I can’t believe that my one month anniversary of arriving in Asia is just around the corner! It seems like just yesterday that I was getting locked in bathrooms, sleeping in airports, and wandering the streets of the Arab district in search of my hostel.
During August, I have been fortunate enough to have already fit in 2 weekends of travelling since having settled into life at SMU on exchange...
My first trip away from “home” was to Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia. This was a phenomenal opportunity to get to know my roommates better. We has a little trouble getting there and back (including being stuck in the middle of nowhere at midnight, cabbing half-way to Malaysia, overbooked buses, a run-away bus, and random holes/flaps in the bus floor when we did finally manage to get our seats). That said, the trip was a good opportunity for us to come together and overcome Malaysia’s ‘challenges’ as a group. KL was a really cool city – we got to see the world famous Patronus Towers, the Batu Caves Hindu shrine, KL Chinatown, exciting live bands, and my personal favourite – the trendy, fresh Sky Bar. Sky Bar is a lounge on one of the top floors at the Shangri La’s Traders Hotel in KL, which features an indoor pool. The hotel is located across the way from the Patronus Towers which are spectacularly lit up until midnight. The phenomenal view definitely made paying for one an expensive beer worthwhile.
Our second trip away from Singapore was to Bintan – a costal Indonesian island. One Canadian dollar is worth 9,220 Indonesian Rupiahs, so it was quite difficult to repress the urge to open up my wallet and make-it-rain. Our trip to Bintan was a much needed relaxing weekend away. After organizing classes, school, our apartment, routines, and such, we all appreciated a weekend to just sit on the beach. We ended up staying at the “Shady Shack” which definitely lived up to its name.
Lobo and his wife run this beach “resort” that featured a couple creaky thatched-roof shacks on the side of their private beach. Lobo’s family made us hearty meals every day, as well as a bon-fire on the beach for our last night in town. I would recommend Shady Shack to anyone who doesn’t mind finding snakes in their shower, cockroaches in their bed, mosquitoes on their pillows, or rabid attacking monkeys on a walk through the neighbourhood. In truth, the Shady Shack turned out to be a great experience for a couple of University students looking to rough it a couple nights in turn for a chance to sit on a nice beach, read a couple textbooks and listen to music. O – and I also got a chance to test out my underwater camera; check out some pics...
I think the most interesting thing about leaving Singapore has been how excited I have been to come back after a couple weekends away :)
No comments:
Post a Comment