Xin chao (hello in Vietnamese) world ! It is I, George Ruiz, ready to let the world know what the Southeast Asia group had done this past week. As student directed travel week continued, the group and I did made good planning with a ton of teamwork to have an awesome and successful Student Directed Travel. We started Wednesday morning in Dalat, Vietnam hyped up for the Crazy House. Yes,… Read More
A crowded bus.
A bumpy road.
A washed-out casino, built with a grandeur that doesn’t quite penetrate beyond the faded sign, splashed like an afterthought across the front.
An unknown woman, clad in a white t-shirt and a skepticism-inducing aura, whose English knowledge appears to be limited to “give me your passports, now.”
A high stone archway, and a rush of humid air as the bus doors close behind our… Read More
We started off the week by travelling by van from Phnom Penh to Kampot where we worked with the mangrove conservation project. Being in a remote village was a nice change after the busy city. An awesome Cambodian guy named Sela led us through our week. On our ride to Kampot, all 13 of us along with Sela and our driver were jam-packed in a small van with our huge… Read More
Hello from Phnom Penh! We’ve had another jam-packed week here in Cambodia. Our last few days at PTD in Battambang included a field trip to the Phare Ponleu Selpak Circus, which is run by a nonprofit arts school that helps disadvantaged children. We really enjoyed watching all of the complicated acrobatics. Although we were sad to leave the children and staff members we befriended during our time at PTD, all… Read More
Our final days of Thailand flew by in a daze of heat and adventure. After and exhausting day of long bus rides and an overnight, 11 hour sleeper train, we finally arrived in Ayutthaya at 5am from Chiang Mai. We then stumbled to our hostel, with the help of three Tuk Tuk’s, confused and tired. After settling in and a quick nap, we started our long day of adventure throughout… Read More
Hello family and friends! Our week with the Mirror Art Group has been amazing! The Mirror Art Group is a NGO that works with various hill tribes in Northern Thailand alleviate some of the problems they face including poverty, education, and Thai citizenship. Our role here has been to help build a wall to protect their road from flooding as well as experience some of Chiang Rai’s attractions and get… Read More
Greetings from Chiang Rai! We bid our farewells to the Dhamma Center last Friday. The day before we left the monastery, we took a vow of silence for the better half of the day. The purpose of this was to reflect on what Laurie and the monks had taught us during our stay at the center. Most of us took the day to journal, read, meditate, and explore the grounds.… Read More
It’s been a very eventful week here in Thailand. We celebrated our time with our host families at a farewell party at the ecolodge on Friday night where we ate, danced, performed our Thai speeches and rousing renditions of “Wagon Wheel” and “The Elephant Song.” We also lit floating lanterns, “loy gratong,” to bring good luck to our group and our host families. We said a tearful goodbye to our… Read More
We have been in a small town outside of Mae Rim for a week now and all of us are having wonderful cultural experiences, in many of our cases they are like nothing that we have experienced before. Last night was a prime example of the intense cultural immersion: we went to a Thai festival held at a temple. The primary reason for us going to this festival was so… Read More
Sa-wat-dee (hello) family and friends!
We have arrived in Thailand healthy and happy and are so excited to begin our adventure!
This is our third day in Chiang Mai, and we’ve been having a great time exploring the city, eating amazing food, taking our first Thai lessons, and getting to know each other!
Tomorrow we have our second Thai lesson, and then will be heading off to the village of… Read More
It was a very cool experience seeing my first Thai temple. We were walking around the old city of Chang Mai when Olivia spotted it from a distance over some low buildings and said “woah what is that!?.” So we all decided that whatever it was that we were doing wasn’t as important and we walked over. We walked in behind some newer buildings and past an unusual number of… Read More
The Sabai group has safely landed in Chiang Mai and they are in fine form. Despite the lengthy journey, they look like a million bucks.
Stay tuned for more reports from Thailand.… Read More
The mighty Sabai group has successfully gathered at the San Francisco airport and checked in for the first leg of the their flight to the other side of the world. Stay tuned to hear from the group in Thailand!… Read More
This is really happening! We’re going to Southeast Asia! It’s going to be delicious.
Be prepared to engage all of your senses, embrace the unexpected, and take chances. We are busy planning, dreaming, and creating the structure for our upcoming adventures. Soon this blog will be your platform to share your thoughts, experiences, and pictures with friends and family back home.
Some things to think about as you pack…
Pack… Read More
Dear parents,
Your baby birds are flying back to the nest!
All students made it through final goodbyes with some tears and lots of hugs. Look forward to a follow up from Brett and Alisha soon.
Give them lots of love when you see them!… Read More
Hey guys!
This past week consisted mainly of getting scuba certified and group travel. It was extremely rewarding and a ton of fun!
We have finished our time one the beautiful Phu Quoc island with tan complexions and peeling skin. You might wonder how we might have gotten ourselves in such a predicament, well it all started when our group got open water scuba certified. After a six hour safety… Read More
We are proud to announce that the Carpe Crew is officially on island time! After 3 months packed with volunteering, travel, and fun, we’re all excited to be getting some beach time in Vietnam’s beautiful “Phu Quoc Island”.
Saying goodbye to Cambodia was definitely hard; over the past few weeks we fell in love with its rich culture, friendly locals, and beautiful scenery, and were lucky to wrap up our… Read More
This week started off heavy when we visited S-21 and the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh. For those of you who don’t know, S-21 stands for Security Office 21 which was originally a high school but was turned into a prison during the ruling of Pol Pot and the genocide (1975-1979). The number 21 stands for the 21st prison out of 167 prisons that existed during the genocide. At the… Read More
Susaday (Hello) families! For only being in Cambodia for a week we’ve already had a lot of new, eye-opening experiences. Our week started out in Battambang, volunteering at the Ptea Teuk Dong organization and then ended in Siem Reap, exploring ancient ruins.
We volunteered at an organization called Ptea Teuk Dong'(PTD) which in Khmer means ‘House of Coconut Water’. This is a non-profit organization that previously worked with sexually trafficked… Read More
As we look upon the ruins of a once prosperous city, visions of grand temples and elaborate ceremonies enter our minds. Once the capitol of Thailand and the largest trade hub of the Asian world, now left to trade in its stones for dust. The disintegrating stone temple towers loom high overhead each once serving its own distinct purpose. These ruins are a monument to a once great people now… Read More
