One year ago I looked out the window of my comfortable
office in Sydney and thought, “This isn’t quite right”. I now type this looking
out the window in my hotel room in Yangon, Burma – and reflect on 2012, the
most incredible year of my life.
At the start of this year I left the place that employed me for eleven years, seeking something different. I packed my bags and took off for a year of global travel, not knowing where I would end up.
At the start of this year I left the place that employed me for eleven years, seeking something different. I packed my bags and took off for a year of global travel, not knowing where I would end up.
I started in -30C weather in China for the ice festival in Harbin. In Jilin I heard accounts of North Korean corpses floating down the Tumen River. I witnessed the rare sight of North Korean tourists in Shenyang, censoring themselves in front of South Koreans.
Later by bus, train, truck, and jeep my friend James and I made a treacherous journey from Beijing to cross the land border into Mongolia. We continued all the way up to the border with Russia where our cameras stopped working because of the cold. After peering over into Siberia, I flew to the Arabian Peninsula to see turtles nesting in Oman. I then dashed back to the cold in northern Europe, to be rescued by a kind Norwegian while attempting to trek to the border post of Finland/Sweden/Norway. I had "aurora anxiety" and went husky sledding in Finland, before resting in London. And it was only March!
Later by bus, train, truck, and jeep my friend James and I made a treacherous journey from Beijing to cross the land border into Mongolia. We continued all the way up to the border with Russia where our cameras stopped working because of the cold. After peering over into Siberia, I flew to the Arabian Peninsula to see turtles nesting in Oman. I then dashed back to the cold in northern Europe, to be rescued by a kind Norwegian while attempting to trek to the border post of Finland/Sweden/Norway. I had "aurora anxiety" and went husky sledding in Finland, before resting in London. And it was only March!
After driving to Wales for a lovely time with friends in the
mountains, the Middle East leg began. I learned a thing or two in Gallipoli and went hot air ballooning over Cappadocia in Turkey; ate
eleven times at the same restaurant in Beirut, Lebanon; was interrogated by an Israeli security
agent; put the yarmulke onat the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem; caught the bus with the locals to
cross from Palestine into Jordan; and was dazzled by Petra.
As the summer heat came I escaped to North America. After
being detained by US immigration, I drove up the entire length of the west
coast with help from the lovely K. In San Francisco we flew over the Golden Gate Bridge in a light
plane – one of the greatest thrills of my life (thanks to Tia and Alex). I
feared for bears when my car broke down in the redwood forests in northern California. I
amusingly saw Seattle fans barrack for Miami during the NBA Finals. And
Portland, oh how I loved Portland.
I hopped across the border to Vancouver to join my friend
Calvin’s final days in Canada. In July some painful cross-country train rides awaited
– improvised theatre in Chicago,
swimming in Boston,
seeing THE Star Spangled-Banner at The Smithsonian in Washington DC. In
Hollywood I sat in front of the television for the London Olympics Opening
Ceremony, only to find out NBC would be broadcasting on a ten-hour delay!
The whole time the teenage ambition of professional writing
nagged away at the mind. I kept it up during the travels, but readers of this
blog would have noticed in July the posts abruptly stopped.
On a hot summer’s day in Chicago I was in my hostel room checking my e-mails when I opened a message that would change my life. The University of Hong Kong had awarded me a scholarship to complete a Master of Journalism. The course would begin in September.
As if my very fortunate circumstance of travelling wherever
I wanted whenever I wanted wasn’t intoxicating enough, someone wanted to pay
for me to do what I always craved!
Travel plans I had for the rest of the year were hastily
dumped and I headed for Hong Kong (via Sydney). Sri Lanka, Iraq, North Korea,
Burma, Scotland, Madagascar, and Timor-Leste would all have to wait.
First semester ended tomorrow and I arrived in Yangon, Burma this morning. I am here to work – tomorrow is the first day of an internship with a prominent English language newspaper.
So I’m back on the blog. Despite the four-month silence, my year of Unpredictable Delights has continued unabated. Tonight I stare out the window at the Yangon traffic and think to myself, “This feels just right”.
