An Open Letter To The Mekong Delta

Hi, would you mind being a little less fascinating? I am trying to plan a trip and the abundance of the region is not helping. The sheer depth of natural, historical, cultural and spiritual gems is astonishing. Reading through my Lonely Planet guide book, it is becoming increasingly clear that I will only be able to scratch the surface of this vast and diverse region.

My wish list of must see places has already grown well beyond my time constraints. To fully experience the region and the five countries that it encompasses would take at least a year of almost constant movement to take it all in.

I will be using regional airlines, but this is more a function of avoiding border hassles. Entering Cambodia and Vietnam through land crossings has far more potential to be troublesome than entering the country by air. Right now the flight plan looks like this:

• Toronto to Bangkok
• Bangkok to Siem Reap
• Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh City
• Hanoi to Bangkok
• Bangkok to Toronto

However, within Cambodia I hope to travel by boat as much as possible, and within Vietnam the railway will be my main source of transportation.

I have always loved using surface transportation, and living in Canada has blessed me with many opportunities to take some extensive and fantastic road trips within this country. I relish the feeling of being propelled forward into a kaleidoscope of the unknown.

Surface transportation also allows for the opportunity to witness the real experience of day to day life of the people who live in any given country.

Alas, there is simply too much to see here, and I will have to choose wisely from this cavalcade of riches.

http://www.goyestoeverything.com

Travel 2.0

Image by permanently scatterbrained via Flickr

Ok, so this neophyte traveller is publicly comitted to going to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam. I am not a serious or professional world seeker. It may sound really cool that I went to Africa, but the fact is that Ghana is a really loving, welcoming and cool place. Plus they speak English there. Ghana is known as Africa for Beginners on the net.

The next step will present new challenges. Language barriers, border crossings, rampant scams and corruption are all anticipated.

None of these things were an issue in Ghana, but they will have to be considered as I move forward.

Anger what? No, Angkor Wat.

Image via Wikipedia

I think I made a desicion, but is it really a decision if you're not sure you made it?

In my experience, when one buys a travel guidebook, one always ends up in that place. Mind you, I have only bought three guidebooks, but I have ended up in every place that I bought a guidebook for. This weekend, I bought my fourth guidebook.

For reasons that elude me, South and Central America did not strike me with the same lightning bolt that Ghana did. At least not yet. Perhaps I am not ready to go to these places yet, but I will get there one day.

Every Wednesday and Saturday The Toronto Star has a Travel Section. On Saturday there was an article that featured the phrase "swirl of humanity", and I knew I had found my next destination(s). I like the swirl of humanity and it is exactly what I am looking for.

I want to bear witness to the experience of all humanity while I am here, so this trip seems to fit the bill.

So consider the following to be the digital equal of an itinerary printed in crayon on a cocktail napkin in an opium den. Nonetheless, the direction is set.

• Toronto to Bangkok - spend a little time in Thailand, but the real destination is further afoot.
• Go to Siem Reap, Cambodia. This is the gateway to Angkor Wat From there a short busride , then an awesome boatride to Phnom Penh , the capital of Cambodia.
  
• Next move is Phnom Penh into Ho Chi Min city (it'll always be Saigon to me)
• Rail journey up the coast of Vietnam with several undetermined stops on the way
• Arrive in Hanoi, check it out.
• Fly Hanoi to Bangkok,
• Fly Bangkok to Toronto
• Sigh
• Start planning next trip. I'm already thinking Central or South America.............

There is no way that my end experience will look like this, but it is a start.

As for the next charity project, this will be like Ghana. The project will be the child produced by the massive amount of research in figuring out the details of this journey. The true purpose will present itself when it is ready.

Mekong Delta, here I come!

http://goyestoeverything.com

Promises, Promises

So I've made myself a promise and it is time to start figuring out how to keep it.

One project on each continent, yikes!

I am a little sad that I have already ticked Africa off the list, because for me it was very easy in Ghana. Lets face it, I had a great dose of beginners luck in Ghana, most of which is attributable to the beautiful spirit of the people of Ghana who helped create the Omenako School Project .

And make no mistake, just because I am ticking Africa off my list should by no means indicate that my commitment to Ghana is finished. It may never be and I realise that going forward some of these undertakings may never be fully finished and I will support each of them in any way I can until the day I die.

But getting backing to the core question; where and how next?

I am beginning by breaking down possible locations on each continent where I can identify the most need combined with my ability to get there (logistics) and the ability to engage online (language) and the ability to undertake projects without fear (security). Obviously, The Sudan needs a lot of help, but I won't be going there anytime soon.

Through a combination of persperation (research) and inspiration (people responding) Ghana showed me the way. But where is the next Ghana and how can I connect online without a common language?

I am also beginning to try and learn from the past. A number of factors intersected to make Ghana work. Those factors need to be identified and considered as prerquisites for the next project.

Obviously, common language is one of those factors, but it is probably one that I will have to let go of. It is unrealistic to think that I will be able to do this again in my native tongue. Maybe its time to learn a little Spanish. Hasta la vista!