Where To Next?

Why Japan?

Posted on December 27, 2023 by sadielynwelhoff

I get asked “why Japan” frequently. I could say I came to Japan for the beautiful scenery, the bullet trains, the neon lights, the food, the hot springs, the Totoro merchandise, the summer festivals, or the rice fields. Any of those answers would make sense.

I was an exchange student in high school when I first came to Japan. I had dreamed of traveling abroad for my entire childhood and my family supported me participating in an exchange program. I had a wonderful host family that I still keep in touch with. I deciphered the confusing subway maps on my own and and tried to pick up tofu with my beginner chopstick skills. Going to the supermarket or a movie theater didn’t feel routine. There was always something unfamiliar to keep me on my toes.

I had hoped I could live abroad one day and Japan gave me proof that I could not just survive in a different country, but thrive. If I didn’t have such an enjoyable time in Japan, I might have given up on dreaming of an expat life. Once I moved overseas after finishing university, I always remembered my time in Japan as the beginning leap into my current life.

I didn’t think I could be any more grateful for international travel but then the pandemic hit. Not being able to explore new places was the least of my worries during a global health crisis, but I still missed travel. Once jobs were opening up again around the world, I decided to work in Japan. Moving to a country during a pandemic was logistically challenging. Figuring out daily life in a country where you don’t speak the language is mentally challenging. Taking steps to be more independent and picking up language skills in a new country is incredibly rewarding.

Hearing “why Japan” takes me back to my high school self getting off the plane and walking through Narita airport, not quite believing a childhood dream was coming true. Japan reminds me of how excited I was for my future and to be grateful for the chance to see the world.

Posted in Japan Life | Tagged Japan travel | Leave a comment

Snapshots of Taiwan

Posted on December 21, 2020 by sadielynwelhoff

I realized I was terrible at taking pictures while I was in Taiwan. It’s just not my instinct to pull out my phone and take a picture even though Taiwan has plenty of beautiful nature, food, and architecture to keep a photographer happy. I just wanted to share some of my favorite photos.

I caught a glimpse of the Taipei 101 building

sometimes walking down a quiet alleyway rewards you with a beautiful picture

I don’t mind crowds if the views are pleasant

Kaohsiung is a sprawling city but you can find tranquil spots

the old town of Lukang has narrow streets and plenty of lanterns

Taiwan has skyscrapers, traffic, and every modern convenience but you can still stumble upon a temple

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

I moved to Taiwan!

Posted on April 22, 2019 by sadielynwelhoff

Because I never seem to stay in one country for long, I am now in Taiwan!

I’m studying Chinese in the southern city of Tainan. It feels weird to be a student again after teaching for so long but I’m enjoying myself!

I’ve been busy studying but I’ve done a little exploring around Tainan. The best thing about my school is all the field trips and activities they arrange for the students.

Here are some pictures of Anping, the historic downtown of Tainan. Stay tuned for more adventures!

Posted in Taiwan travel | Leave a comment

a weekend in Singapore

Posted on March 29, 2019 by sadielynwelhoff

I am posting this embarrassingly late! I went to Singapore for a weekend LAST YEAR! It was a quick trip so I’m not pretending that I got an in-depth look at the country but I did get a glimpse of all the different cultures that make up Singapore.

Singapore is made up of various cultures from all over Asia who brought their food and traditions to the island state. If you walk down a street, you can see signs in Malay, Chinese, Tamil, English and countless other languages. The city is modern and has great public transportation but there is still plenty of greenery.

A good number of people in Singapore are bilingual. It surprised me to have everyone speak English to me as their first language after never having experienced that while I’ve lived in Asia.

Since Singapore is so close to the equator, it is pretty much always hot. I noticed everyone hides in the shade before they walk into the crosswalk. It makes sense, the city is usually boiling. Do Singaporeans have any idea what it’s like to be cold? I mean Antarctica in your bones cold, not the fake manufactured cold they get from air conditioning.

Everything does come with a price. The impeccably clean and orderly city is very expensive. A small bottle of water from 7/11 is 2 Singapore dollars. In Thailand, it would be 20 cents.

Fines for littering, eating food on the metro, and prohibited smoking are steep. The government is also extremely authoritarian from my perspective. If you would like more details, I would suggest you research the politics of Singapore because I won’t be able to explain it well in a blog.

This is a short summary of what I did every day.

Day 1: I walked around Chinatown and Little India. I didn’t do much because I didn’t get to the hostel until 2 am and the heat was making me even more tired. I did enjoy drinking a whole coconut.

this was right by the hostel

a colorful mural in little India

Day 2: The highlight of the day was going to the gardens by the bay. The pictures I took don’t do the gardens justice. They are truly impressive. I went to Arab street and had some amazing ramen and I peaked in on the mosque. I fought through the crowds at Bugis outdoor shopping street to browse souvenirs, knick-knacks, and cheap clothes I could get for a lot less in Bangkok.

gardens by the bay

me and all the other tourists taking photos of the garden

huge plant tower

outdoor garden area

arab street mosque at night

Day 3: I walked around Pagoda street and went to the Chinatown hawker center. How can food that’s so cheap taste so good?! Laksa is the kind of spicy food I love because I can still taste all the other flavors involved. Some spicy food is so strong, I can only taste pain.

delicious laksa and watermelon juice

the hawker center where I had the amazing laksa

a Hindu temple

Chinatown

I feel like this picture sums up Singapore better than I can. There is a Hindu temple, traditional Singapore housing, and a huge skyscraper all in view on a pristine street. If you want to imagine Singapore, just think of this picture

a Singapore street

Posted in Singapore travel | Leave a comment

A short holiday in Guangxi

Posted on July 29, 2018 by sadielynwelhoff

China is an enormous country with countless, beautiful sights to visit, but I’ve wanted to see the karst mountains in Guangxi for many years. It was cloudy and rainy for the majority of the time I was there but I think that just added to the mystical feel of the area.

I flew into Nanning and took a train to Guilin the next day. I didn’t see much in Nanning as I was just there to stay in a hotel for one evening. I did eat at McDonalds though which I’m sure doesn’t count as the most authentic Nanning experience.

The city of Guilin itself is beautiful with its surrounding mountains, rivers, lakes, and temples. While Guilin is home to over 4 million people and a popular tourist sight, I felt pretty relaxed while walking and taking in all the scenery.

Sun and Moon pagoda

I took a tour boat down the Li River from Guilin to Yangshuo county. We floated down the river for a few hours, walked around Yangshuo, and took a bus back to Guilin. There were several different tour boats and I can’t imagine how many tourists would be in Yangshuo if the weather was better.

floating down the Li River

Yangshuo

There were lots of tourists in Yangshuo even though the weather was gloomy

Yangshuo is a lot smaller than Guilin but there are some familiar chain restaurants, cute cafes, souvenir shops, clothing stores, and everything else you could need to be entertained for the day. Since the town caters to tourists, I might not recommend it to someone who hates crowds and tour buses. However, I am easily impressed by mountains and I’m generally not bothered by how “popular” a place is.

and why wouldn’t you want this view?

I did meet several incredibly kind people on this trip. That’s a common occurrence when I travel but it seemed like I got extra lucky this vacation. The tour guide on the Li River spoke Mandarin and English but I was the only person in the group that didn’t speak Mandarin. She would come over after every speech she gave and said it all again in English. I felt bad!

I also could not find my hotel in Nanning. I got to the right street but could not see the right sign. After wandering around looking like a lost and sad tourist, a security guard at an apartment complex and a woman who lived in the building tried to help me. She called her son who was living in America and had him talk to me in English to ask what I was looking for. Once we knew what I was looking for, they led me to the hotel.

Some older passengers on the train shared their snacks with me. The man sitting next to me on the train translated the conversations our fellow passengers were having and said if I was ever in his hometown of Xian, I could message him and he would point me to the best sights of the city.

This comment sounds unbelievably corny but I think it applies: the people were the most memorable part of the trip.

Posted in China Travel | 1 Comment

Day Trip to Ayutthaya

Posted on April 24, 2018 by sadielynwelhoff

I picked a good first day trip out of Bangkok. Ayutthaya was the old capital city of the Kingdom of Siam. It was built around 1350 and destroyed by the Burmese army in the 1700s. It’s now an incredibly popular tourist site and it’s easy to see why. I visited the beautiful site with my friend, her cousin, and my cousin who was on a trip from America. While there are ruins all over the area, we stayed and took pictures in one site. It would take several trips if you wanted to see every ruin that made up the city.

I felt really relaxed because I planned none of the trip. I just had to get in the lovely air conditioned car, be driven by my friend’s cousin out of Bangkok, eat delicious food, and wander around. It was clear and sunny, but not deathly hot. I would imagine walking around for hours in the Thai summer would be brutal.

The Burmese army decided to chop off some statue heads

Since I didn’t participate in the logistics of the trip, I don’t have any good advice on the best way to get there or approximate prices. But if you are ever in Bangkok, take a minute to get out of the city and see this place!

Posted in Thailand life | Leave a comment

Hello from Thailand

Posted on November 24, 2017 by sadielynwelhoff

I promise I have a good reason why I haven’t updated my blog in a thousand years. I moved to Bangkok, Thailand to work at a local secondary school!

I’ve actually been here for a month already, but I’ve been swamped with figuring out lesson plans, finding an apartment, navigating the buses, and trying all kinds of wonderful food.

I don’t know what this is called…all I can say is it was spicy and delicious!

Noodles and Thai milk tea at a food court

Erawan Shrine, it is very close to Central World Mall

I’ve gotten to visit a few shopping centers. Central World Mall is enormous and reminds me of an American shopping center, only with very different food court options (less hot dogs and hamburgers and more rice and curry). Chatuchak Market is an endless sea of humanity, Thai souvenirs, cheap clothing, and tasty snacks. Don’t go in the afternoon if you can’t stand the heat.

Central World Mall

Chatuchak Market

Everyone smiles when I make eye contact with them. That didn’t happen often in Korea, and it’s not that Korean people are rude, you just don’t tend to look at other people when you walk through the streets of Seoul or Cheonan. Bangkok feels more like the Midwest to me in that sense.

All of the food has been amazingly delicious. It’s criminal that food can taste so good and be so cheap, that shouldn’t be possible.

There are motorbike taxis. They have their license number on the back of their orange vests. It’s a lot harder for them to get stuck in traffic as they can zoom around cars and buses. I’ve seen some passengers decline to wear helmets, making me nervous for them whenever I see one pass. I feel like this would never fly in America.

I’ve seen many Buddhist monks out in the morning collecting alms in my neighborhood. It’s been nice to start the day seeing something simple and positive on my way to the bus stop.

I can’t wait to post more, but it might not be very often yet. Bear with me while I get adjusted to a new country =D

Victory Monument during slow traffic, it’s nuts during rush hour

Posted in Thailand life | Leave a comment

Kouang Si Waterfall in Luang Prabang

Posted on July 26, 2017 by sadielynwelhoff

First of all, this post is my 100th post on my blog! Yay! I couldn’t think of a better subject than the beautiful waterfall near Luang Prabang.

Even though Luang Prabang a smaller town without public transportation, it was easy to explore the surrounding areas on a day trip without the headaches of transferring buses and ever-changing time tables.

There are plenty of travel agencies near the major tourist sites that can set you up on a mini tour of the waterfalls. I just picked the first one I saw, walked in, and said I wanted to see the waterfall the next day. I gave them the money, they told me what time to show up. Simple.

I signed up for a shared minivan with several other tourists from around the world and we arrived at our destination after an hour of bumpy roads and beautiful scenery.

We had a few hours at the waterfall and while there were plenty of people, I wasn’t bumped or shoved and people were on the best behavior, for the most part. I did see some gentlemen smoking cigarettes. Thanks a lot guys for ruining the beautiful nature with your huffing and puffing. Now instead of flowers and trees, I only smell ashtrays.

The area was clean as far as I could see. There were food stalls and small restaurants in the parking area, but I think people did their best not to litter.

I would definitely recommend going if you find yourself in Luang Prabang. There’s a good reason why it’s on every postcard from Laos.

Posted in Laos travel | Leave a comment

The Perfect View of Luang Prabang

Posted on July 19, 2017 by sadielynwelhoff

Luang Prabang is a sleepy city tucked away in the gorgeous mountains of Laos. When I arrived at my guesthouse for the week, the gentleman working there said if I wanted the best view of the entire city, I needed to climb to the top of Phousi hill.

And he was right.

I can’t wait to share everything I loved about Laos.
Continue reading →

Posted in Laos travel | Leave a comment

Teacher Trip to Yeongin Mountain 영인산

Posted on May 24, 2017 by sadielynwelhoff

It feels like it’s been a million years since I updated this blog! I haven’t been particularly busy but I keep meaning to update on the weekends and then I completely forget, but not today!!!

A few weeks ago, all the teachers at one of my schools took a hike up Yeongin mountain in Asan to celebrate the end of mid-term exams. We got to prance around the beautiful nature and feast on delicious grilled duck. I also got to go out with some of the younger teachers to a bar afterwards. It was a wonderful bonding experience.