by Lei Zhao | Feb 17, 2014 | August 2013: Lei Goes to China, China, Crisis, Doctor in the House, Guest Posts
The following is the last of 4 guest posts on China by Lei Zhao, who continues to contribute to the Monsoon Diaries adventures time and time again. Lei Zhao and I have been close friends since 7th grade of middle school. Saying that we’ve been...
by Calvin Sun | Feb 2, 2014 | Camping, Crisis, Fail, Guest Posts, How Did You Do That?, Lessons Learned, Macedonia, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Way Way Off the Beaten Path
The following is a guest post by Brandon Green of Brandon is Still Alive, who graciously asked if he could contribute to the Monsoon Diaries adventures. Brandon Green and I had taken the same Calculus III Honors class 9 years ago during my freshman year at...
by Calvin Sun | Dec 25, 2013 | Argentina, Blitzkrieg!!!, Border Crossing, Chile, Crisis, Doctor in the House, Fail, Getting that VISA, Lessons Learned, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan
Torres del Paine just got served It took more effort than what was necessary to get these views. After disembarking from the m/v Ortelius yesterday in Ushuaia and hopping on an evening flight to El Calafate with Anderson and Simon, I settled in America del Sur...
by Calvin Sun | Dec 24, 2013 | Antarctica, Crisis, How's the weather?, Lessons Learned, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Winter 2013: Antarctica, Winter 2013: Antarctica to Pakistan
The ride back across the Drake Passage from Antarctica was much much worse Day 4: There’s only 2 places in the world where you can sail directly into a volcano. The first one is Santorini, Greece (yawn), the second one is Deception Island in...
by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2012 | Crisis, December 2012: Eastern Europe, Fail, Public Transportation, Serendipitous!, Ukraine
So in pulling an all nighter after last night’s festivities, I made a major mistake of letting everyone sleep a little more. Instead of giving them about an hour before having to leave the hostel, I decided to wake everyone up about 20-30min before. What ended...
by Calvin Sun | Dec 29, 2011 | Crisis, December 2011: Spain, Gibraltar, Morocco, Portugal, Fail, How's the weather?, Lessons Learned, Morocco, Public Transportation
The good news is that we accomplished the challenge of making it to 3 countries/sovereignties in a single day. We got in and out of Gibraltar and got to see the Rock, we made it to the Algeciras ferry to Morocco, and we caught the 9:35pm train to Fez 5 minutes...
by Calvin Sun | Sep 25, 2011 | Crisis, Nepal, Post-travel Reflections
About 2 months ago I was extolling the wonders of seeing Mount Everest with my own eyes. I woke up today to read that the same Beechcraft 1900D turboprop airplane I had been on just crashed a few hours ago, killing all onboard: 2 Americans, 10 Indians, 6 Nepalese, and...
by Calvin Sun | Aug 18, 2011 | Crisis, Mythbusters, North Korea, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, Travel Warnings
The DMZ. Former president Bill Clinton had named it the “scariest place on Earth.” It is the most heavily militarized border in the world, with over a million soldiers ready to go to war at a moment’s notice if either side dared to cross the 38th...
by Calvin Sun | Aug 3, 2011 | Crisis, How's the weather?, Myanmar, Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, Walking Tours, What Dreams May Come
Remember the game we used to play when we were young? We’d see a flash of lightning, count the number of seconds before hearing the sound of thunder, and then multiply that number by the speed of sound to find out how far away that lightning strike was? I tried...
by Calvin Sun | Jul 19, 2011 | Crisis, India, Let me tell you a Story..., Summer 2011: From the Middle East to North Korea, Travel Warnings
Madurai at night. Back on the road: literally hit the ground running. Before beginning, we treat ourselves to free access to Amex Platinum’s Lounge Stephanie, having no interest in seeing Madurai, stayed behind Mumbai an extra few hours...
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