This year, I planned an Asian adventure to visit a friend who also happens to be my English teacher. I fled Hong Kong without a second thought—her online courses had dramatically improved my command of the language. Beyond reconnecting with her, I indulged in my favorite pastime: SCUBA diving. The trip was a resounding success because I managed to tick off everything on my itinerary.
My English teacher and her family live in Singapore, where she and her husband are raising two lovely, sweet, and utterly adorable kids. Having both recently relocated to new countries, we had a wealth of shared experiences and remarkable stories to exchange.
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| Village Hotel Katong by Far East |
The idea struck me six months earlier, so I reached out to ask if she'd be available during my travel window. As an edupreneur juggling a burgeoning academy and motherhood to two young kids, I figured she'd be hectic—and as just one of her many students, I modestly scheduled just a single day for our reunion. To my surprise, after our heartfelt catch-up, she penned a touching article about my visit and shared it with all my classmates. Had I known how much she cherished our friendship and the visit, I would have extended my stay in Singapore. We shared a blissful, jubilant dinner with her family, though I couldn't help feeling a twinge of regret that I hadn't taken the kids out to play—the elder daughter had recently endured two surgeries after a dog bite, and her little sister even asked her mom about my whereabouts weeks after I'd left.
I didn't explore much of Singapore itself, as I headed straight to Malaysia for diving—after all, the city-state lacks prime spots for recreational fun dives.
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| Bill & purple orchid |
The only place I visited was a leisurely stroll through Gardens by the Bay, where an array of exotic flowers and towering trees left me enchanted.
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| African Baobab @Gardens by the Bay |
Our group traveled by coach and ferry for a grueling six hours to reach Tioman Island, arriving in the wee hours of the morning. Mindful of four beginners in our midst, we stuck to serene dive sites with calm waters. The trip's grand finale came on our last dive, when I spotted a majestic hawksbill turtle on the hunt. It methodically dug and nibbled at dead hard corals, and I shadowed it for a mesmerising twenty minutes.
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| Group of Tioman Island on a boat |
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