If you’re visiting Cancun, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres and other nearby resort cities, you have to check out the MUSA Underwater Museum for a unique diving experience! There are over 500 underwater sculptures placed in various areas near Isla Mujeres/Cancun and the exhibit helps promote ocean and marine life conservation. The permanent sculptures serve as an attraction for divers to lessen the number of tourists to visit the main reefs. They also allow for the coral reef to grow on the sculptures and serve as permanent homes for various aquatic animals.
Diving around these sculptures was really cool and interesting, but at times it felt a little creepy looking at these statues up close. The best way I can describe the dive is like seeing objects being trapped in time, sort of like the underwater version of Pompeii, and slowly nature takes over these objects. At least the aquatic animals don’t mind, as they appear to be thriving around the museum.
Near the museum is also boat wreckage and several coral reef systems where there were huge congregations of fish and various other species!
You can also view this museum by snorkeling and also take boats with glass floors but, in my honest opinion, the best way to see it is to scuba dive so you can get up close and personal with these timeless sculptures! You can take a PADI two-dive course to learn the basics of diving, then get a chance to explore the museum.
Check out the video of my dive at the MUSA Underwater Museum:
The main reason we wanted to visit Cambodia was to see the renowned Angkor Wat and many of its other temples. We definitely saw Angkor Wat, so check that off the bucket list, but there are literally thousands of temples to check out in Angkor, Siem Reap. Thankfully, many temples are in close proximity to each other and we had a wonderful and knowledgeable guide that took us around. So even when we were there for only a weekend, we still saw several other amazing structures. Here are the temples and sites we explored during our visit.
Angkor Wat
There’s no doubt that Angkor Wat is the biggest attraction, literally and figuratively, out of all the temples in Cambodia. It’s actually the largest religious monument in the world! The temple is enclosed by a wall measuring 2.2 miles long and surrounded by a moat.
Inside the wall is a long path that goes straight to the temple. Off the path, on each side are lily ponds for the famous picturesque reflection of Angkor Wat. We went early at 5 am to catch the sunrise and it was absolutely breathtaking! There were also loads of tourists also trying to take the same shot (something to expect during your visit), but after an hour the crowds mostly emptied and left us to explore the temple mostly to ourselves.
Bayon Temple
Known simply as “The Bayon,” this temple is well-recognized for having massive carved, smiling faces on top of its towers. There are stairs within the temple that will take you to the top level and let you come face-to-face with these giant stone faces. You can also climb one of the outer towers to really get a great semi-aerial view of the temple and its surroundings.
East Mebon
This temple used to be entirely surrounded by water and could only be accessible by boat. It stands on top of an island in what was once a baray (artificial body of water) that was used for irrigation. You can find many well-preserved, fine-detailed sculptures of elephants, lions, and mythical creatures and figures. The top also provides a great vantage point to see the temple layout and a perfect view to watch the sunset.
Ta Nei
Off the beaten path, Ta Nai is a semi-ruined temple hidden in the tall trees of the jungles. Because of its isolated nature, very few tourists are seen venturing here, so it’s very peaceful and you can explore without being interrupted. The inner part of the temple has largely collapsed with some parts being supported by wood planks. Still, there are still plenty of carvings with intricate details to see and is worth the visit, especially if you want to get away from the crowds.
Ta Prohm
Ta Prohm is distinctly recognized for its large trees and roots growing within the temple. You can see the long thick roots slowly morphing and engulfing parts of the temple over hundreds of years of growth. The temple is also famous for being the location for the film “Lana Croft: Tomb Raider,” but despite its Hollywood exposure, it still feels very hidden and secluded with the trees covering the ruins.
Angkor Thom South Gate
There are five gates that gave access to Angkor Thom (which means “The Great City”). The south gate is distinguishable from the others for having stone statues on both sides of the road leading up to the gate.
Angkor Thom East (Death) Gate
You can climb up from the side to get a closer look at the gate and walk along the wall that surrounds the city.
There are also other smaller or lesser known temples and structures all over Angkor. Many of them are in ruins but can still be explored at your own leisure.
If you need some tips for getting around, you can read our article for different methods to see the temples and check out our video below. Let us know what your favorite temples were and where else you would recommend.
We kicked off the Labor Day weekend by heading back to Arch Rock in Joshua Tree for some camping and more astrophotography. The previous time I went was during the Perseid Meteor shower, but the conditions weren’t ideal since the moon was mostly out. However, this time around everything was perfect; we had good weather, clear skies, and the moon was nowhere in sight!
Stargazing and camping on the car roof!
Unfortunately for us, we arrived at the park pretty late and weren’t able to secure any of the campsites. Mat and Splinter did some makeshift camping by setting up on the roof of my car with blankets and pillows. The stars were really shining bright and we could easily see the galactic center of the Milky Way. As we admired the star-filled sky, we took some photos by the car and ate some pizza from Pie for the People, a local pizza joint in Joshua who make some really good pizza! Mat decided to stay by the car and stargaze while I went back to Arch Rock to take some photos there.
Almost no one was at the rock when I got there, so I found a good spot to take my shots. I didn’t notice at the time but I ended up staying there for about four hours; time really flies when you’re doing long exposure shots! I also climbed to the highest point of the arch, which was actually pretty scary. The lower part of the rock isn’t so bad, but the arch was much narrower compared to other parts of the rock, so I really had to concentrate on not losing my balance in the darkness. Climbing down was another challenge as I had little grip on my way down; I pretty much slid down on my belly while hugging the rock for dear life.
But all of that was totally worth it! The shots were amazing and is only inspiring me more to find more places to chase stars. The next new moon is September 30th, so we’ll be looking for a new spot hopefully for some camping and more astrophotography!
If you’re looking for a truly unique activity in Taipei, then you have to check out indoor shrimp fishing. We first saw this on Anthony Bourdain’s show, “No Reservations,” and we put it down on our to-do list for our visit.
Traditionally, to go fishing people had to go to lakes, rivers and oceans but many times that would be too expensive or impractical. But shrimp fishing solves all of those problems which makes it a perfect activity for people of all ages and sizes and has become a national pastime in Taiwan.
You’re probably wondering, what exactly is shrimp fishing? In a nutshell, it’s a very popular activity Taiwan where you go into large indoor facilities and fish from giant murky water pools for large freshwater shrimp. It may sound somewhat unappealing [even I wasn’t sure what to think when I first saw this] but it is actually very entertaining and a great social activity.
There are many of these indoor shrimp fishing buildings in Taiwan. Each building can hold several large pools that are about several feet deep and houses lots of freshwater shrimp, which are refilled every hour or so. You will see dozens of people sit on each side of the pool wherever there is space. You are given a simple rod and hook, a bobble, dried shrimp bait and a net to hold your catch [and you can also bring your own equipment too]. If you’re a beginner, not a problem! There are experienced fisherman or employees that will teach you the basics to shrimp fishing.
Fishing for shrimp is simple enough: you hook your bait and drop your line into the pool hoping for the shrimp to bite. There’s no reel and the line is a finite length. If your bobble goes down, that’ll indicate that a shrimp is biting at your bait and could be time to pull out the shrimp.
Although it looks easy, there is actually quite a bit skill involved and some patience needed. Newcomers may be fortunate to catch 2 or 3 per hour, but you can even go an entire hour without catching a single shrimp! Other experienced shrimp fishers will bring their own equipment and can easily catch 10 or 12 shrimp per hour. A group of young kids next to us were catching shrimp pretty easily, maybe one every 5-10 minutes!
While catching shrimp is the goal, it is also a perfect environment for friends and families to socialize. Many people can be seen eating snacks, drinking beer and having a good time with each others’ company.
Patiently waiting for a bite.
Our haul for the evening. Not bad for first timers!
We did pretty well for our first time. We spent about 2.5 hours and it was pretty fun and relaxing. Overall, we ended up catching 21 shrimp between the four of us.
With our catch in hand, we reaped the rewards and went to grill our shrimp. We used available sinks for washing and skewering the shrimp and salt is provided for seasoning. An employee helped us grill our shrimp as we ordered some additional dishes.
We were skeptical how good the shrimp would be coming from that murky water. But we will say that it’s some of the best and most fresh tasting shrimp we’ve ever had. It does make a lot of sense that cooking shrimp right after catching them ensures them being very fresh. It was totally worth the effort and lots of fun doing it.
Shrimp fishing cost us about $10/hour per person and you keep everything you catch. If you’re an experienced fisherman, you can easily catch enough for a large meal within an hour. But if have trouble catching the shrimp or don’t have the patience, these places will offer a full menu, including the same shrimp that you can catch. Shrimp fishing is also open 24 hours and 7 days a week, so you can expect a steady stream of customers from 4 pm to even 4 am in the morning. It really is a unique experience and a fun activity that any visitor should try.
The best place for spectacular views of Taipei 101 and the surrounding city is on Elephant Mountain. I was able to hike the mountain right before sunset to get some beautiful photographs of the city skyline.
Supposedly, the entrance to the mountain is about a 15-20 minute walk from Taipei 101 and also easily accessible through the MRT. I don’t really know because our hotel was in another area so I had to take a cab and B line it if I wanted to arrive during golden and twilight hours. I also told my cab driver to drop me off at the main entrance of Elephant Mountain; I only realized later that I was not dropped off at the main entrance but at another entrance closer to the Taipei Medical University Hospital. While it turned out that either of these entrances is perfectly fine to use, it appeared that taking the main entrance has more available signs, clearer directions, and has more vantage points on the main path.
Elephant Mountain entrance
Plenty of stairs
One of the viewpoints on the Elephant Mountain Trail
I was running late and it was getting dark, so I didn’t take a lot of time documenting the numerous stops and different vantage points along the way. I pretty much ran straight up to the highest peak of elephant mountain which took me about 12 minutes to get to that point. But a normal pace could probably get to the top in about 20 minutes. It’s not really a difficult hike…but there are definitely A LOT of the stairs! At least the steps are pretty short. It was pretty hot and humid and by the time I got to the top, I was completely drenched in sweat. At the top, however, there was a very nice breeze that really cooled and dried me off.
Elephant Mountain is a very popular spot for tourists and locals, so expect to see a lot of people in the evenings and on weekends. You will see many couples, college kids, elderly people and people that want to workout, as there are outdoor workout stations available. Two middle-aged women chatted with me [while guiding me to the top] saying they play badminton with each other and hike the mountain frequently for exercise.
When I got to the top, the area was filled with tourists and photographers. I was able to find a spot where I could raise my camera on my tripod without hindering other people. The views are pretty amazing and it’s a great (and free) activity for anyone.
