Pre-launch

Right, a brief introduction - on the 5th March, three of us (Ryan, Shaun and I (Tim)) will be flying off to Southeast Asia for 6 months, leaving behind our cold but homely little island of Great Britain. Landing in Bangkok, we will first explore Thailand before going on to complete a circular tour of Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia, finishing off back in Thailand. I have created a very rough route map to give some idea of our proposed plan of travel (following first the southerly course from Bangkok to Phuket).

Since July of last year, all three of us have been working full-time jobs to earn the money required for this trip; Ryan registering cars in a Renault garage, Shaun scanning coupons for Neilson's, and I working in various factories and warehouses through an agency. And now the time has come - we have hoarded enough money to keep us going for a while, booked the flight, had the jabs (typhoid, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, rabies), attained the pills (malaria), bought the equipment, planned the route and so at last on Sunday we can get the hell out of here.

This blog will document our progress throughout the coming months, and we shall attempt to post updates regularly as confirmation of our well being. Hopefully, it shall also have some entertainment value given that it is human nature to enjoy tales of misadventure.
For part of the trip, we will be able to post directly onto the site from internet cafes located around Thailand, but whilst in more sparse regions (i.e: Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia), my mother will be writing up the letters we send, much like Sarah's mum does for her site (which can be found at www.jungleblogging.com). I hope the end product is a vivid and coherent account of our journey in a continent geographically and culturally so disparate from ours.