Travel the world

A tiny nation on the North coast of the island of Borneo in Southeast Asia, with just over 430,000 total population. I spent my first 20 years of life here, also where my family and friends are and will always be home to me.

My parents have a strong origin to this country (making up a 3/4 of me actually). The first ink in my passport, and I frequently visited Malaysia for conservation work, meeting friends and transiting.

I first came here in 2010 for a student exchange program. 7 years later I came back doing various conservation work and instructing SCUBA on a liveaboard. This country is almost like a second home to me.

In 2014 I moved here to further my study and had the most personal growth. I had a chance to travel more as London is a hub that flies to pretty much everywhere. Eventually, this is when I kicked off my solo-traveling adventures.

It was supposed to be Morocco, but I got deported so I went to Malaga instead. I was nervous to be on my own at first but as I roamed around the city, it was beautiful, peaceful, made some new friends and knew that I would do it all over again. I also went to Lanzarote, Canary Islands.

I went scuba diving here, they've got loads of huge nudibranch. Also, the airport is one of the most dangerous in the world due to the high karst mountain formation surrounding it.

I have had a great experience here and my favourite bits is the Eiffel Tower and Louvre Museum (Mona Lisa what's up?). Night life is one of the littest me and my best friends had by the way. Other than Paris, we also went to Bordeaux.

The energy on this place is beautiful, I was here back in 2014 I wonder why I have not gotten back sooner? I dived in their beautiful ocean and saw my first manta rays and lots of huge sea turtles. Climbed Mt. Batur and the sight is wow.

For a month I wandered through 10 local islands with my tiny backpack. I could not have done this without the friendships built around Couchsurfing with my Maldivian friends. Undoubtedly, this is the most beautiful place on earth, though its fragility is challenged by climate change, and it concerns me.

You may want to reconsider coming here as a solo female traveler. I did not felt as safe during my visit here, but I made some friends and got to see a few places which are nice.

I spent some time in places where development has not completely changed the scene such as in Dakak and Tacloban (Sogod Bay). And nope, I did not tried their infamous Balot but I do think that they are the winner for best diving sites!

From the South, Ho Chi Minh City to the North, Hanoi and Halong Bay overnight journey on the train offered a scenic views of the countryside. Vietnam War Museum was both memorable and depressing.

Landed at the southern city, Phnom Penh to visit the gruesome Genocide Museum and Killing Fields, then made my way north by bus to Siem Reap to explore the massive temples archaeological site.

My sweet friend Suko hosted me and took me to have a taste of the awesome food, and see the landmarks around the city. I also went to the Tiger Balm Garden (impressive!), Botanical Garden. Oh! and Singapore has the best airport though.  

Dave took me on a roadtrip to Poland for his BJJ competition in Lubon and we got to visit the nearby city, Poznan. There are a big malls (we went to Poznania, it is a very pretty, artsy and modern mall) and factory outlets here. 

Vienna has held that title for 9th consecutive year. I love the city alot and it is beautiful during Christmas time. We went to Simmering (part of the Austrian Alps) where I experienced my first actual snow and snowboarding.

I've had multiple trips here and visited cities such as Berlin, Dresden, Potsdam, Wernigerode, Weimar, Erfurt, and Dave lives in Magdeburg. He cultured me on the history, football, food, germans and the language.

The best 5 weeks of my life, learning about environmental issues and the approaches taken by Americans. We got to visit the states of Hawai'i, California (Yosemite National Park, San Francisco and Oakland) and Washington D.C. I wrote 10 articles about this trip and special thanks to the U.S. Department of States for this opportunity.

Prague is known as the City of a Thousand Spires and is proud of their vast selection of beers (that's why I noticed there are more male tourists here relatively). An hour train ride to Kutna Hora is an incredible Bone Chapel (Sedlec Ossuary). There was a huge chandelier and ceiling decorated using nothing but only bones.