Heads up!

Tomorrow I jump on a plane to Batam, one of Indonesia’s most infamous Export Processing Zones, hop on ferry to Singapore, and then the next day hop on another plane, this time heading to Chiang Mai, Thailand.

I’ll be taking the next 3 weeks to a month to travel in Thailand and Cambodia: mountains of Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, Bangkok for New Years, Angkor Wat, Phnom Pen, and whatever happens to come in between. There are three travel mates- Tim and Alex, American 24-year-olds who are working for National Geographic in the mountains of Jambi (far from where I was working), and Trudy—a 27-year old Australian communications specialist—who is meeting up with us on Christmas Eve. Christmas will be spent in Chiang Mai, in seasonably cold weather: 55 degrees at night!!

So, I will be posting from the road when I can. I'll be back in Indonesia mid-January, first to CIFOR, who have yet again extended my contract (yay!), and then to work with the sunbear rehabilitation program in East Kalimantan.

Have a wonderful Christmas, and those who can, eat a snowball for me. And revel in the red and green and white. Tinsel! I miss Tinsel! Okay, no tinsel, yes Thailand.