Tag Archives: Friends

One of Those Evenings

Thursday, 3 December 2015 Rebecca Michelle 1 Comment

Sometimes,

when it’s evening here and morning in the US,

when the gang at home is getting ready for work,

when I can’t find anything free to watch online,

those are the times I most miss home.

At the moment, I don’t feel like reading, I can’t get any TV episodes to load, and I’ve just been messaging a friend from college about her wedding this summer. At the moment the thought running through my mind is, “What the heck am I doing with my life?” (Small potatoes, I know. Yes, I’ve heard the news about California. Yes, I talked about it with my very concerned and frustrated students today.)

But in the spirit of honesty, I wanted to share that life overseas isn’t always temples, beaches, beautiful places, and tasty food. Sometimes, it’s really hard to be away. I’m not homesick, I’m just alone with my thoughts. There is a difference.

I begin to question my choices when I feel sort of blue like this. My life would be in totally different place if I were back in the US. It would be in a totally different place if my boyfriend were here. (Yes, I am insecure watching friends’ relationships move forward and mine remain 9,534 miles out of reach. Yes, I feel like I’m getting old.) There’s a void, a feeling of emptiness that rises every now and again; it’s a feeling I really don’t like.

So I’m going to stop talking about it. Instead, now that I’ve fulfilled my promise to myself to be an honest blogger, I’ll make myself a warm beverage, return to my book, and take comfort in knowing that I’ll feel better in the morning.

Travel Guide

Travel Guide: Krabi

Sunday, 29 November 2015 Rebecca Michelle 3 Comments

This trip was different than many others that I’ve taken, for several reasons. Firstly, it took place over Thanksgiving weekend, so it was a three-night adventure instead of a more typical weekend jaunt. Secondly, and more importantly, I met up with my friend Lucas (with whom I also explored Hong Kong back in March) and his friend from college, Mel, for the last hurrah of the backpacking trip they were making through Thailand. Finally, this was a beach vacation with no purpose other than playing at the beach. It has been a very long time since I’ve had one of those vacations, and I have all the sunburns to prove it!

IMG_0403_2 — Random building that I just loved

Lucas, Mel, and I chose to stay in Krabi Town so that we’d have quick access to an airport as well as a good jump-off point for a variety of water-related activities. We stayed at Pak-Up Hostel, met a ton of really cool people, and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.

The bar at our hostel where we spent each evening

On our first night in Krabi, we walked through the night market, which contained the usual number of food stalls and stands selling other random items. My favorite, however, was a mobile library!

On Friday, we booked a kayaking tour of mangrove forests and sea caves, which was really neat. It took a bit longer to get to the kayak site than we’d hoped, but we couldn’t have kayaked in this area on our own. Unfortunately, most of my cave photos didn’t come out, but this is what we saw on our adventure:

It was pouring when we got back to Krabi, but tropical storms usually clear in a couple hours. This was no exception, and we took advantage of the blue skies to head to Railay Beach, known for rock climbing. As it had just rained, we didn’t see any climbers out and about, but we did see a truly stunning place.

Our water taxi ride to Railay gave us these views . . .

. . . and our time on Railay Beach left me in complete awe:

Despite getting caught in another torrential, terrifying storm on our water taxi back to Krabi, we headed to Aonang Beach the next morning to hire a longtail boat to take us island hopping.

P1060314 — Exterior of our boat, complete with captain

It took about an hour to get to the Hong Islands, and we stopped in three places to just enjoy our time on the beach. Our favorite by far was Hong Lagoon, our last stop. Lucas and Mel dove gracefully off the boat; I belly flopped painfully a couple times and then opted just to jump.

We could have visited a fourth island, but hunger got the better of us, so we chose to head back to Aonang to eat. We spent about an hour relaxing in some rented beach chairs before making our way back to Pak-Up for a much-needed shower.

This weekend in Krabi was absolutely amazing. The ocean is my happy place and I haven’t been to the ocean in a very long time. Maybe it was the 10-bed dorm room in the hostel, maybe it was meeting up with friends, or maybe it was my makeup case remaining untouched for the entirety of the trip, but I have never felt as free as I did over the past few days. That feeling was entirely unexpected, but I’m glad for it. Sunburn and all, I’d do it again in heartbeat.

Singapore

Rooftops and Gardens

Monday, 31 August 2015 Rebecca Michelle Leave a comment

No, not rooftop gardens, though I love those!

This weekend I went to Lantern for dinner and drinks with a friend from school and one of her friends, who also works at school. School is massive so it’s no surprise that I’m still meeting my colleagues! In fact, I’ll probably never actually meet all of them. The teaching staff alone is twice the size of the entire student body of the school I attended as a kid.

Lantern is beautifully set on a hotel rooftop at Marina Bay, so we wined and dined overlooking the skyscrapers of Singapore’s business district, as well as some very fancy hotels. Marina Bay Sands, the casino, is in the distance. Our ferris wheel, the Singapore Flyer, was close by, too!

On Sunday, I visited the Botanic Gardens with the same friend. I’ve been there before with Mitch, but it was great to be back. It’s so beautiful there and it was an absolutely gorgeous day. It’s not sunny all the time here! Really! Just hot. All the time. As usual, the gardens were full of people engaging in some quality outdoor recreation. We passed picnics, birthday parties, runners, bikers, newly weds taking photos, and people playing various sports games. In an age (and a city) where people are so invested in handheld technology, it’s heartwarming to see people enjoying the exact opposite..