Touchdown

o here I am in Bangkok at the start of my journey. The flights went smoothly, if not a little mind numbing spending 3 and a half hours in melbourne airport. Of course Jetstar give you screens but charge if you want to watch anything on them. I stuck to my book and the food I had brought from home. Touchdown was at 8pm and after a train and a metro ride I was at my hostel. This morning I made my first forey into Bangkok, catching a boat up the river and going on a walk arround the city before being educated on the history of thailand in the dimly lit National Museum. By now it was getting hot, so the best place to beat the heat was annother ferry ride down the river. Later this evening I plan to buy a train ticket south to the islands, I could realy do with a swim.

Last Night

Sydney is cold and drizzly, the coldest start to summer in 50 years. The real summer starts tomorrow as I board a plane for the hot, steamy tropics. In just over 24 hours I will be a world away. It all seems not real, that tonight is my last night at home, that I will not return for so long to this room I've been so pent up in during the HSC. Of course I am excited, if not slightly nervous, of the months that lie ahead but still I think the brunt of the emotions will hit tomorrow when it is actually happening. My first flight to Melbourne leaves at 9.35 in the morning with a 3 and a half hour stop over at Tullamarine Airport. Oh the joys of flying Jetstar, somehow it is cheeper to fly an hour and a half south to go north. Another joy of flying Jetstar will be the absence of food, so I have packed my own lunch and dinner. I get to Bangkok at 8pm tomorrow night, and the real adventure begins!

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.