Snazzy Snaps & Travel Tales
Welcome to my travel blog! I've visited 30 countries (kickstarted by Remote Year) and 38 U.S. States. Click SUBSCRIBE to receive an email when a new post is published.
Asia Travel Day and Doha
Our last big travel day for Remote Year was a >2 day, epic-long, exhausting journey from Europe to Asia. RY did a great job of breaking up the trip into digestible chunks with a sweet 7 hour layover in Doha, Qatar---which turned out to be a completely fascinating cultural experience!
Our last big travel day for Remote Year was a 3 day, epic-long, exhausting journey from Europe to Asia. RY did a great job of breaking up the journey into digestible chunks with a sweet 7 hour layover in Doha, Qatar---which turned out to be a completely fascinating experience!
It started on Friday with a 5 hour bus ride from Split to Zagreb (capital of Croatia). We left ~4pm, and luckily I got a seat on the sunset side of the bus.
We spent the night in a Zagreb hotel. Pootee the Explorer and I found a 4.5 star TripAdvisor restaurant: Lari & Penati, which did not disappoint! Here is a shot of the decor at the restaurant. Pots attached to the walls:
Got up early to take the 5 hour flight from Zagreb to Doha, Qatar. The timing worked out where we were able to see a sick sunset coming into Doha---chalk another one up for RY's timing and Ma Nature for comin' through in the clutch:
We then had a hotel in Doha for 7 hours before our overnight flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Before this trip, I had no idea what a Zagreb was, or a Doha, or a Qatar. I may have assumed they were creatures from Willy Wonka's World. But, now I know Qatar is a country in the Persian Gulf and Doha is its capital.
You may recognize Qatar from watching the best soccer player in the world---Lionel Messi's team FC Barcelona is sponsored by Qatar Airways.
Image Courtesy of USA Today
OR, you may know Qatar as the country that will host the World Cup in 2022. (you also may have heard about the controversial accusations that they bribed the World Cup committee to get the games?)
Doha, Qatar is very grand!! Vegas-esque. The city skyline is most impressive. Sadly, I did not have time to do any night photography, so this image is courtesy of MrWallpaper.com
Doha (like Vegas) is built in an extremely arid desert climate, has a ton of tourism and has a ton of big, fancy, modern hotels that are lit up like Christmas trees. BUT, (unlike Vegas) it is a Muslim city and thus, almost exclusively dry. You can drink alcohol in only some of the hotels and residents can purchase alcohol to drink in their homes only. Oh, and it is an incredibly CLEAN city. Pristine sidewalks.
Doha is recognized as one of the New 7 Wonders Cities. (BTW, 2 of the other cities are La Paz, Bolivia, RY month 3, and Kuala Lumpur, which we are currently living in).
One of the main attractions in Doha is an outdoor shopping center called the Souq-Waqif (translated = standing market). After checking into one of the fancy hotels, we only had a few hours so we headed to Souq.
First order of business---food. The travel was making us hangry. Waltzed into this phenomenally fancy Persian restaurant Isfahan Gardens, which is designed to resemble the Iranian Palace with the same name:
After eating delicious Persian dishes, we explored the Souq market. There is a labyrinth of alleyways with rug shops and lamp shops and random trinket shops. Reminded me of the markets in the movie Aladdin---only way more modern!
One highlight in the Souq Market was the Turkish Ice Cream guy. He messes with the customers and puts on a show! I asked him what flavors he had and he said Tomato. I ordered the Tomato ice cream and it was actually strawberry.
Turkish ice cream is DELISH. It's got a more gelatinous texture. Chewy almost. I'd give anything to have some right now!
After ice cream, we stopped at a hookah bar, because that's what you do in Doha.
Where am I?!
After spending time at the Souq Market, we went back to the Doha Airport for our 7 hour overnight flight to Kuala Lumpur.
One sweet surprise was finding Lay's Salt & Vinegar chips at the Doha Airport. I wrote about my love of these chips and not being able to find them in the beginning of Remote Year (click here to read). But, I found them for the first time in 9 months, and the romance was still real. This bag did not stand a chance.
Jet lagged, no sleep, weary eyes!
The Salt & Vinegar chips were a great way to kick off the 7 hour flight. Finding Dory helped pass the time too. And starting the TV series Fargo. And a few Zzzz's...
After arriving in Kuala Lumpur, we then took an hour long bus ride from the KL airport to our new home, the Maple Suites.
~51 hours of travel from Europe to Asia.
It was nice to break the trip up with a couple hotel stays and visiting Zagreb and Doha.
A month ago, I had never even heard of Zagreb, Doha or Qatar. But, Doha especially was such a rich, cultural experience and a huge added bonus on our Asian adventure! Wish I had longer to take pics, because the architecture is incredible.
Thank you, Remote Year for the 7 hour layover in Qatar!
Chasing Croatian Waterfalls - Pt 2
Round 2: Krka National Park. Plitvice was pretty, but I had heard good things about Krka. Krka is literally on the way back from Plitvice, right off the E65. So, I set out and took my time getting down there.
Round 2: Krka National Park. Plitvice was pretty, but I had heard good things about Krka. Krka is literally on the way back from Plitvice, right off the E65. So, I set out and took my time getting down there.
I left Plitvice without eating breakfast so it was serendipitous that I spotted a cheese stand at a cute little farm not far from where I was staying!
They were selling several varietals of cheese---I opted for the smoked cow cheese, 20 Kuna worth. (~$2.90 USD. Not bad!)
Started driving, and takin' hunks off the wedge. But, as delicious as it was, I couldn’t eat that much of it. At least it held me over until I could get to a real lunch spot and get some pizza, aka, more cheese.
Driving down, I had one of those emotional road trip moments, where you realize how beautiful the world is, and you just wish everyone could be with you in the moment to experience it. Croatia is a gorgeous country. I hesitate to compare it to one particular US state, because it feels like a combo of many.
I stopped on the side of the road a couple times. The Croatian countryside was lookin’ fine and I wanted to remember it.
Finally, got to Krka National Parks.
Right outside I saw signs for warthog crossing, and I wondered if I’d run into a bunch of Pumbas? No sight of ‘em---or smell of ‘em though.
Got my ticket to Krka and set out on the path. Another wooden trail, icy blue to emerald green crystal clear water and more small waterfalls EVERYWHERE.
Check out this barista-inspired river froth:
Krka is a bit smaller than Plitvice. Actually, it’s a lot smaller. BUT, pound for pound, it might be better because of the finale. The end of the trail is spectacular, and the end of the Plitvice trail felt a little anti-climactic.
Get this---in the summer, you can actually swim in the final falls area! Not in the fall though.
Did you know that I’m super lucky? I was born on 7-11-77, which is naturally lucky. Sometimes, this luck is dumb. Like when I was taking this video and a fish jumped out of the falls! Check out the 0:35 mark of the video to see a special moment.
This is me, proud of the fish I just caught.
In case you missed it, here is a close up:
One thing I learned in Igauzu Falls --- where there are waterfalls, there are rainbows. You just have to find the angles. Found ‘em.
And, be on the lookout, I was taking photos near this cement wall and realized I was hanging out with many insect friends that look like ladybugs but are not. They are "firebugs". Cuties.
It only took me about an hour to get through the Krka trails. They were gorgeous! Better angles than Plitvice. The sun wasn’t always blaring in the background.
If you ever make it to Croatia, and only have one National Park in you, I’d take in Krka. Plitvice is bigger, and has more variety, but Krka is a tighter package. The colors are stunning.
Next up---chasing waterfalls in Malaysia! Sunday is the day!
Chasing Croatian Waterfalls - Pt 1
Croatia is home to some wicked waterfalls in: Plitviče Lakes National Park, and Krka National Park. I set out on a solo adventure and it was very nostalgic. It’s fall in Croatia and the leaves were changing color. The foliage reminded me of the US...a little...
Croatia is home to some wicked waterfalls in: Plitviče Lakes National Park, and Krka National Park. I set out on a solo adventure and it felt very nostalgic! It’s fall in Croatia and the leaves were changing color. The foliage reminded me of fall in the US (a little bit).
The drive up to Plitvice is ~2.5 hours. I was cruising up the freeway doing 140 (km/hr), and the weather was perfect! I was thinking how easy the trip was going and how happy I was to be on the road again.
Until, the freeway suddenly...just...CLOSED.
Apparently, there were severely high winds and it's not safe to drive on E65 in these conditions. The problem was, my SIM Card was broken and I had no way of looking up directions. I DID have an old-school GPS, but it kept re-routing me onto the freeway.
I drove up to the tollbooth and asked for directions. She rattled off a series of directions in her limited Croatian-English and I barely caught anything except: “You must take the OLD road”.
But how is one to know where the old road is…?
Drove around, back and forth in the middle of the Croatian countryside. And I realized:
1. There are far worse places to get lost than Croatia! I was near some gorgeous lakes, with red and orange trees and big mountains in the background. Croatia is beautiful! I decided to stop and take some pics.
2. It is well past my pizza time. Croatia is near Italy and they are proud of their pizza. I must stop and fill the tank.
Stopping for pizza was helpful, as they tried pointing me in the right direction. But, I still got lost again. Finally stopped at a tollbooth for a second time and asked them to type directions into my phone.
I finally found the old road. Arrived at my AirBnB around 8pm. The trip was supposed to take ~2.5 hours. Instead it took ~7 hours. Oh well, I made it!
Plitvice Lakes National Park is pretty big. It is a series of 16 lakes that are connected by a wooden hiking trail and a series of waterfalls. It’s not the type of thing where you hike for a while to get to the ONE waterfall. There are several different hiking trails with MANY small waterfalls and lakes. I chose the H route, which takes ~4-6 hours to get through. This is the start of the H route---as you can see the lakes are crystal clear!
BTW, Plitvice is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You can see why it is protected---it's wondrous.
And, it was a beautiful fall day for a hike.
Unfortunately, I think going in the afternoon was a mistake. It seemed like every awesome waterfall had the sun right behind it, which killed my photography game.
Maybe it would have been better to go in the am? But I had worked until 5am the night before and then woke up around 10ish. (This job is getting in the way of my sightseeing) :] That being said, here are the best of the shots I took:
Plitvice Lakes are gorgeous. It was a breath of fresh air to be in the woods during foliage season, especially after all the urban living the past 8 months. Plitvice is no Iguazu Falls, (the best waterfalls I've ever seen) but it is a beautiful experience!
Next up, in Pt 2 --- Krka National Park! Stay tuned...