right before i was ready to graduate and move back home , i decided to study abroad in Taiwan. this is my attempt to remember every day of this opportunity and experience that i never intended to have.
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Dear Friends and Family,
please direct yourself to
http://bonniEATravel.tumblr.com :)
since my oversea adventures have ended (for now) & “beyee overseas” no longer seems relevant, I’ve decided to continue blogging my food and fun under another username. If you choose to, remember the new bonniEATravel name and follow me there instead because i will be deleting the beyee overseas account soon!
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The End~
so, this is it i guess. a bit of a rambling conclusion to beyeeoverseas.
10 months ago it took me about a week to pack over 100 lbs of stuff to sustain me through what became a 10-month (well 8, minus dec/jan) journey of studying & exploring, seeing & doing, learning and observing what southeast Asia had to offer me. And now it’s all coming to close. Just checked in (25lbs overweight, but no charge! yessss) and just waiting to get back to good ole America.
I remember landing in Taiwan, around midnight in muggy September. Thankfully my Auntie picked me up. I remember the long car ride to their place, and trying to recognize characters on passing vehicles (mostly failed) while Uncle suggested I consider staying 2 semesters rather than 1 (i laughed). I remember spending the first day here eating every other hour and walking around in the humid heat, and then waking up the next day to a ridiculously aggressive thunder storm.
I guess once the semester started, things get a little more blurry. Life generally consisted of lots of walking, decent amounts of homework, and frequent trips to night clubs. Thankfully it was so humid when I arrived that I was rarely hungry, because I remember thinking that I was going to starve since I couldn’t manage to go somewhere and order food on my own. I’m actually very pleased with myself for mostly keeping this blog, there’s not much else that needs to be said about what i’ve been doing :]
Being overseas became much more than just being away from home. In a way, Taiwan became a new home, a new bubble. I met so many people from other parts of the world and the the only thing i had in common with them was Taiwan. My life and past seemed virtually irrelevant at times, which really helped me realize that the world is SO different outside of California, or America even.
I’m REALLY going to miss: 7-11 and their 8NT tea eggs, tank-shorts-flipflop thunderstorm weather, 30NT ($1) drinks/boba, bartering, WAX APPLES & papaya, all you can drink clubs, fake eyelashes :P, CHINESE, making small talk with locals, and CLASS. my goodness, I’m a graduate now.
All in all, I’m very thankful to have had this experience. Even though thinking back to when i first left feels so long ago, in many ways I don’t feel any different. However, the experiences I’ve had are definitely unmatchable, and nothing that I could have ever imagined. My passport has probably been stamped more times that it will ever be stamped in the future, but who knows, maybe there is traveling in my blood after all.
So, what next? back to reality, life, and normality.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagsanjan_Falls
tomorrow.
which is something to look forward to since today was prettyyyy hot & un-extraordinary. Dad & I had brownies & chocolate cake for breakfast, then just did some walking around to relatively unimpressive ‘famous attractions’ like a tower (that wasn’t a tower) and a church (that wasn’t open)…not to mention it took us a 30 min walk through a sketchy looking neighborhood and a street with bars with names like Tickles, Dimples, Button and High Heel…just to name a few. BUT, we had a very nice dinner, courtesy of Mom’s friendly coworker.
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sweet rides
must say tho, the ‘school service’ van packed full of children in uniform looked the shadiest.
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Marina Bay Sands:
Saw this funny building from pretty far away yesterday when i was walking around and thought it was a boat on a building. It wasn’t until I logged onto wiki to find out that it’s a newly opened 3-tower resort, and is the world’s most expensive standalone property O_O. And that’s not a boat on top, it’s a sky platform & vanishing edge infinity swimming pool. jeesh. The same developer created The Venetian, which explains why there are canal rides through the connecting mall. Other features? Retractable roof = rain collection waterfalls, art museum, ice rink, theaters, Broadway performances…sigh. Good to know that when I get too old for Vegas, i can just come here instead :P.
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singapore: noted so far
-mrt : 跟台北比起來 spans faar distances, but the main stops are quite close together. inefficient single-ride card system, and more expensive than taipei and hk
-weather: comfortable, well to me. (M&D and haven’t been too comfortable). humid but bearable. breezy, but sun can get intense.
-people: men are generally small(er than Americans) and women seem classy. :) not much obesity nor pale skeletons!
-languages: ENGLISH (yay!) but in aaallll sorts of strange/different accents where you can’t even understand it sometimes. and mandarin. and occasionally others.
-demographic: according to wiki, chinese! malay. indian. sooo many different looking chinese people in the world.
-so many black forest flavored things… ?
-maybe the best part: feels like the city but costs less :]]]]] 1USD - 1.2SGD
been pretty lucky so far. quite enjoyable.
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H.F.O.T.W: ice cream SANDWICH!! haha, really!
As I was walking along the long, upscale, retail/commercial Orchard Road, I walked by so many umbrella’ed ice cream carts that not after too long, I couldn’t resist. But, I guess they do ice cream differently here. After i ordered, the man pulled out a block of ice cream and a butcher knife to cut me off a slice. Then, he asked if i wanted wafers, or bread! Actually, it was really fun to eat, and tasty too. The slightly sweet bread was soft and chewy, but thick enough to keep the melting ice cream from getting messy. Oh yeah, and what flavor did i choose? SWEET CORN! :D
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hello0o SINGAPORE!
arrived at 12:15am, and had some time to get familiar with, and navigate the Singapore Changi airport which is a good thing since i have a 24 HOUR STOPOVER here next saturday :T anyways, let out a squeal of happiness/relief when I met up with Mom by 1am, to begin my first…VACATION!
after this year of travel, to me there is a very different feeling between traveling and vacationing. I landed in Singapore with no plan and yet, no stress either. odd. :]
Also, this hotel more than makes up for the straw huts, water-hole toilets, and pvc pipe cold shower spout I was so lucky to experience in Thailand. Though bed chocolates greeted us at the Holiday Inn in HK, a PILLOW MENU was perched on my bed at the Intercontinental Singapore. I didn’t even know people infused pillows, but it’s not a bad idea.
kinda hungry at 2am, but the only place open was a local Indian cafe. We had prata (~tortilla) and curry, not bad & inexpensive too. 7-11’s are common but more like the ones in American :/
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hong kong hong kong
eeek, sooo excited that i was finally able to arrange a trip to 香港！ Though there was the unfortunate event of my LOUSY ATM CARD refusing to give me money (-_-), thankfully HK has already adopted the use of credit cards so my good mood wasn’t rained on too badly. We arrived in the evening, and after a quick, cheap, agreeable noodle soup dinner, we dolled up, photo boothed, and attempted to experience the infamous HK night life we’ve heard so much about, and it didn’t dissapoint! We didn’t reach Lang Kwai Fong, the “party area”, until almost 1am, but there was still a party EVERYWHERE! People, who mostly appeared to be foreigners, loud music, and ENGLISH filled and echoed through the narrow roads. The warm, humid air was comfortable enough for everyone to enjoy their drinks outside, and there were blocks of clubs, lounges, bars, and restaurants all welcoming for more party-goers. A loud, smokey, American bar would be adjacent to a dimly lit, classy lounge; it was as if a frat row and been combined with Las Vegas Blvd, on the uphill, windy streets of SF. We had one recommendation for specific lounge, but after almost an hour of trekking up, down and around to find it, we were tired and in no mood to stay at what ended up being a trendy bar/club packed full like a can of sardines. no problem though, we have a full day ahead of us tomorrow :]
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