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Mark Boulier
mdboulier
In the Spring of 2009 I will be studying abroad at the National University of Singapore. I will be there from early January until mid May. I hope to stay in touch with my friends and family and keep them updated on my latest adventures. I've also found out how helpful reading blogs can be for making travel plans so I'll try to put in some details from the trip. If anyone needs more info, just sent me a message and I'll be glad to help.
Travel Blog Posts
April 29th 2009
Secret Location (caramoan peninsula shhhh) Some of the guys in the group know a Filipino guy living in Singapore and he recommended a nearby beach/island getaway. It might be a popular destination for some Filipinos but our travel guide barely mentioned it and we couldn't find much on the internet. So we've decided to keep it anonymous in our internet posting. If anyone reading this is a traveler, I'd be happy to tell you, I just don't want to ruin this exclusive paradise by making it google-able online. Anyway, we left Legaspi and headed towards our destination! This time, all 4 guys were on top of the Jeepy and Eri was riding shotgun. We got another amazing view of the countryside on our way there and the ride seemed to pass in an instant. The road ... read more
April 24th 2009
UP AGAIN! We had arranged for guidance up Mt. Mayon volcano and transportation back and forth for P600 each for 5 people. This didn't include food, so we went grocery shopping before we went to bed the night before. We slept a bit but had to wake up at 4:30AM and out the door at 5:00AM. We started the trail at the end of the local golf course as the sun was rising in the distance. It seemed that we were starting pretty far way from the volcano, unlike with Mt. Merapi in Java where we started right at the base. It was a long hike to camp 1 where were able to fill our water bottles in a flowing freshwater stream. All of us were pretty sweaty and tired already, but there was a lot ... read more
April 22nd 2009
Philippines stage 1 Alright here we go! My 11 day journey through the Philippines began with an 5:55AM flight from Singapore to Manila. There were 7 of us leaving from NUS to Changi Airport at 3:30! Talk about to early... We arrived in Clarke airport north of Manila and took a bus to Cubao bus station in Manila. After buying some tickets for the night bus to Naga City, we got some food and headed to the MRT line to explore the city. We began to notice the bad ass security guards everywhere. Our bags were searched by officers (or even canines) each time we entered the MRT station or changed trains. It was kind of funny at first, but it got old quick. We walked around the old city for a while and visited an ... read more
April 14th 2009
On to Jakarta Ross, Peter, and I were getting picked up at 14:00 to catch a bus back to Jakarta. All the trains and minivans were full since it was a holiday for the locals as well (since they're +90% Muslim, I doubt it was Easter haha). Our bus drove around Yogyakarta for about 3 hours to various stations to pick up more passengers. We weren't going to leave until it was full. The 3 of us were crammed into a seat big enough for 2 at the most as we began our slow journey to Jakarta. It should have taken 10-11 hours to get there but without an interstate system in place, the traffic made a huge difference. We were on the Western outskirts of Jakarta when our bus quit working. Many of the Indonesia ... read more
April 13th 2009
Yogyakarta Thurs April 9 5 of us (Ralf-Germany, Matthew-Singapore, Ross-New Zealand, Peter-Sweden, and myself) set off from Changi Airport in Singapore bound for Jakarta. Our plans were undecided and split. 3 of us wanted to head off to Yogyakarta in central Java while Ralf and Matthew planned on meeting up with another friend, Jonas around Jakarta. Realizing we couldn't please everyone we split up. We took a shuttle to Gambir Train Station from the airport for 20,000 Rp (exchange rate about 1USD=11,300 Rupia). We bought tickets for the "Eksekutif" class for 280,000 Rp since you cannot purchase "Economi" at Gambir station (for times http://jakartatravelinfo.com/Train_Schedule.html the schedules seem quite permanent and reliable). After a bit of food, Ross, Peter, and myself were off to Yogya to meet up with some other friends who flew directly there from ... read more
Rawahhh, the best kept secret in Malaysia
Published: March 31st 2009Asia » Malaysia » Johor » Pulau Rawa
March 31st 2009
Pulau Rawa We left Pulau Tioman at about 7:30AM for Pulau Rawa. The ferry dropped us off right in the middle of the island. As soon as I stepped out of the boat, I was stunned! This place was amazing. It was only about 1000 meters long and 300 meters wide and the beach didn't even stretch across the whole island, but it was beautiful. You'll like the pictures of the island, but those don't even really do it justice. I had my camera in my room during the day when it was sunny, but I refused to leave the beach to go get it. We started out by going to the top of the island to take a few photos of the scenery. Then, after lunch, we hung out all day and did a bit ... read more
March 31st 2009
Pulau Tioman Saturday March 28th at 3:00AM a group of NUS exchange students and I took off in a bus for Mersing, Malaysia. We were destined for a relaxing weekend of 2 of Malaysia's most exotic islands ("pulau" means island in Malay) It was an early start but it was the best was to reduce the cost of an extra night's accommodation without wasting the whole day getting there. We arrived in Mersing without and Malaysian ringgit to pay for the ferry. We went to go get some and the ferry left without us. Hmph. We had a few hours to kill so we decided to go out for some food. After some much needed coffee and breakfast, we got back on the ferry and took off for Pulau Tioman! We arrived in the pouring tropical ... read more
March 23rd 2009
On Georgia Tech's spring break, my gorgeous girlfriend, Emily came to see me. She got in at about 12:00AM Sunday morning. It was great to be able to see her for the first time in over 10 weeks. After sleeping in and trying to shake some jet lag, we headed off to explore the city. I showed Emily my bare-bones, humble abode and got her some of the local "hawker center" food. We went to Vivo City, Singapore's largest mall and later to Orchard, where there's a lot of shopping. We tried to catch a movie, but I got us lost and we definitely missed the last show. OUPS! The next day, Monday, we went to Singapore's National Botanical Gardens. It was pretty nasty outside, but we decided to risk it. We spent about an hour ... read more
Guest Entry: MAI TAIme on Oahu
Published: March 12th 2009North America » United States » Hawaii » Big Island
March 12th 2009
Here's Lauren's Story of the last part of the family trip. Sadly, I couldn't make it. Here's her story... Sunday March 1st ranks as one of my top 10 most hilariously bizarre days of my life. Just to recap Mark’s summary of the previous day, the Boulier family was fortunate to entertain two happy hours and plenty of 7E purchased goods, if you know what I mean. All of that was enough for Sunday to be difficult enough, not to mention that we had to get Mark back to Singapore and the rest of us to Hawaii. My favorite part of Sunday was waking Mark up by pouring two buckets of ice water on his back…it really gave me gratification as the big sister. Next was seeing Mark off in the airport - he was wearing ... read more
March 3rd 2009
Honk Kong (noun) - ...... How can I describe Hong Kong? A few ideas come to mind... A friend of Lauren's described Hong Kong by saying, "If your eyes are open, you're shopping." True statement. Another way I could describe it was by the drinking game Lauren and I jokingly made up. Don't worry we didn't play. This game would have been suicide... RULES: Drink... Everytime someone offers you a "Rolex-copy-watch." Everytime someone hands you a flyer for a massage or foot reflexology. Everytime you are approached about a custom tailored suit. Everytime you see the word "SONY" Give out 5 sips to any participant if you can beat a salesman to what they're selling. Example: You make eye contact with a man on the street and he begins approaching you. You can beat him to ... read more
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