16 - Six Month Superlatives

and the winner goes to...

Hello! I know I still have a few country recaps to pump out before we catch up to the present, but today marks six full months since my adventure began, so I thought I’d dedicate a post to the occasion.

Now, a lot can change in just half a year. A few significant ones from when I first set off on my trip ➡️ now:

• I had a perm ➡️ I no longer have wavy hair.

• Joe Biden was the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination ➡️ It’s your turn, Kamala.

• Klay Thompson, Warrior legend ➡️ Sorry Bay Area, he’s ours now.

I’ll let you guess which one of the three changes affected my emotional state the most. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to share a few superlatives now that the progress bar on this side quest of mine has hit 50%.

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Best Overall Moment

Getting to see my family for just a few hours on my way from California to Africa (quick layover in Dallas) and eating a home-cooked meal!

Most Unique Experience

I have to go with the safaris in East Africa. It’s like living out The Lion King in real time. Also, because of the cost and distance, this is likely the closest to a “once in a lifetime” type activity that I think I’ll have.

Best Meal

This one is hard, but I’ll go with the fried mussel omelette from Hoi Tod Singha Buri, a Michelin guide-rated street vendor in Ayutthaya, Thailand. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, doused in a sublime chili sauce. Total cost ~$2 USD.

Honorable mention: the roast meat plate with rice at Roast Paradise in Singapore’s Old Airport Food Center. Elite combination of flavor, portion size, and cost (~$5 USD).

Biggest Surprise

The incredible beauty of the English Channel/southern coast of England in the summer. This was not on my radar at all until my friends suggested it as a day trip option (my apologies to all Londoners if I was supposed to gatekeep this).

Biggest Regret

Not making it to Vietnam. The original plan was to head to the central and south regions (Da Nang, Hoi An, Ho Chi Minh) after a brief stop in Manila, but I made a last minute decision to extend my time in the Philippines instead to scuba dive. I don’t regret the diving at all. In fact, it was the best I’ve experienced in my short underwater career, but I wish I got to explore Vietnam. Next time 😭

Best Wildlife Encounter

One of my friends told me that I’ve been on a wildlife/Nat Geo kick recently, and I can’t argue with that. While the safaris were incredible, I’ll give a very slight edge to diving with the thresher sharks in the Philippines. They head to shallower waters (~10-15m) early in the morning so that cleaner fish can eat parasites off their skin. If you stay low, they eventually start swimming closer and closer. Such a treat to see them in their natural habitat!

Scariest Moment

Tightly gripping the seat while weaving in and out of traffic in Nairobi and Bangkok on motorcycle taxis (sorry mom, I only did this…5-6 times). Now, I’m sure I was in much less physical danger than it felt like - these drivers have been on bikes since they were young, after all - but I don’t have much experience on a bike, so I was a bit on edge.

Honorable mention: getting lost on a hike in Chefchaouen. I knew I had to turn back when the path ended, and I had started to scale the mountain. Then, I got worried that I wouldn’t be able to find the trail before it got dark. However, this did lead to the next superlative…

Most Memorable Interaction with a Local

I wrote about this in the Morocco post, but I will never forget meeting a goat herder on the hike back to Chefchaouen, helping her pick blackberries from a tree, and sharing the berries with her while sitting in silence (I didn’t know any Arabic, and she didn’t speak any English).

Longest Travel Day

San Jose - Dallas - Doha - Tanzania. 33 total hours.

Best Historical Site

The incredibly well-preserved ruins of Ephesus, Turkey. It felt a bit surreal to be in the same place where the apostle Paul once preached (I had recently read Acts 19 before visiting Ephesus). The Bible came to life in a way I hadn’t really felt before.

the famous Library of Celcus

Largest Wealth Disparity

I would say it’s a tie between Zanzibar and the Philippines. In Zanzibar, there are tourists staying in beach resorts that cost $200+ USD per night, and then there are folks like the security guards at my guesthouse that make $75 per month.

In Manila, I visited a mobile school that operated out of a truck. The students were kids who lived in the streets. Some had parents, others were orphans. When it rained, class would be postponed as everyone headed to the bridge to stay dry. Juxtapose that scene against the area that I stayed in - BGC, a big financial hub filled with skyscrapers and 4-5 star hotels.

Both were stark reminders of how wide the wealth gap can be in developing countries, and for me, a sign that I need to support those with less opportunities than I grew up with.

Moment When I Felt Most Alive

Riding a scooter around Siquijor Island in the Philippines. There’s something freeing about hopping from beach to beach and waterfall to waterfall, with the sun on your face and wind at your back, and testing how fast I dared to drive (I topped out at 50 km/h 😅).

Moment When I Felt Most Alone

I can think of three, and each had a slightly different flavor.

1. Landing in Sao Miguel, the Azores - my first stop all the way back in late April. As I stepped off the airplane on a dark, cloudy evening, a light drizzle started. It dawned on me that I was now truly alone. But this was exciting at the same time because I had complete agency over how the next year played out.

2. In Thailand, my thoughts after a gorgeous sunset occasionally shifted from “this is beautiful” to “this is beautiful, and I wish I could share the view with someone.”

3. I’ve always been very close with my family, so after my parents and I parted ways in Istanbul, homesickness crept into every creak and crevice of my soul. I seriously considered booking a flight back to Texas that day, and I don’t think I felt better until I got to Thailand two weeks later.

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A few other thoughts

• Several people I’ve met ask me how old I am. I’ll ask them to guess, and the range has landed between 19 to 28. Big win for Asian genes 🙌🏼 🙌🏼

• Food in Asia is unparalleled (in both taste and cost), and this is coming from someone who loves all sorts of cuisines. I turned each of my respective one week stops in Bangkok and Singapore into almost exclusively food tours. Super excited for Hong Kong and Taiwan later this year…

• While I haven’t figured out my next career move yet, my desire to live in Asia for at least part of the year grows with each day that I spend here. I find it exciting that I have the privilege and opportunity to structure my career to align with these personal desires.

• I’m addicted to scuba diving and likely forever will be. I feel at peace underwater. Everything slows down, I enter a flow state, and all I have to do is breathe. The ocean calls to me like it did to Moana.

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Reader, thanks for all the support these past six months! I’m very much looking forward to the next (final?) six, especially as I’ll get to spend an extended amount of time in my second home, Taiwan.

And if you’re wondering where I currently am, that would be in the beautiful country of Nepal! Specifically, I’m in the Himalayas wrapping up the Annapurna Base Camp trek. Here’s the view from this morning:

If there’s a superlative/category you’re interested in hearing about that I didn’t list above, feel free to drop a comment, and I’ll respond there.