The week after my last blog was one of those landmark weeks. One of those in which everything that happened seemed serendipitously planned and you cannot wipe the smile off your face or the sense of satisfaction from your heart; when, if you take a second to just stop and look around, you wonder how you ended up here. It was the moment in which, even though you’ve been comfortable in your new place for weeks, in seems like someone flipped a switch and you suddenly feel home— you finally get the public transportation; you know the potholes to avoid on the road; you have your favorite market for the best avocados; your preferred tailor is programmed into your phone; local restaurant employees notice when you change your hair. It really all started that Tuesday, when, ... read more

Since I’ve last written, the skies over Liberia have continued to pour with reckless abandon and the daily pounding of liquid needles on tin rooftops has become my daily alarm clock. Almost immediately each morning, the melody and lyrics of Toto’s song pop into my head: I bless the rains down in AAAAfrica!…I passed some rains down in AAAAfrica! While this may sound like torture to some of you :), I revel in it quite a bit (both the song and the sleepy, cozy environment that rainy gray skies create). I’ve never been anywhere else that’s rivaled Kaua'i’s rainy seasons the way Liberia has this summer! Other than this consistency, though, nearly everything else has changed. I now write to you from the capital city of Monrovia, where the Farmbuilder... read more

Leaving Montreaux not too long after a short night's (morning's?) sleep after the Jazz Festival, Michael and I began what proved to be an unbelievably scenic train ride to Interlaken. We accidentally bought tickets for a much longer train ride than necessary, with two stopovers and train changes in Zweisimmen and Spiez, but it turned out to be a beautiful blessing in disguise. These trains snaked us slowly from low valleys with their verdant vineyards dramatically up into the Swiss Alps toward the Bernese Oberland region, with adorable rustic mountain towns in between. Blinding white snow covered the highest peaks that were getting closer and closer, while bright summer flowers bloomed everywhere in the green hills-- I fully expected Fräulein Maria to burst through the mountains belting The Sound of Music at any minute! The scenery ... read more

(Sorry for the delay of this entry) After a short and painless two-hour flight from Chiang Mai down to Phuket, we found ourselves in the reputed “paradise hotspot” of Southeast Asia. Many people told us to get out of Phuket immediately, using it only as a jump-off point to the surrounding outer islands. I would advise the same, but unfortunately, our flight landed too late for us to catch the day’s last ferry over to Koh Phi Phi Don, so we figured we’d just spend a night on Phuket. I wouldn’t say this was a mistake, per se, but I do understand why people tell you to get the hell out of there! The minivan shuttle ride from the airport to Karon Beach was extremely interesting—our driver made the tuk-tuk rides in Bangkok seem like a ... read more

Waking up early in hopes to get the first train tickets to Phitsanoluk (the closest train station to Sukhothai), we arrived at the Bangkok train station at 8:15am, but all tickets for the early trains had already sold out, so we got on the 10:30am train. Packs in tow, we hung out at the Bangkok Hualampong Station for a couple hours, reading, writing, and of course, drinking Thai iced teas. When we finally boarded the very full train, we were relieved to know that our second class car had air condition, but disappointed to see that all the windows were covered in years of dirt, hardwater stains, and other layers of cloudy material that rendered the windows nearly opaque. As part of the motivation to ride a train was to see the scenic route north, ... read more