Intended Itinerary

As promised:

October 4th: Fly to Montreal, Canada to spend a week chilling with my buddy, Ollie. A little sidetrip to Toronto at the end of the week should make for a good leaving party from this side of the International Dateline.

October 11th: Fly (via L.A.) to Seoul, South Korea. A couple of weeks soaking in the autumn splendour of the national parks. Nothing and nobody, but me and my pack...can't wait!

October 25th: Fly to Manila, Phillipines. Another fortnight soaking up the local atmosphere. No firm plans...may learn to scuba dive, trek in the mountains, visit volcanoes...or just sit on my (hopefully, slightly less) fat ass on the beach.

November 8th: Fly to Hanoi, Vietnam. The start of a 3month overland journey around the Indo-Chinese peninsula. The Re-unification Express, Mekong and Yellow River Deltas, Angkor Wat, Koh Phanghan, Bangkok, Chiang Mai etc. will be some of the highlights. Catching up with some friends on the Thai islands will be a nice way to spend Christmas and New Year. My family will of course be appreciating being able to eat Christmas dinner at a leisurely pace without me scoffing all the seconds.

January 31st 2005: Fly from Bangkok to Kathmandu. Two months of teaching at Niketan School, about 5km East of the city centre. I'm really excited about this opportunity to really immerse myself in the local community...unfortunately for you lot, I'll be able to access the internet most days so you'll be getting reams of excitable babble on the place. When I've finished my placement, I'll have about 5 weeks to trek in the Himalayas around the Annapurna Sanctuary. This has been a lifelong ambition, so be prepared for gushtastic reporting.

May 2nd: From India into Nepal (overland): Six weeks isn't nearly long enough to see a country of the size and diversity of India so I'll be limiting myself to Varanasi, Agra and Delhi on the sightseeing front....followed by some soaking up of rays in Goa...life's gonna be hard ;-)

June 13th: Fly from Bombay to Jo'burg - and hopefully from there straight to Blantyre, Malawi. As some of you know, I've been to Malawi before and I'm stoked to be able to go back and put something back into the country. Neville Beavis (a former teacher who led the school trip that I went on in 1993) is now running an orphanage with his wife Rosemarie. So, for a couple of months, I'll be helping out with ongoing projects. Open Arms Infant Home cares for children whose parents have died from AIDS. I'm sure my time there will be very rewarding and I'm looking forward to sharing the stories of some very special people with you.

August 18th: Fly back to Jo'burg and from there back to UK. A good friend is getting married and I'd be shot for missing the ceremony, so I'm taking the opportunity to come back and spend a little time with friends and family before I take off on the next leg of my trip.

As this 'next leg' will depend on finance and making new plans, I won't bore with the potential details until they stop being potential and become definite.

Back after the weekend with photos from leaving do's etc.