My Trip Plan

At the end of the summer I will be taking a year off to travel the world. I don't really have any one single reason for taking a trip like this. Maybe its curiosity, maybe its adventure, maybe its itchy feet, maybe its youth. I think George Mallory said it best, "Because it's there!" I will be doing this trip low budget, taking buses and trains wherever possible. The point of the trip is not to see as much of the world as I can quickly, but rather to experience what life is like outside the US.


A rough list of places to go, in approximate order:

-Malaysia A nice and relaxing month or two to see the jungles of Borneo, Teman Negara national park, Bantu cave, and Singapore too

-Indonesia The island of Papua, where tribes of indigenous Papuans still use stone tools. One of the last "frontiers" of human civilization, completely cut off from western influence until recently
-Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan Formerly under Soviet influence, now great travelling though remote and rugged mountains and nomadic life

-China Take local transport from Kyrgyzstan to the historic Silk Road in Western China. Continue riding the trains to Chengdu to see the pandas, and a quick stop by Tibet (pending weather and politics)

-Thailand Hang out, drink a beer, relax, beachbum, catch up on some fantastic limestone climbing, and pick up a few visas

-Cambodia Spectacular ancient history and architecture at temples of Angkor, and horrific modern history under the control of the Khmer Rouge

-India I really don't know what I want to do here. So big! so much to see! Taj Mahal?

-Nepal One of the reasons for the trip at all: hike hundreds of miles for weeks on end through the mighty Himalaya

-Botswana A surprisingly stable nation in Southern Africa, with the worlds largest inland delta, housing wildlife in the marsh

-Zambia Amazing Victoria falls, and elsewhere in Zambia is far off the typical tourist trail

-Tanzania Famous for its parks, wildlife, and beaches

-Kenya Even more famous parks, and a quick tour of Nairobi, one of the most notorious cities in the world


It will be one hell of a year!