Goodbye

 "You get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place...like you'll not only miss the people you love but you'll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you'll never be this way ever again."  - Azar Nafisi  

After our whirlwind trip we had a few days to pack up everything and say goodbye to the people and places of Suphan.  We made sure to do all of our favorite things one more time, including swimming at the pool, playing tennis, going to the mall and grocery store, and of course, eating at all of our favorite restaurants.  It was actually a challenge to strategically plan all of our final meals to get everything in, but we managed to do it. Fittingly, our last meal in Suphan was pad thai...from pad thai lady, of course. (Our last meal in Thailand was Subway at the airport, but I won't count that).

Typical Thai table setting

My favorite lunch ladies

Goodbye dinner with our coordinator, Wattana

I felt really emotional packing all of our stuff and taking down the pictures on the wall.  It's the same when you leave anywhere, but you realize how many little things you took for granted that you know you'll miss when you're gone. Our school arranged a van to drive us to the airport, but since our flight left so late we had multiple hours to kill. It ended up working out well, because we had to do a lot of rearranging with our luggage to make sure everything fit under the weight limit. Our plane took off around midnight and I waved a bittersweet goodbye to Thailand out of the airplane window.

Goodbye dinner with our closest friends...Four of us ate all of that food.

Tennis instructor, extraordinaire

Getting back to America was very overwhelming at first. A few things stood out as being much different than the Thai lifestyle we just left behind.  It was hard to handle the amount of English we could hear around us.  We were so used to tuning all the other voices out, and our ears would perk up anytime we heard an English speaker.  So standing in line at immigration in Chicago was almost a sensory overload; we just couldn't process all the voices. Another big thing we noticed getting back was just how spacious and spread out everything is in America.  In Thailand, every house is touching the other, there are no yards or open spaces in the cities, and hardly any sidewalks; so we were very aware of the openness.

Oasis: Thai version

I know everyone talks about the pace of life in other countries, but it's actually true that we tend to speed things up in America. Everyone has places to be and doesn't want to waste one second getting there.  On our way back to Michigan, we stopped at a gas station and I was buying something at the register.  After I got my change I could just feel the pressure from the cashier and the guy behind me to hurry the f*** up.  I was actually really disoriented and stressed out, just from that simple interaction.  I can't imagine how non-Americans feel when they come here. A big posititive (at first at least) was that first breath of crisp, fresh, cold air we got leaving the airport.  Even though we were in the middle of Chicago, it felt like air straight from a Swiss valley blown down from the Alps.  We were just so used to the stifling, hot, wet, Thai air. But I'm totally over that now....give me back the heat.

Over the last few months, we've had a lot of time to contemplate our experiences, and the decision we made to come home. It's a difficult thing; we were so happy, living so well, and loving and learning every day in Thailand. I felt content with the life that we made, and that's what you're supposed to strive for, right? But no matter how much I loved our Suphanburi life, the real world was calling (along with my student debts) so I knew we made the right choice to come home. We missed our families and friends, along with the prospect of a more intellectual and beneficial career (although we're still working on that last part).

But now, every time I see a picture from our trip or recognize a smell or a sound, a small pang hits my heart. Sometimes I find myself just feeling sad, like something is missing, and then I get a reminder about Thailand and I know what the void is.  I think back to all the people we met, the pad thai we ate, the Changs we drank, and the memories we made, and I know that I would make that same decision to go to Thailand a million times again.  It was amazing, even though I miss it dearly now...but I guess it's nice to have something to miss. And when things aren't going so well, and we can't find jobs, and we don't have any money, and it won't stop snowing, there's one thing we tell ourselves: "no matter what happens ...we'll always have Thailand," and that makes me feel a little bit better.

Wishing you all the same luck in finding your own adventure.

Love always,
Cyrus and Paige

Singapore

We had heard a lot about Singapore and had high expectations coming in. It's safe to say that it exceeded all of our expectations and nearly made us give up our American citizenship. For those of you that don't know, Singapore is an island country that borders right up next to Malaysia. It is one of the richest, cleanest, and technologically advanced countries in the world so when we departed the plane, it felt as if we were stepping into the future. We took the subway right to our hotel from the airport and were only five minutes away from our hostel.

The Merlion

The first place that we stayed was right in the middle of Chinatown. It was a called "Beary Nice Hostel". I had never stayed in a hostel before and was a little nervous/apprehensive to do so. But since Singapore is westernized, the prices are also westernized so a hostel made a lot of sense for us. To my surprise, the hostel was actually one of my favorite places that we stayed on our whole trip. The atmosphere was extremely friendly, the people we met were nice, and the location was prime (mostly because we were right across the street from the biggest hawker center in the city). It was a great experience and it definitely eased a lot of my concerns about hostels.

But now, back to the hawker centers. In Singapore they aren't really big on fast food chains. Instead they have centers all over the city where they house hundreds of food stalls in one place. This is really nice and actually makes a ton of sense when compared to the food carts scattered all over busy streets in Thailand. The food in Singapore was amazing as it was another melting pot of cultures. In the hawker center, the best way to find out what was good and what wasn't was to find the longest line and just jump in it. Sometimes there will be two stalls, one right next to the other, selling the exact same food but at one stall has one person in line and at the other stall has 20 people in line.

Inside one of the hawker centers

Mmmmmmm

This is probably a line you would want to jump in

One of the touristy things that we wanted to do while we were there was to go to the Singapore Zoo. It's known as one of the best zoos in the world and we could really see why. They didn't have any cages at all in the zoo and the animals were treated really well. The only thing separating the animals and us was a moat, or sometimes nothing at all. While monkeys climbing trees right above us was pretty awesome, the best part was definitely following the feeding tour. We got to see them feed lions, cheetahs, tigers, jaguars, etc and it was amazing to see the animals active and fighting over food.

We were being tourists

Roar

Getting his grub on

Another really nice thing about Singapore was the public space they had for relaxing and entertainment. They are right on the water and have a huge area called Marina bay where you can overlook the city skyline and see the big "Merlion" (Singapore's mascot). They had live music going on, light shows, and a nice food center there which was surprising since it was just a regular day and nothing special.

City skyline

This was the kind of feeling that we got the whole time we were in Singapore. It was almost as if they were putting on a huge production. Everywhere in the city, whether it was Little India, Chinatown, or the botanical gardens, it felt like we were in a huge theme park. Everything was so perfect and clean and up to certain regulations. But finally, in our last destination in Asia, we were able to see the future. Hopefully America will be able to get there someday, because in Singapore they already did it. They are definitely there.

Drinks at the marina

Disney theme park or Singapore?

Bali

Seeing as we would probably never be that close again, we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to go to Bali during our trip.  Overall it was really nice, but a lot more touristy than we were imagining. Bali is interesting because it's a Hindu island amidst the very Muslim country of Indonesia.

We statyed in the city of Ubud first, which is the cultural and artistic heart of Bali.  There are a lot of temples and artist villages. We knew we made the right choice when we got to our guesthouse....it overlooked a green rice paddy, had a canopy bed, outdoor bathroom and we got breakfast delivered to our balcony each morning (all for the whopping price of about $40).  From a friend's advice, we booked a guide/driver to take us around to some of the sites we wanted to see.  We stopped at a coffee plantation, rice terraces, a Hindu temple and went to the eastern side of the island to go snorkeling. At the coffee plantation I had the opportunity to taste some of the most expensive coffee in the world. It's made from beans that are passed through (aka pooped) a special type of animal that only eats the 'best beans'.  Cyrus never let me forget for the rest of the trip that I drank 'poop coffee'.

 

 

The highlight of the trip was a sunrise volcano hike. There are two main volcanoes in the area; one is a really easy hike that you can stroll at sunrise with plenty of other tourists, and the other requires you to leave at midnight and hike 5 hours to the top.  We decided we might as well go for the gold, and it was definitely worth it.  We found a great guide online that made the experience even better.  We got picked up at our hotel at midnight with two other people, then drove about an hour to the base of the volcano.  With only our headlamps to light the way, we started our trek.  It was pretty easy at the start, but as we got closer to the top the wind got stronger and the climbing more difficult; we were pretty much on all fours climbing over boulders. Joining us part of the way was a group of locals from a nearby temple who make the hike every so often as a sort of religious offering. I thought I was struggling, but they carried baskets on their heads and wore flip flops the whole way. Piece of cake. We reached the top right before sunrise, and it was a very rewarding sight.  Besides the fact that it was absolutely freezing, being at the top was pretty amazing. I was a little disappointed that I couldn't see red hot magma bubbling in the bottom of the crater (it just looked like a normal rock pit), but oh well. After about an hour, we headed back down.

It was actually way more difficult going down. It was really steep and we were treading on loose sand/dirt so even the most simple step became like the banana peel on the floor cartoon (except it wasn't funny and hurt really bad when you landed on a rock).  All in all it was one of the best things we did the whole year and we're so glad we did it.

A temple at the base (you can see the volcano crater at the top)

Mount Agung (the volcano we hiked)

Our awesome guide

We got back from the hike at around noon, and proceeded to pass out for a few hours.  The rest of our time in Ubud we walked around and looked at all the craft shops and temples. It was nice to see souveniers different from what we saw in Thailand everyday, even if they were still dumb and touristy.

Good vegetarian food

After Ubud, we spent the day at the beach. Compared to the Thai islands we've been to, the beach was nothing to write home about (or mention in this blog).  But Bali is a big surf spot, so we got to watch all the surfers and hang out at the "cool surf shacks".  After Bali, we boarded an early flight to Singapore.

Malaysia

It's time to finally recap the end of our big Southeast Asian adventure.  The first stop on our 3 country tour was Malaysia.  We didn't really know anything about it before leaving for Thailand, but the more people spoke about the country, the more we knew we had to visit.  Malaysia is really unique because of its crazy mix of cultures.  It was in the center of the spice trade and along the major shipping route of the East India Trading company. Because of this historical influence, Malaysian history is a mix of Dutch, Portuguese, English, Indian and Chinese.  The different settlers make for really interesting architecture and awesome cuisine. We visited Melaka, Penang, Langkawi and Kuala Lumpur during our 10 day stay in Malaysia.

Melaka

Our first stop was Melaka, a city that felt trapped in time. It's the namesake of the Straits of Melaka, a major trade route during the spice trade and still one of the busiest shipping waterways in the world. Settled by both the Dutch and Portuguese, the colonial era churches blended into old Chinese shop houses that looked straight out of a black and white post card. We spent most of the time just walking around and eating.The cuisine is a mix of Chinese, Thai, and Indian....aka so good.

 

Penang 

Next up on the trip was Penang, in Northern Malaysia. If anyone watches No Reservations, with Anthony Bourdain, the Penang episode is pretty good.  Penang is an island, but is attached to the mainland by a long bridge.  It's the epitome of the mix of cultures. You could find a Mosque, Church, Chinese clan house, and a Hindu temple, all within a mile radius.

Walking around little India literally felt like you were in India...with Bollywood music blaring, sari shops everywhere, and banana leaf curry restaurants on every block.  But you also had the Chinese and Muslim populations as well. But again, with a colonial twist with an old Fort and some Catholic churches too.

Penang has been voted the best easting destination in the world, so without fail, we ate and ate and ate. We also went on a walking tour, did a little hike from the lonely planet (which turned into more of a super long trek), walked through the jungle, toured a spice garden, and hiked to turtle beach where sea turtles supposedly nest...but of course we didn't see any.

Langkawi
After Penang, we headed to the island of Langkawi for some sunshine and relaxation.  As expected, it was cloudy or rainy the whole time, but we still enjoyed it.  The highlight was renting a car to drive around the island.  Cyrus was a little shaky at first getting used to driving on the left, but he mastered it soon enough. The whole island is duty-free, so the alochol was cheap and flowing (alcohol everywhere else in Malaysia is really expensive because they import everything, due to the high population of Muslims who don't drink).

KL
Our last stop in Malaysia was the capital city, Kuala Lumpur.  I had really mixed feelings about it.  It was much more conservative than the other cities we visited.  Just walking around in short sleeves got me a lot of uncomfortable stares from men.  But we ate good food, and had a really fun night looking out over the Petrones Towers, which were the highest in the world for a little while.

We stayed in KL for a few days then caught a flight to Bali, Indonesia!