this one’s for you, pops

Should any of you be under the mistaken impression that I’m even a little bit normal, I would like to clear it up once and for all. May I add that this lack of normalcy runs in the family.
I could try to explain the following pictures, but really, it’s not even worth it.
Dad, I knew [...]

parasites, chopsticks, and chicken dancing

And on to Shanghai! Shanghai is a very different city from anywhere else I’ve been on this trip, in that it’s huge and very modern. In fact, until recently, it boasted the tallest building in the world. (I thought it was still the Sears Tower…where have I been?) I’m not sure what the real name [...]

happy reunions

I left Thailand and headed to Kunming, China to enjoy a week with my college friends David and Marianne. I had such a fun time with them- it felt way too short. We ate great food, except for that one time that Marianne tried to get me to eat “pig’s sinew” (gross, Marianne). I forgot [...]

i love elephants. but not stomach viruses.

Last Sunday I hopped a plane from Kolkata to Chiang Mai, Thailand to spend a week volunteering at the Elephant Nature Park. Due to a nasty stomach virus I caught on the way to Thailand, I spent just as much of the week sulking in my bed as I did frolicking with elephants. And then, [...]

a story that simply must be shared

So I wrote about my volunteer work in Kolkata, but not about much else. There are so many other experiences that I could share, like regularly visiting our friendly neighborhood flair-filled chai man, or listening to a nightclub full of Indians screaming the words to Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall”, or getting intentionally [...]

safe and sound

For those of you who have sent worried messages, I’m neither in the midst of the Mumbai bombings nor in the Bangkok protests. I safely made it to Chiang Mai and had a really good week with elephants. Now I’m in the city of Chiang Mai and am loving Thailand. I leave on Thursday to [...]