This is the timeline of the things I did in my nine months of travel in 2013 across South-East Asia.
April 11 Arrived in Phuket, Thailand. (blog post)
Aer Lingus flight from Dublin, Ireland > Heathrow Airport, London. Malaysian Airlines flight from Heathrow Airport, London > KLIA, Malaysia > Phuket Airport. Taxi from airport.
| (map) | (2 months’ accomodation) | (wikitravel) |
April 13 Songkran happened. We went to a bar with water guns and had water fights with the parade of passing cars and pedestrians. (wikipedia)
April 15 Started Muay Thai training at Rawai Muay Thai. (blog post)
April 27 Night in Patong and James Bond Island daytrip. (blog post)
June 3 Watched fights live, including some students from our gym. (video of one)
June 7 Finished Muay Thai training. (unrelated blog post on sweating)
June 11 Arrived in Seoul, South Korea.
Air Asia flight from Phuket Airport > KLIA, Malaysia > Incheon Airport. Bus from airport.
| (map) | (14 days’ accomodation) | (wikitravel) |
June 13 Went to Lotte World, the world’s largest indoor theme park. (wikipedia)
June 15 Explored Gagnam and went to a peulseubang (playstation gaming room). I also went to many pcbangs during my stay in Seoul. (article on bangs)
June 18 Visited Cafe Pawz (a dog cafe) and watched the Starcraft 2 Garena Premier League season openers live, casted by Tasteless and Artosis.
June 21 Biked tandem on a bicycle built for two along the Hangang river. (link)
June 25 Arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Air Asia flight from Incheon Airport > LCCT. Bus from airport.
| (map) | (6 days’ acommodation) | (wikitravel) |
June 26 Shopped in the Petronas Towers, and Bukit Bintang. I also went shopping in Central Market, Mid Valley Megamall, and Petaling Street during my visit. (wikipedia)
June 27 Explored the Batu Caves. (wikipedia)
June 28 Invited to a party, turned out to be clubbing with some princes of Malaysia.
July 1 Arrived in Chiang Mai, Thailand.
Air Asia flight from LCCT > Chiang Mai Airport. Taxi from airport.
| (map) | (1.5 months’ acommodation) | (wikitravel) |
July 2 Started learning Thai Massage at TMC School, five weeks of weekdays 9am-4pm.(website)
July 6 Visited the Saturday night market. I loved the night markets in Chiang Mai. Over the course of my stay, I went to the Saturday and Sunday night markets four times each. I also went to the Night Bazaar, Rincome Market, Chiang Mai University Gate Market, and the lunch market beside the massage school.
July 13 Petted tigers at Tiger Kingdom and got sick on Doi Suthep.
July 20 Went mountain biking down Doi Suthep. Fell ~20 times, mostly flipping over the handlebars.
July 27 Did a visa run to the Burma border to extend my visa for another 15 days.
August 2 Graduated from the “Professional Thai Massage 150 Hour Curriculum” at TMC School.
August 6 Visited a zoo. The enclosures there allowed you to get much closer to the animals. I also had never seen a mouse deer before.
August 10 Watched an elephant show and explored some waterfalls. I explored five different waterfalls, all around the Doi Suthep mountain.
August 13 Scaled Doi Suthep with a car to visit royal gardens, a coffee shop with a panoramic view, and a Thai hill tribe. I also got my passport back from applying for an Indian visa. Unfortunately, the visa application made me three days overstayed on my Thai visa. I was already leaving on the 18th, so I decided to risk five days more of overstaying and 2500THB (60EU) more in fines instead of doing another day-long border crossing.
August 16 Celebrated my birthday - video games, 6.5k run, and foie gras. I loved the 6.5k run around the old city moat, and did it 10-15 times during my stay. It was best at night when it was cool, full of activity, and lit up by light reflecting off the water.
August 18 Arrived in Vientiane, Laos.
Nok Air flight from Chiang Mai Airport > Udon Thani airport. Bus to friendship bridge border crossing. Bus across friendship bridge. Taxi from border crossing.
| (map) | (2 days’ acommodation) | (wikitravel) |
August 18 Walked along the Mekong River at sunset. It was a beautiful walk, crowds of people were playing badminton and soccer, jogging, and walking in the park and riverside walkway.
August 19 Walked along the Mekong River at sunset. There’s nothing to do in Vientiane.
August 20 Arrived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Air Asia flight from Wattay Airport > LCCT. Bus to city center.
| (map) | (6 days’ acommodation) | (wikitravel) |
August 21 Shopped at Bukit Bintang in preparation for my month of surfing.
August 26 Arrived in Batu Karas, Indonesia.
Air Asia flight from LCCT > Jakarta Airport. 10hr bus to Pangandaran. Taxi from bus station. (blog of travel)
| (map) | (1 month’s acommodation) |
August 27 Started daily surfing lessons.
September 26 Arrived in Singapore.
10hr bus to Jakarta. Air Asia flight from Jakarta Airport > Singapore Airport.
| (map) | (6 days’ acommodation) | (wikitravel) |
September 28 Went on a nature walk along thesouthern ridges of Singapore.It was the most incredible mix of nature and architectural views I’ve ever seen.
October 1 Arrived in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Air Asia flight from Singapore Airport to Jakarta Airport.
| (map) | (6 days’ acommodation) | (wikitravel) |
October 5 Attended a gay Indonesian guy’s birthday party. I was invited by an Indonesian female friend I made. This party was interesting because it was a group of upper-middle-class Indonesians and most of the guys there were gay - homosexuality is heavily frowned upon, if even acknowledged, in Indonesia.
October 6 Arrived in Chennai, India.
Tiger Air flight from Jakarta Airport > Singapore Airport > Chennai Airport.
| (map) | (5 days’ acommodation) | (wikitravel) |
October 7 I experienced the heaviest bout of culture shock / homesickness of my whole trip. It had started building up during my final weeks in Batu Karas, got worse in Jakarta, and took hold of me in Chennai. I would have made plans to leave the country if I didn’t want to do the Vipassana course in Bangalore so resolutely. I fully recovered after the next day.
October 12 Arrived in Madurai, India.
Sleeper train.
| (map) | (3 days’ acommodation) | (wikitravel) |
October 15 Arrived in Trivandrum/Kovalam, India.
Sleeper train.
| (map) | (3 days’ acommodation) | (wikitravel)(wikitravel) |
October 18 Arrived in Fort Cochin, Indonesia.
ACCC train.
October 20 I went on a backwater cruise on a boat pushed by two men with long bamboo poles through the canals of a nearby town.
| (map) | (4 days’ acommodation) | (wikitravel) |
October 23 Arrived inBangalore, India.
Sleeper train.
| October 23 Did a ten-day Vipassana Meditation Course (post 1 | post 2 | post 3). |
| (map) | (10 days’ meditation)(4 days’ acommodation) | (wikitravel) |
November 7 Arrived in Hong Kong
Thai Airways flight from Bangalore Airport > Bankok Airport > Hong Kong Airport.
| (map) | (7 days’ acommodation) | (wikitravel) |
November 14 Arrived in Guilin,China.
Subway to Shenzhen > sleeper train to Guilin. November 14 Embarked on a week-long biking tour through the surrounding mountains and villages.
November 19 Arrived inYangshuo,China.
Biked to various destinations around Guilin/Yangshuo.
October 20 Did a week-long Tai Chi Course.
| (map) | (7 day course)(2 days’ acommodation) | (wikitravel) |
November 30 Arrived in Shanghai,China.
Bus to Guilin > flight to Pudong Intl. > Maglev train to subway system.
December 4 Visited my future Chinese language school (and investigated four others).
December 5 Attended an entrepreneurs meetup and met my future co-founder there pitching the idea.
| (map) | (14 days’ acommodation) | (wikitravel) |
December 13 Arrived in Dublin, Ireland.
Etihad Airways flight from Pu Dong Airport > Abu Dhabi Airport > Dublin Airport .