One Month To Go
Trip Start
Jul 26, 2006
1
87
Trip End
Jun 09, 2007
Pixian, Chengdu, China
Monday, June 26, 2006
I've been calling our future travels "The Big Trip" for some time now, as in "I can't wait to finish up Peace Corps so we can start The Big Trip," or "What do you think of taking the train through Outer Uighurstan on The Big Trip?" There have been times when the idea of The Big Trip has been the only reason to keep on keeping on with Peace Corps.
The Big Trip currently looks like an eight or nine month-long undertaking, starting on July 26, 2006, when my Peace Corps service will officially end (unofficially, it ended when the World Cup matches started).
We'll spend the first couple of months in and around China, doing some trekking on the Tibetan Plateau, visiting Mongolia and Siberia, returning to Chengdu to see friends and former students, and then going to Nepal via Tibet. We expect to be in Nepal by the end of October.
Depending on the situation in Nepal, we may stay there for a while or move quickly to India. In India, we'd like to spend some time in Sikkim, some time in McLeod Ganj - possibly doing some teaching in the Tibetan exile community there - and some time in Rajasthan before making it to Mumbai and flying further west. Barring any unfortunate encounters with parasitic worms or malaria, we'll be in India until some time in January.
After India, it's a little hazy. Flights to Egypt aren't too expensive, and from Egypt we could work our way through Israel, Jordan and Syria through Turkey and to the former Yugoslav countries. I haven't been back to Macedonia, Bosnia, Serbia or Montenegro since 1989, and I would love to see how they've changed since the breakup and the late unpleasantness. Albania would be another interesting place to visit: last time I was in the area the country was closed to Americans, and all I could do was look longingly across the border.
Of course, it's easy to come up with an impressive list of places that we'd like to travel. The trick is to do it. But we've managed to do quite a bit in China, Tibet, Thailand and Laos during these last two years, so there's hope for us yet (see the Travelpod entries under 'heatherandcarl' for Heather's take on our travels: for example, http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/heatherandcarl/china2004-2006/1140437640/tpod.html).
I'll do my best to keep this site up to date with stories and photos. If you have any ideas, tips, or suggestions, send them along.
Until next time,
Carl
