by Calvin Sun | Aug 6, 2011 | Epiphanies on the Road, Fit for Foodies, Myanmar, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea
The 66m long reclining buddha of Chaukhtatgyi Paya Traveling to Myanmar is like being in a time warp. Imagine a place untouched by McDonalds and Starbucks, where images of 1960s Southeast Asia become real life here. Cone-hat wearing villagers bike along a dirt road...
by Calvin Sun | Jul 28, 2011 | Bangladesh, Epiphanies on the Road, Introspection, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea
During the last 3 days in Bangladesh, I’ve come to develop a fondness for its brutal honesty. Given its complete lack of exposure to tourists and foreigners, rickshaw drivers and touts charge surprisingly such low fares that there’s very little need to haggle....
by Calvin Sun | Jul 20, 2011 | Epiphanies on the Road, India, Introspection, Lessons Learned, Let me tell you a Story..., Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Serendipitous!, Sri Lanka, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, The Nightlife
My last few hours in one of my favorite countries has been a riot. It seems fitting that India wouldn’t let me down. Stephanie and I booked a flight out from Chennai to Sri Lanka at 10am the next morning, while Karen was flying out of Chennai to Kochin around...
by Stephanie Quan | Jul 16, 2011 | Epiphanies on the Road, India, Introspection, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea
As a tourist (or traveler, a term Calvin prefers), we enter each city, see its sights, eat at the restaurants, and try to form a impression. This view, while vast geographically, is inherently shallow. Furthermore, up to this point in my travels, it has somewhat...
by Calvin Sun | Jul 12, 2011 | Epiphanies on the Road, India, Introspection, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, What Dreams May Come
I am alone. The desert gales wash my naked chest, and my bare feet burrow into the heat of the earth. I bathe in breathing moonlight. For a moment I can see God moving over the face of the sands. And I see only the desert. I feel a slight night...
by Calvin Sun | Jun 25, 2011 | Epiphanies on the Road, Introspection, Let me tell you a Story..., Nepal, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, What Dreams May Come
Doubt is useful for awhile. . . . But we must move on. To choose doubt as a philosophy of life is akin to choosing immobility as a means of transportation. – Life of Pi, Chapter 7 In the course of 6 hours on the bus from Kathmandu to Pokahara I have finished...
by Calvin Sun | Jun 19, 2011 | Epiphanies on the Road, Introspection, Jordan, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, What Dreams May Come
We are the only two foreigners. Scratch that — the only two Asians in a sea of local Jordanians and other Arabians. In a balcony cafe awash with the perfumed smoke of nargile, we overlook the quiet chaos of downtown Amman. For a moment, everything seems...
by Calvin Sun | Apr 23, 2011 | Epiphanies on the Road, New York, Post-travel Reflections, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, United States, What Dreams May Come
I took this shortly after landing from my South America trip 3 weeks ago, somewhere outside of JFK International Airport in NYC. I had forgotten about it until I found it in my memory card the other day. This image just gets to me; a memorial arrangement of...
by Calvin Sun | Apr 4, 2011 | April 2011: Peru & Colombia, Colombia, Epiphanies on the Road, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Peru, Post-travel Reflections, What Dreams May Come, You're Going to Miss It...
As I step back on the escalators leading down to the NYC Subway, I see how much of the last 9 days I can remember. I remember Lima; the way we danced around the fountains as they danced around us, the taste of Peruvian chicken in the middle of the night, getting our...
by Calvin Sun | Mar 31, 2011 | April 2011: Peru & Colombia, Colombia, Epiphanies on the Road, How Did You Do That?, Public Transportation
Within the moment I stepped in line to board my flight to Bogota, Colombia, I noticed the difference: I was the only foreigner on this plane. I’ve been used to this, having traveled more of my fair share on alternative routes in Southeast and South Asia, but it...
Recent Comments