Yesterday, I went to the Gyeongbokgung Palace, THE royal palace, constructed in 1395. I saw the change in guard. It was snowed, so the scenery was perfect for pictures.

At the end of the day, we ate korean BBQ, for like the third time! haha, and then we went to a karaoke place! This was my first time in a Karaoke, different from what I was expecting, you go to the building where all the floors are just karaoke rooms. So, we got into one room and at the beginning I was shy, I don’t practice my singing that much... but by the end of the night I was rocking the place, with what by now is considered a Korean classic: Oppa Gangnam Style. 

Now I’m staying with another friend, with his family, great people! Today he took me to eat another typical korean dish (I can’t remember the name). And he showed me how the houses of the wealthy Koreans used to be.

From there he took me to the war museum, I like history, but I’m not that good memorizing... this time was different, this time I was with my friend (that happened to work as that museum's guide). So, understanding was easy and very enjoyable! I learned a lot!

After a sad goodbye to my friend in Bangkok I went to Seoul, the first thing that caught  my eye was the technology inside Incheon airport. I met up with some local friends with whom I am going to stay. Korea is cold right now... The temperatures range between -15 to -5 C. 

The first thing we did was to go to the National Museum (free entrance) where I got a gist of Korean history. After that they took me to a Noryangjin Fish market, where hundreds of people were selling their fish and more. They bought an living octopus so that I could try it, I wont lie, the feeling of having moving tentacles in your mouth sticking to your tong and cheeks is “interesting”... I don’t know why I wasn’t disgusted, actually I just laughed and enjoyed the flavor.  

Then I went to Ewha Women’s University where I enjoyed the architecture and some street food. I’m always worried about food poisoning but when the weather is so cold, chances are less and so, I eat everything in front of me.

And later I went to the surrounding streets of Hongik University where the night activity is constant and colorful. 

We also visited Naksan park, where I had a great view of the city at night, the park is surrounded by a wall and next to it, there is a neighborhood where that you can only access woking, there are no roads. 

My friends then took me to an art district, full of cafes and art galleries, Insadong, and from there we went to a canal that crosses the city in which you can walk as much as you want, it was beautiful, but cold! very cold!. 

Merry Christmas!!!

I finally came to Bangkok, what a colorful and active city. This is not the first time that I visit this place, but it is the first time that I get to enjoy the company of a local, and oh! I can’t tell how different it is to be with a local in a place like Bangkok, I felt safe and never scammed.

I’ve been going to different places the last couple of days, but this visit to Bangkok allowed me to see the life of a Bangkokian (and yes, this is how you call them). This is something you’ll never see just as a tourist and I felt very fortunate. 

My friend took me to eat so many things, I can’t remember the names... but I took pictures! haha. We visited a floating village, Loha Prasat temple, and even a night festival with comedy and art everywhere!

Also, I went to a crocodile farm and saw an elephant show, they seem to take good care of the elephants (or at least that’s what I want to believe).

I learn a lot from this visit to Thailand, much more than what I can express in this blog. 

OK... back to the trip. Today I finish my visit to Krabi, in the south of Thailand. Krabi is a touristy place in the west coast. 

The first day, 19th, I arrived from Bangkok, went to the hotel and right away, I went to explore the center of Krabi. I ended up walking on the beach called Ao Nang, the surrounding cliffs and the sunset created a great scenery. At the end of the beach a group of very friendly monkeys was playing with the people, they have no fear, I was kind of afraid of the big ones, but the little ones were quite cute and so I let them climb on me. 

Next day, I went on a boat tour around the Phi Phi Islands, paradisiac beaches with turquoise water and white sand. Reminded me of the Caribbean, the highlight of that day was snorkeling, I saw pretty much anything that can be seen underwater, I highly recommend this experience if you have the chance to visit this area. 

The last day, I went to do some kayaking and cave explorations, millenary paintings in the walls was one of the things that I liked to most of those caves. 

Cambodia is supposed to be a dangerous place, but let me tell you that if you go to Siem Reap, you won't feel in danger at all. They are going to have a total of 2 million visitors this year and that number makes perfect sense once you see Angkor area.

I was expecting the worse from Siem Rep, but I was so wrong! The airport was organized and everyone spoke understandable English, even the taxi drivers, I was offered to go to my hotel by motorcycle or by car, fixed prices, no need to bargain and worry about being over charged. The hotels are relatively cheaper than the rest of Asia and the service is really good.

I visited several temples; Angkor Thom, Preah Khan, Ta Prohm, and finally Angkor Watt, I have no words to explain how wonderful that place is, every temple has something unique and magical, so much history behind every temple and the stories I was told, the stories form the walls in the temples, were amazing. Have you watched Tomb Raider, the movie? It was filmed in Angkor Area. I have some cool pictures to show.

I want to come back with my family, specially my grandmother and my mother, they would love it. Angkor area was Hindu and then it switch several times to Buddhism and back. Right now it's a Buddhist temple. The cool thing about this is that you get figures and architecture from both religions.  

I met a friend of mine in the top of one of the temples, it was very fun and unexpected. I saw a little boy playing around in the Angkor Watt temple and made me feel sad about the poverty of the country, but at the same time, you could see that he didn't need any expensive toys to have some fun, just his imagination. 

I took a tuk tuk back to the hotel, again, the driver was very nice and spoke English too.

Ho Chi Minh, busy capital of Vietnam, motorcycles everywhere... EVERYWHERE! Forget about all the rules you know about driving, they don’t apply here; if you want to cross the street you just do it, doesn’t matter if it’s a roundabout, corner, etc. you just do it and everyone else tries not to hit you. Thou, I would recommend you to walk slowly so that they can wee where you are going and change direction if necessary, they honk for everything, every taxi driver I saw couldn’t stop honking for less than 15 sec... True story.


It’s chaotic, but like organized chaotic. 

I visited the museum of war, and it was very graphic, a little bit disgusting, but that’s how war is... disgusting! I don’t even want to write about what I saw and read, just trust me on this one, and avoid war!

The Reunification Palace had some good stories to share, and great architecture. 

Ha Long Bay or “Descending Dragon Bay” is an amazing place! A UNESCO World Heritage site. I took a boat and slept in it one night. The first day was foggy. What you can see from the boat is a lot of islands/mountains that create a surreal feeling of being in another world or some sort of fantastic story.

I saw a floating village, around 200 people literarily floating in the middle of nowhere, they had a small school, and some dogs... poor dogs, they had no place to run around.

The boat took me to a cave, this is the biggest cave I’ve been in and the feeling is overwhelming and somehow scary. The caves were lighted up with different colors, it looked magical. 

I was able to take a series of very representative pictures of the “floating village person”, a woman washing some shells and fish so that later she can sell them. 

Yesterday, I arrived from Singapore to Ho Chin Ming, Vietnam. I have a contact in Vietnam and so a local received me and took me to his house and to eat some typical food, he told me some scary stories about how unsafe Ho Chin Ming has been these days, and I got a little bit nervous, I don't want to loose my camera, haha!  

Today, I flew from Ho Chin Ming, the capital of Vietnam, to Hanoi, I'm staying in the heart of the city, "near the lake". The food is different, the whether is around 16° C. Walking around the city is quite fun, there is a sea of motorcycles, and so you have to make sure they won't hit you or you won't hit them.

Hanoi is in the north of Vietnam, its size is relatively big but it does not seem to be as dangerous as Ho Chi Ming. Shopping is fun, you go from one store to the other and bargain to get the price you want. I also visited the water puppet show, and learn a lot about Vietnam history. 

Food... Vietnamese cuisine is different from other countries in Asia, the Pho and their spring rolls are light and delicious

Yesterday, I went to Tanjung and Dreamland beach, touristy beaches. The first one is for water sports, a little bit expensive. They have something called "dive walk" which is you go waking under the water with a helmet thingy filled with air, so your head never touches the water, it looked like fun. The second beach, Dreamland, had very nice colors, light beige sand and turquoise water.

Then I shortly visited a place called Puja Mandala where there are 5 temples, one Muslim, one Catholic, one Buddhist, one Protestant and one Hindu. It was nice to see the harmony through different religions.

I also went to visit a cultural park, GWK, and to Ukuwatu, great places for enjoying the typical dance, one dance that I loved is the Kecak dance in which there is no music instruments, all sounds come from a group of very tribal looking guys.

Today I'm leaving Indonesia, back to my beloved Singapore where I'll spend my last night there as a student and then continue my adventure.

My impression of Indonesia; very colorful country, many people, somewhat chaotic when driving (one of the worse countries I've see). Beautiful nature and interesting customs. The people is friendly, but I always felt like they wanted to rip me off which makes you be defensive all the time. I think the tourist should be seen as a long term asset that will come back and will recommend your service not as something to squeeze all the money as you can as fast as you can.

So, today I visited Taman Ayun, a temple with beautiful gardens, and there was also a parade with high school bands playing their typical music. I also visited Bedugul, a temple in the a lake in the mountains of Bali, there, I was able to take nice pictures of very interesting creatures.

After that I went to the rice terraces, they are famous here, something that you must visit.

On my way to the final destination, another temple seem to be interesting, a sacred place where monkeys seem to do whatever they want, such as jumping my back and trying to steal my precious necklace. To finish the day, I went to enjoy the sunset in Tanah Lot, a temple in the sea.