Bali

Continuing from last month’s blog, the month of February began with landing in the Indonesian island of Bali. With over 20 hours having passed since we left our accommodation in the Philippines, we were understandably rather shattered stepping off the plane in Bali. Fortunately, we then arrived at what would turn out to be my favourite accommodation of our full travels. We were staying in a ‘Pod Hostel,’ which was a bizarre experience. Each bed had shutters, so everyone effectively stayed in a little closed off space. Unlike other hostels, which can often be rather loud, our room was totally silent – so if anyone is planning on travelling to Bali, I highly recommend a pod hostel!

Our time in Bali also coincided with when two of the other travelling groups were in Bali, so we arranged to meet up. We all met up at a house which one group had rented, where we had a barbeque. The house was lovely and had a pool, which was needed to cope with the heat. It was also great to see some of the other scholars again, as it was very strange going two weeks without seeing people who you had seen every day for the past four months.

We then had a pit stop on our way to our next location, where we stopped off for some ‘Luwak’ coffee. This is widely considered to be one of the most expensive coffee in the world, with a kilogram of pure luwak coffee beans selling for over £500. The reason why the coffee is so expensive is because of the rather unconventional way in which the beans are gathered. An Indonesian cat called the Asian Palm Civet can sniff out the best coffee beans, and then workers gather the cat’s poo. The poo is then washed, and the coffee beans are found fully intact, with those beans being the most full and flavoursome beans. After learning about how the coffee was made, I was then able to try a cup – it was some of the best coffee I’ve tasted, although the knowledge of how it was made left a bit of a sour taste.

The rest of our time in Bali was mainly spent at the beach, which explains why most of us were pretty badly sunburnt. During one of our days at the beach, we decided to try our hand at some surfing, which rather unsurprisingly is about as hard as it looks. After many attempts, I managed to stand up for a bit and ‘catch some waves.’ I also found out that surfing was quite a workout, with my arms still hurting when it was time to go to the airport.

We arrived in our next stop, Singapore, just as the celebrations for the Chinese New Year were beginning, so there was lots going on around the city to celebrate. On our first day, we visited Chinatown, and it was very nice to feel like we were back in China. Unfortunately, as it was Chinese New Year, a lot of shops weren’t open as their owners were celebrating the New Year. Singapore is the true definition of a cultural and ethnic melting pot, with large communities of Chinese, Indian and ethnic Malay. This gave the city a unique feel and meant that Singapore has a lot of great traditional food. Whether it be some dumplings in Chinatown, or a curry in Little India, the food in Singapore was great. One of my favourite meals in Singapore was a lamb Murtabak, which we had in little India.

When in Singapore, the must-do attraction is going to see the Gardens by the Bay. Even though Singapore is a bustling metropolis city state there is a surprising amount of green space, including the Gardens by the Bay, which take up over 100 hectares. During the day we walked around the park, which took a lot of time. Inside the park, one can find the world’s largest glass greenhouse, and the ‘Supertree recreational area.’ The recreational area hosts 12 tree-like constructions, which are made from steel, but have flowers and plants worked into the sculpture.  At night, the ‘Supertrees’ light up, and late at night the park holds a light and music shows. The lights within the trees blink in time with the music being played, which makes for an almost hypnotising show.

In order to get a great view on the city, we went to the Marina Bay Sands hotel, one of the most iconic buildings in Singapore. The hotel has a rooftop bar, which offers a fantastic view of the city and has the world’s largest rooftop infinity pool. The hotel is a five-star hotel, and one of the most expensive in the whole of Singapore, so one can probably guess how expensive the items on the menu were. In order to get a table and take in the view, we ordered the cheapest drink they had, apart from Charles who took out a small bank loan in order to afford a plate of chips. Despite having to buy perhaps the world’s most expensive can of cola, the views made it all worth it.

On our final night, we visited ‘The Projector,’ an independent cinema. The cinema was recommended as one of the coolest places in Singapore, and it lived up to its name. The Projector was a renovated retro cinema, which retained lots of the original features of the old cinema. It shows many arthouse and international films, so we managed to catch a Lebanese film, which was excellent. The Projector epitomised the very cool nature of the city of Singapore, and I hope to return some day.

Next up was Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Our time in Vietnam was rather full on, with us trying to pack in as much to every day we were there. Our first full day in Ho Chi Minh City was spent visiting the Mekong Delta, where we took a boat ride down the Mekong river. We also stopped off along the river to try some traditional Vietnamese food and listen to some traditional Vietnamese folk music.

A lot of our time in Vietnam was spent learning about the war, which took place in the second half of the 20th century. Firstly, we went on a trip to the Vietnamese jungle, where we saw where a lot of fighting took place. We saw the tiny tunnels in which Vietnamese soldiers travelled in, and even got to go inside them. We also visited the museum which commemorates the Vietnamese war, which is a must-do when in Ho Chi Minh. It was quite a sobering experience, with many real artefacts from the war being displayed.

One of my favourite things about Vietnam was the cuisine, which was not only very tasty but also very cheap, which was a nice change after having been in the very expensive Singapore. For dinner, we often went and ate a bowl of traditional pho (soup noodles with either chicken or beef) which costs less than £1 for a bowl. Ho Chi Minh also has street vendors on almost every corner, almost all of which sell Banh Mi. Banh Mi is an example of the strange fusion of cultures which can be seen across Asia. Banh Mi is made by taking a baguette, (a result of the colonisation of Vietnam by the French) and then filling it with spicy steak.

Our second last stop was Chiang Mai, a city in the north of Thailand. This was to be the last time we entered a new country, which fortunately meant no more waiting in long lines at immigration, but also meant that our travels were coming to an end.

The highlight of our stay in Chiang Mai was going to visit an elephant sanctuary which was a couple of hours drive away from the city. When we arrived at the sanctuary, we learned about the elephants, and how they were rescued. Some of the elephants were orphaned, whilst others had been rescued from the circus. We were then able to feed the elephants some bananas, which them taking the banana from your hand using their trunk. The elephant which had previously worked in the circus had been taught to catch bananas in its mouth, although it was a sad reminder of the mistreatment of animals which is commonplace in a lot of Asia. Due to the fact we were at an elephant sanctuary, we were also able to give them a mud bath and wash them, which was a strange feeling.

An integral part of any visit to Thailand is visiting some of the many Buddhist temples across the country, and we managed to visit quite a few during our time in Chiang Mai. The most impressive temple we visited was reached by a rather treacherous bus journey up the side of a mountain. The reward for not throwing up on the bus was getting to see the spectacular fully golden temple. The temple also offered the chance to speak to some monks and learn about their way of life. It was so interesting speaking to them, and they gave us a valuable insight into their faith, which in turn helped us to better understand Thai culture. We now understood the important role than monks play in Thai society, and we noticed this when we saw monks had a separate queue for boarding at the airport!

One of the best parts of Chiang Mai was the fact that there was a food market only a few minutes’ walk from our hostel. We were able to try a lot of different traditional Thai meals and snacks, and it was all very cheap. My favourite item from the market was the traditional Thai dish called ‘Pad Thai,’ which was delicious. The market also sold lots of fresh fruit and great fruit smoothies, so I managed to get my 5 a day every day!

Our final activity in Chiang Mai was going to a farm, where we learned to cook traditional Thai meals. I felt like I was back in Home Economics back at school, however my culinary skills have thankfully improved from first year. We learned how to make Pad Thai, soup and a Thai green curry. I was rather proud of what I managed to make, however I think it should perhaps be left to the professionals.

For our final destination, we flew south from Chiang Mai to the Thai capital of Bangkok. All the scholars who were travelling around South East Asia managed to book the same accommodation for Bangkok. It was nice to meet up with everyone yet again, and more importantly to claim a small part of Bangkok as a Scottish colony. Our accommodation was the ‘Onion Hostel,’ and before arriving had no idea as to why it had that name, although we were rather intrigued. Upon arrival, we quickly realised that the hostel was named after the market next door which exclusively sold onions. The street smelled very strongly of onion, which took a while to get used to, but thankfully if we got lost, we could simply smell our way back to the hostel.

Reflecting on Bangkok, I think the one thing which stands out the most in my mind was just how hot it was. The heat in Bangkok was almost oppressive, and we could never go more than a few hours in the sun before having to seek refuge in the shade. As a result of this incredible heat, (and our growing fatigue after having been travelling for over a month) we spent a lot of time at our hostel, mainly playing the monopoly set which the hostel had, which was admittedly a lot of fun.

Our time in Bangkok also allowed us to try out a new method of transport. While we used the subway to get around in Hong Kong and Singapore, motorbikes to get around in the Philippines, the best way to get around Bangkok is by using the boat service. The city is split in half by a river, so in order to travel to the other half of the city, you must cross by boat. It was very interesting using the boat, and it was strange thinking about the fact that many use the boat as a part of their daily commute.

Like in Chiang Mai, we also managed to visit quite a few temples in Bangkok. By far my favourite temple was Wat Arun, which is situated at the side of the Chaophrya river. The temple is decorated with seashells and bits of colourful porcelain, which had come from boats which came from Bangkok to China. The temple looked beautiful, and from the top of the temple you could look out onto the river.

Thankfully, our last night in Bangkok fell on a Friday, which meant we were able to go and see the weekend market. Every weekend in Bangkok, the Chatuchak weekend market is held, which is the world’s largest weekend market. There are over 15,000 stalls, with over 200,000 people attending every weekend. The market sold almost anything you could possibly imagine, and it felt like you could spend days just walking through the seemingly endless number of stalls.

Eventually, it was time to go to Bangkok airport, and board our final flight. Although I was sad to stop travelling and seeing so many new amazing places, I was also looking forward to returning to China, and getting back into a routine.

Exiting Tianjin airport provided a stark reminder that we had in fact returned to China. We were reminded not only by the freezing cold temperatures, but also by the fact that our ‘celebrity status’ had returned. Having come from Bangkok, we were still dressed in shorts and t-shirts, which was a source of great hilarity to the other Chinese people dressed in long parka jackets, who proceeded to take many pictures.

Returning to our accommodation was a strange feeling and felt rather surreal to begin with. It took quite a while to get used to the fact that we were all back in China again. The last week or so of February was spent attempting to re-adjust to living in China. Fortunately, we still had another week until the second semester of university began.A lot of our time in Vietnam was spent learning about the war which took place in the second half of the 20th century.Firstly, we went on a trip to the Vietnamese jungle, where we saw where a lot of fighting took place. We saw the tiny tunnels in which Vietnamese soldiers travelled in, and even got to go inside them. We also visited the museum which commemorates the Vietnamese war, which is a must-do when in Ho Chi Minh. It was quite a sobering experience, with many real artefacts from the war being displayedIn order to get a great view on the city, we went to the Marina Bay Sands hotel, one of the most iconic buildings in Singapore. The hotel has a rooftop bar which offers a fantastic view of the city and has the world’s largest rooftop infinity pool. The hotel is a five-star hotel, and one of the most expensive in the whole of Singapore, so one can probably guess how expensive the items on the menu were. In order to get a table and take in the view, we ordered the cheapest drink they had, apart from Charles who took out a small bank loan in order to afford a plate of chips. Despite having to buy perhaps the world’s most expensive can of cola, the views made it all worth it.

On our final night, we visited ‘The Projector,’ an independent cinema. The cinema was recommended as one of the coolest places in Singapore, and it lived up to its name. The Projector was a renovated retro cinema, which retained lots of the original features of the old cinema. It shows many arthouse and international films, so we managed to catch a Lebanese film which was excellent. The Projector epitomised the very cool nature of the city of Singapore, and I hope to return some day.

Next up was Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Our time in Vietnam was rather full on, with us trying to pack in as much to every day we were there. Our first full day in Ho Chi Minh City was spent visiting the Mekong Delta, where we took a boat ride down the Mekong river. We also stopped off along the river to try some traditional Vietnamese food and listen to some traditional Vietnamese folk music.