8-Month Update: Solo backpacking from India to Vietnam
Hello friends,
I’m well over eight months into my trip now (about 11.5ish really) and am quite behind on this post. That said, I think breaking these into four-month chunks is more manageable.
Alas, the end is nigh! Not of the world (although, maybe…) but definitely of my trip. I fly home in mid-August at almost exactly a year from when I embarked. From my last post in January to month eight (roughly the end of April), I visited six more countries and around 31 cities/villages, etc. You can see where I’ve been (and continue to follow me) on my Polar Steps map that I will continually fail to update until months after I’ve been to these places ;p
If you just want to see some pictures, scroll down…
Where have I been since I left off in Mysore month four?
From months four to eight, I made my way from South India to Mainland Southeast Asia. I should explain that I flew home for 10 days at Christmas and thought that I would extend my trip as a result, but then I learned one of my best friends will be getting married in August (congrats Sara!). So, instead of prolonging my travels, I’ll have a neat and tidy year-long trip in order to be home for the wedding. After Christmas, I flew back to India via Mumbai on New Year’s Eve no less and visited all of the following places:
South Asia
Mumbai, India
Pune, India
Hampi, India
Bangalore, India
Pondicherry, India
Chennai, India
Colombo, Sri Lanka
Kosgama, Sri Lanka
Kandy, Sri Lanka
Sigiriya, Sri Lanka
Ella, Sri Lanka
Hatton, Sri Lanka
Southeast Asia
Bangkok, Thailand
Ko Chang, Thailand
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Chiang Rai, Thailand
Pakbeng, Laos
Luang Prabang, Laos
Vang Vieng, Laos
Vientiane, Laos
Pakse, Laos
Thad Lo, Laos
Don Det, Laos
Stung Treng, Cambodia
Banlung, Cambodia
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Siem Reap, Cambodia
Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City), Vietnam
Hanoi, Vietnam
Huong Tich, Vietnam
Nha Trang, Vietnam
Da Lat, Vietnam
How have I gotten around?
Trains, planes, buses, ferries, slowboats, motorbikes, taxis, rickshaws and occasionally bicycles…I do try to do as much overland travel, especially by train, as I can. And I will say that one of the highlights of my travels was riding the trains in Sri Lanka with stunning scenery! The trains are simple and cheap, and I had the feeling of have time traveled to the 20th century. Honestly, if you go to Sri Lanka (and you should!), you could just ride around on the trains and have a wonderful time.
I finally started getting the hang of the somewhat charming albeit confusing, chaotic, overcrowded and generally inefficient public transport in Mumbai. When I arrived in Bangkok, I went through culture shock for many reasons, one being the clean and orderly public transportation system (in stark contrast to the crazy traffic). And speaking of crazy traffic…Vietnam and the motorbikes…no one can really prepare you for what it’s like to be in a place utterly overrun by motorbikes. To see hundreds of motorcyclists driving through an intersection, some of them coming up behind you on the sidewalks…it was just…beyond.
Laos takes the cake for one of the most uncomfortable 4-hour rides (and that is a high honor) on the road from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng. I think I probably chipped my tailbone and knocked off a few dozen brain cells flying around on the back seat as we had what felt like an off-roading experience ON the road with zero shock absorbers in the van.
Laos also gets an award for the charming two-day slowboat ride, during which I made friends who I then had the luck to travel with for the next week.
And Cambodia gets a nod for weirdest, most intimate ride with strangers when on a night bus to Phnom Penh, I slept in a reclined seat between an old man and a teen boy who definitely hadn’t brushed his teeth for several days (bless him). We were mere inches from one another, and it was…just…a painfully intimate ride with strangers for 12 hours.
What have I done?
I’ve done so many things since I last posted four months into my journey. I stayed a month or less in each country from Sri Lanka to Vietnam because of the visas and also timing. I tried (and survived) bouldering in Hampi, attended a 10-day intro Vipassana meditation course in Sri Lanka, had my cell phone stolen, suffered through the agony of bed bugs, ate insane amounts of Thai food and snacks, turned 28, made some really wonderful new friends, honed motorbiking skills, pulled an all-nighter before visiting the 8th World Wonder, Angkor Wat, on bicycle, spent two weeks with my good friend Meredyth in Saigon and Hanoi and had a peaceful time volunteering at a guesthouse in Da Lat.
For visuals, highlights from these months include:
Becoming more intimately acquainted with the madness and beauty of Mumbai, formerly Bombay, the largest city in South India where I spent about a week just wandering around, marveling at this other world:
Exploring Hampi in Karnataka, India, one of the most beautiful places I visited, where I tried bouldering, worked up the nerve to ride a motorbike again after my harrowing first ride in Goa and went cliff jumping at the reservoir!
Wandering around the cities of Bangalore, Pondicherry and Chennai, each with its own character and unique traffic flow that really forced me to sharpen my jaywalking/general street-crossing skills (not pictured: me crossing streets because I’d be dead if I’d tried to take a selfie doing that…)
Sitting for my first 10-day intro to vipassana meditation course in Kosgama, Sri Lanka, where I learned many things about myself, about how I interact with the world while meditating in silence for 10 hours a day.
Visiting Sigiriya in the jungle of Sri Lanka to glimpse the Lion Rock; feasting my eyes on the stunning scenery in the central hills of Ella; and hiking almost all the way up to Sri Pada (I was stopped by the hours-long queue to see the Buddha’s footprint) in Hatton.
Eating alllllll the foods in Thailand, and falling in love, deeply, head-over-heels, madly in love with mango sticky rice❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Chilling on Koh Chang Island in the Gulf of Thailand and hanging with an adorable, weird little kitten
My two weeks spent in/around Chiang Mai (temple land) in northern Thailand digging and replanting decorative trees, swimming laps at a beautiful Olympic-size pool and going on a never-ending hike on my 28th birthday ;p
Chilling on the Mekong all over Laos…chilling all over Laos…listen, can someone tell me once and for all do you pronounce the ‘s’ on the end or not? Kop chai lai lai!
In Laos, if you weren’t visiting a waterfall, you were probably exploring a cave…
My few days in Banlung in northeast Cambodia. It was quiet, not much to do. Locals were friendly, and I had fun playing with the little girls who lived at my homestay :)
Riding bikes to Angkor Wat at 4:30am in the utter darkness of the forest only to miss the sunrise…and the fun I had hanging out with a group of friends I’d met briefly in Laos who I met again by chance in Siem Reap!
Spending two weeks with Meredyth in Saigon and Hanoi! We laughed, we chilled, we bickered, we drank lots of Tiger, 333 and Bia Hanoi and had way too much bubble tea and Vietnamese coffee..and fun ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ?
My days of peace and tranquility at the beautiful Lake House in Da Lat, Vietnam, where I volunteered for 2 weeks
What’s next?
Well, as I said, this post is several months behind schedule, so I’ve already visited the Philippines, Bali in Indonesia and am currently in Malaysia, where I will finish out my last weeks followed by a few days in Singapore before my flight home. It’s crazy when I stop to think about how many things I’ve done, how many places I’ve visited this past year and how natural and comfortable it has felt to be in so many new countries and cultures. Sometimes I feel like I could do this forever…
…then my mom sends a video of my adorable nieces saying and doing adorable things that make me want to get on the next flight home.
My next post will be written from the states! It’s bittersweet of course, but I’m so lucky to have had so many new experiences this past year. Thanks for joining me on the journey!
