Have I returned your text message or email recently? Did I ever call you back? Was I there to wish you a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? When was the last time we spoke?
I’ve received more messages asking where I am (in the world), how this activity or that location was and commenting on my lack of responses, than I ever have before. This is because I’ve been enthralled in doing “all of the things”, that I really have set aside everything else (including publishing any recent blog posts).
The last few months have been chaotic (in the best way). Since my last blog post, I’ve lived in Kuala Lumpur - Malaysia, trekked around Bali - Indonesia, moved to Chiang Mai – Thailand, toured through the Southern Thai islands and landed in a post-holiday/vacation/visitor funk that is, quite frankly, overstaying it’s welcome.
The past few days have led to long night sleeps, binge watching Big Little Lies (thank you, Melissa), an overindulgence in carbs and lots of time spent on my yoga mat. As high activity times like these wind down, we often find ourselves in this state of lethargy. In a recent TedTalk I watched (thanks to my wonderful aunt), a word was introduced to me to describe this feeling – Awumbuk – a feeling of laziness that descends when a houseguest finally leaves. As in, when that period of planning, executing and entertaining, is over.
Now, I recognize that there comes a time in everybody’s life when things ramp up, we get busy and calls go unreturned, so don’t worry, I’m not being hard on myself, but I’m excited to fill you in on what I’ve been up to (and get back to the regular communication we usually have)!
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Many people in our program "opted out" of going to KL last month, so we had a smaller group than normal. Surprisingly, I didn't mind this! I got to spend time with new people and have a quieter first half of the month in the city.
I loved walking the streets and exploring the fascinating street art that littered almost every alley in KL. This art was so complex and seemed to have a deep meaning behind every one. Sometimes, I was lucky enough to come across it with some of our city team guides who could explain the history behind the art, but other times I had to extract the meaning using my own creativity.
Even more present than street art was street FOOD. It was everywhere and we gorged on it the entire month. There's even an entire street (classically named "Street Food Street") that you can go to any day of the week, any hour of the day, and find numerous stands open. This was one of my dinners that I had, choosing what item-on-a-stick I wanted and allowing the vendor to cook it right in front of me.
I climbed a freaking mountain! This was a huge feat that I was extremely proud of. After my introduction to bouldering with my Lisbon-roommate, Tyson, I felt up for the challenge! We climbed the backside of the famous Batu Cave right in the city.
We connected with fellow Badgers! Before starting Remote Year, I reached out to the UW Alumni chapters that existed in the cities we were planning on going to. KL was the most active and enthusiastic chapter to hear about our visit. We met up for a great dinner with four local alums and heard compared our stories. This was such a cool and unique experience.
We were invited to a traditional Malaysian wedding! Our city team manager got married on the first Saturday we had in town, and he opened up the invitation to attend his special day to all of us (can you imagine??). We drove three hours to get to the coastal village of Malacca for the ceremony and reception. Considering I have never been to a non-Christian wedding before, this was an unforgettable experience.
I stayed at a hotel that was way out of my league! My friend, Lindsay, is a freelance travel writer that reviews experiences local to the places we are living. We got to spend one night at the Mandarin Oriental and soaked up our time by spending the rest of the day after check-out lounging by the pool and having a (actually) productive work day!
Thanks, Lindsay!
The workspace in KL has a mural created by every Remote Year group that has visited the city. As we often do, Yugens wanted to blow-away the expectations set by other murals and create something extraordinary. Thanks to the talented designers in our group, this mural was designed and executed to-the-nines. The top half of the mural represents cities that we have already visited and the reflection in the water represents cities that we have yet to visit on our itinerary. I even contributed to the painting portion of the project (believe-it-or-not)!
Bali, Indonesia
The second half of the month of December, I vacationed in Bali. This is ultimately where we planned to spend Christmas, but I went about a week early with friends to explore the Indonesian islands!
We arrived to Ubud, Bali with a group of four for a few days, ready to explore!
We bravely rented scooters for the day and had one accident (everyone is safe), but it scared us enough to take caution. Here I am stuck in my helmet because I buckled it on so tight...
Sippin' out of coconuts was so refreshing on this hot and humid hike we did Day 1!
Not Pictured: The incredible yoga class that we attended in the center of Ubud! I can't wait to go back.
After a few days in Ubud, it was time to venture out to Nusa Penida Island, a smaller island off of Bali that is known for it's underdeveloped, rural adventures not seen by many tourists. We spent one of the three nights in a tree house situated off of the cliffside, requiring a relatively strenuous hike down (luckily we packed light). We were warned not to bring food down to the tree houses, as monkeys, rats and other friends were known to come into the open-aired tree houses for goodies the middle of the night.
This is a gorgeous photo captured by one of my friends on the trip, Daire. The best part about this experience: waking up in the morning to this view.
Casual morning hike we took before leaving the tree house.
The island was known for the strenuous hiking that led to magnificent treasures. This hike, consisting of cliffside stairwells led down to a temple that combined ocean waves and fresh water (pumped all the way down by these blue/black tubes you see in the photo) to create an elevated spiritual experience.
We did encounter a few treacherous points. This photograph captures the stairwell being overturned by a recent tree uprooted by a storm. We still crossed.
The adventure didn't stop there! On our final day, we hiked the famous "T-Rex" path down to a hidden beach. The views were continuously amazing along the entire hike (as you can see). During this trip, I became known for my "granny hiking" as my friends refer to it - really, this just means I was the most cautious hiker of the trip! :)
The highlight: When my friends told me that I could no longer claim a fear of heights. The number of hikes, climbs, cliffs and other adventures that I had achieved, were saying otherwise. Sounds good to me - SEE YA NEVER, FEAR OF HEIGHTS. Can't stop me now.
After an adventurous few days (with minimal access to showering and clean clothes), we were ready for a luxurious five days with our 24 friends at the YUGEN BALI HOUSE. We rented this house over the Christmas holiday to celebrate as a "family". Since everything is so inexpensive in Bali, we were able to get a huge mansion with a full staff (cooking, cleaning, driving, gardening) for less than most US hotels. We lived like kings and queens that week. Here we are toasting with mimosas on Christmas morning!
Our private infinity pool and yard.
Christmas evening celebrations!
Celebrating Christmas in our new Bali dresses!
Chiang Mai, Thailand
We arrived to Chiang Mai right before New Years and were reconnected as an entire group again - ready to start the new year off right!
Hanging off one of the classic Chiang Mai 'red trucks'! These are the main form of transportation in Chiang Mai, basically a glamorized red pickup truck.
GRANT ARRIVED! I was so excited for Grant to fly in on New Years Eve so that he could meet my new friends and see the life I've been living - plus, we hadn't seen each other in five months. TOO LONG.
Our attempt at taking a cute candid.
Krabi – Ao Nang – Koh Phi Phi, Thailand
After a few days in Chiang Mai, Grant and I traveled south to get some beach time (much needed for him being in the middle of Wisconsin winter)!
Heading off to Krabi!
Ferry to Koh Phi Phi island!
Morning hike on Phi Phi - great views of the entire island.
We spent an afternoon/evening on a boat excursion off of the island. Visited Koh Phi Phi Lee island, exploring caves, snorkeling and kayaking.
We got to watch the sunset on the famous Maya Bay Beach (this is the least crowded time of day). After sunset, we got back on the boat for a curry chicken dinner and let the day shift into pure darkness so that we had a perfect environment for hopping back into the water and swimming with the bioluminescent plankton! We didn't get a photo of this because as the guide says, "A memory is better than a photo".
When we headed back to Ao Nang after Koh Phi Phi, we took a day trip to Railay Beach. One of Grant's "must-do" items for his trip was paddle boarding, so here we are!
Side Note: we were able to accomplish all of Grant's (growing) "must-do" items while he was here! (Bonus girlfriend points??)
It was a bit tough paddle boarding in the ocean, so we spent a good deal of time hanging on our boards, sipping the beers that we had packed and taking in the beautiful sights.
Our final night in Ao Nang was spent enjoying dinner from this hilltop restaurant with beautiful views. Another spectacular place to watch the sunset!
All-in-all, my time in Asia has been beyond what I imagined it would be. To think back to how nervous I was before taking this leap to a new continent is laughable. It's been exceptionally difficult to miss my first family Christmas and an extremely important family wedding, but the growth I've experienced has been immense. We will be wrapping up our time in Asia after this month in Thailand and heading on to South America for the next six months. Thank you for following along on my journey!
Love, Jamie