Around the world in 365 days

Hello! We're Reuben & Joyce, two Singaporeans venturing on a year long trip. In March 2014 we left our jobs to live our dream of traveling around the world, beginning our epic journey across South America, Europe, Greece, Turkey, Nepal, China, Taiwan, Japan and Vietnam. You can check out our photos at Travel Coffee Book.

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Numbers Numbers..

Total distances we travelled : 88,169KM

Total spent : $34,500 SGD per person ( includes Round the World Ticket )

Average spending per day : $104 SGD

Longest Time spent on a train : 25 hours ( Ankara to Kars )

Longest Time spent on a bus : 26 hours ( Santiago to San Pedro De Atacama )

Longest Time spent travelling : 36 hours ( Singapore to Bueno Aries )

Most expensive accommodation : 250 SGD / night ( Hsinchu )

Cheapest Accommodation : 10 SGD / Night ( Kathmandu )

Highest Altitude : 4850M ( Solar de Manaña geyser basin )

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Missing breakfast in bed #Hanoi #lotte #hotel #VSCOcam

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Must try in Hanoi, egg coffee! It was so popular. #egg #coffee #vietnam #vscocam

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Oh what a delightful bowl of #pho #vscocam #hanoi #lunch (at Phở 10 Lý Quốc Sư)

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Our first Vietnamese #coffee along the streets of #Hanoi. Was special cause a documentary director were sitting next to us and started telling us about Rhinohorn consumption in Vietnam. He ended up buying us coffee too! #vscocam #closertohome (at Cộng Cafe - 27 Nhà Thờ)

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Konnichiwa Osaka! #osaka #station #vscocam (at Tully's Coffee 梅田スクエアビルディング店)

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Why do programming books look better in Japanese? #bookstore (at D-naha)

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Inside the largest tank in the aquarium, I'm not sure if Alfred and Arnold are genuinely happier in the tank than at sea, but I'd much rather see their relatives out in the open! In meantime though... (at 沖縄美ら海水族館-Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium)

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Konnichiwa! Here's our #selfie with our friends Alfred the manta ray and Arnold the whale shark! #okinawa (at 沖縄美ら海水族館-Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium)

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Brrrring brrrring! Welcome to #hellokitty world! #latergram #vscocam (at Hello Kitty Kitchen And Dining)

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Yum! Love this funny pineapple bun shaped rock #yehliu #nationalpark #taiwan #vscocam (at 野柳地質公園 Yehliu Geopark)

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We don't need a lot of stuff to live by. Just one week worth of clothes, medication and money making tools like our laptop is enough. Screw Consumerism to said that you need more and never enough.

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One of the must dos in Taipei, releasing sky lanterns into the sky. 

Releasing sky lanterns (天燈) along the railroad tracks in a age old tradition. At one time, these lanterns were used as a signaling system for those living and working in the rugged terrain to keep family aware of their safety. Today, visitors paint wishes in calligraphy on them, then release the lit lanterns into the sky in hopes their prayers will be answered.

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How we spent our NYE countdown :) 

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Happy New Year from Taiwan

Happy New Year!

Happy 2015 from Reuben and Guanyu, the god of wealth and strategy!

2015 is upon us and it's time to admit that we've been lagging behind on updates on this blog. Reuben and I have checked ourselves into a fancy hotel - The Sheraton at Hsinchu, Taiwan to treat ourselves one last time before we make our way back to Singapore!

We've got pictures from our roadtrip to share and we hope you enjoy it. Taiwan is an beautiful gem in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The friendly folks, charming scenery and good weather makes it an ultimate travel destination.

Taiwan is very popular amongst tourists, but most people stick to Taipei, which is sad because there's a lot more to Taiwan than the massive city that is Taipei.

We rented a car as recommended by our awesome friends Claryce and Arvid. They told us that the east coast of Taiwan, more raw and unexplored, was worth seeing by car and we agree!

Here's the itinerary of places we visited: 

Yi Lan City

Hua Lien

Taitung

Kaohsiung

Chiayi

Taichung

Jiufen

Taipei

We rented a car from Ho Tai Car Rental (a brand extension of TOYOTA and LEXUS) for about $500 SGD for 10 days and we spent about $100 SGD on petrol and tolls. I'd say it's a great way to explore Taiwan if you're coming by next time!

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First dinner of the year!

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We found huge bed bugs in Reuben's bed yesterday and decided to move out of the Taipei hostel. No one else could host us and all other hotels were going for $1000 for NYE, so we ended up in Hsinchu. I think it was meant to be #startright #2015 #everythingsgonnabealright #vscocam (at Sheraton Hsinchu Hotel 新竹喜來登大飯店)