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An Ode to Thai Food
This is Thailand: walk down the streetand you'll get whiff of that distinct chili heatAt any place, any hour on any day,the woks will surely be clinking awayWhen the pangs of hunger do appear,without a...
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10 Things I'll Miss About Living in Thailand
In many ways, this challenging semester illuminated for me that I could never permanently settle here and it was time to wrap up life in Thailand. Despite the occasional aggravations in my final...
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The Long-Awaited Long-Term Travel Begins!
Over summer holiday, I traveled around Asia for a couple months. Pretty soon upon departure, I knew I was hooked, and I wouldn't be able to go home without seeing more of this continent. I remember...
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Sisters do the South
I could not have asked for a better way to kick-off my extended travel than with my sisters and best friends.Having not seen my sister, Morgan, in over a year, 10 days in Thailand with her and her...
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Phi-Phi: Is it Pee-Pee or Paradise?
Living and traveling in Southeast for over a year, the name Koh Phi Phi (or Phi Phi Island) came up enough times to make me realize I had to see what the hype was all about.Phi Phi (pronounced Pee-Pee)...
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The Life of a Solo Traveler
"You're traveling the world, alone?!?!"Well, technically, I guess you could say that.Monkey Beach, Penang National Park, MalaysiaBut, as I try to explain to hesitant friends and family, I'm never...
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Everything is Nothing & Nothing is Everything
I got robbed in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.Every traveler's worst nightmare.I've heard stories of other unfortunate travelers. I've witnessed a sobbing woman whose bag was snatched from a motorbike on the...
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Corruption Junction, Cambodia
After my last post detailing how I was robbed in Phnom Penh, it's easy to understand how Cambodia was tainted for me from the get-go. Although I tried my best to judge the country unbiasedly, I was...
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Trekking to the Hill Tribes in Laos
Aboard a Bangkok-bound sleeper train, I am smiling -- not only because I'm thrilled to be back in Thailand, but also because of the wonderful memories Laos has left me with.A highlight of my two weeks...
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Malaysia on my Mind
Ever since I left a month and a half ago, Malaysia has been on my mind in one way or another. Although I wrote about some of my trip in Life As a Solo Traveler, I've been procrastinating writing about...
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Goodbye Southeast Asia, Hello South Asia
It's been 14 and a half months since I left Southeast Asia. In my final days in Thailand, I've been trying to figure out how to say goodbye to a place that has changed my life.Steaming hot Hoi Tod...
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Sri Lanka: Impossibly Beautiful
I was under a decade old when I was given my very first globe. I distinctly recall playing my favorite past-time one afternoon, spinning the globe and seeing what remote place my finger would land on,...
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2012 in Review: A Life Changing Year in Asia
Halfway through the first month of the new year, time has escaped me in India - thus my belated new year reflection.I thought 2011 was monumental for me, but never did I dream of the things that came...
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Got the India Bug
Intense.That's the best I can come up with in a word,yet that adjective barely scrapes the surface in describing the subcontinent. India is a country of stark contrasts: amazing and frustrating;...
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Employed in India for a Week
Four months on the go now - also the longest period of time that I've been unemployed since before I was even of a legal working age. From my very first paycheck back in the day, I started saving not...
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Bombay in a Day
I'm writing this on a grueling 25-hour train journey from Mumbai to Udaipur (in the northern state of Rajastan).After a few weeks wandering the south, I met up again with Avia and her new Israeli...
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Camping with Camels and Cacti
Camels are about as exciting to my Israeli friends, native to the middle-east, as cacti are to me growing up in the Sonoran desert of Arizona.Despite our previous exposure to cacti and camels, we...
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Living Like a Local in Pushkar
Everyone in Pushkar is either chanting, meditating, praying or on their way to do so. Most mornings begin with the sound of humming mantras, the days are filled with bathing and making puja in the holy...
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Connecting with Other Travelers
With Natalia from BrazilAnother top reason why I love traveling: the connections formed with other travelers. After a year and a half abroad, I feel lucky to have friends (and places to crash!) all...
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Varanasi: India on Steroids
Take everything completely over the top and culture shocking about India, times it by 100 - and welcome to Varanasi.The many ironies of India are further exaggerated and outrageous in Varanasi, one of...
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Happy Holi!
In some places in India, there are more festivals than there are days of the year. In fact, life in India is pretty much one big festival and they certainly know how to celebrate it.Though I've...
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Surprise, I'm Home!
By the time this posts, I will be home in America after a year and a half abroad.Since I made the decision to surprise my family 7 weeks ago when I booked my flight, the thought of putting words...
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Reverse Culture Shock is a Real Thing, People
Reverse culture shock is not only a real thing, it's a fascinating phenomenon.Many people experience varying forms of culture shock and notice different things about their own country after traveling...
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"People in America Eat Cow?!?!"
Well okay, maybe the 20-some Indian children staring at me didn't have the vocabulary to actually articulate that. But, if I learned anything from teaching English as a foreign language, it was how to...
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The Assimilation Dilemma: Appreciating the Past vs. Living in it
Fighting AssimilationMy body landed in the United States on April 6, 2013, after a year and half in Asia, while my mentality took the slow boat back to the homeland. It's taken two long months for me...
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