6 months SINCE I LEFT HOME

180 days ON THE ROAD

10 countries VISITED

54,527 km’s TRAVELLED 

15 planes TAKEN

2 continents

2 hemispheres

Countless new friends and memories 

Today marks my 6 months anniversary of being on the road and I thought I’d commemorate this exciting (and almost unbelievable) milestone with an all-encompassing post of the many highs and lows of the past 180 days! Here we go!

The Beginning

The kickoff…

Highs:

• Flying first and business class from Toronto to Tokyo and then to Bangkok. The treatment and the extra perks made me feel SO SUPER ELITE (though I probably wasn’t dressed for it – hey come on, limited luggage space!). From the designated line ups (truth: there were no lineups for me) to the fancy meals to the amenity kits, to the personal onboard and off board greeting (there was a well dressed attendant waiting with my name on a board when I landed in Bangkok to escort me!) and of course, the lie flat beds while 30,000 ft in the sky on a 13 hour flight, it was just the absolute best way to kick off my big trip – in comfort and style. The best of the best part? I flew for free – and you can too! See how.
• Getting to visit one of my favourite cities in the world during a brief stopover – Tokyo. I roamed the crazy loud and bright Shibuya neighbourhood and had some delicious sushi and had my umpteenth “Lost in Translation” moment at the world’s most famous crosswalk.

Thailand – South

My third time to this country –

Highs:

• Climbing down four or five 90 degree walls of rocks to get to a hidden secret lagoon on Railay. It was challenging and kind of scary because ummm I could fall and break my back? I really didn’t think I could do it but after meeting some people at my hostel who encouraged me to try it because they said I could totally do it – I set out for it and came back with pictures like above. I also met some cool people doing this and the feeling of conquering it is oh so satisfying.
• I stayed one night in Nong Khai – the riverside town on the other side of Vientiane, Laos’ capital. It was such a peaceful town with far less tourists. It also is a home to a stunning park full of gigantic statues that tell a story of Hinduism and Buddhism. Sala Kaew Ku remains of the favourite parks I’ve ever been to. The 75 ft high statue of the Buddha being protected by the seven headed naga alone is a breathtaking, otherworldly sight. 

Lows: 

• Getting insanely sick one week into my trip. I woke up in the middle of the night, absolutely FREEZING. I was so cold I couldn’t even get up to get some warmer clothes out of my bag. It took me at least 15 minutes to muster up the strength to do so and I FELT LIKE SHIT. It freaked me out because I had gotten a bunch of mosquito bites and of course the thought of dengue fever and malaria came to mind. I had a mix of fevers, chills, bathroom runs and loss of appetite (don’t go looking up symptoms of dengue now, I know it’s similar). In retrospect I should have gone to see a doctor but it passed after I took some meds. I wrote it off as some weird infection/illness. Oh and now I always make sure I have azithromycin in my pack.
• In the name of budget travelling, I booked two overnight trains from Trang to Nong Khai with a 12 hour layover in Bangkok. It sounds so awful but in the end, the 12 hour layover went by quickly. The train station remained pretty cool despite it scorching outside and I watched sappy Thai music videos on the big screen tv and drank Thai iced teas. I also got to take a shower in a surprisingly clean bathroom and paid the equivalent of 10 cents Canadian for it (trust me, this made such a huge difference for me). Why do I put this as a low? In retrospect I should have flown to Bangkok and then taken a train to Nong Khai. It probably would have cost about the same and saved me a lot of time.

Laos 

Highs:

• Seeing my family. My dad’s brother and his family live in Vientiane and it was so great to see them again. They took me sightseeing around the city and we had some awesome food since they know all the good spots. I also met my mom’s uncle and his family for the first time and my grandma back in Montreal was so thrilled that I got to meet some of her family. They took me around to see parts of the city where my mom grew up and where she went to school. My mom wouldn’t really remember these places so it was great to be able to see them! It was so wonderful to be with family in a place so far from home. Plus they all have several dogs which of course made me super happy.
• Kayaking down the river in Vang Vieng – picturesque and the my kayak buddy did most of the work.
• Luang Prabang in general, it’s such a colourful city, rich in history

Lows: 

• Missing out on seeing Nong Khiaw and Mung Ngoi – two small riverside towns north of LPB. I didn’t have enough time and REALLY wanted to go. We’ll see if I get to in the future.
• Missing out on southern Laos – where my dad and his side of the family are from. I plan to get there when I get back to SE Asia because I can’t miss this part of my family’s history. I’ve heard so much of it and have to see it for myself.

High + Low:

• Trekking in northern Laos – it was damn hard but a good experience. I write about it here.

Thailand – North

Highs

• Meeting up with my friend Candice for the start of our 6 week travels! 
• Eating lots of delicious and reallllly cheap Thai food and drinking lots of Thai iced teas and mango shakes
• Visiting Elephant Nature Park for the second time. Getting close to these beautiful animals is always such a magnificent experience
• Finally getting to Pai. We visited some cool caves, had some awesome western style burgers and lovely sunsets at the canyon. I liked Pai but don’t swoon over it like almost all the backpackers I met.

Lows: 

• Having to go to a doctor for a gross but minor injury I got from my trek in Laos. It’s not a big deal but I don’t really want to write out the details. I am definitely ok though 
• I got sick again. There was a cold front in LPB before I left. Piggyback that with intense heat in Thailand and air conditioning in the hostels, it was a recipe for me to take meds yet again (on top of what the doc gave me for the above).
• A day trip we took was kind of shitty, mainly for the price. They advertised that we would see the “highest peak in Thailand” at whatever ft it was. When we got there it was a sign. I didn’t even bother to take a picture. I guess the tour agency was totally wrong, they didn’t say there was a view or anything. Oh well. The temples they took us to afterwards were nice.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Highs:

• We stayed with Candice’s family while we went in and out of KL. It’s always nice to be in a family setting and eating together, and of course having a place to stay. 
• The MALLS. KL has the best shopping malls I have ever seen. They are crazy impressive and I was able to buy some stuff from the stores I frequent back home and those that I love (they have so many Japanese stores)! 
• The movies – so cheap compared to theatres in Canada. We saw Batman vs. Superman, 10 Cloverfield Dr and the Jungle Book for like $5 CAD each time!

Lows: 

• The heat. The days were averaging 40 degrees plus and I was dying. The humidity was so high. Couple that with air conditioning indoors and…
• I got sick again. I was so frustrated at this point. Oh and I also threw up outside the Batu Caves. It was gross. TMI? Sorry…!

Bali and THE Gili Islands – Indonesia

Highs:

• Meeting Candice’s friends Kazue and Jeffri and staying in their comfortable apartment in Denpasar. The dinner we had on our last night was a colourful feast of seafood and Balinese cuisine. They were invaluable to our time in Bali and helped us with so much.
• Seeing a traditional Balinese dance. The music was beautiful, the costumes SO STUNNING. I got goosebumps throughout the show. Great $8 to spend!
• Swimming with turtles in the Gilis. I saw so many, it was such a treat. We pretty much just beached, ate lots of good food and snorkelled while we were there. My idea of a great time!
• It’s always so good to see friends again in different places – Liz, the first friend I made on this trip back in Krabi Town was also in the Gilis at the same time! 

Lows: 

• The heat. Honestly guys, I’m not just being a brat here. Bali was HOT AF. Couple that with air conditioning indoors and…
• You guessed it. I got sick again. In the last few days in Bali, barely two weeks after getting sick in Malaysia, I had another round of stuffiness and congestion. I was sick of being sick at this point.
• The cost. Bali cost a lot more than I expected.
• The hoards of tourists. HOARDS, I tell ya.
• The lack of decent transportation infrastructure for tourists. It basically doesn’t exist. We used a Grab Car many times as well as taxi’s. It piled up.

Maldives

My absolute dream come true – impossibly clear turquoise waters, the absolute BEST snorkelling of my life, super friendly locals and soft white sand beaches –  Maldives has become one of my favourite places I’ve been to. Just looking back at these photos and seeing the colour of the water almost makes me want to cry. Seriously.

Highs:

• The reefs I snorkelled in were so stunning that I really think it might ruined snorkelling in all other places for me. It was like swimming through an HD NatGeo program or something. Reef sharks were an arms’ length away; colourful fish including the adorable anemone fish, turtles, stingrays and moray eels… it was my snorkelling dreams come true. The tours I took also had the guides taking pictures of us and for us with GoPros and iPhones and they came out amazing. I didn’t have to worry about getting good pictures of whatever I saw and for once, I am in them!
• The locals – everyone I met was so friendly and sweet. They were always smiling and the service we received was always really good. I’ll always remember friendly locals in any new destination I go to.
• The people I met – I met such an interesting mix of people and not just backpackers this time. I think everyone was just so happy to be in paradise.
• Sexy beach – this is a naturally occurring sandbank in the middle of the ocean and it was just one of those places and moments that I just could not believe my eyes. I didn’t want to leave because it looked unreal. Yes the sand really is that white and the water really is that blue. Sigh.
• The small moments – Candice, her cousin Yvonne and myself met a nice well-travelled woman from HK named Kit and we all went to the only bar around Maaafushi – it was on a really cool boat offshore as alcohol is not allowed on the island. We were the only ones there and we sat facing out into the ocean. At one point a dolphin came by and swam around in front of us and splashed around a bit. It was a moment to remember. I also may have shrieked a bit. 

Lows:

• The price of everything – Maldives works on a dual currency system – Maldivian rufiyaas and US dollars. I convert everything back to CAD of course, and with the US dollar being so high, things always ended up being more. However it is possible to visit Maldives on a budget and I think we did a pretty good job with it.
• There was a day and half of pouring rain. It was a bummer as we were only there for one week but it’s weather; you can’t do anything about it. It made for amazing photo ops though!

Singapore

Highs:

• Singapore was such a surprise because I actually really really loved it. 
• Old friends in new cities – I met up with my friend Angela who I met back in Osaka in 2014 and she brought along her friend Cao and we had the most delicious seafood dinner! It’s always so nice to meet up with friends again and I had such a great time walking around the city with them.
• The architecture – I couldn’t stop taking photos of the Marina Bay Sands – I think I went there every night I was there! 
• The SuperTrees – eery, otherworldly, strange yet beautiful. I could have laid under them the whole night.
• Little India and Chinatown – colourful with exotic smells and sights – I enjoyed roaming around these neighbourhoods and eating (cheap) fresh naan and curry.
• Visiting the SkyBar, the open air bar at the top of the MBS. It was so classy and pricey but we felt on top of the world. I went with Aman, a girl from the UK and we had a really nice girl chat while admiring the view from above.

Lows:

• I am not punctual at all and I almost was late for our bus back to KL. In a rush I found a nice taxi driver who got me there on time (only to find out it was cancelled and we had to take another bus later). I need to give myself extra time especially in new places! Old habits die hard.
• I said goodbye to Candice after Singapore. It was a great 6 weeks together! We share many stamps in our passports!

Cambodia

Highs:

• Angkor Wat. Need I say more?
• The backpackers I met – I met a string of really cool chicks during my time in Cambodia, one after another. And almost all of them were Canadian 🙂 I remember really awesome conversations over some good meals. Some people you meet just really stand out 🙂

Lows:

• The heat. I’m not trying to be funny guys. Everyone touring the temples was pretty much in wet clothes from sweating. I am not exaggerating. I developed horrible prickly heat that stayed with me long after I left SE Asia. Yeah. 
• And guess what! I got sick! What is this, the 5th time?! I was just f’ing pissed at this point. It might have been just allergies but it didn’t mean I felt any better. I tried wearing a mask and it did help. Also stopped most touts from bothering me as well (guess I looked Cambodian?)
• The price. Cambodia is supposed to be a cheap destination however, they work on a dual currency system and yes, the second currency is USD. Everything I had to calculate an extra 30% to make it CAD. It might not be a lot for a $1 fruit shake but for other things (tours, temple tickets, etc) it adds up.

(I want to add that at this point I was more than 3 months into travelling and it had pretty much been all in SE Asia (with the exception of the Maldives. I was ready for some cooler weather and a change of scenery sooo…..).

New Zealand

• Um, everything? Seriously NZ is one of my favourite places I’ve ever travelled to and I can write out every single thing I did as a high. But I’ll narrow it down in hopes that some of you are still reading.
• Seeing the Milky Way as if it were an Instagram photo in Raglan. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I just regret not taking a picture – I was freezing that night but the memory is forever etched in my mind.
• Caving in Waitomo and seeing the glow worms as if they were stars on the cave ceilings. It was cold, claustrophobic and kinda freaky at times (swimming in black water? How do I know nothing is under there?!) but just SO. MUCH. FUN. 
• Skydiving over Lake Taupo – the most blood pumping thing I’ve ever done. I was scared to the point where I wanted to back out but the group of us who signed up for it made a pact and holy sh*t it was SOOOOOOO MUCH FUN. I’ll never forget the feeling of free falling for nearly a minute and screaming my lungs out. I would definitely do it again in a heartbeat if it weren’t for the price!
• Walking through Tongariro National Park – we couldn’t do the alpine crossing due to the weather but the walk was STUNNING. 
• Walking to see the Franz Josef Glacier  – again, it was a disappointed we couldn’t do the glacier help hike but we walked to see it instead and the walk was BREATHTAKING. Every direction you looked it was a beautiful sight. 

• Queenstown – I really loved just being there. A lot of people say it’s touristy but I don’t care – I like being around a bustling town once in awhile and with views like this, I didn’t want to leave.
• Milford Sound – said to be one of the most beautiful places in the world and I have to agree. We also spotted some pods of dolphins playing around as we cruised through the sound!
• Spotting a kiwi in the wild – these rare birds are so few and far between in NZ but on Stewart Island they are everywhere! I was so luck to spot 4 of them in one night with Caroline 
• Horse trekking in Glenorchy – I am running out of words to describe these places – stunning, beautiful, breathtaking… Glenorchy was all of this. I remember I kept turning to Chand like :o!!!! Can you believe this place???!!! 
• Stuffing my face in Queenstown with friends – Fergburger, Devil’s Burger, Fat Badger’s Pizza, I ate out almost everyday here! 

• Getting snowed in at Mount Cook – I felt like I was back home in Canada. It was so pretty and the best part was that it was a surprise, there was no forecast for this and we just woke up and looked out the window and gasped.
• Swimming with wild dusky dolphins in Kaikoura – just spotting them from the boat was so cool but jumping in the freezing water with wetsuits and snorkels and having them swim around us? Priceless. I’ll never forget all our dolphin “sounds” that we made to try to get them to swim near us, it was hilarious. The best part was playing with them; they swim in circles around you and you have to try to keep up by spinning in the circles with them. This was a wildlife experience to remember!
• Walking the Kaikoura Peninsula Walkway on my own and taking my time to admire the cute baby seal pups and take a million photos. I think when you’re travelling with others, you don’t end up taking enough time to take good pictures.  As I did this walk on my own because I hopped off the Stray Bus, I was really able to take my time in getting good shots.

• Taking in the cool street art and free museums in Dunedin – this city had a cool artsy vibe to it and was filled with antique and thrift stores. I loved browsing around but wasn’t able to buy anything because duh!
• Seeing the regrowth of Christchurch – the city was struck by two big earthquakes in 2011 and has been rebuilding ever since. It was interesting to see and learn how the city was evolving yet preserving it’s past at the same time. 
• Generally being in autumn-early winter weather because F hot, humid weather!!! Autumn is the best season, hands down.

Lows: 

• Not getting to see the night sky at the Dark Sky Reserve – Mt Cook National Park is home to some of the darkest skies in the world, however it was cloudy when I was there so no dice!
• Not being able to set foot on a glacier or a volcano – weather didn’t allow this. Ah well. 
• My GoPro dying as soon as I got in the water for the dolphin swim. Great.
• Budget – I spent just as much in 5 weeks in NZ as I did in 3 months in SE Asia – I expected this but honestly, it was so worth it. 
• Getting news from home – my grandma was hospitalized when I was on the North Island and I took it hard. Luckily she is doing better and I had some good friends that gave me lots of hugs.
• Goodbyes – I met some really great people in NZ and we share many good memories together of this beautiful country. 
• Having to leave. Seriously this is how much I loved this country.

Fiji

Highs:

• Resort hopping in the Yasawa Islands – amazing food, white beaches, clear waters, colourful reefs, village visits and friendly locals. This week was my vacation from my travels and was worth the hefty price. 
• Swimming with giant manta rays – this has been on my “bucket list” for awhile now and the experience was incredible, I can’t even find the words to describe it. We saw 8 or 9 mantas that day but the best part was seeing five (!!!) of them together (I only captured three in the picture but there were 5!) in a line doing a barrel roll, swimming gently and majestically as if they were flying through the water. I was lucky and was the first one in the water when the group of mantas was close by, so I had best, unobstructed view of them while the rest of the group was getting their gear on and getting into the water – always be first kids! Wildlife experiences are always my favourite and this one is one to remember forever.
• Night snorkelling – this was the first time I tried snorkelling at night and it was awesome! Going out in wetsuits with a flashlight in hand was thrilling because what’s swimming towards you that you can’t see? Well it wasn’t anything too crazy but snorkelling at night lets you see others things that you don’t see in the day: lobsters, crabs, other kinds of fish that I don’t know the name of. The best part was when a squid that I got too close to (as in a foot away from my face) inked and sped away. So cool!

• Getting a local experience and staying with a family for my first homestay. Kathleen’s family was so welcoming to me and being in a home environment was definitely needed after months of hostels. They are family to me now and have been a highlight of my time here in Fiji. Interested in finding a homestay for your next trip? Get $30 free credit when you sign up through here.
• Stumbling across the opportunity to volunteer in villages that were damaged by Cyclone Winston back in February with All Hands Volunteers. I met the volunteer coordinator of the project at a backpacker beach resort 2 days before I was suppose to fly to Sydney. After hearing about the project and doing a bit of research, I change my flight and volunteered with them for 2 weeks. It was one of the best decisions I made – we built new showers and toilets in villages that were anywhere from 30-60 minutes from the nearest town (and by town, I mean a small row of shops). It wasn’t easy but I learned a lot about building and the response we received from the villages was amazing. It was my first international volunteer experience and it also happened to be a disaster response project so it was a very eye opening experience. To hear firsthand the villagers’ stories of how the cyclone affected them and just seeing the the fallen trees that use to stand tall up on the hills along the coast was heartbreaking. The other volunteers I met were an interesting mix of hard working people and I hope this won’t be my last volunteer experience.

Lows: 

• I contracted some sort of weird stomach thing near the end of my volunteer stint and it was probably due to my negligence of not consistently using hand sanitizer. Life in rural villages is different and I should have been more careful.
• An accommodation I was really looking forward to totally plunked. I was suppose to do a farmstay up in the hills of a small town in Northern Viti Levu. However, the owners seemed to be making an excuse to pick me up each time I tried to arrange something with them. After the first two days of my supposed four day stay went by I told them to shove it and stayed with my Fiji family instead 🙂
• Cost. I was under the impression that Fiji was budget and backpacker friendly. While there are nice dorms in nearly all the resorts in the Yasawas and some of the resorts on Viti Levu, I found the prices to be really high when you include transport (the boat) and the meal plans. 

Whew! That was a big roundup of the past 6 months! To be honest it feels like it’s only been 3 or 4 months at the most.

Here’s a quick roundup of the destinations and random facts that I’ve managed to store in my brain from the last 6 months:

Most expensive place (after calculating $ spent per day): Maldives and New Zealand
Countries I’d go back to in a heartbeat: Maldives and New Zealand (ha)
Country I wouldn’t go back to: Cambodia
Biggest surprise: Singapore
Longest time spent in one country: Fiji (6 weeks)
Shortest time: Singapore (3 days)
Hottest: Bali and Malaysia 
Coldest: Queenstown, New Zealand

Accommodation:

Number of…

• Hostels: 32

• Guesthouses: 7

• Hotels: 3

• w/ Family/Friends: 5

• Apartments: 1

• Homestays: 1

• Village stay: 1

• Marae stay: 1

• Camp: 1

• Overnight trains – 2

• Woof/Volunteer – 1

Randoms:

Number of iPhone glass screen covers: 3
Lush shampoo bars: 1.5
SIM Cards: 6
Books read: Lost count, maybe 12 or more

Cheapest internet:

• Fiji – $3 CAD for 800 MB of data
• Laos – $25 CAD for 15 GB of data

Most expensive:

• Blue Duck Lodge, North Island, New Zealand – $5 CAD for 20 MB (approx, I don’t remember exactly because no way did I buy this)
• NZ SIM Card – $44 CAD for 3 GB

So what’s next?

I fly to Australia on a one-way ticket after Fiji. I have the first two weeks planned out and not much after that, so I don’t really know how much time I’ll be in Oz for. Maybe I’ll love it and spend a few more weeks there, who knows.  After Australia I hope to head back to Laos and spend some time with my family and possibly explore the south, where my dad is from. I want to unload some stuff at my family’s house as my packs have become too much of a burden (though I swear I don’t have THAT much stuff) and possibly apply for a Chinese visa in Vientiane. Then I’d like to travel east and visit Taiwan, South Korea and China if I manage to get a visa. After that I have my eyes set on Nepal, as I’d like to experience a much different culture from what I’ve been seeing. But these are just tentative plans, and anything can change at any time! It’s always good to at least have a rough outline without setting anything in stone. 

Thanks for following and reading along!

Here’s to another 6 months (more or less?!) of travel!