The Monsoon Diaries: How to travel the world with no time or money -

Meet the Sundancers!

by Calvin Sun | January 2, 2026 | Introductions | 0 Comments

From a trip planned over a year ago after a bunch of friends joined me in Killington 2024, we are flying out to Park City, UT for our first time at the Sundance Film Festival for their final time in Park City, UT! Welcome back those returning with me for their...

Niger At Last: A Second Chance

by Calvin Sun | December 10, 2025 | Border Crossing, December 2025 Annex: Niger, Fail, Flying Fancy, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, Layovers, Niger, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come | 1 Comment

11 months ago, I sat on the tarmac in Niger's International Airport at Niamey, watching my trip evaporate due to visa complications. The Niger Embassy in Washington D.C. had stopped issuing visas to Americans entirely. But I don't give up. In late...

Yemen Day 4: Mukalla Drive

by Calvin Sun | December 5, 2025 | December 2025: Yemen - Hadhramaut Valley, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Yemen | 0 Comments

Al-Mukalla Pulling ourselves away from a desert mirage paradise at Haid Al-Jazil, we swapped our armed guard at another checkpoint during the 2 hour drive to Mukalla. You point that thing away from me! After a long wait at one of the...

Yemen Day 3: Where Reality Surpasses Dreams at Haid al-Jazil-lion Miles Away From Reality

by Calvin Sun | December 4, 2025 | December 2025: Yemen - Hadhramaut Valley, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Yemen | 0 Comments

Haid Al-Jazil As the afternoon began to wane, we continued onto our accommodation for the night at the Haid Al-Jazil Resort Hotel, named after what it overlooks and its location perching dramatically on a cliff overlooking the Wadi Do'an. You'll find remarkably...

Yemen Day 3: Wadi-“we” Do’an Here?

by Calvin Sun | December 4, 2025 | December 2025: Yemen - Hadhramaut Valley, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Yemen | 0 Comments

Deep into Wadi Do'an From Shibam, we drove deeper into the Hadhramaut system, heading toward Wadi Do'an, a dramatic side valley that branches off the main wadi. Because of the recent military takeover of the local Hadrhamaut government yesterday, we had...

Yemen Day 2/3: Waking Up to A Military Takeover | Shibam Diggity – Where Are Skyscrapers Born? Here, in The Manhattan of the Desert

by Calvin Sun | December 4, 2025 | Crisis, December 2025: Yemen - Hadhramaut Valley, Travel Warnings, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, What Dreams May Come, Yemen | 0 Comments

Day 2 was supposed to start with a morning drive to Al-Mukalla, the seaport and capital city district of Hadramawt. But that plan aged poorly, because we woke up to this instead: Just like my morning of our last day in Kabul in 2019, we woke up to...

YE-ah-MAN! Yemen Mainland Day 1: Oh Sei-yun Can You See?

by Calvin Sun | December 2, 2025 | December 2025: Yemen - Hadhramaut Valley, Getting that VISA, How Did You Do That?, Way Way Off the Beaten Path, Yemen | 2 Comments

Let's just say being here to take this photo at sunset today was worth the wait: The Visa Maze: When Standard Procedures Is Anything But Standard Before you get in, you'll need an entry visa. As an American citizen in 2025, you'd expect the Yemen...

Grenada Más

by Calvin Sun | November 4, 2025 | Grenada, October 2025: Pirates of the Caribbean's At World's End | 0 Comments

🇬🇩 190 down. 3 to go. After our 3 day stay in Dominica, we took a long hour-and-a-half drive back to the airport from our Portsmouth lodgings, stopping for a quick photo opportunity along the way. Dominica's airport is tiny. You...

Dominica-n’t Miss This

by Calvin Sun | November 1, 2025 | Dominica, October 2025: Pirates of the Caribbean's At World's End, Way Way Off the Beaten Path | 0 Comments

From St. Vincent, we boarded InterCaribbean Airways JY 717 at 12:20pm. Their new airport, however, was built just 8 years ago and still has some operational quirks. The staff double-printed my first leg itinerary from St. Vincent to Barbados without including...

Dead Men Tell No Layovers: St. Vincent & The Grenadines in 12 Hours

by Calvin Sun | October 29, 2025 | Layovers, October 2025: Pirates of the Caribbean's At World's End, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 0 Comments

Fresh off a quick overnight in Grenada (courtesy of a free JetBlue voucher from last October's Welcome to Chinatown gala), we touched down at Maurice Bishop International Airport at 1:53pm. This marked the beginning of a 3-country Caribbean...

Into The Favelas

by Calvin Sun | Apr 11, 2014 | April 2014: South America, Brazil

Today we headed into the favelas of Rio, made infamous by movies such as Fast 5 and City of God, or games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. It's stereotyped as a slum rife with gangs, shootouts, violence, and lawlessness. The one we entered -- Rocinha Favela -- is...

Rio Problems

by Calvin Sun | Apr 10, 2014 | April 2014: South America, Brazil, Fail, Mo' Money Mo' Problems, Walking Tours

I won't lie. Our first 24 hours upon landing in Rio de Janeiro was anything but smooth. We arrive at GIG airport all okay, and we gave the airport HSBC bank ATM a shot, as recommended by everyone to use over the Brazilian bank ATMs in...

Meet The Pirates!

by Calvin Sun | Feb 22, 2014 | Introductions

MEET THE PIRATES OF SOUTH AMERICA View Monsoon Diaries 2014 in a larger map Introducing the following monsooners accompanying me on my April trip to South America: ...

Bai Wedding In Dali – Ecstasy, Appendicitis, And Travel Insurance

by Lei Zhao | Feb 17, 2014 | August 2013: Lei Goes to China, China, Crisis, Doctor in the House, Guest Posts

The following is the last of 4 guest posts on China by Lei Zhao, who continues to contribute to the Monsoon Diaries adventures time and time again. Lei Zhao and I have been close friends since 7th grade of middle school. Saying that we've been through a lot...

Mutianyu – Great Wall By Public Bus

by Lei Zhao | Feb 13, 2014 | August 2013: Lei Goes to China, China, Guest Posts, How Did You Do That?, Public Transportation, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

The following is the third of 4 guest posts on China by Lei Zhao, who continues to contribute to the Monsoon Diaries adventures time and time again. Lei Zhao and I have been close friends since 7th grade of middle school. Saying that we've been through a lot...

Ghost Festival In Dali

by Lei Zhao | Feb 10, 2014 | August 2013: Lei Goes to China, China, Guest Posts, Let me tell you a Story..., Post-travel Reflections, Serendipitous!, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

The following is the second of 4 guest posts on China by Lei Zhao, who continues to contribute to the Monsoon Diaries adventures time and time again. Lei Zhao and I have been close friends since 7th grade of middle school. Saying that we've been through a lot...

Hong Kong & Macau: 2 Different Worlds Inside China

by Lei Zhao | Feb 5, 2014 | August 2013: Lei Goes to China, China, Fit for Foodies, Guest Posts, Hong Kong, Macau, Serendipitous!, Walking Tours

The following is the first of 4 guest posts on China by Lei Zhao, who continues to contribute to the Monsoon Diaries adventures time and time again. Lei Zhao and I have been close friends since 7th grade of middle school. Saying that we've been through a lot...

Escape From Snake Island

by Calvin Sun | Feb 2, 2014 | Camping, Crisis, Fail, Guest Posts, How Did You Do That?, Lessons Learned, Macedonia, Rules Are Meant To Be Broken, Way Way Off the Beaten Path

The following is a guest post by Brandon Green of Brandon is Still Alive, who graciously asked if he could contribute to the Monsoon Diaries adventures. Brandon Green and I had taken the same Calculus III Honors class 9 years ago during my freshman year at...

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