I am far beyond the baby steps of my initial trips. I have now backpacked around the world. Some highlights:
- Freaking out the ghost experience with roommates while going to school in the USA
- Freezing to death at a bus stop after visiting Santa at Santa village in Finland
- Taking buses and learning how to hitch-hike on my way across Canada
- Standing above the clouds and looking down at Machu Picchu in Peru – a place I had dreamed about since I was a child
- Feeling like I was on another planet when visiting Ecuador’s Galapagos islands
- Being Run over by a rickshaw and being followed by a creepy man in India
- Trekking the Himalayans and meeting wonderful people in Nepal
- Enjoying massage, great food and jungle living in Thailand
- Being charmed by the villages and windmills of Holland (but I could not swallow even one bite of their typical eel sandwich!)
- Being hopelessly lost in the streets of Belgium
- Relaxing on a river cruise in Germany as we passed endless charming castles and villages
- Going back in time by experiencing the music and charm of Austria
- Exploring the gorgeous mountains of Switzerland
- Appreciating the elegant city of Paris with white feminine buildings that reminded me of the times of Marie Antoinette
- Trying to look smart in Oxford and having my first ambulance experience in London
- Exploring the fairy tale cities and villages of the Czech Republic
- Throwing up from the bus window on the winding mountain roads on my way to Oaxaca, Mexico
- Being amazed by the beautiful animals in Kenya and Tanzania
- Challenging across busy bike streets with no rules in Vietnam
- Being awed at all the ruins I saw in Egypt – wow!
- Feeling like Indiana Jones while exploring Petra, in the desert of Jordan
- Enjoying the amazing mountain of Pakistan from the top of a bus
- Seeing long long train rides, huge new condos, gigantic squares and felt strong human powers in China
- Exploring pitch black caves in Belize
- Hearing the echo of howler monkeys as I explored amazing ruins, at Tikal, Guatemala
- Cycling through the country side and running over a crab migration in Cuba
- Surprising a friend after his Everest summit climb under lots of Chinese rules in Tibet
- Cuddling Koala bears and petting Kangaroos in Australia
- Checking out steaming towns and imaging The Lord of the Rings in New Zealand
- Eat – Failed, Pray- No time for that, Love, Yes!! absolutely loved cycling in Tuscany, hiking Amalfi Coast & Cinque Terre, charming architecture and pretty the Italian Lake District!
- Cycling from Sunrise to Sunset for 3 days around Angkor Wat in Cambodia
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Getting by 2 days beautiful slow boat ride from Thailand to Luang Prabang – Sleepy town with lots of temples, Bike around Caves and Mountains in Vang Vieng, Laos
- Say Hello to Tarsier on Bohol island and wave my hand to Nimo in the beautiful water. Exploring a sleepy small island of Busuanga by a scooter and enjoyed beautiful water by Coron Island hopping tour in the Philippines
- W- trek was easy but definitely enjoyed the beauty and unique shape of mountains in Torres del Paine NP, Chile, with great travel companions ( G Adventures )
- Enjoyed crazy gust on top of the view point of Laguna de los Tres in Glacier NP and impressed by beauty of Fitz Roy. It’s nice to end the trekking day with great coffee and chocolate in El Chalten, Argentina.
- Walking around peaceful and friendly neighbor in Colonia, Uruguay. Loved the classic cars.
- Having delicious breakfast at The Victoria Falls Hotel, small but be able to wonder around the town, view of Victoria Falls is also great. It’s better to stay in Zimbabwe side.
- Relax stay by the Zambezi River and enjoy the view of Victoria Falls from sky with microlight in Zambia.
- Looking at many peaceful elephants and chasing by a hippo but felt like I was in Lion king like a peaceful animal world at Chobe River cruise in Botswana.
- Enjoyed first time quad biking in the dunes and skydiving. Loved the feeling of flying in the air! View was spectacular in Namibia.
- Beautiful landscape to Cape Town. Great food and lots to see and do in South Africa. Table mountains, Robben Island, hiking around in Drakensberg.
- Run into school festival and surround by small kids in mountain kingdom Lesotho.
- Climbed Mt. Kinabalu, enjoyed Via Ferrata on the way down. Spotted a wild Orangutan and proboscis monkeys in the Kinabatangan jungle. Grabbed by Orangutan at Sepilok Orangutan Rehabilitation Centre, Borneo Malaysia.
- App local use for weather forecast showed rain but believed own judgement from a couple websites including a radar from BBC, looked up the sky, if it rain, so it be. Went out for Huang Di Dian hiking in Taiwan. Cloudy but no rain, enjoy the mountain all by myself! Too many 7-Eleven confused my sense of direction when I headed to the hostel in Taipei.
- Country of Coffee and Cheese, Colombia. Tried Colombian’s favorite drink, “ Chocolate Con Queso “. Hot Chocolate with Cheese in colonial town of “ Villa de Leyva”. Once is enough for this drink but loved “ Pan de Queso “.
- There was no Sunset but enjoyed a whole Borobudur temple all by myself till dark but almost locked up. Plan to ride a bicycle leisurely to Prambanan in the rice field but ended up riding on the busy main street like a suicide mission with cars and scooters which also comes against me on the sidewalk ( bike lane ) in Indonesia.
- Exploring a Lava cave. Looking at partly frozen waterfalls, steaming hot spring waterfalls, and Northern lights. Iceland, truly the island of ice and fire. Loved hiking around Reykjadalur area where steam comes out everywhere in snow. What a amazing landscape and natural phenomenon. No wonder Saga story has been told this island.
- After detoxing stay at Ayurveda Spa & Resort, explored inland, mountains and coast by scooter, bus and famous scenic train in Sri Lanka. Amazing Sigiriya rock and many cave temples. Sunset and Sunrise back to back hike up to Sri Pada / Adam’s Peak. Witness hardwork of Sea Turtle laying their eggs. Sri Lanka has lots to offer!
- It was nice to explore Israel with G Adventures. I am not good at history and now I learned a lot from a local tour leader. I walked a lot in Jerusalem on my own, too. Now I can navigate maze like town. I loved Jerusalem bagels. Also I had the best Vegetarian meal at Ishtabach!
- Lots of beautiful Pagodas in Myanmar. Very impressive historical Pagodas in Bagan and amazing setting of Mount Popa. Intrepid Cycling tour took us to backroad of Country side. The ride from 50km out of Pindaya after passing the high mountain to Inle Lake was beautiful. In spite of cutting 3 days short due to Covid-19, we saw most of it thanks to our tour leader, Alex. I had a great ride and fun.
- Seeing Mom & Baby Sloths in action and beautiful Quetzales birds, hiking in magical cloud forest was amazing in Costa Rica. Driving a car and riding scooter was fun for short distance. Joining G Adventures for a long distance save time and energy. Also a small group tour made me feel comfortable during a pandemic. Tour leader, Esteban’s knowledge and supports was the icing on the cake! I enjoyed not only beauty of nature but also learning Costa Rica.
- Enjoy cycling and beautiful blue beach on Isla Colón, Bocas del Toro. Hiking in cloud forest near Boquete and El Valle de Anton which is in the crater of an extinct volcano. Spotting colorful birds and Geoffroy’s Tamarin. Of course observing Panama canal process. Panama was not just a canal and beach. It was more than that. People are nice, helping me buying a transit card, giving me a lift to Miraflores locks when I was walking the road from Summit park and had a great chat. I found out that she organizes Bird festival in October. I have to visit again!
- Madeira island in Portugal is small but lots to offer. Loved hiking and driving around the island even my small car was struggling their steep hills. Lots of hilly towns with beautiful buildings decorated by Azulejos. Buildings, churches, palace, so details and very different from other European style. This is where the world exploration started. Portugal inspired me more for world travel especially after the Covid pandemic.
- Experience Diwali at night in Little India. Walked from Muslim quarter, Bay East Garden to Garden by the bay, China town. You can find the quiet spot even in the garden by the bay. Small but you can experience so many different things in Singapore.
Total … 57 countries
