How to visit Asia
How I did it: Most of my friends in University were from Hong Kong or Mainland China so in University I decided to study a bit of Mandarin to prepare me to go to China. I can't really say it took me 2 years to go there... it was something in the making since I was a kid. I had always been interested in China since my grandfather had told my family about his experiences there working for Boeing.
Once I finished University and I had been working for a year I finally told myself it was time to go. My job wasn't that great at the time but they did let me take a month off for travelling.
I started my planning and realized that at that time my Mandarin skills were quite bad so I thought that I could make a compromize to go somewhere like Hong Kong or Taiwan where they have a lot of English speakers but still have a strong Asian culture. After doing some more research I realized I had another option which was Singapore! I have always been enamoured by islands so it didn't take much to make me choose to go there.
So I forked over the $1,234 for the return ticket and away I went! The first thing I noticed was the humidity. I mean it was a bit muggy in the airport, but as soon as I stepped outside it was like a wave of water-saturated air. The strange thing was that it didn't bother me like I thought it would (I guess because the humidity made me sweat thus cooling down my body, and letting me enjoy slight breezes). Anyway I was luckier than most people who travel because I was able to get free accomodation through the connections with my Catholic Church back in Canada who knew some priests in Singapore so they allowed me to use an extra room at their residence also they were able to give me some info about the locals. As an added bonus some of the younger people at the church who were around my age immediately befriended me and showed me around the city and we often had meals together.
In the end my trip to Singapore was quite a unique experience and one I wouldn't trade anything for!
Lessons & tips: Network, plan ahead, buy a guide book
Resources: Lonely Planet guide book
