Grounded and not giving up

17 months grounded, and counting…

So this blog has come to a hibernation… because we haven’t been traveling anywhere… because, yeah, Covid.

My mental health plunged to the lowest, darkest point in my life in the past one and half years. I tried to get out a couple of times, eat healthier, be more active, write more, try new hobbies… but then I fell off the wagon too many times too. I sulked and ran into a fantasy universe called K-drama, I think I lost myself for a while. I have stopped for more than a month now, considering it as a detachment of addiction, and tried to write random thoughts here and there, and after a couple of incidents, I finally started therapy. I really want to get better, for everybody.

For someone whose goal in life is traveling the world, one city at a time… Covid totally shuts down my goal, and living as a goal-less individual demotivates me to wake up in the morning. I’m running out of time, each day I’m not traveling, or planning a trip. It’s hard to shake off this hurried-off feeling, like I’m always being chased.

Covid also domesticated me, and god I didn’t know how much I hate being domesticated until now… I lost my freedom of being a free and easy adult. It wasn’t so much because I’m a mother now, coz Bandi has always been more than happy to have time with Alessandro, it’s really more because of Covid restrictions. Just when things started to seem to get better, it got worse again, and then it was repeated a couple of times, so I think everyone started to lose faith in ever going back to normal life again, if that’s even a thing.

In the beginning of Covid, we tended to hold out everything, I held out, I compromised, because I thought I could wait until things got better. Now that it’s never getting better, I tried to adjust it to this new normal, but guess what, the new normal sucks big time.

I don’t go to yoga anymore, I don’t go out having fun anymore, I did but maybe what, once in the last 1 year? God that’s pathetic. I used to go drinking every Friday night with my co-workers and oh how I missed those good old days, talking non-sense under influence, playing beer pong, board games until midnight, just having a good time. And traveling to different cities almost on alternate weekends.

I bet if there was no Covid, we’d still do that. Even with Alessandro, I bet it would even be more fun with Alessandro.

The thing about being depressed because of Covid is that your feeling is diminished, because you’re suffering in a first world country, while people actually lost their jobs, lost some lives, so compared to them, your sadness is irrelevant. You should be grateful. Trust me, I’m not ungrateful. I am so grateful I am safe and physically healthy. But you can be grateful and sad at the same time. And I know I’m not good at handling my feelings, and it’s eating me alive.

It’s funny how I stopped blogging about my feelings for years… This blog used to be my outlet, the fluffy pillow of my extrovert soul, because I felt too much, my emotions have always been all over the place. There were times in my life when I couldn’t regulate my emotions, like a child.

I’m seeing this in my 2 years old son. He is a little guy with big feelings, if I don’t handle that well, he’d turn up like me. He can’t turn up like me. He deserves better.

I know I’ve been fixing it for years since I came to Singapore 11 years ago, yoga, lots of reading, finding purpose (in traveling) and all of that self-help stuff, so I’m so freaking mad when Covid just trumps my decade long efforts! Here I am again, going back to zero and finally looking for help.

I will write more, unfiltered, coming back to this blog, like a child who comes back to their mother after years of venturing in the wild. Back to my first love, writing. I also created a private insta for micro-blogging, to start feeling safe again for posting things online.

I am proud of myself for admitting that I need help. I’m sick and tired of sucking energy off of my loved ones. I’m gonna be better, either I’m flying or grounded.

So until we’re back on globetrotting, I will try my best to let May rest and calm and stop hurting others, and maybe cut back the drinking a little bit.

Cheers, May

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Camper-van road trip in New Zealand with 2.5 months old baby

Yes, the title says it all!

We actually flew in a 10 hours flight with a two and half months old baby and we had the most amazing 3 weeks road trip in the most amazingly beautiful New Zealand!

Why we did it

Bandi and I love road trip (I’ve said it a million times) and New Zealand is the perfect paradise for this, but everytime we wanted to plan for NZ, the time seemed like not long enough, so jokingly I told Bandi, “Let’s just do New Zealand during maternity leave when we have baby.” Then we planned to have a September baby, so we could bring the baby to New Zealand during summer time (yes, we seriously planned pregnancy to accommodate our travel plan). When we found out we were pregnant (for an August baby), guess what Bandi did after that? Yes, looking for New Zealand ticket, not particularly in December, but in November (early summer).

What’s the itinerary

We did 1 week of North island and 2 weeks of South island. I really think this is the perfect itinerary for first time New Zealand trip; but if you only have 2 weeks, do not split both island to be 1 week + 1 week. Just ditch the north island and do 2 weeks of South island, coz seriously you should not do South island less than 2 weeks.

In my future New Zealand trip, I will only plan for South island, coz it’s crazy beautiful!

We drove car in north island and only drove camper van in south island because in north island, it was only me, Bandi and Alessandro (the newest member of Cahaya pack), while in South island we have 2 friends joining us. We rent a 6-berth maui camper van and it was surprisingly spacious enough for the five of us. I’ll talk about it later.

In North island, we drove a loop from Auckland to Auckland, passing by Hamilton, Taupo and Rotorua, all in 1 week. We lived in airbnb’s.

We then took a domestic flight from Auckland to Christchurch.

In South island, we drive one way from Christchurch to Queenstown, passing by Godley Head, Lake Tekapo, Mt Cook and Wanaka. In Wanaka, we made a lot of detour, such as to Blue pools, Milford Sound and eventually to Glenorchy when we reached Queenstown.

About driving and living in camper van

In my next New Zealand trip, I will definitely ditch camper van and go for normal car plus staying at the lodge. But if I could redo, I would still do camper van for my first New Zealand trip. Paying camper van is not necessarily for economic reason or convenience reason (coz trust me it’s not) but merely for experience reason.

Why is it not economical? Because paying for car rental + lodges are the same price with paying camper van and DOC entrance/ holiday park entrance.

Chilling inside the campervan

Alessandro naps by himself, we felt so proud!

Why is it not convenience? Because the self contained status can only serve you for at least 1 night without electricity, clean water and waste water. Once we learned the hard way about how easy the waste water is filled up, we ended up using facilities like kitchen and shower at Holiday parks instead of in the camper van itself. The only great thing about camper van is that we can park at beautiful DOC camp sites like we did at Godley Head, Mt Cook and Milford Sound with relatively cheap price of NZD15 per person. Apart from that, all holiday parks that we parked our camper van in, offer comfortable lodges.

Camper can also gives you so many maintenance to upkeep, filling in clean water, emptying waste water, septic tank, turning on and off gas and fill it in again at the end, and not to mention sweeping the floor, cleaning the bed sheets, etc. You kinda do housekeeping works during your holiday lol.

But you gotta wake up to this kinda view. :)

Highlights in New Zealand

I will skip north island for the highlights, because once you visit the south island, you kind forgot about the north (lol no offence but it’s true). I love outdoorsy stuffs so imagine road trippin’ in south island, passing by so many beautiful landscape, mountains, lakes, fjords, farms, forrest… New Zealand is the feast for the eyes! We also did a lot of short walks and hikes to enjoy the view.

Milford Sound

A lot of people recommended us to take a cruise in Milford Sound, so we did. Yeah it was a must do in Milford sound, of course, because cruise is the only way to enjoy the Sound. Sound is basically similar concept with Fjords just larger in size. Milford Sound is beautiful, filled with hundred of temporary waterfalls (temporary because the waterfalls happened due to rain and there is no soil on the top of the lands, just rocks. You’ll most likely visit Milford Sound when it’s raining because it is one of the wettest area in the world, its annual rainfall is three times higher than amazon!

Mt Cook

We stayed overnight at The white horse camp ground, in our camper van when the weather was stormy. It was one of the unforgettable night! Our camper van was shaky because of the wind, it was sooo scary! We ended up leaving the next morning because the rain just didn’t stop without doing any hike. We then stayed at Glentanner Holiday Parks with the Mt Cook View. The following morning, suddenly the sky was so clear, so we rushed back to Mt Cook and did some hiking!

Glentanner Holiday park

So one thing to take note that it’s VERY VERY WINDY in Mt cook, it’s so windy that the public shelter that is made of concrete shook a little! So imagine people who walks and hikes, they literally had to wade against the wind! When we were about to do Hooker Valley Track, Bandi carried Alessandro in Ergo and covered him with a lot of fleece, but of course there was some part that was uncovered and the wind went and blew his face. Alessandro was so scared, he stopped breathing for a while! Bandi was so shock, he shouted his name and ran so fast into the public shelter. Only afterwards we googled that baby below 6 months are unable to handle win blown to their face, they tend to hold their breath when that happens. Our heart dropped… but thankfully everything was fine. We then brought Alessandro back to the camper van and did solo hike in turns, and then followed by cooking Nasi Goreng in the camper van, with Mt Cook as a view. Life’s good again.

Lake Tekapo

The weather was on our side this time! In the morning, we enjoyed the weather while having quick breakfast, then went for a hike! I must salute Bandi for doing this hike while carrying the fatty baby. Lake Tekapo is beautiful and serene, the color is just so dreamy. Oh we wished we spent more time in Lake Tekapo.

Wanaka

If you could choose one city to be your hub (let’s say you want to park your caravan), Wanaka would be the best because it is like the last intersection between Queenstown and Fox Glacier. Going north, you will be venturing the glacier, going south you will be settling for Queenstown and further again to Milford Sound.

Queenstown and Glenorchy

Oh what a beautiful town Queenstown is. If I was offered to move here, I would do it in a heartbeat! If you’re planning to explore south island, most likely you would make a stop or even arrive at Queenstown. This small city has it all to be a vacation town; quirky town center with good food with mountains in the background, not to mention it is the capital of adventure in New Zealand, whether you want to bungee jump, skydive or paraglide. Everyone would fall in love with this city instantly.

Bandi fell in love

Short hike in Glenorchy

1 hour driving from Queenstown, along the most beautiful drive you’d ever seen, is a little town called Glenorchy. It is quiet, beautiful and perfect for a weekend getaway. We had a walk in the Glenorchy Walkway and really enjoyed the view we had.

View along the way

About traveling with 3 months old baby

Trust me, I wanted to cancel the trip so many times but Bandi kept assuring me that it’s gonna be alright.  And again (even though I don’t like to admit it) he’s right. It turns out the time we spent in New Zealand was the best part of my maternity leave. I enjoyed the time the three of us spent together.

People usually ask us, “how’s the flight?” It turns out the flight was not the biggest issue, the jetlag was! We didn’t think about how jetlag would impact so much on baby until we experienced it ourselves. Oh my… the first night in New Zealand was the longest night I’ve ever had in my life. It was summer in Auckland, no aircon, we were drenched in our sweat and then Alessandro couldn’t sleep because of jetlag. His normal bedtime was 8 pm and because of jetlag, he slept at 1 am, along with crankiness and fussiness.

The three of us inside the Air New Zealand sky couch

The next day we brought him outdoor often so his biological clock would adjust better. The second night he slept at 11 pm and in the third night his bedtime had been neutralized.

If you’re planning to travel to different timezone with baby, I suggest for you to read about baby jetlag and be prepared about it. Be prepare that your first 2 days in the country will be spent adjusting to the new environment and time.

This time, we also travel slowly, unlike the usual pace that Bandi and I usually do. This time, we relax more, drive short distance and only do easy hiking.

Alessandro seemed happy throughout the trip, he also enjoyed looking around, afterall babies love to see the world goes by.

I wish you to love this earth as much as I do, baby!

We’re planning for our second trip as a new team but still thinking where to go next and when to go (since Alessandro will start solid soon).

Hit me up in the comment below if you have questions about camper-van-ing in NZ with a baby; and if you would like to share your trip with a baby and suggest to us where to go next.

Cheers,

May.

 

Songkran 2019 – My first of the hopefully many

This was my third time traveling to Bangkok, but this time was special because it was the most festive time in all Thailand; Songkran time!

If you’re not familiar with Songkran, it is Thai’s new year holiday and the Thais are celebrating it by water party! They are literally splashing water anywhere, anytime and nobody can get mad! The water is representing blessing, thus just soak in and get wet!

I’ve wanted to join Songkran for a long long time, but my job wouldn’t allow me because I used to be super busy in the first 4 months in the year. When I changed my job last year, my first thought was to monitor the busy period to plan for following year’s songkran, and then here we come!

When to go for Songkran?

Songkran could last up to one week in certain area of Thailand, but mostly only the first 3 days are spent by playing with water, partying with water literally all day all night. It starts on 13th April and last to 15th April.

What to prepare for Songkran?

To be honest, I didn’t know much before I actually did songkran myself. My friend who is a Songkran high flyer only told me to prep for waterproof phone case, don’t even bother to wear waterproof raincoat. You will GET WET regardless, just enjoy it. I was literally WET full body, until the very last defend (panties).

Water gun is a must! You can easily find many types of water gun throughout Bangkok to purchase. We purchased ours with quite good deal because we bought 6 of them, however don’t expect too much on the quality because 3 out of 6 didn’t even make it til the end. Bandi brought huge gallon of water at some point to splash water at people, just because it’s satisfying.

Khao San Road

There are also a lot of water refill stations throughout Bangkok, some are free, some costs 5 baht if it’s iced water. Yes, ICED water. They literally throw a huge block of ice into the water tub so when you shoot water at people, they will get chill!

The situation during Songkran is totally fun! It’s like playing game, but real one!

The other thing you might want to purchase is a uniform. Most people wear colorful flowery shirt during Songkran because of tradition. These shirts are sold everywhere and it’s gonna be fun to purchase a flower uniform with your Songkran team. We didn’t know this until we actually went there. We saw a lot of groups wearing vivid colors uniform so we copied them rightaway.

This is us, just right after buying the shirts

Where to go for water fight (in Bangkok)?

After talking to local cab drivers, we narrow down water fight locations to these. There are probably other places too, but I can only write the places that we actually went.

1. Big C (opposite central world) –> There are water running hose all day all night, with DJ playing house music. Water fight while dancing. Anyway, you can go all the way to Pratunam and there are literally non-stop water fight throughout the pedestrian walk.
2. Khao San road –> famously known as the biggest water fight street! Totally did not disappoint! Be prepared to get wet!
3. RCA –> If you’re ready to party the whole night while getting soaked with water splash, come here! I didn’t expect RCA roads to be so happening during Songkran. I mean, I knew it would be crowded, but maaaann, this is another level. They are totally turning the whole RCA road to be rave party!

Rave party everywhere…

Pratunam Market

Songkran while pregnant

Water fight could be an exhausting activity, especially the weather in Bangkok during Songkran time is very hot, so you will get exhausted even faster; however I was really having fun playing with water so of course I didn’t really feel tired during the water fight, but only after.

We went in a group of six, with similar maturity level (read: age), thus our energy level was more or less the same. We played from lunch time til before sunset, then go back to our airbnb to take shower then we will avoid water fight during the evening. (We did get wet a little bit, but try to run away from it or avoid walking in the street altogether). And we wake up quite late everyday.

Beside the heat, there is nothing bothering me. I’m having hot flush in my pregnancy thus imagine being in the summer heat, I almost exploded. I was also being more careful not to slip (it’s wet everywhere) and sometimes some place could be a little to crowded so I was just covering my bump so people won’t knock on it.

Should you experience Songkran?

Absolutely! Thai people are the best, they are friendly and fun. When you’re visiting Thai during Songkran, they’re even more fun! I know Songkran is not the most eco friendly festival, by throwing fresh water, but I guess some tradition is worth to keep and continue.

Stay respectful for the local tradition and beliefs, you’re visiting their country anyway. And don’t forget to have fun!

Cheers,

May, missing the water hose.

A whole other world in Bagan

The moment we came back from our US trip (or even when we were still in US), we already started planning out next trip to a new place we’d never been. Both Bandi and I burnt off all of our Annual Leave during the lengthy US trip so we didn’t really go far in 2018, so we planned some new adventure for 2019. We decided to finally do 2 things I’ve been wanting for so long: Experience Songkran in Thailand and visit Bagan, Myanmar. In this post, I’ll only talk about Bagan.

How to reach Bagan?

Bagan is one of the place that has always been in the back of my mind for so long, but it’s not the easiest place to reach; no direct flight from Singapore and further road travel from the landing international airport.

So when I planned my Songkran trip to Bangkok, I was checking if it was possible to continue my journey to Bagan.

Indeed it was! There was a possible way to fly from Bangkok to Mandalay and then take a 4 hours bumpy car ride from Mandalay to Bagan. The nearest airport to reach bagan is actually Nyaung-U, but then you have to take local flight from Mandalay or Yangon.

So please note that the first and last day in Bagan should be spared for traveling alone, if you plan to reach in Mandalay or Yangon.

What to do in Bagan?

Very simple, exploring the ruins. Bagan is like a whole new world, the landscape is like no other, it’s full of temples, pagodas and stupas with deserts-like  surrounding (because I visited in summer), the trees were dried up, sun was high, dust was everywhere, it looked so dramatic in every photos. But I must tell you, if you’re usually comfortable, Bagan is not the place to be comfortable (again, I visited during Summer).

Bagan is full of beautiful ancient temples and ruins. If you’ve visited Angkor Wat, the vibe is similar, but Bagan has more sporadic temples with beautiful landscape. This group of little temples and pagodas create some kind of a whole new different world feeling.

Ananda Temple, most known for its beautiful architecture.

Bagan is also famous for its sunrise and sunset, and chasing them requires patience and adventurous soul. Tourist used to be able to climb pagodas to the highest to get a better view of sunrise and sunset, since 2016, it has been banned. However, you may find some deserted pagodas or stupas where you can illegally climb. Ahem, find some local people to go with you if you’re unsure. You may comment if you’re interested and we can talk in private LOL.

There are a couple of secret sunrise and sunset spot that tourists do not know exist, here’s the two places that our local guy brought us to:

Sunrise spot, a secret temple

You need to climb 3 levels up to get the best view; first level is by stairs, second and third level is a 2 meters vertical climbing each. Since I was carrying a bulky item in my belly, I only reach up to the second climb, it was still scary, but not as scary as the last one and going down was even scarier!

Look at the size of the sun!

The full team!

Climbing up to the third level

Sunset spot, an ancient monastery

Keep hiking up to the highest point and wait the sunset there. Sadly there was a thick layer of clouds once the sun was setting, we actually could see the huge red sun when we were riding our bike there, but once it almost hit the horizon, it was covered by the clouds. :(

Where to stay?

I would only suggest 2 areas to stay during your adventure in Bagan, New Bagan area and Old Bagan area. We personally chose Old Bagan area, it has less cafes or restaurants, and practically just surrounded by temples, but the feeling was magical! We were staying just 1 step away from temple! We stayed at Thande Hotel Old Bagan and overall it was not bad!

New Bagan is like a small town, so it has more hotels/hostels and cafes. We usually go out to New Bagan for lunch and dinner, it’s just 20 minutes e-bike ride away! There’s another possible town to stay, which is Nyaung-U, but I personally don’t like the vibe of this town, so I won’t recommend.

How to move around?

There are a couple of choices but I will only give you the best: e-bike! Tourist can only rent e-bike, not the real motorbike. E-bike is electric and less powerful than the normal motorbike, so in another word, it’s safer. It’s very easy to navigate too! But please take note that some of the roads to some temples are not paved, it’s sandy and rocky, and navigating the e-bike in fields like these can be tricky, just be careful and stay safe!

Sandy roads to the temples

I rode e-bike with Bandi, and there were moments when we almost fell, it was a little scary, only because I was (and am) carrying our baby in my belly. I was 24 weeks pregnant on this trip and I was more careful than the rest of our trips. I literally couldn’t be reckless.

The road could be bumpy too, so imagine I was holding my tummy most of the time, but I guess my baby kinda enjoyed it, it felt like riding a transformers ride in Universal studios, haha.

What to eat in Bagan?

Be open. :)

Bandi and I personally like asian food with spices, so there was no problem at all for us, but I think it could be too much for some people, especially if your palette is very western, but try to be open and you will be rewarded.

Omelette

Steamed fish with herbs and chillies!

Some kind of potato pancake – so good!

Burmese Curry!

Fish Curry

Side dish

The nicest Burmese dish we had (but in Mandalay)

But if you don’t feel that adventurous, there were cafes that serve western food like burger and fries too.

We ate a lot of Chinese Burmese food and don’t miss their avocado juice and passionfruit soda! They’re abundant on fruits, so take advantage of it.

This vegetarian cafe called Moon is so good!

Watch out on the season!

Please check out the whether before you book your trip. I didn’t and I was punished with crazy hot weather. It was up to 42 degrees in the afternoon! Imagine I was having hot flush because of my pregnancy and I needed to face the 42 degrees heat; maaaan, I almost exploded!

Please also take note of their big holidays, some shuttle bus didn’t operate during thingyan (water festival), which is exactly when we booked the trip (double hit). Thankfully we went in a big group, it was 6 of us, so we could book a private van from and to Bagan-Mandalay. It costed us US$ 270 for the return trip.

Try to visit in the colder season, from October to April; our driver told us the temperature could drop to 16, so that would be lovely!

Do I love Bagan?

Yes! I always love beautiful landscape! I’m not a big fan of temples (maybe that’s why I didn’t really enjoy Siem Reap), but Bagan has a unique landscape, so it’s what makes it special. Some people said Bagan is a mix between Siem Reap and Cappadocia. I would agree in some extend. :)

The Photogenic Bodhi Tree

But if I could change one thing, I wouldn’t want to visit Bagan during summer, it’s too harsh.

Traveling while Pregnant

I did travel while pregnant previously, but it was more like a relaxing trip, like Bali or weekend getaway to Batam; I also went for business trips. But this trip is different because it’s the typical Bandi and May’s adventurous trip, there were moments where I had to do vertical climb in the pagoda to catch a sunrise, and not to mention the constant bumpy bike ride. Not only the physical activities, I also needed to watch out for what I ate and be more mindful about the cleanliness. I don’t want to eat anything harmful for my baby, but if you know me, I usually never cared about what I eat, so it was a little difficult.

To be honest, this trip was planned before we got pregnant (or even account for it LOL), so I couldn’t-didn’t want- to cancel or change anything about it. I’ve been wanting to explore Bagan for so looong! Thankfully everything went well and again I’m grateful to have 2 fun guys in my life who love adventure (I assume my baby loved it LOL).

So, what’s next?

I don’t think there will be big trip until the labor, the only big trip coming up is a journey to be a parent! So this blog could be on hibernation for a while until we’re off for another trip, unless I could blog about the trip to hospital on our journey to be parent! That could be accounted as adventure too! :)

Share with me your travel stories when you were/are pregnant! It would be fun to read!

Cheers,

May, grounded for a while

The Complete guide of our epic American Hiking Trip

7,205 miles or 11,595 kms. That’s how long we’ve driven in our North American journey. The distance is comparable with a flight from Manila to New York, yes it’s that far. There were some days that we drove for 10 hours, with occasional stops of junk-food drive ins and quick hike. The feeling of freedom was unbeatable, it was just me and Bandi and the road, so many stories, so many inside jokes of road-trip games (water tank!), so many out-of-tune singalong to the radio, so many windshields clean up I was actually becoming so good at it, so many cups of coffee, it was indeed the time of our life.

In some point in our life, we shared this amazing invincible feeling together.

There are 2 main purposes on this trip: (1) To hike and (2) to drive the Route 66. The first one happened because of our love to the nature, the second one was because of our adventurous old soul. I will create another post about Route 66 so let’s focus on the hiking part for now.

I am not a good hiker, let’s get that straight. But not good at it doesn’t mean you can’t love it. I usually try to hike the most popular trail in the park, but will limit to 5 miles distance, and if I had extra time and energy, I’d do a couple of short trails with different angle or view of the park. Both in Canada and US, the national parks are well organized so you can plan well for your hikes. My favourite app/web would be Alltrails where you can read other people’s review on the trails and understand whether it’s suitable for you or not. All of the hiking trails I mention in this post will be linked to its details from Alltrails web.

I will write all of the 9 National Park we visited during the trip and some highlights about it. I know usually I wrote details for my travel, but since this is a huge trip, I don’t think it would be comparable to what I usually wrote, I will only write the highlights. If you’re interested in one of the parks and have some questions, don’t hesitate to contact me, I love to share!

Here are the National Parks we’ve visited:

Banff National Park, Alberta (Canada)

This is probably my most favourite place on earth. I’ve decided that I want to retire in Banff. Words can’t describe how beautiful it is… Snowy Rocky Mountains, lush hills to hike on, beautiful wildlife, serene turquoise lakes, this place is out of this world. Please take note that their summer window is quite short compared to the other National Park. I visited on May and some of the lakes were still frozen. So if you want to do water sports, make sure to go on July and August.

Banff Town

Hiking Tunnel Mountain

This beautiful and enjoyable trail is pretty easy to do, there were some steep steps along the way, but nothing extreme. I’ve got to meet so many cute dogs on the trails which was a huge bonus. We arrived at the summit around noon and sat down for 30 minutes to enjoy the sun and ate banana bread.

Taking Cable Car to Sulphur Mountain

We spent almost a day on the top of Sulphur Mountain, learning about the history of how Banff became a famous destination for nature lovers and adventure seekers. The surrounding Mountains were magnet for curious trekkers and it has such a rich history. The summit has museum which is worth a visit and also the historic Cosmic Ray Station. If you do not want to pay the cable car to go to the Sulphur mountain summit, you can hike up; while taking the cable car down is free. The hike is 7 miles long though. Good luck!

The view from the Cosmic Ray Station is AMAZING. I couldn’t believe I actually lived to see this. It was one of the best view I’ve ever seen in my life. I could literally live there. It was a clear day with blue sky and we saw all the mountains surrounding us. I was falling in love… again and again… with mountains.

Driving the Icefield Parkway

The road from Banff to Jasper via Lake Louise is called The Icefield Parkway and this road turns to be a magical winter wonderland when it’s not summer. When you drive on this road, you wouldn’t believe the view you see. This gotta be the most beautiful road trip one could ever have.

The oh-so-many beautiful lakes

Banff has so many beautiful lakes, I can name a few; Morraine Lake, Emerald Lake, Lake Louise, Two Jake Lake, just follow the map and when you see lakes, stop over and enjoy it.

Staying in Emerald Lodge with no outside contact

So… we didn’t know what we signed up for, really. We booked 2 nights at the Emerald Lake Lodge without knowing that it means we won’t have internet connection or any connection at all. We even had to burn fire wood to keep us warm in the lodge. The lodge was last refurbished in the 1980’s and is tuck away from the outside world. We even had to park our car about 2 miles away and took the lodge shuttle to the Lake. I enjoyed it, but Bandi was a bit frustrated because he doesn’t have his TV and Internet. After hours of doing nothing, he decided to light up some fire and watch the woods burned. It was a nice moment for us. :)

Yosemite National Park, California

For a huge and majestic place like Yosemite, my 2 days visit couldn’t do any justice. But Yosemite is expensive, and this girl has a long way to go, thus… decision, decision! We maxed out our Yosemite trip by staying in the Yosemite Lodge and saw the Yosemite Falls by going through the lower Fall trail. Unfortunately my foot was hurting the whole time I was in Yosemite, thus I didn’t get to do a lot of hiking. :( And probably we were still jet-lagging too.

Yosemite has million years of rock formation stories and you can learn about it in the visitor centre. The rock formation makes Yosemite so special, thus the beautiful waterfalls too.

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Acadia National Park, Maine

From west, we flew all the way to the very east of USA, Maine. Known for its Seafood and setting for Stephen King’s horror novel, we come to Maine for the nature. It did not disappoint.

If you’re wondering whether the cold should hinder you to visit Maine, then the answer is NO. Yes it is cold, but Maine is such a beautiful place, Acadia National Park to be exact, with Bar Harbor, Southwest Harbor and Bass Harbor as their host towns. Don’t forget about the New England food of Clam Chowder and Lobster Roll, oh the visit will be perfection.

I love Maine, and if I need to single out one highlight from Acadia National Park, it’s the Beehive Trail. It is the most famous trail of Acadia and it’s famous for a reason.

Bar Harbor, a wonderful little town

We drove all the way from Boston to Bar Harbor because it’s the perfect town to stay to explore Acadia National Park. If you ever plan to visit Acadia, I recommend to stay at Bar Harbor Motel, it was the cutest, most comfortable Motel we’ve stayed throughout our US trip. The staffs were super friendly too! Bar Harbor is a charming little town, one which you secretly wish to live in.

Beehive Trail, a must do in Acadia

This wonderful and fun trail is not very long, but… it is difficult. There were times where I had to climed vertically, with no harness, just railing to grab on. It was horrifying, but exciting, and the view from the top was rewarding. If you plan to go, please read the reviews from Alltrails so you get to understand more of the trails before you actually decide to take it. Once you reach certain height, it’s not advisable to go down. Going up is still safer than going down. This trail is a loop, so once you reach the summit, you need to continue going down in the longer route to the beginning of the trail.

Another great thing about this trail is that you can combine it with so many other trails. We continued to The Bowl from the intersection and it became a very fruitful hike! A bowl of Shrimp Chowder waited for me as a reward. :)

The food!

We didn’t expect the food in Maine to be this good, we enjoyed every meal we had in Maine! Lobster Roll and clam chowders are available in almost every diner and we’ve had them in every meal. Our cholesterol level definitely hiked up! We crowned Maine as the Best State for the food.

Cadillac Mountain

I want to remember the moment when Bandi and I went to Cadillac Mountain. I want to remember the feeling… We loved it so much and the sky was clear so we decided to come back again at night to stargaze. It was crazy cold, we stayed in the car and watch the stars. It was one of the moment in your life that you just know… that it will stay forever. It’s impossible not to question life, when the stars seem so near, the things that are so out of reach suddenly touch our life. If there are lives in the earth, there might be lives in other planets too… Our milky way is just one of millions galaxies out there… What is life? Where do we go after we die? It was the same question when Hubble discovered another galaxy hundred years ago, and it is still the question now.

Bandi and I didn’t get to find the answer that night (of course), but we bonded over our curiosity and our humbleness to this huge universe. We are nothing compare to the stars… We are merely a dot.

Great Sand Dunes National Park, Colorado

Fast forward to Colorado!!! (Between Maine and Colorado we spent so much time in the cities, either visiting museums, friends or driving on the route 66).

We didn’t plan to come here, we didn’t even know that Colorado has sand dunes; we were driving from Albuquerque to Denver when we stumbled upon the sand dunes in the map and decided to give it a visit.

It was pretty okay, I don’t really fancy sand dunes, I guess it will be more beautiful to view it from the air or from afar; hiking on the sand dunes is pretty painful actually, there were sands on my eyes, hair, socks, panties (didn’t know how it got there).

We only hiked for about an hour and went back to the car when we saw sheriff arresting somebody. (If only we came back a little earlier to witness some American Drama!)

Rocky Mountains National Park, Colorado

This is crowned as my most favourite National Park in USA. I can tell you hundred of reasons why, but due to limited time and space, let me just say… the mountains are so maginifcent, it will blow you away.

Trail Ridge Road

I love mountains, so that one reason only has eaten up the quotas of making reasons. The park is so huge, 3 days were definitely not enough. There are 2 towns that can host you while exploring the park: Estes Park and Grand Lake. The first one is bigger and more touristy than the later. These two towns are connected by Trail Ridge Road, the highest elevated road in North America; but this road is not always open because of the unpredicted snowstorm.

We decided to stay in both Estes Park and Grand Lake; if the Trail Ridge Road wasn’t open, we had to detour for 4 hours (while the Trail Ridge will only takes 1 hour and 45 mins, and it was the drive of our life!!!) Even though you don’t need to go to Grand Lake, I would still suggest for you to drive to the Trail Ridge Road, it was so crazy beautiful up there! It is a must-do scenic drive in your lifetime!

The wildlife

We hiked to the Bear Trail and even though at the end of the trail we got hit by snowstrom, we had fun and met some wildlife, fox and bears. Yes, we met bears, and they were cute and actually were afraid of humans. It was still pretty cold when we visited (end of May) and some of the hiking trails were still covered by snow, some were 1 meter high! We went for picnic on one of the days and it was just calming and I felt very happy and peaceful. Here, we also picked up a new hobby, putt putt golf! Oh, I hope we have more putt putt golf in Asia!

If I had to choose 1 place of all the places we went during our American road trip, Rocky mountains is the one. It’s that special for me. I know, I know, I said that for Banff too, well, let’s just say I can’t choose which rocky mountain I love more, all of them are special.

Arches National Park, Utah

We spent the whole day in Arches and had so much fun. Arches is the one national park where I didn’t have so much expectation but ended up blowing me away. The size of the park wasn’t as big as the other parks we visited, so we practically drove all the available paved roads. Since we only had a day there, we visited the highlights of the park: The Delicate Arch (take a hike there), Balanced Rock (very short hike), fiery furnace (require a permit to hike inside – hoping we’ll do it next time). The other famous trail in Arches is called Devil’s garden, however you’ll need a day to finish the whole round, so probably good to have 2 days 1 night camp in Arches, but the camping ground is limited and fully booked fast during summer, so better plan ahead.

We hiked to the Delicate Arch during a very dry and hot day and kind of underestimated it by not bringing enough water. We ended up feeling so thirsty, it could be dangerous, I think. So please bring enough water when you hike in the desert during summer.

Zion National Park, Utah

We went to Zion during summer and it was CROWDED. Fortunately the NPS has got it under control. Summer time is the time where everyone hits the park, so no private car is allowed further than the visitor centre areas. We drove there and park our car in the visitor centre, and then take the shuttle bus to different bus stops along the parks. You should come very early to make sure getting a parking spot. We didn’t come early, and it was impossible to find parking spot. However, for the hundredth time, I was helped by my luck, thus we got a spot. :)

We had to queue to ride the park shuttle bus, though the queue was very long, we had no choice but to wait under the sun, 40 minutes later, we were on the bus. We rode the park shuttle bus to the very last stop , which is the entrance for The Narrow. There are 2 most famous hiking trails in Zion: Angel’s Landing and The Narrow. Angel’s Landing is shorter but steeper, the trail ends in quite high elevation and stories said it’s an amazing view. We chose The Narrow, which is a very long and wet trails, most of the trails are in the river, so it’s more like wading than walking.

We were well prepared for The Narrow, wearing a lightweight pants and bringing extra shirt. After 2 hours of wading, there was nowhere near the end, we asked some people who walked back if they saw the end, they didn’t, we learned afterwards that the river runs through Colorado River, so I guess you can go as far as you can. But the further you go, the less crowded it is, and the deeper too!

Bandi and I had fun the The Narrow, it was a refreshing hike in the water during a super hot and dry summer day, and very much different from our normal hike.

Wet shoes go on the top of the car. LOL

Guess what we did after the tiring day in The Narrow? Binging on Pizza!!! :D

Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona

I am guilty. My crime is not spending more time in Grand Canyon. We pratically just ‘passed by’ Grand Canyon, we didn’t spend the night there. Even though we spent almost the whole day in Grand Canyon, it felt like touch and go because of the size of Grand Canyon, it’s HUUUGE! We visited from the North Rim entrance which is the less crowded and less touristy.

Once we passed by the entrance, we were greeted by loads of American Bisons! Aren’t they cute? We then just kept driving up to the vantage point, where we were stunned by how grand the grand canyon is, thus the name of grand canyon. :p

Obviously this won’t be our last time here. There’s a challenge to hike Grand Canyon from North Rim to South Rim, that’ll take 2 days 1 night, but it would be an experience of a lifetime, worth to think about. :)

Bonus: Antelope Canyon, Arizona

This magnificent nature’s creation is famous for a reason, its beauty that will leave you speechless. I was contemplating whether I wanted to give Antelope Canyon a visit because I was afraid it would be overrated and it was so expensive; thankfully I chose to take a leap of faith and went!

The operator that we went with is called Ken’s tour and it’s from the Lower Antelope canyon. You may find them in Tripadvisor or their website and book via email. It costs US$50 per person, yes it’s expensive, but the other tours cost about the same.

Side trip to Horseshoe Bend!

Once you’re done with Antelope Canyon, don’t forget to give Horseshoe Bend a visit, it’s just 10 mins drive away, you may park your car in the car park and hike up about 15 mins.

The magical Colorado River flows through.

End Notes

The most important things to plan a hiking trip is to understand the size of the park you’re visiting and allocate enough time. We spent five days in Banff and spent only 1 day in Zion. Hunestly both are not enough, but you get the point, lol. Anyway I think it’s just my problem, nothing is long enough for me to explore the park. But normally 3 days would be fine, of course if the park is huge like Rocky mountains, you can stay there for a week and won’t get bored, but for a much smaller park like Arches, you can spend the 2 days and explored 90% of it. If you’re planning to visit one of the parks I mentioned, don’t hesitate to contact me, I love planning and I love talking about traveling, so it’s win-win. Ha!

Entrance Park Fees VS buying annual pass

Since entrance price to the park could be quite expensive, and we planned to visit lots of them, we bought the annual pass which costed us US$85, applicable for one car with maximum of 4 persons, that’s a steal!

Top 3 hikes

To summarize, here are our top 3 favourite hikes:

1. The Beehive, Acadia.
2. The Narrows, Zion.
3. Delicate Arch, Arches.

Came back smarter and wiser

I always say traveling is an investment for yourself, I usually looked back on what I’ve learned from my travels in the past but this time, I’ll write them down so I won’t forget. Here are some points of my enhanced self after this trip:

• I am now fluent in Miles, Feet and Fahrenheit, making me bilingual in metrics system, haha!
• I am now a -much- better driver than I’d ever been
• I love and appreciate nature more (will it ever be less? No way)
• I know where to retire
• I am more motivated to save up for my pension coz I can’t wait to retire, thus making me a better worker.
• I learned more about Art
• I learned more about International Space Station
• I am now able to locate Ursa Major and Cassiopeia in the night sky thanks to stargazing and planetarium sessions.
• I learned to be more chilled and easy-going like Americans.

We are planning for our 2021 North American Road Trip again with these parks in our mind: Great Smoky Mountain in Tennessee, Grand Teton and Yellowstone in Wyoming and probably some side trip to South Carolina and North Carolina. So if you happen to have the same passion like us, let’s go hit the road together, it will be fun! :)

Travel Green

And since we are in nature topic, I just want to remind about the importance to be educated about environment and wildlife. Leave no trace, if you really need to pee in the wild, bring back your tissues, do not step anywhere else beside the trails, it could be restoration area, don’t do so just for the sake of instagram pictures, do not leave any marks, no graffiti shits, nobody wants to see your stupid art, do not feed any wildlife, do not pet them no matter how cute they are (I struggled the most). If you’re not sure with anything, google it! Don’t be ignorant. It’s okay not to know everything, but try to learn more each time. I don’t know anything either, but I’m trying to be more eco-friendly each day, not to leave more carbon footprint.

Travel green is hard. That is for sure. Being eco-friendly is already hard in routine, it’s even harder during travel. From this long trip, I’ve learned a couple of new tricks for being more eco-friendly while travelling, that reminds me to write another post about this. (Oh darn, I owe so many posts.)

I hope this inspires you to travel to the Northwest! Hit me up anytime if you need advice on your travel, you know that’s always been my favourite subject! :)

Cheers,

May, missing Colorado.

The Roads of Colorado

We rolled down the window, feeling the gusty morning and the sun on our skin. We couldn’t believe our eyes, the towering rockies in front of us, so magnificently standing against all. The small towns we passed by, each has their own stories to tell, but this busy schedule didn’t give them a chance. A long winding road ahead of us, by the beautiful Colorado River that never stop flowing, a home for thousands of species whose lives depending on. Songs were playing on the radio, competing with the winds. Gas pedal was roaring, the old car tried to keep up with the elevated roads of Colorado.

The snowy rockies were behind us, the red canyons are greeting us, the Colorado River is still devoted by our side. In each turns, we awed. We felt so small, so fragile. We were nothing compared to what was in front of us, a vast view of what could be a small fraction of the world. The roads of Colorado left us speechless.

A cheerful tune came in the radio, I slowed down a little bit while I sang along with you. I turned to the right, looking at you for a split second, you were looking at me, smiling. What a good life we had, at that very moment, how grateful we felt, how amazing we felt, on the road of Colorado.

Some places were more magical than others, some places were meant to be special. At the road of Colorado, you and me, at some point, we were invincible.

May, 30-05-2019

Plan your trip to Banff, NOW!

I don’t know what to say anymore, words can’t describe how I feel about Banff. No matter what I say, it will not do any justice of what Banff actually is. One must go there and experience to really understand. I know I say good things about all of my travel destination, but Banff is REALLY SPECIAL, I’m not kidding you. If I could recommend a place for you to go, it’s Banff. (And Norway – still).

But seriously, Banff is up there with Norway. I now have 2 favorite place on earth: Norway and Banff.

Two Jack Lake overlooking the Mighty Mt. Rundle.

The Natural Bridge at Emerald Lake creates this beautiful falls effect.

There are some practical things I want to share from my trip to Banff though, that could help you since you’re planning one. Oh yes, you’re planning your trip to Banff. Yes YOU ARE, NOW.

Yaiy! Let’s do it!

1. Calgary is your port to enter Canada where it’s the nearest and easiest to Banff. Start researching a ticket to Calgary (YYC) now.

2. The lakes in the Lake Louise Region are frozen most of the times. It’s starting to thaw at the end of May til August. That’s the only time you can see the lakes as lakes, not as skating rinks. But bear in mind, summer will be so crowded. If you’re like me, love the beautiful view of snow, come anytime except summer, the view is amazing.

Aww, some PDA here, but I love this shot. <3

3. Icefield Parkway is an amazing road trip route during winter; everything around it turns into a snow wonderland. I visited at the beginning of May and the snow was still 1 metre thick in some places.

4. Banff has some public transports, but it won’t be that many unless it’s summer time, even the bus from Calgary to Banff only operates during summer, so the only way to visit Banff is by car if you’re planning a non-summer visit. Prepare your international’s driving license!

5. There’s only daily entrance to Banff National Park (including Lake Louise and Jasper) and it’s CAD 9.8 per person; while annual pass cost $136 for 4 people in 1 car. So if you’re planning to visit Banff for more than 6 days (at least 2 persons), it’s better to buy the annual pass. Plan accordingly.

6. Gear up! Even though it seems like it’s already spring, Banff is surrounded by snowy rocky mountains, even the lakes are frozen, so you go figure.

7. I highly recommend to go to the peak of Sulphur mountain. It’s free if you hike up, but it’s a really strenuous hike and an icy one, so better to pay CAD 62, I know this sounds expensive but the view and the museum are worth it. Read all the story and information about this amazing Sulphur Mountain while at the top; you can also see the 360 degrees view of mountains of Banff, and learn their names too. Now that you’ve known them in first name basis, you’ll love them even more! My favourite is Mt. Rundle!

8. Hiking trails are open all year round, however depending on the avalanche season, some of the trails may be closed. Visit the information centre to have trails recommendation. We went on: Tunnel Mountain Trail, Fernland Trail, Bow lakes (which is open 365 days and so easy and fun to do), Bow Summit (overlooking Peyto Lake – even though the trail was covered by snow), and Lake Louise Trail (also icy)

Bow Lake

On the way up to Tunnel Mountain Summit.

The icy way up to see Peyto Lake

9. Banff Town is actually a real town with so many restaurants, markets, even movie theatre and a yoga studio. Of course it’s not like in the city where your theatre is in a huge building, it’s still a pretty small movie theatre, but Banff is a pretty complete town, Bandi-approved. Coz Bandi loves to see nature but still wants his well-cooked food and strong internet connection. However, we went to lake Louise Town on the 3rd and 4th Night and it’s a totally different story. So if you’re like Bandi, better stay at Banff Town.

I hope I’ve said all the important and useful information, well at least those are all I remember now. I am still currently on the road trip. I’ve left Canada 3 days ago and had fun in Maine afterwards (another post I believe because Acadia national park is so awesome!) and now I am currently in Salem, Massachusetts to sleep for the night so tomorrow morning we can catch the bus to New York! Hope to talk to you guys again soon, meanwhile hit me up in the comment if you have questions about Banff.

And don’t forget to follow our adventures on instagram @baytravels !

Cheers,

May, carrying laptop and backpack and yoga mat.

Big Plans Take Time

Yesterday, I walked home from work and I passed by an advertising by DBS about retirement. It was so coincidental because I was just talking about planning my retirement with my colleagues.

The ads said: “BIG PLANS TAKE TIME”

That’s right. I’ve spent my whole life planning stuffs, I just love planning and making goals. I had a new goal that day, I want to retire when I turn 55. I already started plotting my retirement plans in my head, but this post is not about my retirement plan (we can talk about it next time), it is about big plan. Specifically, the biggest, most epic trip I’ll ever have (so far). This is the biggest thing we’ve (Bandi and I) ever planned in our life, it’s even bigger than our wedding! We planned our wedding for a year. This… we’ve been planning since 2016! And after 22 months planning, the most epic road trip of our life is finally happening!

The beginning

By now you should’ve known how much I love road trip. Our Pacific Coast road trip in NSW, Australia back in 2015 was the beginning of our love affair with road trip. I also love hiking, but sometimes I found it too troublesome to bring hiking gear, unless… you’re driving a car. Bingo! Road trip and hiking are match made in heaven, just like me and Bandi. Lol.

We narrowed down countries which would be great to be explored by car: Australia (of course), New Zealand (in our future plan, of course), Scotland, US and Canada. Bandi has always wanted to show me US so in August 2016 we started creating a plan for our epic American Road trip. I still remember we were sitting in Starbucks and we agreed to quit both of our jobs and spend at least 3 months in the US, in a van to be exact. (this photo of my soc-med timeline marks the beginning of the plan!) Circumstances then started to happen, I moved to Facebook, it got delayed again and then we planned it after the facebook life but then I got even a better gig. So then we realized, we should compromise. We then shortened the trip to a month plus and not both of us should quit the job.

That screenshot from a socmed post 2 years ago.

In one fateful day, in the middle of reality, we bought a ticket to San Francisco. We decided to figure things out one step at a time. But the ticket was bought. So we’re going!

The route

The route planning was crazy! It took months for us to do a lot of reading and go through hundreds of arguments before we finalized it! It was so difficult to prioritize and create a perfect map for our North American Trip. I call it North America because it’ll involve both US and Canada! Yes! It’s been a dream of mine to visit Banff, and since we’ll be in the US, of course we should spare time enrouting to Banff!

There are so many national parks I want to see but so little time we have, and the longer we’re there, the more expensive it is. Our goal is to find the most efficient route, with the most National Parks covered, with the cheapest accommodation possible.

At first we wanted to cut short some of the road trips and save money on the drop-off fee. For those who are not familiar, drop off fee is a fee payable to the car rental when you pick up and drop off the car from and to different states. But at the end, after calculating and recalculating, we’d save more money by doing full East coast to West coast road trip. One drop off fee and that’s it. It costed US$550 for the drop fee only and I could faint just to think about the money, but well, we’re doing it.

The biggest chunk of the trip will be on the road of course, but we did take some flights to and from Canada. We’re going in to Calgary, Canada from SF and fly further to Boston to start our US road trip which eventually will end back to the west coast, in LA.

So to summarize, Our route is to start in West Coast, move up to Alberta, Canada, then fly to East coast, so east we’ll start from Maine! We took bus from Boston to New York and to DC, then car all the way to Los Angeles, enrouting to Texas in the middle. Crazy, huh?

The budget

This is by far the most expensive trip we’ve ever had (and I guess we’ll ever have). First of all, US is far from Singapore; the flight itself is expensive. Thankfully we get a good deal (as always). Second of all, the length of the trip is crazy, so the cost multiplies so much. Third of all, we want to visit Banff, so another whopping budget for flights, Canadian Visa and expensive Banff Accommodation.

Just like I mentioned, we’ve been planning for this trip since 2016, so we have some savings for the trip specifically and thankfully the spending were staggered in months (almost a year) from the time we purchased our flight, applying US visa, booking airbnb, booking cars, buying national park pass, to the other tiny details like purchasing a good angle-wide lens or renewing International Driving License. Overall, the budget turns out to be more expensive than our wedding. I’m serious. But our wedding was a simple one anyway, so not a very good comparison. My point is… this is huge. This is the biggest thing we’ve ever invested in in our life. If you happen to plan similar trip like ours, we’d love to share out itinerary! :)

The execution

They said good things happen to those who wait. Well, we’ve been waiting (and plotting) for 22 months, and here it comes. It’s finally happening. We’re only bringing one 35L backpack each consist only essentials. On moments like this, I always be reminded how stuffs are overrated, and how we should never be attached to stuffs. Because really, at the end of the day, I won’t be needing 95% of the stuffs I own. All I want in life is making memories, connections, achievements, and none of them can be tangibly measured.

People are questioning, what do you bring for a month trip?

I answer the same whether it’s for 1 month, 2 months, 2 weeks or 1 week… I pack 5 days’ worth of clothes. I always do, unless I go for weekend trip, then pack for 2 days’ worth of clothes, duh.

My 5 days’ worth of clothes consist:

3 shirts, 2 shorts, 2 dresses, panties + bras + socks, 2 sets of yoga gear.

And because we’re going hiking, I added: 2 sets of hiking gears, 1 pair of hiking shoes, sweater and waterproof jacket.

For toiletries, I bring only tiny bottles of essentials. And if shampoos or soaps are running out, we can always buy there. No sweat.

It seems very light now, isn’t it?

One important thing to prepare is driver’s license. Both Bandi and I will be driving so both of us need to have our international Driver’s license ready. Making international driver’s license is a breeze, nothing to worry about! I made mine in Jakarta, Indonesia and Bandi made it in Singapore (coz he has Singapore Driver’s license).

The Day

We’re leaving in 2 days! I hope I’ll some time to blog during my trip, coz otherwise it’ll take forever to tell all the stories when I’m back. But at least I’ll keep my instagram posted! I still remember sharing my excitement and happiness with all of you during our epic Europetrip, so now I’m doing the same, hoping to always inspire and ignite incredible adventures. Follow this epic trip on @baytravels ! Leave a comment below to send some love! :)

Cheers,

May, excited would be an understatement.

Fateful days – the sequel

Do you remember this post? Bandi and I received a sad news on the first day of new year. Bandi was diagnosed positive on Hepatitis C.

Looking for a good and reputable hospital to do a pre-marital check up, a friend recommended Eka Hospital. We paid a pretty fat cheque for our full check up, just to make sure we are not only a match made in heaven by the Universe, but also a match made in laboratory.

I did my blood test first, followed by Bandi a couple of days later. We were waiting to meet the obgyn when Bandi received a phone call, “Sir, can you please come back to the lab to give another blood sample?”

Bandi asked, “Why?”

“The result for HCV is reactive. Let’s do another test to confirm.”

“What is HCV?”

“It’s Hepatitis C.”

The result from obgyn then didn’t really matter to me anymore because my only goal in life is to live with Bandi til we’re 100 years old. The news obviously troubled my mind.

We then went to meet the GP to discuss about the lab result. The GP wasn’t very informative. “How could someone be infected by Hep C?” I asked the doctor.

“It’s transmitted by blood and sex.”

Bandi was too confused to talk so I kept challenging the doctor, “well, my hubby never had blood transfusion, doesn’t have tattoo and the only sexual partner is me. If he’s having it, I will be having whatever he’s having.”

The doctor implicitly said that when results like these happen, the marriage tends to be shaken. (WTF, she actually thought Bandi was what-fucking girls around?)

I knew it by heart it’s bullshit. Nobody in this world tells me shits like this. I know Bandi and that is final. Nobody knows Bandi like I do.

We have shared everything, you name it, even chewing gum. There’s no way we’re not sharing this virus either.

The doctor told us to wait for the second test. Maybe it was a mistake on the first test. We agreed on that.

Bandi and I flew back to Singapore the next day. We received an email from the doctor, a scanned document of Bandi’s lab result. It was still positive, it wasn’t borderline, it was way off positive, like seriously positive. The doctor advised Bandi not to share nail clipper, shaving razor, or anything personal with me.

Bandi took it to the next level. He didn’t let me drink from the same cup with him, eat from the same spoon, we even stopped making out for a while. Don’t even mention about sex. As much as I wanted to be selfish and demand everything to be back to normal,  it couldn’t. I knew he went through so much, he was sad. All I did was hugging him all the time, telling him that we’re gonna kick this shit ass no matter what. His only concern was to pass it to our future baby. I told him not to think about it yet, the only priority is to make sure he’s okay.

During this time, we did a lot of google research and was comforted with the fact that Hepatitis C can be cured. It’s not the end of the world. But we decided to scrape off our Aussie plan and focus on eliminating this virus. I just want to live with Bandi, til 100 years old. I want to travel the world with him, and we will do anything to make sure it’s happening.

Bandi made appointment to see the top hepatologist in Singapore General Hospital (SGH), and only got an appointment 10 weeks later on 8th March.

In 2 months, Bandi went through the phase of sadness, anger, denial and acceptance.

I was in Jakarta for work when he went to his first doctor’s visit. I really wish I could be there with him. Bandi told me to wait til I came back to Singapore which was a day later, to discuss the detail. Doctor referred him to do another blood test, the very detailed one especially to understand how serious the HCV was doing in his body and how much time he had until the virus starting to affect his liver. This costed a whopping $790. (++)

I finally got to see him the next night. He picked me up in Changi Airport and we talked in the uber. He told me that he’s gonna apply for Singapore Citizen. I was shocked, “why?”

“The cost for curing Hepatitis C is 80,000 Singapore Dollars, but government subsidies it to be 12,000 for citizen. We cannot afford $80,000.”

My jaw dropped. Yes, and I cannot afford to lose you either.

I was puzzled. How on earth are we going to find $80,000?

“How much time do we need? When do you need to start the medication?”

“The result will come on 22 March, and I’ll meet the doctor again to understand about the medication plan. But don’t worry, we don’t need to do it ASAP.”

I was sad, and pissed off. Why is this happening to us? Bandi is the kindest, the sweetest, the most thoughtful human being I know. He doesn’t deserve this, he doesn’t deserve anything that can hurt him or make him sad. He only deserves happiness. Universe can hurt me instead. I’ll take bullet for him. I’m bulletproof anyway.

I went for another work trip to Jakarta, again on the same day when we had appointment with his doctor in SGH so he went alone again. I told him to let me know as soon as he had updates. So on Thursday morning, when I was eating breakfast in the hotel, I saw a missed call from Bandi. I called him back rightaway.

“May…”

“Yes?”

“I got nothing.”

“WHAT?”

“Doctor said the result from Singapore Lab says I’m clean.”

“WHAT THE FUCK?!”

“Yeah.”

“There goes 5 years of my life!!!”

“I know, but I’m so relieved.”

“I’m so gonna fucking sue Eka Hospital’s ass.”

“I don’t care. All I care is I’m healthy, and I’m gonna keep living my life with you. That’s the only thing I want.”

We continued the conversation with hundred of OMG I’m so relieved  and I love you. I felt like I got even closer to Bandi. I know, I really think it’s impossible to be even closer to Bandi, but I felt like I was given a second chance.

I don’t know if any one of you can relate this. There are two ways of seeing it.

One, Eka Hospital ruined 3 months of our life, not to mention our sex life. I swear I gained wrinkles during this past 3 months. Our life was perfect before the incident and Eka Hospital ruined it for 3 months by giving us false alarm.

Two, We are the lucky ones. To be able to go through such whirlwind rollercoaster, and yet holding hands steady and strong, ready to kick ass. We felt like resetting the playstation button when our game starting to be sucky. We were given second chance.

In the end, of course we’re not suing. What is it for? Money? How much money can bring back the 3 months of our life?  How much money can erase the tearful night that Bandi was having? We can’t get our 3 months back. The craziest, most worried 3 months in our life.

We’re so lucky we can ask for second (if not third) opinion in Singapore. But what if this happens to someone else who doesn’t have the fortune to do it (it costed $1,000 altogether from end to end) or even the stupid lab result could ruin their marriage?

How could Eka Hospital screwed up Bandi’s blood test TWICE, I don’t know, only god knows. But what we know, for sure is…

We’re always blessed, we’re always protected. We never doubt that. It’s us, Universe’s favourite people.

As long as we’re positive (no pun intended), and we’re together, nothing can hurt us. And even though it hurts,  so what? it’s not about avoiding the pain, it’s about surviving it.

I still can’t believe such drama happened in our life. We didn’t tell anyone until today. But I’ve decided to share this story because:

1. We’re warning you to choose hospital wisely. You wouldn’t want to experience their over-priced incompetence.
2. If there is any doctor reading this, maybe there’s a scientific explanation behind the two different test results. I don’t speak medicine, so maybe incorrect process or method that caused this confusion? If so, what should the doctor do when facing this kind of situation? Obviously not passive-aggressively inducing ideas about dishonesty.

For now, I’m just happy and content with the fact that I can continue my plan, to live with Bandi til we’re 100 years old. :)

And don’t forget to say I love you to your loved ones. Why? Because why not? Life is short.

Cheers,

May (and Bandi), the lucky ones.

Coffeed Series: In Motion

I’ve been wanting to runaway since I knew how to read. Thanks to Enid Blyton’s adventurous stories, I dreamt of going away and creating trouble. Books were my best friends, library was my sanctuary. When you had dream, you started to create plan, when you’ve created the plan, you had goals to tick. I’m so goal oriented, driven and just don’t quit. I remember drenched, riding my motorbike in Jakarta and I thought, just a couple of $$ more til I’ve had enough saving to move to Singapore.
I love every adventures I’ve had, I’m used to moving around and not having a place called home. I questioned what home meant for so long until I knew home was not necessarily a place. It can be feeling or people. Even when I travel somewhere far, I can feel homie, even it’s just a stopover I can feel comfortable.

To sit on the train, looking out the window, passing by meadows or farms, the chugging sound of a moving train is so calming ironically. Taking on a bus ride, or driving on a road trip, fly on a plane somewhere, all of them are amazing feelings. No matter where you go, whether you go to a foreign land, or you go home onto your Mom’s arms. Sometimes when you’re lucky, your mind will wander and imagination comes by.
It turns out… I just love to be in motion. I love going somewhere, whether it’s a new place or the same familiar environment, I love the feeling of leaving things behind, I love the feeling of running away. I know this could be psycho-analysed by some shrink, judging me to have some shitty past or whatever, but you know what? There’s nothing wrong on admitting something weird that you love. And for so long, I thought it was weird, until… I shared this feeling with someone, Bandi.
How lucky I am to be able to share my life with someone who feels as weird as I do, who likes the same things, who makes me feel less lonely, less of an outcast?
I’m getting old and no matter how self-assured I am, I do wonder sometimes, should I slow down a little bit? Settle down? Have you ever wondered why it’s called “settle down” but not “settle up”? Because it’s basically a downgrade from an exciting motion! LOL.

I think it’s not about age per se, it’s just when you’re older, you’ve learned more things in life, you enjoy things differently.

Like the other day, Bandi and I went out on a Friday Night date. We had a couple of drinks, fun conversation and after dinner, we walked around Clarke Quay to check out the street acrobat. It was 10 pm and we both yawned, “shall we go home?” I would’ve thought it’s lame to go home early, but god I so badly wanted to go home early, take a shower and rest.

It’s the same thing with our travel. We no longer travel like energizer bunny who sleeps at 1 am and wake up at 7 am. We take things slower, we actually love having our breakfast slow sometimes. Life is so short, I don’t wanna rush it anymore. I wanna make sure every moments count.

The phrase “settle down” scares me. it seems like stopping forever. I don’t wanna stop, I love to be in motion. But if the high speed is nauseating, let’s be in a slower motion. But let’s not stop.

You can’t change yourself to be who you are not, that won’t be sustainable, that’s gonna break. But you can compromise, be more flexible.

For me, as long as we do not stop. :) What’s the weird thing you enjoy the most?

 

Cheers,

May, literally waiting for a plane in Airport.