Asia, here I come!

I've been attacked by the travel bug again. Well, it's a chronic condition actually. :) I love the fact that I worked hard to have a very flexible job now which allows me to combine traveling and working. In a couple of days I'm leaving for Hong Kong, and then my travel destinations will include southwest China (7 weeks), Myanmar (4 weeks), and a bit of Thailand (2 weeks) at the end. The flight back from Bangkok will bring me home in mid August. Yes, I'll be gone for three full months! :)

Map: CIA

I'm going alone, leaving my significant other at home, but my good friends Dominika and Igor, whom I met five years ago in Iran, will be waiting for me in Yangshuo in early June, and from there on it's going to be girls' party! Igor will be staying in Yangshuo while Dominika and I are going to explore the area around Kunming and all the way up to Shangri-la and Deqin close to the Tibetan border. Then Myanmar, hopefully crossing the border overland, although that's not always feasible. One month in that wonderful country will take us to Mandalay, to the north and back down again sailing the Irrawaddy River with the locals, exploring magical Bagan and remote villages, possibly Ngapali beach on the western coast, weather permitting, and finally making it to Yangon, the capital, to fly to Bangkok. I'll be on my own again in Thailand, where I've been before, so my stay there will be mostly about diving, but I won't make steadfast plans yet - I'd also like to visit the far north. I'll see when I'm there.

Supposedly 'blogspot' is blocked in China, so I'm not sure how often, if at all, I will be able to post here. Myanmar is even worse as the internet is more or less an unknown term there. However, I'll try to email travel reports every two or three weeks, and if you'd like to receive them, drop me a line.

Three months seem like a lot, but with so many places to cover and one book to translate while I'm there chances are I'll run out of time! :)