My trip to East & Southeast Asia

beautifuljoan

It was on September 2 when I prepared for my trip to east Asia and the pacific, I also had an awesome time in traveling on one of my favorite countries. There were culture shocks that I experienced when we saw different kinds of temples and buildings we visited. It was a 4-month journey and we visited 10 countries in Asia.

But before that, I would like to thank

FitFlop slippers
FitFlop slippers

The comfy pair of slippers is soooooo helpful as we strolled around each shopping malls and other places we've been, my feet didn't get tired of walking around. These slippers usually help strengthen your feet and increases your speed in walking since I'm a person that walks fast LOL!

Anyway, without further ado, let's get to the point!

Singapore

Singaporean lion
Singaporean lion

The first ever country we visited. There was so much to explore here, the food, the cultural diversity and the shopping malls. This used to be part of Malaysia back then, and it was separated. For me, this country is the heart of Asia since there were many people from other countries such as: Chinese, Malay, Thai, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Filipino, Korean etc. I've visited the Buddhist and Taoist temples there and the dishes from Singapore were delicious like: Laksa and Mantou Bread.

Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur skyline
Kuala Lumpur skyline

We didn't take the plane since obviously Singapore was just connected here, so we just crossed the border. This place is like the bigger version of Singapore with rural areas. We visited Kuching, George town and Kota Kinabalu. Petaling Jaya in KL was also a great place but some people can be chaotic there. We've tried dishes like: Bah Kut Teh, Nasi Lemak, Murtabak and Roti Canai. There were also Chinese dishes as well like Singapore but since this is a muslim country, pork was not served in this place.

Thailand

Beach in Thailand
Beach in Thailand

The country is for cultural people who wants to visit temples and is known for Buddhism. Although not yet on par with Malaysia in terms of development, Bangkok is a very innovative city. We were safe strolling late at night to eat fried crickets in Khaosan road. Chiang Mai was a breathtaking place as the vibe is chill and serene. Phuket is an awesome beach as well, since at night we felt the cold air while we were walking by the shore. The water was cold as well during night time and it was very quiet there.

Indonesia

Bali
Bali

The country with the most islands has great stuff to offer. Bali in my opinion is a representation of the Indonesian culture despite being a muslim country, and the beach is cool. We also went to Lombok and Surabaya and those places were waaaayyy more civilized than in Jakarta as our experience in the capital wasn't good. The crown was very barbaric and we couldn't stand the traffic problems there but at least its nowhere bad as the one in the Philippines. Mee Goreng and Nasi Goreng are a must try, especially Satay and Sambal.

Vietnam

My trip to East & Southeast Asia

Fuq Yu Meen, Da Phuc, Dam Son and My Son, hahaha JK. I think this is an underrated country for tourists even though it's not quite developed like Indonesia and Thailand. But what I like about this country is, despite its struggles on economy, Vietnam has been improving rapidly like Indonesia both being able to surpass the Philippines as two of the countries are focused on diversifying their land development. Saigon though is more developed than Hanoi but both are peaceful as we were comfortable in strolling around the streets but there were also underrated places like Da Nang and Nha Trang. I also like the fact that we saw a lot of Vietnamese driving a motorcycle, it was amazing during the time we saw it. Pho Hoa is a common place for Vietnamese foods and their Pho Bo was delicious! We also tried their fried spring rolls, Vermicelli salad, Banh Mi, Com Suon Nuong and my favorite Vietnamese coffee.

China

Chinese temple
Chinese temple

Home of the largest economy of the world despite not being a developed country. If I were to list the best city in China, that would be Shanghai as their spring roll is just my favorite. There were also Taoist and Confucious temples that we visited and the city is cleaner than Beijing. Then, we went to Fujian and Guangzhou, the places that is near Taiwan, HK and Macau. China surprisingly has a lot of dialects such as: Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka and Shanghainese just to name a few. We also went to Lhasa in Tibet where it is another scene of China in that province as it is near Mt. Everest. You can see Buddhist temples there and influences of the Himalayas.

Taiwan

Taipei skyline
Taipei skyline

The smaller but more developed version of China, and home of milk tea and Xiao Long Bao. The people are friendlier and civilized since Taiwan is more liberated than China. The dragon boat racing is an iconic activity for me when going here since their boat is very artistic. The culture is more colorful and it is religiously diverse, though religions are based on chinese folk religion. And just to let you know, those C-POP you hear are made mostly in Taiwan. For their foods, we tried their beef brisket and fish fillet, their milk tea was also cheap.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong skyline
Hong Kong skyline

And that was the end of my trip to Asia. I returned here in New York on December 15. It was a great bond with my friends and we had awesome time visiting those countries. I might go back sometime there and maybe, we'll visit the places we haven't been.

The final country where K-POP originated. Also notable brands like Hyundai and Kia. We enjoyed Seoul but there were also underrated places we visited such as: Jeju, Jeollado and Busan (this isn't a reference of the movie train to Busan though). The Samgyeopsal was just cheap and affordable that most of the time, we ate there, but at least we didn't overlook the other dishes Korea had to offer, and we tried their street food too.

Seoul skyline
Seoul skyline

Seoul

Way more civilized than HK TBH, and they have awesome resorts as well. We've been through their casinos as it was the main feature of the city. Although we admit we got slightly bored, we still love the place since we saw Europeans around and the place looks like a European city as well. Their crispy pork belly is the tastiest dish we tried and the egg tart is also delightful. And we discovered that Macau has its own currency named MOP. While China, Taiwan and HK have: Yuan, Taiwan dollars & Hong Kong dollars.

Macau skyline
Macau skyline

Macau

The city is innovative despite its chaotic street, but I honestly felt HK is overpopulated as there were a lot of crowded areas when we were strolling around, I don't know maybe it's because of the rush hour. It was under Britain until 1997 when Hong Kong became an independent sovereign state. We went to Disneyland and I loved the beautiful train from the MTR to Disneyland that was made. Their dishes were also great such as: Congee, Dimsum, sweet & sour pork, roasted chicken and Wanton noodles.

My trip to East & Southeast Asia
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