On the 28th of July I will be strapping my backpack on and flying to Bangkok to begin eight months of adventures around Asia and, for those of you who want to follow me, this is where I will be posting my new travelogue.
My old blog from the trip that I took two years ago can still be found on my “Notes” page on Facebook, here.
I am going a bit more “off the beaten track” this time. Sounds a bit cliché, I know, but it’s true. I will be voyaging through Burma, Indonesia, Philippines, and Nepal, mostly. I will also be revisiting Borneo, Thailand and Taiwan for brief stints to see old friends and explore a few places I missed last time.
This is a map of the route that I will be taking. The yellow lines are flights, and red lines are where I will be going by foot, bus and boat.
Don’t hold me to it – it’s very likely to change. The red lines in particular, as when you are travelling you often hear about secret little treasures which are not in the guide book along the way. The general regions, and the order I pass through them, is probably going to be a fairly accurate guide though. As long as there are no unexpected natural disasters or extreme weather.
First off, I will be spending a couple of weeks in Thailand, waiting for my travel buddy Roy to meet me. In this time I am thinking of volunteering in one of the various WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms) projects. If you haven’t heard of them, then look them up. They sound awesome.
Once Roy meets me, we will be crossing over the border together into Burma/Myanmar. We haven’t really decided which specific places we will be going to in the six weeks we will be there, yet. Though I guess a trip to Burma wouldn’t be complete if you didn’t at some point explore the ancient temples of Bagan or see the renowned Inle Lake.
Indonesia will be the next destination, for three months of jungle trekking, island hopping, and maybe even a little Scuba diving. It will probably begin in Bali, and then we will boat our way east, to Lombok, Komodo island (to see the dragons), Flores, and then up into Sulawesi, home of the Tana Toraja tribes. Then we will fly down to Java, for a quick week of temple spotting before finishing off in Sumatra where I imagine I will be mostly trekking jungles.
Christmas and New Year will be spent in Taiwan. There probably won’t be much blogging around that period as I have already been to that country twice before and I will be spending time with old friends.
I will then be in the Philippines for six weeks. Not quite sure what route I will be taking exactly. But there will definitely be a lot of island hopping and beach time. I will be there for just the right season to swim with whale sharks, so that is definitely on the cards.
A quick stint in Borneo, to see Danum Valley. A wildlife hotspot that I missed last time I was there.
And finally, Nepal. Where I will embark upon the Annapurna trek through the Himalayas, just before I come back home.
Tej Turner 