Machu Picchu is located 73 miles northwest of Cusco by train. It is 2,453 meters above sea level.

It was nice not having to wake up to street noises.

Our taxi driver from the bus terminal was going to charge us 15s (~$5) and we were ok with that price since we had no idea of getting to our hostel.

At the bus terminal, we were helped and shown where to go and where to drop our bags off.

 Woke up and packed so we’d be checked out of our hostel by 11am.

We didn’t really go out and explore. We mostly slept in and planned/booked our passages to Machu Picchu.

This Peru trip has been talked about by Lu, Katriz and I for quite some time. We’ve all talked about wanting to go to South America and showing them how to backpack around a country.

I booked my train tix 2 doors down from my hostel because when I was at Gambir station I had gotten on the wrong long line and I just couldn’t be bothered to go to the next building and stand in that long line. So Lena and I parted ways. She was heading to the mall for a Capoeira class and I needed to shower and pack. Upon exiting the station, the taxi drivers descend upon you (because its Asia and that’s what they do) and I end up taking a motorbike for 30,000 ($3). In my mind taking a motorbike was the smart thing to do because it was rush hour and Indonesian traffic is just notoriously ridiculous. However, it is freakishly scary when your driver is weaving in and out and between cars, tuk tuks and other motor bikes. I’m surprised I didn’t get scratched or burned considering how close we got to the other vehicles. Yes it was frightening. No I prolly wouldn’t do it again. So got back to my hostel, went and bought my ticket for the next day. It cost 380,000 ($23) for the executive class. The cheaper trains left either at 6am or 12pm. So I didn’t really have much of a choice. I didn’t want to wake up that early and I didn’t want to get to Yogya too late. The train ride is 8hrs long.

That morning I had to exchange my ticket for an actual ticket and of course none of it is in English. But everyone was super nice and directed me to the right platform and car number. I ended up sitting next to this super nice lady who kept wanting to talk to me in Indonesian. We gave up trying to communicate with words and instead communicated with food. I had some seaweed chips (sounds gross but is really good) and she had different types of crackers and a chocolate bar. She didn’t want any of my chips and she kept handing me different crackers. I tried to politely refuse but she sorta just laid it on my lap so I had no other choice. We basically devoured our chips, crackers and chocolate bar.

It was 9am when the train left the station and they were playing Step It Up All In. I watched it in and out of my nap. The sound was on low and there was Indonesian subs so I couldn’t be bothered to pay any attention. It looked lame anyways. After that movie ended, they played a plethora of what I’m guessing to be popular Indonesian music and some random western songs that ranged from One Direction to Linkin Park to Coldplay.

They sold food and drinks on the train but I didn’t order any because I was full from breakfast and from the snacks my neighbor gave me. Plus I used the toilet once and I don’t want to have to use it again. Let’s just say I’d rather hold it in. haha

At noon we stopped at the 1st out of 4 stations. We were stopped for a while because they were fixing something with the mechanics or something along those lines. 30mins later we were back on the tracks and watching the countryside pass by. That and they started playing Step Up All In again…

Once I got off the train I immediately tried looking for a taxi to take me to my hostel. Since I couldn't find any, I decided to ask the first security guard I saw. Turns out he was just getting off work and offered to drive me. I know what you're thinking... Haven't you seen Taken? Yes, I have. And if the situation had been different, I would've refused the offer but I felt fairly safe. So he dropped me off at my hostel and that was that. Not a bad way to start off at a new city. I like Yogyakarta much better than Jakarta already!

Take 1: A group (Joel, Pieter, Christiaan, Philip, Josh and I) of us decided to do the Circle Line which is a train that goes around Yangon.

On one of the days in Bagan, our group (Christy, Dave, Bastian, Will, Mike and I) decided to do a half day trip to Mount Popa.

We didn't have any plans for the day so Reece and I decided to check out the wall climbing around the corner from our hostel. It was pretty cool looking. We were just going to go look but we got excited and decided to actually do it. We went back to the hostel, I changed and Reece got his shoes and chalk. We got there 2 hours before the closed so we didn't get to climb as much but it was enough for me. It cost 430 Nepalese Rupee which is less than $5. I had to rent shoes and they were around 150 NPR.

Woke up at 4:30am to get ready to go see the sunrise along the Himalayan mountains at Nagarot.

This was the first stop we made on our city tour of Kathmandu.

Paul, Michael, Yorick and I were completely quiet the moment we saw all the pyres burning.

This is the largest stupa in Nepal and the holiest Tibetan Buddhist temple outside of Tibet.

March 3 – May 23: I’ll be backpacking throughout South East Asia and Oceania. It’s been exciting and stressful semi-planning it. For those who keep asking I figured I’d write it down to make it a bit easier to understand.

I didn't realize that Thailand had a different Buddha for each day. Technically the same Buddha. These photos are from Wat Chiang Man.

With my not-so-happy experience on my first sleeping bus, I was hesitant to get on another one.

Bamboo Bridge #1

The bamboo bridge was pretty cool to see. We paid 5000kip ($0.61) to walk on it. This bridge is maintained by one family.

Today I did one of the best things I've ever done in my life! Elephant Training! Or technically, being a Mahout for the day or really just feeding, bathing and walking your own elephant with their real Mahout alongside you every step of the way. After hours of careful research, I decided to go with Baan Chang Elephant Park, a non-profit organization. To be fair, they were my 2nd choice. Patara was booked til the end of the month. But I'm so glad I did Baan Chang!! All 43 elephants in Baan Chang were all rescued and they don't make the elephants do shows because they consider it to be abusive (it is).

This was supposed to be one of the more popular temples but I didn’t see what made it so.

I did this tour of Chiang Rai because I wanted to see the White Temple. It was only supposed to be the White Temple, some hot spring and visitng a Karen Village.

Part of the Chiang Rai tour stopped at a hill tribe village. Monika, Liza, Suk and I paid the extra 200bhat ($6) to see the village. The Karen people are a group of people primarily from the south of Myanmar (Burma).

This ATV venture was kind of an accident. Adi sorta got me to sign up with her. And I’m super glad I did.

This temple is supposed to be one of the popular ones so of course there were tons of people there.

I came upon this temple by accident during one of the many times I got lost and was just walking around.

The Sunday night market in Chiang Mai was beyond massive! I’m not a fan of places with lots of people mainly because I’m short and I feel like I’m going to get lost or taken. Ha!