Turkce Bilmiyorum! (I don't speak Turkish)

Merhaba! (Hello in turkish)

Less than 24 hours after I arrived in Singapore from Bangkok! I was on my way again to Exotic Turkey which I have to say is one of the most memorable trip ever. 2 weeks where we experienced the warmth of the turkish people, the taste of turkish food and the beautiful and diverse landscape of turkey.

There were many firsts in this trip! Mainly couchsurfing and hitchhiking. And also travelling with a girl. Just the two of us! This girl G has been a good friend since year 1 semester when we took a module together and we have kept in contact since then mainly during the holidays. Our common topic is travelling and last year I thought about travelling with her and it came true this year. Awesome!

There was a lot of travelling on this trip as we went about to see the best of Turkey with those 2 weeks. I shall limit the pictures to one per location!

First Stop: Istanbul where you see majestic mosque like this across the skyline.

2nd stop: Pamukkale or Cotton Castle

From the town of selcuk we went to Sirince, a small village with black mulberry and apricot trees around.
Free and delicious!

One of the main attractions in turkey is Ephesus just beside Selcuk. A huge ruins area. Our first hitchhiking experience as we tried to walked there but decided to try halfway. Desperate times calls for desperate measures.

Kusadasi is also 30 mins from Selcuk and is where we had our 2nd hitchhiking experience. Unlike what you see in the picture, it started pouring after we finished Ephesus, so we were walking in the rain under our tiny umbrella. Our savior came to our rescue and lo and behold he was going to kusadasi also so phew!

Highlight No. 1 (at Fethiye): Paragliding from Babadag, the peak of the mountain almost 2000m high. It was a 45 min glide down to the beach with awesome mountain, beach and seaside scenery to look at. The spinning downward descent was just out of the world.

One day Butterfly Valley cruise that brings us around on a big wooden boat. Swimming in the cold but refreshing and crystal clear bay by jumping from the boat upper deck, having fish that was cooked at the rear end of the boat in the open while the boat was travelling and talking to old turkish folks. The turquoise Mediterranean sea is just super mesmerising to stare at.  

Saklikent Gorge. The Gorge was super pretty to look at and the water is super muddy too. Some people put it on their skin. I didn't haha. Had a friendly person who guided us only to ask for money at the end (paid him only like 3SGD/pax in the end)

Scanning the beautiful pebble beach and sea at Olympos where you have to pay to get into the beach. If only Singapore had waters like this.

The landscape of Cappadocia. Fairy Chimneys everywhere.

Highlight 2: Hot Air Balloon flight. We got a good deal through one of our couchsurfing host and I would say any amount of money (and waking up at 330am in the morning) is worth going up to sea the scenery. I was snapping pictures all the way because the sight is truly breathtaking. Any other activity just seems MEH compared to this.

There were a total of 70+ balloons that morning. At peak times, it can reach up to 100 balloons!!!

One of the reason why we had such a great time during this trip was because of our coachsurfing hosts who made our stay in turkey so homely. For many of them and also turkish friends, fellow couchsurfers and other friends we made along the way, their generosity and friendliness really touch our hearts and that is something more beautiful than the most amazing views on Earth. 

And it also saves us alot of money hahaha. Gotta admit that too! After all these places we went back to Istanbul where we saved the shopping for last! 

Some of the challenges we faced during the trip was 

1) Expensive to purchase the SIM card in turkey.

2) Language barrier. I tried to learn some turkish beforehand but that was definitely not gonna be enough.

3) Everything must bargain! Even bus ticket and food...I hate bargaining...

It is always special to just travel with another person. It gives you a lot of mobility which decrease with the size of travelling group but also offers you a companion to rely on and more importantly to share you experience with. You learn a lot about each other and their habits and character that you don't really know by just meeting now and then. G is a really good travel companion. Other than being pretty, she is also very independent, capable and dominant character that complements my more laidback character. But every holiday has to end and we had to part ways which may be a good thing as too much of each other and lack of personal space can cause conflicts to occur which I experienced last summer.

Gule Gule Turkey! Tesekkurler!!!

Sawadeekap again! 06S12 class outing to phuket and bangkok!

Lunch at raya island.

Its great that my JC classmates from NJC are still in contact with each other 6 years after we graduated.

It took a long time but we finally went on a overseas trip together to phuket which was not easy to come by as the girls are working already and need to take leave. We had a great time during those short 3 days enjoying the white sandy beach, the crystal clear water, the ATV, river rafting, the daily thai massages hahaha. (my muscles all turned into jelly after 3 days)

At the airport!

Jellyfish anyone?

Sunbaked...

Please don't kiss me.

Tut tut!!!

Fun riding on the top of the van because there was not enough space inside

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After the time in phuket, me and the other guys who just graduated and are not starting work yet said goodbye to the others and took a domestic flight to bangkok! Love Bangkok! for the amazing food, shopping, and cheap taxis!!!

Talad Rot Fai Night Market! Damn huge and cheap stuff. A different experience compared to the usual Chatuchak which we went also in the morning.

Tailored a shirt and pants and look who I saw (in a picture) at the shop! LHL!!! 

My greatest regret of this trip! Never bring enough money to buy this!

Cafes to rest our tired feet after some shopping!

More resting!

Met my fellow babirusa in platinum shopping mall!

Met my uncle who works in Bkk for dinner! Its great to meet friends and relatives abroad!

Its definitely more chill in bkk since everyone has been there before and we just do what we enjoy the most, eating and shopping. 

but that's not the same for the next stop! Turkey lezzgo!

안녕하세요

Always wanted to go to Kimchi land and boy am I glad to be able to go there with my BAF travel buddies Amanda, Benny and Charmian.

It was so spontaneous that we decided within minutes on Xmas last year to book the tickets there as scoot had this 50% SALE. The flight there was good with incredible leg room as they gave us better seat as we bought the more expensive flybageat option. Even the food was not bad (but choose something different for all the meals though if not you would have to eat all 4 same meals).

We stayed in a place called Yeungdeungpo which is most famous for having Seoul Time Square which is one of the biggest shopping mall in Korea. In fact even though we went to a lot of famous shopping places like Dongdaemun and Myeongdong, it is the local place like the underground shopping mall at our place and at Seoul Time Square where we made the most of our purchases. Even for food, Seoul Time Square has many authentic and awesome Korean restaurants that are not too expensive but really good. Would definitely recommend everyone to stay in this area if visiting Seoul.

Over the 5D6N in Seoul, we visited the palaces, the hanok village, the shopping places, everland theme park, namsan tower, Ehwa university, Noryangjin Fish Market and Gangnam district. I also did a solo morning trip to skate along the Hangang river cycleway from Yeouido Park to the Olympic Park which is a 40km route. And of course I would never miss out on the Jjimjilbang (public bath houses) which I went with Benny on the last day.

What do I like the most of Seoul? The food, the weather, the cheap alcohol hahaha.

Enjoy the video made by my lovely friend Amanda Moey down here of our trip!


Seoul 2014 from Amanda Moey on Vimeo.

1st two grad trips has pass, 3 more to go??

I dunno if grad trips were supposed to be just one but did I mentioned I am going on not 1,2,3 or 4 but 5???

Wow...I didn't know how it escalated to so many but it just started to add up from the Seoul trip that the regular BAF holidayers spontaneously decided to buy on Xmas Scoot sale, then Phuket+Bangkok with JC friends was added, followed by Taiwan with the ME guys and Tioman with Tembusu Offtrek. And in May, I booked an extra surprise trip with my friend to Turkey. There is only one word to describe this two months of this year.

YOLO.

I am glad my parents are supportive and encourage me to travel so much before I step into the working world :)

So after graduating from Tembusu and NUS unofficially, (Officially still need to wait for results on the 2 June and commencement on the 15 July.) first is the trip to Tioman which was a really short trip as we only reached Pulau Tioman at about 530pm despite starting the day at 630am due to ferry timing issues. We played around by the beach that evening before having dinner and having a drink at the beach. The next day, we had a 3 hour trek to the next town that was quite hilly but not too difficult as we were not carrying any heavy equipment. Then it was quick lunch before a ferry trip back to our place where Zhimin and I went for a impromptu dive trip. Damn a shark was just like 5 metres away from me and I missed it....zzz... Oh well, at least I got to see the pretty corals and fishes and proved that I have not forgotten everything from Open Water Course 3 years back. Then we went back to find the others, where I snorkelled a bit at the sea near our living quarters. Some of the others spent the afternoon reading, or swimming or kayaking... then dinner time and more alcohol at the bar! The next day we had to take the 630AM ferry back and that was it.

Even though it was not a really long trip but it was action packed and quite fun to hang out with the Tembusu Offtrek peeps. The group was a little big so it was difficult to coordinate things to do for everyone so I'm glad it was free and easy and everyone had a great time there!

Pics by Gerald Mui. Kope from facebook haha

More on Seoul the next post!!!