2018: Year in Review

The summer of 2018 felt like the longest summer ever. I mean it was, since it was a whole 5 months because of the college transition. I planned to make the most of those 5 months because I know once college starts, I would only have Christmas for break. I wanted to explore before college eats up my time. Good thing, I had many things planned already. For one, my high school best friend and I planned a post-graduation trip to Bangkok, Thailand. We planned everything from the itinerary, budget, and lodging 6 months before. So, when the time came, we were more than ready. The funny thing about this trip was that we started off as a 6-person trip, but, as the date as nearing, only two of us were left. That didn’t bother us though because we were determined to make this trip as enjoyable as possible.

In the trip, we explored the streets of Bangkok how locals would, through tuktuk, their most famous public transportation, quite similar to a tricycle. I can’t count how many temples we visited in a span of 5 days. Each one with a small piece of Thailand in it. Many tourists from all over the world were there to appreciate these beautiful sites. Pictures don’t even do them justice. A highlight of the trip was when we visited an elephant sanctuary where they held many full grown elephants, some taken from people who abused them, which fortunately is now illegal under Thailand law. In the sanctuary, we fed the elephants and even bathe with them in the mud, where they like to sleep in when the weather is especially hot. Overall, the trip is one of the most memorable one’s I’ve ever had. I genuinely wish to go back soon.

Another short trip I had over the long summer was when my family went to Guam. Guam is a very small island. It reminds me of Siquijor because of its serene and calming atmosphere, not to mention that you can explore the whole island in one weekend. There aren’t much people in it. I liked it there, but my parents were the one’s that loved it because, according to them, it’s a place where they would want to retire. I see what they mean because, although the beaches are beautiful and should attract a big touristy crowd, there really aren’t much tourists in the island. It also felt just like the Philippines, considering that 1/3 of the population of the island is Filipino, another third are polynesian people, and the last third is a variety of many other races and cultures. It’s a very strange and also very familiar place. Definitely wouldn’t deny another trip back.

The family also went to Shanghai that summer. I’ve been to China before because of my educational summer trips for school before, but I’ve never visited as a tourist. Also, I’ve only ever visisted the more provincial sides of China, like Guangzhou and Xiamen, and Shanghai is one of the biggest cities in China, maybe second only to Beijing. So, I was excited to see what this was going to be like, and I was not disappointed. Shanghai is beautiful. The culture is just as rich as it is in the province. The food is great and they have so much variety. I am a very adventurous person, so you really can’t gross me out unless it’s like bugs and insects, e.g. Thailand. It was also pretty cold when we went there, so I was happy about that because I’d honestly rather freeze than be sweaty. Of course, we also went to Disney, which is always fun no matter how old.