What can be more exciting than traveling with friends to enjoy beautiful sceneries and yummy foods? I traveled to Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan together with my friends in the reading weeks, during my exchange program at the University of Hong Kong.

Singapore

“It is a city full of vitality. You can rarely see old people here.” — Shawn Sun

“Ah….Ah….I don’t want to leave here.” — Angela Zhou

Singapore, taken on the roof of Marina Bay Sands

Known as the Garden City, Singapore is very clean and quiet. Majority of the resident here are ethnic Chinese, so you can still live smoothly even if you cannot speak any English. However, we did not realize it until an anecdote happened on Shawn when she was asking a subway conductor, “Is the money in my card refundable?” The conductor glance at her face and said the following words fluently, “可以说中文吗？” (Can you speak Chinese?)

Song Bo, George, Wendi, Shawn and Angela, at Sentosa, Singapore

All in all, Singapore is modern and dynamic. And I also do not want to leave here, especially leaving from Singapore to Malaysia.

Malaysia

Kuala Lumpur

Crossing the Strait of Johor from Singapore, we entered the Peninsular Malaysia.

By the way, the other gentleman in our group went back to Hong Kong for his safety consideration. Therefore I shouldered the responsibility of protecting three ladies.

Frankly, we had heard some reports criticizing the poor public security in Malaysia before our journey. The gentleman’s sudden leaving fuelled our fear to the unknown trip. To be honest, we collected all our valuables and documents and hid them in my schoolbag. I hugged my bag tightly on the first day, in case some accident happened and we had to beg for money by the road.

As opposed to the negative reports, Malaysia is peaceful and “harmonious” in my eyes. We kept alert at first, but gradually calmed down after getting in touch with the hospitable locals. Sometimes you cannot judge a thing only by hearing from others. Luckily, we are still alive. And I am able to tell you the story in front of my laptop now.

Taiwan

Night Market at Takao

Comparing to Hong Kong, Taiwan is much more close to me. They speak mandarin and drive on the right. When I plugged my laptop bought in China into the outlet in Taiwan smoothly, I could sense an atmosphere of reunification.

Things to DO in KENTING

1. SUN     2.SURF    3. SAND    4. REPEAT

— A poster in Kenting

It is Kenting, the southernmost town of Taiwan that makes me want to come back to Taiwan again. “Where are you from?”, “Mainland.”, “Do you familiar with scenery spots around?”, “Not much.”, “May I introduce them to you?” This is a conversation happened between a shopkeeper and I. He is not a professional guide while he welcomed us warmly, planed our trip and gave us helpful suggestions.

I have to mention that driving a motorbike in Kenting is so cool. The beauties by the road keep surprising you that you park your motorbike again and again, take photos and enjoy them.

The index photo

The index photo of this page is taken at Kenting, Taiwan. For more photos taken by me, please click here.