#south east asia

Street vendors of Hanoi. Credit to Nguyen Ngoc Tu.

Hanoi. Credit to phomiendu (Instagram).

Singapore 12 / February 2020

Hybrid Image incorporating Andrei Molodkin’s ‘Study for a Dollar Sign’ 3 / Singapore February 2020

Hybrid Image incorporating Andrei Molodkin’s ‘Study for a Dollar Sign’ 2 / Singapore February 2020

Ah yes. The Primogems…They sold their soul for that commission. Now who does that sound like I wonder? Lololol. The things we do for our favorite characters. Albedo’s art is called “The Traveler’s Happiness” after that one voice dialogue where Paimon said she’ll make a story called “Paimon’s Happiness” cause I thought that was adorable. I even tried to emulate, Albedo’s inky artstyle! Anywho, enjoy! XD -Bubbly #Spacebubblearts #UniPinxGIMangaStory

One word. Relaxing.

This time I spent in Thailand was nothing short but amazing. This was my second time going and I absolutely loved it even more. I had a ton of more time in the country so I spent a lot of it just roaming around and just relaxing and soaking the sun.

The first 5ish days were hectic. Flew into Bangkok and from there flew to Koh Tao where we took our scuba diving courses. Quite a challenging yet rewarding experience for I am not a great swimmer nor am I comfortable with the deep water so I feel like with this experience, I really pushed myself beyond the boundaries of what I was capable of doing and it has opened my eyes to yet more a world out there of something different. And what made it fun was that we met up with my friend’s friend whose from the states but is currently traveling around the world and doing a lot of freelancing work. But not too long after, she found a love for Koh Tao and found a job as a Yoga Instructor. You go girl! So happy for her. Wishing her all but the very best.

From Koh Tao, we took a ferry to Koh Samui. And in Samui, it rained the entire time. Like the entire time. It wasn’t hard rain, but moreso little drops. The island is much bigger than Koh Tao, a bit more laid back. There’s not too much to do for things are quite spread out, but it was still nice. When I travel, I enjoy walking around and just seeing the spots hoping I run into a hidden gem. I like to have places that I want to go but I also don’t mind exploring on my own for a lot of expected things can come up and turn out fun.

Flew north to Chiang Mai. And before we get to Chiang Mai, can we talk about the Koh Samui Airport!!! Because its on an island, I guess half of the airport is inside but mostly its outside. Its looks almost like an indoor mall, but its outside. There’s a ton of storefront shops you can visit and they also have these platforms you can sit under for shade (well needed for it was raining pretty hard) and they knew I didn’t eat. The airport provides free snacks, yes FREE snacks. I was soo happy. You don’t understand how hungry I was. They had a few thai snacks that I wasn’t familiar with, but they had this ham sandwich, some juice, and water. I was in heaven.

I went solo in Chiang Mai, but it was awesome for I was on my own, I can do what I want, when I want and no one to hold me back. The city itself was super neat. Tons and tons of temples, lots of bomb ass food (per usual) and tons of great things to offer. There, I got to take care of elephants which was a very cool expereince. Elephants are pretty smart and they eat a lot! The younger kins were so playful esp when it came to bathing in the water. It was so cute. They all had some interesting personalities. I think it would be cool to volunteer for a few weeks hanging with elephants. Definitely gonna look into that in the future. I also ran into these two women from Las Vegas from this cheap city tour I went on. They were so sweet and down to earth. I really enjoyed them so much that I hung with them on the next day. We went to a night market and tried local Thai wine. It tasted pretty good. Students from the local university make the wine (amazing) and I believe each glass was like 50 baht (a dollar y’all). I was in heaven.

We flew to Singapore in which also rained the entire time we were there. We still had a nice time. WE had a very lavish dinner at a buffet in a hotel in the Sentosa area. Then went out to a club that we thought that it was Hip-Hop but just another shitty EDM club. Missed the countdown for i was too busy in the bathroom but you know, we still had a good time. Even though it was raining, it was crowded. There were tons of people out and my feet were killing me (damn you heels). Taking a taxi was impossible so we took a bus back to our hotel. It was crazy.

The following day, we went out to downtown area to the Marina by the bay where they have that amazing green lavish garden. Then, we went shopping and my friend was going ham in the beauty section for the items sold in Singapore are much cheaper than back home. And you know what’s crazy, from there we walked from downtown to our Airbnb in Geyland. 45ish minute walk (which I don’t mind). It was dark, yet nice and quiet and the weather was amazing.

Flew back to Bangkok where we ended our trip by meeting my friends that I met in China from my A+1班 class at Fudan. We had such an amazing time. Bittersweet moment and my friend really liked them. I was so scared that she wasn’t gonna click with them or say something crazy but man it was a good time! We had these amazing cakes, reminisced about our times in China, we even talked about bitcoin and the future of currency and investing along with lots of good laughs.

For the past 2ish weeks, I traveled around Thailand and Singapore during my winter break which in all was super relaxing and just nice to get away and soak in 80 degree weather. A full writeup is coming up in the next few days :) In the meantime, check out my instagram for more up to date pics. 

I just accidentally deleted a fantastic anon question about researching Southeast Asian witchcraft! My apologies for that, anon. Here is my answer:

While I won’t presume to consider myself an expert on any of these topics, I assume your question was more about the presence of witchcraft, occult, and spiritual practices in Southeast Asian cultures. And there is a lot!

There are shamanic religions and practices . Taoism has the term “fulu” which I believe refers to spoken and written magic practices. Face reading is also a form of Southeast Asian divination that attributes various predictions to a person’s life based on facial features. (Who need palms when you can read noses? Haha.) There is also, of course, the Chinese Zodiac. There’s a Korean shamanic religion called Musok. Japan has its own practices related to divination, magic, and spirits as well. Thailand also has its own understandings of witchcraft and witches.

If you’re interested in Southeast Asian occultism and witchcraft, I would definitely recommend looking at specific countries and cultures because, like anywhere else in the world, perspectives and practices vary based on location! The only difficulty in learning about these religions and practices is that many documents have been destroyed, mistranslated, or otherwise diluted by western scholars. The term “witchcraft” also isn’t universal, so in research, you might want to consider different keywords to find more information. You might find yourself doing a lot of digging, but there’s a lot out there to learn about.

In Spean Kaek Village, nestled beside the outter Angkor temples lives a lovely school, Samart School.

The Tonlé sap is a lake and river system of major importance to Cambodia and is the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia.  This ecological hot spot has been designated a UNESCO biosphere, and serves as the lifeblood of Cambodia.

Our journey commenced at the crack of dawn. Fishermen and their families were laying out their lines. I bet the sight of ten Westerners, plopped like bumps on a log, upon the deck of a half-submerged submarine-like boat was equally amusing. We were greeted by friendly waves as we passed the humble communities.