Home Sweet Home

I’m now on the plane from Seoul, South Korea, heading to Chicago, about to step foot on American soil for the first time since May. So much has happened in the past seven months. Kakamega feels like an eternity ago, not to mention life as a college student at Duke. On my customs card I had to list the countries I had been to since last being in America, which sent me on a nice trip down memory lane. Kenya (plus a little bit of Uganda and Tanzania), on to Australia, with a nice 10 days in New Zealand, on to Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia before finally coming back full circle.

My time abroad has definitely expanded my worldview. I absolutely love Charlotte, North Carolina, and the USA, but there is also a whole world out there to explore. I can really see myself living outside the USA, a possibility I never would have taken seriously last year. I also had the great experience of stepping out of my comfort zone. I remember landing in Kisumu, Kenya, not knowing the language, the customs or anyone other than a few Duke students who I wouldn’t be living or working with. I had never traveled outside the US without my parents. For the first time in my life I was able to integrate into an entirely new culture, learning parts of the language, eating the local food, making friends, and feeling at home in a whole new place. I got to have real influence in an international microfinance NGO. Just last week, Denis, one of the Business Mentors I recruited, emailed me to fill me in on the success of the pump project. I definitely miss my coworkers and host family. One day, my host dad hopes to visit Charlotte and the US and I will be here waiting to greet him when he does.

Next thing I knew I was on a plane, with malaria, heading to Sydney. I had no Duke friends going to the University of Sydney with me and didn’t know anyone I was living with. It was a chance to meet new people, try new things, and make new friends. While Australian culture is more similar to American culture than Kenyan culture is, I enjoyed mingling with my Aussie friends and hearing their stories. I was able to take classes that I couldn’t have taken at Duke and I met so many awesome people. I was able to travel to the Gold Coast, Brisbane, Cairns, Melbourne, Perth, the Blue Mountains, and even New Zealand!

And then I went on an unexpected Asian adventure. I embarked on a trip going to a country where my friends and I had no contacts and didn’t speak a word of the language. And it was awesome. We hopped around from country to country, city to city, hostel to hostel, and met so many awesome people, both locals and travelers, along the way. All of my travels with my family have been awesome, but in addition to the planned out tours and landmarks, I gained a whole new appreciation for spontaneous traveling with friends.

After the longest day of my life (literally, not figuratively, it has been December 4 for 36 hours), I have successfully made it all the way around the world and am home. I get to sleep in my bed again, hug my parents, and see my brothers, relatives, and friends within the next few weeks. I am so glad I was able to have these experiences abroad. I hope you have enjoyed the little snippets of my life in the past 200 days, thanks for reading! Kwaheri!

Tomb Raiding

After a very early morning, we flew from the capital of Laos to Siem Reap to begin our Holiday in Cambodia. We arrived at our guesthouse, Angkor Wonder, run by two awesome Cambodian friends who spoke great English, were extremely friendly, and gave us the biggest room we have had all trip for a grand total of $7. While Cambodia’s official currency is the riel, trading at 4000 riel to 1 USD, most purchases of more than a dollar are done in American currency.

We wasted no time in getting to Siem Reap’s ancient temples by tuktuk with our new favorite driver, Myce. He started us off at Angkor Wat, meaning City Temple, not only because it was the main temple of the city of Siem Reap, but also because the temple itself was large enough to be a city. We climbed through, admiring the ancient bass reliefs that stretched for 600 meters around the perimeter. We explored it for hours, peaking into each nook and cranny, admiring the scale of the temple and the incredible detail of each statue and carving. When we were ready to move on to the next temple, we simply stepped outside of Angkor Wat and Myce appeared from out of nowhere, to take us on to Angkor Thom.

After many more awesome temples, we arrived at our last temple, Angkor Thom, sometimes called the Tomb Raider temple, because it was the setting of the Angelina Jolie movie “Tomb Raider.” Angkor Wat was unsurpassable in terms of beauty and sheer magnificence, but when it came to adventure, I much preferred Angkor Thom. We wandered through the tomb and never went under the ropes that sectioned off the forbidden areas, but we soon ended up somewhere we knew we weren’t supposed to be. We were climbing over rubble of the crumbling temple and through tree roots without any tourists in sight. Then, an old Cambodian man appeared from the shadows and beckoned us to follow him. We turned and looked at each other, feeling a little bit apprehensive about this stranger, but we had a good feeling about him so wen followed him. He didn’t speak any English but he led us through the temple to more secret places within the temple. He showed us awesome trees and secret connecting passages. He took us into one small room and beat his chest once with his closed fist and the sound reverberated and was amplified throughout the whole room. He showed us that doing this seven times in the certain spot that produced the echo was good luck, so we followed suit. At the end of his awesome mini tour, we got a picture with him and thanked him for an awesome time. We stepped out of Angkor Thom and of course Myce had us in his tuktuk in a matter of seconds, as he took us back to the less touristy back entrance to Angkor Wat where we watched one of the most memorable sunsets of my life.

That night we really wanted a good feel Cambodian cuisine and Myce knew just the place. For just a few bucks, we had all you can eat self-cooked Cambodian barbeque. There was a small charcoal heat source in the middle of our table, covered by a metal dish that contained hot water on the outside and a raised part in the middle to cook meat. We mixed in vegetables, tofu, all sorts of meat, lots of noodles, and of course a plethora of Cambodian spices and sauces, to create some scrumptious Cambodian barbeque soup. After a complimentary sip of snake whiskey (trust me, a sip is all you are going to want to drink) and a nice walk home, the five of us cuddled up and watched Tomb Raider the movie, pointing out all the places we had been.

Sadly, Friday was our last full day in Asia. We spent it going out on a boat to see a really interesting “floating village” that was completely built on stilts above water. We saw people rowing their way to the one temple in the town, clusters of boats with fruits and vegetables for sale, and even an isolated floating school that could only be reached by boat (or quite a swim!). We went on past the river village into the lake where we swam and enjoyed the warm Asian water one last time, imagining the frigid temperature of any water in North Carolina in December.

From Siem Reap we took a six-hour bus on to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. Phnom Penh is definitely the biggest city we visited in our three weeks in Asia. There were big office buildings, almost everything was priced in dollars, and things were a bit more expensive than they had been in Laos or Thailand. We decided it was a good way to prepare us for our imminent return to America. We got in late that night so we happily settled for ice cream and pizza for dinner. We stayed up late reminiscing about the trip, sad that it was about to come to a close.

On Saturday morning we took a tuktuk out to a depressing yet historically significant part of Cambodia’s history: Choeung Ek, also know as “The Killing Fields.” In 1975, Pol Pot, a communist dictator, came into power. He eradicated the monetary system, outlawed any personal possessions, and demanded a tripling of rice production. Pol Pot ordered a mass execution of any intellectuals, professionals, and anyone who wasn’t a farmer. From 1975 to 1979, 1.3 million people were executed, and many more died from disease and starvation during the tyrannical rule. I couldn’t believe that this tragedy had happened, and that I had never learned about it in history class or even heard about it. While it was a morbid way to spend our last morning, the fields were a very moving place and I’m glad we learned their significance.

On a less somber note, we moved on to Phnom Penh’s huge markets, where we shopped around and enjoyed some awesome, and awesomely cheap, noodles. We wandered further to see Wat Phnom, the huge temple built in 1363 that the city was named after. As it got darker and closer to time to leave, the five of us made it to the night market to enjoy one last meal together. Charlie, Jimmy, and I had a flight out that night while Claudia and Sibel were staying for another 10 days of their Asian adventure. We said our sad goodbyes and we were off, homeward bound.

Struggle Bus

On Saturday morning we boarded the struggle bus going from Huay Xai to Luang Prabang. It was a public bus that was supposed to take 12 hours. Of course it left late, we were the only nonnatives on the bus, and no one spoke any English. When I got on the bus, I couldn’t even see the floor because the entire isle was covered in huge 50kg bags of rice. I had to walk over them, as well as people’s luggage piled high to get to my cramped seat in the back corner. We stopped about an hour in and pulled into a lumberyard where people proceeded to load planks wood on the roof of the bus for a solid hour. At one point after leaving with all of the wood, I looked out the window and saw a foot of one of the wood loaders just hanging off the side of the bus. Welcome to Laos. To make matters worse, the most obnoxious pop music was blaring from a speaker right above my head for the entire 14-hour trip. We almost didn’t get off when we arrived at 2am because no one spoke English well enough to confirm that we were actually at Luang Prabang. It was definitely a struggle.

Thankfully, Luang Prabang did not disappoint. We befriended a new sandwich lady, who also sold Oreo banana shakes for 5000 kip (~60 cents). Needless to say we had many. We explored the town and checked out what the street vendors had to offer. We climbed up the massive hill in the center of town to the summit where Wat Chom Si stood. It was awesome to see the whole city from above, watching the Mekong and Khan Rivers snake their way around the perimeter of Luang Prabang. The temple itself was also very interesting; it was made up of multiple shallow caves meant for meditation. From there we went to Kuang Si Falls, which was just what we needed after a hot day (well, that and more smoothies). We climbed up to the top of the falls and looked out on the wonderful Laotian mountainous landscape. We played in the falls, swam all around, and had a lot of fun with the rope swing. After such a taxing day we all got Laotian massages to wind down.

 

The next day, we explored the river town further, finding a mouth watering bakery that sold the most amazing banana bread for only 4000 kip (50 cents). I have been particularly partial toward bananas this trip because they were the most expensive in Sydney, trading at $12 a kilo, so these are the first bananas I’ve had since Kenya. We also ventured on to the country’s oldest temples, Wat Xieng Thong. Built in 1560, the temple is one of the country’s oldest and most historically significant temples. It was great to see the entire temple complex, from where the monks meditate to where they live alongside the river. I definitely have a greater appreciation for the way monks live after spending 30 hours with monks in Chiang Mai. We were unfortunately not awake to see it but every morning in Luang Prabang at 6am, all of the monks go out into the town and people bring food to offer them, free of charge. It really integrates the Buddhist way of life into the town and gave the whole area a great community culture.

Wishing we could have stayed longer but excited for our next stop, we boarded our next bus on to Vang Vieng. Thankfully, this ride was much less of a struggle. It was only five hours, we had a bit more room, no rice, no wood, and no music playing on full volume. When we arrived in Vang Vieng, we instantly realized that it was a touristy but lively place. Music was playing, people were calling out to each other, and generally everyone was enjoying themselves. We walked down the main street that our guesthouse was on and every single restaurant was playing the TV show Friends. We took a seat at one of them, ordered some green curry, and proceeded to be mesmerized by the commercial free TV series. We called it a night relatively early so we could get up the next morning for what the town was known for: river tubing.

When I woke up the next morning, I stepped out onto our balcony and saw the serene river flowing by just 50 meters away with colossal mountains looming only a couple of hundred meters beyond. Because we had arrived after sunset the night before, I had completely missed the stunning view. Eager to beat the crowd to the start of the river, we rented tubes, grabbed the underwater camera, jumped on a tuktuk, and started our adventure. We quickly realized that the river was just one big gathering of people enjoying the sun, the water, and Laos. The entire river was covered by bars and restaurants, left and right, blaring music and attracting people as they tubed down the river. We went from one restaurant to another on our tubes or just swimming through the refreshing water. There were floating picnic benches where we grabbed a bite to eat. We played foosball at one restaurant and threw a Frisbee around at another. As the day went on and we moved down the river, more and more people started flocking, the music got louder, and everyone was having a great time. At one point everyone at one of the bars stood up and did a choreographed dance to “We No Speak No Americano.” We quickly caught on and joined in, of course, putting on quite some entertainment for the people floating downstream. Many of the restaurants had huge rope swings or big towers where you could run jump off into the river where it was deep enough. Overall we had a great day relaxing in the sun, floating downstream. After a night of casual fire limbo, we called it a day.

Now we are spending a short day in Vientiane, the capital of Laos, before we wake up tomorrow at 3:30AM to catch a flight to Cambodia, the last leg of our Asian adventure. Laos has been awesome, especially the Gibbon experience and river rafting in Vang Vieng. But I am really excited to see one of the Seven Wonders of the World tomorrow!

Thanksgibboning

We took a picturesque boat ride from Chang Kong, Thailand across a river into Huay Xai, Laos as we took our next step in our Asian adventure. Immediately after crossing over the river, I felt like I was in a different place. We could still see the Thailand to the west from our guesthouse as the sun set over it, but we were definitely in Laos. In the border town of Huay Xai, very few people spoke English, compared to Thailand where most guesthouses have at least one English speaker on staff. While this should feel normal, I was actually very surprised when I realized that people drive on the right side of the road! Coming from Kenya, Australia, and New Zealand where people drive on the left, I hadn’t had oncoming traffic on my right for six months. The currency is also slightly different. In Thailand, the currency is the baht, which trades at about 30 baht to 1 USD. In Laos, the Kip is used, and it takes about 8000 Kip to make a dollar. That required a bit of mental math adjustment. On the upside, I got to be a millionaire (in Kip) for a minute!

We wandered off the boat and explored Huay Xai, which unlike its booming Thai counterpart, Chang Kong, consisted of pretty much one street. Glad to have made it across the river before the border closed, we asked around where a nice affordable place to stay was and wandered in to what one of the street vendors had recommended. At first it looked fine and was reasonably priced so we went for it. Bad move. We quickly learned that the bathrooms had no real plumbing; all of the water just emptied on to the slanted floor and into a drain. It was a “shared bathroom” which really meant go downstairs to use the owner’s personal bathroom which consisted of her hanging underpants and a standing pool of water that looked like it came straight out of the horror movie Saw. Of course the electricity didn’t work and the owner didn’t speak a word of English. Without a doubt, our favorite part of the town was “the sandwich lady,” whose name we later found out was Gang Gong. She is the most outspoken, intense, street vendor I have ever met. Because her English wasn’t amazing and she knew what brought travelers to Huay Xai, she prepared signs to grab the attention, along with her voice, of passing voyagers. She sold us food, water, and flashlights we needed for the next two days and let us play with her daughter, endearingly named “Money.” We laughed about our time with Gang Gong and made the most of our accommodation as we eagerly awaited the Gibbon Experience.

The next morning we happily escaped from our worst accommodation of the trip and headed out into the jungles of Laos to set off on our two-day adventure. The Gibbon Experience is an adventurer’s tour of the jungle home of the gibbon monkeys, involving hiking, ziplining, and exploring with a local Laotian guide. We met up with a British couple and a pair of German girls and with that, we were off. Tam, our guide led us through the twisted pathways of the jungle until we reached a dead end in the trail. At first thinking we had made a wrong turn, I looked out into an opening in the trees and saw not only a beautiful mountain landscape, but also a 400m zipline crossing from our current ridge to the one of the mountains in the distance. Harnessed up, we flew across the canopy, looking out to the beautiful mountain landscape and down to the gigantic trees and ground floor more than 100m below. After getting over that adrenalin rush, we walked another minute or two and got on yet another line, this one 600m long! After a few hours of walking and many more zip lines with spectacular views, we made it to our lodging for the night: the treehouse.

The night before we had been wondering how we were going to get up to the house. We had guessed a giant ladder or stairs cut into the trunk. But when we finally reached our lodging, we found that the only way in or out was by a zipline.

Excuse the tilt, I was on a zipline!

The treehouse was absolutely amazing. The bottom floor was the “entrance” with the zip line and a bathroom with running water, a shower, and quite a view. Heading upstairs we reached the main floor with a 360 panorama of the jungle, a table, and sleeping mattresses under bed nets. And on the top floor was the “luxury suite” as we like to call it; an open area with three mattresses where Jimmy, Charlie, and I slept. We were welcomed into our temporary home with fresh fruit and Laotian wine, took a quick nap, and headed back out into the jungle for more trekking and many more ziplines. The lines became more and more comfortable and the views more stunning as the sun started to set on the mountaintops. We made it back to the treehouse just before sunset and when we arrived we had a hot, delicious Laotian meal prepared. I could get used to living like that. After a late night of card games, jokes, riddles, and travel stories, we awoke with the sunlight, ready to explore even more of the jungle for a few hours before breakfast. After eating yet another great meal, we packed up and zipped our way back to the town of Huay Xai. Over the two days we covered a good amount of ground, zipping for a total of about 15km!

When we got back to town, we went straight to the bus stop to get tickets for the overnight bus to Luang Prabang. The merchant confirmed that there was room for five people and confirmed the price, but just pulling out my wallet he decided to tell me that there were no more seats. This was pretty unfortunate because we have pretty tight travel plans but we made the most of our extra night in Huay Xai. After vowing never to step foot in the Saw house from two nights previous, we found new accommodation that was infinitely better. It was about 30,000 kip more, which works out to about a dollar per person, and it was worth every kip. We had clean sheets, working electricity, and running water, and a spectacular view of the river and Thailand. That night we celebrated Sibel’s birthday by going to Huay Xai’s finest restaurant in town, which sure beat turning 20 on an overnight bus. We ran into the British couple from the Gibbon Experience, Pete and Lisa, and we ended up hanging out with them, sharing stories and having a good time, until it was finally time to go to bed.

Huay Xai wasn’t exactly our favorite town in Asia, but overall the three nights we spent there were a lot of fun. The zip lines were amazing, the views were breathtaking, and the people we met (can’t forget Gang Gong!) were very friendly. Although it wasn’t quite a turkey dinner in America, it was definitively a Thanksgibboning I won’t forget.

Same Same But Different

In Thailand, there is a saying many of the locals use that goes “same same but different.” We didn’t really grasp its meaning until we got to Chiang Mai. Arriving after dark in an unknown city, we were glad we had written down the name and address of our guesthouse. We made a taxi friend named Cham who told us about all of his customers from all over the world that he had driven around the city day after day as he took us to Chaba House. We asked him whether Chaba was a nice place in a good location, like all the ads said online, and he hesitantly said, “you’ll see.” After a longer cab ride than we expected, we pulled into what looked like an unlit neighborhood. At first we thought Cham might have led us astray but there sat Chaba House with its flickering signs. We knocked and were met by a confused Thai teenager who didn’t speak a word of English. We told him about our reservation we had reserved for four beds. We pulled out papers and iPhones and confirmation numbers but weren’t getting through to him. We resorted to a “big room” hand motion but still no dice. After failing to communicate with him, he just opened up two rooms for us. After getting settled in, we met an American staying at the hostel who pointed out our location on a map. It was quite far out of the center of town, unlike what the website had promised. With the sketchy neighborhood, apparent lack of a room with four beds, and the terrible location, we figured something was going on. We rechecked our receipt and realized we had made quite a mistake: our reservation was at Chada House, not Chaba House. Cham picked us up as soon as we called and took us to our proper lodging which was right in the Old City, near the night markets and bazars and it even had a room with four beds and a proprietor who spoke English. Chada and Chaba: same same but different.

We wasted no time heading out and exploring Chiang Mai. It has an Old City that sits within a perfect square, surrounded by a moat on all four sides. Within the Old City, there are parks and schools and amazing temples around almost every street corner. We took a day trip with Chada’s owner, JoJo, in the back of his truck. He took us out to see the tiger sanctuary where we saw tigers from baby newborns to fully grown beasts. Despite how ferocious they appear, these animals were incredibly friendly and playful, so we went inside the cage to join them.

That night we explored the night markets that run all along the central part of the southern moat of the Old City. After being on Phi Phi Island that was populated primarily by tourists, the night market was a welcomed change where we were the only tourists in sight. We shopped around the huge market with about 75 stalls of food and more food. We had authentic Thai dishes with tongue twisting names for less than a dollar. After eating as much street food as we possibly could, we wandered out of the Old City to a Thai boxing arena we had heard about. Sure enough, the locals directed us to the right place. It was a big arena but about half way through we realized that no one really cared where you sat so we moved up and sat right up next to the ring and saw some full on Thai boxing.

I woke up on Saturday morning to a beautifully harmonized happy birthday from parents and a wonderful surprise Skype with many of my friends back at Duke. And as if that wasn’t a good enough way to start the day, Jimmy, Charlie, and I went off to ride elephants through the forests of Thailand. We got to ride on top of elephants, which was an amazing feeling. We brought a bag of bananas and some bamboo sticks to feed the elephants but once the one I was riding found out that I had food, he used it to his advantage. Every 50 meters, he would stop moving and put his trunk up over his head, refusing to move until I gave him another offering of food. Smart animal. We got to play with the elephants from the ground, petting and feeding even more. They really are fascinating animals and so much fun to interact with. Jimmy even got a nice sloppy kiss from one of them. After leaving our ginormous friends behind, we hiked deeper into the forest to an awesome waterfall where we had lunch. We passed through a hill tribe, but unfortunately it was more of a tourist attraction than an authentic village experience. We went down the river and boarded a bamboo raft, something I never thought I would ride on. Despite the fact that the majority of the bamboo was underwater and we were sure it was going to sink at any time, our fearless leader got us to our pick up spot and we made it back to the Old City. That night we went to a new market that was even bigger. They close down one of the big streets every Saturday and set up hundreds and hundreds of stalls selling everything from crafts to clothes to Thai food. I treated myself to birthday Pad Thai and the most amazing banana waffle I had had in a long time. It was the first waffle I had had since leaving the US in May so it tasted even better. After walking down the market for more than an hour and without reaching the end, we decided to turn around and continue the night. At JoJo’s recommendation, we went out to the finest of Chiang Mai’s Saturday nightlife to conclude an amazing 21^st birthday.

The next morning, our two travelling companions from Sydney, Sibel and Claudia, appeared at our door in Chada House, ready for a Thai cooking class. We went to a fresh produce market to see all the ingredients behind what we had been eating the past week. We arrived at the cooking school whose banner read, “Our food is guaranteed to make you look pregnant” and we knew we were in the right place. With great leadership from the cooking staff, I started chopping and mixing and cooking at the wok and before I knew it, Pad Thai magically appeared in front of me! I had no idea it was so feasible to cook and can’t wait to cook Thai food when I get back to the US. The five of us all made different dishes so we could taste test and share tips with each other afterward. After devouring my Pad Thai, I moved on to making Penang Curry from scratch and then making a curry and rice dish out of it, also delicious. I made a coconut based Tom-Yom soup and for dessert: caramelized banana with ice cream. After a full day of cooking and eating we could barely move so we did the only logical thing we could think of: we got oil massages.

On Monday we got up early for a different type of experience that is very difficult to explain in either words or pictures. It is something that I highly recommend you experiencing for yourself. Charlie, Jimmy, and I split up from the girls to go to a Buddhist temple, Wat Umong, about 15km into a small forest outside of the center of town. When we arrived we were instructed to put on all white clothes and went straight into a meal completely in silence. Little did we know that was our last meal of the day. From there we were given brooms to sweep the fallen leaves off the paths that the monks and we were walking. One of the monks then came up to us, gave us minimal instruction, and told us to meditate. We then went out across the vast property and tried to clear our minds and gave us a few words of wisdom on how to meditate and then we were sent out to find inner peace (easier said than done). That night we had a discussion with one of the monks on some of the Buddhist teachings and the challenges of meditation. We then chanted for about an hour out of the prayer books and called it a night at 9pm with some “reclining meditation,” sleeping in individual rooms on the cold tiled floor with a blanket. We got up at 4:30am (yikes) for more chanting and meditation. It was much easier to keep unwanted thoughts out of my concentration by the second day. After many more hours of solitude, we left the temple about 30 hours after we had arrived. It really was a peaceful and enriching experience and if you ever have the chance, I highly recommend meditation with monks. It was a great way to spend our last two days in Thailand.

We just crossed the border into Laos and are in a town called Huay Xai. I can see Thailand from my hostel (quote Sarah Palin)! Tomorrow we embark on one of the parts of the trip I am most excited for: the Gibbon Experience. Tell you all about it when we get back!

Pad Thai in Paradise

And we’re off! After a quick day in Perth, Australia’s biggest city on the west coast, Charlie, Jimmy, and I were on a plane to Phuket, Thailand. Because my last exam was on November 10, my friends in the US will be in school until mid December, and Duke doesn’t start again until mid January, we decided to take a bit of a round about way back to the US – via Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia. With our entire luggage from an entire semester in Sydney on our backs, we set out an epic Asian adventure.

First stop: Phuket. Phuket is a peninsula town in southern Thailand that we flew into from Perth. We found out pretty quickly that we weren’t in Kansas any more as soon as we stepped off the plane. We were barraged by tons of tour groups, taxi drivers, and salesmen, fighting to get us into their cars. Other than the heat, the people, and the chaos, we happily welcomed the lower prices, which we gladly welcomed to make up for our time in Sydney. After finding our guesthouse we headed straight for the Pa Tong beach. The temperature was absolutely perfect: the air was warm but not sweltering and the water was so refreshing but not cold enough for us ever to want to leave. We body surfed and napped on the beach finally able to relax and celebrate the completion of our exams. When we got hungry of course we had to go for the Pad Thai, even better than Newtown but not as different from Aussie Thai food as I had expected. That night went explored the night markets, finding our way to Phuket’s finest street food and for dessert? McFlurry at McDonalds. We wandered our way into an underground market at about 10pm that was clearly closed down. There was one stall that was just packing up but welcomed us anyway. They had a tank full of small fish called doctor fish that therapeutically clean and regenerate your feet by eating the dead skin off. Immediately jumping on the opportunity (we had heard good things from other travelers), we stuck our feet in the water and had the most ticklish and giddy experience imaginable. Then we called it a night because we had a ferry to catch in the morning.

The real reason we came to Phuket is that it was our passage onto of Thailand’s beautiful islands, specifically Phi Phi Don Island. The small island had no cars or tuk-tuks that dominated the streets on the mainland. Instead, there were small footpaths that people walked day and night. The island was filled with authentic Thai restaurants, shops, a beach (of course), and acres of forest. To get a better feel for the island, we hiked up to a viewpoint overlooking the island and that’s when we really knew we were on vacation. We wasted no time finding our favorite Thai restaurant with all the classic Thai food you see in the states plus another menu full of other dishes I had never heard of. We tried pretty much everything on the menu by the time we left the island five days later. And for dessert? No McDonalds on this island, we had “Thai pancakes” which really means banana Nutella crepes. Yum.

The next morning we went on an all day boat tour around Phi Phi Don and its smaller, uninhabited neighbor, Phi Phi Le. We went kayaking around and snorkeled with angle fish. We went to Monkey Beach where we saw tons of monkeys. They turned out to be a bit more aggressive than I had anticipated and had a bit of a rumble with a few of them. The highlight of the day was definitely going to Maya Bay, otherwise known as THE Beach, from the 2000 Leonardo DiCaprio movie.








The movie is about a man searching for meaning in his life and winds up on a quest to find this pristine beach on a secret island. He ends up living on the beach with people trying to keep it secret to maintain its natural beauty. THE Beach is incredibly beautiful but it is sad to see how overpopulated it has become since the release of the movie, especially since the movie as all about keeping the serenity of Maya Bay intact. After watching the sunset on the ocean right outside Maya Bay, we headed back to the mainland for hour-long Thai massages. The massages were so good we could barely get out of the massage beds and seriously considered spending the night in the massage parlor.

On our last full day on the island, we went SCUBA diving in the Andaman Sea. While it wasn’t quite the rainbow of coral in the Great Barrier Reef, it was quite a site to see and a great day of diving. On our first dive we saw boxfish, heaps of coral, entire schools of thousands of tiny fish, and a beautiful green turtle. Our second was a bit more daring; we were shark hunting. We went out to a dive site known for black tip sharks. And we found them. After descending to 18 meters below the water, we saw about 20 sharks darting back and forth along the ocean shore. We surfaced for some yummy Thai food onboard and befriended the dive staff on the boat on our way back to the dock. That night, our last night on the island, we decided to venture out to the beach on the island where there were 10 bars lined up playing music of all sorts, projecting the sound out to the ocean. We ended up at the same bar that our SCUBA company frequented and enjoyed the night hanging out and swapping diving stories. The next day got on a plane and headed north. Next stop Chiang Mai.

Goodbye, Mate!

To call my last week in Australia a whirlwind would be an understatement. I got off the plane from New Zealand on Monday morning and then proceeded to take exams on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, unlike the rest of my friends whose exams were nicely spaced along the two possible. Thankfully I had been keeping up with my classes so finals weren’t too bad. After finishing my econometrics exam on Thursday, I had 20 hours to pack everything up, clean the apartment, say goodbye to everyone, and get my life together before flying out of Sydney.

It was sad to leave the land of OZ; I had never lived in one place out of the US for four months before. I experienced a new way of life (relax!) and picked up some Aussie lingo. I learned a lot academically in all four of my classes and really enjoyed all of my professors. I’m going to miss living in Sydney, just a short walk from the heart of a city bustling with 5 million people. I’m definitely going to miss the 20 Thai restaurants in Newtown (if only I was traveling to somewhere with Thai food…) and the weekly Tuesday $5 Dominos pizzas. I’m going to miss having a rock climbing gym less than five minutes from my house. I’m going to miss Sydney’s campus, but excited for Duke’s. I’m going to miss cooking almost every night with my roommates. I’m going to miss the SCUBA diving in Sydney, not to mention the Great Barrier Reef. And I’m going to miss having the ability to take a random weekend trip to Tasmania or the Blue Mountains.

But most of all, I’m going to miss the people I’ve met and the friends I’ve made during my time down under. My roommates and travel buddies have been so much fun to get to know. My friends from classes and group projects have given me a true look into life as an Aussie. My adult friends including the Stevensons, the Wongs, and Jane have kindly had an eye out for me during my stay. And of course my rock climbing mates from all around the world (Argentina, Antarctica, Spain, Australia, Sweden, Norway) who I’ve gone on so many adventures with.

I already have plans to meet up with a few of my American friends I met abroad but I have no idea when or even if I will ever see most of my Aussie friends again. But I had a blast getting to know them and I am confident we will keep in touch. I say this about just about every country I travel to, but I’ve got a feeling that someday, I’ll be back.