Seven Days

This time next week I will be on my way, speeding towards SE Asia at 870km per hour, 11000m above the Java Sea. I spent the last week in the bush for a final taste of the landscape im sure to miss while abroad. The scent of eucalypts, the dry crunch of it underfoot, the soft blue haze that shrouds ancient hills and the golden light that shines upon sandstone escarpments. Whilst I am sure to find many beautiful and majestic landscapes while abroad, they will also be alien landscapes, their steamy jungles and high mountain ranges far removed from the landscape I grew up with. It was a good week just to relax, to take a deep breath (of eucalyptus scented air) before the plunge. My bag has managed to unpack itself and needs repacking, there are a few final things to get around to, and of course the task of saying goodbye. It is hard to imagine really, in seven days I will be gone from this place.

Packing

With two weeks to go, I'm all packed and ready to go, organising everything I needed which either looks like alot or not much depending on how you view it. Thankfully most things are very compact, in fact there are quite a lot of clothes super compressed into that blue bag on the right. The mountain gear in the upper half will  be finding its own way to Nepal for where its needed, leaving my backpack with room to spare...

All Packed! 

Zipped up and insanely secured. 

In other news Bangkok is beginning to dry out, transport is returning to normal and the clean up operation has begun. A great relief.  

So It Begins

It ended with the drop of a pen, a whole year building to this moment that did not seem quite real nor really felt like the monumental achievement it was. 12 months that seemed like an eternity and yet passed so quickly, 13 years of schooling now over. For most of my cohort, this day had already passed. Design and Technology was the very last exam of the HSC on friday afternoon. It ended at 2:13. The exam period was long, stretching over four weeks. I can't pretend it wasn't a hard time, an extra week and I think I would have imploded, but it wasn't the mind bending, gut wrenching painful ordeal I once envisioned it to be. It was just long and exhausting.

So what was my first post HSC act? Straight onto my gap year planing of course. Within an hour and a half I was being pumped full of vaccinations and discussing which Malaria medication to take with me. Once that was out of the way it was onto Luna Park to celebrate with friends. And now here I am on the first day of freedom at a loss as to what I should do or how I should feel, with 27 days until departure. There Is much that needs to be done before that date, to pack and ensure everything is in order before I depart.

I intend this blog to be an important communication tool for the next year, to write home to friends and family of my adventures and to express my thoughts and opinions on the places I visit. I will keep you all posted as the journey unfolds.

One Month To Go

One month until I depart. Bangkok is still flooded, the exams still are not over (two more to go) but the date of departure grows ever closer.

Bangkok Sinking

With impeccable timing, Thailands worst floods in 50years are casting a rain shadow over my plans. With my planned arrival in Bangkok just over a month away, it seems the flood waters are not subsiding, and may cause problems for my journey. Whilst the flood levies are still pushing back the water from Bangkok's CBD it is unclear if they will hold out as water continues to pour from the north. The situation one month from now is unpredictable. It's likely that even if the waters do subside, transport services may continue to be limited due to damage to infrastructure. An even greater worry is a potential for an increase in the incidence of waterborne disease, as is common after flooding. The very worst case scenario is for the international airport to become inundated, then ill really be screwed although I think thats unlikely. Whatever the situation when I arrive, I think it might be best to hop over to Cambodia and do my trip in reverse, leaving the waterlogged Thailand to dry out a bit in the interim. For now I will be watching the news closely, and to hoping that Bangkok will remain dry as the water dissipates over the next month.

The Plan

Today marks the half way point of the HSC exam period, and whilst the end seems so far off, it is also so close. While 90% of my brain capacity has been solely dedicated to english essays, enzyme functions and ecosystem dynamics, in my down time the task of reading travel guides, websites and planing has taken hold. Planing this trip has been a long process, but now it is just a month and a half away, I can begin to engage with the finer details, of what temple to visit, of what beach to lie on. The plan has evolved over many years. I can not even remember when it began, it seems a goal that has existed during most of high school, hence I was able to save adequate funds for it's fruition. It has changed over the months and years,   and rightfully so, some countries in the Middle East where I had planed to go at one stage now rest on the cusp of civil war. Somehow Syria would not seem so fun right now. So what is this grand plan you ask? Let me explain....

Basically I have a time frame of just over a year and a safe budget for over 9 months, after which I will most probably return home. On the 8th of December I fly from Sydney to Bangkok (via melbourne- the joys of flying Jetstar) to where my journey begins with three and half months to travel South East Asia. Right now im thinking of heading to a beach, and having some well earned rest under a coconut tree before heading to Northern Thailand and then across to Vientiane. Crossing northern Laos will be an adventure, from Lao Probang I intend to head over the mountains into Northern Vietnam and from Hanoi, travel down the coast by train to Ho Chi Minh City. From there it's up the Mekong to Phnom Phen and to Siem Reip for the temples of Ankor before heading back to Bangkok. After all that travel, I think ill need to go back to the beach. Thats just an arbitrary sketch of where I could go, in reality im sure there will be variations.

Mid march and Im on a jet again to Mumbai and probably to a Goan beach, because from there on its into the hot, dusty, populous interior. After a stint in Rajasthan in  Dheli I plan to meet up with my mother and brother and travel by rail across the north, Agra, Varanassi and up to the hill station of Darjeeling. From there they return to Australia while I head to Kathmandu to meet up with my friend Emme, for our Everest assault...well to base camp anyway. We plan on doing a 20 day treck in the Khumbu before heading over into Tibet to Lhasa. After that its across China on the worlds highest railway to Beijing. Here the plans end, do I hop over to Tokyo or ride the Trans Siberian Railway to Moscow? Or perhaps I will become a goat herder in the Gobi desert and never come home.

And that is my plan in a nutshell, so much to look forward to after these exams finish.

A world of possibility awaits...