One Month, Four Countries: Temples, Mountains, and Seafloors

I can't believe that we were able to travel for an entire month. In each country, Nikki is allowed a month-long "R & R" break, designed to let the beleaguered foreign service officer living in a far-flung location to reconnect with the Western world. Naturally, Nikki and I used this opportunity to better explore a few places on our ever-growing tourism wish list.

First up was the Maldives. Located in the middle of the Indian Ocean, a few hundred miles southwest of India, this series of atolls has gorgeous white sand beaches and excellent diving. We spent a week hanging out in a private hut over the water on Kuredu Island, which can only be accessed via seaplane (an adventure in itself). We kayaked, windsurfed, dove, and gorged ourselves on delicious food. Since the resort was all-inclusive, we had to get our fair share of food and drinks! We took proverbial long walks on the beach, watching baby sharks hunt schools of tiny fish in the shallows, flying foxes swoop down from the trees, and some of the most spectacular sunsets we have ever seen.

Next up was Sri Lanka, an unexpected gem of a travel destination. We spent 10 days exploring the island via hired car. Lionel, our 65+ year old Sri Lankan driver, was a quirky highlight of the trip, driving like a bat out of hell, constantly burping (he only eats wegetables), and sharing his incredible wealth of knowledge. We started out by exploring ancient temples (some 2000 year old) in the central highlands of the country near Kandy, before heading south to climb the sacred mountain of Adam's Peak – an ascent that starts at 3:00 AM if you want to catch the sunrise. We then drove through hundreds of acres of tea plantations to reach Nuwara Eliya, a British style colonial town, and took another early morning hike through the biological hotspot of Horton's Plain to World's End, where you can gaze out at the stunning landscape 800m below. We stopped off at the cute town of Ella for lunch  on our way out of the highlands, and spent two days exploring Yala National Park, where we saw land monitors, elephants, jackals, wild boar, and (with a stroke of incredible luck) a leopard! Finally, we explored the picturesque beaches of the south coast, where I was able to squeeze in a little surfing and we released cute baby green turtles as part of a conservation project, while staying outside the Dutch colonial city of Galle.

We have always wanted to visit the ancient Buddhist monument of Borobudur, so we flew to the island of Java in Indonesia next and stayed in the bustling, culturally-rich town of Yogyakarta. The city itself was a bit overwhelming – so many vendors trying to sell you batik – but was a good jumping off point to see nearby temples. By now we were used to the sunrise routine, joining a handful of tourists to arrive at Borobudur before dawn. The monument is massive and older than Angkor Wat, with thousands of engraved panels. Several other temples in the area were similarly impressive, including the Hindu masterpiece of Prambanan, where we returned in the evening to see a 2 hour, well done dance performance of the epic Ramayana. The active volcano or Merapi looms over the city, so we rented a scooter one day and drove up into the countryside for a closer look. We didn't climb to the top (it had a devastating eruption only a year ago), but we did visit an interesting volcano museum.

For the last leg of our trip, we returned to Malaysian Borneo, this time to the state of Sabah. After a quick visit to the sprawling night market in Kota Kinabalu (so much mouth-watering seafood barbequing!), we got to bed early in preparation for our hike to the top of Mount Kinabalu. Although only 13,500-odd feet, it's the tallest mountain in southeast asia, and the ascent would take us two days. We spent the night in a cabin half-way up (taking in yet another breath-taking sunset) and started the final ascent at 2:45 AM in order to reach the top of the granite peak before sunrise. We descended the sheer face of the mountain on the way down via a system of cables and fixed pegs called the "via ferrata." The view was of course stunning, and we were exhausted by the time we reached our lunch spot half way down the mountain (and we still had 3 hours of hiking in the rain to go!).

We ended the trip as we started it – diving in tropical waters. Sipadan is world-renown for scuba-diving for good reason. We swam through huge schools of jacks, barracuda, and the funny buck-toothed bumphead parrotfish, in addition to tons of turtles and sharks. We stayed at a dive resort on the island of Mabul, where we saw at least 15 new species of nudibranchs, as well as color-changing cuddlefish, and diverse crustaceans while "muck-diving." Definitely some of the best diving of our lives.

After a month away, it's nice to be back in our comfortable apartment in Ho Chi Minh City. We are expecting a few visitors this spring (great to see Che, as well as Abbie and Katie already!), and looking forward to showing our friends around. We only have 6 months left here, so will have to fit in a few more trips before we leave!