In two days, I am going to take my much anticipated trip back to Asia. It would be the first time in three years I will be at the land closer to my home, since I left for the United States to work on my degree.
I have been busy since a few weeks ago – separating my belongings which I will bring with from the things I will leave in the storage room of my college for the semester I would be away, and adjusting my trip itinerary to make the travel costs less expensive and writing emails and making phone calls to friends and to my host families in the United States to say goodbyes before the trip.
And I name my trip – “My Frugal Asia Trip” – my trip will start from Albany, New York to Los Angles, and then to Bangkok, Thailand, and finally to Cambodia where I will have a volunteer internship with International Labour Organization and my senior study on child labour issues for four months – with my summer savings and I will blog about it. Expect some of my experiences on budget airlines, taking bus trips, and crossing borders by land, finishing meals at budget restaurants, and low cost guest houses, etc.
Many friends and professors of mine are also excited for me but also express their concerns for my trip and my stay in Cambodia. But I have to assure them, as a native of Asia, the trip back to another country in Asia can not be more adventurous than I took three years ago to the United States to where it is, in terms of culture, political system and foods, a lot different from what I am grown up with.
However, I still could not imagine how my life would be in the next four months and to whom I will be hanging out around. But what I know for sure is anything – good/bad – it will be a good experience for me and I am pretty much looking forward to it.
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