Chapter 1 - Post 1

Nothing like a new page on the book of life.  

I know some of you have a few questions for me so let's see if this helps:    

I resigned effective 14MAY09 but am on vacation till then so 30APR09 was really my last day.  

I am checking out of the rat race and joining the human race.    

I am homeless, once again, it is really quite amusing not to have a response for..."permanent address".

No partner, no kids, no car, no mortgage, no job, no debt.  I AM FREE!!!  

Brief itinerary for the next 6-7 months is as follows:

My dear friends from Reno, NV arrive in Kuala Lumpur today (2MAY09) and we will be spending 12 days traveling together around peninsular Malaysia including sites of KL, Ipoh, Belum Rainforest, Terangganu, the east coast island of Redang, Frasier's Hill, and Melaka (Malacca).  It should be a fantastic and busy trip.  We will be driving and taking a ferry to the island.  

Happy Wesak Day (or Vesak) on 9May09 - the birth, enlightenment, and passing of the Buddha.  

Somewhere around 15MAY09 I will travel by train from KL to Chang Mai, Thailand and may stop for a few days in a couple spots along the way.  Beginning on 31MAY09, I will be living at the Tao Garden Health Resort in Chang Mai where I will attend a yoga teacher training certification course with a host of amazing teachers.  It is a residential program and includes meditation, pranayama, physiology, and teaching approaches in addition to learning more about the yoga asanas.  The primary teacher of the course is American and lived in Thailand for 9 years and follows an Anusara teaching style, my favourite style of yoga.  I will be at the YTT until the end of June and will leave with a IYT certification.  

Beginning in early July, I will be living at the British International School on the Thai island of Phuket attending the Cambridge English Language Teaching Accreditation course.  This accreditation will allow me to teach English to non-native English speakers most anywhere in the world.  Acceptance into this course was quite a process and included a very challenging grammar test as well as an interview process.  If I pass, I will have the CELTA certification from the University of Cambridge in the UK.  

When I leave Phuket, I will travel up through other SE Asia spots to hopefully include Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam.  I need to be in Beijing, China on 22AUG09 when I will join up with an Exodus tour to include Beijing, the Great Wall, Xi'an (terracotta warriors), Chengdu (pandas), Leshan, Chongqing, Guilin, Yangshuo, and Shanghai.  This tour will include 2 full days on the Yangtze River.  I will spend a few extra days in Shanghai at the end. 

 

From the end of my China tour, I plan to work my way back down through the island archipelagos (Philippines, Indonesia) and finally end up in India in the beginning of October.  I plan to start out in Chennai (Madras) and will end in the north (probably on a short tour) to see some of the sites before heading off to London at the beginning of November.  I will take some time to visit my old stomping grounds and dear friends in London (and around the UK).  May the USD stay strong against the GBP.  

Somewhere between the US holiday of Thanksgiving and Christmas, I will make my way to Baltimore Maryland to invade my Dad's space and spend the holidays with my family scattered around the east coast of the USA.  

I do not have plans beyond that but know the next part of my path will be revealed in due time.

The rain has stopped, the clouds have drifted away, and the weather is clear again.  

If your heart is pure, then all things in your world are pure...

Then the moon and flowers will guide you along the Way. __Ryokan

I will be keeping this post updated with stories, pictures, and hopefully some video.  

I may even open a twitter account...

Om Shanti