India Part II + China + Bangkok + Myanmar/Burma + Singapore + Bintan + Kuala Lumpur + Dubai
Mumbai, India
I had to stick around Mumbai for something like 10 days to apply for my Chinese visa. Before I went I'd read over everything on the embassy's website multiple times, very carefully. I was prepared! These are the things that Mumbai's Chinese embassy's website got wrong:
- Location of the visa application center
- Hours of operation
- Required documents
- Price of visa
- Method of payment
- Processing time
- Types of visas I can apply for
Miraculously, I still got the visa.
Anyway, Mumbai! The famous Mumbai CST train station:
Elephanta caves, with bonus monkeys!
This monkey came right up to me and stole my bottle of water.
Marine Drive.
Sunset! 'Cause I love sunset pics.
Before I got to Mumbai I'd planned to couchsurf and check out its nightlife. Then I got there and stayed with a couchsurfer. Really nice and accommodating guy, except for one thing.
CSer, after getting me settled in: Do you need anything else?
Me: The internet password, please?
CSser: Sure. One kiss for every 10 minutes of internet you use.
Me: *laughs because I'm pretty sure he's joking*
CSer: *gives me the password and tries to kiss me*
Me: Whoa, what are you doing?
CSer: Kissing you.
Me: Uhm, no.
CSer: Okay. Sorry if I made you feel bad.
Me: I don't "feel bad". Just, no more of that.
CSer: Okay.
Next day, after some chatting...
CSer: Can we kiss now?
Me: No! Why do you keep pushing this?
CSer: Because I want to kiss you. Come on, just two? You used a lot of internet.
Me: No.
CSer: Okay, just one, then. A long one. You agreed to the terms.
Me: Ugh wtf.
I had to stay at his place that night since it was late, but I got out of there the next morning. Decided against checking out the nightlife and subjecting myself to more of this.
Matheran, India
After my abrupt departure from Mumbai I took an impromptu trip to nearby Matheran. It's a cool hill station that looks a bit like the Grand Canyon actually.
No motor vehicles are allowed so people get around on foot or horse. I chose horse, of course. \o/
See the guy in the pic? He works at the hotel I stayed at and doubled as my tour guide. We'll get back to him in a sec.
First, Sunset point.
So, the thing about watching sunsets is that it gets dark afterward, right? At this point I no longer had the horse, so it was a half hour trek back to the hotel on foot. Through the woods, in the dark. Dark like we were relying on this guy's cell phone to light the path.
Guy: I love you.
Me: Uh. A bit quick, don't you think?
Guy: You love me?
Me: Dude, I just met you.
Guy: You no love me?
Me: Ugh.
A while later...
Guy: *tries to show me porn on his phone*
Me: Ugh. *stuffs a large sharp rock into my purse while he isn't looking, just in case*
Another while later...
Guy: Excuse me, open your pants. (Srsly these were his exact words.)
Me: No!
Guy: No?
Me: No.
He keeps walking and I start worrying about how I'm going to get back to the hotel by myself if I'm forced to open his head with the rock. But he didn't try anything and even apologized when we got back to the hotel, said I was his first love or something ridiculous like that. IDEK, his English was terrible and he'd never heard of the internet before despite having downloaded porn onto his phone.
Anyway, so much for escaping sexual harassment by leaving Mumbai. I stayed in hotels when I got back there.
Agra, India
After collecting my visa I only had about two days left before I was due to fly to China so I didn't get to see any of the places I'd wanted to see between Mumbai and Agra. :( But I had to at least get a glimpse of the Taj Mahal. Took this pic from a boat behind the Taj.
The boat was full of Portuguese people, hah. It was nice to hear Portuguese again! Began missing Portugal. :(
Anyway after seeing the Taj I took a train to Delhi to catch my flight later that night. Good thing I had the foresight to leave early 'cause the train took almost two hours longer than it was supposed to. A year ago I would've missed my flight for sure. I've matured so much. \o/
Wuhan, China
I know you all want to see the inside of a lavatory on a China Southern Airlines flight. Notice anything off?
Wuhan is where I was born, and my living grandparents still live there, so I go and visit every few years. This particular occasion was my grandfather's 80th birthday and my father also flew out for it so I saw him too. Went straight from the airport to the hospital where my grandfather was staying.
Grandfather: Come closer, let me look at you.
Me: *goes closer*
Grandfather: So what made you decide to travel the world by yourself?
Me: *shrugs* Thought it'd be fun?
Grandfather: There are people who worry about you, you know. Your father, your mother. Do you think you don't need anyone? Everyone needs help from other people.
Me: Are you seriously lecturing me within minutes of my arrival? *sigh*
Next day...
Grandfather: So where are you going next?
Me: Haven't decided yet. Maybe Thailand.
Grandfather: You're very independent. It's good that you're capable of being so independent.
Me: ...Thanks. For not being contradictory at all.
Most of my days in Wuhan were spent eating, resting, eating catching up with stuff I had to do, eating, seeing relative after relative (usually while eating), watching Merlin, developing a huge crush on the guy who plays Arthur, and -- you guessed it -- eating! \o/
Huangshan, China
I'd originally planned to go to Tibet, but March is the anniversary of an uprising and riots so they don't issue permits in March or something. Went to Huangshan instead with my father. It's said to be the most beautiful mountain range in all of China, and it did not disappoint! Huangshan is full of endless stairs and sheer precipices and trees growing on top of rocks.
Apparently my parents had taken a romantic trip there together way back when.
Father: Entrance fee? Pffft. 20+ years ago there was no such thing.
Me: Well, that's what happens when a place gets commercialized.
Father: Be careful! It's easy to slip and fall.
Me: Sure.
Father: 20+ years ago, there was no gondola. You had to hike up the mountain by yourself.
Me: As fun as it sounds that would take ages, we don't have time.
Father: Be careful!
Me: Yeah, I know.
Father: Some peaks are closed. You won't be able to see the best one! :( 20+ years ago, your mother and I climbed up to that peak.
Me: Well, it needs to be preserved and all.
Father: Be careful, you'll die if you fall of that cliff over there.
Me: Yes, I know.
Father: 20+ years ago -- *skips a step, falls, and scrapes up his hands*
Me: Dude. And you keep telling me to be careful?
Anyway, one more pic:
Bangkok, Thailand
After China I did indeed end up going to Thailand. Just Bangkok, though. Tried to couchsurf again and stayed with a guy from Uganda. Seriously cool dude, everything from his accent to his walk scream "rich African prince". Except for the part where he keeps calling sex "rumpy pumpy" which made me lol. In case anyone is curious, I did ask him for his opinion on Kony2012 and the gist of his reply was "good campaign, bad timing."
Anyway, he and his friends (a couple of Dutch guys) took me to the infamous Patpong within hours of my arrival. Things the girls there can do with their vaginas include but are not limited to: serving ping pong balls (I understood, then, the name of this esteemed establishment) to men in the audience who had paddles, throwing darts at balloons (though one of the Dutch guys took one to the shoulder so their aim isn't perfect), pulling out very long strings of razors, blowing out candles, and my personal favorite, using chopsticks to pick things up. No, I don't have pictures.
This was a Saturday night, so after Patpong I drank a really excessive amount of vodka (you can buy bottles of it at 7-Eleven and it even comes with a straw!), briefly considered purchasing one of the many dildos they were selling on the streets, and instead hit the clubs. Fun was had by all!
Actually my main motivation for going to Bangkok was to get a visa for Myanmar, but I had so much fun in Bangkok I stayed for an extra couple of days, alternating between sightseeing and watching Human Planet with the couchsurfer and going out with him and his friends.
Temple of the Emerald Buddha.
Rooftop pool party!
Yangon, Myanmar
The funny thing about Myanmar is that it wasn't even on my radar until about a month before I went. i was in India at the time and met an Italian couple who told me Myanmar was the most beautiful country they'd ever visited, so I thought surely I must go and see for myself!
I was supposed to be hosted by a Burmese girl, or so I thought. She met me at the airport.
Girl: So where is your hotel?
Me: Er, you said you could host me?
Girl: Yeah, I'll take you to your hotel and show you around tomorrow. Didn't you book one?
Me: Okay... uh, no I hadn't booked a hotel yet.
She helped me book one and was really sweet, I guess she just doesn't understand what "host" means. Also apparently it's illegal for people to host foreigners in their homes.
Met up with a cute Brit for dinner that night (he took me to a hooker bar, lol) and we went for a walk around the lake afterward. Lots of mosquitoes. True to her word, the Burmese girl showed me around the next day.
Misha's face in downtown:
The lake with its giant dragon boat:
Shwedagon Pagoda.
I managed to slip into the Shwedagon for free somehow. Dunno what occasion it was but they were serving free food that day to anyone who wanted it.
After eating I felt so bad about evading the entrance fee that I ended up throwing some money into a donation box. Oh well. :P Stayed with the cute Brit that night and the Burmese girl seemed surprised when I made her understand I was going to sleep in his home, lol.
Bagan, Myanmar
The next day I flew to Bagan! Met a Taiwanese businessman on the plane and ended up going to dinner with him and his friend at a cool restaurant with a marionette show. Made the mistake of mentioning this to my parents who think everyone is out to rape and kill me. If only they knew about CouchSuring.
Anyway, Bagan has a very dusty, dry, abandoned feel to it. Densest concentration of Buddhist temples, pagodas, stupas, and ruins in the world, according to Wikitravel.
Climbing to the top of a pagoda is an impressive feat -- steepest and smallest stairs ever, would be fairly impossible without the rail.
While I was in Bagan Castiel returned and I couldn't download the episode. Not for lack of trying, but either the internet was crawling or the power kept cutting out. Usually both. Very antsy.
The ferry from Bagan to Mandalay is supposed to leave at 6 am. The first day I showed up at 6 am and it had already left. The next day I showed up at 5:15 and it left shortly after 5:30. Pffft.
People live in huts on the riverbank. The poverty in this country is humbling.
Mandalay, Myanmar
The view from my hotel.
Actually I didn't spend much time here. Mostly I just wanted to take the train north to Hsipaw. This section is supposed to be one of the great railway journeys of the world, and I've developed a thing for rail journeys.
Gokteik, Myanmar
My quest to see this viaduct was actually quite epic. It was for no particular reason the thing I wanted to see most in Myanmar. Just one of those ideas that got stuck in my head and wouldn't go away, I guess. At first I thought it was between Mandalay and Pyin U Lwin and had planned to take the train from PUL and spend a day there before heading back. Then I got delayed in Bagan for a day and thought I wouldn't have time. But no matter, I could just take the train to PUL and go straight back to Mandalay, right? Well, once I got to Mandalay I realized I'd misread and the Gokteik was actually between PUL and Hsipaw, a good ways further, and there was no way I could (or would) go all the way to Hsipaw and back to Mandalay in a day (or even two). Then I realized I didn't have to go all the way to Hsipaw -- I could get off after the Gokteik and catch the train back. Awesome, right? Except I missed the train. It was supposed to leave at 4 am and when I showed up at 4 am, it had already left. You'd think I'd have learned a thing or two from the ferry experience, but you would be wrong. Also it was 4 am, come on. T_T I ended up taking a pickup ride to PUL. Beat the train there so hopped on and continued north over the Gokteik Viaduct. \o/
On the train I met a Scottish guy and his Burmese tour guide, an ex con who'd been imprisoned for political reasons. Fascinating conversations with both of them.
The next day I flew back to Yangon, spent the night at the cute Brit's place again, and went to some sort of expat get-together at an art gallery with him. There are a surprising number of Americans living in Yangon, all teachers. The following morning was my flight out of Myanmar. It didn't leave early so I didn't miss it. \o/
Singapore
My cousin lives here.
My cousin is a (half) black dude with arms the size of my legs. You wouldn't be able to tell at first glance that he's half Chinese, so when he introduced me to his flatmates and friends I got various responses ranging from "you aren't built like him" to "seriously? And all this time I thought 'I'm half Chinese' was just a pickup line."
To be honest I spent much of my time in Singapore chilling out under not one but two ACs, catching up on work and TV shows and sleep, hanging out with my cousin, and cruising around in his millionaire friend's S$300k Lexus convertible. This millionaire friend kept calling me "cousin" and once asked if I was still "in heat" instead of "feeling warm". He's Iranian. Good times.
But I did manage to do some touristy stuff. Marina Bay Sands!
The mall at Marina Bay with the pond inside.
And Sentosa was very pretty.
Bridge to the southernmost point of Continental Asia.
Bintan, Indonesia
My cousin had booked a weekend trip to Bintan for us ages ago. Come time to leave, the Chinese embassy had his passport and he didn't. *facepalm* Because we were drunk, we decided it would be a good idea to show up at the ferry terminal with his old passport, the one with holes punched in it and CANCELED written on it. The immigration officials looked at us like we were idiots. It was a valiant effort. I ended up going alone so it wouldn't be a complete waste of money, and it was a package tour from Groupon so all weekend people were asking me for my name and I would give them my cousin's (very obviously male) name. Awesome.
I got an excellent massage and spent the weekend relaxing on the beach.
And a cat ate my dinner.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
I only came here 'cause flights from here to Dubai were much cheaper than flights from Singapore to Dubai. Got in late at night via bus, had no idea where I ended up, and asked someone where the nearest metro station was. They pointed to a sign not so far from us with arrows pointing to the metro station just across the street. I felt very smart. Made it to my hostel and had just enough time and energy left to check out the Petronas Towers before crashing.
Thus ends the Southeast Asia part of my trip. Flew to Dubai next and had a 9.5 hour layover in Chennai. I didn't consciously notice how distinct the smell of India is the first time I went there, but upon stepping off the plane and breathing in the air, I recognized it immediately. India smells so very… Indian.
Dubai, UAE
Stayed with a couchsurfer from Syria. He took me kayaking in the sea.
Only, it was his first time kayaking so he had no idea what he was doing. I ended up in the sea in all my clothes. There were pretty purple jellyfish in the water which I thankfully managed to avoid while in the water in all my clothes.
I had booked a time slot to see the Burj Khalifa online, and I was nearly late after the kayaking incident. Showed up all wet and was afraid they wouldn't let me in, but they did. The Burj Khalifa is so fucking amazing.
I stayed until well after sunset to see the night view as well.
Afterward I met up with a GISHWHESHEAN and we walked around Dubai mall looking for cologne for my friend. Even the biggest mall in the world didn't have the cologne he wanted. Fail. The aquarium was cool, though.
Just got to Rome! Actually between Dubai and here I also traveled around Turkey for a couple of weeks, then Serbia, Montenegro, and Croatia, but it's 4:30 am so those will be in my next post. Hopefully it won't take another two months to write it up. T_T
I had to stick around Mumbai for something like 10 days to apply for my Chinese visa. Before I went I'd read over everything on the embassy's website multiple times, very carefully. I was prepared! These are the things that Mumbai's Chinese embassy's website got wrong:
- Location of the visa application center
- Hours of operation
- Required documents
- Price of visa
- Method of payment
- Processing time
- Types of visas I can apply for
Miraculously, I still got the visa.
Anyway, Mumbai! The famous Mumbai CST train station:
Elephanta caves, with bonus monkeys!
This monkey came right up to me and stole my bottle of water.
Marine Drive.
Sunset! 'Cause I love sunset pics.
Before I got to Mumbai I'd planned to couchsurf and check out its nightlife. Then I got there and stayed with a couchsurfer. Really nice and accommodating guy, except for one thing.
CSer, after getting me settled in: Do you need anything else?
Me: The internet password, please?
CSser: Sure. One kiss for every 10 minutes of internet you use.
Me: *laughs because I'm pretty sure he's joking*
CSer: *gives me the password and tries to kiss me*
Me: Whoa, what are you doing?
CSer: Kissing you.
Me: Uhm, no.
CSer: Okay. Sorry if I made you feel bad.
Me: I don't "feel bad". Just, no more of that.
CSer: Okay.
Next day, after some chatting...
CSer: Can we kiss now?
Me: No! Why do you keep pushing this?
CSer: Because I want to kiss you. Come on, just two? You used a lot of internet.
Me: No.
CSer: Okay, just one, then. A long one. You agreed to the terms.
Me: Ugh wtf.
I had to stay at his place that night since it was late, but I got out of there the next morning. Decided against checking out the nightlife and subjecting myself to more of this.
Matheran, India
After my abrupt departure from Mumbai I took an impromptu trip to nearby Matheran. It's a cool hill station that looks a bit like the Grand Canyon actually.
No motor vehicles are allowed so people get around on foot or horse. I chose horse, of course. \o/
See the guy in the pic? He works at the hotel I stayed at and doubled as my tour guide. We'll get back to him in a sec.
First, Sunset point.
So, the thing about watching sunsets is that it gets dark afterward, right? At this point I no longer had the horse, so it was a half hour trek back to the hotel on foot. Through the woods, in the dark. Dark like we were relying on this guy's cell phone to light the path.
Guy: I love you.
Me: Uh. A bit quick, don't you think?
Guy: You love me?
Me: Dude, I just met you.
Guy: You no love me?
Me: Ugh.
A while later...
Guy: *tries to show me porn on his phone*
Me: Ugh. *stuffs a large sharp rock into my purse while he isn't looking, just in case*
Another while later...
Guy: Excuse me, open your pants. (Srsly these were his exact words.)
Me: No!
Guy: No?
Me: No.
He keeps walking and I start worrying about how I'm going to get back to the hotel by myself if I'm forced to open his head with the rock. But he didn't try anything and even apologized when we got back to the hotel, said I was his first love or something ridiculous like that. IDEK, his English was terrible and he'd never heard of the internet before despite having downloaded porn onto his phone.
Anyway, so much for escaping sexual harassment by leaving Mumbai. I stayed in hotels when I got back there.
Agra, India
After collecting my visa I only had about two days left before I was due to fly to China so I didn't get to see any of the places I'd wanted to see between Mumbai and Agra. :( But I had to at least get a glimpse of the Taj Mahal. Took this pic from a boat behind the Taj.
The boat was full of Portuguese people, hah. It was nice to hear Portuguese again! Began missing Portugal. :(
Anyway after seeing the Taj I took a train to Delhi to catch my flight later that night. Good thing I had the foresight to leave early 'cause the train took almost two hours longer than it was supposed to. A year ago I would've missed my flight for sure. I've matured so much. \o/
Wuhan, China
I know you all want to see the inside of a lavatory on a China Southern Airlines flight. Notice anything off?
Wuhan is where I was born, and my living grandparents still live there, so I go and visit every few years. This particular occasion was my grandfather's 80th birthday and my father also flew out for it so I saw him too. Went straight from the airport to the hospital where my grandfather was staying.
Grandfather: Come closer, let me look at you.
Me: *goes closer*
Grandfather: So what made you decide to travel the world by yourself?
Me: *shrugs* Thought it'd be fun?
Grandfather: There are people who worry about you, you know. Your father, your mother. Do you think you don't need anyone? Everyone needs help from other people.
Me: Are you seriously lecturing me within minutes of my arrival? *sigh*
Next day...
Grandfather: So where are you going next?
Me: Haven't decided yet. Maybe Thailand.
Grandfather: You're very independent. It's good that you're capable of being so independent.
Me: ...Thanks. For not being contradictory at all.
Most of my days in Wuhan were spent eating, resting, eating catching up with stuff I had to do, eating, seeing relative after relative (usually while eating), watching Merlin, developing a huge crush on the guy who plays Arthur, and -- you guessed it -- eating! \o/
Huangshan, China
I'd originally planned to go to Tibet, but March is the anniversary of an uprising and riots so they don't issue permits in March or something. Went to Huangshan instead with my father. It's said to be the most beautiful mountain range in all of China, and it did not disappoint! Huangshan is full of endless stairs and sheer precipices and trees growing on top of rocks.
Apparently my parents had taken a romantic trip there together way back when.
Father: Entrance fee? Pffft. 20+ years ago there was no such thing.
Me: Well, that's what happens when a place gets commercialized.
Father: Be careful! It's easy to slip and fall.
Me: Sure.
Father: 20+ years ago, there was no gondola. You had to hike up the mountain by yourself.
Me: As fun as it sounds that would take ages, we don't have time.
Father: Be careful!
Me: Yeah, I know.
Father: Some peaks are closed. You won't be able to see the best one! :( 20+ years ago, your mother and I climbed up to that peak.
Me: Well, it needs to be preserved and all.
Father: Be careful, you'll die if you fall of that cliff over there.
Me: Yes, I know.
Father: 20+ years ago -- *skips a step, falls, and scrapes up his hands*
Me: Dude. And you keep telling me to be careful?
Anyway, one more pic:
Bangkok, Thailand
After China I did indeed end up going to Thailand. Just Bangkok, though. Tried to couchsurf again and stayed with a guy from Uganda. Seriously cool dude, everything from his accent to his walk scream "rich African prince". Except for the part where he keeps calling sex "rumpy pumpy" which made me lol. In case anyone is curious, I did ask him for his opinion on Kony2012 and the gist of his reply was "good campaign, bad timing."
Anyway, he and his friends (a couple of Dutch guys) took me to the infamous Patpong within hours of my arrival. Things the girls there can do with their vaginas include but are not limited to: serving ping pong balls (I understood, then, the name of this esteemed establishment) to men in the audience who had paddles, throwing darts at balloons (though one of the Dutch guys took one to the shoulder so their aim isn't perfect), pulling out very long strings of razors, blowing out candles, and my personal favorite, using chopsticks to pick things up. No, I don't have pictures.
This was a Saturday night, so after Patpong I drank a really excessive amount of vodka (you can buy bottles of it at 7-Eleven and it even comes with a straw!), briefly considered purchasing one of the many dildos they were selling on the streets, and instead hit the clubs. Fun was had by all!
Actually my main motivation for going to Bangkok was to get a visa for Myanmar, but I had so much fun in Bangkok I stayed for an extra couple of days, alternating between sightseeing and watching Human Planet with the couchsurfer and going out with him and his friends.
Temple of the Emerald Buddha.
Rooftop pool party!
Yangon, Myanmar
The funny thing about Myanmar is that it wasn't even on my radar until about a month before I went. i was in India at the time and met an Italian couple who told me Myanmar was the most beautiful country they'd ever visited, so I thought surely I must go and see for myself!
I was supposed to be hosted by a Burmese girl, or so I thought. She met me at the airport.
Girl: So where is your hotel?
Me: Er, you said you could host me?
Girl: Yeah, I'll take you to your hotel and show you around tomorrow. Didn't you book one?
Me: Okay... uh, no I hadn't booked a hotel yet.
She helped me book one and was really sweet, I guess she just doesn't understand what "host" means. Also apparently it's illegal for people to host foreigners in their homes.
Met up with a cute Brit for dinner that night (he took me to a hooker bar, lol) and we went for a walk around the lake afterward. Lots of mosquitoes. True to her word, the Burmese girl showed me around the next day.
Misha's face in downtown:
The lake with its giant dragon boat:
Shwedagon Pagoda.
I managed to slip into the Shwedagon for free somehow. Dunno what occasion it was but they were serving free food that day to anyone who wanted it.
After eating I felt so bad about evading the entrance fee that I ended up throwing some money into a donation box. Oh well. :P Stayed with the cute Brit that night and the Burmese girl seemed surprised when I made her understand I was going to sleep in his home, lol.
Bagan, Myanmar
The next day I flew to Bagan! Met a Taiwanese businessman on the plane and ended up going to dinner with him and his friend at a cool restaurant with a marionette show. Made the mistake of mentioning this to my parents who think everyone is out to rape and kill me. If only they knew about CouchSuring.
Anyway, Bagan has a very dusty, dry, abandoned feel to it. Densest concentration of Buddhist temples, pagodas, stupas, and ruins in the world, according to Wikitravel.
Climbing to the top of a pagoda is an impressive feat -- steepest and smallest stairs ever, would be fairly impossible without the rail.
While I was in Bagan Castiel returned and I couldn't download the episode. Not for lack of trying, but either the internet was crawling or the power kept cutting out. Usually both. Very antsy.
The ferry from Bagan to Mandalay is supposed to leave at 6 am. The first day I showed up at 6 am and it had already left. The next day I showed up at 5:15 and it left shortly after 5:30. Pffft.
People live in huts on the riverbank. The poverty in this country is humbling.
Mandalay, Myanmar
The view from my hotel.
Actually I didn't spend much time here. Mostly I just wanted to take the train north to Hsipaw. This section is supposed to be one of the great railway journeys of the world, and I've developed a thing for rail journeys.
Gokteik, Myanmar
My quest to see this viaduct was actually quite epic. It was for no particular reason the thing I wanted to see most in Myanmar. Just one of those ideas that got stuck in my head and wouldn't go away, I guess. At first I thought it was between Mandalay and Pyin U Lwin and had planned to take the train from PUL and spend a day there before heading back. Then I got delayed in Bagan for a day and thought I wouldn't have time. But no matter, I could just take the train to PUL and go straight back to Mandalay, right? Well, once I got to Mandalay I realized I'd misread and the Gokteik was actually between PUL and Hsipaw, a good ways further, and there was no way I could (or would) go all the way to Hsipaw and back to Mandalay in a day (or even two). Then I realized I didn't have to go all the way to Hsipaw -- I could get off after the Gokteik and catch the train back. Awesome, right? Except I missed the train. It was supposed to leave at 4 am and when I showed up at 4 am, it had already left. You'd think I'd have learned a thing or two from the ferry experience, but you would be wrong. Also it was 4 am, come on. T_T I ended up taking a pickup ride to PUL. Beat the train there so hopped on and continued north over the Gokteik Viaduct. \o/
On the train I met a Scottish guy and his Burmese tour guide, an ex con who'd been imprisoned for political reasons. Fascinating conversations with both of them.
The next day I flew back to Yangon, spent the night at the cute Brit's place again, and went to some sort of expat get-together at an art gallery with him. There are a surprising number of Americans living in Yangon, all teachers. The following morning was my flight out of Myanmar. It didn't leave early so I didn't miss it. \o/
Singapore
My cousin lives here.
My cousin is a (half) black dude with arms the size of my legs. You wouldn't be able to tell at first glance that he's half Chinese, so when he introduced me to his flatmates and friends I got various responses ranging from "you aren't built like him" to "seriously? And all this time I thought 'I'm half Chinese' was just a pickup line."
To be honest I spent much of my time in Singapore chilling out under not one but two ACs, catching up on work and TV shows and sleep, hanging out with my cousin, and cruising around in his millionaire friend's S$300k Lexus convertible. This millionaire friend kept calling me "cousin" and once asked if I was still "in heat" instead of "feeling warm". He's Iranian. Good times.
But I did manage to do some touristy stuff. Marina Bay Sands!
The mall at Marina Bay with the pond inside.
And Sentosa was very pretty.
Bridge to the southernmost point of Continental Asia.
Bintan, Indonesia
My cousin had booked a weekend trip to Bintan for us ages ago. Come time to leave, the Chinese embassy had his passport and he didn't. *facepalm* Because we were drunk, we decided it would be a good idea to show up at the ferry terminal with his old passport, the one with holes punched in it and CANCELED written on it. The immigration officials looked at us like we were idiots. It was a valiant effort. I ended up going alone so it wouldn't be a complete waste of money, and it was a package tour from Groupon so all weekend people were asking me for my name and I would give them my cousin's (very obviously male) name. Awesome.
I got an excellent massage and spent the weekend relaxing on the beach.
And a cat ate my dinner.
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
I only came here 'cause flights from here to Dubai were much cheaper than flights from Singapore to Dubai. Got in late at night via bus, had no idea where I ended up, and asked someone where the nearest metro station was. They pointed to a sign not so far from us with arrows pointing to the metro station just across the street. I felt very smart. Made it to my hostel and had just enough time and energy left to check out the Petronas Towers before crashing.
Thus ends the Southeast Asia part of my trip. Flew to Dubai next and had a 9.5 hour layover in Chennai. I didn't consciously notice how distinct the smell of India is the first time I went there, but upon stepping off the plane and breathing in the air, I recognized it immediately. India smells so very… Indian.
Dubai, UAE
Stayed with a couchsurfer from Syria. He took me kayaking in the sea.
Only, it was his first time kayaking so he had no idea what he was doing. I ended up in the sea in all my clothes. There were pretty purple jellyfish in the water which I thankfully managed to avoid while in the water in all my clothes.
I had booked a time slot to see the Burj Khalifa online, and I was nearly late after the kayaking incident. Showed up all wet and was afraid they wouldn't let me in, but they did. The Burj Khalifa is so fucking amazing.
I stayed until well after sunset to see the night view as well.
Afterward I met up with a GISHWHESHEAN and we walked around Dubai mall looking for cologne for my friend. Even the biggest mall in the world didn't have the cologne he wanted. Fail. The aquarium was cool, though.
Just got to Rome! Actually between Dubai and here I also traveled around Turkey for a couple of weeks, then Serbia, Montenegro, and Croatia, but it's 4:30 am so those will be in my next post. Hopefully it won't take another two months to write it up. T_T