I'm leaving....

Where has the time gone?? I'm sorry I haven't been able to update this thing more frequently, it actually became quite difficult and time consuming. But hopefully when I get back home in April, I'll have plenty of stories to share, and then might be able to catch you all up on my experiences out here. Yes, April.
For those of you that don't know, I was supposed to be back in January to complete my student teaching course in the Spring semester. Unfortunately (or fortunately since it's allowing me to experience other parts of the world for a longer period of time), due to state budget cuts, my university isn't accepting any applications for Spring semester, so I have to wait until the Fall to complete my student teaching. Oh well, to make lemonades out of these lemons, since I was going to be in Australia for 3 weeks, I decided to just extend that part of my trip, find a job out there and live there until April. Not sure exactly where, but I guess I'll just show up and find out. But my goal has always been to be in Sydney to celebrate New Year's Eve, so it looks like that will happen.

My time in Thailand has been amazing and I can't wait to come back here. I'll be leaving Hat Yai tomorrow, Saturday October 3rd in the morning and starting my journey through Southeast Asia and Australia. I've met tons of amazing people here and it's really been sad saying goodbye to them all. But on to the next chapter in my life...

I will be traveling with a couple of friends (1 for sure, maybe 2) that I met out here for about 1 month through Thailand, and then 1½ months through SE Asia, China, Hong Kong and Macau.

Tomorrow I'll be heading to Ko Pangan for the world famous Full Moon Party on Sunday night. 2 or 3 nights in Ko Pangan, and then off to Ko Samui, Krabi, Phuket and Kanchanaburi. Around October 13th or 14th, I'll be heading to Bangkok for a few days and leaving around the 18th or 19th to Chiang Mai in Northern Thailand, and then Chiang Rai near the Golden Triangle (the borders of Laos, Thailand, and Myanmar(Burma). From there we will be going down Laos through Cambodia, and then up Vietnam to China. We will take the train from Hanoi to Hong Kong, hopefully having time to stop along the way. The amount of time we spend in China and Hong Kong really depends on how much time we spend in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. From Hong Kong we will be taking the ferry to Macau where we will fly out to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on Sunday, November 29th. From here our trip is kind of planned out seeing as we have to fly to the islands, so we bought the flights in advance to save money. Prior to this flight, we're just going with the flow and seeing whatever comes our way.

We will spend a couple of nights in Kuala Lumpur before flying to Manila, Philippines on Wednesday morning, December 2nd. We'll be in Manila until Saturday morning of the 5th, and go back to KL. We spend the night in KL and fly out the next morning to Singapore where we will be until Wednesday afternoon on the 9th. We fly back to KL and fly out to Bali that same evening. We will be in Bali from the 9th to Tuesday the 15th when my friend Sara flies back to KL and then to Bangkok, and I head off to Perth, Australia. (And for those of you questioning why we keep going back to KL, it's not because it's an amazing place...it's just cheaper to fly in and out of there for some reason)

I will be in Perth from Dec. 15th to the 25th when I fly out to Melbourne. I will be in Melbourne for 4 days and then take the overnight bus to Sydney on the 29th and get in on the 30th around 8am. From there, celebrate New Year's, and then start looking for some work because I'm pretty sure I'll be out of funds by then. So any donations will be greatly appreciated and gladly accepted. haha. ;)

Well there it is...my plan for the next 6 months. Who knows what I'll come across, but I'm definitely looking forward to the journey and the experience. I plan on flying back to KL and taking the train up to Hat Yai around the first week of April so that I can be in Hat Yai for the Songkhan Festival on April 13th. I have no idea what it is, but everyone has been talking about it, and apparently it's lots of fun, so I plan on being here. After that, head back up to Bangkok and fly out to LAX. My open-ended return ticket expires April 23rd, so I just have to make sure I fly out before that date.

Once again, sorry that I haven't been able to keep you all up to date on my adventures, but I promise I will have many stories to tell when I get back.
Hope everyone is well. Much love and happiness to all of you.

From the other side of the world,

Juan José Madrigal