We went to the Philippines!

Christian and I booked a trip to explore the Philippines together at the end of our exchange semester. Another couple vacation. :) We visited Panglao (Bohol), Cebu, Boracay and Manila. We did not manage to dive with whale sharks on this trip, but had a great time, either way. Most of our days were spent close to the amazing ocean, swimming and enjoying the perfect vacation weather.

 

One day we went on exploring Panglao with a private driver, the best way to get around and see a lot at your own pace. We saw the magical Chocolate hills, went swimming in the Mag-Aso waterfalls and visited the famous, furry local called tarsier. 

 

We also rented a sailing boat to go snorkeling in the gorgeous water of Panglao. We even got to hold a blowfish, twice! The guide took a deep free-dive and showed it to us, what a moment!

After snorkeling, we stopped by Virgin Island and a sand strip in the ocean that only exists at low tide; a tiny perfect spot in the beautiful ocean. There was a friendly woman selling coconuts. Of course we supported the local business owner, it was too good too pass. Surreal and such a fun memory in paradise!

We had lots of food, yummy drinks, refreshing coconut water and smoothies. And romantic dinners with grilled fish, sourced nearby. We even tried the local blue marlin which was the special of the day at a restaurant, where we were sitting with our feet in the sand right by the water. Magic!

We also went to Cebu, exploring local cultural sights for a day. And then we headed on to Boracay, a paradise island with even more mesmerizing water than our previous island destination. We spent our days swimming and being a typical couple in love on vacation. ♥

 

By the way - One day we put on our beloved rain ponchos from a date at Singapore Zoo, because it was absolutely pouring with rain! One minute later, when we got down to the beach the sun was smiling again, and so was everyone seeing us in our rain ponchos on a perfect day :D

In the evenings we made sure to catch the amazing sunsets of Boracay, barefoot in the sand. I am grateful that we were able to enjoy these beautiful surroundings together. I had the best company as well, both Christian and the cute dogs living by the beach that enjoyed the sunsets together with us.

We somehow ended up having lots of mango, mango smoothies, cake and mango margaritas. We ate yummy mexican snacks and had dinner at the beach. We found both bubbly nutella and strawberry crepes and a cheesecake café walking along the beach at night. Perfect for a sweet tooth. :) 

After sunny days and relaxation at the end of our semester abroad, we had to pack our bags, it was time to leave Boracay. We made our way to our boat and flight and later arrived in the capital again.

In Manila, we stayed at Midas hotel, went shopping, saw the last Twilight movie and ordered huge steaks from room service. We were so tired and lounged in our hotel bathrobes and ate chocolate cake in bed. :) 

The next day we had to say goodbye to the Philippines to fly back to Singapore. And we almost missed our flight! We had to run through the airport after the security check, shoes in hand. :D But we made it! Thank you for all the memories, my love. Life with you is more fun! ♥

Thailand island hopping

We went to the beautiful island of Koh Lipe together for a couple getaway and then I went on travelling solo, island-hopping on Koh Phi Phi and Koh Lanta before heading to Phuket for a few relaxing days by the pool in my hillside hotel resort.

 

Koh Lipe - We had a lot of yummy food and healthy drinks, went swimming in the ocean, marveled at the amazing surroundings (look at that water!) and enjoyed being in love, spending time together on vacation. ♥

Koh Phi Phi - My solo island hopping started. During my days here I took a boat out and went snorkeling, visiting the monkeys and nearby beaches as well as staring up the gigantic limestone formations surrounding the area. Just having left Christian who went back to Singapore after our couples vacation was a bit tough and I remember feeling a bit lonely and not in a party mood like everyone else that came to this island. :) Yet, I still believe traveling on your own is good for you.

I went out to have dinner by myself right by the water and taking in the typical pyrotechnics show, that really set a comfy mood in the evening. I had yummy pizza and delicious tiramisu at an Italian-owned restaurant - in tropical Thailand! :) The Loy kratong lantern festival was on while I was on the island, and I sent a lantern into the ocean with lots of hope, love and wishes for the future. ♥

Koh Lanta - Next up I took a boat to Koh Lanta. I stayed at Time for Lime and took a thai cooking class, petted a lot of dogs and went to the dog shelter to support their operations. So much love, had I stayed longer I really would have loved to be a volunteer. They do amazing work! 

Phuket - My last stop in Thailand before heading back to Singapore a few days later. I visited the town on the first evening. After visiting several countries in the last few weeks, here I really felt the need to withdraw myself and spent the following days recharging, reading, eating yummy food and enjoying time on my own by the pool in my hillside resort. ♥

We went to Langkawi together!

After Cambodia, I flew to Kuala Lumpur and then to Langkawi to meet Christian. ♥ Such a lovely place. So happy about all of our adventures during this semester in Singapore. Our accomodation had a private beach for hotel guests, lucky us!

"Looks like Norrland!" - The area reminded someone of his home in northern Sweden. I do get some Swedish summer vibes from the pics below. :)

Langkawi has really beautiful sunsets and we were able to enjoy the nice view from our bungalow. We spent two days on Langkawi and caught a boat to Thailand after that. We had more to see, still.

Off to Thailand, first stop Koh Lipe! 

Cambodia II: Siem Reap & Angkor Wat

I went to visit Cambodia and this is part two of the journey. I took so many pictures so I had to split the trip up into two posts! :) First I went to beautiful Phnom Penh and now let's continue with Siem Reap and Angkor Wat. One morning it was time to leave the capital behind. I took a bus from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap via the scenic countryside of Cambodia.

After a long busride with romantic Cambodian music videos on all screens as entertainment, we stopped at a market outside of the city. They had quite the selection, such as fried spiders and insects, but I decided to go for sliced mango instead ;) I finally arrived in Siem Reap, got into a cab and went to our hotel to meet up with my friends from Sweden.

I got a bright green room that gave me a lot of positive energy and a comfy bed, so I was more than satisfied with my room for the stay. After our reunion the boys and I went for a walk around the area to grasp our new surroundings for the days to come. We also tried fish spa! :D

Very early morning on the next day, it was time to get up and explore Angkor Wat! We left really early to be able to see the sun rise over Angkor Wat.

A pretty start of the day! Such a beautiful reflection in the water... Afterwards we had breakfast before taking in more of Angkor Wat and the rest of the area. So much to see in the whole 'village' of temples. I really liked Bayon with the serene stone faces and Ta Prohm (the Tomb Raider temple), with trees growing as if they had melted over the temple walls.

Back in Siem Reap we got massages again. Later it was time for dinner at Champey (one more frangipani flower-related experience in Cambodia). We had fried rice, served in pineapple boats and decorated with orchids and other yummy dishes. 

Afterwards we went to Pub street. The boys heard I had never had a "bucket", so they ordered a couple for us to share at Temple bar. I got a t-shirt with our order of buckets, saying "Khmer and proud of it". :D Such soft cotton though, def going to sleep in it from now on!

What an amazing trip. I have so many wonderful memories from Cambodia to bring back home with me. Next up, I got a flight to meet Christian in Malaysia! ♥

Cambodia I: Phnom Penh & Koh Dach

I went to Cambodia! First I went to beautiful Phnom Penh. I stayed in the city, ate the local Khmer curry and did day excursions. I travelled on my own to Cambodia as a solo female traveller and I was feeling very safe, even at the night market. Although I recommend taking a cab at night and not walking the city like I did (with my camera, hehe). I was still feeling safe but afterwards I realized it was a risk that was not worth taking anyways, just to be extra careful :) Glad I made this trip on my own still. 

Cambodia is wonderful and I would not have wanted to miss it while living in South East Asia. I arrived in the city and enjoyed a walk around the area.

 

I went to a book store and was simply soaking up the atmosphere, taking a few snapshots of what I saw. Later I found a driver that took me further around the city sightseeing some more.

Went and saw beautifully decorated temples, courtyards and took a few pictures in that beautiful sunlight... :)

I believe that these simply were everyday scenes of the city, but I enjoyed seeing them. :)

I also went to the market, which was fun. Flowers, fresh fruit, rice, some cute animals, friendly locals and various delicacies... I looked at all the stands, met the locals and bought a bunch of delicious mango and beautifully presented pineapples, all for a dollar or so. I got some change in Riel, the local currency. I love collecting a few coins and notes from all trips around the world. :)

After sunset the sightseeing trip turned into an evening tour of the city, everything decorated with scenic lights, from official buildings to an amusement park.

On the next day I went to Koh Dach, the Silk Island. My driver from the day before suggested it. I met him early in the morning to take a day trip exploring new surroundings outside of the city.

Aside from all the pretty views and friendly locals, there were beautiful animals and cute children everywhere.

 

One house had a pet monkey that was sitting on the dog, and hanging on his owners arm while he was carrying his grandchild. :)

I went to a monastery that had a favorite exotic flower of mine, the frangipani blooming in their courtyard. And I got to meet a real munk. 

(Want to hear a confession about my meeting with the munk? I made a foreign fool of myself, sitting on his mat (before he came out, luckily) instead of sitting on the tile floor... So embarassing, haha. You are welcome for the laughs, prospect munks that saw it all! :D)

In the evening I went to the Phnom Penh night market for a brief visit, but after a long day on Koh Dach I was looking forward to a good nights sleep. 

The next day it was time to leave the capital, I had friends to meet and more to see! :) So I took a bus to travel all the way to Siem Reap.

Pictures from Hong Kong

How about some pics from my trip to Hong Kong? Had so much fun with Yulia, my friend from uni in Sweden, who is working in China at the moment. So happy she got to meet some of the people I have been getting to know during my studies in Singapore as well. ♥  

 

Singapore Airport is so pretty with all of the orchids, I love being there. (Used to enjoy each stopover there on my way to and from Australia even before I decided to study in Singapore. SG was always calling me I guess, and now I live there...) Now it was time to fly to Hong Kong. But first...My little airport tradition, TWG macarons! I love the one with passionfruit.

One flight later... I am reunited with my friend Yulia and we took a bus from the airport to the city center. On the way, I got to try some rice treats Yulia had brought with her from China. Then it was check-in time at the Island Pacific Hotel! The hotel is welcoming a "Mr." with my last name on the in-room screen. Wonder where he is? ;)

Time to explore the city of Hong Kong! We stayed close to Seafood street and started there, enjoying the atmosphere, walking around and getting some snapshots.

We just let ourselves "get lost" in Hong Kong for a bunch of hours. So much life in this city, as one of my friends said. I really agree. Singapore is a bit more 'polished'.

When it got dark we headed back to the hotel room to jump on the hotel beds and get ready for a night out! :) Time for some yummy dinner! We had lots of tasty dishes such as noodles and dumplings at a great local place.

Belly full and happy we headed out to meet my friends from Singapore for a cocktail at the highest bar of the world, at the Ritz-Carlton hotel on the other side of the river. Such an amazing view of the city at night - Breathtaking! Somehow we decided to do some bar-hopping at Lan Kwai Fong after that. Lots of students from all over the world, so not really traditional local culture. :)

The day after we started with ice cold coffee drinks and did some fun sightseeing by bus. We also took the Peak Tram for a scenic view of the city from above. 

We went to use the loo at Bubba Gump Shrimps just to have been to the place. Forrest Gump fans... ♥ Outside we saw interesting warning signs that really ought to get the message across :D And then we had lunch at a local place, simply pointing out different things on the menu to try. 

An exciting weekend getaway! But now it was already time to head home to Singapore... Thank you for all the memories, Hong Kong! I would love to come back soon! ♥

Memories from Perhentian Island

I remember when we sat by the ocean watching the stars. ♥

 

Snapshots from Hong Kong

 

More photos to come - exciting! :) I had the best trip to Hong Kong! But now its almost 6.30 am (most people will go up soon) and I have not fallen asleep yet.

 

I gotta let go of all papers and project work and get some sleep before our mock presentations...good night...and good morning!

Gone to Hong Kong!

Going away to Hong Kong for the weekend! 

 

Retail therapy & packing for Hong Kong

Did some retail therapy after my group meeting today. I went all in at H&M (I'm such a Swede!) and I swear I looked at everything at least twice before I left the store to go to Cotton on.

 

The good thing is that I packed my bag for Hong Kong within 5 minutes; just took all I bought and voilá, done! Got a bit more than 6 hours until I have to get up and get a cab to the airport. Luckily I have group work before bedtime...who needs sleep? ;) /Jas

You Only Live Once

I'm going to exciting Hong Kong this weekend, even though we're not done with school yet. Why? You only live once! Talking about YOLO, no other than Yulia, who is working in China right now will join me on my Hong Kong trip, I can't wait! Adding a pic of us at the beach in Sweden last summer. :)

Bintan-Go vs Bintan-No

All in all I had a wonderful trip to Bintan. I would love to visit again, but there is so much more to see before I go back to Sweden! I will write about some other trips we have been on until now later on, but to sum up the trip to Bintan I really want to share some pros and cons. :o)

Bintan-No!

- Sandflies (Bring insect repellant and if the bites show up anyways after your return home (like mine did) go and get antibiotics (anti-itch, yeah!) fast.

- I didnt sleep for four days until I got the prescription, it was a nightmare!

 

Bintan-Go!

+ The boat ride takes less than one hour from Singapore!

+ Book a chalet at a beachfront property far off the city! You'll have a private beach and plenty of local food made by the staff that run the place.

+ The food! Nasi goreng and satay obviously; and my favourite, their banana pancakes, yummy!

Exploring Bintan, days & nights

The trip to the island of Bintan was my first getaway from Singapore. Well-needed, after not having any summer holidays and working my summer job until two days before flying to Singapore.

So off we went, to spend a long weekend relaxing, swimming in the ocean, exploring small islands when the tide was low and taking a boat trip around the area. I finally got to try the absolute notion of vacation: drinking from a fresh coconut at a wonderful beach! We had a birthday boy with us on the island, so for that night we made him a vodka watermelon! :)

We took it easy during the days and partied it up with our little crew at night. Since we managed to be there during both muslim new year and another public holiday (National day I think) all the locals were extra joyful. We enjoyed sitting around a bonfire at the beach every night.

Even though we stayed right at a wonderful beach, we still wanted to see some more. One day we rented some motorbikes and went around for hours and hours on this any photographers dream-island; we got to see the most beautiful spots of Bintan!

More travel photos?

I've done a fair bit of traveling over here but a glance at the other posts in the "Travels"-archive just talks of leaving to some place and shares the occasional photo upon my return to the city; it never actually goes bananas offering you pictures from what I've seen, where I've been, which was the purpose of this blog to begin with. I've been sloppy, but there are plenty of photos to show. So from now on I'm going to start sharing.

Perhentian Island, Malaysia

Some of us had to study but we went on a trip anyways, the whole crew. We took an overnight bus from Singapore and then caught a ride and boat the next morning. After a refreshing kopi time break of course; we had iced coffee and condensed milk by the bag full. 

 

One day we rented a catamaran and did a full day of snorkeling beautiful reefs and other spots around the island.

 

I saw a shark, a reef shark but still, so excited! I also swam with Nemo and Dory and loads of other cute fish! ♥

 

We found mysterious jellyfish sea creatures, were visited by huge reptiles, had dinner with catch of the day, seafood and barbeque by the beach in the evening and drank local Orang Utan rum. :D

 

 

Btw - One night Christian and I went for a walk and forgot that we had the keys to all rooms with us except for one, resulting in our friends all having to stuff themselves into one tiny room to be able to go to sleep somewhere until we got back! :D Sorry!!! ♥

 

 

On the way home we stopped in Kota Bharu for a night as well. We all went to the night market and tried local candy and delicacies of various types, and got caught in the rain. A good time with friends!

Perhentian Island, October 18th-22nd

My daily message really hit it off this time: "You are blessed. You may think you have challenges, but you have so many blessings. Sometimes it takes only a moment of conscious effort to recognize those blessings. Once you focus on the gifts instead of the problems, your whole perspective will change and you will see blessings everywhere." 

 

Going to focus on the best part of my life right now: A weekend away with friends in paradise, from tonight until monday! ♥

Halfway through the semester

 

Singapore status. Half my time over here in Singapore lies behind me. There has been so much to see and wonderful people to meet; there is a lot of frustration at times with uni but a lot of fun and laughter in our spare-time as well. Honestly, I have never felt school pride before but at NUS I really do. I work hard and the profs are high quality educators with real experience in their respective fields. I have worn the mascot costume, I have participated in sports competitions, studied hard and am planning to support the uni as an alumni.

 

Travel plans. I have a little bit over two months to go and lots more fun to come, I'm sure. Now for example we have just booked a paradise beach getaway in Malaysia - In two weeks it's time to go!

Pictures from Vietnam

What a wonderful time we had in Vietnam. First of all, what a beautiful country. And second of all - what amazing food. We went to Hanoi, sailed Halong Bay and visited the mountains of Sapa. It's great to be back in Singapore now though. I'm looking at my photos (both my cameras gave up on the way to the third part of the trip) and I wanted to share some of them before going to bed.

 

Hanoi was the first place we arrived to in Vietnam. I took some snapshots on the way in and while walking the city later in the day. I remember you just had to walk into traffic (and hope for the best). Noone waits for anyone, the traffic flow is neverending. People here are brave; we had to be, too.

We saw local women start the day with calming tai chi by the water, went to the museum of female history, visited beautiful temples and other cultural sights.

In need of a refreshing break we went to a secret café I had read about; with a huge cat guarding the reception desk! Enjoyed the terrace lake view and ordered iced tea and coffee drinks.

We had locally brewed beer for 5000 Dông (2 SEK / 20 cents), went to the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum, relaxed at a charming Spa and met with local students volunteering as guides to get more insight and cultural exchange.

We had cocktails at nice hotels a couple of times and we ate the best food! Vietnamese food was really my favourite out of all while traveling during my semester in South East Asia. I loved the lemongrass chicken and catfish springrolls we had at the amazing restaurant Highway 4. Or the best phở (soup), which we enjoyed at a lunch spot where they sat everyone on simple plastic chairs, and the memorable owner put the cash into the neckline of her top. :)

We also visited the mountains of Sapa to go hiking and see something completely different than Hanoi. We took an overnight train, drinking gin from cups feeling very much like in the classic movie "Some like it hot". :)

Then we went to Halong Bay. We got a ride from Hanoi and three hours later we were at the harbour ready to board the boat. Saw a hot captain, unfortunately not ours :D Stayed in a comfy cabin each and had a few days of sailing Halong Bay ahead of us.

This was such a great trip. A tranquil journey on a vintage wooden boat, no haste, plenty of time to read and enjoy solitude or conversations. ♥

We ate amazing seafood, stopped at quaint spots to go swimming, visited a fishing village and did fun stuff like kayaking. Thank you, Vietnam! What an amazing vacation! ♥

Now I am back in Singapore and this weekend is going to be one of true student spirit. I'm going on an excursion to various cultural spots of Singapore doing some research for my Managing Communication Campaigns course project.

Vietnam, September 21st-27th

Gone off to Vietnam!

Just a little more studying...

Going to do a little bit more reading for school and then I am off to bed! Tomorrow I have no classes which equals...study time! All day looong! All this studying, I need to make some travel plans again soon. Gotta keep my spiritual balance, and my sanity... :)