Photo Link:
https://photos.app.goo.gl/rhVCwzz5RwtXwXn79
Well, this is it. Last stop of my four year retirement. Time really flies by. Took a flight from Lhasa to Guangzhou (formerly known as Canton), which is on the southern coast of China. Only spent a couple of days here so it was a quick stop. I was very excited for the food for this part of the trip since this part of China is well hyped for the food, and was honestly very underwhelmed. It was still very good, but more on the Beijing level of forgettably excellent (given my super high standards from seeing well, a good chunk of the world the past four years). The food in east China (Shanghai/Suzhou/Nanjing/Hangzhou) was absolutely better – I loved the bread-and-bun-based dim sum food there versus the more standard dim sum here (dumplings, small portions of “regular” non-stuffed foods, etc.). And that’s obviously to say nothing of Xi’an, which was so so so good. Or my limited experience with Xinjiang and Sichuan food in China. I think the biggest thing for me was the general lack of spice in the food here. I don’t know, I also am not a huuuuge fan of Chinese American food, and a lot of that is Cantonese food which is what I had here, so I think that also makes sense. But yea, I just feel China as a whole has way better food options so I don’t get the hype about Cantonese food in general. Again, still very good, but like on-par with a place like Georgia (the country) – worth talking about but not worth the foreign hype.
There was also some pretty cool sightseeing in Guangzhou, but nothing that was *amazing*, if that makes sense. China’s oldest mosque was here, over 1000 years old, built by Arabs who settled in the area for trade purposes. Honestly, it was a pretty forgettable building, and nowhere near as cool as Xi’an’s mosque. There was also an impressive cathedral that looked straight out of Europe. And Shamian Island was a particular highlight – consisted purely of grand European architecture as this was where the European traders were allowed to settle when China was barely open to the West. Very similar to Nagasaki in Japan except I thought the buildings were a bit grander here, probably because none of it was wooden. Reminded me of the French Concession in Shanghai (another similar area), or honestly even a bit of Singapore or even Pondicherry in India. Like out-of-place European architecture, given that the climate in Guangzhou has much more in common with southeast Asia in terms of humidity, heat, and rain.
Weirdly enough, I actually got strong NYC/Flushing Chinatown vibes from Guangzhou, which sort of makes sense given that the Cantonese are the primary Chinese ethnic group that historically settled in the US. It’s hard to explain in words, but Guangzhou felt distinctly different from Beijing or Xi’an or Shanghai/rest of east China. Just the open markets and even the way people looked…weirdly reminded me of home. Nowhere near to the extent that Napoli or Tel Aviv did, but still. Also, seeing the difference in Cantonese names versus the rest of China…the crude western stereotypes of the Chinese are pretty much all based on Cantonese, which again makes sense as that was/is the largest Chinese immigrant group.
While walking around Guangzhou, I passed by this upscale restaurant that had a huuuuge line (of all Chinese, of course…like the rest of China, there are barely any foreigners here), so naturally, I took my place. It was basically a fancy dimsum spot, but the food was really really good. Highlights include the pineapple bun (which tastes nothing like pineapple, and is just stuffed with custard…I do love how in Japan and here that custard is a big thing), the chicken feet, and the durian pastry (durians are HUGE in China, all imported from Malaysia/Indonesia).
Couple of other sightseeing spots in Guangzhou. Visited a few Tao temples, which again, to the uneducated person (me), is very similar to Shinto temples in Japan except here they have human deities to represent the various spirits/gods. China is allegedly an atheist country, but I don’t buy it at all. I met a Brit in Xi’an who is an English teacher in another city (forgot the name) and was visiting Xi’an as a tourist…she said that most Chinese will swear up and down that they are atheist, but then will still pray and give offerings in Tao, Confucian, and Buddhist temples. It’s definitely more in the spiritual/”just covering my bases” side than the overt belief in god that you get in Tibet, or India, or the US, etc. etc, but still. Certainly not atheist. Another nifty thing that I saw in Guangzhou was the tomb of a former regional/provincial “king” who basically reported to the Han emperor. Obviously nowhere near as grand as the Terracotta warrior mausoleum in Xi’an, – this was just a small underground burial chamber that you could walk through. Everything of value was taken out for the museum nearby, so this was just some 2000+ year old empty rooms you were walking through. The museum was decent, especially some of the jade artifacts that were found in the tomb. Was like a less cool version of the tomb/museum layout of Phillip of Macedon (Alexander the Great’s dad!) in Vergina, Greece.
One other random note about Guangzhou…the VPN here was waaaay stronger and easier to use than in Tibet, and a good bit stronger than Beijing or Xi’an as well. I am convinced (and this belief is shared with some of the locals/expats I have met in China and Tibet and spoken to) that the Chinese government is well aware that many of the educated use VPNs to bypass the great firewall, and they “look away” and allow it to maintain morale. The fact that the VPN is easier to use in a place like Guangzhou, which is only an hour train ride from Hong Kong (where there are effectively zero internet controls), while Tibet, which is politically a bit more unstable, has a way weaker VPN success rate than other parts of China, makes total sense from a government perspective. Almost like a release valve that they tinker with regionally just to keep people happy.
So after Guangzhou, I took the one hour train ride to Hong Kong. My final hostel and city (and hiking!) of retirement…not counting my London pitstop after this. But yea, totally wild. Hong Kong was awesome. Was basically like a Chinese NYC, or a more in-your-face, bigger, gritter, and overall better version of Singapore (which I really like!). Weirdly, it still felt unique, so I didn’t get the “I am back in Flushing/Queens” vibe of Guangzhou here, more like HK was its’ own entity that just strongly resembled NYC. Not quite as diverse as Singapore, but still, plenty of Indians/white people to mix with the native Chinese population. In terms of “global” cities after NYC and London, I genuinely feel like HK, Singapore, and Kuala Lumpur round out the top 5 for me. While a city like Shanghai felt distinctly Chinese, HK to me felt more like a global city that was heavily Chinese, if that makes sense.
Weirdly enough, Hong Kong is quite an ugly city. The buildings are all block-ish and not at all attractive. But the energetic vibe and cramped feeling really was like the best of Manhattan. It’s also annoyingly expensive, especially when compared to pretty much every city in mainland China. Food-wise, it was very good, but honestly, I think maybe on-par with Guangzhou at best (and that’s a stretch)…Xi’an is still the best I have had in China, and I definitely think Singapore has better food than HK. But HK really takes the cake for the international offerings (aka non Chinese/local food), which for me was not as important at all. I hate the word, but the vibes were great. Just such a cool city to walk around, and you could really feel the chaos and energy of it. But it was very much a controlled chaos like NYC, and not quite like what you see in the megacities of India or the Arab world.
I took a daytrip to Macau while in HK – like HK, it is an “autonomous” Chinese territory, so you go through immigration, etc. and there’s no web firewall, has its’ own currency, all that jazz. Macau was just OK. A bunch of cool colonial architecture, and for parts you felt like you were straight in Europe. But I don’t know…it was all a bit too sanitized for me. Like a totally sterile “old town” area that just felt like an artificial shell. A weird comp, but it was like a slightly less interesting version of Malacca in Malaysia for me. Though I guess I am not really too keen at all on Portuguese history (relatively speaking) which probably explains some of my lack of enthusiasm for Macau – it was a Portuguese colony, so all the signs here are in Portugese as well as the typical Cantonese and English. In general I definitely preferred the European vibe of Guangzhou more than Macau.
The main attraction here was the ruins of the St. Pauls Cathedral, which burned down like 200 years ago. A bit reminiscent of the burned down cathedral in Goa (also Portuguese), though of the surviving cathedrals, what was in Goa was certainly more impressive than what was in Macau. The facade of what was left of the St. Paul ruins reminded me a bit of the exterior of the Library in the ruins of the grand Roman city of Ephesus in western Turkey. Just a super cool and very impressive outer wall with nothing behind it.
I also had Macanese food while here, which was quite unique. Like one of the OG fusion cuisines, it’s basically a better version of Portuguese food as it is Portuguese food with a heavy local Chinese influence. The best part about this meal was the dessert, since that was a proper European almond cake and China, for as good as all the food is, is quite mediocre with desserts.
So back to HK. It also has, predictably, an excellent nightlife. Tons of cool speakeasy and small dive bars (all annoyingly expensive of course), but then you have those obnoxious party bars that are du jour across SE Asia, and nightclubs, and really something for everyone. A lot of the dives are located in formerly historic buildings (like converted British admin buildings, prisons, etc.) which to me really added to the coolness of it all. Apparently a big thing here is “Club 7/11”, which is just buying cheap drinks and drinking outside the local 7/11 on the “party” streets, and then once you’re sufficiently drunk for cheap, entering the bars and clubs for the fun without splashing all that cash. Sounds like something that I would do in Singapore as well to be honest – everything is done and dusted and I will be in Singapore for the next two years of grad school.
As cool and cyberpunk as Hong Kong was (I mentioned this when writing about Japan, but the entire cyberpunk aesthetic is basically wholesale lifted from Tokyo and Hong Kong with a few “future” touches thrown in), the best part about the city was the hiking. Honestly might top Cape Town for urban hiking…I think Cape Town’s best are better (nature wise), but HK is crazy…I met locals who have done 40-50 different hikes in HK (all by public transport!) and they still have more to do. Obviously these are all easy hikes by my standards, but still, to live in a world class city and have access to this so easily is honestly really cool. And this furthers my thesis that proximity to outdoor activities leads to more attractive girls (the wealth also doesn’t hurt…HK is a crazy wealthy city). Probably the third most attractive city I have ever been to after Cape Town and Tel Aviv. Obviously places like NYC and London are super attractive, but the difference here is the high floor…basically very few to no local unattractive girls, because for me it’s impossible to be not attractive if you are physically fit. There are also tons of beaches that are accessible via public transport, if that is your thing (obviously not mine).
The thing with HK is that, even though it is crazy compact, like 80% of the land is wilderness, so beaches and hills/small “mountains” to hike. The first hike I did was the most famous one, up to Victoria Peak overlooking the city to see the skyline. 99% of tourists pay about 20USD for the roundtrip tram to go up and down, but I just did the one hour hike – about 400m in elevation gain over a few km. Nice and easy, though in late June/early July HK is like at 80%+ humidity, so even when hiking up in the evening to catch the city lights turning on, I was drenched in sweat. In a way, it reminded me of Queenstown in New Zealand – bypassing the tram to hike up for the city view, though the view here was much much better. Pretty cool that this is almost full circle for me…I started my retirement by seeing the skyline of Shanghai (probably still the most photogenic/”best” skyline I have ever seen), and am ending it by seeking the skyline of Hong Kong from above, which might be the best urban view I’ve had (more true for Suicide Cliff – see next paragraph – than The Peak, but still). Really cool to just see towering skyscrapers and bright lights below you. Absolutely made me reminisce about how quickly the past four years have zoomed by.
The next evening, I did another overlook hike that is called “Suicide Cliff” – named because the dude who named it thought it would be easy to commit suicide by jumping off, not because suicides have actually happened here. Pretty ridiculous but whatever. It was a fantastic brisk hike – about 450m of elevation gain in under 1km, so it took me a nice and quick 30 minutes, and I felt awesome once reaching the top. It’s actually quite crazy how much better I am at “low altitude”/sea-level hiking because of all the high-altitude stuff I have done. But yea, this was legitimately one of my all-time favorite hiking viewpoints. Cooler than the more-famous Victoria’s Peak because there were only 3 other tourists (no tram here, you need to do the “difficult” hike), and the city skyscrapers were a bit further away so the view itself was cooler as there weren’t giant apartments directly in front of you that somewhat blocked the vision. The cliff itself made for a very cool photo angle, though I am basically a silhouette because of the pitch black of night. Just such a cool, awe-inspiring view of a massive city. Spent about two hours on top, seeing the transition from evening to sunset to city lights, before hiking back in the dark. Took a different route as the way back was far too steep in the dark for my comfort, so I had to ascend another 150m quickly to the ~600m top of Kowloon Peak, and then went down a long set of stairs to hit a road that eventually curved down to my bus stop – all said, took about an hour for this. This hike and viewpoint was absolutely the highlight of Hong Kong, and really of south China in general.
The next morning, my upper body was actually quite sore, as I basically haven’t done pushups/upper body exercises in forever and the Suicide Cliff hike involved a decent amount of scrambling that, when coupled with the slippery rocks (it had been raining during the day), meant that I was lifting myself up with just my arms/shoulders. All a part of the fun.
For both Suicide Cliff and The Peak, I did a lot of hiking near the super wealthy neighborhoods, as in Hong Kong, the higher in elevation, the more expensive the real estate. And this in what is probably one of the world’s four most expensive real estate cities (Manhattan, SF, HK, and Singapore, in some order. All share in common being finance/tech/business hubs and having limited real estate. Speaking of which, thank god I got my free student housing at LKY…funnily enough, it is in Singapore’s most expensive neighborhood, Bukit Timah). But I have never quite been to a city that just had so much wealth on display, from opulent mansions to fancy cars everywhere. Definitely biased because I was walking around these neighborhoods before/after my two urban hikes, but still. In places like NYC or London, the wealth is sort of hidden away behind closed doors in apartments, while here you see these giant LA-style mansions.
One of the other highlights of Hong Kong was visiting the Kowloon Walled City Park. This was formerly a giant slum/20+ story apartment complex that was basically a massive illegal tenement that had its’ own culture. The British tore it down in the early 1990s to convert it into a pleasant-but-forgettable park (HK was transferred to China in the late 90s, along with Macau by the Portuguese). I remember watcing documentaries and reading about this towards the end of high school, back in the heydey of my videogame days (since I literally did like 10 minutes of HW/studying a night in high school, I had toooooons of free time). The small museum about the Walled City in the park was pretty cool, and really served to drive home the point that a lot of the cyberpunk ethos really was directly lifted from these terrible dystopian lifestyles that were taking place in east Asian megacities. Cramped living quarters, tons of unlicensed and “illegal” services being offered hidden away in dirty and leaking alleyways, gangs enforcing rules due to lack of authority, etc. From a distance, it’s all really cool and fascinating stuff, but living there was probably not bueno. I also visited a “famous” housing complex that has been used in a few different movies like Transformers, and it gave a good feel of what the Walled City must have been like (but not quite as bad, obviously). Just super ugly, blocky, cramped apartment complexes that somehow manage to look attractive. Almost like it is so ugly that it is pretty. Or at least, you can’t take your eyes off it. Paradox of HK…I love the city, very vibrant, but it is weirdly ugly up close. Maybe it’s symbolic of the gross wealth inequalities that exist in the city, I don’t know.
Hong Kong also really was a case in point in just how small the world is. I met two separate people here both with crazy connections. One was a girl from Bangalore who went to an international school there and knew my aunt, who was an English teacher in that school. The other was a girl from HK who had both cousins and friends who lived in Manhasset…they were younger so I didn’t know them, but my sister said she knew of them. Pretty mind-blowing to be honest.
Unfortunately, my last couple of days in Hong Kong were marred by torrential rains, so I was unable to go out to the more nature-y/uninhabited islands for some good old fashioned hiking. But there really is so much to do here. Maybe not the best city for historic/cultural sightseeing, but it feels like an amazing city to live in, if you have the money. Very good (if overpriced and overrated) food, great public transport, tons and tons and tons of hikes, from urban hiking to going to fully natural settings for hiking, tons and tons and tons of beaches if that is your thing, an incredible nightlife. Really it was a wonderful city, and a great way to cap off my retirement run. On my final day, I literally just hung out by the harbor and took in the skyline view. Yes it is a poor man’s Shanghai from sea level (again, the beauty of Hong Kong’s skyline is from hiking above), but still. Just sort of reminisced over the past 4 years, it was actually a really nice “doing nothing” day.
I’ve spent a ton of time the past four years on my own – even more than when I was socializing with people – so obviously music has been a big part of my travels. Some songs that I guess for me, will always be tied to this four year period specifically, for whatever reason:
Intro by M83
Indian Summer by Jai Wolf (these first two are really a combo of Burning Man and retirement…to me BM is almost its’ own entity separate of retirement)
Last Ride by Beach House
Thunder Road by Bruuuuuuce
Cold Heart by Dua Lipa
Beautiful Day by U2
This is the One by The Stone Roses
Don’t Look Back Into The Sun by The Libertines
Rock Show by Blink-182
Shaking the Tree by Peter Gabriel
Special Star by Mango Groove
Scatterlings of Africa by Johnny Clegg
Mbube from the CGI Lion King soundtrack
Maahi Ve from the Bollywood movie Kal Ho Naa Ho
Despacito by Luis Fonsi
Super Trouper by ABBA
Fluorescent Adolescent by The Arctic Monkeys
Scenes From An Italian Restaurant by Billy Joel (my go-to whistling song when hiking to be honest)
Forget Me Not by Brian Fallon
Rebel Rebel by David Bowie
Burn by Ellie Goulding
The Boys Are Back In Town by Thin Lizzy
Walk of Life by Dire Straits
After Hong Kong, I flew over to London for a week, to see my high school friend Martin and catch a Bruce Springsteen concert with him (which we booked last July!!!). Our high school friend Steve also flew over from NY for a bit to help commiserate the end of my retirement. Kind of officially marked the end of my retirement at Hong Kong, so I did make my full switch to vegetarianism. No eggs! But will eat baked goods made with eggs, and probably have a couple of cheat days a month for the Chinese hawker food in Singapore. The exception to this was a “Last Supper” in the most British of institutions, Nando’s, for a cheeky spicy grilled chicken dinner.
Steve was around for a few days and we all hung out, but he had to fly out early to catch some family function of his girlfriend’s. After he left, Martin and I did a couple of cool things – saw Wimbledon which was actually very, very cool. Had to queue 4.5 hours at 9am on a Thursday…upon arriving, we received a 34 page pamphlet on “How to Queue”, which was the most quintessentially British thing ever. It was an open ticket where you can wander around all the courts but the main three (which required seperate tickets), and it was honestly very cool just to see random matches up close as well as take in the overall atmosphere, which was, to put it lightly, incredibly posh. The highlight of the trip was, of course, the Bruce Springsteen concert we saw in Hyde Park with one of his other London Business School friends. He unfortunately didn’t play either of my two favorite songs – Thunder Road or Jungleland – but it was still an amazing, amazing performance. Just a 3 hour marathon with pretty much no breaks, incredible stamina given that they are all in their early 70s at the youngest. Very cool sort of finale to my whole retirement run. Even though he is “only” barely in my top 10 musicians, this was one of the best concerts I have seen. Just so much raw energy. We also went to this cool exhibit in the National Gallery that were photos taken by Paul McCartney in 63-64 that he had lost and then rediscovered a few years ago. This “South China” photo album actually has a bunch of pics from Wimbledon and this exhibit as well as some videos from the Bruce concert, for what it’s worth. And on my final night in London, we caught the last Indiana Jones movie in theaters, which I guess was also a fitting finale given that The Last Crusade was by far my favorite movie as a kid.
I also caught up with a bunch of random backpacking friends while in London since so many backpackers are from London/nearby. Two friends from Honduras, a friend from Iraq, a friend from Indonesia, a friend from Namibia, a friend from Kenya, and a friend from Ecuador. One of these meetings was in the super hyped Indian restaurant Dishoom. It was very good, but I don’t necessarily know if it was worth the hype (seemingly every American who goes to London posts an Insta story from Dishoom). The best part about the food was that it was Irani and Parsi, which you don’t really get outside of a few popular cafes in Mumbai, so that was cool to see. While getting lunch with the friend I met in Iraq, we were sort of talking about how preferences change while traveling, and that got me thinking. If money and time were not an issue and I kept traveling indefinitely, I really do think that I would get “bored” after a couple of more years and transition into something like mountaineering. As it is, there has been a definite trend towards more extreme/outdoor stuff over my four years, and even cultural stuff has skewed that way (ie Iraq and then Afghanistan). First world problem, but I am hopeful that the sort of “pause” that I am getting in Singapore will lower my standards a bit and let me enjoy regular vanilla travel more. But as it is, even though I obviously would love to continue my retirement and this is the end of an era, I am sort of looking forward to this since I do eventually want to work in international development so this is the next step for that. And I guess the reason I got into all these schools and financial aid etc. was because I didn’t need to embellish my resume or essays…my story made sense to them because it makes sense to me, in terms of the natural transition of my interests and why I want to eventually work in international development.
Overall, London was fantastic as always. As much as I love it normally (it is my favorite city after Black Rock City and NYC), it is just so much better in the summer when it gets dark at like past 10pm. Amazing public transport, not as expensive a city as I remembered it being, great social scene, the most diverse city in the world (in meaningful ethnic and life experience diversity, not the shitlib way of defining diversity as in the US as just skin colors with no regard of background). Really just an amazing time. The cherry on top was, on the way back to Martin’s apartment after Indiana Jones, we were waiting for a bus and literally got called “Bus Wankers!” by some British dudes biking by. It’s a classic Inbetweeners scene (my favorite comedy along with Seinfeld) and really could not even make it up.
After a week in London, I flew back to NY for a quick few weeks before finally making the jump to Singapore. Mainly was at home, learned how to cook Indian food (now that I am veg!), did some errands for my parents as well as setting up stuff for grad school, and saw a handful of friends in the city (plus my sister) and caught up with them. I’ll almost definitely be back in December/Jan during my winter break, so this felt more like a visit from when I lived in Chicago, than a visit from during my retirement, as I’ll see everyone again in a few months. Saw a Star Wars Burlesque show with a few friends which was shockingly very good (being drunk helped), and also caught up with a friend from Cape Town who I hadn’t seen in 2.5 (!!!) years, so that was a nice way to end my last night in NYC. And my two brief NYC weekends were, like my London week, very “home” feeling – I really do hope that I eventually get to live long-term in one of those two cities.
So, past four years. Really did fly by. Even would-be obstacles like COVID selfishly worked out since I spent 3 months at home then and got in shape for the first time in my life, which then let me get into all the outdoor shit that I do now. And COVID also let me see much of sub-Saharan Africa and Turkey/Jordan/Ukraine/Egypt without the crowds, which really was amazing. If I had to pick one “year” that defined my retirement, it would be that 2nd year of travel – a year being a summer-summer stretch. Probably because of how momentous COVID was. But let’s say, leaving for Turkey with my dad, then going to Ukraine, Egypt, South Africa (and getting COVID here back when I thought that was a big deal), Namibia, Zambia, Mozambique, Uganda, Jordan, back home to see some friends, get a vax, and catch a bachelor party, and then Mexico>Guatemala>Honduras, then back home to meet my sister, then Tanzania for Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti and Ngorogoro safaris with her. Not sure if I could definitively say that it was my favorite “year” overall (honestly that is probably year 3? and 4 and 2 are close?), but definitely the one that I feel encapsulates my retirement the most, especially with the chaos of unnecessarily going home and not having the most rational path from country to country. I don’t know. Obviously every single month/year/etc was amazing (some more than others), but yea, this was just like the peak “feel of retirement” for me.
Despite all the grand and amazing things I did, it’s the small memories that come back that really are the best. Sort of like Burning Man…on a grand scale it’s unbeatable but the small moments are what really push it to the top. From traveling on the Gringo trail in South America where literally everywhere you go, you run into old friends and acquaintances accidentally, or meet new people with mutual connections, because we’re all ambling along a roughly similar path. To the countless instances of hospitality by the absolute friendliest people in the world in Iraq. To some of the “holy shit, this is one of the best meals I will ever have” moments in places as varied as Lyon, France to Hyderabad and Amritsar in India to Penang in Malaysia to the foot of the Meteora Monasteries in Greece to Amman, Jordan. To meeting one-off travel buddies, where we would literally hang out for a few days max, but then would stay in touch for years because we just “clicked” and hit it off (like one of the friends I met in London!), to travel buddies where we traveled for up to a few weeks and have also remained in touch, to all the travel reunions I had while backpacking. I truly do feel like I have friends almost everywhere (very Euro/Aus/US centric in terms of where backpackers are from, but still).
It’s also random small memories that are seemingly smaller but just add to it all. Like talking with backpackers in my Reykjavik hostel about what is worth shelling cash out on to see in Iceland, to making a new friend in my Madrid hostel because we were both hungover and lying down in beds while everyone else was out at 10pm so we just talked from across the room for a few hours before sleeping, to the various gorgeous outdoor bars I went with new friends to in Cape Town, to meeting up with friends from a trek in Bangalore. And then some bigger memories as well, like the El Mirador trek in Guatemala, to the roadtrip in Namibia, to the total isolation while observing places like the giant sand dunes of Namibia or the pyramids of Egypt to the Suicide Cliff view of Hong Kong, to even the absolute hilarity when I realized how overrated Barcelona was (I cannot overstate how much in shock and awe I was at realizing, in real time, what a scam the entire city was). Even the negative experiences turned out good, you know. And of course, all the times my friends and especially family flew out to meet me…Sri Lanka, Turkey, Uzbekistan, and Spiti with my dad, tons of regional areas of India with my mom, Paris, Tanzania, and Madagascar with my sister, Myanmar with my mom and sister, and the south of France with all three of them.
I have a whole travel ratings section on my website so I don’t want to rehash everything there in terms of my favorite trips, cities, food places, etc. One thing I will say, is that it is absolutely amazing to do what you actually want to do in life. It doesn’t have to be travel, but to actually have the freedom to pursue your passions is incredibly liberating (and honestly, probably amazing for mental health as well). And I mean, I only traveled because I wanted to, not for any “deeper” reason. Obviously I am super fortunate in that I don’t have any health issues, my family didn’t have any health issues (short of my uncle passing away suddenly, which obviously changed up plans when it happened), that I was able to take advantage of COVID lockdowns by getting into shape, that I didn’t have any debt after college, and absolutely most importantly, that my parents are well off enough, and my family in India well off enough, where I would never have to worry about homelessness and starvation after I burned through all my money traveling. My parents are not trust fund and summer home rich, but they are wealthy enough where I would always have a bed and food where that would not be a financial strain on them. I know for a lot of people that’s scraping the bottom of the barrel, but for me, given that I would never have to “struggle” in life if I failed after travel, it let me take the “risk” to do what I want come hell or high water. Same thing for afterwards…I don’t have to pursue a career for the money because of this safety net, so I can do what I want instead of getting an MBA and becoming a consultant. Especially since the type of stuff that I want to do in international development doesn’t necessarily pay the best.
And I was, again, fortunate enough to get a full scholarship + a huge monthly stipend from LKY in Singapore, enough where I can actually save a decent chunk of money every month after all my expenses. Would have sucked to take on loans, and also with the stipend I don’t need to seek out part-time jobs just for the pay, which is really nice. But yea, there are too many people I know who don’t have mitigating circumstances and also have safety nets, but don’t take chances in life…I don’t know, I understand some are more risk-averse than others, but you can die anytime in a car crash or freak medical thing, or can have something serious happen to a parent or loved one that grounds you, so I think if you really want something, it’s frankly irrational to put it off for the distant future. It’s why I always love meeting people who actually do shit. And again, it doesn’t have to be travel. If you have the means to save and a safety net, quit your job and become a full-time actor or yoga instructor or photographer or painter or author or whatever.
After grad school, as of now I think I would want a more “on-the-ground” job, either in India, Afghanistan, the Middle East, or sub-Saharan Africa. Obviously that is a super wide range, but honestly I would be excited to work anywhere as long as it involved travel to/living in the field. As it is, while grad school is certainly a “means to an end” here, it should be cool living in Singapore for a few years. Especially with my stipend, I should be able to afford and take a handful of cool diving trips per year. My trekking hobby might be sidelined a bit, unless I finagle some sort of trek in India during my winter or summer breaks. And the easily accessible hiking in SE Asia is largely a joke, if I’m gonna sweat my balls off in that humidity I might as well just go extreme in the gym. But who knows, like I said earlier, I am hoping that living in Singapore sort of tempers my travel elitism where I can enjoy more “eh” sightseeing a bit more, so we’ll see on that front. Not sure if I’ll post anymore here (no one wants to read about living in Singapore and random vacations I take as a student), but I’ll still update the travel ratings section and homepage (with all the photo links) as I take trips.
I don’t think that my un-retirement will quite sink in until I actually have a full routine in Singapore. That said, obviously eternally thankful for all of it, it’s been absolutely magical. And there is always way more to see and do. It’s a pretty cool world out there I guess.