NovaTOURient

A look back on (at least) 14 hangovers

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hfdihdf2014 has come and gone quickly. Just this time last year, I was preparing for my final exam and packing up my things to put in storage. I was daydreaming of colourful sarees, paradise beaches and freedom. Now, a year later, I am doing almost exactly the same. I have booked a flight to Cambodia early next year, and have been granted a Working Holiday Visa for Australia. I am excited, nervous and poor. I still have a lot of planning and purchasing to do before I’m ready for departure.

As everyone sits down to reflect on their year (usually with that stupid Facebook feature), I’ve created a list (yes, another list) of some accomplishments/experiences that I found worthy of sharing with someone. I clearly live an exciting life.

THIS YEAR I

  • Visited 10 countries (if you count Burma)
  • Was (only) reported for pornography on Facebook twice

Home

  • Made this website
  • Ate bull’s testicles (read here)
  • Tried mead, the drink of Vikings
  • Got really fat. Again.
  • Read 4 books in one week, because I am bored and unemployed

novaTOURient

  • Rode a camel and ripped my pants (read here)
  • Danced on stage in front of the entire city of Udaipur (read here)
  • Was kinda sexually assaulted by a group of men and managed to laugh at it (read here)
  • Threw colors at people (read here)
  • Motorboated a lady boy (read here)
  • Danced on stage at a stripclub (read here)
  • Ran away from my friends during a pubcrawl to look for 7-11 toasties
  • Lived on pad thai and banana lassis for almost a week
  • Rode an elephant and almost passed out while sitting on it (read here)
  • Was hit by a tiger’s tail (read here)
  • Had my name written by a vagina on a piece of paper (read here)
  • Got into my first fight (read here)
  • Rode a scooter for the first time and cried about it (read here)
  • Fell off a scooter. Twice.
  • Puked on myself and could do nothing about it for 12 hours (read here)
  • Donated blood at a children’s hospital (read here)
  • Became addicted to laughing gas (read here)
  • Ziplined (read here)

The Pink Palace 

  • Peed on a door on Aga’s birthday
  • Bought an inflatable crocodile, just so I could say “Is it your crocodile?” (watch Chris D’elia’s drunk girls parody around 2:11)
  • Pretty much quoted all of Chris D’elia’s jokes all summer
  • Crashed at a friend’s room, and did “the walk of shame” with a strap-on in one hand, the crocodile in the other
  • Was hit on by a straight man and a lesbian at once, and ended up going to bed to cuddle with the crocodile instead
  • Made the summer a bit too much about my crocodile
  • Got so drunk off mimosas during a breakfast shift, that I ended up staying at the bar DJ’ing most of the day instead of working
  • Drank retsina on the beach bar roof and saw shooting stars
  • Sat next to a foul smelling dog and talked about it for an hour
  • Pretended to be American and was busted several times by a group of Danish girls that had been there last year. And I still denied it.
  • Dressed up as a pirate for the booze cruise
  • Was forced to do my first body shot on the booze cruise. Wasn’t happy about it.
  • Did a 12 people, 3 AM ouzo circle that was absolute shit and amazing
  • Sexually harassed a shy co-worker for fun
  • Yelled at a family at dinner
  • Had a cake fight on Aga’s birthday
  • Forced myself to accept #CTMO
  • Planned a Full Moon Party that was so fun, our boss made us have as many Moon parties as possible
  • Got tons of free ice creams and compliments from Dr. George
  • Went to Jumbo like every week
  • Fell on my face all the time
  • Pretty much only drank champagne from the bottle and blacked out everytime
  • Sold an overwhelming amount of blowjob shots. To guys.
  • Dyed my hair pink
  • Danced to Martin Garrix – Animals every morning
  • Drank mimosas almost every morning, too
  • Pretended to be 17 and related to a guy from Chile

Oktoberfest

  • Had my hands full of beer steins
  • Was served breakfast, which was really just beer, through a funnel
  • Stole a pretzel for Hollie from the guys sitting next to us at one of the beer tents
  • Watched a drunk Asian woman try to run away from the medics
  • Bought myself a unicorn
  • Cuddled with Aga and Hollie to keep warm, while Aga was puking
  • Tried to watch The Other Woman three times, but kept falling asleep

I’ll end this post and this year with some of my favorite photos, just to prove I haven’t just been on the couch these past 365 days.

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Happy New Year! 2015, come at me.

The 18th thing crossed off my list

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Boo. Did I scare you by coming out of nowhere? Aww.

Anyway, I finally got it together and officially crossed another thing off my list. Probably the last time that will happen before my 23rd birthday, but I promise – to you and to myself – that all these things will be crossed off at some point. Hopefully I still have a few good years in me.

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(It was Malaysia)

NovatouriEND

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yaay

Planned route:
India: Delhi → Goa → Mumbai → Gujarat → Saurashtra → Pushkar → Jaipur → Delhi → Agra → Varanasi → Kolkata

Thailand: Krabi → Koh Lanta → Koh Phi Phi → Patong → Phuket → Koh Samui → Koh Phangan → Koh Tao → Hua Hin → Pattaya → Bangkok → Chiang Mai → Mae Hong Son → Chiang Rai → Chiang Khong

Laos: Luang Prabang → Vang Vieng → Khammouane → Vientiane

Cambodia: Siem Reap (2 weeks of volunteer work) Battambang → Koh Kong → Kompang Son → Kampot/Kep → Koh Thonsay → Phnom Penh

Vietnam: Saigon → Nha Trang → Hoi An → Hue → Hanoi → Sa Pa

Final route:
India: Delhi → Vagator → Arambol → Hampi → Mumbai → Udaipur → Jaisalmer → Jaipur → Amritsar → Rishikesh → Agra → Varanasi → Kolkata

Thailand: Krabi → Koh Phi Phi → Patong → Koh Samui → Koh Phangan → Koh Tao
↓
Myanmar: Kawthaung
↓
Thailand:
Chumpon → Bangkok → Chiang Mai → Pai → Chiang Mai → Chiang Rai → Chiang Khong

Laos: Pakbeng → Luang Prabang → Vang Vieng → Vientiane

Vietnam: Hanoi → Hue → Hoi An → Nha Trang → Saigon

Cambodia: Phnom Penh → Sihanoukville → Siem reap

Malaysia: Kuala Lumpur →  Taman Negara →  Cameron Highlands →  Georgetown

Singapore: Singapore

Thailand: Bangkok

When I started planning for this trip, I was in a bad place. Dumped by a boy. Stuck, both in school and in general, desperate to get it overwith so I could escape. I think my trip was just that – an escape.
I so desperately want to find my passion in life, be ambitious about something, but how could I possibly do that without knowing myself? To be honest, I have always felt that I was in between every personality trait – shy but social, smart but dumb, trusting but cynical. One thing I always knew for sure, was that I am selfish and dependent, and I hoped that this trip would force me to throw that away with my extra luggage.

In some way I guess this would be an Eat, Pray, Love-kind of experience. And by that, I mean I would deal with my issues, develop some strong personality traits and gain more confidence. Then I would discover my passion in life, and go back to accomplish something.

While this all sounds very unlikely, it was what had helped me in the past. Everytime I have been away from home since my parents divorce 4 years ago, I’ve become a little more independent, a little less shy, and a little more sure what I wanted to do in life: travel. Being away for 4 months however, was something I had never done until now, and it didn’t feel right as soon as I actually left. Maybe it was our choices of countries (where people could sometimes be rude, the food awful, and the cities dirty and loud), but it could also be because my travel partner and I turned out to be incompatible.

Of course, this all just sounds so negative, and of course this experience hasn’t been at all. I’ve gotten to see amazing places – many that I want to return to – and met some great people, and that is what I wanted all along. I finally got over the guy who dumped me, which gave me a lot fewer lonely nights and fits of anger.

Basically, I had some great highs and awful lows that made me see things only a tiny bit clearer, but I am on my way. I learned that I enjoy the simple things in life, like a sunset or a little kid waving at me, because deep down, there is a war in me, and I never know which side will win. Some days, I think I am a fun and outgoing person, always seeing the best in people. Other days, I don’t dare talk to people, and I think I am destined to live a life of sadness and loneliness. That is why I rely on the only ones that understand, my best friends. Away from them, I felt hopeless and less “free”, and I know that this is something that I have to get used to as we start to move in different directions.

This post will probably forever be a mess, like my feelings about my trip. There is so much I want to say, yet nothing I can think of. It was the experiene, but not the time of my life – at least not as often as I wanted it to be.

113 days away from home
18 things crossed off my bucket list
13 books read
7 countries traveled (if you don’t count Burma)
Not nearly enough hangovers.

Singapore

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I realise that I skipped the Final Thoughts post on Malaysia (which I’ve skipped on so many countries anyway), but honestly, in many ways I feel that Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur especially, and Singapore are alike: people are friendly and speak good english, it’s insanely hot, and feels very western. I like it.

We arrive somewhere in Singapore after 14 hours on a sleeper bus. It’s the comfiest one I’ve ever been on, so it definitely lived up to its name, which is Supernice. We have booked two nights at The Green Kiwi on Lavender Street, which is apparently a little over 1 km away, so naturally we just walk. When will we ever learn!? We arrive at our hostel, all sweaty and awful-looking, and the staff quickly offer us some water and super helpful directions to all the places we want to go. Oh, and their breakfast is amazing.

OK, enough with the hostel-reviewing. We don’t do much the first day but eat at a food court and go to the movies, where we watch 22 Jump Street, which has to be one of the funniest movie I’ve seen in a long time. I am crying from laughing so much. Definitely seeing that again very soon.

The next day we meet up with Geoff and go to Little India, Orchid Garden and Chinatown. In Chinatown, I buy a mono-pod. This is what happens when you spend too much time in Asia, you guys. I put on this screenshot of mono-pods so you’ll know what I’m talking about.

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Now, lots of pictures from the park and Orchid Garden:

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We then rush to see the Merlion and Marina Bay Sands Hotel. We head up to the skydeck on the 56th floor and enjoy the sunset and a strawberry slushie with rum – so basically a Strawberry Daiquiri. It’s so amazing, I could  stay up there forever. And I’m going to one day, because I am currently forcing my friend Angel to split a room there someday, because you can’t go in the infinity pool unless you are an actualy guest at the hotel.

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Doing the standard, super classy touristy photo.

 

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Needless to say, I am exhausted when we get home. The next day we have all day in Singapore before catching our flight to Bangkok, but have to check out at 12. I am hopelessly slow at packing today, and end up being the last one left in the dorm, just packing away. Our weird, intense and Brazilian roommate, Harry, then enters and we start talking casually. I only understood a fragment of what he is saying, but the conversation is about me leaving, and he’s sad to see me go – or with his words, leave him. He then points out that we’re all alone right now, which I find a bit weird, but I just ignore it. Harry asks for a hug, and I intentionally put on my backpack before saying “sure”. He does the most annoying thing you can do to a backpacker: taking it off my shoulders, to make it easier to hug me. You can’t really hug people with a 20 kilo tumor on your back – which is kinda the reason why I put it on in the first place!

I am a bit annoyed at this point, because the most painful and irritating part of being a backpacker is putting on and taking off your backpack. I give him a hug anyways, and immediately, he gets this insulted look on his face – as if a hug is not enough. He pushes me against my bunk bed and rests his arms against the bed, one hand on either side of my face. And then he tries to kiss me. UGH! I turn my head say “no”, but he doesn’t seem to understand and keeps asking me why, without moving. Finally I escape and hurry out of there with my stuff.

We go to the malls on Orchard and do a bit of shopping. Again. We spend like two hours in a giant H&M, where I end up running around, telling all the staff members that I think I’ve lost my phone in one of the dressing rooms, when I really have had in a puch around my neck the whole time. Embarassing. Then we go to Sentosa, an awesome island full of activities. I’ve been wanting to zipline for ages, but have felt that it was too expensive, but this is my last chance, so I do quite the hike by myself to get to MegaZip Adventure Park and zipline with a big group of anti-social Asians! Ziplining is amazing!!! And so, I’ve crossed off yet another thing on my 22 things list.

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After landing, the two guys in the picture above want a picture with me. They have been ziplining down to the beach with me. I find it funny, so I want a picture with them, too. Then 12 other Asians proceed to take a huge group picture with me, all doing the peace sign pose, of course.

We almost don’t make our flight, as we are a wee bit late at the airport, but hey, wouldn’t mind being stuck in Singapore. Ever.

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