epicasiatrip: thai adventure

Thailand was probably by far my favorite country throughout the trip… It has everything you’re looking for… Crazy city life in Bangkok offset by culture and history at the Grand Palace. Amazing, cheap food everywhere, night markets, shopping malls, nightlife, and if you venture out to Phuket, the most amazing beaches you’ve ever seen. Thailand definitely had the best food… I was going crazy with the curries, the soups, Thai tea, Thai coffee, exotic fruits, the noodles… Just thinking about it makes me salivate.

Too bad it was over 100 degrees and 100% humidity and the sun was beating down so strong, my entire body broke out in sun rash, because otherwise, I loved Thailand. I was super bummed out that we didn’t get to go to Chiang Mai, but it’s okay. Next time. And there will be a next time, because I am in LOVE with Thailand.

Notable points:

Getting around:
Bangkok has decent public transportation and an abundance of taxi cabs who can take you around the city. Just make sure you tell the driver, “Meter please” so you aren’t surprised at the end. You can easily take the train from the airport to the city center and from there either cab it or take the metro to the nearest subway stop. We found a great guy with a souped up taxi to take us to the Kachanaburi province to see the Tiger Temple. He was really nice, took photos for us, had Jason Mraz playing non-stop (A+, my friend), and even bought us fruit. We tipped him pretty well and it only cost us about $20 per person for 4 people.

In Phuket, we just stayed in one area and I think you need to cab it if you wanna get around the island so consider your options carefully in terms of whether you want nightlife, serene beaches, touristy vs. non-touristy.

Landscape:
Bangkok is a great city – a dirty Asian city but I love those! Great street food, perfectly safe as long as you keep your bag close to your body and make sure everything is zipped up at all times. The Grand Palace is a boat ride away but totally worth it, and I highly recommend making trips out to go to the night  markets to get some cheap souvenirs and $1 pad thai.

Phuket is amazing – I have never seen such beautiful beaches in my entire life. Really, your mind will be blown that water could be so cerulean.

Weather:
HOT HOT HOT HOT. Hot and humid, oh me, oh my. Bangkok was definitely the hottest city we went to, and I ended up getting sun rash everywhere. Bring loads of sunscreen and a wide-brimmed hat. Airy, loose clothing is a must. Bring a couple cute bikinis and live out of them if you’re going to Phuket or any of the neighboring islands.

Wardrobe:
For the most part, you can walk around in a tank top and shorts, but if you plan on going into the temples (which you definitely should), bring a cardigan as bare shoulders are not allowed inside. You can either rent a wrap to tie around your waist to cover your legs or wear a skirt that goes down to your knees. A maxi dress would probably be the best option for traipsing around the old city. For shoes, I spent the whole trip in Rainbow flip flops and was fine.

Food & Beverage:
Thai food is incredible. Flavorful, spicy, diverse, and utterly complex. You’ll find so many great things to eat off the streets – everything from fresh pad thai, fried scorpions, these sweet potato balls, and my favorite, mango sticky rice. You’ll be constantly disappointed by your neighborhood Thai place. I didn’t realize Thai food was so wonderfully spicy and lemongrass-y and sour. I highly recommend getting out of your pad see ew comfort zone – explore all the weird curries, the spicy BBQ, Tom Yum Goong, and my personal favorite, som tum or green papaya salad. And eat a lot of fruit while you’re there – it’s cheap and fresh and lychee and durian and mango and jackfruit are everywhere!

Language:
Tourism is a major factor for Thailand’s GDP – about 10 million to Bangkok and 3 million to Phuket annually so almost every sign will have an English translation. Lucky you! People might not speak the best English but they are so, so friendly and very willing to help if you just ask.

Cost:
You can live off of $10 a day for food. I am not kidding. Get ready to gorge on boat noodles and satay.

Safety:
Traveling alone? You are perfectly safe here. No worries. Just don’t go to shady alleyways by yourself, but Bangkok and Phuket are perfectly safe for all tourists.

Final Thoughts:
Sex trade – yes it’s prevalent, yes it’s there. I don’t personally believe in supporting pong shows and ladyboy shows because most of them are victims, but they are popular and easy to find in Patpong and Pattaya. And as a girl, being near a ladyboy bar, let’s just say I’ve never felt so undesirable in my entire life! Except unless I was hanging out in WeHo.

Bangkok

This was one thing I was NOT willing to try.

mango sticky rice

wat arun

the grand palace

fried sweet potato balls – delicious!

som tum salad <3 (aka green papaya)

tom yum goong

floating markets

And then on to Phuket!

panang curry

maya bay – where leo dicaprio filmed the beach.

beautiful loh samah bay

our hilarious guide bringing us mai tais

chicken pad see euw

goodbye Koh Phi Phi…. I miss you. Almost more than I miss Bali.

epicasiatrip: bali, indonesia

“Welcome to Paradise!” signs everywhere in Bali.

This place really is paradise. Beautiful. Mild weather. Cool breeze. Gorgeous Balinese temples and powder white sand. Although I don’t think I’ve seen any beaches more beautiful than the ones in Cancun, Bali is a close runner-up.

Notable points:

Getting around:
We stayed at a villa that provided a shuttle and usually took a taxi back from Jimbaran or Ubud or wherever we were. If you want to explore other parts of the island (which you definitely do), just be prepared to take a lot of taxis! Taxi taxi taxi!

Landscape:
Bali is great for nature-lovers. Beautiful beaches, great mountains for hiking, lakes, water activities, they’ve got everything! And the weather is very temperate and not as hot as the rest of Southeast Asia. Lying out on the beach is wonderful and there are a ton of people renting out surfboards and bodyboards and offering lessons.

Weather:
See above – paradise. But pack an umbrella just in case – you just never know.

Wardrobe:
Anything goes – light khakis, maxi dresses, something to cover your legs for the temples, bikinis, tanks. Bali is perfection.

Food & Beverage:
A lot of mee goreng (fried noodles) and nasi goreng (fried rice.) There are a lot of chicken dishes here but I’m not too sure about the vegetarian options. If you go to Jimbaran beach before sunset, you can reserve a spot right on the beach and watch the sunset while eating a nice fresh seafood dinner. It won’t be cheap but for the view and the quality of the food, it’s a great deal. Watching the most amazing sunset, toes in white warm sand, while digging into clams and crab was one of the best experiences of my trip.

Language:
English everywhere! No worries about this one. Bali is full of honeymooners and tourists.

Cost:
Relatively cheap – I recommend splurging on a nicer villa that is closer to the beaches. The US dollar can definitely take you a far way here and despite the locals capitalizing on the surges in tourism, Bali is seeped in culture if you look in the right places. Hotels and villas aren’t that expensive compared to the level of accommodation. We stayed in a two-bedroom villa in Seminyak for  $200 a night which wasn’t too bad for getting a private pool, two spacious bedrooms, and breakfast every morning. There are definitely a lot more upscale villas next to the beach in the area but considering we were traveling on a budget, it was a pretty awesome deal especially since we got free shuttle service to Kuta and Legian beach.

AND You can get hour-long massages, pedicures, and hot stone massages for less than 20 USD pretty much anywhere. HEAVEN. I want to go back for my daily massage… Sigh. My shoulders are full of tension from all this mad studying. I could really use a Thai or Balinese full-body massage right about now.

Safety:
Bali is incredibly safe. The only time I was scared was when I was in the monkey forest and the little devils came too close to my sunglasses.

Final Thoughts:
I recommend staying in a villa – you get privacy, spacious accommodations, breakfast made for you in the comforts of your own room, and your own private pool possibly for skinny dipping ;).

A nice touch at our private villa with a private pool. :)

Avocado juice with chocolate syrup. It kind of sounds gross, but it was surprisingly addicting. It was creamy, rich, and just sweet enough. Quickly became my drink of choice whenever I could find it.

Satay

Fried Bee Hoon noodles.

Bintang – Indonesian pilsner. Malty and pretty delicious! Apparently a subsidiary of Heineken.

Jimbaran!

Seafood dinner on Jimbaran beach facing the sunset. Paying for the view but it was worth it. Huge prawns, calamari, clams, crab, baked fish, and the most beautiful sunset in the world.

See those little fishing boats out there? They bring in the super fresh seafood daily for people to grill and eat while watching the sunset. Doesn’t get any fresher than that.

Ibu Oka – famous warung in Ubud selling Babi Guling: suckling pig. Anthony Bourdain recommended this place… So, of course we had to try it. Place was PACKED.

Succulent suckling pig meat… Crispy pork skin… Rice… And mothereffing spicy ass peppers. I was seriously breaking a sweat after eating this.

Another famous place… The Dirty Duck Diner. Skinny little roasted duck… Sadly this place did not live up to it’s fame. Nice view of the rice paddies from our little dining terrace though.

After three weeks of travel, we caved and ordered a pizza at 10 p.m. White Garlic Pizza tasted pretty freaking awesome with the Bintang.

Ayam Goreng – Indonesian fried chicken

Ikan Bakar – charcoal grilled fish\

Dreaming of going back to Paradise again…

Life seemed so perfect back then.

epicasiatrip: singapore revisited

HOLLA back in a familiar looking place. Last year when I visited Singapore, I did two posts about the food I had there. And honestly, I don’t know what it is about Singaporean food but I dreamt about the noodles, seafood, and roti prata that I had there for months afterwards…

Singapore is such a strange little country. Or a city-state rather. An incredibly small island (?) chilling south of Malaysia without any natural resources but an amazing blend of Malay, Chinese, and Indian culture and food all in an English-speaking Westernized setting. Quite a strange place and even after my second visit there, I can’t seem to quite put Singapore into words.

It’s so clean, prosperous, and Western, it almost doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of Southeast Asia. Probably the cleanest urban center you may ever see in the world. Second to none, except maybe Japan. Some might find it boring… Too cookie-cutter clean and sterile. But for someone looking for the best food in Southeast Asia in one place, Singapore is the place to be.

Getting around:
Singapore is known for its amazing infrastructure – the underground will take you wherever you want to go. They’re constantly building new stations and the country is so small that navigating the subways and buses will be super easy. It’s about a dollar for each trip.

Landscape:
Incredibly Westernized. You’ll get fined for littering, chewing gum, or anything unseemly so keep that in mind. Preserve the atmosphere!

Weather:
Singaporeans say that they have four season – hot and hotter and wet and wetter! Or was it hot, hotter, even hotter, and freaking hot? Pack an umbrella for sure. It tends to rain in the middle of the day which is good because it cools down significantly. Or you can always escape into one of the many shopping malls and wait it out for an hour or two.

Food & Beverage:
I love Singaporean food. See below for the many photos… You MUST get Singaporean chili crab and you MUST get their famous fishhead curry. Oh, and laksa. Oh, and roti. Basically, go to a hawker center with as many people as possible and eat as many things as possible. Indian, Chinese, Malay, you want it, they’ve got it. Hawker centers are a great way to go on a budget and the food there tastes so much better than any other restaurant around.

And GET SOME KAYA TOAST. Love that junk.

Language:
English is the official national language here!

Cost:
Singapore is relatively expensive compared to the rest of Southeast Asia. I’d say comparable to the U.S. – $1.50 for a subway ride, $10 for a basic meal in a restaurant, $10 for a cocktail, etc.

Safety:
Are you serious? This place is probably safer than wherever you’re from. Unless you’re from rural Japan.

Final Thoughts:
Alcohol is expensive in Singapore because they have a “sin tax,” so I’d say try a Singapore Sling just for kicks but get your beer kick in Thailand or Indonesia. Singapore is a good landing pad for anyone on their way to the rest of Asia.

 

Kaya Toast at Ya Kun. :) I love this stuff with the soft-boiled eggs. Kaya jam is a sweet cocunut jam spread on toast with a lot of cold butter.

Laksa! <3 Spicy seafood noodles.

BBQ stingray

Fish Head Curry. You can only find the Indian version of this curry in Singapore. It’s the whole meaty head and collar of a red snapper cooked in spicy curry broth that’ll hook you with the first bite, and it is to DIE for.

Tian Tian Hainan Chicken and Rice. Endorsed by Tony Bourdain. You bet you ass it was good. Might look plain but the rice is cooked in chicken broth and full of flavor.

Black Carrot Cake. Kind of like Chinese dimsum turnip cakes, not like carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

Petronus Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur during our small day trip.

Singapore Sling.

This is me terrified of our waterfall Flaming Lamborghini. This is one of the scariest things I’ve ever consumed in my life. Possibility of scorching my threat with flaming alcohol? SURE! SIGN ME UP!

 I felt like a BAMF afterwards.

epicasiatrip: taipei

So, this next series of posts is coming a good six weeks too late but I’ve been really busy since coming back from my trip and I just didn’t really have the energy to go through everything and to be honest, I wasn’t much in a blogging sort of mood.

But here we go… Taipei! This was the beginning of our month-long excursion through Asia. Spent four days here. It was mostly rainy, but we had a few lucky days of sunshine. Mostly we just stuffed our faces. People aren’t kidding when they say Taiwanese people like to eat. Night markets, boba, dessert shops, breakfast places… It never stops.

Not that I’m complaining or anything.

The famed original Din Tai Fung!

Xiao long bao! <3

Peanut mochi!

Breakfast time :) Big pieces of fried dough. You tiao.

Do jjiang: A savory soy curd with green onions and vinegar. Surprisingly addicting. Perfect for our rainy morning. And dunking the you tiao into this was … amazing.

Spicy hotpot. Another memorable meal.

Pork floss! My best friend in elementary school was Chinese and she shared this stuff with me all the time. :)

Beef noodle soup.

Stinky tofu. Really Stinky. Capital S. In fact, it should be STINKY tofu.

Egg tarts!

More Chinese breakfast. :)

Finished the trip fittingly with tapioca milk tea. :)

missing HK

So, I didn’t have access to my photos when I was in Korea, so this is about three weeks overdue, but I really miss Hong Kong. It all seems like a dream… As if I had never ever been there. I woke up in bed this morning and it was as if I had been sleeping here every night for the past five months. Except different. I was talking to the best friend last night and we mentioned that we couldn’t place what it was but something was different.

I haven’t changed. Not a lot. She hasn’t changed. We’re the same. LA is the same. Cerritos is the same. But something was different. Because the little things that affected us daily little by little were not important enough to update one another all the time but still changed us in the six-month period I was MIA. And now that I’m back, my sister says everything is the same but only I have changed.

I haven’t experienced reverse culture shock yet though.

But looking through the photos I took during my last weeks in Hong Kong made me a bit sad even though I’m incredibly happy and relieved to finally be back home.

One of the things I miss most is teaching. My students at Law Ting Pong were seriously the best. Maybe not always the best behaved (:D) But always willing to participate and so welcoming to me from day one. I sincerely miss each and every one of them. More than students, they felt like my friends, younger brothers and sisters.
They had a farewell party for me on my last day at school, and one of my students baked blueberry and oreo cheesecakes! They were amazing. Baked love all over the world :)

We had a little farewell dinner as well and went out for hotpot. I miss HK hotpot………

ostrich meat

I love buying chocolate in Asia. I tried almost every chocolate bar that looked foreign to me at 7-Eleven and Park’n'Shop. Bueno was the winner by far. It’s actually imported from Italy.. Chocolate wafers filled with hazelnut cream. Can we say AMAZING.

Like I said, I love getting Asian chocolate. This was a green tea KitKat from Japan. Seriously the most amazing thing ever. I discovered it at the airport and then regretted not buying fifty more. I like seeing what green tea adjustments American companies make for Asian palates.

Green tea and black sesame frappachino. Yum. Do they have this in America???? Because they SHOULD.

I think I’m really going to miss traveling. Even though I didn’t travel that much, this was the first time I had traveled so much in such a short period. Usually because of school, work, scheduling problems with other people, finding suitable travel partners, etc., it’s near damn impossible to even plan one or two trips a year. Japan was amazing. Guilin was beautiful. And Singapore just has a special place in my heart. I love Singapore.

I found a place that serves Kaya toast and Laksa my last week in Hong Kong, so I tried it out with my friend. It didn’t do Singaporean food justice, but it was still nice to have. Just seeing the runny eggs made me nostalgic.

I spent my last day eating my favorite Hong Kong foods…

First off: Lai Wong Bao. Egg custard buns. Fluffy creamy goodness.

Remember these? Only the best things ever. Give me my xiao long bao. Like seriously. Piping hot dumplings? With soup INSIDE?

And hot sweet and sour soup with handmade noodles.

Dear Hong Kong, you did me good. You’ll always have a special place in my heart. I hope to be going back soon.