Exchange was one of my favorite experiences during university. I did study (2 CS courses + 1 elective), but mostly got to experience the university life in Singapore, as well as the local culture and experiences. Another highlight was travelling around SE Asia!
Funny story: I actually almost didn’t graduate on time because of this exchange experience. Apparently I was supposed to get approval from a Go Global advisor if I were to go on exchange in my last uni semester, but since they had approved my exchange application I thought it meant I was all good. Then, I suddenly got an email while on exchange saying I didn’t meet the grad requirements because I was on exchange. I remember I was in the airBnB in Thailand writing emails to my school’s science advising telling them to please let me graduate. Thankfully everything was sorted out, and I graduated on time!
All pictures taken on my Canon G7X Mark III. I actually lost a lot of my photos from Thailand onwards (as I somehow lost my SD card in the midst of relocating to Seattle), but this is the remaining collection.
Anyways let’s get to it~
Thailand
Chiang Mai
At 6am in the morning, we were picked up by these half-covered open trucks, which they sped on the highway with (I was fearing for my life). After the longest ride of my life, we arrived at the elephant sanctuary. My favorite part was feeding the elephants. There were big and small elephants, and you could give them a banana, which they would happily reach out their trunk to grasp, and put it in their mouth. You could also say a magic word, and they’re trained to open their mouth, and you could directly feed it to them. It was a bit scary to do so at first because you had to get very close to them, probably because they’re gigantic animals and could probably squish you with just their weight, but it was too funny to see their crooked smile when they opened their mouths. You could also go up to take a picture or pet them, but don’t expect them to cooperate (afterall, they’re only there for the free bananas!).
BBK (Bangkok)
This was one of my favorite places, though I could be biased because I just love people. There are so many people in the city, which means a lot of great food, shopping, and a never ending list of things to do.
We went here on the first night we landed in Bangkok: it was still bustling at ~11pm at night, and there was a lot of food vendors on both sides of the street. Unlike a lot of other night markets for tourists (like that in Phuket), I would say the food here was pretty decent and less touristy. On that note, I would avoid the Khao San night market (it is VERY touristy and non of the food looked good, think funky insects...), while the Chatuchak weekend market was big and had decent food.
Also one of the "must-sees" in Bangkok, this was an interesting experience. The fighters were a lot younger than I expected, and one of them threw up after getting punched in the stomach 😬. So I definitely have mixed feeelings about this one.
My favorite meal out of this whole trip! I recall we were just coming back from visting the Grand Palace in BBK, and stumbled upon this little shop. I had little expectations, because there weren't that many folks inside, but the stew I had was so favorful and aromatic. Also if you're in Thailand don't forget to try the hot pot and Mookata!
Phuket
To be honest, I didn't really enjoy staying in Phuket, Thailand (if you know, you know). They are mostly famous for the nightlife, and a lot of foreigners (again if you know, you know). The islands and beaches were quite beautiful, though. Also if you're thinking of doing one of the popular speed boat tours to Phi Phi islands (like we did), just be warned that the boat is very very choppy.
Vietnam
Halong Bay
Halong Bay looks like these floating mountains in the water (“limtestone monolithic islands”), and we booked a tour off of Klook (yes, again) where they take you on a traditional “junk” boat tour around the bay. We got to explore the impressive rock formations inside a cave, do a hike up one of the islands, and kayak inside a lake in the bay. They also provided delicious food on the boat. Although the water isn’t as “green” as the pictures online, I think the limestone monoliths/islands were breathtaking, and definitely a very unique and memorable experience.
Hoi An
This is a really beautiful city, known for the canals throughout its ancient architecture, as well as the lanterns at night. Although I have to warn you that it’s VERY touristy here, the atmosphere at night is amazing, with the bright lanterns, music, and boats and latern candles floating across the water. If you’re going with your girlfriends, you can dress up in Ao Dai’s (traditional Viet dresses) and take pictures by the water.
Singapore
Although this is suppose to be an exchange to Singapore, I guess I don’t have the most exciting pictures in this section. I stayed at Prince Geroge’s Park (PGP) at NUS, and I actually really liked it, despite the negative commentary on that residence. As mentioned in the beginning, I took 2 CS classes - CS 3245 and CS3240 (modeling and animation), and an elective GEX1007 - Darwin and evolution. There are usually a lot of other exchange students in your classes (I guess it’s a really popular exchange destination). And usually the classes with more exchange students are easier 😉. However, do note that the math in Singapore is a lot more intense, meaning that local students will have a much better and deeper grasp of mathematics. I remember I was barely trying to keep up with all the calculations in my CS3240 class (matrices, etc), and had to use my calculator the whole time, meanwhile the local students can just do it in their heads.
I absolutely love a good chinese/singaporean breakfast. There are tons of options too, including fried dough sticks (油条), green onion rolls (花捲), tea eggs (茶叶蛋), and the classic Singaporean Kaya toast. You have to get it with a milk tea (for $1) or a Kopi (Singaporean-style coffee with condensed milk).
Besides breakfast, the cafeterias at the school are seriously next level. Each canteen (and there are about 6-7) is like a huge foot court with lots of different food stalls and A/C. You can get anything from chicken rice, to dry spicy hot pot, to yong tau foo (noodles with assorted fish balls with tofu/veggies), to rice + dishes. There are so many stalls, and I don’t think I even tried half of them by the time I left. The food is very reasonably priced too, around $5-10 SGD per meal.
Yes, these gigantic lizards (they grow up to 3m) are just casually chilling in a park in Singapore. It's always fascinating to see the different native animals when visiting another country.
One of Singapore's most famous attractions is called 'Gardens by the Bay'. Besides the iconic supertree grove, which are these massive architected trees, it also features different domes that show off the fauna from all over the world. The cloud forest dome (above) was my favorite.
This was actually taken at the Singapore Zoo. This little guy was sitting on one of the tree branches in the birds exhit, and I thought it was absolutely adorable. Otherwise, the Singapore Zoo is definitely worth a visit. The range of animals they have is very different to the ones in the West, like tigers, lions, leopards, elephants, giraffes etc. Althought I'm not a proponent of animals being locked up.
I think I shot this on one of the plane rides in or out of SG. The cloud formations in Singapore are just spectacular—they are much bigger and higher than that in the West Coast in North America.
China
Hangzhou
During my exchange trip, I also snuck in a little time to visit my aunt and uncle in my hometown, Hangzhou. It had been a while since I had visited and the weather was so nice to visit in the springtime, instead of the usual hot summers when I used to visit.
Malaysia
One of the malaysian foods I still eat today to this day is Char Kway Teow (stir-fried noodles). It’s like pad thai, but less sweet and better ☺️ (sorry in advance if I offended any Thai folks, or any folks that like pad thai). You also have to try Nasi Lemak when in Malaysia.
KL
One of the classic symbols of Kuala Lumpur is the iconic Batu Caves. Besides that, I really loved the 7/11’s in KL, as well as the overall city vibes. Like BBK, it is a major big city, with lots of people walking around at night.
Penang
The beaches here were really gorgeous. They also have a bunch of water activites you can do—I tried jet skiing for the first time! It’s also not overly crowded, and the sunsets were amazing.
Bali, Indonesia
Bali was another one of my favorite destinations. I think the food there is superb (think mi goreng, nasi goreng, satay skewers, and lots of coconuts!). There are a couple of different places to stay in Bali, and they are quite far apart, depending if you like surfing, yoga retreats, etc. We decided on Ubud because a lot of the popular tourist attractions were there. Also a note on “Bali belly” or common diarrhea for foreigners when visting Bali—personally my friends and I didn’t find it that bad, but of course, always ymmv.
Ubud
Honestly this wasn't my favorite place. It's suppose to be a A UNESCO World Heritage site featuring "cascading rice fields", but it was pretty small and not that impressive in my opinion. It's also not as green as you see in the pictures, so I'm not sure why it's so popular.
Saving the best for last, this is my all-time favorite photo that I took on this trip (and maybe all-time favorite of all). This little girlie/guy was perched on top of a really big cave opening.
There are a few monkeys here and there in Singapore, BUT the Monkey Forest in Bali had a ton of monkeys, just walking or laying around. They're mostly minding their own business too (like the elephants), so it's hard to get a good picture. But beware, sometimes if you get to close, they may try to take something from you: a monkey made a grab for my friend's necklace that was hanging around her neck 😅.
That’s all! Although this post has actually been in the works for about ~2 years now (since I finished exchange), I didn’t make much progress on it until recently because I wasn’t sure on the direction I wanted to take it in. Hopefully I persuaded you to do an exchange semester (trust me, if I could, I would do another one).