Mike and I head to the train station in Newark, NJ no later than 9:30am tomorrow morning and begin the arduous task of using public transportation to get from NJ to JFK. Our flight doesn't leave until 1:55pm. But I guess there's no better way to start a backpacking adventure than hoofing it all the way to the airport, full load on our backs.
After much procrastination and rationalization about doing just about anything besides packing and organizing, I have finally just about finished. I'm bringing so much less than I brought to South America for a couple of reasons. Primarily, I will not being working on farms or traveling from the top to the bottom of a huge continent with many different climates in between.
I decided to leave my Pentax SLR at home for this journey, still a little gun shy after the theft. The camera for this trip is a compact camera with a nice fast Leica lens and lots of manual control. It's much lighter in weight and smaller in size and won't be a burden to keep with me at all times. As I look at what I've actually packed it seems like an frighteningly small amount of stuff and although that was the plan I can't help but break into a little bit of a fervor over what I've likely forgotten. The good news is that anything I may need can most likely be found when I arrive and probably at a fraction of the cost.
So, here it is--my packing list for 3 months traveling through Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia & Laos!
Paper:
- Journal
- Copies of passport, letter re: my medical syringes, injection instructions.
- Reading Material: BUST magazine
- Two decks of playing cards (double solitaire!!)
- Camera User's Manual
Electronics
- iPod
- Panasonic Lumix DMC-LX5- Charging equipment for the above
- High Speed Memory Card Reader
- Travel Alarm Clock
- International Outlet Adapter
- Headlamp
- Steripen, for water purification and plastic bottle minimization.
Cloth
- 1 pair of hiking sandals
- 1 pair of all season, waterproof hiking shoes
- 1 pair convertible quick dry pants
- 2 sports bras
- 2 pairs quick dry underwear (wear one, wash the other)
- 1 bathing suit
- 5 pairs socks
- 1 t-shirt
- 5 tank tops
- 1 long sleeve, light weight shirt/hoody
- 1 skirt
- 1 pair of stretch pants for cool night pajamas in the mountains
- 3 pairs of shorts (one pajama-type, one regular, one hiking type)
- Waterproof/Windproof Jacket
- Pack Towel
- 2 Bandanas
- The Original Dreamie sleep sack, As Seen On TV
Misc
- Day bag with Camelbak hydration system
- 1 pair of sunglasses
- Enough First Aid supplies to stock a small hospital
- Lip Butter (Thanks Laura)
- Toiletries including all natural deodorant and Dr. Bronner's all purpose cleaner.
- Dry bag
- Compression stuff sack
- Waterproof camera housing
- The Skeeter Defeater mosquito net.
- Inflatable neck pillow for peaceful rests anywhere
$200 cash
Just for fun, Mike will try to put up his packing list soon. Compare our packing styles and marvel at the striking differences between them!
And with that, we're officially on our way. We'll see you in Thailand!!!
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Shooting up!
Alright. Less digression, more progression. Onward to Thailand! We're knee deep in half-packed bags and pre-trip anxiety. Tomorrow morning we head down to NJ to see my family for a few days before our flight out of JFK on Wednesday. First aid kits, Skeeter Defeaters, Malarone...oh my!
I already have the series of Hep B shots from when I was a kid. But as for the others, we both decided to forgo the shots. Sadrah's reasons were more philosophical (she's never had vaccinations of any kind) while mine were more economical. I don't have health insurance, and to get all the recommended shots would cost well over $500. But we both know what it takes to follow safe practices while traveling, and these are really more important than just getting shots, many of which are not even 100% effective. We'll be sterilizing all our drinking water and eating safely cooked foods including only fruits & vegetables with skins that are peeled. We'll be using lots of bug spray (w/ at least 35% Deet) and long pants/sleeves at night especially when we're out in more rural areas where some of these diseases can be more prevalent.
When it comes to Malaria there are no immunizations, just a handful of anti-malarial drugs to choose from. Some even give you crazy, super-vivid dreams. I kind of wanted those, but they were more expensive. So we both ended up with prescriptions for Doxycycline (the cheapest choice--only about $25-30 for an ample supply) which is an anti-malarial antibiotic that needs to be taken every day throughout travel and for 30 days afterward to help prevent malaria infection. The potential side-effects don't sound so hot, including a slew of possibles like diarrhea, flu-like symptoms and most notably an increased photo-sensitivity, i.e. your skin will sunburn more easily. It could even cause permanent sensitive skin. Fantastic.
 |
| Stolen from here: http://xkcd.com/51/ |
 |
| Pol Pot's revenge? |
Ironically, the only real use I've had for the health insurance offered by my former employer is for a bunch of shots I could get just before I quit and take a 3 month trip to Asia. Oh well...I can't say I'm not a little bit nervous after all our research, but in some cases I'm just as nervous about the medicines as I am about the diseases. I know we'll be smart and I think we'll be alright.
I should get some sleep.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Looking back...
My final night of work @ The Sherwood was last Saturday so I've had a bit more free time to tie up loose ends around the house this week. A few days ago I was storing away our cold frames for the season, and it got me thinking about how far we've come in nearly two years. These simple, plywood boxes were our first project here in Upstate NY--completed on Labor Day weekend 2009, just before I left for the last Giving Chase tour.
When we decided to stay here permanently I'm not sure we really knew what we were doing. But a plan developed fairly quickly, and new projects popped up almost weekly. We built our own sawdust toilet. We grew more of our own food than I ever could have imagined. We built our own top-bar beehive. We designed and built a raised bed hoop house, helping us to grow hot peppers more successfully in our climate. We learned about blanching, freezing and canning to preserve our harvest.
Maple-sugaring, cooking, baking, kombucha, cheese making, kim-chi...Ok, enough of the bragging list. We failed a whole hell of a lot too, and we probably learned even more from that. For one, don't use drop-cloth plastic from Lowes for a hoop house. It will deteriorate and rip to shreds by the end of the season. Don't leave your kombucha mother sitting in the back of the fridge for a year--she will die. And over-cooking your maple syrup after 15+ hours outside cooking it down over an open flame is particularly disheartening.
But I've also learned how much you really appreciate the value of things when they don't come easy. That lettuce that you've grown, battling the slugs and the deer and the groundhogs all season. The salsa that you've canned from tomatillos that you grew from a plant that you snapped in half while transplanting and almost killed. Yes, I did that. Well, they all taste that much better. The crops or projects that fail make the ones that succeed that much more valuable. And what's more, they somehow make me feel more whole, more grounded.
So we're taking another big step, moving to a new place where we hardly know a soul, going forward without a safety net or a fall-back plan. It feels...necessary. Much like coming here to experiment with all our ideas did two years ago. Some days it seems so much easier to play it safe, follow dollars or convention and just fall in line with other people's expectations. But there's so much more we want to do, and we continue to do our best to follow our hearts.
 |
| Building cold frames |
When we decided to stay here permanently I'm not sure we really knew what we were doing. But a plan developed fairly quickly, and new projects popped up almost weekly. We built our own sawdust toilet. We grew more of our own food than I ever could have imagined. We built our own top-bar beehive. We designed and built a raised bed hoop house, helping us to grow hot peppers more successfully in our climate. We learned about blanching, freezing and canning to preserve our harvest.
 |
| Our top-bar hive...soon, with bees! |
 |
| The garden in full swing last summer |
So we're taking another big step, moving to a new place where we hardly know a soul, going forward without a safety net or a fall-back plan. It feels...necessary. Much like coming here to experiment with all our ideas did two years ago. Some days it seems so much easier to play it safe, follow dollars or convention and just fall in line with other people's expectations. But there's so much more we want to do, and we continue to do our best to follow our hearts.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Planning & packing
The new picture above is from Machu Picchu in Peru--our first journey together. Here's to another...and many more!
So, we are less than two weeks from our departure and it seems like things are finally coming together. We've got some fancy new travel gear, signed up for solid travel insurance, ordered new contacts and payed our car insurance. There's still plenty to do, but we're feeling more excited and less anxious by each passing day.
Meanwhile we're trying to eat up the remainder of our stockpiled vegetables from last season before we hit the road. It's really encouraging to see how much food we grew in such a small space and how long it has lasted. Gets me all excited for the future! But the freezer is slowly emptying out and I just roasted our very last spaghetti squash that was hanging around in the root cellar. That sucker lasted 9 months...WOW! And there's an heirloom tomato sauce on the stove made from 2 gallons of frozen whole tomatoes put up last summer. There's still plenty more to eat, and our spring garden is putting up more greens than we know what to do with. At least there's a critter out there getting fat on our garden even if we can't eat it all. Either a rabbit or a groundhog has been chowing down on our peas and swiss chard this week in earnest. Can't say I blame him, but I wish he'd quit it. Time for the rotten egg/hot pepper spray!
Anyway, more on our trip preparations. Up until now we've been doing most of our research online with websites like Travelfish, which definitely has a ton of info. But our new Lonely Planet "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring" travel guide arrived a couple days ago, so now we can really start to get a feel for where we're headed. I don't know what it is, but there's something about having real pages in your hand to flip through and detailed maps to get you oriented--the whole thing seems a bit more real.
Our basic route will go something like this: from Bangkok we'll move north through Thailand, then across into Laos. Then south through Laos into Cambodia and across into Vietnam. After we make our way northward through Vietnam to Hanoi I'm hoping we can shoot back to Bangkok on a cheap flight and make our way to the Thai beaches for a bit of sun and super-relaxation time. I'm sure it won't all happen quite like that, but that'll be fun too. Basically, we don't want a day-to-day itinerary. We'll use the guidebook to help give us a little direction, point out cool sites, etc. But we can decide to stay fewer or more days in any location depending on how we like it.
We've purchased a lot more travel-specific gear this time than we have for any previous trips. Maybe we're growing up--or just smartening up. Either way, SE Asia is notorious for it's tropical (i.e. hot and humid) climate and our travels will coincide with the first half of the rainy season, so we figure it was smart for us to pick up some fancyish, quick-dry gear. Plus, it just make things easier when it comes to keeping your pack light and trips to the laundromat infrequent. We've got travel undies from Ex-Oficio (very comfortable), plus some new pants, shirts, etc. A compression dry sack, a waterproof camera case, a new headlamp. Nothing super expensive...just enough to keep things safe & comfortable.We'll try to post a final packing list next week.
Then there's the issue of water: it's hot and we don't want to get dehydrated, but we'd prefer to avoid buying plastic bottles of water every day even if they are inexpensive. We don't expect recycling bins on every corner, so the waste from consuming 3 liters of water each day is not something we can get behind. So, we did a lot of research (UV sterilization vs. pump filter mostly) and finally decided on the Steripen to sanitize our own water along the way, along with a Nalgen bottle-top filter adapter for any particles in the water and to keep the lip of the bottle clean. As long as your dealing with basically clear water from the tap, all research shows that the Steripen should work perfectly well to kill off any potential harmful bacteria, etc. We've also got a 3-liter Camelbak for carrying water around during the day.
We confirmed a reservation at our first hostel in Bangkok, the lovely Sam Sen Sam Place. At 500 baht (33 baht=$1 US) it seems like a steal, especially for Bangkok. Most of the time we'll just find a place to stay when we arrive in a new town along our journey. But our flight arrives after midnight in a new country where we can hardly speak the language. Seems like a good time to have a specific destination. I can hardly wait for the cab ride from the airport!
Alright, enough for now. More on mosquitos, malaria and dengue fever next time.
So, we are less than two weeks from our departure and it seems like things are finally coming together. We've got some fancy new travel gear, signed up for solid travel insurance, ordered new contacts and payed our car insurance. There's still plenty to do, but we're feeling more excited and less anxious by each passing day.
Meanwhile we're trying to eat up the remainder of our stockpiled vegetables from last season before we hit the road. It's really encouraging to see how much food we grew in such a small space and how long it has lasted. Gets me all excited for the future! But the freezer is slowly emptying out and I just roasted our very last spaghetti squash that was hanging around in the root cellar. That sucker lasted 9 months...WOW! And there's an heirloom tomato sauce on the stove made from 2 gallons of frozen whole tomatoes put up last summer. There's still plenty more to eat, and our spring garden is putting up more greens than we know what to do with. At least there's a critter out there getting fat on our garden even if we can't eat it all. Either a rabbit or a groundhog has been chowing down on our peas and swiss chard this week in earnest. Can't say I blame him, but I wish he'd quit it. Time for the rotten egg/hot pepper spray!
 |
| Garlic coming up this Spring |
Anyway, more on our trip preparations. Up until now we've been doing most of our research online with websites like Travelfish, which definitely has a ton of info. But our new Lonely Planet "Southeast Asia on a Shoestring" travel guide arrived a couple days ago, so now we can really start to get a feel for where we're headed. I don't know what it is, but there's something about having real pages in your hand to flip through and detailed maps to get you oriented--the whole thing seems a bit more real.
Our basic route will go something like this: from Bangkok we'll move north through Thailand, then across into Laos. Then south through Laos into Cambodia and across into Vietnam. After we make our way northward through Vietnam to Hanoi I'm hoping we can shoot back to Bangkok on a cheap flight and make our way to the Thai beaches for a bit of sun and super-relaxation time. I'm sure it won't all happen quite like that, but that'll be fun too. Basically, we don't want a day-to-day itinerary. We'll use the guidebook to help give us a little direction, point out cool sites, etc. But we can decide to stay fewer or more days in any location depending on how we like it.
We've purchased a lot more travel-specific gear this time than we have for any previous trips. Maybe we're growing up--or just smartening up. Either way, SE Asia is notorious for it's tropical (i.e. hot and humid) climate and our travels will coincide with the first half of the rainy season, so we figure it was smart for us to pick up some fancyish, quick-dry gear. Plus, it just make things easier when it comes to keeping your pack light and trips to the laundromat infrequent. We've got travel undies from Ex-Oficio (very comfortable), plus some new pants, shirts, etc. A compression dry sack, a waterproof camera case, a new headlamp. Nothing super expensive...just enough to keep things safe & comfortable.We'll try to post a final packing list next week.
Then there's the issue of water: it's hot and we don't want to get dehydrated, but we'd prefer to avoid buying plastic bottles of water every day even if they are inexpensive. We don't expect recycling bins on every corner, so the waste from consuming 3 liters of water each day is not something we can get behind. So, we did a lot of research (UV sterilization vs. pump filter mostly) and finally decided on the Steripen to sanitize our own water along the way, along with a Nalgen bottle-top filter adapter for any particles in the water and to keep the lip of the bottle clean. As long as your dealing with basically clear water from the tap, all research shows that the Steripen should work perfectly well to kill off any potential harmful bacteria, etc. We've also got a 3-liter Camelbak for carrying water around during the day.
We confirmed a reservation at our first hostel in Bangkok, the lovely Sam Sen Sam Place. At 500 baht (33 baht=$1 US) it seems like a steal, especially for Bangkok. Most of the time we'll just find a place to stay when we arrive in a new town along our journey. But our flight arrives after midnight in a new country where we can hardly speak the language. Seems like a good time to have a specific destination. I can hardly wait for the cab ride from the airport!
Alright, enough for now. More on mosquitos, malaria and dengue fever next time.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
We Caught the Wanderfoot...
After spending about 2 years in Central New York literally planting roots (and growing some awesome veggies too!) we've decided to leave the area. Though the lakes are unparalleled in their beauty, the local apple and maple sugar traditions are mouth-watering, and the proximity of family is comforting, we're getting itchy feet. The crisp leaves of last fall signaled the slowing of the seasons followed by the long, not-for-the-faint-of-heart winter. Then the first thaw of spring and impending summer spurred the desire to create, grow, and explore.
We are very proud of our experiences and accomplishments in CNY. To see the transformation of our soil and the presence of earth worms where there had been none before. To see the food we grew and preserved last summer still providing us our meals today. We learned that what we put into it, we got out of it. And we put a lot into this area--we learned to embrace the winter and found deep enjoyment in cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in bitter cold and biting wind. We sat out in the spring, snow still on the ground, bundled up under the stars to finish the 12+ hour boil of our first season's maple syrup. We got blisters, sore muscles, dirty nails, rough hands, sun burned backs, and red necks. And we discovered that we loved it!
But we've been working only with annuals, planning and producing for the season without permanence and we're ready to move on to perennials. We're not just talking about plants either! It's a tough to decide whether to nurture something with patience or just let it go. Sometimes we see a lot of potential for this area to bear fruit in the future, but it's just not for us right now.
So, we've decided to move on to greener pastures. But first, we're off on another adventure! On June 22, 2011 we fly to Bangkok, Thailand where we'll spend 3 months traveling in the region. In addition to Thailand we're planning to visit Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. There will be ancient temples, secluded mountain towns and postcard worthy beaches. We're going to eat food that burns our faces off. We're going to be cultural sponges, out of our element, just soaking it all up. And just like we usually do we'll write about it here.
It may seem crazy to leave the supportive family environment we've been living in, where we've had the ability to test out our green thumbs and save up some money. We've got good jobs where we work short hours and make good money. We're quitting and traveling instead of waiting and saving. When we get back from our trip we're moving to Asheville, NC, a city we've only briefly visited where we know next to no one. We have no job prospects, we have no living arrangements made, we have no Southern accents. But all those things are easily obtainable (except for the accent, that's going to take some work and a whole lotta beer). As far as we can tell, Asheville is a great city and the perfect place for us--progressive, locally focused and vegetarian friendly. A small city swelling with art & culture. A slightly warmer climate with a longer growing season but still the beauty of all four seasons.
So, call us crazy, but the way we see it, life is short...and the world is wide!
Post your comments, give us recommendations, suggest wacky things for us to do, and follow all our travels here.
xoxo, S&M
We are very proud of our experiences and accomplishments in CNY. To see the transformation of our soil and the presence of earth worms where there had been none before. To see the food we grew and preserved last summer still providing us our meals today. We learned that what we put into it, we got out of it. And we put a lot into this area--we learned to embrace the winter and found deep enjoyment in cross-country skiing and snowshoeing in bitter cold and biting wind. We sat out in the spring, snow still on the ground, bundled up under the stars to finish the 12+ hour boil of our first season's maple syrup. We got blisters, sore muscles, dirty nails, rough hands, sun burned backs, and red necks. And we discovered that we loved it!
But we've been working only with annuals, planning and producing for the season without permanence and we're ready to move on to perennials. We're not just talking about plants either! It's a tough to decide whether to nurture something with patience or just let it go. Sometimes we see a lot of potential for this area to bear fruit in the future, but it's just not for us right now.
So, we've decided to move on to greener pastures. But first, we're off on another adventure! On June 22, 2011 we fly to Bangkok, Thailand where we'll spend 3 months traveling in the region. In addition to Thailand we're planning to visit Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam. There will be ancient temples, secluded mountain towns and postcard worthy beaches. We're going to eat food that burns our faces off. We're going to be cultural sponges, out of our element, just soaking it all up. And just like we usually do we'll write about it here.
It may seem crazy to leave the supportive family environment we've been living in, where we've had the ability to test out our green thumbs and save up some money. We've got good jobs where we work short hours and make good money. We're quitting and traveling instead of waiting and saving. When we get back from our trip we're moving to Asheville, NC, a city we've only briefly visited where we know next to no one. We have no job prospects, we have no living arrangements made, we have no Southern accents. But all those things are easily obtainable (except for the accent, that's going to take some work and a whole lotta beer). As far as we can tell, Asheville is a great city and the perfect place for us--progressive, locally focused and vegetarian friendly. A small city swelling with art & culture. A slightly warmer climate with a longer growing season but still the beauty of all four seasons.
So, call us crazy, but the way we see it, life is short...and the world is wide!
Post your comments, give us recommendations, suggest wacky things for us to do, and follow all our travels here.
xoxo, S&M
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)