Oh, The Places I'll Go!: November 2012

"Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore." -Andre Gide

It's hard to believe I'm actually writing this right now.....but today is my last day in Bangkok. Well, considering it's 2 am, my last full day in Bangkok is already over. I'm up late with most of my floor trying to finish our last minute packing before leaving in the morning. We are heading out at 8:30 am for a flight at noon and right now, it feels pretty surreal.
For the past six months, Hua Mak has not only been the place I've lived in temporarily, but it's become my home. It is my sanctuary among a sometimes very foreign and overwhelming part of the world. Traveling to all these different countries, I've gotten to see a ton of cool things- but coming back to Bangkok (especially Hua Mak) always felt like coming home.

This trip truly has changed me. I have learned so much about myself here, and are more comfortable in my own skin than ever before. I think it will take time to notice all the changes I've made by living here, but I know without a doubt I can say that studying abroad in Thailand is one of the best decisions I have ever made for myself. I'm sad to see it end, but I can't wait to discover how the changes I've made and what I've learned takes root in my life back in America.

I know my travels are not yet over, and I have Hong Kong to look forward to. I hope to never stop traveling and seeing new parts of the world whenever I can! I hope you all have enjoyed reading my blog posts to see what I've been up to and I cannot wait to see each of you in person back in the good ol' US of A!

Love always,
Emily

Hello everyone!

I only have a few days left in Bangkok, but before I leave for Hong Kong I wanted to write a post about my last ten day that took place from October 19th-29th. I went to Malaysia for four days, then Bali for six days and I have to say this was one of my favorite trips I've been on! I really had an awesome time traveling with five other friends and seeing these beautiful countries.

On our first day in Malaysia, we flew in Kuala Lumpur. We found a place to stay at the Birdnest Guest House in Chinatown, which ended up being really cool. It was decorated with birds and trees to go with the theme and we really, really enjoyed staying there. The next morning, we walked around Kuala Lumpur a bit and found the botanical gardens, as well as the National Mosque. Malaysia is a very Muslim country, so it was really interesting to see the different between that and the other Buddhist and Hindu countries I have visited previously. After our day of exploring the city with only a map, we hopped on a bus and drove up to the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia (about 4-5 hours away). I could compare the highlands to Sapa in Vietnam. There were countless green, rolling hills everywhere I looked and it was so incredibly beautiful! Instead of rice paddies like in Sapa, however, these hills were filled with tea plants and strawberries! We ended up taking a guided tour through the tea and strawberry farms, as well as a mossy forest that is up past the cloud line in the highlands! It was so awesome to see all these different parts of the highlands, and we had a great time. It doesn't hurt that I am OBSESSED with tea so the tea plantation was obviously the highlight for me :) We basically spent our nights hanging out in our guest house because the town shut down pretty early, but I got to eat some delicious Indian food three nights in a row!!

After two or three days in the highlands, we came back to Kuala Lumpur for another day of exploring. This time, we went to the center of the city and saw the world-famous Petronas Towers. We spent the night walking around the plaza surrounding the towers, and then heading over to the observation tower to see the city from above! It was definitely a great way to end our time in Malaysia.

National Mosque in Kuala Lumpur

View of the Petronas Towers and the

Observation Tower in Kuala Lumpur!

Tea plantation in the Cameron Highlands

Strawberry farm in Cameron Highlands

The mossy forest!

Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur

Petronas Towers

View from the Observation Tower

The next day we went to the airport to move onto our next adventure- Bali. Bali is one of my absolutely favorite places I have visited in Southeast Asia. I completely fell in love with this island! The first place we stayed in was Ubud, made famous Elizabeth Gilbert in her book Eat, Pray, Love. Ubud was one of the coolest towns I have ever seen. Everything is so ornate and elaborate, and the Balinese culture is everywhere you look (which makes sense, because Ubud is considered the cultural capital of the island). Every home is a compound of about 4 or 5 families, and their compound is surrounded by decorative walls and stone structures that are breathtaking.

On our first full day in Bali, we went on a bike tour through the Bali Breeze tour company. We got to bike outside of Ubud and see the incredibly beautiful countryside. We even got to ride our bikes through rice paddies- or into rice paddies, if you're me and Justin.....luckily neither of us got hurt! This bike tour showed us some of the most beautiful countryside ever, and it was so peaceful! On our bike tour, we got to sample luwak coffee, which is the world's most expensive coffee! Animals that most closely resemble a mongoose eat only the best of a particular kind of coffee bean. Once it is processed through their body and they poop it out, the beans are still whole and are used to make this coffee! It's a very bizarre concept, but the coffee was pretty good and goes for hundreds of dollars a pound!

Another favorite part of our trip to Bali was a hike we did up Mount Batur, a still-active volcano on the island. We woke up at 1:30am to get breakfast and head up to the volcano to do a two hike up to the top. We got up there just in time to watch the sunrise, which was just unreal. The view was spectacular and you could see for miles! After our hike, we came back and headed down to Kuta, a touristy beach area in the south of Bali. We stayed there for a few days before heading back to Bangkok!

I don't think this quick blog post can do my 10 day trip justice, but it really was one of my favorite trips I've taken in my time in Southeast Asia. Bali is definitely a place I would like to go back to for an extended amount of time, and I hope one day I will get the chance to!