mon•soon män-ˈsün, ˈmän-ˌverb

1 : to travel despite limited time and money

2 : to take advantage of one’s youth in sampling all of the world so one may know where to return and enjoy when older

3 : to efficiently and thoroughly explore vast regions of the world in a short amount of time

Examples of MONSOON

• “The intrepid backpackers planned to monsoon through South Asia, the Middle East and into Eastern Europe within 3 weeks time.”

Origin of MONSOON

• From the original word monsoon, inspired by the behavior of a periodic wind and heavy rainfall covering a large region of the Earth

First known use: May 2010

THE MONSOON DIARIES: It was 2006. His father had died from a sudden heart attack and life didn’t quite make much sense anymore. In the weeks after the funeral, Calvin was cleaning out his father’s closet when a pair of camera lenses fell into his hands. Wiping the dust off and finding them a new home, he promised that he would one day put them to good use.

Another few years would pass until Calvin came across a picture of Halong Bay. Unable to tear himself away from the idea that such a place could exist, he decided to travel. But a kind of travel where nothing would stop him, time or money be damned. However, his friends gawked that he wouldn’t, that he was a medical student, that he didn’t have the funds, that he was insane, or that he would burn out. To prove them wrong and to prove it to himself, Calvin started a blog: The Monsoon Diaries was born.

51 countries and 36 months later (AND about to graduate from med school on time!), Calvin is still moving. His mission has been and always will be: monsoon the world, break down the stereotypes, dispel the ignorance, and uncover the obscure. And with his father’s lenses by his side, Calvin knows that wherever he’ll be, he’ll never be alone.

Want to join him on his next adventure? Just ask!

About Calvin

It takes just the right conditions for a monsoon to form. For CALVIN SUN, it was the sudden loss of his father, an unexpected parting gift of camera lenses, a picture of Halong Bay, and a serendipitous trip to Egypt (and unexpectedly being left there alone) that stirred up the inexorable winds of wanderlust in him.

He found himself paradise lost in the crevices and hidden coves of the Halong Bay of his mind, and knew he had to dig his feet in faraway sands. His father left him with a yearning inquisitiveness that couldn’t be satiated until he captured the perfect shot of Halong Bay for himself. And Egypt had taught him that it wasn’t just the destination that mattered; how he journeyed there and whom he would meet were just as essential. It was while left to his own devices in Egypt with no guide but his own imagination that he decided to launch the bold experiment that’s become The Monsoon Diaries: just how many far flung destinations you’ve only ever read about could you go to in one short sprint of a trip on a limited budget?