i'm going to bhutan!

The last of my travel documents arrived today, making it all official: I'm going to Bhutan.

The intricacies of visiting Bhutan mean I will be on a group tour, but I've found out this morning there will only be five of us on the group, which is perfect. Also perfect is that I won't be the only single traveller in the group — there's nothing quite like being the only single person in a flock of couples, after all.

For those of you playing along at home, I'll be wending my way through Bhutan according to this itinerary, although I'll be waiting until I hit the thin altitude air before deciding whether I'll be able to cope with the trekking option.

I've memorised how to say kuzuzangpo la, but the next phrase I need to conquer will be along the lines of "Do you have anything less spicy?" and "Too hot!" because those Bhutanese eat chilli with everything, and sometimes as a meal in itself.

I have 6GB of memory card for the camera, and I'm still nervous it won't be enough.

1 April 2008 @ 11:06 | 3 Comments

i've had some time to think about you

Dear Writers of East Of Everything:

Loved your work on SeaChange, and enjoyed the first episode of EoE. Truly.

However.

Did you have to pick Bhutan? Because, you see, I'm going there NEXT WEEK. Now, I've remained relatively calm as the Tibetan crisis escalates, even though the protests are now in every single country surrounding the one I'm visiting. Then I flick on the TV to your new show, and lo and behold the very first scene shows me a Bhutanese plane barely clearing the runway before it drops out of the sky and bursts into flames.

Thank you. No — really. Thanks.

If anything goes wrong with my flight in or out of Bhutan, I'm blaming you. (That makes you responsible for my 02:00 check-in for my flight into Bhutan, by the way.)

Nolove,

Me.

The Long Ride Home (Patty Griffin — Elizabethtown)

31 March 2008 @ 17:41 |

ugh

The dayjob and the freelance work conspired on me, handing me a 16.5 hour workday which left me sorely in need of movement to unlock all the muscles in my back and neck that had seized up from all that typing. Not to mention sleep. In truly spectacular fashion, I fell into bed at 6:30pm last night. Let me tell you, 12 hours sleep? Is GOOOOOOOOOOOD.

It's only 12 sleeps until I leave now, and the errands are not lessening. I had hoped by getting started early I might have them all out of the way by now but alas, life is wily and cannot be pre-empted so easily. To add to the confusion, one of my colleagues at the dayjob has resigned, leaving us all scrambling to cover her absence, and the cat apparently needs all his teeth pulled. Blerk. Lucky I had that long work day, I suppose — the extra money will take some of the sting out of the vet bill.

It's been days and days and days (ie, I've lost count now) without words, but not for lack of trying: a new novel is demanding all my spare attention, making me stop in random places to jot down notes and questions. It's still a little threadbare in terms of actual plot, however, and after the last revision I'm chary of stories who come knocking without plot, so I'm being stubborn and not starting it without some sort of idea of where it's going.

29 March 2008 @ 9:24 | 4 Comments

I suggest a reading of a Lesson in Tightropes

womble.jpg

Womble feels there has been too much spawn- and max-centric photography on this blog of late.

Also, my mobile phone cannot spell chocolate. This, I feel, is a grievous omission.

Countdown to Bhutan: 16 sleeps!

Cigarettes And Chocolate Milk (Rufus Wainwright — Live)

25 March 2008 @ 17:51 | 2 Comments

there may still be some gaps in transmission…

New passport, iPod battery backup pack, jabs for typhoid and tetanus booster (ouch, ouch), spare memory card for the camera… all check. This travelling business is expensive, and it ain't just the airfares. It's like a month-long shopping fest beforehand, and I can't tell you how much I hate shopping. So far I've managed most of it over the net, but soon, soon, I'll have to venture out to buy some new clothes. That means the pain and trauma of public dressing rooms, and their mirrors. Gah.

It's been six and a half days of no words, and I'm starting (at last) to unwind. Enough that I'm thinking maybe it's time to start up with the words again. No idea what to write, so perhaps I'll concentrate on some short stories for a while. There's a new novel idea brewing, but I refuse to work on that just yet. If there's one thing selling the first half of the story before you've written the second taught me, it's to have the worldbuilding settled and consistent in your head before you start writing.

In the meantime, those of you casting about for help on how to write a synopsis, check out Sean Williams' blog. There'll be more from other authors to come on the 18th of March, so be sure to check back.

11 March 2008 @ 16:35 | 2 Comments

you're going where…?

The deathmarch continues unabated. I have now abandoned all pretence of understanding the rules of grammar or syntax, the meaning of any given word in the english language, and indeed appropriate times to laugh or talk. Apparently you shouldn't indulge either impulse while you're alone. Who knew? Pshaw, I say. Friends and family are beginning to suspect I've written a terribly funny novel. Little do they know it's the laugh of a desperate and mad woman, bemused by the weight of her own words.

To add spice to the mixture, I've been trying to book my flights for the trip away. I've stopped telling people I'm going to Bhutan, and started telling them I'm going to the Himalayas, since even travel agents are looking at me blankly and saying "Where? Where's that?"

Visited the GP to check out what vaccinations I'll need. Health and travel websites list a whole range of fun preventable diseases, such as polio and rabies and malaria and japanese encephalitis. The GP spent most of the consultation telling me I didn't really need to bother with the vaccinations.

Malaria? Oh, there's not really any need for malaria meds. They're such a hassle, you see, and the Himalayas are quite high up. If you head down into any of the valleys … well, maybe just stay up high, won't you?

Polio? Oh, you've probably already had a polio vaccination. No need to bother with another of those.

Rabies? H'm. I understand there is a bit of a street dog problem in Bhutan, and of course it's not just dogs you need to worry about, it's any mammal. So probably no need to worry about a rabies vaccination before you go. Just… if you do get bitten, by anything, do make sure you get the post-exposure rabies vaccination as soon as you get home, won't you? Because it's quite fatal, after all.

Me, boggling: You mean, as opposed to moderately fatal?

Oh, yes, he says, and if you develop a strange fever about six months after returning home, and you can't figure out what it is, do try and remember it might be malaria, and get treatment — because that's moderately fatal.

All I Need (Mat Kearney — Nothing Left To Lose)

28 February 2008 @ 17:26 | 3 Comments

ha! i scoff at your fears!

No wondrous stories of Bangkok to soothe my rattled and overwrought nerves?

Well, I will gladly settle for a lack of terrifying stories. Accordingly, in a frenzy of post-procrastination last-minute panic, I have booked myself a holiday.

In a smidge less than six weeks, I will be tripping the light fantastic to Bhutan. This of course means I have to get on to the issue of travel vaccinations, um, yesterday. Oh, yeah, and renewing my passport.

Extra pressure is not particularly what I needed, right in the last days of the deathmarch, but deadlines without stress are too easily ignored, what ho? Plus, it'll make the holiday aspect of the trip that much more luxurious.

I am even — wait for it — (sort of, almost, nearly entirely) resolved not to take my laptop. 8O

25 February 2008 @ 15:51 | 3 Comments
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