After a 10-15 minute tuk tuk ride from our hostel in Phnom Penh we arrived at the Killing Fields, a memorial dedicated to the over one million people killed during the Cambodian genocide.
The genocide lasted from 1975-1979, killing 2 million people, a quarter of Cambodia’s population.
On April 17th 1975, the Khmer Rouge army overthrew the Lon Nol government. They took control over Phnom Penh, forcing everyone to abandon… Read More
Hello everyone!
This past week we had an amazing oppoutunity to teach English for a few days at an organization called PTD. The people here were so kind and welcomed us all with open arms. It was a very good introduction to Cambodia! Working at PTD has been my favorite part of this trip so far, and it is going to be pretty hard to top this one.
On the… Read More
Waking up at 4:30 in the morning never gets any easier. We rode over to the Angkor World Heritage site in tuk tuks as a group. Arriving before sunrise, we quickly flashed our Angkor passes to the ticket checker and were off to exploring this amazing world heritage site for the next eight hours. We first went the famous temple of Angkor Wat. Right when we arrived, there was already… Read More
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This week has been crazy hectic between jumping off a ten hour train to Ayutthaya, bicycling around the city, then heading to Bangkok for three days where we got to witness the people’s reactions to the king’s death firsthand. Every single citizen in the city is dressed in black to show they are mourning. We stumbled upon a mourning ceremony devoted to making sure… Read More
Our Pun Pun experience started out by walking on a dirt path surrounded by soil bringing life to the Earth and trees blossoming on the mountains. Soon we were enthusiastically greeted by the community at Pun Pun, including the volunteers from around the world and the locals. Once we arrived at our charming mud house, we felt the weight of our 65 Liter backpacks lift off our shoulders. We also… Read More
Thursday October 13th 2016 the King of Thailand passed away. It has been a huge shock for the entire country, in which every citizen adored him. On our bus ride from Chiang Rai to Chiang Mai we started to see the country grieve. Not as many people were out, those that were wore black / darker colored clothes. The flag not only of Thailand, but the flag for the king… Read More
Sawatdee from Chiang Mai!
We have just returned to the city from our home stays and volunteering in an Ahka tribe village outside of Chiang Rai through the Mirror Arts Foundation.The job was to create a water channel to reduce the amount of flooding and damage from the heavy rains that the village faces.
We woke up early, enjoyed our instant coffee, and then began our day. Our days consisted… Read More
Omchapeur from the Karen tribe and us at Chiang Mai! After a beautiful and touching homestay experience, the Fall Seasia group embarked on our first trek and what was to be a truly authentic three days in Thailand. After the ride back to Chiang Mai we decompressed at our new hostel Mojito Garden, which included a complimentary hammock, a Koi pond (where I had my camera lifted off of me… Read More
Sawatdee Kha!,
The last part of the homestays went by relatively quickly. On September 27th, we had the opportunity to teach English at a girls school in Mae Rim! We planned out games and some basic lessons to teach, regarding body parts, places, and numbers. The girls were all high school age, and very polite; an intereting contrast to a typical American high school environment. We broke into four groups… Read More
Imagine walking into a home in a small village in Northern Thailand where no one in the family speaks English. You’re on your own now and you have to figure out how to communicate with the limited Thai you’ve learned so far. The cultural differences make for an adjustment, for example the squatting toilets, bucket showers, beds so hard they feel like cement, and feeling conscientious about where you point… Read More
Sawatdee from Chiang Mai, Thailand. After a seemingly endless flight we finally made it! Its only been a day since we’ve arrived but we’ve learned more in 24 hours than we could in one week of high school. Everything from intricate architecture to flavorful food is a fun new discovery. Challenges have been popping up here and there, especially communication but we are embracing them and facing them head on.… Read More
Sawatee Kah everyone!
Yesterday was our first full day in the beautiful city of Chiang Mai. We split into groups of three to do explore the city a little bit more by doing a scavenger hunt. We familiarized ourselves by 1st getting a map, and heading out to explore local wats, restaurants and stores. Finding local post boxes, good smoothie places, and cheap elephant pants was a good first introduction… Read More
Our scavenger hunt incorporated many different tasks! Although it was hot outside we conquered this by drinking some delicious and nutritious mango smoothies!! We had some very nice strangers talk to us on the street about their lives and our travels! 🙂 we also visited a very very VERY V E R Y nice WAT! We had no idea where the heck we were half the time but luckily with… Read More
Sawatdeekha(Khrap),
Now that we’ve appropriately begun our first blog post by butchering the Thai Language, hello. On our first full day in Thailand, we (the dream team of Finn, Siena, and I) wandered like lost puppies through the streets of Chiang Mai with 300 baht to do as many things as we could on the list we were given such as: find a map of Chiang Mai, find out what… Read More
I heard from the leaders late last night that they arrived safely and were already off to get their first batch of pad thai! The group is in high spirits and more to come soon.… Read More
Good evening family and friends of the Fall 2016 Southeast Asia groups!
We are happy to report that all of the Sabai students have met up with Sheldon and Dianne in the San Francisco airport. Their flight for Honk Kong is on time and everyone is excited for this next leg of the journey! Stay tuned throughout these travel days and we wish them a smooth flight on their way… Read More
Good morning, Sabai!
And greetings from Portland! After a week of campfires, songs, skits, and learning new ways to build community, today we finally got to dive in to planning our trip and imagining what life will be like for the 14 of us as we explore the cities, countryside and waterways of Southeast Asia.
We’re looking forward to meeting you, sampling Thai street food, and shopping for colorful gap… Read More
It seems like just yesterday we were arriving in Chiang Mai wide eyed and anticipating all of the adventures to come. A band featuring Thai Elvis serenaded us as we indulged in our first dinner before heading to sing karaoke. We began to immerse ourselves in a new culture, a new language and we learned the fine art of the shuttlecock. And now it is hard to express what has… Read More
We have received word that the mighty Sabai group has successfully checked in for their return flight to America from New Hanoi. We wish them traveling mercies on the long flight home and joyful reunions with their loved ones.… Read More
The plane ride to Hanoi took a toll on me. I felt home sick after getting on a plane for the first time after two and a half months and not heading home. We’ve been having so much fun I almost forgot about home. Taking a plane ride to Hanoi instead of heading home was hard but Hanoi is extravagant. The vibrant city offers amazing food, night life and a… Read More
