Background:

Many of my friends had gone on graduation trips to Southeast Asia, which is what inspired my own graduation trip here. The main places that I wanted to see on this trip were Bali and Bangkok. However, just like my Europe trip, I didn't do too much planning here. This time around I did things a little differently. I did half my trip alone and half my trip with my friends Marko and Paul. My inspiration for Tokyo came from my mom who insisted I visit Japan. My inspiration for Singapore was just to spend a day and see the magnificence of Marina Bay Sands. Finally, I went to Taiwan only as a layover for the way home. I had done absolutely NO planning and had no friends to save me for the alone half so things went about as well as you might expect. 

On this trip, my goal was to keep all my traveling as cheap as possible so I had more money for the destination themselves. This is why I ended up having an 8-hour layover in Seattle, a 10-hour layover in Taipei, a 12-hour layover in Kuala Lumpur, another 22-hour layover in Taipei, and finally spent the night outside of the airport in Bali because I booked an early morning flight without knowing that the airport actually closes in random exotic destinations of the world.
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Tokyo, Japan


Japan, or Nippon, is translated as "The Sun's Origin" and after spending time there I can definitely corroborate that when I witnessed 4am sunrises. My first day in Japan was spent after two full days of traveling and I had no orientation of where I was or what I was doing. I woke up in my hostel in Nishiarai, a neighborhood of Adachi-ku. It turns out that Nishiarai is not in Tokyo and was actually about 30 minutes north of Tokyo. That should be enough to give you an idea of how well prepared I was for this solo traveling.

I woke up in Nishiarai and I chose to do what any normal person would do and walk aimlessly down the streets of the town. I found the Nishiarai Daishi temple where I started my day and from there walked more around Tokyo and figured out the metro line. Honestly I had absolutely no idea where to go and I figured I really messed up by not planning my trip at all...but here we are, walking casually around Tokyo with no plans for the next four days.

After doing nothing and stopping briefly to get lunch, I decided to do one of those hop-on hop-off buses that take you around the city. I don't remember much from it, but I do remember Sensoji. Sensoji was just supposed to be a quick stop to see a cool temple in the heart of the city. Little did I know that I would willingly get myself stuck there for the next three hours just to watch the Sanja Matsuri festival, which I coincidentally ran into while I was there. For the next three days, I found myself wanting to go back to Sensoji and just vibe with all the locals. 

For the rest of my time in Tokyo, I did go out and see other stuff like the Imperial Palace, Mount Fuji, Tokyo Skytree, Tokyo Tower, Shibuya, Shinjuku, Ginza, and other neighborhoods. The one true place that I always came back to see at the end of a long day of touring is Sensoji. Seeing that temple again is one of the main reasons I hope to go back to Japan in the near future. 

Singapore

Unfortunately, due to my poor planning, I only had about 24 hours to spend in Singapore. All 24 hours were spent based on recommendations from some random guy on my flight in. That flight itself kinda traumatized me since I maybe accidentally/not accidentally smuggled in a pocket knife and gum (which I'm not sure if it's legal) into the country without declaring anything. I did not get arrested or detained so I'm assuming people don't care about pocket knives but I highly suggest not doing that. It'll become a common theme in my traveling that I do the most stupid stuff in other countries.

I stayed at the Crowne Plaza by the airport and arrived at dinnertime. I unpacked my stuff and wandered around the hotel to see the nearby sites and accidentally stumbled upon the Jewel (in the left picture below). Between the hotel and the Jewel, I didn't step outside until noon when I showed up at the Marina Bay Sands. My entire day was spent at the top of the Marina Bay Sands, Gardens by the Bay, and the ArtScience Museum. The highlight of my day was losing the $90 picture that I bought at the top of the hotel. I was also able to spontaneously hang out with my friend, Ben Wong, who is from Singapore and I had the pleasure of showing the Jewel to.

It's definitely possible to see all the conventional tourist sites as quickly as I did but DEFINITELY not recommended. From what Ben told me, there is so so much to see apart from just those places that are just as beautiful and way more cost effective. It is definitely in my plans to go back to Singapore next time I'm in Asia because 24 hours is just not enough for that entire city. 

Bangkok, Thailand

Ohhhhh boyyyyyy...let's start off with a question. Would you ever follow a random guy out of an airport to a random hotel to a random part of Bangkok where he paid for your hotel or are you normal?

Anyway...Bangkok was one hell of a time. This picture to the right doesn't show anything special but it shows the ending to the long saga I had to endure above. My first day in Bangkok started with me finding our Airbnb and sleeping all day. That's it. Nothing else. I showed up one day before Marko and Paul and chose to do nothing after living through my initial struggles.

Walking around Bangkok was the real moment I knew I was in a different country. In Japan and Singapore, people still spoke English very well. In Thailand, every conversation was a struggle but that's what made the experience what it was. Our tour of Bangkok started with the Jim Thompson House. Jim Thompson was an American who moved to Bangkok because he loved the country and he became an art and porcelain collector.

We made our way to the Royal Palace of Thailand which was surrounded by dozens of temples itself and the pictures that follow showcase the beauty and elegance of that. We also visited a few night markets outside of some cool malls (including the ICONSIAM mall pictured below). 

If there was one thing to summarize our time in Bangkok, it's temples. We definitely did not experience a shortage of them and at some points it seemed like we saw too many. But in all, it was a great time visiting all of them. Of course, the action packed part of the trip came from the first day I was there but I think many people in my life would like to pretend that never happened so I'm gonna avoid talking about it so publicly.

Bali, Indonesia


Like I mentioned above, Bali was the main inspiration for this trip. All my friends went on a trip to Southeast Asia for their graduations and I said "hey, why be different?" So I decided that Bali was gonna be my next trip. 

I gotta say the beaches are beautiful and everything you would imagine. We did a lot of stuff in Bali like visiting temple ruins, walking around their street markets, riding motorcycles around the island, and watching the sunrise on our last day. 

The most memorable thing we did was drive our motorcycles 45 minutes away to Tanah Lot where we saw some temple ruins and experienced true immersion with the beach and nature around. It was such a great experience to be there and be able to reflect on everything we did until it was time to go back. Luckily, we made a pitstop to a Starbucks Reserve when we got back so we treated ourselves spiritually and physically.

When it was time for me to leave for America again, I left Bali alone with a crazy morning flight so I decided to sleep in the airport the night before. Turns out, the airport had other plans and closed on me, so instead I slept on a bench outside for four hours. :)

Also quick shoutout to the greatest tapas restaurant there called Cuca.

Taipei, Taiwan


My flight from Bali ended with me in Jakarta where I had a long layover (no surprise there) and continued on EVA Air to Taipei where I had a 22 hour long layover. I didn't actually know if I was allowed to leave the airport but I said "fuck it" and did anyway.

Since I was only gonna be there for one day, I didn't make any plans or have anything to see in particular. I woke up and just chose to wander. I started off by walking from my hotel down to Taipei 101, which used to hold the world record for fastest elevator in the world. While on top of Taipei 101, I got to see the skyline and countryside surrounding the city and was absolutely floored by the beauty and ingenuity of the Taiwanese people.

One thing that caught my eye was a large temple looking building really close to Taipei 101 and using my natural sense of direction, I chose to walk over there with absolutely no guidance. It turns out that I was walking over to the Dr. Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hall which commemorated the former president and leader of the KMT. Luckily, I got there in time to see the changing of the guard ceremony along with a lot of other Chinese tourists. While they were performing the ceremony, there was a tour guide explaining in detail what was about to happen and what we could expect (in Chinese of course). After his long speech, he came over to me and silently explained everything in English which finally made everything make sense.

After the end of that ceremony, I took the subway over to the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall which honored another president and leader of the KMT. Coincidentally enough, I was able to catch the changing of the guard in that hall as well. This time no translation of the ceremony was needed.

I included the picture of my EVA Air plane from Taiwan to JFK just as a way to remember the amazing time I had while I was in Asia. It truly was a life changing experience to be there and I'm so happy I made the most of it as I could. I also included the plane picture because EVA Air is hands down the absolute best airline I've ever flown on in terms of comfort and service. A close second to them is Garuda Indonesia which truly made my 6am flight a pleasure.
Shankar Inc.