Getting Ready

Bali, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Thailand. 6 months(or so...). I have spent the last year plotting and saving for my trip, and it's practically here. Amongst my preparations—getting an appointment for a Typhoid shot, etc.-- I actually started a blog (gaah). I hope to post big, beautiful photos of the people and places I encounter, and not embarrass myself by writing too much. Stuff like this:

From Honduras

...That said, many people have asked me to elaborate on what I'm doing and why exactly I’m doing this. First off, I really don’t feel like I am courageous or mavericky in any way. This is the one big thing I have always wanted, and I’m being completely selfish by taking it and ignoring everything else. Don’t get me wrong, I’m very glad that I feel the way I do and I think it will be wonderful, but the decision to travel for months and months seems perfectly logical and reasonable in my own mind. So—why do I want to quit my job and leave home to travel? Well, I do think I was born with an innate urge to explore. Beyond that, I learn strictly through experience, and I believe that I need to actually live far from home, in a totally different culture to really learn about the rest of the world and the people in it. The prospect of tasting new foods and seeing new things excites me. I intend to visit temples, go to local festivals, and dive in some of the best sites in the world. However, I also have some goals beyond just seeing cool new crap.

I’ll be taking some photography classes, a Thai cooking class, and working on an organic farm for at least a month through one or both of these organizations:

http://www.wwoof.org/
http://www.punpunthailand.org/

Right now, my goal down the line is to work with international sustainable development NGOs and document the process with photographs. Everything (and everything) is of course subject to change. This trip isn’t just about all of the cool things I plan to do (and there are several). I believe that my experiences on this trip will show me where I should go, what I should do, and which things ought to hold my focus.