Asia Archives - Roni The Travel Guru

Luxury Boutique Hotel In Vietnam

May 16, 2016 by Roni Filed Under: Asia

When I was in Vietnam I spent a long weekend in Hoi An at the Muca Resort and maaaaaaaan….it was so beautiful! They had a shuttle service from the airport which I highly recommend you take advantage of no matter where you are. It’s always nice getting picked up from the airport so you don’t have to fret about how to get to your hotel. When we got there we were greeted by 3 glassed of fresh juice. Yummy.

The hotel is situated on lusciously landscaped grounds where the trees and flowers bloom without restraint. It’s as if you’re walking through paradise.

My room had a HUGE king size bed that engulfed me in the best way when I slept.

The hotel is about 10 minutes from the center of town but the hotel is so lush you may not want to leave. They make you feel so comfortable in every part of the resort you bask in the hospitality.

Part of our reservation included daily massage treatments. Yep…you read right…DAILY MASSAGES!

They have several areas for you to sit and relax and you’ll be so calm you’ll want to try them all out. There is a pool but you guys I can’t find my pictures from the pool. Seriously, I have no idea how that happened.

Breakfast was included with the cost of my room and the food was delicious. Have you ever had dragon fruit? It’s pictured below and it is phenomenal. The breakfast area looks out over a lagoon and there is also a covered seating area accessed by a walkway.

I was here for 3 nights and I had breakfast each morning, a massage treatment each day and transfers to and from the airport for less than $150. Vietnam is a haven for those that want luxury at an affordable price.

Naritasan Temple In Narita Japan

December 14, 2015 by Roni Filed Under: Asia

When I was in Narita on my tour with Katsumi from Narita Tours one of our first stops was the Naritasan Temple. I’d say this is definitely something you want to see so please give yourself enough time to explore the different parts of this temple.

I was happy to be able to watch the procession of the Buddhist priests as they were entering the temple.

Did you happen to catch the Periscope I did from here? I was able to capture this on video.

Just outside of the temple is an area where people throw in coins then pray. I love this pic because it captures people in a variety of poses. The woman in the background on the right is throwing her coin, the gentleman in the white shirt is about to pray and the woman closest to the right hand side of the pic is in the middle of praying.

As I was walking out of the temple I saw this woman, her husband and their baby. They had come from Tokyo to get their newborn blessed by the priests. She was happy to let me take their pic!

Have You Ever Seen A Penis In A Shrine?

December 3, 2015 by Roni Filed Under: Asia

Before you keep reading please know that in this post there are pictures of male genitalia. Not real of course cause this isn’t that type of blog but there are images you may not like. You have been warned.

When I was in Narita I took a tour with Katsumi from Narita Rainbow Tours (which I HIGHLY recommend) and one of our stops was a fertility shrine. You would never know it was there from the street because there is a parking lot and then a couple sets of steep stairs you have to climb in order to get to it.

Below is the staircase you see from the parking lot.

below is the view from the top of the first staircase.

After you climb the first staircase you have a second one ahead of you.

After your climb you get to the landing where you are about to see some things you may not have seen before.

That’s my tour guide Katsumi below showing us, in his words, “The biggest penis in Japan.” I said to him, “Haha…it’s BLACK!” Oh my goodness we laughed at that one.

Why all the penes? This is a fertility shrine. When people want to get pregnant or have a hard time getting pregnant they come to this shrine. Once at the shrine they buy a carved wooden penis and write their name(s) and wishes on it.

AI don’t know about you but this is my first time seeing a shrine filled with wood carved genitalia. However, it wasn’t dirty or creepy, it was a unique look into another culture and the beliefs that some have. When you travel you get the chance to open your mind to other cultures in ways you may not have ever imagined. Go with it, don’t fight it. You don’t have to change your beliefs or accept the things you see but you can be respectful and learn something.

Have you ever seen anything while traveling that took you completely by surprise?

An Gang Beach In Vietnam

November 20, 2015 by Roni Filed Under: Asia

Did you know there were beautiful beaches in Vietnam? The beach may not be the first thing you think of when you think of Vietnam but as you know I LOVE the ocean and I was so happy. These pics were taken in Hoi An, Vietnam at An Gang Beach. Kia, Tarynn and I spent the day at the beach when we went to Hoi An for a weekend trip. That’s Tarynn above enjoying the waves.

The water was warm, clear and refreshing. We brought our own towels from our hotel (which I will tell you about later, our hotel was all kinds of fab). We took a taxi there and back, taxis are prevalent and you won’t have to worry about trying to find one.

Have you had fresh coconut water? It’s interesting. I can’t say it’s my favorite but it only seemed right to drink it on the beach. And yes, that’s the same bathing suit I had on when I was in Mexico. I don’t buy new bathing suits for every trip, I still love this one. You can get one here.

Do you like my hair pretty? That was custom made for me by chocolatepuddinnoodlesoup. The travel tote was also custom made for me by House of Moruka. I only talk about products I use and love and these two companies never let me down, the quality of their products are phenomenal and I love to support small businesses, don’t you?

An Gang is a cool way to spend the day if you are staying in Hoi An. It’s only about 20 minutes taxi ride from Hoi An and you don’t have to worry about bringing food because there are restaurants with waitresses that will bring you your meal.

Capsule Hotel In Narita, Japan

November 17, 2015 by Roni Filed Under: Asia

Have you ever stayed in a capsule hotel? I hadn’t either until I had an unexpected layover in Narita, Japan. I had seen them on TV and in magazines and always wanted to stay in one so I was so excited when I got the chance!

This one is right in the Narita Airport (so convenient!) you just follow the signs (see pics below) until you get to nine hours. It’s maybe a 10 minute walk from the airport but you can’t take your trolley up the escalator (y’all should have seen me getting my 3 bags up the escalator-good times).

I couldn’t take as many pictures as I wanted because there were lots of people in the hotel and I didn’t want to invade anyone’s privacy (I couldn’t be the girl taking pics of the space while everyone was walking around, that’s just weird).

When you walk into the hotel there is a door on your left and on your right leading to the section for men and women. You cannot share a bed and men and women are completely separate so keep that in mind if you are going as a couple as there are no exceptions. Once you check-in you are given a key to a numbered locker where you can keep your things. The hotel is also able to store your bags for you if they won’t fit in the locker.

The bag above is given to you when you check in. It has a towel, a robe, a toothbrush, toothpaste and a pair of slippers. You aren’t allowed to wear your shoes in the hotel so it’s nice to have slippers given to you. What I noticed and really appreciated was that the hotel was super clean. And not just clean, it was EXTREMELY clean. I am not big on shared spaces when it comes to hotels but this was exceptional. The bathrooms and showers are separate (again, men and women are in completely different areas) and each stall I looked into was clean (and I looked into almost all of them).

If I did things correctly there is a video below. It’s the video I took while in the capsule hotel.

https://katch.me/RoniTravelGuru/v/5de43a57-e45e-3343-908b-e6c615836167

In the shower they have body wash and shampoo which came in handy cause I didn’t have to take out any of my toiletries.

Ok see the pic above? Each capsule (where you sleep) has a number assigned to it. The number on the floor is the same number of the key you get upon check-in. So where do you sleep? You sleep inside the numbered capsule. If you look at the picture above you can see how the screens are up in the top row and down in the bottom row. There are no locks on the capsules, the screens simply slide up and down.

You have control of your lights and you are given a pillow, a blanket and the bed is pretty comfy. I’m 5’8 and I had enough room to lay flat. I never felt unsafe and wasn’t at all concerned about not having a lock on my sleeping area.

So how much was this? I paid about $30 for the night. There is no place to eat inside the hotel, it’s strictly for sleeping or napping only. What do I mean by napping? Well if you only have a few hours and you need to just sleep for a little while you can rent a pod or if you just need to take a shower and get cleaned up you can do that here as well.

There is no place to wash clothes and no place to chill except your sleeping pod. There is free wireless internet and the internet works throughout the hotel.

Have you ever stayed in a capsule hotel?

House Boats In Halong Bay, Vietnam

November 13, 2015 by Roni Filed Under: Asia

I was amazed at the way this Vietnamese woman was rowing her boat. I took this in Halong Bay on my luxury cruise (of course I’ll be blogging about that soon!). There were several tourist ships in the Bay and the women who lived on the water (yep, there are people that live on the water and it’s all kinds of awesome…keep scrolling) take advantage of the tourists and sell as much as they can.

I am always impressed at the ingenuity of the people I come across when I visit different countries. So many people don’t let their situations define them but find ways to make things work in the situation they are in.

There are several cluster pockets of homes in Halong Bay, these are just a few I saw while in my canoe. Yes, I was rowing a canoe!

Seeing how other people live always makes me appreciate even more the way I’m able to live. Travel isn’t only about seeing monuments or eating in fancy restaurants, it’s letting yourself truly see your surroundings which can help you deepen your sense of gratitude and your depth of awareness of others.