Fortune Faded...

Money


Since June the Value of the pound has tumbled. For £1 I could have got 67.00 Thai Baht but now they're worth 48.00 Baht... Not good. Other currencies I'll have to use include:

• American Dollar - £1 = $1.38
  
• Australian Dollar - £1 = $2.10
  
• Bolivian Boliviano - £1 = B9.70
  
• Brazilian Real - £1 = R3.24
• Chilean Peso - £1 = P858
  
• Malaysian Ringgit - £1 = R4.97
  
• New Zealand Dollar - £1 = $2.60
  
• Singapore Dollar - £1 = $2.06
  
• Peruvian Nuevo Sol - £1 = S4.37

Tho the strength of the pound is as good now against the OZ and NZ dollars as it was last summer! woot. I don't think it's going to get any better for the Pound / Thai Baht before I fly either.


Storage

All of my possessions are in storage in my bros old room at my folks place and I've started to sort through all the bits and pieces i have to fit in my bag and take with me! Plenty of drugs and first aid kit to be taken, which hopefully I wont have to use. Also bought a wire bag security net with padlock to wrap around my hiking bag when I'm not with it, or am asleep et c. As long as I get my camera and clothes into the bag I'm happy :c)

Our only security is our ability to change

Storage

All of my stuff has been moved out of Forest Fields back into my parents spare room, thanks to a few lifts of some good mates ;c) Bit of a nomad for a few weeks now. Most of my check list is complete! Still got to pack my bag and finalise what I'm to take.


Malaria

After much more research, careful consideration and going on advice about the south east Brazilian coast (Paraty, ilha Grande, Rio de janeiro), I've again decided against taking the Malaria drugs for the time spent in South America. The side effects are not worthy of the minimal risk. As long as I'm not wondering into rural jungle, or go anywhere near the Amazon river basin (north Brazil ) the risk is minimal. Mosquito repellent and protection should be enough, though there is still a risk...

Image source: http://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/destinations/brazil.htm

Malaria links:

http://www.mdtravelhealth.com/destinations/samerica/brazil.php

http://www.paho.org/English/HCP/HCT/MAL/maps-cartagena.htm

Thailand Scrawlings

21st Feb - Arrive in Bangkok!

Thailand Trip

26th Feb - Days 1-2 Bangkok

Day 3 Chiang Mai

Days 4-6 Hilltribe Trek

Day 7 Chiang Mai

Days 8-9 Bangkok

Days 10-11 Khao Sok National Park

Days 12-14 Krabi

Days 15-16 Penang

Days 17-18 Kuala Lumpur

Days 19-20 Port Dickson

Day 21 Melaka

19th Mar - Day 22 Singapore

22nd Mar - Fly to Cairns

Malaria Prophylaxis

After consulting the travel agents, internet, pharmacist, nurse and doctor I've decided against taking any anti-malaria tablets for Thailand as I'm on quite a low risk, touristy route around southeast Asia. So the focus will be on wearing long sleaved clothing and taking precautions, including mosquito nets and anti mosquito sprays!

image source: http://www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk/destinations/thailand.htm

Packing Out My Trash

Possessions

I've decided to store all of my worldly possessions at my parents while I travel. One of my bros (Alex) is at uni in Lincoln freeing up most of a room.. the task now is to once again move all my stuff from A to B and i have until mid January to do that! So the boxes are out and the sorting has begun! Constantly reminding me of the epic adventure and challenge that lies ahead.


Ever Closer

Now that Christmas has passed and I have time off from work to breathe its beginning to feel like a daunting countdown to a jump into the unknown world. Though I don't think thats what I find daunting, I think that feeling comes from the fact I'm doing it alone... leaving behind everyone and everything I've ever known. For a whole year. But this is whats behind the excitement too - that builds up inside. This is the price of freedom - in it's most extreme form!

Fifty-three days... less than two months!

I can't wait to sleep in random hostel rooms, savor the exotic foods, breathe in the humid sea breeze, try and snap dangerous wildlife, exchange perspectives and opinions on the world with locals and strangers, I can't wait to tell people about my home.


Countdown List

So For January I have an extensive list of things to do and buy...

- Visit family
- Complete paying for round the world trip at STA (£820 to go)
- Extra passport photos
- Open Nationwide account
- Finish transferring stuff to mp3/media player
- Buy accessories for mp3/media player
- Buy final pieces of kit
- Scan and email vital documents and information to self
- Buy some good reading material ( Sophie's world by Jostein Gaarder,
Chariots of the gods by erich von daniken)
- Buy Malaria drugs
- Hand in notice at work :c(
- Complete CV
- Move possessions
- Have medical check over
- Buy world sim card
- Write to student loans company
- Return library travel books... ehum..
- Learn some Spanish and Thai?
- Organise some form of leaving par-tay!


Medical

Due to an excessive amount of iodine tablets/droplets for christmas (used for water purification in sounth america and Thailand) I'm going to take back some of them to the Castle Mountain Moor hiking shop and exchange them for the neutralising tablets. I've also had to work out the amount of water, on average consumed by a human - to work out how many tablets are required!

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283

So, on average it'll be 2 to 3 litres a day... for 1 month in Thailand and 2 months in South America thats 90 days... about a max of 270 litres of water. So thats at least:

- 1x Iodine droplets, 1x Iodine tablets
- 4x Neatralising tablets
- 4x Chlorine tablets

http://www.cmmonline.co.uk/departments/default.asp?catL=3760&catH=3769

Suspected Hippie In Transit....

Medicals

All my jabs are complete! I'm immune to the evils of Hep B (booster required in a year), Yellowfever and Rabbies! Hardly any noticeable side effects, at least not on the 2nd and 3rd visits. All recorded in a small yellow book of 'International certificate of vaccinations or Prophylaxis'.

http://www.touchnottingham.com/business/list/bid/5726952 - Travel doc clinic
http://www.traveldoctor.co.uk/tips.htm - Travel doc home page

Just the Malaria prophylaxis drugs to decide upon... The travel doc - Bobby recommended Doxycycline. Where as i was going to go for Mefloquine.

Also after great discussion over a drunken poker game i think a full medical check over at my NHS clinic is a good idea...


NZ Visa

Forms have been filled out for my 1 year NZ working visa and I'm still waiting o a response... Posted it about a week ago, special delivery. Tho i've just checked the status - using the online global visa tracking system - it shows the application has been 'completed'... !
:cD


Singapore

Lazy reading sessions in the festive Alley cafe with many a hot chocolate have revealed i maybe labeled a S.H.I.T. - Suspected Hippie In Transit... - upon entering Singapore. This is what has been printed in many male travellers passport pages... This is a country where freedom of speech and freedom of press are still tightly controlled. Better keep that hair trimmed...

~Top things to do in Singapore:

- Visit orang-utans in Singapore zoo
- Watch an international film with crushing amounts of movie goers at a cinema
- Visit Asian civilizations museum
- Muscle my way to bargains through throngs of night shoppers in China towns market
- See a Chinese opera....
- And of course.... Have a Singapore slinger cocktail

3 Months to go

3 Months to go and I'm jabbed up to the eyeballs with vaccinations...!

Three jabs... left me feeling a bit groggy for a day or two, but nothing extreme. Think the sting to my bank account was more the thing that made me cringe.. what all the flyers and price sheets fail to inform you in the medical centres and doctors surgeries is that the prices listed are for each jab and not the whole course of three jabs (which is required in the cases for Hep B and Rabies).

You have been warned... and i have learnt!

Same time next Monday 24th and then Monday 1st Dec for the follow-up jabs to complete the courses.


Itinerary and NZ Visa

I have my forms for a NZ working visa which only takes a few weeks to sort and will be valid from the date i enter the country.

Altering of my Itinerary at STA went well, tho there was a £50 admin fee incurred for moving the choice of start date of the Latin America trip to the 20th Dec 09... Its all mounting up!


Chile Itinerary

Arrive at Santiago somewhere around the 1st of Dec 09 and the visit:

- Valparaiso / Vina del mar
- Chillan: market town
- Pucon: a few days here for a hike up volcan Villarrica
- Valdivia: for Spanish turrets and forts!
- Punta Natales: from here head for the local national park of Torres del Paine.. epic!
- Punta Arenas: final stop at the very southern tip of Chile to see the location referred to as 'The end of the world'!