We started off the trip visiting Tokyo, Japan. Japan is pretty much a perfect country, and Tokyo is the perfect capital.
We had an awesome time checking out Tokyo and making new friends from Germany (Robert and Rafael), and from the local YSA: C-dawg! (Chris).
Next we flew to Osaka and visited Osaka, Himeji, and Kyoto with Charles! He's an old friend of mine from the World Scout Jamboree in London.
We flew over to Taiwan and met up with Ru!!! (My old roommate and one of my best friends from college). My parents also hung out with us, and my cousin even came on a hike with us! (I've been trying to get her to hang out with me since all last summer).
After Taiwan we went to Bangkok and visited Art!! An old friend from BYUH. We also sang in Wi and Rafael's wedding which was super fun. They're such a cool couple.
🎶 Mother, Father, Sister, Brother... 🎶
After Bangkok we took the bus to Cambodia. Angkor Wat was amazing, and Siem Reap was super cool too. "No money, no honey!"
We then went to southern Thailand and went to church in Phuket. The branch members were super friendly and we all got to share our testimonies with them.
Then we took a boat to Phi Phi islands. They are incredibly beautiful. The food was super good too.
From Phi Phi we went over to Ao nang. I don't have a great photo of the cliffs, but they were awesome. This is the view from the balcony of our hostel.
Our last stop was Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. While we were there we also took a side trip,
To Kuala Gandah! Where we hung out with Peiyin and played with Elephants. It was amazing.
Here are a few numbers from our trip:
Countries: 5
Cities: 14
Miles flown: 14,709
Nights: 33
Total cost of housing (per person): $78
Average cost per night: $2.36
Elephants: 12
Monkeys: 176
That's it! The trip was really fantastic and I definitely wish we could have had more time over there. I love Asia! What an amazing place. I'm grateful for all our friends that we got to hang out with and were so generous to host us or take us around. Thank you! I can't wait until the next time we see each other again.
This trip has been AMAZING. EPIC. WONDERFUL. I'm so so so so grateful to Ray for making it happen! Ray Banks, THANK YOU SO MUCH! The people we've met, the places we've been, everything has been so great! All of the amazing memories from this trip will be with me forever, from raptor running in Thailand to vicious monkeys at Angkor Wat to 7/11 corn dogs. Shout out to everyone who hosted us, what champs! What amazing people! And especially Rays family in Taiwan, they are the nicest people! I already want to come back to Asia, and travel basically everywhere else in the world!!!
