the plan

this trip focuses on asia & the indian subcontinent (which, though part of asia, always gets its own mention, and who am i to fight this convention). duration: one year, give or take.

i have a one way ticket from san francisco to beijing on feb 16th. i wanted to leave on the 14th so when people ask me "when do you leave?" i would say, with solemn conviction, "valentines day", leading the inquisitor to assume there's some meaning behind the date--that maybe i'm fleeing a woman who has spurned me or betrayed me or has otherwise broken my heart. in reality i'm only really fleeing work and responsibility and drudgery and the bush administration. but i plan on being spurned sometime during the trip, so stay tuned for that. it's really just a question of what nationality she'll be. i'm thinking french. built in panache. "curse you claudette, you heartless tart!" i'll come up with something better when the time comes, i promise.

the plan, which is almost entirely subject to change, looks like this:

china: mid feb-mid march
northern laos: march
vietnam: april
malaysia/indonesia: may-august
nepal: sept
india: oct-feb

other possibilities along the way include: burma, east timor, papua new guinea

this itenerary avoids the most extreme heat/cold as well as the various monsoon seasons. the exception will be beijing, where i will freeze my ass off for about a week before heading into more temperate southern china. the picture in my guidebook of the great wall covered in snow looks pleasant enough, and the crowds should be light.