222 Days of Asia – backpacking & culture shock in 13 countries

Cherry blossom trees in a king's palace in Korea

In 222 days I travelled to 13 different countries. It all started with my exchange semester in Seoul at the end of August 2016. Afterwards, I went from Beijing to Bali and ended with a stop-over in the United Arab Emirates. During my travels I learned a lot about backpacking, other cultures, living on a budget, and finding new friends.

Young woman sitting infront of a gate of a Korean palace

It all started in January 2016, when I applied to study abroad in South Korea and already half a year later, I was sitting on a plane to Seoul. I remember how I chose the country of the exchange programme: I wanted it to be one which would be completely different from every country I have ever been to. I basically wanted to get a culture shock – another language, language script, food, culture, architecture, and history. And when I arrived in Seoul it came with a lot of challenges but also with a lot of excitement. For example, at first, the food was way too spicy for me. I upset my stomach so much that I could only eat soft bread for a week. I also remember how my friend and I got kicked out (or actually we weren’t even allowed to enter) of a restaurant by an Ajumma (it is a Korean word to describe middle-aged women) because we couldn’t speak Korean fluently – but no worries I am pretty sure this was a unique experience. But still, it was love at first sight. I loved Korea from the first moment on. You can read more about my first impressions in my blog post University, Hangul & Samul Nori – My first week in Seoul.

The fear of travelling alone

But Korea was only the first part of my travels to Asia. Back in Berlin, I met a German couple at a party, Anni and Alex who were in Seoul themselves. They told me about their semester abroad and how they travelled Asia afterwards. The winter semester in Korea ends in mid of December, the summer semester in Germany starts in mid of April – this makes almost four months of free time in between. I was really hooked from this chance but also a bit worried. I felt a bit jealous that they had each other to explore all these adventures together. Would I really be brave enough to travel for four months on my own? – far from home, far from anyone I know, and without the language skills? Also travelling alone as a woman was part of my (self-)doubts. This was for sure a step outside of my comfort zone. But it didn’t take long until I realised that this was my chance to see a bit more of the world and that the excitement about this possibility was way bigger than any fear I ever felt.

Travelling is not a race

On New Year’s Eve 2016, I started the second part of my journey. I took a flight to Beijing, from there I continued to Hong Kong, did a day trip to Macau and flew to Vietnam. In the beginning, I felt I had to see as much as possible. I had only two weeks in Vietnam. My days were packed with activities; I only stayed for one or two nights in each place and travelled on night buses to save the days (and the money). After Vietnam I realised, this is not how backpacking works and how you travel long-term. Being all day outside and exploring is great for a two weeks vacation but for another three months, this would be way too exhausting. This was the time I decided to slow down. This beginner’s mistake was also the main reason why I travelled to so many countries in such a short period of time. It was a combination of naivety, a lack of knowledge, and also the easiest reason: I just couldn’t decide which countries I should head to first. In the end, I had to learn on the road to pick a few destinations and rather take more time to explore them than to miss half of it in the rush.

On a budget – 10 $ a day

Besides that fast travelling is exhausting, it is also more expensive. First of all, you have a smaller time frame to find a suiting mode of transport and secondly, obviously, you spend more money on entrance fees if you want to squeeze everything into one day.  
I had a limited budget of 10 $ a day, including accommodation and food. It was (and is) definitely possible to travel on a budget through South East Asia. I always chose the cheapest dormitory rooms in hostels or did Couchsurfing, I ate a lot of street food, travelled by public transport, and asked the hostel staff for insider tips. But I also allowed myself to have one more expensive activity or trip in every country. I did kayaking between the 4,000 islands of Laos, went snorkelling and visited a Full Moon party in Thailand, went to the Forbidden City in Beijing, as well as the famous Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia, and the Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. My travels ended after three months at Bali. From there I went back to Seoul and with a short stop-over in the United Arab Emirates, back to Berlin.   

During my semester abroad in Seoul, I travelled for four days to Tokyo, and also visited different places in South Korea as the borderline to North Korea, the island Jeju, the second biggest city Busan and an island in a river – Nami Island. On New Year’s Eve, I took a flight to Beijing and from there I started my travels through South East Asia – to Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and on my way back from Korea to the United Arab Emirates.                  

Alone but never lonely

In the beginning, one of my fears was that I would be alone and maybe even lonely on my travels. But anyone who already backpacked and stayed in dormitories knows you are never alone, especially if you do not want to. The backpacker community is huge. In every hostel, you meet new inspiring people from all over the world. I spent hours listing to travel stories, visited sights together, I even took a motorcycle ride with other backpackers, went to parties together, and learned a lot about different cultures. But not only the backpackers were open, but also all the local people I met during the time. I talked to the staff from my hostels and homestays, used hangouts to get in contact with locals who were interested in meeting, and Couchsurfing to get another chance to meet new people and learn more about other cultures. One of my favourite memories is, when I stayed with Ratha and his family in Siem Reap (read more here: Couchsurfing in Cambodia) or with Stella in Macau – she is like the sweetest even if she forced me to try my first chicken feet (I am not a fan, so sorry). Also how I met Lan in Hoi An, she worked in the homestay I slept for two nights. She was super lovely. One day, when I was still figuring out what to do, she brought me some of the food she had cooked for the staff. She had made rice with meat and vegetables. Especially the sauce was really tasty.
It was very inspiring to meet all these people during my travels, listen to their stories, their lives, their cultures, and their goals in life. Some of them were already since a few years on the move. Travelling is the opposite of being lonely; you will rather have a few more friends after your trip. 

For now, this is all I want to tell you about Asia. Everything else will come later – piece by piece. So hang on and read about all my crazy, funny and adventurous stories from Asia.

First written on Monday, May 22th, 2017, you have read the blog post 222 Days of Asia – backpacking & culture shock in 13 countries on My Travel Journal-Blog.

Curfew. Woman’s University. Visa. And lots of preparation.

In preparation for my exchange semester in Seoul …

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Why South Korea?

“Of all things, why South Korea?” This was a question I had to answer really often when I told someone I will make an exchange semester in Seoul. I never was in Asia before (once I crossed the Asian border of Istanbul – however, I’m not sure if this will count). But I was always really interested in the culture and people of Asia. I believe one of the main reasons are the cultural differences in the opposite of Western Europe. My first contact with Korea was through a friend a few years ago. She is a big fan of Japan and once she told me she had watched a really great TV series from South Korea and – for sure – I would love it. So I followed her advice and watched my first K-Drama (this is the abbreviation for series in the Korean language). The title of the series was “Playful Kiss” (or also “Mischievous Kiss”/ “Naughty Kiss”/ “장난스런 키스“) – a clumsy girl falls in love with a handsome and clever but also sometimes really rude boy. K-Dramas are really different from American, British or German series – I normally watch productions of these three countries.

The Korean culture is different, they have a variety of Dos and Dont’s which were really strange for me (… and they censor cigarettes on TV – because nobody will understand what a person holds in their hand when smoke is coming out of their mouth). Honour is an important value of the Korean culture and of course, the tribute and respect for older people and traditions. Korea has a high hierarchically system, which is especially striking in their language – Korean has five different polite forms. I also was really surprised that living together seems a really big no go for lovers in South Korea. However, I was really fascinated by all that – for me – crazy (but in a good way) new world in Asia. Later, I watched three, four other K-Dramas and heard some Korean Songs (it is called K-Pop).

The official YouTube channel of the TV series “Playful Kiss” – The producers created seven mini episodes for YouTube after the large success of the series.

Hangul and Coffee shops which sound like “copy shops”

However, when I decided to make my Master Studies in Berlin another aim was to make an exchange semester abroad because this was something I missed during my Bachelor Studies. You have three choices for the stay of an exchange, I thought I had to pick three countries (for real you have to choose three universities) – so I prepared myself for a counselling interview. I chose Vietnam, Thailand, and South Korea. The consultant was happy I named Korea and totally ignored the other two countries. She encouraged me to go to South Korea and told me that every student, who was in Korea, was highly satisfied with their choice. That was the decisive reason why I picked South Korea and applied to three universities in Seoul. In 2010 – when I was highly addicted to Korea and watched the K-Dramas for the first time  – I would have given everything to get the opportunity to go to Seoul. So six years later I wanted to take this chance. Actually, the only reason I didn’t choose South Korea on the first side was because of Hangul (this is the Korean alphabet). I was afraid I wouldn’t understand a word and couldn’t even buy Ramen (Ramen is a noodle soup and a famous Asian dish) in a supermarket because of the missing vocabularies. To be honest, I still don’t speak Korean. I can only say some useful words as “saranghae” (I love you) or “keopi syob” (coffee shop but sounds like “copy shop”).

Much preparation stuff

After I wrote motivation letters, collected thousands of important papers and provided all kinds of evidence, I finally got my accommodation letter. I decided to go to the EWHA Womans University in Seoul because it has the largest and the best offering for my field of study – Media Studies. At this point started my preparation time: I needed a visa, a place to stay, a flight, inoculations, health insurance, apply for a scholarship and other financial facilitation, I had to freeze the contract of my cell phone, needed a backpack… thousands of stuff.

The visa is relatively easy to get for Germans because the countries have a good relationship with each other (and it’s free). The inoculations are really expensive and there are a lot of recommendations about immunisation protection. If you don’t want to pay more money for inoculations than for the flight, it is impossible to get inject against everything. The flight is one other problem. My plans are to travel a few months after my exchange semester that’s why I don’t know yet when I will come back to Germany. However, it is cheaper to book a return flight right away. That’s why I would recommend searching for a flight with nice rebooking options. One other problem will be the luggage. I have to left some stuff in Korea while I’m travelling around. I also have just 23 kilogrammes of free luggage from Germany to South Korea. A friend gave me a piece of really nice advice. She loves backpacking journeys so she is kind of an expert. She always takes some old or washed out clothes to her travels or just outfits she doesn’t like anymore, so she can throw them away and has more space for clothes, souvenirs or just food. I believe it is a bit of really useful advice.

Immaturity in Seoul

Flats and rooms have – at least compared to Germany – really high rents. Some cheaper flats have a higher deposit of up to 5000 Euros respectively Dollars. This is one reason I really wanted to rent a room in a dormitory (and there you still can pay over 500 Euros/ Dollars). Unfortunately, curfews are a common thing in the dormitories of Seoul. I knew that South Korea is more strict with the separation of sexes. However, the curfew shocked me a little bit. I read that not all universities have stringent conditions. However, one article (here) from October 2003 from the English newspaper of the EWHA Womans university – the university where I will study – discourage me a little. But perhaps something changed meanwhile because the article is 13 years old by now. The curfew is just in some of the dormitories in the EHWA, however, in my opinion, the rules are very strict. The curfew is from midnight until five o’clock in the morning (12pm-5am). The article talks about black marks: Three for being tardy, five for staying out without permission – the students who collect ten marks have to leave the dormitory. If one wants to stay out, they need to sign up hours earlier. The process is even more complicated at the weekend. Then students need the permission of their parents.

I read that some reasons for the curfew are the responsibility to take care of the students. The curfew would help the students to go to bed early and stay healthy. And also to maintain their regular daily life.  Actually, to me, this sounds really unbelievable. Don’t get me wrong, however, in my opinion, at an age of 20 or older you should be able to organise your daily routine on your own. But perhaps some don’t want this and it is one of the differences between the cultures. I also read that some people like the rules and feel more organised and save with them. So it perhaps depends on the person which dormitory is the best for themselves.

By the way, the International House of EWHA hasn’t a curfew and I’m so glad I got a place there. Because in my opinion, dormitories are in general a perfect decision to live for an exchange semester. The dormitories are near the university on the campus, you meet really fast other students, you already got the most important furniture, the period and costs are complementary. Therefore, we will see how it will work for me. I am very pleased to get the chance to study in Seoul. For sure I will tell more about South Korea from time to time because the adventure has just begun.