- In mid December, I travelled to Nepal with my friends Charley, Patrick, Anna, and June to do a trek on the Annapurna Circuit. We had about a week on the trail and a week off the trail exploring the country and it was a great experience. The highlights of my trip were firstly spending the day at the epic look out point Poon Hill in Ghorepani and getting separated from my friends and lost the following day. Through coincidence and luck, we found each other the following morning and continued our trek problem-free.
- From Kathmandu, my friend Anna and I flew through India, where we spent the night in the airport, back to Bangkok in Thailand. That evening, we met my good friends Jesse and Adisson who had arrived the day before. We happened to arrive on New Years Eve, so we all went and celebrated on the legendary backpacker's street, Khao San Road. The following day Jesse, Adi, and I head to Koh Phangan, where we spent a few days and celebrated the Full Moon Party. After that, we head to Ko Tao where the three of us became scuba dive certified and my world expanded tremendously. The act of breathing underwater while exploring unimaginable realms of existence was an experience I hope to recreate very soon. During one dive, I was suddenly very sure that we were swimming in the womb of the planet, that which all life on earth has originally evolved from. Until this experience, I was very much afraid of being deep underwater. Not only did diving help me face one of my largest fears, it put me in touch with a tremendous chunk of this planet that I hadn't previously considered exploring.
- After about 11 days with my friends Jesse and Adi, I head back to Chiang Mai to begin my spring semester. Oddly enough, the orientation for the new students this semester was beginning just as my songthaew (red truck) pulled into our apartment complex. Since coming back to Chiang Mai, my life has continued to be the whirlwind it was during that month of travel. I immediately clicked with a handful of the new students and, along with other yearlong students, we have all been having such a blast. My friends came to Chiang Mai for a handful of days after they were finished exploring the South (we parted after Ko Tao) and it was so fun to show them the city and have them stay with me. Adisson's girlfriend Ali came along as well this time and it was great to meet her!
- Shortly after Adi, Ali, and Jesse left Chiang Mai, I head to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with my group of gal pals. It was quite a different city than Chiang Mai but that made it very interesting. Malaysia is a Muslim country, so the very way the city is orgnaized with prayer rooms and such is significant. Besides Kuala Lumpur, we visited a part of the country called the Cameron Highlands, which was about a 4 hour drive away. The bus we rode was the most luxurious bus of my life and it was well worth getting out of the city and into the beautiful mountains and forests. We had a fantastic time exploring a tea plantation, the Mossy Forest, a strawberry farm, and an insect and small animal zoo.
This experience all continues to be quite surreal. Thank you everyone for reading and enjoying the video. Khob khun mak kha!!
