travel

I made a calendar before I left for my winter vacation. Littered with notes in the margins about confirming flights, double checking bus schedules, and detailing directions to hostel addresses, I mapped out a two week excursion to three very different places: Indonesia, Singapore, and Malaysia. Sitting at my desk at school, looking at the creased page full of travel details, I couldn’t wrap my mind around what those two weeks would be like. And, as I sit here again behind my desk in South Korea, I can’t fathom how those two weeks held so many memorable miles, random bruises, pale misty mornings, blazing noon heatwaves, and cheap, delicious street food. My short time traveling over those two weeks took me on an incredible journey that felt like it spanned two months. Here’s some highlights of it.

BALI, INDONESIA

From Kuching I flew to the sovereign city-state of Singapore. From now until the end of my holiday I would be making short distance flights to various places and spending a little time in each place. My trip to Singapore fell on the weekend and I was keen to meet some people and do some social activities in the wake of most of my independent adventure in Borneo. With this in mind I had arranged to meet someone through the courchsurfing movement and I would be staying with a Spanish girl called Sara in Singapore for two nights.

In what has come to be quite a mini series for December/January I now present you with my final hiking blog until I return from Malaysia. I have really enjoyed the previous three hikes and it certainly gives me a great amount of satisfaction to do something I enjoy outside of the football season (Which incidentally I have decided to abstain from next season). The hike on Christmas Day was fantastic, more mountain climbing than hiking, but definitely an adventure. With that in mind I spent some time researching other mountains in the Yeongnam Alps and I planned a route that would take me to another famous temple and over three big peaks.

Jeju is one of South Korea’s prized possessions. The volcanic island is home to many UNESCO heritage sites and is aptly called the “Hawaii of Korea”. Being less than an hour flight from Gimhae International Airport in Busan, I knew I would eventually visit the island.

When I found out that the final leg of the IJF Grand Prix series was being held in Jeju, I knew it was something I couldn’t possibly pass up. Luckily, exams at my elementary school were happening at the same time as the tournament and I was able to reallocate some paid leave days.

We have all read stories about getting scammed in foreign countries while on vacation. We’re also given all the precautions to save us from the embarrassment and loss of a scam. Then, we prepare mentally and physically for it. Preparing to spot that ominous, slim, shady character walking towards us with a trench coat on. Some even take karate classes in preparation for it.

Enough horseplay. If we knew how a scam worked, we wouldn’t get scammed.  And the scammers know this so they come at us like an innocent dove.

Have you ever seen the reporter doing a story about pickpockets, and this master pick pocket-er literally tells the reporter what he’s going to steal and then steals it by the end? It’s like that I suppose.