Changes
A few weeks ago, T and I tried to book our tickets to China, going to Shanghai, Chengdu and Yunnan. Then the airlines decided that it was a brilliant idea to stop offering their airpass, which meant we were without flights.
And so, last week, our friend Ali the Wonder Travel Agent had to scramble to find us new flights, to different destinations. The problem with me is that I have an everchanging plan about where I would like to go. Last week, Beijing was looking a lot better than Yunnan. Now we’re going to be in Beijing for Christmas, then Chengdu, and then in Shanghai with our friends.
Today, T got an email from Tabitha saying they are cancelling our housebuilding trip because of lack of interest. WHAT?! Do they not know how interested I am in this trip? I have enough interest to make up for everyone else; sadly, finances are a different story.
So the good news is that we’re still going to China and Cambodia and will now have more time to spend in Laos. The bad news is that it’s going to cost us at least $4.5 million more, and we could have come up with a different itinerary if we had this news earlier. Like say, last week.
Travel is a constant joy.
Where and why: Ethiopia
After six weeks in India, we’re heading to Ethiopia. Telling people we’re going to Ethiopia for six weeks is akin to telling them we’re going to Baghdad with a target on our foreheads. Occasionally, we get blank stares, sometimes people yell, “What? Why?!” but usually we get an “Oh, Ethiooooopia.”
Guess what? We know all of the following about Ethiopia, so you don’t need to tell us: Ethiopia is in Africa; Ethiopia is poor; Ethiopians have AIDS.
Those three reasons are actually the three reasons we’re going there. We’ve never been to Africa. We wanted to go somewhere where we could volunteer. We wanted to volunteer with HIV+ kids.
And so, we will be spending six weeks working at AHOPE for Children in Addis Ababa, an orphanage for kids with HIV. Now is when I tell you that you cannot catch HIV just by hanging out with infected kids, so chill out. Unless I decide it’s a great idea to suck their blood (which I only do on a full moon), the chances are practically nil that we’ll catch it.
Why Ethiopia in particular? Well, T had an aunt who went there when he was little, so he’s been interested in it for a while, and when I was a kid, I started a fundraising group for kids there, so I’ve been interested in it for a while. It’s meant to be beautiful, with lovely people and a wicked long history, as we say in Maine. As for AHOPE, I sponsor a little boy there and they need volunteers. Decision made.
A lot of people think we’re crazy for doing volunteer work instead of just traveling for fun. (ALERT: SELF-RIGHTEOUS RANT TO FOLLOW) This is the deal: I had never seen real crushing poverty until I went to Asia. Now that I have, I want to try to do something about it, so that I am not just another rich white westerner going to another poor brown country to stare at them and buy cheap stuff. (RANT ENDS HERE)
And I promise, I won’t come home with 10 babies. (The INS won’t allow it.)
Where and why: KL
One of the things that was non-negotiable for both of us on this trip was a return visit to Kuala Lumpur. We’re not going back because we love KL so much (though it’s a lovely city); we’re going to see some of our favorite people on earth, The Girls.
The Girls are Joy and Jee, my favorite roommates, and Tricia, Joy’s younger sister. T and I went to visit The Girls on our honeymoon and were horrified to find that they are The Best Hosts Ever. He and I stayed at The Ritz (my favorite hotel in the world), but The Girls took us out for practically every meal and drove us all over the place. They also bought us tickets to Borneo as a wedding present. They took us to local places that served food we wouldn’t have tried otherwise, where T beat the crap out of crabs and we both tried shrimp paste. They also insisted on paying for every meal, darting past T every time he tried to pay and speaking rapidly in languages we couldn’t understand to the cashier. What they lack in height, they sure make up in speed, man.
I lived with Joy and Jee when I lived in Melbourne in 2000 and though I only lived with them for four months and I never see them, I adore them. I give Joy no end of abuse for being an Anglophile and I’m trying to convert her into an Amerophile (is that a word?), but I really miss them, all the time.
This time, we’re staying with Joy and Tricia, and our plan is to outrun them to the cashier. I am already training.
It probably won’t be our last trip to KL. Two of our best friends from England have just announced that they’re moving to Malaysia in May. We’ll probably miss seeing them in both places, which is really upsetting, but that means we’ll have to visit them later on. In the meantime, they can hang out with The Girls. I’m jealous.
Where and why: Thailand again
Once T drags me kicking and screaming we leave Cambodia, we’re going to go back into Thailand for a few days. Mainly, we’re going to eat. Actually, I’m not sure if T knows this. Let me rephrase: mainly, I’m going to eat. You know, massaman curry and pad thai and a thousand other kinds of curry. T can eat too, as long as he doesn’t get between my mouth and my plate.
I’m not sure where we’re going or for how long. Everything after the housebuilding until our flight to KL is up in the air.
Where and why: Cambodia
Next, we go down the Mekong into Cambodia. Like Vietnam, Cambodia was another place T wanted to axe from the list. Mostly because he is a cold, heartless bastard, but also because we went there last time.
Fortunately, I tricked encouraged him into going by tempting him with a housebuilding project that we could do for charity (see link for Tabitha Australia at right). It only seemed fair that we do something he likes, since later on, I’m making him go to Ethiopia for six weeks to play with orphans.
So, for about a week, we’re going to be building a house in Sihanoukville for impoverished Cambodian families. I am excited about this because I love Cambodia. I thought the country was lovely, and the people were just amazing. There is no other word. It was my favorite place on our trip the last time and I am always trying to bully T into going back. In turn, T is excited because he can do nerdy cool engineering-style stuff.
I am not so excited because I fear hard work, and even though I am built like a linebacker, I am not very strong. T is freakishly strong, though he is thinner than my thigh. T is not so excited to go because he is worried that I will be arrested for stealing cute children. I have explained to him that if children jump into my backpack, there is nothing I can do! Cambodian children love me!
No, for real. I won’t take any cute children. Not because they aren’t cute, but because I have seen all those movies of people in SE Asian jails. I don’t like the roaches. Also because if I couldn’t ever go back to Cambodia, I think I would wilt and die.
Where and why: Laos
From Nong Khai, it’s across the river to Laos. We’ll be in Laos for about 10 days, I guess. We decided to go because we missed it last time and everyone we met who had been there loved it. Said it was the greatest place ever. Never wanted to leave. And so on and so forth.
I don’t know a whole lot about Laos, but I’m told it’s much more relaxed than Vietnam. I found northern Vietnam pretty relaxed and was crazy about it, so Laos sounds good to me.
I think we’ll go to Vientiane, then Luang Prabang, then maybe up to the mountains if we have time, then back to Vientiane, down to Pakse, to the Four Thousand Islands, and then into Cambodia.
It’s a highly ambitious itinerary. By the time we leave, I think I will never want to see another bus again. With any luck, they will be slightly larger than the local Thai buses, and I can fit both thighs on a seat.
Where and why: Thailand
After leaving Kunming, we get a flight to Bangkok, from which we will immediately leave to go up to Laos. We had planned to go on a bus from Kunming to Luang Prabang intially, but T really wanted to go to northeastern Thailand, since we missed it last time. Given that Ali The Wonder Travel Agent found us a flight to BKK, it seemed like a better idea to go through Thailand.
So we’re going to jump straight on a bus and head to Nong Khai, just across the Friendship Bridge from Vientiane. I guess I’m excited to go back to Thailand…I did love it last time, but it wasn’t my favorite place on the trip. That said, northwestern Thailand was stunning and I’d go back in a second. So, maybe I am excited after all.
According to my research, Nong Khai is one of those places where people plan to spend a day, but end up leaving after a month. We have exactly 14 days to get from Bangkok into Laos and down the Mekong into Cambodia, so we won’t have a month. Too bad, because I could easily spend a month eating massaman curry.
I take it back. Suddenly, I am thrilled to go back to Thailand!
Where and why: China
After Bali, we’re getting a flight to Shanghai. T had originally wanted to go to China, but I talked him out of it because it looked pretty spendy. Then our friends, The Bad Influences, decided to move to Shanghai. Suddenly, China started looking a whole lot better.
Now we’re going to be in Shanghai for Christmas, and then will go to Chengdu (so we can see some pandas and eat some spicy food) and then to Yunnan, where we will go to Lijiang, Tiger Leaping Gorge, Dali and Kunming. We had originally planned to get a bus from Kunming to Laos, but when our friend Ali found us a flight to Bangkok, spending 480 hours on a bus started sounding slightly less fun.
As excited as we are to go to China, it has come at a cost. We had originally planned to be in Hanoi for Christmas and Sa Pa for New Year, but had to cut them both from the itinerary to fit China in. That means no cha ca, no bun cha and no Hmong girls. I expect this to be supplemented by pandas, noodles and our friend Cara’s cooking.
I don’t know too much about traveling to China. This is what I know:
-Chinese people (and T) eat chicken feet. This makes me feel a little sick.
-We don’t speak any Chinese. Chinese people don’t speak much English.
- Many people who have been to China love it and spend hours on end talking about it (you know who you are).
I think it’s fair to say that outside of Shanghai, our trip to China will be the most challenging, which hopefully means it is also the most rewarding. But there’s still no way in hell I’m eating chicken feet.
Where and why: Bali
After saying goodbye to Australia, we’re going back to Bali. Yeah, yeah, I know. Bali was bombed just after we left the last time. New York was also attacked when I lived there–where was your concern then?!
We’re going to Bali because it’s BALI, man. I was all ready to cut it from the itinerary until I read Eat Pray Love and then bullied T back into it. Reading it made me remember the beautiful people (Balinese men are some kind of gorgeous and the women are also stunning, and they’re all so gentle) and the way everything smelled like flowers. I figure it will be a nice break after spending 3 weeks trapped in a campervan together.
We’re planning to go to Nusa Lembongan, an island off the southern coast, for a few days. Then we’ll go back to Ubud, which is one of the places we did on our honeymoon (remember the attempted homicide-by-monkey?).
I’m not going to lie: I love Bali. It was one of my favorite places on our honeymoon, and I would go back more often if I could. Unfortunately, we’re not great beach people (since T’s skin reflects the sun and I can’t sit still), so we’ll only be there for a week or so. I’m sure it won’t be long enough, but I’ll take what I can get.
Where and why: Sydney
After NZ, we’re spending five days in Sydney. The purpose of the trip to Sydney is to get T a green card. An added benefit is being able to see our friends Dennis and Ali, whom we met in Vietnam on our honeymoon.
T has only been to Sydney once, for a couple of days, so this time we should be able to get out and see some more. This will be my third time there and if I don’t finally see the damn zoo, I’m going to break someone’s kneecaps. I’d also like to go down to the southern beaches, so T can see them. I’d also really like to get him a green card, if that’s not asking too much. In fact, I’d settle just for the green card. Unless I’ve already killed him in NZ…
