Time coming to an end :(

Sadly, my time here in Southeast Asia is finally coming to an end:(  It's hard to believe that the place that seemed so foreign to me 4 months ago, is now a familiar place, a place that I've created so many memories in, a place that will be hard to say goodbye to. I can't believe how fast this semester has gone by. Then I think of all the places I've been and all the things that I've done and it does make sense. I just came home from another INCREDIBLE experience. TRULY a once in a lifetime thing. I received a Sak Yant Yantra traditional tattoo. These tattoos are very spiritual and date back thousands of years ago. Only certain masters can perform them and they are very powerful. I met my guide Nikom who was raised in the temple. He brought me to Arjan Sompong's spirit house where he performs the blessings. Sompong was a monk for five years and a highly respected master in the community. He has learned the ancient skills of Sak Yant and thousands of locals come to him just to receive blessings every year. I was given a booklet of designs that meant different things. I chose the pattern that best fits my aura according to Sompong and Nikom. It is the "highest" of all Sak Yant and it is one of the most powerful. I gave the master an offering and he performed a deep blessing and ritual before the tattoo. After the blessing, he started the tattoo which was basically a sharp rod that he dipped in black ink and continuously jabbed in my back. The tattoo is hand drawn. The best place for this tattoo I chose is on the upper back reaching the lower neck, where it is the most powerful. The tattoo hurt at first but I suddenly began to shift into a complete meditative state, a state of complete relaxation. The tattoo was done before I knew it. After he finished, he then began another blessing which he performed different acts and touched holy water on me. I love the tattoo and the master was very nice. Although this is a very unique experience, it is said to be very powerful and magical, consisting of different rules and conditions that the user must follow in their life in order to use the power of the blessing and tattoo correctly. Monks have to follow much stricter rules after receiving the tattoo. Mine contains many meanings and there are different powers it presents. The whole experience was very unique and incredible. After the ceremony, I felt so refreshed and new. According to the Yantra tradition, Arjan Sompong is now the only master I can receive blessings from and I must use the powers that the tattoo brings, in the right manner in life. After taking pics and videos of the ceremony (Nikom took plenty for me) we went to eat. Nikom and I went to a local restaurant where he ordered a lot of food and we had a good conversation. He then dropped me off at the apartment and we said our goodbyes. I am still processing the whole thing because it was such an incredible experience that I will remember forever, and now I have something physical to remember this whole trip by. The rules that I must follow according to the blessings are very interesting and are basically all the rules any "good person" should follow in life. Tonight I am going to a market for the last time to buy the last few things that I want to get. Then, tomorrow I will go to get my hair braided and eat some local food before heading to the airport to head home. I'm definitely not looking forward to the long flight and stop in Bangkok. I'm spending a lot of time reflecting on this whole trip and experience and I can honestly say that it taught me a lot about myself, as well as the world around me. Comparing the feeling I know I will have to go to the airport with the feeling I have leaving Ghana is completely different and nowhere close to it emotionally, but there is no doubt that I'm going to miss this part of the world and living here. I am already feeling sad knowing that the whole thing is soon coming to an end, but that is the price you pay when you are a traveler. I also have a lot planned that I am looking forward to when I leave so I am always excited for the next chapter because, for every chapter that ends, a new one emerges. So the feeling is bittersweet. Plus, who's to say that one day, years from now, I won't end up back here, traveling, discovering more of this beautiful part of the world...picking right up where I left off this very time♡♡♡♡

Long awaited update (May 3)

It’s been a while since my last update, things got really busy after my trip to three countries. To quickly summarize, my time in Vietnam, Singapore, and Indonesia was very successful and I had a great time. Soon after that my mom and brother came all the way here to visit for a little more than a week. We had a great time exploring temples, markets, interacting with elephants, swimming, and much more. It was definitely one of the best times of the whole trip. Although I have been having such great times, everything is going so fast. Too fast.  So fast that I am no longer at my apartment. The semester has ended, I took my finals, and I moved out:( a lot of people left today to go home and others are staying to further travel with friends and family across Southeast Asia. I can’t bel that the semester has ended and it’s over. It seems like yesterday I was planning to come here, now I’m planning to leave. Seems like traveling always ends up this way and things go by too fast when you don’t want them to. I am now in another Airbnb apartment. Took some trouble finding it but I am here. The next few days I will enjoy in Chiang Mai and end the entire trip here. I plan on getting my hair braided, see the markets for the last time, and get my sak yant yantra tattoo by the monk in a spiritual ceremony on the last day I am in Thailand. Great way to end the trip and have something sentimental yet powerful for the rest of my life to remember my time here. I moved everything out today and it didn’t take that long. The area I am in now is very residential and in the middle of a local neighborhood. It’s peaceful and I’m happy to end things this way. I am going to sleep now so I can wake up early tomorrow and enjoy my last days here. Definitely going to enjoy every minute, just like I have done since January!

Some Videos From Jakarta

Fun Day In Indonesia

today I woke up with the intentions of heading to the pier to start my journey to the islands. I woke up at 5 am but I was super tired and decided it would be best if I go back to sleep because I needed some rest from all the traveling. When I woke up I went to check out and was greeted by the owner of the hostel. He is a local who is super friendly and was asking all about my jorurney. He took my picture and thanked me for staying there. I decided to check out one of the piers that usually host more tourist and higher end boats. The prices are too expensive and I am happy I looked at them because now I know I will be heading to the fishing pier tomorrow mornino. I ate lunch at the dock and spent a lot of the day sitting by the ocean and realxing. There were a lot of locals around hanging out with eachother and sitting by the docks. After I left the ocean side I took a motor bike to a traditional Indonesian Street market. I walked around and ate s meal there right before it started doenpouring. The locals all knew it was coming and they packed everything away quickly. Rainy season is approaching and the city is hit with massive rain everyday. When it soon stopped, the vendors unpacked and began selling again, sweeping the rain into the drains. I bought some local snacks which were very good. I contacted a local who works on the islands and he messaged me all the details regarding coming to the islands. The boat will be leaving at 7am tomorrow so I need to leave my hostel at 5am. I am excited to go to these islands and spend two nights there. Leaving the market I tried to book a motorbike taxi on my phone but my phone died. A local saw and tried helping to call the driver and he told him where I was. He then brought me to a shop and let me sit down and charge my phone. He hunted down the taxi driver and had him wait for me. This is just one example of the friendly encounters I have had with Indonesians so far. I read all about the negatives of this city and how trashy and unfriendly is was but I am reviving g the complete opposite. Yes the city is dirty and definitely not a touristy walking city, but the people are all hard working and I’ve had nothing but locals give me a helping hand. All of the motorbike drivers are super nice and more than helpful, the food vendors always greet me with a smile, and the locals are all curious to say hello and wave to me when I drive by. When they see me buy local food they all laugh and give me a thumbs up 👍. I believe the feeling you get from the city and attitude from the local people all depends on how you present yourself as a tourist, because I have had many interactions with people who are beyond kind. I really love this city and I am happy I came here. I’ve seen maybe 4 tourists here and it is as local as you can get. I love the community feeling the city has and how close you can interact with the everyday life of Jakartians. One thing for sure is they all love cigarettes. I have not seen one man not be smoking a cigarette. They are everywhere, and the vendors roam the streets selling single cigarettes all the way to full packs. I have nothing but good things to say about the people and this city so far and I am definitely enjoying my stay. Right now I am in another capsule hotel. It is definitely a real capsule hotel as there are tons of little pods on top of eachother with people inside. I find it super cool. I’ll say it again, riding on a motorbike in this city should be an extrem sport, it’s absolutely crazy and fun to do, even though it is super dangerous. I plan on spending two nights in the islands before coming back on the 9th to spend my last day in Jakarta before I head beach to Chiang Mai on the 10th. The 9th or early 10th is when I will try King Cobra, I have to do it befor I leave. Supposedly there are a lot of health myths and benefits of eating king cobra that the locals say. I also see that the place serves A huge type of lizard, monkey meat, and bat meat. I don’t know if I’ll be trying monkey or bat because that is how the Ebola virus broke out (bush meat) and I don’t know if I can trust eating that, even if the smallest effect is it gets me sick, it won’t be worth it. I have also read about some crazy myths and superstition about locals hypnotizing people. Supposedly by doing some act and touching your shoulder it is said that some people can hypnotize you into doing things. This is crazy by definitely cool to learn about. I find the culture super interesting here and I look forward to the rest of my time in this cool city.

Jakarta

Singapore was very cool and I spent my time in China town and wandering the city streets. I am very happy I got the chance to go there and see what it was like. This would more likely than not be a country I don’t see myself going back to because it is expensive and not not much to do but I really love the fact I was able to go. This morning I arrived in Jakarta Indonesia. I left singapore around 5 am to bore the 8:15 flight out to Jakarta. One thing i noticed was that there was almost no foreigners coming on the flight and this s the case in Jakarta. I have not seen 1 tourist all day, and this is a big city. Jakarta has a reputation of being unfriendly, smelly, dirty, and dangerous but I have had opposite experiences on my first day. Jakarta is certainly not a “clean” city by any means, but it is not bad. I took a car to my hoste where I am staying. It is a capsule hostel which is really cool. I am inside of it now and it reminds me of what a space shop would be like. I saw some local men eating street food outside of the hostel and I tried asking them what they recommend to eat since it was my first time eating Indonesian food, but they didn’t speak any English, so I pointed at one of their meals and we understood eachother. Though the language barrier can be frustrating for both people, they were really friendly and helped me put condiments on the food and asked where I was from. One of the old men was playing really old American music on his flip phone. The meal was very good and spicy. After that I went inside the hotel where I was greeted by a young man who helped me check in and showed me to my capsule. There is like no one else staying here. Very interesting. I know Jakarta isn’t a huge tourist city but I don’t think you should skip the nations capital when visiting. I took a long nap because I was so tired from all of the traveling. 3 countries in 3 days! When I woke up I took a motor bike and got dropped off at the national monument which is situated in a huge community park in the city which is beautiful. Jakarta is not a walking city but it definitely is a communal one which I love. There are people sitting together, picknicking, playing cards, and eating everywhere. I love countries that have that feel to them! After seeing the monument and hanging out, the police game and shut down the park for the night. On the way home I ate some dry good street food. Probably one f the best rice I ever had. There is virtually no English here at all which makes things difficult but also exciting and interesting. I took a motorbike home to the hostel and I am here now. Wow all I can say is that the motorbikes are one heck of a ride. I thought it was crazy to be on the back of one in Ghana but here is a whole other level. The drivers zip up and down the street going 100mph and being on the back of the bike gives you an adrenaline rush for sure. I am planning on heading to the local fisherman dock early in the morning tomorrow to start my island adventure which should be fun. I am going the most local way possible. I think I will be on the islands for two nights and then head back to Jakarta. I was looking into paragliding about 40 minutes away from the city but I have not been too impressed by the value of it here so I think I will wait until I go to a place that’s really known for it in the future. Instead, I read about Jakarta having one of the biggest rash dumps in Southeast Asia, where sadly, many families are forced to live by and make a living by searching for valuable scraps in the dump. Many children live here and are not able to attend school because they need to help the family. There is an organization where you can volunteer and help the community and interact with the kids in many ways. I really want to do this and I emailed the organization to see if they have an available time for me to come and stay in the small lodge they open for volunteers. I saw today while I was getting food, a mother who was cooking street food while her daughter who wasn’t even old enough to talk, was washing dishes. It was crazy to see because We would never see this type of thing back home in the states. Overall I like the city so far and it is more of the type of destination I prefer, despite what I have heard about it. One thing for sure is that the laws are very strict here and the country is under strict Islamic rules, for the most part. I am excited to see how my trip to the islands go these next few days and there are a few things I still wanna do around Jakarta such as eat king cobra. I also saw that a restaurant serves monkey and bat, which I will most likely not try. These animals are dangerous and I read a lot about how they caused the Ebola outbreak in west Africa. It’s crazy to see how diverse Southeast Asia is and how different the cultures between countries are. I am excited to explore Indonesia for the next 5 days!

Pics/Videos From Vietnam

A day in Saigon

Right now I’m in my hostel. I just got back from a wonderful day in saigon, Vitnam. This morning I woke up very early and headed outside to get to the tour office. I witnessed the morning life on the busy streets and stopped for breakfast. The streets are very busy with motorbikes and it is a skill to try and cross the streets. After checking in at the office I boarded the bus and we headed to the Independence palace, also called the reunification palace. This is the place where the war had come to an end. It was incredible to learn about the rich history. We then went and saw the national post office and stopped by a coffee shop. I bought Vietnam’s world famous egg coffee and it was so delicious. It was iced and very strong. After that we headed to the War remnants museum. We were warned that there are very gruesome and emotional things inside and some should stay on the bus if they can’t take it. The guide was not wrong. Inside there were multiple exhibits such as the American War crime exhibit, agent orange victims, and prisoner of war. There were many display cases featuring weapons from the war, USA agent orange masks that the soldiers wore while releasing it, victims, and torture. It was quite hard to see because of how violent and REAL everything was. There were very real pictures displayed all over from photographers who were in Vietnam capturing the war in first person. Many pictures featured Vietnamese soldiers and civilians getting tortured and killed. Many of the photos had a story along with them and there were pictures of civilians where the photographer claims after he told US troops to let him take the picture, he turned around and heard gunshots and the sounds of bodies falling, and he didn’t look back. The photos were taken seconds before these people were killed. There are many exhibits about a gent orange and there are even real human babies preserved that never made it because of the chemical. It really caused immense problems for generations of people. There was also a POW jail on site where everything is still kept in tact. This museum was very interesting, emotional, and real. The guide did tell us that it is indeed a one sided story and we should not get offended. The museum is coming from the eyes of the Vietnamese people, which we are not used to back home. The museum did honor the USA troops as well. After the museum we headed to lunch and were given plenty of food. Next, we headed to the Chu Chi tunnels, 2 hours from the city. It was in the jungle and they are real networking tunnels that the Vietnamese used in battle. It was crazy to see where battles took place and how we witnessed the strategy of the Vietnamese. We were shown there methods of booby traps and ways to kill American Soldiers. They were very smart and it was unbelievable to see what they were doing during the war. The tunnels were like an ant farm. Tiny tunnels underground with many intersections and pathways. We were able to crawl inside them and see what it was like even though they have been widened for nowadays. It was unbelievable! I learned so much about the Bietnam war and I got to witness and understand the Vietnamese perspective of things and how they went through the war. I was also able to shoot an AK-47, the weapon which they used against the USA. This tour was so special and I’m beyond happy I did it. It is something I will always remember and say that I did. There is so much to be learned about this horrific time in history and I am happy I had the chance to learn the other side of the story as well. We also stopped at a workshop that was run for the locals affected by agent orange. They all were handicapped because of the chemical but are given the opportunity to be trained and they have awesome skills. They create the most detailed and beautiful works of art I have ever seen. They crest things out of materials like sea shells and duck eggs. I bought a carving from seashells that hasn’t a portable mirror. Also the tour gives some proceeds to the workshop to help benefit those affected by agent orange. This is definitely something very good that is happening and I’m happy I was able to buy their art. Something that happened today also inspired me a lot. I was sitting next to a guy on the bus and on the way there we didn’t speak but at the tunnels I heard him talking about traveling to Africa, so I started talking to him. It comes to find out that he has been traveling non stop for 4 YEARS and has a goal to visit EVERY country in the world. We conversated true whole 2 hours back and it was amazing. He was a chemical engineer who quit his job to follow his dream and travel the entire world! He backpacked all across the Europe and has been to almost every country in Africa. He has been to some crazy places such as South Sudan, the DRC, Chad, Libya, Central African Republic, Somalia, and Tajikistan. I can go on for hours talking about our conversation. He showed me so many amazing pictures of him ALL over the world and seeing things that not many people have seen. He was sick of the cubicle and wanted to chase his dream so he did. Although this is true, it’s not all a perfect story book type of thing. He told me CRAZY stories that come with traveling to some of these places. He was arrested in South Sudan and tied up/ interrogated as to why he was there, he was caught in Election Day war zones in the DRC and many people got killed right outside his hotel, he was with a local in Chad when the car broke down and villagers came and reported that someone notified Boko Haram was nearby, he was attacked and spit on/ racially abused in the Congo outside a football stadium, and much more. Although he traveled to these places there are some that he is holding off on such as Yemen, because although he found some places safe that were told to be dangerous, he talked about the truth of these countries and how they are truly f*cked up for tourists. We raised a good topic about how many people see traveling as always happy and positive. This is simply not true. Even though  we love doing it, there are times when we feel down, want to quit, give up, miss home, family and friends. He has done much more exstensive travel than me but it all relates. I told him about how I wanted to do that one day as well and how I’ve always had a love for travel. He said that money is not the main thing in the way, it is time. Time is the most valuable thing above all. Yes money is important to get started, but things can be done on a budget. He said sadly after four years the dream is coming to an end soon because he is running out of money. He said he hopes he can one day hit the road to finish off his dream and make it come true. I can confidently say this was one of the best and most inspiring conversations I have ever had in my entire life. The photos, stories and ideas that he shared were beyond incredible and things only a few people can say they ever did on this earth. He gave me so much advice and tips, telling me that at this time of my life  with school it is obvious that money is not there and it is near impossible to travel on a high level at first. He said that when he was 21 he had never left the country and was eating ramen everyday at college. He is now 38 and has been to 138 countries! He started when he was 32!!! There is so much more that I can talk about regarding today but I am typing this on my phone and I am very hungry. Today was a special day for sure. We exchanged numbers and told eachother we will keep in contact. Now I am about to leave the hostel and go outside on these crazy streets. The nightlife is insane in this area and is famously know by backpackers around the world. I am hoping to eat some great local food. Tomorrow I leave for Singapore at 8:55 AM.