Greetings friends and family The Sabai group landed safely in Chiang Mai, Thailand on February 14th. 7 students, and their two Overseas Educators, collected their luggage and made their way the east side of the city of Chiang Mai to find their orientation hostel where they met up with their final group member…Sabai is complete! After a first night dinner of Thai food, they group retired for the evening, ready… Read More

Greetings, Family and Friends of the Carpe Diem Spring 2019 Sabai group We are happy to inform you that the Sabai group (minus Thao, who will meet the group in Chiang Mai….we can’t wait, Thao!) is united and already beginning to get to know one another at the Los Angeles airport. They have quite a journey ahead of them, with a long overnight flight and a Hong Kong layover, however,… Read More

Sawadee khrap/ka Sabai crew! Hope these last few weeks have found you happy, healthy and spending quality time with friends and family, before we all head off on an epic adventure to SE Asia! Cari and I have been busy here in Portland prepping for the semester and are very excited to meet you! While engaging in hilarious and stimulating conversations, we have discovered a few fascinating commonalities about ourselves.… Read More

A hike above Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. A vendor taking a break on the streets of Saigon, Vietnam. Captaining the ship in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam. Cave exploration. Exploring Ha Long Bay. Exploring Saigon. Ha Long Bay boat. Ha Long Bay tour. Hiking outside of Nha Trang. Kayak tour of Ha Long Bay. Kayaking in the bay. Local music and dance group in Hanoi. Looking out over Ha Long Bay.… Read More

“The sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must embark. For, to stay, though the hours burn in the night, is to freeze and crystallize and be bound in a mould. Fain would I take with me all that is here. But how a shall I? A voice can not carry the tongue and the lips that gave it wings. Alone must it seek the ether.… Read More

Our last day of Student-Directed Travel (or Somewhat Determined Travel…) has finally come to a close, resolving in time for ceremony, reflection, and a really freaking good dinner! Our group-led travel has been a bit unpredictable, but we managed to get through with wonderful strokes of luck and spur-of-the-moment planning. Picking up where we left off at last post, our trip to Marble Mountain was a success with beautiful climbs… Read More

By Jeremy Bass I believe I can speak for everyone when I say that traveling is an activity that can bring about the best and worst of surprises. From our departure in February, we have experienced unexpected acts of generosity, crazy early bus arrivals, surprisingly friendly chickens and cows, crazy late and unresponsive buses, spectacularly hidden food stands, mass food sickness out of nowhere, and, among tons of other occurrences,… Read More

Coming from our relaxing week at the yoga retreat. We headed to Ha Tien to spend a week with students from Tan Tao University in their first cultural exchange. The week was spent in homestays with the locals of Ha Tien as well with the students. We were welcomed into Ha Tien by the local government with open arms. We volunteered by cleaning up the streets of Ha Tien, taught… Read More

By Ashley Gonzalez-Lopez This week our group went on a yoga retreat. The main focus was to try to reflect on what we have done on this trip, the obstacles we have overcome, and the people we have met. Every day we woke up to silent time and went straight into yoga practice at 7:00 am. Breakfast was from 8:30 to 9:45. At 9:45, the whole temple got together for… Read More

By Chris Denning The past few days our Sabai group has traveled to Cambodia! We arrived for our first few days in the bustling city of Phnom Penh. The city that holds just about 1.5 million, felt no bigger than a small town. We spent our first few days throughout the city, exploring the beautiful temples and the royal palace. We saw the extravagant Central market and walked along the… Read More

Sites along the trek. During the trek, the group stayed at local villages along the way and met many kind hosts. Navigating the rivers on a bamboo raft in Northern Thailand. During the trek the group was able to visit an elephant sanctuary. The students enjoyed visiting and playing with the elephants, while learning about all of the ways elephants can be mistreated and how to help rescue elephants.… Read More

Participating in activities at a local festival in Northern Thailand. Celebrations include music, stilt walking, and fishing. OE Jon practices his flying skills. Hanging by the river waiting for the festivities to begin in Nan Thailand. Puppy friend at the permaculture farm. The group takes a photo break during their trek outside of Chiang Rai, Thailand. Drinking out of bamboo cups at a break during the trek outside of Chiang … Read More

Boat trip along the Mekong outside of Kirati, Cambodia. Working with local communities on a garden project through SUP Asia. Staying with homestay families on an island in the Mekong. Exploring Bangkok by boat. Watching a muay thai match in Bangkok. Meal time at Sahainan, a permaculture farm in Thailand.… Read More

Hello family and friends of the Sabai group! This past week the group headed to our friend Sandot’s permaculture farm in Thung Chung, Thailand. Permaculture farming is a style of sustainable farming that is able to use its surrounding areas to its advantage. This enables the farmer to interact with the farm as minimally as possible (once it is established). We learned so much on the farm. The first day… Read More

By Alejandra Villanueva Navarro We have arrived back to Chaing Mai after four days of trekking and walking to small villages. Our first day of trekking seemed like an endless walk of going up and down steep hills but arriving at the small welcoming villages made it all worth it. We stayed in a cabin with no electricity and a small mattress to sleep on, but it was all we… Read More

By Dominique Lakhiaminh This week we were fortunate enough to stay with homestays in Fang. Fang is a village with Akha and Lahu hilltribe people. We all got to stay with wonderful families that were loving and full of laughter. We got to learn about their culture and be able to help build a school for students that would have otherwise had to go to work with their parents at… Read More

Here are some pics from our Homestay and send-off celebration!… Read More

By Nitzny This week we stay at our homestays in a village outside of Mae Rim. This was an awesome experience! We really dove into Thai culture. We got Thai lessons, learned a culture dance, and got to explore the village. We also did our service project which was cleaning a national park to help prevent wildfires. Saying goodbye to our new families was very hard but we are all… Read More

By Dominique, Ashley, Jeremy, and Nitzny The first week of Southeast Asia is so amazing. Something that I completely adore about the city is the architecture. The vibrant colors just show so much of the countries culture and how they live. Every building that I look at is different and are significant in their own way. The temples are on every corner and being able to see a new temple… Read More

By Overseas Educators Rachel and Sheldon It’s such a strange feeling, an odd combination of elation and loss at the end of a journey like this. On the one hand, we did it! Made it through all the homesickness, doctor’s visits, long, hot, crowded bus rides, squat toilets, hard floors, and personal tiffs, and now we get to go home! On the other hand, we did it! But now what?… Read More