Ho Chi Minh

Ho Chi Minh was incredible. I went to meet up with my friend from home, Anna, and her friend and sister, who were all traveling in south Vietnam. I spent the first two days traveling on my own, which was actually incredibly fun. I visited a few museums, the reunification palace, and more. Its a crazy city with thousands of people on motorbikes, incredible shops and great food. Anna’s sister is actually working in Vietnam, so she had some of her local friend take us around for the day. We got to go an hour outside the city to see a massive combination of temples, a zoo and a water park created by a really rich man in the country. The temples were massive and amazing, and the zoo was so big and open and completely empty except for us. This was the best part, because the zookeeper took us around, let us feed a baby tiger, feed giraffes, and ride the ostriches. It was a once in a lifetime experience.

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South Thailand

South Thailand was amazing! Michael came to visit for my school break and we were able to go to Krabi, Koh Phi Phi and Phuket. We stayed in amazing cabanas on the lake in Krabi (top left photo) and had a great time in all three places. Krabi was quieter but beautiful and relaxing and Koh Phi Phi was my favorite place. We visited beaches, hiked up to Phi Phi Viewpoint for sunset, and did a day trip on a boat to several different sites like Maya Bay and Monkey Beach. We got to kayak, paddle board and inner tube. Oh yeah, and we got to pet tigers in Phuket 🙂 It was an amazing two weeks.

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Chiang Mai

After a few days in Bangkok, we took a 10 hour overnight bus farther north to Chiang Mai. It was a bit less crowded and hectic than Bangkok and had more nature and cleaner air. We visited amazing temples and did a lot of exploring.

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The two photos above are from when we visited the mountain temple. We climbed down behind it past some broken steps following old signs for a meditation center. After walking about 15 minutes on a path clearly no one uses anymore, we finally found it and were told by a buddhist monk we could go in and sit as long as we were quiet. There were people in white robes practicing meditation, which we got to participate in. Unable to find our way back, we followed a road to where he said we could find a taxi, and came across a lot of young monks hanging out around their living quarters. It was definitely one of the coolest parts of the trip.

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We also got to ride elephants in Chiang Mai. Though it was amazing to see them, they weren’t treated very well which made it unenjoyable in the end. There are places that treat them well though, which we discovered after researching. Hopefully one day we can one like that instead. On our last day, we visited Huay Tung Tao Lake, which was a hot spot for locals and a nice getaway from more touristy areas.

Bangkok

I ended up going to the north of Thailand with only my two French roommates Sarah and Anne. They were so fun to travel with and it was so much easier in such a small group. In Bangkok we spent our time driving around in a Tuk Tuk visiting temples, traversing the backpacker streets, shopping at markets and going out on Koh San Road at night. On our last day we took a boat tour and got to see all the houses and villages of people who live around the Bangkok River.

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Gili Islands

After Bali, we took a boat to the Gili Islands, about an hour ferry ride away. There are three secluded islands: Gili Air, Gili Meno, and Gili Trawangan. We stayed on Gili Meno, the most peaceful and beautiful of all the islands (pictured top left). Instead of a normal hotel, we stayed in bungalows that had a bed, lockers for our stuff and a mosquito net around the whole thing (pictured top right). Though it wasn’t what we were expecting, it was a really cool experience. Two of the days we took a boat to the more lively island, Gili Trawangan. Here we rented bikes to get around and chilled out at beach bars. On the last day we did a scuba excursion before heading back to Bali for our last night.

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Bali

For our next trip, we all decided to head to Bali! Here we stayed in Kuta, a town in the south. We rented out a big villa here for all 8 of our roommates. We only had a few days before heading to the Gili Islands, so we spent on day at the Tanah Lot temple and then the second day at the rice terraces and the monkey forest in a small town farther north called Ubud.

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My roommates and I at Tanah Lot Temple.

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Us at the rice terraces in Ubud.

Tioman Island

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The weekend after Kuala Lumpur, a few of my roommates and I decided to go on a last minute trip to Tioman Island, a small and sparsely populated island off the coast of Malaysia. We were invited by a group of students who lived in another apartment, and ended up heading over with them the next day. The island was only a bus ride and ferry away, and the seclusion and amazing beaches were great. We went on a hike to a waterfall, swam a lot and hung out at the only place on the side of the island that served any beer.

Kuala Lumpur!

On our first weekend after the start of school a few of the flat mates and I decided to go to Kuala Lumpur, the capital city of Malaysia and only one hour by plane from Singapore. There we enjoyed the cheaper drinks, temples and statues we visited. We even went to several bars that had incredible views of the city and the Patronas Towers. One of the bars was called the Helibar, which was on a helicopter pad and definitely a one of kind experience. We also visited the Batu Caves which had an incredible statue of a buddha and a two hundred step trek up to caves with more ancient statues and carvings.

New Years

On New Years a bunch of the exchange students headed out to Sentosa Island, an area known for great beaches, resorts and parties. Before hand a lot of French students and American students met at our hostel and we had drinks before heading to the island where we stayed until morning!

Day 2

Today I met up with the two guys from USC I’ll be living with, and walked to the gardens by the bay with them and a french girl from my hostel, Sophie. We crossed the Singapore river and were able to see the gardens during the day and lit up at night.