a temple but it is not the temples that were the fun part.  You see at a lot of the temples around Asia have monkeys hanging out at them.  Why?  Well from our understanding, in Hinduism, monkeys are considered holy and even represent or may be gods.

These moneys are very cute, smart, curious and most of all sneaky.  If you have any food, or even just some bright/reflective objects on your person and are not careful the monkeys will take it from you.  Many time we would be feeding one monkey a banana and a greedy monkey who was perhaps his partner-in-crime would come over and steal our entire bag of bananas from right out of our other hand.

Hope you enjoy the monkey postures.  We enjoyed encountering these cute and amazing animals.

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Monkey Forest – Ubud, Indonesia

The Amber Fort – Jaipur, India

Monkey Temple – Kathmandu, Nepal

Batu Caves – Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Photos taken using Tamron SP AF 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical [IF] and Tamron AF 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD LD Aspherical IF Macro Zoom Lens

Travel Photo Of The Week Sponsored By Tamron USA.

For more information about Tamron and the lenses we use, check out our sponsors page here.

Photo taken using Tamron SP AF 10-24mm f/3.5-4.5 Di II LD Aspherical [IF]

On our last day in Bali, I drove the scooter over to Uluwatu Temple on the West Coast of the Bukit Penensula for some final sunset pictures.

I got there just as the light was starting to change and took this shot of the cliffs with the mainland of Bali in the background. If you look closely, you will notice some of Bali’s mountains created from volcanoes on the right side in the distance.

As you can see, the water was just beautiful and you can see right to the bottom until it drops off about 50 feet from the shore. We really enjoyed our time in Bali. The people are kind, the scenery is beautiful and the weather is warm. We even met with a Facebook friend from Australia for the first time and made some Balinesian friends for life and were invited to their wedding. We hope to return to Bali in the future and catch back up.

Travel Photo Of The Week Sponsored By Tamron USA.

For more information about Tamron and the lenses we use, check out our sponsors page here.

Photo taken using Tamron AF 18-270mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD LD Aspherical IF Macro Zoom Lens

We arrived in Bali, Indonesia with the intention to stay for one month in the best house we could find for about $200.

After some searching we quickly learned that if we wanted air conditioning and internet we would need to raise our budget. After a couple days of searching we had found three really good options and finally made a decision on one house that was a little more than we wanted to spend, but had everything we wanted plus a daily maid! The house was out in the countryside about 30 minutes from the main tourist area of Kuta, which we liked, and about 5 minutes from the coast. We paid $435 to the owner, who was leaving the next day to teach Paragliding in Nepal, and moved our things in. After a couple nights of settling in and exploring the nearby area we came to this cliffside beach just around sunset. The tide was so low that the outer sandbar was taking all the impact of the waves and the surface nearest to us was as smooth as glass. I zoomed my lens all the way in and captured this sunset scene. I am so thankful and blessed to be able to witness such beautiful and amazing sights like this.

The things you can see sticking up are posts that the local villagers tie ropes to in order to collect seaweed for eating and selling. There are many shacks right along the beach at the base of the cliffs on this side of the island where the local people seem to be living the same way they have been for centuries and taking what the sea provides for their health and sustenance.

P.S. If you click on the image, you can see a similar picture taken at the same time and location. Hope you enjoy!

Travel Photo Of The Week Sponsored By Tamron USA.

For more information about Tamron and the lenses we use, check out our sponsors page here.