I’m Marijs and this is my blog Rooftop Antics. My blog is about showing you how much fun traveling out-of-the-box is and sharing all my best travel hacks. I left the fashion industry with a 1-way ticket to India and haven't looked back since.
it’s time for most visitors main attraction: Bali. Read on to find my ideal Bali Itinerary for 10 days. Why only 10 days? Well, because I want to encourage you to visit the other islands such as Java, Lombok, and Flores as well!
When people visit Indonesia, you will find that the majority will have been to Bali. The beauty of this amazing country, however, is more than just Bali. It can be found in the difference of the variety of islands. Meaning that you should to extend your trip beyond the well-known and well travelled island of Bali and head to, among others, Flores, my favorite island in Indonesia. Anybody and everybody that has asked me for travel advice on Indonesia, or South East Asia for that matter, has heard one word, Flores. I spent little over a week on this volcanic, friendly and internet-challenged island with its human eating Komodo dragons and the best dive sites and completely fell in love.
My travels through Indonesia started in the city of Surabaya (about halfway through the island of Java). Coming from Vietnam this time around, I skipped…
I’m writing this blogpost from the airplane that will bring me to Bangkok. The capital of Thailand, the first place I ever saw in Asia (or outside Europe for that matter) and the start of my South-East Asian trip back in January. I’m writing this post on the third time I take this journey and I am writing this because I’m flying solo (again). The question I get asked the most about traveling by yourself is, “Doesn’t it get lonely?”. To answer this question I would have to say yes and no…
While going for Thai food yesterday, my friends and I were reminiscing on what we miss in Asia. The organized chaos, the diversity, the smiles and most importantly, the street food! I still remember my first visit to a street food market in Thailand like it was yesterday. It is overwhelming and hectic, but is there anything better than sitting down on one of those plastic stools and enjoying this amazing street food that is both delicious and super cheap? I knew immediately this was going to be my next blog post. Especially after seeing this photo this morning of my personal hero Anthony Bourdain and the American president in a little Hanoi street food diner. Hey, if it’s good enough for the president, it’s good enough for you. Not everyone is as excited about street food as I am, it can be quite scary when you arrive in Asia and it seems like everyone is making something on the corner of the street. Which food is safe and isn’t going to sentence you to the loo for most of the evening (food poisoning is violent!). Which food will taste the best? What if all the street stalls are making more of the same? What does it even say on the menu? How do I figure out how much it costs? The best pad thai I’ve had? On a corner in Koh tao. The best and most deliciously soft squid? On a beach in Cambodia. Tom yum goon I will always remember? Next to the road on the motorbike loop of Pakse, Laos. Eating so much we lost ability to walk? Definitely all around Malaysia! There is nothing that breaks my heart more than hearing somebody went to Singapore, where eating is the national hobby, and was afraid to eat in the hawker stalls. Therefore, I wanted to give you my 20 tips for eating street food in Asia without getting sick. I’ve tried and tested all of them and hope they will help you scope out your awesome next meal:
Having traveled in Australia for little over four months, I notice that at times I’m longing back to South East Asia. Don’t get me wrong, I’m absolutely in love with Australia. Even though every country in South East Asia presents itself with its own challenges, life does tend to be very simple which is something that I can really enjoy. In these countries there are little to no worries about how much you are spending, logistics always seem to work out and don’t cost you a fortune and the locals introduce you into a completely different way of living. Sometimes it does seem nice to live in that tiny beach town and teach scuba diving to tourists while you go out almost every night. Although, knowing myself, I would get sick of that pretty soon though.
