Travel plan

This shows the flights I have booked. Bit of a strange route, it looks like it would make more sense to start in Japan and travel down Asia to Malaysia and then on to New Zealand. However, I wanted to get to NZ before Winter. The trip is basically three legs, the first in South East Asia:
The blue arrows show flights, the black lines are the potential overland routes. The first flight is to Cambodia, where I'm planning to spend some time at the Ankor temple sites and then travel to Vietnam. Vietnam looks like a long, long country. There are tons of motorbikes and little in the way of road rules. I'm travelling North, making a few stops (probably at Hoi An, for instance), and I'll probably be in Hanoi (the capital) for Christmas. After that, I'm planning to fly into Laos and stay around Luang Prabang for a bit (flying rather than taking the 24hr+ bus journey from Vietnam!). I need to get back into Thailand for the next flight, so I'll probably cross over at Chong Mai (probably spelt that wrong) and travel down to Bangkok via train, stopping at a couple of places (like the old capitals, Sukothai and Ayyuthaya).

After that, I haven't planned much, so I'll save that for the next blog. New Zealand I might do a bit of work, and I definitely want to do some hiking. Japan I'll visit a couple of cities and maybe stay in a Buddhist temple. I want to get to China via South Korea, and visit Beijing and Xi'an, finally getting to Hong Kong. That's as much as I want to plan really.

Rob

Flatulence

As a vegetarian, people often say to me, "You smelly b@stard!". This is due to my farts. I always say they are due to stress, but...

I was reading about yeast metabolism and raffinose breakdown, something that humans cannot do, as we do not have the required enzyme. Raffinose is found in high amounts in plants, especially beans and green cruciferous vegetables such as brocolli and spinach. Well, we've always known these make you fart the most. Just ask Benjamin Franklin. In humans, the raffinose, along with complex sugars, ends up getting fermented by bacteria in the gut, giving rise to wind. Although this is not harmful, its not ideal. After all, as a social animal you don't want to isolate yourself due to your full-bodied bum-aroma. I'm not sure you would survive on a diet that excluded meat/animal products and beans/green vegetables. What's left? Although some people think they can survive off just sunlight.

We don't seem too well adapted to digesting vegetables. So are vegetarians in denial of their true self?

Hygiene

This week I decided to see how long I could go without changing my shirt. Also, I didn't use any deoderant, and I walked to work and back each day (about 3 miles one way). Why? I am going travelling soon and I want to minimise the number of clothes I take. I already don't hardly ever shave, so I'm halfway to being a vagabond.

The results? Actually, the t-shirt didn't smell too bad. Maybe its made of a magic fabric (I think its just cotton though). I would take it on holiday but the design on the front has a VW camper van with a Union Jack on it, might not be the best idea in some parts of the world.

Of course, this is November in the UK, a week in the tropics might be a different story.

blip blip