Follow the Journey

Hello everyone! This is Leanna here to inform all you lovely people on our wonderful adventure through the Sapa hill tribes. To start with let me begin with our voyage to Sapa. Instead of taking the usual bus ride to our destination, we were fortunate enough to go on an over night train ride. It consisted of 2 bunk beds, with extremely comfortable mattresses, and beverages presented to us. We… Read More

Greetings from Vietnam, Karen here, and I can’t be anymore excited than I am now to share with you all our awesome adventures scuba diving. It all began in a “classroom” with a textbook and a video. Before being able to jump into that blue warm watered reefs ahead of us, we had to learn all the scuba 411. But since there is nothing like actually practicing the skill, we… Read More

Canyoning was a mindblowing and wet, adrenaline-filled adventure, and none of us will ever forget it. It could be described as white water rafting without the raft, or pure insanity. On the way to the waterfalls, we met our canyoning guide; Tang. A wonderfully crazy guy who would provide training, and comic relief throughout the day.  When we arrived, we were stylishly outfitted in harnesses, helmets, gloves and bright orangelifejackets,… Read More

Imagine a river. a tropical river where the sun is so very hot but in mere seconds the water can cool your body by at least 10 degrees. it is a coastal river, rising and falling with the tides of the Gulf of Thailand. there are palm mangroves reaching 30 or so feet into the damblue sky speckled with pieces of floating cotton candy. the air was sweet and filled… Read More

HELLO!! it’s Brook here, and I’m going to write to you about this amazing first week of student directed travel… We started our journey in Ha Tien, where we crossed the border from Cambodia into Vietnam, officially acknowledging Topher and Julia as our new students, and Paige and Karenna as our new leaders. The ride itself to the border was uneventful, aside from the lovely rain shower that cooled us… Read More

Hi everyone back home, it’s Emma here, and I just wanted to share a little about our experience at NHCC in Cambodia, so you all can hear about our experience. During our time in Cambodia, we spent 7 days at New Hope for Cambodian Children, an orphanage for children that are HIV positive. NHCC is an incredible organization that was started by a couple from Texas, and our week there… Read More

Hello everybody! This is Karenna! As a CDL we learnedpracticed about creative writing and we all made a piece about our time in Thailand. Here is my piece about the trek we took in our first couple weeks if our journey so long ago: The very familiar weight of my pack hugs and caresses my shoulders and hips as we begin our accent into unfamiliar yet homelike nature. As my… Read More

I might look old because of the rusty metal, the dents on my sides and even all the dirt i’ve accumulated, but dont let that fool you, I still have plenty of early morning market trips in me. I do this each morning, they start me up and load white and blue empty water gallons. The gallons are dirty, cracked and dented but strong none the less. They load big… Read More

As a part of a creative writing the Seasia group is doing, a lot of us wrote a little creative piece about a particularly memorable moment in Thailand, as we write these, a few of us will post them on the group blog. The following was written about an event that occurred on March 23 in Korat, during our last night in Thailand. -Paige –     –     – “Let’s try and… Read More

New Hope Cambodian Children. The whole group enjoyed this amazing week, from playing with the children, tutoring the children, painting the mural, water park , morning market, disco night and so many more moments. I can’t wait to write about all these, however, at the moment we have limited internet time. Expect a whole post in 4 or 5 days with even more pictures. -Yesi… Read More

The beeping of motorcycles and construction is heard down below this balcony. A cloudy blue sky, tall intricate buildings and a couple of potted plants frame my view. A good view, a good place to reflect. We arrived in Phnom Penh Friday the 28th from a semi long bus ride to Cambodia’s capital. I noticed the crumbling buildings, the new shiny skyscrapers, and the traffic going left, right, forward and… Read More

Third and last post from me (Emma)- I promise! Today we enjoyed the ancient and beautiful ruins at Angkor Wat. One of the 8 Wonders of the world, this was one of the most stunning places I have ever been to, and I think many members of the group agreed. Our group watched the sun set last night over the magnificent brick structures, and woke up at 4:30 this morning… Read More

Hello from Cambodia! This is Emma again, and I am writing from a internet cafe in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We arrived a few nights ago after 2 extremely long days of bus travel, including a pretty smooth border crossing from Thailand to Cambodia. We are all enjoying a free afternoon, and are mostly trying to stay cool in this heat. It is currently 98 degrees here, and we have not… Read More

Sawtdeekha everyone- this is Emma here, writing as the designated blogger this week from a small internet cafe in Sukothai, Thailand. We arrived here yesterday afternoon and already have made many great memories in the last 24 hours at this new place! Today was a day full of unexpected rain, joy and lots of laughter. It is definitely one we will never forget! We left Chiang Mai yesterday morning, after… Read More

Hey everybody its Karenna! I’m writing to ya’ll from home base in Chiang Mai as we spend our final rest days in this now familiar city.  THe past week has been filled with daily meditation and morning and evening chanting, as we enjoyed the company of the novice and full monks at the Pleek Wiwek Dharma Center located just a few minuets from the Burmese boarder.  While there our days… Read More

trim.A5E0C846-061A-4D65-A59D-815ECEC03037 no better way to mix dirt, water and rice to lay mud bricks than to have an endless dance party! this is how we roll at the San Fan Orphanage. trim.58FD27A2-F03F-4A6B-84B3-056453A54A2A Just your average morning at the market (after we all rose at 6 am for a half hour bike ride to the local morning market in Mae Rim ).      … Read More

Sup People, Agent Komodo here. So after a rest day and Chiang Mai we took a Song-Tao into the Samoeng District . It is a land over and through mountains just west of Chaing Mai. I was sitting in shotgun (don’t fret, that is just what I call the front passenger seat). The ride for me was very peaceful and the tumultuous windy road was not as terrible from my… Read More

Hello all! This is Komodo otherwise known as Patrick on the other side of the world. I was writing to you today to tell you all how these past three days of trekking have gone. On the first day we woke up at 7:30 and left by 8. We took a 3 hour Song-Tao ride out of Chiang Mai. The road was steep and very curvy. We were driving up… Read More

Sawatdee kha! Hey all, this is Paige writing to you, the SEAsia group’s resident blogger of the week. We touched down in Chiang Mai two weeks ago now and SO MUCH has happened since. After we finished up our brief time of orientation, we pretty much leapt right into the thick of things with a two week homestay in a little village called Mae Rim just a little bit outside… Read More