Hello everyone and happy Halloween -
Hopefully by now, you're not sick of me. These emails also serve as my journal (since I don't know how to work that "pen" thing they invented a few years ago). Definitely let me know if you want to get taken off the email list...I don't want to be part of the spam problem by any means.
A few last notes on Bali - some a bit funny. We were taking a walk through some rice paddies in Ubud (thanks Lonely Planet) and were stopped to talk by a farmer who was 20 or so. His English was very good and he showed us his hut (very small, no electricity, in the middle of a rice paddy next to his parents "larger" hut) and his land. His dream someday was to become a taxi driver (which was why he practiced english, but could not afford the fee for school). Anyway, he actually climbed a cocunut tree, grabbed a coconut, cut it open and we drank the juice directly from the coconut...good pictures on this one. Anyway, we bid him adieu, gave him a little money and were on our way. Quite heart-warming or the best actor I've ever seen.
...In direct contrast to our hotel attendant/cleaner. We found an awesome little hotel looking out on (what else) rice paddies and a small brook - just beautiful - and for 80,000 Rp (less than $10/night). Well our "friend" spent most of the time completely stoned...at least we think so from his 25% room cleaning frequency. We weren't 100% sure, but when he came up to the deck next to us, said hi, then stood looking at us for about 10 minutes after our "conversation" (while we were looking down at our books) convinced us that he was on something...
On the last day in Ubud, we visited the Monkey Forest Sanctuary. There's about 200 macaques there (from my incredible powers of inference, a type of monkey). The monkeys were NOT afraid in the slightest and in a golden display of reverse evolution we saw a few kids and adults that didn't understand why the monkeys were jumping on them as they carried food through the park. Note to self: when the monkey grabs the banana, let him take it. One monkey actually jumped up on my leg as I was sitting...there were families of monkeys and the babies playfully fighting for bananas and such. They weren't the most beautiful monkeys in the world, but they were cute and fun to play with.
From there back to Singapore (oh the food...just amazing). Mom - I tried to find everything you ever made me (I do mean everything...I ate a LOT) - and everything was cheap, cheap, cheap. The food markets sell everything for $3-4 Singapore dollars ($2-3). I also found every CD, DVD that's ever been made for $3 each. They have a lot of stuff that's not out on DVD yet. I think they may even have a copy of Spider-Man 3 - created from Sam's notes on a napkin at a lunch.
Finally, from the "lessons" category. The rules for bus travel. Always ask:
1. Where is the bus going? Are you sure? Really?
2. How many times does the bus stop? Does it really go to the bus station it's supposed to? Is a Shell station really considered the bus station?
3. When you say "9 hours" do you really mean "12 hours"?
4. I see the pictures you're showing me of the "luxury seats". Does this mean that MY seat will actually look like this?
5. Does Air Conditioning mean the entire bus, or just the driver?
We took an 11 hour bus ride from Singapore to Penang in Malaysia. We had no idea what was going on the entire time. We got the very back row of seats where there's four seats across instead of the three that are in every other row. And the seats are smaller. And the seats in front can actually cut off your ENTIRE leg space just by reclining. It was great to see Deanna negotiate with the driver to change seats at one stop in a combination of Bahasa Malaysian, Engrish (proper spelling), and I thought I heard some Hokkainese as well. Quite the experience - at least the total cost was $10 each. amazing.
Finally Penang - a very cool city. Majority here are ethnic chinese... We're staying in Chinatown...it's so cool. So far we ate incredible Dim Sum (for $4 between the two of us), went out and had drinks - met some cool people - including two folks from Perth for Deanna's side jaunt in a few weeks to visit friends. And we're staying at the Cathay Hotel in Penang - it's 100 years old (very clean though) and played some part in the movie Beyond Rangoon (which of course, was the extent of the research I did for this trip...so perfect).
Sunday, October 31, 2004
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
10/26/04: Back in Bali
Hello everyone
Spent a wonderful time in Lombok...for the first time, I felt competent (slightly) getting around a place and we actually met some local, real people who really added to the experience. We're right in the middle of Ramadan right now so services start (and the prayer calls on the loud speakers on top of the mosques) at 3am to tell people to get up and pray (and...my guess...eat before dawn).
First up, we met a German woman, Andrea, and hired a driver together, a local man named Sharif, to take us around the island for a tour. It was a great experience. We went to the market (Deanna still can't eat chicken after the tour) which was a neat experience, then to a lot of the different craft villages. At one village, they showed us the whole basket/bamboo weaving process and how all the kids are taught the craft to carry on the tradition. When I was standing in the shop after the tour a little 8-year old girl took my hand and made a bamboo ring for my finger. She was incredibly cute...I'm not sure if she wanted money or just a courtesy to help people buy things in the shop, but what I was really thinking about was adopting her. I'm sure her mom and dad wouldn't mind. There are actually a lot of awesome, fun kids here. In another part of the island, it had started to rain and as we drove by and we saw 6 kids...four of them naked running for shelter. The funny thing was that a few had plastic bags covering their heads (I guess they know what's important) but nothing else on. Even our driver (a very serious type) laughed.
We traveled all around the island, and ended up in Kuta Beach (in Lombok) where there was a grand total of 5 tourists. Sharif backed our jeep up on the path and we got stuck in the sand near the beach. Forty minutes later, with the help of two local men, 6 local boys, another truck and some rope we were free. I think we all bonded having to push the truck out of the ditch over palm fronds and cocunut shells. I'm still covered in dirt from the experience.
The other real highlight was climbing Mt. Rinjani (an active volcano) in Lombok, near the city of Senaru. What really made the trip was our guide, a gentleman originally from Borneo, named Alyn (actually Mochammed) Syafari. He was incredible and actually got us up the 2700M climb with much encouragment, incredible cooking (really), and sometimes actually reaching back and pulling us behind him. I think over the first day, I drank about 8 liters of water and needed to pee exactly once. Let's just say there was a LOT of sweat. At camp the first night, we had to wake up at 3am to make the climb to the crater rim (in order to see the sunrise over the mountain). The stars were incredible...there wasn't a light for miles - you would have loved it Dad. As we climbed through the night with two flashlights for three people (I thought Deanna or I would fall off the mountain for sure) we sweated up the mountain and the view was absolutely 100% worth it. We're heading to Singapore in a few days and I'll send pictures when the connection is a bit faster. While we were on the rim, we saw some volcanic activity (smoke bursting through the volcano).
There were only two negatives - 1. the climb down and 2. lying to the guide. First, the climb down sucked. I twisted my knee a bit and took some magic pills that Deanna had just to make it down. It got to the point where I could either take a. huge steps or b. little, tinysteps but nothing in between. I swear I looked like Frankenstein learning to walk coming down the mountain...just sad. Second - Alyn was so awesome and open about his life - but we had told him that we were Canadien (the whole anti-American worry). I think he took us/me at face value that I was from Toronto - but every story I told him around the campfire was about California and Ohio and Minnesota - and every price I quoted in US dollars...I think I'm going to hell. But if you ever want to climb Rinjani, Bromo (in Java), take a trip to Borneo - please email Alyn at lintrack@lycos.com.
From Lombok, we headed to Bali (Ubud) to recover. Neither of us is walking well and riding 9 people + luggage in a van built for Balinese (read: tiny), it was very comfortable. I think the statute of limitations on soreness should run out in 5 days or less. I did get a massage here and it was awesome...although I seriously considered murdering the masseuse when she touched my (sore) right thigh.
Today we went and saw a Cremation ceremony. The pageantry of the whole process is amazing...there's a parade of sorts where they bring these huge bull figurines to the cemetary and then make lots of offering and then burn it all. It was an amazing experience (only 4 tourists there)...but we were absolutely badgered into buying sarongs (yes...I am a proud owner...pictures to come) to enter the cemetary. I've never been so scared of 60 year old women...they walked with us the entire parade with my woman poking me in the arm every 10 feet with "good price" and "you need to wear". We bargained her down from 250,000 Rp ($27) to 80,000 Rp ($9) and then ended up buying so they would just leave us alone. Deanna insists that we got taken. I did negotiate pictures with the old women as part of the deal and a lesson in how to tie the sarong.
Next Up:
Flying back to Singapore
Penang, Malaysia
Langwaki Island, Malaysia
Best to everyone and thanks so much for your replies...it's really, really nice to hear from home.
Spent a wonderful time in Lombok...for the first time, I felt competent (slightly) getting around a place and we actually met some local, real people who really added to the experience. We're right in the middle of Ramadan right now so services start (and the prayer calls on the loud speakers on top of the mosques) at 3am to tell people to get up and pray (and...my guess...eat before dawn).
First up, we met a German woman, Andrea, and hired a driver together, a local man named Sharif, to take us around the island for a tour. It was a great experience. We went to the market (Deanna still can't eat chicken after the tour) which was a neat experience, then to a lot of the different craft villages. At one village, they showed us the whole basket/bamboo weaving process and how all the kids are taught the craft to carry on the tradition. When I was standing in the shop after the tour a little 8-year old girl took my hand and made a bamboo ring for my finger. She was incredibly cute...I'm not sure if she wanted money or just a courtesy to help people buy things in the shop, but what I was really thinking about was adopting her. I'm sure her mom and dad wouldn't mind. There are actually a lot of awesome, fun kids here. In another part of the island, it had started to rain and as we drove by and we saw 6 kids...four of them naked running for shelter. The funny thing was that a few had plastic bags covering their heads (I guess they know what's important) but nothing else on. Even our driver (a very serious type) laughed.
We traveled all around the island, and ended up in Kuta Beach (in Lombok) where there was a grand total of 5 tourists. Sharif backed our jeep up on the path and we got stuck in the sand near the beach. Forty minutes later, with the help of two local men, 6 local boys, another truck and some rope we were free. I think we all bonded having to push the truck out of the ditch over palm fronds and cocunut shells. I'm still covered in dirt from the experience.
The other real highlight was climbing Mt. Rinjani (an active volcano) in Lombok, near the city of Senaru. What really made the trip was our guide, a gentleman originally from Borneo, named Alyn (actually Mochammed) Syafari. He was incredible and actually got us up the 2700M climb with much encouragment, incredible cooking (really), and sometimes actually reaching back and pulling us behind him. I think over the first day, I drank about 8 liters of water and needed to pee exactly once. Let's just say there was a LOT of sweat. At camp the first night, we had to wake up at 3am to make the climb to the crater rim (in order to see the sunrise over the mountain). The stars were incredible...there wasn't a light for miles - you would have loved it Dad. As we climbed through the night with two flashlights for three people (I thought Deanna or I would fall off the mountain for sure) we sweated up the mountain and the view was absolutely 100% worth it. We're heading to Singapore in a few days and I'll send pictures when the connection is a bit faster. While we were on the rim, we saw some volcanic activity (smoke bursting through the volcano).
There were only two negatives - 1. the climb down and 2. lying to the guide. First, the climb down sucked. I twisted my knee a bit and took some magic pills that Deanna had just to make it down. It got to the point where I could either take a. huge steps or b. little, tinysteps but nothing in between. I swear I looked like Frankenstein learning to walk coming down the mountain...just sad. Second - Alyn was so awesome and open about his life - but we had told him that we were Canadien (the whole anti-American worry). I think he took us/me at face value that I was from Toronto - but every story I told him around the campfire was about California and Ohio and Minnesota - and every price I quoted in US dollars...I think I'm going to hell. But if you ever want to climb Rinjani, Bromo (in Java), take a trip to Borneo - please email Alyn at lintrack@lycos.com.
From Lombok, we headed to Bali (Ubud) to recover. Neither of us is walking well and riding 9 people + luggage in a van built for Balinese (read: tiny), it was very comfortable. I think the statute of limitations on soreness should run out in 5 days or less. I did get a massage here and it was awesome...although I seriously considered murdering the masseuse when she touched my (sore) right thigh.
Today we went and saw a Cremation ceremony. The pageantry of the whole process is amazing...there's a parade of sorts where they bring these huge bull figurines to the cemetary and then make lots of offering and then burn it all. It was an amazing experience (only 4 tourists there)...but we were absolutely badgered into buying sarongs (yes...I am a proud owner...pictures to come) to enter the cemetary. I've never been so scared of 60 year old women...they walked with us the entire parade with my woman poking me in the arm every 10 feet with "good price" and "you need to wear". We bargained her down from 250,000 Rp ($27) to 80,000 Rp ($9) and then ended up buying so they would just leave us alone. Deanna insists that we got taken. I did negotiate pictures with the old women as part of the deal and a lesson in how to tie the sarong.
Next Up:
Flying back to Singapore
Penang, Malaysia
Langwaki Island, Malaysia
Best to everyone and thanks so much for your replies...it's really, really nice to hear from home.
Monday, October 18, 2004
10/18/04: The trials of Lombok
Well everyone -
After three days in Singapore (about as much as we needed I think) we took a flight to Bali and found ourselves in Kuta...one of the main resort towns and also the sight of the 2002 bombing - it was a bit sobering to walk by the monument. Bali has been hard hit by the tragedy and some of the surrounding islands have dried up completely as tourism has declined.
Our hotel was about 15 minutes from the beach. Just long enough to assess whether you want to buy every single knick-knack known to man. Deanna now has braided hair and I am the proud owner of a genuine Frolex watch...no seriously, the hawkers are very aggressive - it's really irritating but understandable. One of the locals we spoke to mentioned that he made about 20,000 Rupiah a day (less than $3) so I guess when you buy that sarong for 50,000 Rupiah, it's a big deal. Never have I felt so rich and so suspicious of everyone that talks to me...hopefully the feeling wears off.
The real adventure was our day traveling from Bali to Lombok (just west of Bali). Woke up early and then started the trek to the bus station - this was the first time we've actually had to carry our bags over any distance...ouch. Halfway there, we stopped to talk to some of the cabdrivers and "negotiated" a fare. Basically him calling out prices and us saying no, walking away, him calling after us, him running after us, us turning around, saying no, and finally settling on a price.
When we got to the ferry (about 2 hours), we're rushed into a "ticket office" where the price list had just been "updated". You could literally see that the price for the place we just happened to be going had been freshly changed in the last 5 minutes. And of course the ferry was leaving in 5 minutes and the next ferry wasn't leaving until four hours later. Forty-five minutes later we left. And found out the boat wasn't going where we needed to go. And that Deanna is THE most fascinating sight to the locals that they've ever seen with her blond hair. And that Deanna gets sea sick. And the only thing we had were these Dutch pills (no English instructions) that we thought were for seasickness (thanks Tiffany and Michael). This was slightly challenging all-in-all...but we made it and it turns out the ferry goes only to one port and then they pick you up in a bus.
We were quite relieved, until the bus stopped in a "tourist bureau" where we got the soft sell, hard sell, guilt-trip sell, won't find a better deal sell for a trip to the top of Mt. Rinjani, an active volcano we expressed interest in. Anyway, we ended up passing on the trip from this operator and they begrudgingly took us to our hotel. The hotel is awesome. It has an essentially private beach..from our bungalow you can see the Ocean and walk down in about 30 seconds. It's perfect...except for:
a. the cockroach
b. no water
c. no lights
d. all of the above
d is the correct answer. But overall, I felt really good after yesterday like we were "legitimate" travelers. We also found a wonderful local cafe (with no lights) where we ate by candlelight and talked to the owner and the server a bit. I told the owner that I was Chinese...unfortunately then he wanted to speak to me in Chinese...quite the experience with my 25 word vocabulary. But, it was definitely the best day (in my opinion) that we've had so far.
Next up:
Senaru and Mt. Rinjani
Giles Islands (possibly)
Back to Bali (Ubud) which is the crafts/cultural center.
10/28 Back to Singapore to meet Deanna's friend Mercedes for a few nights and then on to Malaysia!
After three days in Singapore (about as much as we needed I think) we took a flight to Bali and found ourselves in Kuta...one of the main resort towns and also the sight of the 2002 bombing - it was a bit sobering to walk by the monument. Bali has been hard hit by the tragedy and some of the surrounding islands have dried up completely as tourism has declined.
Our hotel was about 15 minutes from the beach. Just long enough to assess whether you want to buy every single knick-knack known to man. Deanna now has braided hair and I am the proud owner of a genuine Frolex watch...no seriously, the hawkers are very aggressive - it's really irritating but understandable. One of the locals we spoke to mentioned that he made about 20,000 Rupiah a day (less than $3) so I guess when you buy that sarong for 50,000 Rupiah, it's a big deal. Never have I felt so rich and so suspicious of everyone that talks to me...hopefully the feeling wears off.
The real adventure was our day traveling from Bali to Lombok (just west of Bali). Woke up early and then started the trek to the bus station - this was the first time we've actually had to carry our bags over any distance...ouch. Halfway there, we stopped to talk to some of the cabdrivers and "negotiated" a fare. Basically him calling out prices and us saying no, walking away, him calling after us, him running after us, us turning around, saying no, and finally settling on a price.
When we got to the ferry (about 2 hours), we're rushed into a "ticket office" where the price list had just been "updated". You could literally see that the price for the place we just happened to be going had been freshly changed in the last 5 minutes. And of course the ferry was leaving in 5 minutes and the next ferry wasn't leaving until four hours later. Forty-five minutes later we left. And found out the boat wasn't going where we needed to go. And that Deanna is THE most fascinating sight to the locals that they've ever seen with her blond hair. And that Deanna gets sea sick. And the only thing we had were these Dutch pills (no English instructions) that we thought were for seasickness (thanks Tiffany and Michael). This was slightly challenging all-in-all...but we made it and it turns out the ferry goes only to one port and then they pick you up in a bus.
We were quite relieved, until the bus stopped in a "tourist bureau" where we got the soft sell, hard sell, guilt-trip sell, won't find a better deal sell for a trip to the top of Mt. Rinjani, an active volcano we expressed interest in. Anyway, we ended up passing on the trip from this operator and they begrudgingly took us to our hotel. The hotel is awesome. It has an essentially private beach..from our bungalow you can see the Ocean and walk down in about 30 seconds. It's perfect...except for:
a. the cockroach
b. no water
c. no lights
d. all of the above
d is the correct answer. But overall, I felt really good after yesterday like we were "legitimate" travelers. We also found a wonderful local cafe (with no lights) where we ate by candlelight and talked to the owner and the server a bit. I told the owner that I was Chinese...unfortunately then he wanted to speak to me in Chinese...quite the experience with my 25 word vocabulary. But, it was definitely the best day (in my opinion) that we've had so far.
Next up:
Senaru and Mt. Rinjani
Giles Islands (possibly)
Back to Bali (Ubud) which is the crafts/cultural center.
10/28 Back to Singapore to meet Deanna's friend Mercedes for a few nights and then on to Malaysia!
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
10/13/04: Safe in Singapore
Okay everyone -
I promise not to send daily updates but I did want to let everyone know that we arrived safely after a (not so) glorious trip from LA to Tokyo to Singapore. The flight was delayed by an hour...but we "made up"time on the way so everything was on-time - which was important b/c we had important appointments here in Singapore at 1:20am when we arrived. The other highlight was the 84 Farenheit temperature (at 1am)...you can imagine how hot it will be today.
Thank god Deanna had the foresight to schedule an airport pick-up. It seems that my Mandarin is pretty rusty and Deanna has not spoken Tamil or Malay since fourth grade (that's a joke for those of you who don't know her).
At that point (having smartly slept on the plane like frequent world travelers) we went to eat and had a wonderful crab. The only downside was the mysterious market price although we were promised "you won't be disappointed" by the waiter who of course, we never saw again. But the food was great. The other thing was apparently this restaurant does not believe in napkins...I would have taken a picture of our hands but I didn't want to ruin the camera. Let's just say it was not one of the finer moments in etiquette.
I've already figured out that we have too much stuff. I am considering jettisoning my tuxedo and/or the portable electricity generator.
More later...(you know when we've actually done something interesting).
I promise not to send daily updates but I did want to let everyone know that we arrived safely after a (not so) glorious trip from LA to Tokyo to Singapore. The flight was delayed by an hour...but we "made up"time on the way so everything was on-time - which was important b/c we had important appointments here in Singapore at 1:20am when we arrived. The other highlight was the 84 Farenheit temperature (at 1am)...you can imagine how hot it will be today.
Thank god Deanna had the foresight to schedule an airport pick-up. It seems that my Mandarin is pretty rusty and Deanna has not spoken Tamil or Malay since fourth grade (that's a joke for those of you who don't know her).
At that point (having smartly slept on the plane like frequent world travelers) we went to eat and had a wonderful crab. The only downside was the mysterious market price although we were promised "you won't be disappointed" by the waiter who of course, we never saw again. But the food was great. The other thing was apparently this restaurant does not believe in napkins...I would have taken a picture of our hands but I didn't want to ruin the camera. Let's just say it was not one of the finer moments in etiquette.
I've already figured out that we have too much stuff. I am considering jettisoning my tuxedo and/or the portable electricity generator.
More later...(you know when we've actually done something interesting).
Friday, October 08, 2004
10/08/04: What in the world am I doing?
Hi everyone -
Just wanted to send out a quick test email to make sure the email list is working properly. If the following describe you and you do not wish to get my wandering thoughts, let me know and I'll take you off the list:
a. You have no idea who this "Michael Chiang" is.
b. You know exactly who I am, but would rather not hear about my latest illness or run-in with machete wielding drug runners.
c. You have an active restraining order in the state of California.
Seriously - everything is going great. I think everything I can do is done by now and I'm looking forward to leaving before all hell breaks loose with the election.
I wanted to pass along my expected itinerary. Everything beyond the first week is pure conjecture (much like my forecasts) but I encourage each and every one of you to consider coming out and meeting up at some point along the path. Send me an email (contact info at the bottom of the list) and we'll work something out.
ITINERARY
-------------
11 Oct Los Angeles to Tokyo to Singapore (Northwest Airlines)
Believe it or not, this is the only flight I know right now.
15 Oct Singapore to Bali (Indonesia) or Perth, Australia
The opportunity just came up to possibly visit a friend in Perth...crazy. I don't know what's going to happen yet - depends on prices/times/phases of the moon.
30 Oct Bali to Singapore
November (early)
Malaysia. Likely stops (Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi). There's a train that runs from Singapore all the way to Bangkok..I think we'll take it and make stops along the way.
November (mid)
Thailand - southern. Likely stops (Bangkok, Phuket or Ko Samui). We'll spend a little extra time in Bangkok to get travel visas. For Vietnam and India, there's a real application...a lot of the countries seem to issue you a visa upon arrival at the border with a library card and $20.
November (late)
Thailand to Cambodia. Definite stop (Angkor Wat).
December
Cambodia to Vietnam.
Travel from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi in the north. Cross into Laos. According to my informal survey of my 5 friends, Luang Prabang and Laos in general is one of the best places to be in SE Asia. Unless you fly Air Laos...then you're dead.
December/January
Laos to northern Thailand. Look for white elephants (and ride an elephant) near Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai to Mandalay (Burma).
Assuming we can get across the border and don't get caught up in political protests, Burma is supposed to be beautiful. Looks like Christmas completely cut-off from the rest of the world (the government suppresses sites like Yahoo b/c their people might actually learn something). We'll travel by land from Mandalay south to Yangon (Rangoon) and then cross back into Thailand.
February/March
Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur to Delhi, India (Malaysia Air) More details to be shared in future emails. To those of you who are still reading (thanks mom), the general idea is to explore the Delhi area (Taj Mahal) and Rajastan...then head way south and work our way up the west coast of India, finally ending in Bombay.
March/April
Bombay to Dubai (Emirates Air) I have no idea what's in Dubai.
Dubai to Cairo (Emirates Air) Hopefully things will have settled down from the bombing last week.
Cairo to Amsterdam (KLM)
Amsterdam to Los Angeles (KLM)
So there it is. And then of course, we start on the Africa leg of the trip (kidding...for now). Please do keep in touch and I'll try to let you know what's going on in my life (like pass the Mai Tai or hmmm...I've been sick for 8 of the last 9 weeks...I guess you really can't drink the water...)
Just wanted to send out a quick test email to make sure the email list is working properly. If the following describe you and you do not wish to get my wandering thoughts, let me know and I'll take you off the list:
a. You have no idea who this "Michael Chiang" is.
b. You know exactly who I am, but would rather not hear about my latest illness or run-in with machete wielding drug runners.
c. You have an active restraining order in the state of California.
Seriously - everything is going great. I think everything I can do is done by now and I'm looking forward to leaving before all hell breaks loose with the election.
I wanted to pass along my expected itinerary. Everything beyond the first week is pure conjecture (much like my forecasts) but I encourage each and every one of you to consider coming out and meeting up at some point along the path. Send me an email (contact info at the bottom of the list) and we'll work something out.
ITINERARY
-------------
11 Oct Los Angeles to Tokyo to Singapore (Northwest Airlines)
Believe it or not, this is the only flight I know right now.
15 Oct Singapore to Bali (Indonesia) or Perth, Australia
The opportunity just came up to possibly visit a friend in Perth...crazy. I don't know what's going to happen yet - depends on prices/times/phases of the moon.
30 Oct Bali to Singapore
November (early)
Malaysia. Likely stops (Penang, Kuala Lumpur, Langkawi). There's a train that runs from Singapore all the way to Bangkok..I think we'll take it and make stops along the way.
November (mid)
Thailand - southern. Likely stops (Bangkok, Phuket or Ko Samui). We'll spend a little extra time in Bangkok to get travel visas. For Vietnam and India, there's a real application...a lot of the countries seem to issue you a visa upon arrival at the border with a library card and $20.
November (late)
Thailand to Cambodia. Definite stop (Angkor Wat).
December
Cambodia to Vietnam.
Travel from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi in the north. Cross into Laos. According to my informal survey of my 5 friends, Luang Prabang and Laos in general is one of the best places to be in SE Asia. Unless you fly Air Laos...then you're dead.
December/January
Laos to northern Thailand. Look for white elephants (and ride an elephant) near Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai to Mandalay (Burma).
Assuming we can get across the border and don't get caught up in political protests, Burma is supposed to be beautiful. Looks like Christmas completely cut-off from the rest of the world (the government suppresses sites like Yahoo b/c their people might actually learn something). We'll travel by land from Mandalay south to Yangon (Rangoon) and then cross back into Thailand.
February/March
Bangkok to Kuala Lumpur to Delhi, India (Malaysia Air) More details to be shared in future emails. To those of you who are still reading (thanks mom), the general idea is to explore the Delhi area (Taj Mahal) and Rajastan...then head way south and work our way up the west coast of India, finally ending in Bombay.
March/April
Bombay to Dubai (Emirates Air) I have no idea what's in Dubai.
Dubai to Cairo (Emirates Air) Hopefully things will have settled down from the bombing last week.
Cairo to Amsterdam (KLM)
Amsterdam to Los Angeles (KLM)
So there it is. And then of course, we start on the Africa leg of the trip (kidding...for now). Please do keep in touch and I'll try to let you know what's going on in my life (like pass the Mai Tai or hmmm...I've been sick for 8 of the last 9 weeks...I guess you really can't drink the water...)
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