Why I Love Asia

Asia is a million worlds coexisting on a single continent, and possibly my favorite place on earth.

From the calm river valleys outside Laos’s Muong Ngoi to the frenetic energy of Bangkok at 2AM, Asia truly offers a taste of everything. So it should come as no surprise that the continent plays host to many of my personal happy places, and is arguably the part of the world in which I feel – at least at present – most at home.

That feeling of home has a lot to do with how much time I’ve spent in Asia over the past decade: first living in a Vietnamese convent, then aimlessly backpacking along the famed “Banana Pancake Trail,” and – most recently – attending grad school in Malaysia. All-together, these experiences have taken me to 19 different countries in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia.

When people ask me what I miss most about living in Asia, I say the way life happens on the street there. The way a bún chả restaurant in Hanoi is really just a kitchen with ad hoc seating on the sidewalk. The way socioeconomic classes collide on street corners. And perhaps most of all, the way the masses of people living out their lives – falling in love, having an argument, growing up, crying, laughing, smiling – makes me feel that little bit less alone.

Asia has been an important part of my story, and I hope it is – or will soon become – an important part of yours.