Jan
15
2010

Alive in 2010

Perhentian Kecil, Malaysia - someplace warm!

As one of my long time readers recently pointed out via email - “Greg, you’re running late”.

No kidding! I am home, and alive, and as my blog here quietly festers in the cobwebs of the internet I have more to write about than my brain can send to my fingers.

The last two months of 2009 were spent on buses running all over South America without connectivity and the last month has been spent catching up with family and things at home after being gone for most of the year.

I have been busy earning some travel cash for this year writing while at the same time trying to put my mind somewhere that it isn’t 16F degrees! I recently started writing blogs at Today.com and Examiner.com. The Examiner.com blog pays by pageview and is a fun network of writers so far. If you know how to write a blog I’ve got info here on how you can apply. They pay with Paypal so you can do it from the road.

The plan for this year? I’ve been asked that question via Facebook at least 20 times since the new year. Well, let’s just assume that the impossible happens and I hit my budget target:

Plan A:

Get an apartment in Malaysia (which I’ve already scouted out) probably in Kuala Lumpur (not far from the island in the photo above) - putting me within minutes and a cheap AirAsia flight of Indonesia, Papua, and even India. I would stay put for a while, do my work from there, and use KL as a base to finish exploring Asia - particularly Papua and New Guinea.

Plan B:

Watching the new Everest show on Discovery one night put a serious bug in my head for Nepal. So I would return to China, brush up on my Chinese, finally see Tibet because the border was closed last time I was there, climb something big in Nepal, then filter my way down to India. This option takes more money because I will be on the move. A lot.

Plan C:

I pour sand out all over my bedroom, turn the heat up to maximum, let in some stray dogs, and hire some indigenous people to walk around nude with machetes to convince myself that I am actually in the jungle without having to buy an expensive plane ticket.

Shall we take a vote? Either way, it is going to be a damn good year and even after 4 official years out of the cubicle now, life is still good!

Posted in in: Ramblings | |

4 Comments »

Matt (Geeky Traveler)

How about a combination of the three?

Pouring sand all over an apartment in Malasia while letting in stray dogs - all while watching the Discovery channel on a loop.

Comment | January 15, 2010
Felicia

Above comment made me chuckle!

I like Plan A. One thing I loved about S’pore was how many places there were to explore within a 3-hour flight radius!
Rob and I are planning a big trip akin to your Plan B in the next couple of years as we save up

Comment | January 20, 2010
Ben

It has to be Plan A - surely, Papua being almost untouched, has more nooks and crannies to explore than the rest of the world put together!

Get your hands on the Lost Land of the Volcano, its a documentary mainly about Mount Bosavi (a crater 4km wide formed by an extinct volcano, with no entrances or exits and full of unique, undiscovered species), but they also explore other parts too. This will get you in the mood for PNG! Especially if you combine it with David Attenborough’s “A Blank on the Map”, where he treks through a previously unexplored region in search of an uncontacted people in PNG.

Whichever route you choose, may health and happiness folow

Comment | January 20, 2010
grace

Plan A sounds good lots of places to see around there.
Driving around rural M’sia is great too Have lived in KL nearly all my life and still like driving more than the city. Good luck! Take care and enjoy M’sia, if you come

Comment | January 29, 2010