Entering China, or any country has a lot of new experiences especially in the world of food, but sometimes when some foods are off-limits a language barrier can be a daily stress. This blog is supposed to help you ease your way through Chinese cuisine with some dietary restrictions in mind.

Overview Of the Cuisine

Northern China

For starters, the type of food common in one province isn’t representative of the whole nation. In Northern China where the weather is more seasonal, wheat is a staple crop so a lot of northern Chinese dishes revolve around flour. Some prime examples of such dishes are flour-based noodles, steamed buns and also dumplings. One dish that stood out to me was  Chun Bing (春饼) which is often translated to spring pancake, but it reminds me very much of a very thin flour tortilla. Chun Bing would be given with Peking duck meals often with an assortment of veggies, duck based sauce and duck meat. 

Northern style resturant with Peking duck and hotpot

Southern China

In Southern China, it seems that saltiness and oil are more appreciated than in the North. In addition, rather than wheat, rice is a staple crop in the south with rice and rice-based noodles being the foundation of many meals.  Congee or rice-water porridge is common breakfast food in the south as well which sets you up to be full until lunch, unlike Americans who often make oatmeal sweet many prepare their congee to be savory. 

Rice noodles in a soup

hot, hot, hot!

Coastal & Islands

In coastal provinces or islands like Xiamen fresh fruit is in abundance and often sold in carts on the streets selling coconuts, durians, and mangosteens as well as chopped up in stores where I had my first sight of yellow watermelon. Another thing to be noted is that in an island is that fish very common, particularly unspiced fish or chicken as some people believe that spice is intended to mask undesirable flavors, so a good fresh fish should be able to be served without any potential masking. 

Dietary Restrictions

A Fair Warning

Cross contamination was an inevitable thing in canteens as they use one ladle to serve many dishes. In addition, in some versions of single-pot soup, everyone's soup is cooked in the same water just sectioned from each other. There may also be a gap in language as well as just a cultural barrier, as perhaps they’ll understand what you wont eat, but think  that you don’t eat a particular food, for example pork or meat, because you don’t enjoy it, not because you don’t believe in eating it and any trace of it. In the case of Allergies, it may be really difficult to know what is in a dish, or what oil they used. If you are very strict and meticulous about your dietary restrictions, than your meals may be a bit repetitive. However, there are many new foods that hopefully you can try and enjoy.

China will make you realize you have to communicate your needs thoroughly to your buddies especially if you eat Halal or Kosher where more rules apply so new foods will be a concern other than perhaps just pork to your buddies for example: do you eat frog? Do you eat insects (considered delicacy)?  Are you opposed to eating a sausage made of dog neck? (one person in our program tried it without knowing) .  These foods are uncommon and if you order safe they are easy to avoid but  these are things we did cross paths with on our unique trip.

Critters & frogs legs

Vegetarians

If you are vegetarian, there are a lot tofu based dishes in china around the clock. If you are eating in the canteen I think a good go to would be eggs with produce, as they often cook eggs with tomatoes, carrots or zucchini. I will warn however that unlike in the states tofu doesn’t seem to be a meat replacement or substitute so it is not uncommon to see a dish with both meat and tofu. In addition tofu is a great addition to soups however many of the soups may have  meat based broth and there is a lot of cross contamination among dishes. I think one of the greatest things to look forward to though if you are vegetarian, or have a meat related restriction, is a Buddhist temple restaurant! There are many vegetarian and vegan options and  are  usually buffet styles. Compared to the price of meals in China, I would consider a temple buffet a little expensive (often 50 yen, when I could get a simple meal for 20-30 yen, however 50 yen in USD is around 8 dollars.

Kosher

I apologize in advance that I do not have a better answer to this, nor am I too informed on this topic, but I will write to the extent of my knowledge in the hopes that it will help someone. While we were in China, we did not cross paths with any strictly kosher restaurant that respects the rules of preventing the cross contamination of certain ingredients, dishes, and utensils. With this set aside, the one individual that we have on our trip that had a Kosher restriction was comfortable not eating kosher cut meat. Something this individual did in order to meet their needs, was frequent halal restaurants & canteen to stay away from pork, be on the lookout for shellfish (you are going to have to explain that shellfish is crab, shrimp, crawfish and more),  eat fish frequently instead of taking a chance, enjoyed the buddhist vegetarian buffet. If something looks like purple/maroon tofu but more gelatinous that can either be pork blood curd or beef blood curd.

Halal

This is the Uyghur Restaurant everyone in our group loved

If you are halal then this trip is surprisingly accommodating if you know where to go! Xiamen University has a halal canteen to meet the needs of their Islamic students who come internationally and domestically. When in Xiamen, there was one halal restaurant close outside of the campus, and  there was another one I saw farther away from campus. In addition, you can enjoy all of the foods I mentioned in the vegetarian section. When in Shanghai for the internship, we were conveniently located near 8 halal restaurants in walking distance. Most of these restaurants specialize in beef noodle dishes, but other ones included halal Beijing hotpot, a halal Uyghur restaurant which sold warm toasty nang (like naan), and some quick kebab shops.  If you opt to do the internship, the canteen at SNERDI is not as accommodating as the one at Xiamen (there is cross contamination at both though), but if you communicate your needs to SNERDI there is a halal restaurant right outside the company campus you can go to during lunch break that they mentioned they have taken interns to before. 

Halal beef noodle shop located outside of SNERDI

Allergies

The allergies that I think are worth discussing is that peanut oil may be used for cooking in china much more often than in the states, as well as peanuts being roasted and tossed into a dish. If you have a milk allergy, milk seems like a less common ingredient in savory meals than in the states as many sauces opt for soy sauce,vinegar,oil  and sesame rather than cheese or cream. I will once again repeat though that cross contamination is a big concern, so if you have an allergy I recommend that you mention that to the IPE office when applying if it concerns you.

Xie Xie 谢谢 for Reading!

from back in the States ,

Leslie Arciniega

My internship at Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Design Institute through University of Michigan's Clean Energy Study Abroad at Xiamen University XMU

Background on this Opportunity: To conclude this 6-week study abroad about clean Energy hosted by Xiamen University , we went to Shanghai to tour Shanghai Nuclear Engineering Design Research Institute in Shanghai (SNERDI). Some of the students would go home after this, but 6 of us including myself chose to stay to take on an internship at this facility.

Move in Day

We moved into our hotel the Sunday before our first week of work. We were met by a mentor who handled the communication of checking into the hotel and made sure were situated. We stayed at Hanting Hotels (Shanghai Caohejing Branch) which is near SNERDI. I spent that evening unpacking, and then went for a walk in the neighborhood that would be home for the next 6 weeks. What I loved about this area was that it felt like a neighborhood, in that it was very pedestrian, with so many restaurants, food vendors and quick shops. The area we were staying was not too touristy and so the shops we went to often recognized us immediately.

First day of Internship

For our first day of the internship, we all had breakfast at the hotel and then our program coordinator at SNERDI who is an HR representative picked us from our hotel to teach us the bus route to the internship. We had a conference meeting welcoming us into SNERDI and to learn all about SNERDI’s mission. At this conference meeting we each met our mentors who was supposed to guide us through the next 6 weeks. We got our own office room for our little cohort, and we were each assigned a desktop. Our program coordinator gave us a more thorough tour of SNERDI where we became familiar with the coffee maker, canteen, as well as the grocery store and fruit store. We then all talked to our mentors about our projects, and for the next 6 weeks our mentors would pop in and out of our office to give communicate with us.

My Project

At this internship, I was paired with a mentor and given a project regarding fluid computational dynamics. On the first day my mentor went through my resume and my skill set with me and based off of my previous experience with AutoCAD to 3D design models, I was tasked to create 3D meshes of pipes in a nuclear reactor with ICEM CFD software to then be analyzed with ANSYS. The goal of this task is to create different pipes models with different constraints and characteristics and run them through simulations to see which would cause the least resonance and compare other physical properties.

SNERDI Campus Impression

SNERDI is a beautiful campus in the city, and has many perks including being able to use your meal card at a grocery store and fruit store. I went to the grocery store to buy a coke everyday and many of my peers bought snacks during lunch (pocky, sweets, ice cream, cookies, jellies, dried fruit you name it!). The grocery store also had many commodities like toothbrushes, toothpaste, razors, shampoo and conditioner (many household items too but we weren’t necessarily in the market for tupperware, 10 lbs bags of dry rice, extravagant lego sets and underwear from work). They also had quite the selection of Ramen noodles if you wanted to eat that in lieu of dinner or pick up some for the weekend.

SNERDI has a very impressive Recreational center which we had access too, and was available for all employees after work. They had a gym which included an indoor track, circuit machines, cardio machines and dumbells. They also had a basketball court, badminton court, pingpong and if that wasn't enough, they also have a pool/billiards room.

Xie Xie 谢谢 for Reading!

from Shanghai,

Leslie Arciniega

Xiamen University Vs. Shanghai Internship

Photographed above: A delicious personal made soup rich with veggies from Xiamen University’s Siming Campus Round Canteen, topped with tofu 

For Starters: What is a Canteen!?

The best way I have been able to describe canteen is like our understanding of dining hall but rather than a premade balanced meal or buffet like we have on campus, you pay for a la carte dishes. In Xiamen we paid for those dishes with our university card, and at our internship at SNERDI in Shanghai we paid for them on our company ID card.  These canteens where our primary source of meals, but as these are a la carte be conscious on how much you are spending on your meal cards so you can afford food at the end of the trip!

My peers and I had no clue why we called the dining halls canteens, I mean after all it’s not the wrong word for it, just an uncommon word.  But alas an explanation! According to the internet, the likely reason why we call them canteens is not rooted in the translation but rather because the chinese word 餐厅 (cān tīng), which directly means food/meal hall, sounds similar to canteen.

Joey Imperial 

Environmental Engineering

Sustainability and Industrial Ecology - UTT, Troyes, France

DISCLAIMER: I thought this had been posted successfully about 4 weeks ago (Mid July), but after coming back to read the my fellow bloggers’ latest posts I noticed that this one had never gone through! Anyway, back to our regularly scheduled program :)

7-22-19

As I became situated in my seat for my flight back to Detroit from Paris, I began the daunting task of trying to process everything that I had experienced in the past two months. It felt like I had lived an entire lifetime, but it had happened in the blink of an eye. I tried to identify outstanding moments from my trip. Each one, despite their extreme differences in geographical location and chronological context, had one very clear element in common: the people.

One of my favorite fishing spots just a few minutes away from home

Although quiet and awfully reserved at our Pre-Departure Orientation in April, the group of Michigan students that went on this trip quickly became a second family for me. Their lovable quirks, constant positive energy, and natural kindness made Troyes feel more like home than any foreign destination that I’ve ever been to. We spent countless hours sharing stories, laughing with each other, and learning more about the world through each others’ lenses. They taught me what it means to be a trustworthy friend, to roll with the punches of studying abroad, to not take myself so seriously, and to ALWAYS choose the decision that would make for the better story. It was truly an honor to spend this program with them, and for that I can only give them my most sincere thanks for being such wonderful people.

In Cagliari I remember laying out on the beach, seconds away from slipping into the most peaceful, sun-warmed nap of my life, when the impact of a soccer ball blasted sand into my face. I sat up in immediate frustration to see who the culprit and found a group of 4 young men in the water, smiles beaming, calling for the ball back and asking us to join them in their game. It was just a simple game of monkey in the middle, but they were having the time of their lives and we just couldn’t resist joining them. They were from Gambia, and there were about 3 or 4 words that each party could comprehend from the other, but we spoke to each other in the universal language of play and enjoyment of each other’s presence. It was a truly blissful moment that reminded me of how keeping a childlike innocence when experiencing the world inspires wonder and pure human connections.

Before I left for Troyes I planned to take an excursion to Chamonix during my time in Europe as a way to slow down and make time for myself after a busy 6 weeks with the program. I certainly achieved “alone time” during my day-long hikes through the beautiful French Alps, but the memories that stuck with me most were the ones that I shared with other people. Meeting and talking with people from around the world on the trails, in the hostel, and in town brought me so much joy, especially in such a naturally beautiful setting. Plus, the majority of people I met were there for the Arc’teryx Alpine Academy, which meant that I was one of the most inexperienced outdoorsmen there. I heard dozens of captivating stories about my friends’ expeditions up Mont Blanc, climbing glaciers, hiking in Croatia, and achieving truly incredible feats that inspired me to enjoy the outdoors more. Their friendship made my planned solitary retreat into a deeply spiritual, social, and emotional experience centered around our passion for the outdoors. Even when I wasn’t expecting it, it was the people who made my experience in the mountains so fulfilling.

Although those were only three examples of people making a difference during my time in Europe, I found that anywhere I went, carrying a smile, a patient attitude, and a willingness to learn from others always resulted in a new friend from another corner of the globe. I think this is what makes studying abroad so worthwhile, especially for engineers. It broadens our perspective, realizing how rich different cultures and people can be, while simultaneously revealing the experiences that universally bond people. We learn that our work in making the world a better place directly impacts these wonderful people that we become friends with. We begin to hold a noble responsibility to care for them through our efforts and work.

Without the countless people I met during my two months abroad, I would only have pictures without stories behind them. Meals without laughter. Nights out without dancing. The people in this world are what make it so special, and to have the opportunity to experience so many of them during this time has been such an immense blessing.

To all those who have been following this blog, to IPE and the University of Michigan, to my parents and family, everyone who has studied abroad before me and encouraged me to go, to all my friends new and old, and to everyone who has changed my life during these past two months in one way or another, I thank you with all that I have. Without your love and support this once in a lifetime experience would not have been possible, and I would surely not be the person I am today. Thank you again, for your everything. And as always, thanks for checking in.

My time in the beautiful city of Hong Kong has come to an end. Although I am saddened by the thought of leaving, I am eternally grateful for the opportunity that I was given to study abroad here. The places that I have seen, the experiences that I have obtained, and the connections that I have created will remain with me for the rest of my life. I lived in Hong Kong during a very interesting time, an ever-increasing amount of protests occurring frequently throughout the city in response to a proposed extradition bill. I never mentioned this in past blogs as I did not want to potentially deter people from choosing to study abroad in Hong Kong, but it is an important contributing factor to my stay and should be brought up. Since I do not wish to get political by any means, I encourage everyone to do a little bit of research and learn about what has been going on these past few months in order to understand what has been going on.

All of that aside, this past week was amazing. Although I will admit, the beginning was pretty rough as I studied like crazy in preparation for my physics final. I didn’t do anything else other than review, but after the exam was completed the real fun began – right after I found out that I passed both of my classes ahaha. After getting some personal tasks completed, I went out with some friends to a nice pub in Tsim Sha Tsui. We played some darts, some pool, and enjoyed some nice drinks until we decided to hit up a nearby McDonald’s before making our way back to campus. The definite highlight of that night was when I hit two back-to-back bullseyes!

I woke up relatively early the next morning and went hiking on a small trail located at HKUST that winds around one of the hills off to the side of the main campus. At the very end of it was a beautiful pagoda, where I stayed reading a book for a couple of hours in total peace. I then got lunch and went out to the city to site see with my friend Wen Jay before hitting up a delicious Malaysian restaurant with some other friends. We checked out the Man Mo Temple, PMQ market, and Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts. We then went back to the campus for a little bit before going out to LFK for the night, a long night full of fun that stretched across several bars, clubs, and street food vendors. We made it back to campus around 6 am, the sunrise following closely on the back of our heels.

I woke up somewhat early the next day and made my way to the library to read for a while before getting lunch. I then had the chance to relax for a long time before heading out with some friends to my all-time favorite restaurant, Din Tai Fung, for some amazing Xiao Long Bao and spicy peanut noodles. Normally, HKUST offers a farewell dinner for the ISP students but it was canceled this year due to complications with ongoing protests. That didn’t hinder us from enjoying the night, walking around the TST promenade and the Avenue of Stars as we took in the beautiful Hong Kong skyline one last time. We made it back to campus around 12:30 pm, and would go on to enjoy the following hours reminiscing the good times and having some last drinks before everyone went back to their respective dorms.

I actually write this blog at 5 am, getting some final tasks completed – such as this blog – and watching Netflix. I will leave HKUST around 7:30 am for the airport, a long journey back to the US ahead of me. Thankfully fall semester starts in three weeks so I have some time to relax and recharge my energies, but for now, the only thing that I can say is that this truly was an amazing opportunity and that I really recommend choosing Hong Kong for your study abroad destination!

Thank you for reading my blog!

Sebastian Munoz

Industrial and Operations Engineering

This past week really flew by. Although I know that I didn’t utilize it to the best of my abilities - both in regards to studying and exploring - I still had a lot of fun. I didn’t do anything the first two days after returning from my trip, as I was catching up on much needed sleep. Those days consisted of a lot of eating, a lot of sleeping, and a little bit of sports with some friends. On Wednesday I reviewed everything that I had learned in my physics class before the first exam and on Thursday I finally began to try and catch up to the class. After a semi-successful day of studying on Friday, I went out with some friends to the Ladies night market and get some amazing szechuan food before making our way over to LKF. We had a good time, and the best part for me was that one of the bartenders that I had really befriended a few weeks ago remembered me and called me over for some free drinks and laughs. I woke up the next day to study for a while before heading out with some friends to go check out Ozone, a fancy bar that is up on the 118th floor with some amazing views. I had a nice time hanging out before continuing the night at LKF.

I write this blog Sunday morning, from the comfort of my bed. Although I’m quite far behind in my physics class, I am confident that if I put the work in I will be fully up to date by the end of today/tomorrow. I’ve had an amazing time in Hong Kong so far, and it’s crazy to think that I’m about to start my last week here - my test is on Thursday and I fly back to the US on Sunday! All the studying aside, I have an exciting extended-weekend planned for the few days remaining after my test and before I fly out that I’m super eager about. That’s in the future though, for now I’m going to start studying so that i can do good in the class.

Until the next and final time!

Sebastian Munoz

Industrial and Operations Engineering

Joey Imperial

Environmental Engineering

Sustainability and Industrial Ecology - UTT, Troyes, France

Barcelona has always been a dream destination for me. It appeared in my imagination as a thriving coastal reef, bursting with life and stimuli for all the senses. As bittersweet as it was to leave the alpine paradise of Switzerland, I could hardly contain myself as I rode the airport shuttle to the Plaça Catalunya in the heart of Barcelona for my first night in this alluring, magical city.

My excursion in Barcelona began with a two-nights stay with one of my UMich friends and his parents who were there for the week! It was such a treat to have a friend from home again after a couple of weeks going solo around various corners of Europe. Between a couple tapas crawls around the winding alleyways of the city, churros and chocolate, and a relaxed day at the beach, my stay with them proved to be an excellent introduction to life in Barcelona. 

Montserrat

On my first day alone in the city I made my way, by train, to the Santa Maria de Montserrat Abbey located about 30 miles northwest of Barcelona. Unique as a mountaintop monastery, the hike up to Montserrat was an extraordinary experience as I was able to gradually see more and more of the Catalan lowlands

Just keep climbing!

View from the Monastery of the Catalan lowlands

The Monastery, situated in between the serrations that give Montserrat its name 

The Virgin of Montserrat, the Patron Saint of Catalonia

The sanctuary of the Cathedral

Exploring the quiet retreat of Montserrat was awe-inspiring as it must have required immense amounts of devotion and faith to construct. The buildings, with simple yet perfectly elegant architecture, seemed to fit perfectly into their dramatic mountain backdrops, inspiring visitors to look to the beauty of nature as inspiration of faith. Walking through the monastery I felt as though every paving stone, archway, and pillar was deliberately designed to produce peace and invoke spiritual reflection. Montserrat was a perfect day-trip retreat before I would plunge into the vibrant streets of the city.

La Sagrada Familia

My first stop in the city was the world-famous La Sagrada Familia Cathedral. Designed by the genius architect Antoni Gaudi, construction on the cathedral began in 1882 and is still continuing! The cathedral is expected to be completed in 2026, marking the 100 year death anniversary of Gaudi. Every element of the cathedral reflect’s Gaudi’s deep appreciation and fascination with nature, as the pillars represent towering tree trunks of a forest and the stained glass windows on the east and west faces of the cathedral beam brilliant hues of blues and reds to emulate sunrise and sunset. This was hands-down one of the most spectacular human achievements I have ever witnessed, and the brilliance of light flooding into this space will always glow brightly in my memory.

The Nativity Facade, facing East

The towering “tree trunks” supporting the massive roof and spires of the Cathedral

Cool blue and green hues flooding in through the East windows, evoking sensations of morning

Passionate reds and oranges pouring through the West windows, representing dusk and sunset.

The Sanctuary

Mercat de la Boqueria

Much like in Valencia, Barcelona is home to an extraordinary open air market where you can find the finest streetfood the city has to offer. I came her for a quick dinner bite before heading to Parc Guell for the evening. The fruit displays, friendly atmosphere, and bustle of smells wafting between the stalls made la Boqueria a simply enjoyable place to be. I picked up a cone of fried seafood (prawns, sardines, cod, and squid) and a cone of the world-famous jamon Iberico. An exquisite “street meal” for cheap, and the perfect atmosphere to enjoy it!

Jamon will always a have a special place in my heart :)

Parc Guell and Gaudi

On postcards Barcelona is often depicted as a city flourishing with unique architecture and colors. As La Sagrada Familia had proven, this reputation is not wrong. Gaudi had a strong creative influence on the architecture around the city including residential buildings and a park north of the shore that provides a dramatic overlook of the city. Again, his extremely unique style often highlights the intricacies of nature while exemplifying beautiful craftsmanship and creativity.

Gaudi’s Casa Batlló

The top of Park Güell , overlooking the city

Park Guell Porter’s Lodge

Magic Fountain of Montjuïc, My Last Night

My last night in Barcelona and Europe was spent strolling the streets of Barcelona waiting for my 5:00 AM shuttle to the airport. At the beginning of the night I made my way to the “Magic Fountain” to watch the light show that many of my hostelmates had recommended. The combinations of colors, water streams, music, and a spectacular sunset backdrop made it for the perfect conclusion to my trip. As I sat among the crowd, I couldn’t help but notice that everyone there was simply enjoying themselves to their greatest capacity. During my time in Europe I learned to enjoy life more. From the little things like having a bed to sleep in after a long day of travel or seeing the Eiffel Tower twinkle at night, there’s so much in life to appreciate that too often goes unappreciated. 

As always, thank you for checking in on this last stop of the trip! My final reflection will be up soon!

Thailand was also so incredibly beautiful. While I will detail certain aspects of my trip, the best thing that I can do is provide you all with many pictures. Within this amazing portion of my trip, I checked out Chiang Mai and Bangkok. Hope you enjoy! PS. sorry for the formatting, I’m submitting this blog on my phone...

We woke up around 7 am in order to eat some breakfast (another delicious Susan Banh Mi) and make our way to the Da Nang airport. After a quick flight, we arrived in Chiang Mai around 12:30 pm. Since our other friends wouldn’t arrive until 6:30 pm — and we didn’t want to see certain things twice — we decided to simply head out for some food at a wonderful restaurant named Dash and walk through the nearby markets. There are so many temples scattered throughout the old part of Chiang Mai that we were able to keep ourselves occupied until the others arrived. When they did, we went on our way to get some dinner at a local hipster-market and then strolled throughout various night markets. After a while, we we went back to the Airbnb for some chill drinks and card games to end the night.

We left around 10:30 am the following day to check out Wat Phan Tao, Wat Chedi Luang, and Wat Phra Singh (all very beautiful temples). We got lunch at a very quaint little home-style place called Nun’s before heading to see the Wat Phra That Doi Suthep on the outskirts of the city. From there we went back into the city to check out the Night Bazaar Market again (where we all bought some typical Thai pants) and eat food at the local hipster market once more. We then decided to attend a Muay Thai event, where we got the chance to see six separate fights ranging in age, weight, and sex divisions. It was very cool to see how Muay Thai is in person! Afterward we made our way back to the Airbnb for some more drinks to end the night, laughter and conversations continuing until 5 am.

We woke up and left around 11 am the following day to get some amazing food at Khao Soi Khun Yai before heading out of the city to check out the Wiang Kum Kam area. We got to see some very ancient ruins before making our way over to the airport. Our flight arrived to Bangkok around 6 pm, and from there we dropped our stuff off at a nice little hostel before hopping on some tuktuks to the Asiatique Riverfront market. We enjoyed nice street food and strolled through the boardwalk for a while before heading back to the hostel for a chill night that went into the very early hours of the morning.

We woke up and left around 11:30 am the next day to check out Wat Traimitr and Wat Pho before getting some late brunch at a nearby restaurant. From there we headed over to Wat Suthat, which ended up being closed for prayer, so instead we took a tuktuk to the river for a river tour down the stream and to see local houses. The tour took us to a floating market and also dropped us off at Wat Arun for a beautiful sight of fine details. We then made our way back to Wat Suthat to check it out before taking a subway to the Ratchada Roy Fai train market. It had a very hipster vibe and was real cool. We got back to the hostel around 11 pm before showering and chilling for a good while.

Although we wanted to check out the Grand Palace and Wat Kraew while in Bangkok, it turned out that our stay had coincided with the King’s birthday so it was closed down. We therefore left the hostel around 10 am for Wat Saket, a gorgeous golden-domed, mountain-placed temple that offered a nice view of the city from up top. We then went back to the hostel area for lunch since half of the group had an afternoon flight, before the remaining party left to go explore Lumphini Park. It was a very nice area to walk around in, and we even got the chance to watch and play Sepak Takraw with some locals. We were not good at all but at least we managed to get a few good sets in ahaha. We left to hit up a nearby Irish pub for a while before grabbing some amazing Japanese food and checking out Patpong night market. It was quite interesting to say the least, the surrounding area attracting interesting crowds. We then strolled around for a bit until we were finally able to find a store that sold Takraw balls, a friend and I buying one to treasure the memories. From there we headed back to the hostel for some drinks before taking an hour long nap and heading out to the airport for our flight back to Hong Kong.

I write this blog on the airplane, recounting the amazing times that I’ve had on my trip in Thailand. Chiang Mai and Bangkok were absolutely stunning, and I am glad to have been able to travel to this beautiful country with my friends. There are only two weeks left of the ISP program, so I will make sure the make the most of it. Talk to y’all soon!

Sebastian Munoz

Industrial and Operations Engineering