:)

Before I post about my trip to Bali, I just wanted to jot down a few things, so I can read this in 20 years and laugh at myself for trying to be reflective.

Traveling to several countries in a few short months is an amazing experience, and it makes me realize that every place offers so much. A weekend is only enough to have a small taste of an area; coming back to SE Asia is a must. The world feels a lot smaller as well. Although culture is different internationally, people are just as kind and loving. Also, everywhere in the world is just a plane trip away-so easy!

This semester is moving incredibly fast. Tomorrow morning, I leave for an 18 day trip around India with Alex, Luke, and Vincent. Coming back from there, I have a week break before heading to Bangkok with my sister. The following weekend, we're hoping to meet up with my parents in Beijing. Then it's APRIL. I think I could have easily studied abroad for a year. Maybe, I can even go for another semester or a summer trip!

Friends-wise, these people are incredible. Today, Alpal (Happy 21st Birthday by the way!!) and I had a great conversation about how we absolutely love everyone we've meet. Our friend group blends so well, and I'm learning so much. My friends are from the US, Cananda, Scotland, England, Denmark, France, and many other beautiful places. I also have SO many couches to sleep on when I travel throughout Europe in the future!

The biggest advice that I could give anyone would be to study abroad; there is nothing like this. I have already grown up an incredible amount, and I am excited to see the person that I've become. New experiences are the scariest, riskiest, and hardest things to dive into, but I have to say that I love every minute of them.

I do miss home and my family, but I haven't been too homesick. I think it's because this is temporary, and I know that I don't want to waste anytime being sad. Additionally, Lauren (my best friend from Naperthrill) got here this week! I'm planning on jumping into her arms when I see her tonight.

I should get to my work. Procrastination is even easier when I spend every weekend on a beach--not to brag or anything. :) Just kidding...well, not kidding.

Peace n Love (credits to my friend Jay),

Ishmeesh

Phuket and Koh Phi Phi

We left for Phuket on a Thursday night from Singapore extremely excited. On the way there, it was Alex Menter, Jay, Andrew, Bagi, Arthur and me. In the morning, we were planning on meeting up with Juliana, Lucas, and Krista (Lucas' friend from home). Additionally, a few others were already in Phuket waiting for us to arrive.

When we got there, we took a cab to our hotel after running into a few other NTU students. Our hotel was surprisingly cheap, and extremely nice. We each got our own beds, and very clean bathroom (with hot water!!). That night, we spent some time wondering around the area. After getting lost, we finally found the night food market. Since were were absolutely starving, food definitely tasted better than usual. I ate some thick noodles with marinated chicken, and it was exactly what I was craving. After, I got a few 17 baht ice-cream cones, before heading to sleep.

The next morning, we met up with everyone else at the Rassada Pier. We learned that it's cheaper to buy a ticket from a private travel agent; however, since we didn't know that at the time, we spent a few extra bucks. The ferry took about two hours, and we soaked in the sun. They had some pricey snacks and a bar in case we needed some refreshments.

Koh Phi Phi was more beautiful than a postcard. The mountains and clear water lined with long-tailed boats provide an unreal view. Getting into the dock, we realized that we had no place to stay. Jay and I decided to run off and to find accommodation; however, that message was not given to anyone else. Therefore, when we finally haggled down a cheap, somewhat nice place for all 9 of us, we lost the rest of the crew. Since its better to stay in one place when people are looking for you, we set up camp on the floor of the tour shop. We bought a few beers to pass away the time, and ended up with a few more. We played cards for an hour, before stumbling upon our unhappy friends. They had gone off to find accommodation too, because they did not know where we were. After hassling the guy again, we finally booked the Sunset Pavilion resort--several cute huts with mosquito nets and a toilet/sink/shower room that just sort of blended together.

After settling down and freshening up, we went out to eat at a delicious Thai restaurant, where I ate my first of many plates of Pad Thai. Feeling pretty incredible, we explored Phuket late into the night. Phuket is a bit of a tourist trap, so everyone there was either serving a tourist or from Europe/North America.

Karen organized a tour for us the next morning on the famous Thai long-tail boats. There were 6-7 island stops, and some places were only accessible by swimming. Luckily, Alex brought her underwater camera, so we have some record of the amazing places. The boat itself was a fun ride, because the water was pretty rough. Also, our captain (Him) was hilarious! We passed by some interesting caves before heading to our first stop.

Jumping off the boat with our snorkeling gear, we swam to a secluded beach. We exerted most of our energy on the first stop, because we were all too excited. Getting back on the boat covered in salt, we were already exhausted. With 5 more beaches to see, we built up energy and continued on. Since I waited a few too many days to write this, the order is probably way off. The following account is what I remember!

Next up, we went to Maya Bay. Most boats went straight into the bay, but we were unlucky and the tide was too high. Instead we parked in this little rocky area, jumped off the boat, climbed a ladder, and walked a few meters. Maya Bay was in no way a disappointment, but the crowds slightly ruined the beauty. I felt like Leonardo DiCaprio as we looked around the area. Since we had so many more places to see, we stayed for only a few minutes. The way back to the boat was extremely difficult. The tide was rougher, and we had to hold on to a rope in the water while being swung around rocks and sharp objects. All of us were pretty cut up and bruised, but I guess that's part of the adventure.

After, we went to snorkeling sight, which was my favorite stop. The water, being incredibly clear, was filled with brightly colored fish. Hopping off the boat, a few of my friends noticed a bright blue school of fish. The fish stayed in straight rows and spanned the entire side of the cave! I swam through them a few times, felling like a character in Finding Nemo. I tried to touch them, but they moved way too quickly completely in sync with one another. The water underneath the caves is so bright that it glows.

The famous Monkey Beach was our next destination, and I could finally take pictures here. They had mango shakes--my favorite! Monkeys literally swarmed the place, which I don't really prefer since they are so rude. We relaxed for a while, before heading to another beach.

By the end of the day, we were pretty exhausted. Captain Him was driving as usual, and our sketchy car motor broke. Calling for help, we finally got another boat to tow us. Moving at half the speed, Him had a few too many swigs of rum and passed out. Gotta love Him!

Getting back, we took some time to freshen up before hitting the Koh Phi Phi night life again. We ran into a few of my favorite people, Pascal and Teo! I waited in line for a mango drink for a while, only to have a man and monkey snatch my drink and throw it on the ground. Monkey man felt pretty bad and offered to buy me another, but I didn't feel like waiting. We ate some more Thai food, went to a party on the beach, celebrated Pascal's birthday, had some more Thai pancakes, and called it a night.

We had to leave the next day, because our flight was early the following morning. Ferries only run at certain times, so it wasn't worth the risk to try and extend our time. We were also pretty exhausted, so it was fine.

Our boat was much nicer on the way back to Phuket, but it was HOT. Beyond hot. I felt like I was going to faint the entire two hours, so I lost myself in a book to try and pass away the time. Luckily the Hunger Games series is a good distraction. We returned to our same hotel in Phuket, expecting a quiet night.

We were wrong. Stumbling upon a small little bar, we played some pool and had an Egyptian Ratscrew card competition. After, a few went home, and the rest of us continued exploring. Pretty tired, we wanted to head back; however, there was a karaoke bar right ahead! How could anyone say no to that?! So we stumbled in; loud and clear we announced that we wanted to sing karaoke. To our surprise, they escorted us to a private room with a few microphones and TV. Perfect size for the few of us, we decided to get our karaoke on. We sent some of the boys out for refreshments, and they hopped on the back of local's scooter to 7/11. Coming back with the basic karaoke necessities, we had a wonderful time. We spent a few hours singing our hearts out to Disney songs, the Beatles, some popular Thai tunes, and some fun classics.

This was a great way to spend our last night, and we left Thailand in the best mood. Alex, Juliana, and I left pretty early in the morning after eating our hotel's complimentary eggs and toast. Sleeping most of the way back, I felt pretty refreshed upon landing.

I really enjoyed Thailand, but I do think it was overrun with tourists and, therefore, more expensive. I didn't feel very culturally exposed, but I don't think that Southern Thailand is the place for that. Nevertheless, the beaches are beautiful, and its worth a short visit!

Philippines!

First off, so sorry for this overdue blog post. Our spontaneous trip to the Philippines was about 3 weeks ago, and I have yet to update my blog. During this time, we've also visited Phuket & Koh Phi Phi. Tomorrow, we're heading to Bali!

Anyways, I promise I'll be better at blogging after this next trip.

Last minute decision to go to the Philippines was an amazing one!!! I had no idea what Cebu was until I saw the deal for it on flocations.com. Juliana and I were casually not paying attention during out 3-hour History of Singapore class, and we noticed that flights this weekend were only around $200 SGD round trip. Julianna, Alex, and I took a risk and booked it that night. The next day, we managed to convince our friend from Denmark, Alexander, to accompany us/be our body guard. He was a little nervous about traveling with us three girls, but we promised we wouldn't spend too much time shopping.

I also ran into a friend from Calgary, Niall, and managed to convince him to join us as well. He brought along 4 other friends, so we had a pretty big group going. Hostels are a little harder to find in Panglao Island though, so they ended up not staying in the same place. When you have no method of communication, it becomes hard to plan each day. Therefore, I spent most of the time with Alexander, Alex, and Juliana.

The trip started off a little rough, because none of us realized how long it takes to get to Alona Beach. Additionally, the two Alexs and I did not sleep at all the night before, because we had a night out at St. James Powerstation. After packing everything, and heading out by 6am, we arrived to the airport by cab. After a 4-hour flight,  1-hour ferry, and a 2-hour cab, we finally arrived at Citadel Alona--a very cute and affordable hotel only 7 mins away from the beach.

Fish/Skewers grilled fresh for us!

The first night, we walked to the beach and sat at the first cute beach-side restaurant that we could find. Eating delicious skewers and sipping on some dirt cheap mango daiquiris, we explored the area and appreciated the warm white sand. We met up with Niall and the crew and got super cheap massages on the beach. On our way to head back home, we ran into one of the several tour salesman. After bargaining the price down, we managed to book a full day excursion (starting at 7am) to see all of the Bohol sites including an extra waterfall. We went straight to bed, so that we could be refreshed for our morning trip.

Waking up early is always hard for me, but-thanks to Juliana-I have yet to miss a tour. Dennis, our friendly chauffeur for the day, picked us up right on time. The first stop was the amazing/famous Chocolate Hills. They were a delicious sight to see! :) We had to walk up quite a few steps to soak in the amazing view, but it was well worth it. The whole time, we were hoping to learn more about how they formed; however, there wasn't a lot of information. Still, it was incredibly beautiful!!

Next on the full day tour, we went to the Tarsier park place. Tarsiers are the world's smallest primate, and extremely hard to find. Our tour guides through the small park would point out the tiny, sleeping monkeys, because there is no way that we could ever find them ourselves. A few other creatures, such as huge spiders, also creeped around the area. It was a pretty small park, but it only cost a few pesos. Also, every monkey was sleeping, since they are nocturnal. We finished this stop pretty quickly, and went back to hang out with Dennis.

The hanging suspension bridge was another quick stop. After nearly falling out of it and taking a few pictures of Alexander's rockstar pose, we went back into the car to get to lunch. On the way out of the bridge, Alex bought some "chocolate." Taking a big bite of it, she realized it was actually a big block of concentrated cocoa, meant to make hot chocolate with on the stove. That was not exactly the best snack, but we learned something!

The next stop was one of my favorites: the Loboc River cruise. When we got there, we convinced Dennis (after a lot of pressure) to join us for the river cruise lunch, because he normally doesn't get the chance to go. For being such a great driver, we treated him lunch. This cruise was beautiful!! It's just a nice wooden boat with a buffet that takes you down the bright green Loboc River. On the way, we saw some small waterfalls, and they even have a Filipino dance show. The boat stops in the water, and there's a dock with several locals singing and dancing. In one dance, they lift two big wooden pools, and the women are dancing/jumping around them. It's like a more complicated jump rope. After some time, our boat played some live tunes from back in the day, and Juliana and I provided entertainment for the boat with our old-school dance moves. Everyone wanted to take pictures with Alex, Alexander, and Juliana, because they were white and blonde. I didn't really get much attention--everyone thought I was Filipino.

Our new best friend, Dennis!

Dennis suggested we add another stop on our trip--ziplining! We agreed, of course. This was a different type of ziplining, that you fly like superman head-first. After waiting for a few mins, we took our turns racing over the Loboc river from the top of a mountain. The ride wasn't scary; but, stopping was! Flying down at high speeds, there's only a small metal weight stopping your zipline, and a man with his arms out to catch you. We did it twice, and my attempts to record it on my camera failed unfortunately.

View of the Loboc River from Ziplining.

Next up was the highlight our trip: the waterfall!! We paid a little extra for this excursion, but I'm incredibly glad that we did! We get to this waterfall, after climbing down at least 5 floors of steps, that is nearly empty and incredibly beautiful. Since it was not touristy, we had the waterfall basically to ourselves. Jumping into the refreshing water, we swam as close as possible to the descending water. The rocks on the side were not as slippery, so we climbed up the side and stood near the edge. We had to be extremely careful, because the water pressure could take us down if we came too close. We were standing on the edge, and Dennis was taking pictures from the deck lookout point. One of the locals pointed at us, and signalled for us to jump. I felt like my dreams were coming true! All I wanted to do was jump off this waterfall as soon as possible, before I got nervous. Alexander went first without even thinking. Alex was hesitating, so I ran right in front of her and jumped. Terrified and exhilarated, I think this was one of the best moments of being abroad so far. We played in the water, explored the caves behind the waterfall, and fell a few times on hard, slippery rocks before heading back home.

That night, we got dinner on the beach. We asked for a table near the water, and they gave us a table in the water. We didn't mind, until Alex fell out of her chair! A few fire show kids came over to show us their moves, and one of them (an 8-year-old) spun fire over my head. On our way out, we booked yet another tour for the next day, except this was dolphin-watching and island hopping.

We had to wake up at 6am to see the morning dolphins, but that was (as always) well worth it! We ended up getting a discount, because they guy who sold us our tour double-booked our boat. An American man named Joe and his Filipino wife joined us for the day. Since it's supposed to be a private tour, our guy said that we could decide what time we leave each island. However, since we were swimming, we were not always in a rush. Joe was pretty nice, a little different, but still nice. His wife did not seem to be the biggest fan of us, because we stretched our day excursion pretty long, and she couldn't swim due to her hair treatment.

The boat ride to find dolphins was a little long, but when we saw them we jumped for joy! Or at least I did. We also went snorkeling on a tiny island (without any real bathrooms) for a few hours. We grabbed a few snacks, because the next island did not have any food. By 9am, we were at our second one, the Virgin Island. There is no development, because it's so small and beautiful. The only commerce on the island was several men begging tourists to buy pearls again and again and again. Although this was annoying, the island still felt natural and untouched. Since it wasn't crowded either, we felt pretty special. We could walk around the island in about 5 minutes, because it was so tiny! The water was crystal clear as well, which is always a plus.

Albert & friends teaching us the island ways.

 Alex and I tried to be adventurous by exploring the drop-off, but a nice man from Bohol warned us of the sea urchins. Since he saved our lives, we hung out with him and his work buddies for a while. We found out that they live on Panglao island, and come here every Sunday for a break from working. I can't remember where they worked now, but they all were incredibly friendly (especially to Alexander). Albert taught us how to eat sea urchin. He dove into the water, brought one up, and then he cracked it open. After cleaning out the guts, we ate the orange and yellow sea urchin. Each one had a different taste, but they all were slightly salty. Albert invited us to hang out with him that night, but we didn't make any promises. He was awesome though!

Getting back to the island, Alex and I went exploring to find a hotel to stay in for that night. Our hotel had told us that they were all booked for that night. However, after visiting them again, we realized it was a simple miscommunication error. The Citadel was ours for another night! As it was our last, we went for another beach dinner. Luckily we ran into Niall and the crew again. We also made friends with a college student from McGill who was visiting his family in the Philippines. We all hung out for a while, enjoying our last few hours! We ate plenty of pancakes and drank a good amount of mango shakes, before calling it a night.

The next morning, Dennis gave us a bit of a scare, because he was pretty late. All of us were cranky and tired, and Alexander was not happy that we almost forgot his baby (his camera). The trip back was pretty tiring, but we cheered up after some buns at the ferry dock. I slept during every cab ride, ferry trip, plane ride, MRT, and bus during the way home. Overall, this place surpassed my expectations! So far, it's holding strong as my favorite! :)