As the year 2025 comes to an end, Sunlake students are doing many things to finish off the first semester of the year, such as resting, spending time with family, and traveling. Christopher Zaw, a Senior at Sunlake high school, decided to spend his winter break in Japan, Thailand, and Korea. Starting his day early on Christmas, he left around 7 in the morning for a layover flight in Toronto, Canada. “We took a 14 hour flight to Japan, then we landed in Naruto airport, which is like an hour away from Tokyo,” Chris then explains, “The first thing we did was go to Fuji city and went sight seeing in the area. We saw the lakes, the famous swans, and of course Mount fuji!” The rest of the days in Japan, Chris and his friend Lawrence spent time together in Shibuya. They went to arcades, saw statues, and did a bunch of shopping. “They had Uniqlo there, the clothes were a lot cheaper, so we bought a bunch of clothing from there. It’s like $30 cheaper than it is in the states!” He exclaimed. They spent around 5 days in Japan, and until New Years eve they took a trip to Bangkok. They ended up doing the New Years countdown in the immigration line at the airport.

“What me and my family love about Thailand is the street food,” Chris expressed, “The street food is very similar to Myanmar/Burma, the country I’m from!” In Thailand, Chris noticed a lot of Burmese people during his stay there. “It was really nice because I got to communicate with people in my own language,” Chris continues, “It was very different because I am not able to do that here in the states, besides with my family.” Years prior, Chris had played soccer for 2 months in Thailand, so he was able to see many old friends. Since they had other friends too, Chris was able to meet more people and make new friends. Before leaving, he spent the rest of his days in Thailand spending time with them, exploring the city, and trying new foods. “When we were leaving to go back to the states, we had a layover in Korea,” He further explained, “So for that one day in Korea, me, my mom, and my sister all spent a night in Seoul.” They had Korean barbecue and enjoyed the rest of the time there before they went back to the United States.