You may have noticed that Asia is completely missing from my blog — which is ironic, because this is where most of my travel story actually began.
I haven’t been back to Asia since 2019. And while I could sit down and try to reconstruct detailed guides, restaurant lists, and recommendations, it would take serious time (and Google Maps archaeology).
For now, I’ll summarize my experience there — and it’s something I’m genuinely proud of.
- China
- South Korea
- Thailand
- Malaysia
- Indonesia
- Singapore
- Taiwan
China: Where Everything Started
In a very frenetic what-am-I-doing-with-my-life moment at 19, I Googled “study abroad in China.” I found a program that picked you up from the airport, placed you in an apartment, enrolled you in school, and threw you into an intensive Mandarin program.
So I withdrew from my university and took a year off from my bachelor’s degree to live in Beijing for two semesters, studying at Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU).
BLCU is a language hub — the kind of place where Chinese students major in Arabic or Russian, and foreigners come to learn Mandarin. That meant constant language exchange, friendships across cultures, and very few Americans (which I loved).
This is also where I became weirdly obsessed with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, because so many Central Asian students attended my university. Those two semesters were foundational to who I am today. They sparked my love for languages and my ongoing desire to learn difficult ones. (Vietnamese is next.)
While living in China, I stayed mostly in Beijing but traveled to Shanghai twice, and then joined classmates on a two-week overland trip across the country, moving by bus and train through multiple cities and provinces. We ended in Xi’an, home of the Terracotta Warriors, stopping along the way in places like Henan, Hunan and Shanxi.
Chinese food is my favorite cuisine — which feels like cheating, because it’s really dozens of cuisines under one umbrella. Sichuan has my heart. Traveling through China made it impossible not to notice how different people look, speak, and eat from region to region. I would do that trip again in a heartbeat.
South Korea: My First Solo Trip
After finishing my two semesters in Beijing, I didn’t fly directly home. Instead, I took my first-ever solo trip to South Korea.
I started in Seoul, where I had a cousin stationed nearby with the U.S. Army. I celebrated my 20th birthday there. I don’t remember everything — but I do remember landing without a hotel and figuring it out on arrival.
From Seoul, I took the high-speed train to Busan, stayed in a fancy hotel, and went on a hike that remains one of the most memorable parts of the trip. I actually wrote about it in an article – 3 scary things that happened to me while traveling.
Thailand: Bangkok, Teaching, and Humility
After Korea, I flew to Bangkok, where I enrolled in an intensive course to receive my TEFL certification (teaching English as a foreign language).
While living in Beijing, I had already been tutoring English and even taught weekend classes at my university. I was making around $20 an hour, which was real money at 18. But with a certification, I could have earned more and had better opportunities — so this certificate made perfect sense. Even still, I can use this license to teach English again.
I lived in Bangkok for six weeks and didn’t leave the city once. I couldn’t afford to, I spent all my money flying to Korea then flying here. I probably had around $900 to my name at the time.
In China, I’d entered chili-eating competitions and made it a whole personality trait. I was also very confident in my spice tolerance. Thai spice humbled me.
There was one soup. I poured in everything they gave me. Back in my room, my insides felt like they were actively on fire. My face turned white, my mouth swelled, I got dizzy, and I couldn’t even walk downstairs to ask for help. I just… waited it out. Character was built that day.
Malaysia: Internship Life in Kuala Lumpur
The following year, I wanted to return to Asia again and found an alternative break program through my university that focused on Malaysia and Indonesia.
Our professor helped place me in an internship with the Malaysian Chinese Association in Kuala Lumpur, where I stayed for six weeks working in public relations.
My job was to read the news every day and produce a summarized report in both English and Chinese. It was perfect: it forced me to stay informed, sharpen my language skills, and it was actually useful.
One scary thing happened to me in Kuala Lumpur (which you can read about here), but overall the experience was grounding.
During one weekend, I traveled to Malacca, stayed in my first-ever hostel, and visited the first christian church in Malaysia (and in all of East Asia), built by the Portuguese in the 1566s.
Indonesia: Jakarta, Lombok, and My First Waterfall
Indonesia was part of the same study abroad program. We spent time in Jakarta, meeting with NGOs (some students later interned with them). I don’t remember many specifics — but I remember loving Indonesian food and loving Jakarta. Indonesia, a former Dutch colony, felt layered and complex.
After the program ended, I went to Bali, which I did not like at all. I am, unapologetically, a Bali hater.
I also traveled to Lombok, where I hiked Mount Rinjani on a three-day trek — and swam in a waterfall for the first time in my life. We reached the peak at sunrise, I kept sliding down the volcano because it was pure ash, I was exhausted we started hiking at 3 AM. My guide pulled me up. Most amazing experience ever.
Singapore: A Weekend Utopia
While interning in Malaysia, I took a weekend trip to Singapore — a tiny island connected to Malaysia by road. I took a bus there.
Singapore felt like a utopia. Immaculately clean, incredibly efficient, and wildly multicultural. English and Mandarin are both national languages, and the population reflects centuries of British, Indian, Malay, Chinese, and Indonesian influence.
Everyone looks mixed. Everything works. Can’t wait to go back.
Taiwan: Language, Family, and the Softest Memories
One year later after Malaysia, the following summer, I was accepted into a Taiwan–U.S. language scholarship program, administered through the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
I enrolled in an intensive Mandarin program at The National University of Tainan in Tainan, Taiwan and was paired with a Taiwanese language partner. We spent the entire summer together. As a group, we travelled to Taipei, we travelled to Taoyuan where we visited a boarding school, and taught an English class, I went to Taichung one weekend by myself.
Another weekend, all the students were assigned to a host family. I don’t even remember what city I went to, but I remember the family vividly. We went to a birthday party of one of their friends, and everyone was so welcoming to me. They had 2 pet pigs that lived in the backyard that ate all of their scrap food. #goals
Also, while in Tainan, I was an english tutor for a wealthy family. As a parting gift, the mom gave me a bunch of fancy soaps and taiwanese cookies in this really fancy box. I still have the box. It’s one of my prized possessions.
Macau and Japan
I’ve only ever had layovers in Macau and Japan. Can you believe I’ve only been to Japan once, in 2014, on a long layover? I know…I’ll go again soon.
Hopefully I’ll be back to Asia very soon.