Sitting on the long plane ride home and reflecting, I feel so privileged to have experienced this trip alongside you five. I couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids to explore an island with. I hope that as you all move on to high school and beyond, this trip will serve as inspiration…

Across 14 days of exploration we walked 153,000 steps (75 miles). We took way too many trips to 7-11, and never enough trips to boba tea. We shuffled through crowds, wandered in the woods, baked in the sun, and dodged the rain, the mopeds, and squat toilets. We searched for garbage cans, ate ice cream…

These are a few of the funny signs that people found this past week. We spent a while considering the most devious route we could take, but didn’t want to get caught sneaking in the bushes. They take littering very seriously here, despite the complete absence of garbage cans anywhere. Sometimes it feels like a…

Dez, Donovan and I went out to breakfast before we were all set to board a charter bus south. Most people slept during the 90-minute drive. I don’t think we all realized we were about to embark on a grueling uphill hike into the jungle. The hike just kept climbing up and up. In the…

On the schedule for the penultimate evening of this trip there has been a placeholder labeled “Kojo’s surprise”. The joke has been that we’re all going to a stinky tofu factory, but the intrigue has only increased the questions and speculation about what it might be. Tonight we all got the answer and boy was…

Today we had an earlier start than most days. Out the door by 7:30am to catch a train to Ruifang in the northeast. A few hours later we reached our first destination: Houtong Cat Village! The small town is littered with cats everywhere you look. You can buy cat food if you want to feed…