It feels good to be back: back to writing, back to my current home here in Thailand, back to the friendly faces I see on a daily basis, back to reality. March has been nothing short of adventures, challenges, and new experiences. The first two weeks of March consisted of me skipping all my classes and backpacking across Thailand with my wonderful boyfriend who came to visit during his spring break. Within 6 hours of him leaving, I hopped in a taxi and headed for another adventure a bit outside of Thailand: Malaysia and Singapore.
I’ve really been looking forward to writing this blog post as my trip to Malaysia and Singapore was quite refreshing. After traveling through less developed parts of Southeast Asia, I expected Malaysia to be similar in that aspect. The second I walked out of the Kuala Lumpur airport, I realized I was completely wrong. The country was far more developed than I anticipated and even reminded me of being back in the United States. It was a strange feeling to say the least, this is the closest I’ve felt at home in over 3 months and I was still halfway across the world. The first day after checking into Mingle Hostel we decided to keep it local since we stayed right in the heart of China town. Not even 10 steps out of our hostel and we met two guys, one from France and one from the US, who was being shown around by a local Malay who works at their hostel. We tagged along and he showed us where to get unique street food, where the locals go to drink at night and even showed us a speakeasy right next to our hostel that was so well hidden, I don’t think we would’ve realized it on our own. We also decided to make a pit stop to see the Petronas Towers in the city pictured below.
The second day we decided to continue our travels with our new friends and do as much as we possibly could since we left for Singapore in the morning. We started by visiting a waterfall about 25 minutes outside of the city and although we were warned about some unfriendly creatures, I was no where near prepared for what I was going to see. After living in Thailand and traveling around, I’ve seen my fair share of monkeys in different destinations. Coming to Thailand, I was warned about rapid dogs, thefts, mosquitoes, food sickness, but no one ever warned me about these monkeys. I’ve never seen so many monkeys in my entire life until I came to Malaysia. I initially brought grapes with me to snack on once we got to the waterfall but if I know one thing: it’s to never bring food around monkeys. One of the guys I traveled told me he would carry them and feed it to the monkeys so they wouldn’t go to waste. As we were walking uphill on paved path to the waterfall, I saw in the corner of my eye a few grapes flying around to the monkeys as he began feeding two of them. Within seconds, 35+ monkeys started running towards us. There was monkeys sliding down trees, coming out from the bushes, they were fighting each other, baby monkeys were holding onto the mom as they all hauled ass to the grapes; they were coming from everywhere. As one of the monkeys was passing me, running downhill to the grapes he came up to me and put his little monkey hands and head in my purse to see if I had any food or something shiny for him to steal so I calmly tapped him on the head and he continue running the opposite direction. Just another day in the life. If people ask me how living in Southeast Asia was, I might just start with this story.
Even though the waterfall was absolutely beautiful, and the water was perfect for swimming, I decided not to. Malaysia being predominately a Muslim country, they still hold conservative values especially in regards to women. For an example, while all the men were in their swim trunks and no shirt, the women swam fully clothed covering their shoulders and most of their legs. I didn’t consider this too much when I was getting dressed to come to the waterfall as I put on my normal 2 piece bathing suit. I thought it would be best to follow in the footsteps of the locals. After having a few conversations during my time here, Western woman are often viewed are more promiscuous and live life without strong morals. Even though it would’ve been harmless for me to swim a bit in my bathing suit, I’d rather not add to their current perception of Western women and it could be taken as disrespectful as I am a guest in their country.
After the waterfall, we went to a nearby natural hot spring that tested me to new temperatures. When we arrived it was all locals, not a tourists in sight. I read a bit about these natural hot springs in Malaysia and how the locals will go there to bathe themselves as they believe the water has healing powers to help with skin conditions and holds other benefits as well. I was looking forward to getting fully submerged in a natural hot tub but again, I was wrong. The water was scorching hot, I couldn’t even put my entire foot in. We saw a few of the locals climb down the latter into the natural spring and submerge themselves. They had to be coming here for years and built up a tolerance because I’m convinced I could’ve cooked pasta in this water. One last stop for the day consisted of the well-known tourist spot, Batu Caves. It was fun to visit and check off my list things to do, but it was for too touristy for my liking. I really didn’t gain too much insight or learn about anything when I went there and thought it was a big tourist trap to buy souvenirs and taxi drivers to rip you off.
The next two days was spent in the lovely country of Singapore. I was hesitant of coming here at first as you may known, a few years ago Singapore was named the most expensive country in the world so I kept wondering if it was really worth it. I couldn’t be happier with my decision to go to Singapore. I didn’t have too much planned for this trip mainly because I wasn’t sure what there was to do. We began with visiting the Gardens By The Bay, one of the most unique attractions I’ve been to yet.
Side note: I’ve become really interested in sustainable travel and tourism over the past few months, so much so that I’m considering pursuing a Masters Degree in the topic. I’ve been taking the time to learn about it, what I can do to make a difference and what other countries can do as well. — Singapore, in my opinion, is a model country when it comes to sustainability. Here’s why…
I’ll start with Gardens By The Bay because that’s where I learned a lot about what they’re doing to reduce their environmental footprint and actively make a difference. Every aspect of that attraction serves a purpose. One of their main exhibits are their Supertree Groves, they look like something out of Avatar. Those trees put on a free light show two times at night (It was so good I went both nights I was there). Some of those trees serve as a way to collect solar energy and the others are a tool to control air exhaust. The two lakes collect and reuses all the rain water and eventually goes through a built in irrigation system for the Gardens to water all their plants and even cool one of their domes that stays at a cooler temperature called the Cloud Dome. The lake system depicts the role and importance of plants in a healthy functioning ecosystem. It raises awareness of the value that aquatic plants play in nature, and highlights the significance of clean water in sustaining biodiversity. They have another system in place to collect the bio-waste from the gardens to burn it and create power then anything left from that is used for fertilizer for new plants. From water to energy to compost to fertilization, this attraction is incredibly efficient in using the natural resources to their advantage and strategically using them to create a positive impact.
I could go on and on about all the things they do there but I think you get the point. After one visit, I was inspired. Not only do they have impeccable public transportation that can take you anywhere you need to go, I couldn’t find a single piece of trash on the ground – even deep in the city, under bridges, down alleys. They also make having a car in Singapore pretty much impossible to get unless you’re a millionaire, but not to profit off it. They don’t want to pollute their air from the exhaust of cars, have unbearable traffic and they encourage citizens to use the public transportation – the cleanest, fastest and easiest transportation I’ve ever used might I add. Fun fact: selling gum in Singapore in illegal. From what I’ve been told, people were spitting it out on the ground making their city unclean so they made a law and that was the end of that. It is by far the cleanest place I think I’ll ever see in my life, even cleaner than my mom’s house which is saying a lot.
I realized why this place feels like a utopia, a place too good to be true only described in movies and novels. They are so far ahead of us, not in a digital high-tech way, just in the way they care about their country and the environment. Singapore has combined nature and city life without ruining one or the other, they put both of them together to actually be stronger and more efficient. They realized that nature plays a huge role by supporting all lifeforms, including our own. By working with, rather against nature, they created a beautiful sustainable future for both cities and forests. Singapore was a melting pot: all races, ethnicity, religions, colors, ages, interests, lifestyles you can imagine and they all meshed together so well. Diversity is encouraged and respected there. Not to mention it felt incredibly safe, no looking over your shoulder or worrying about getting your wallet or purse stolen. It was so welcoming being there, I felt like I’ve been there for months.
Call me crazy, but I really think me going to Singapore helped me see my passion for sustainability within our environment. I don’t think I’d visit Singapore for tourist reasons again, but I hope I could return to intern there one day to see what life is like beyond the 48 hours I was there. Who knows, maybe I will call Singapore home one day!
Usually I end my posts with a quote I feel is most inspired and connected with the places I go and the things I experience. I’m going to leave this off with not only a quote, but also a few small ways you can contribute positively to reducing our environmental footprint.
“We cannot hope to create a sustainable culture with anything but sustainable souls.”
A few ways you can help the environment and make a difference:
- Repair, reuse or recycle where possible
- Buy LED lights instead of incandescent
- Plant a tree or donate to charities that will
- Take advantage of reusable water bottles instead of buying plastic ones
- Eat less meat and more vegetables
- Use public transportation and carpool as often as you can
- Turn off lights and appliances after use
- Bring a reusable bag when shopping
- Go paperless for your bills, unsubscribe from all the junk mail that gets sent to you
- Support your local farmers and businesses – even you don’t care about being sustainable, you should do this anyways!
- Go for solar power and renewable energy when you can
- Educate yourself – knowledge is power 🙂
Traveling Souls Never Die 