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Wanderlust

Wanderlust: an irresistible desire to travel to understand one’s very existence.
…
Moments before midnight on January 25th 2007, I stepped off a Boeing 777 and shuffled my way through air-con-icebox corridors following a wave of people into the expansive white warehouse style rooms of the Suvarnabhumi airport. I collected my backpack and walked out into the thick humid Bangkok air for the very first time. I climbed into the prearrange car service I set up only a few hours earlier from Hong Kong, and was rocketed off to a mysterious hotel booked by my friend who’s flight was delay until the next day.
It’s been 6 and a half years since that initial tentative excursion, but now traveling to Thailand is just a habitual part of my way of life. I think about it all the time. My friends will tell you I talk about it all the time. Sometimes I even take it for granted, and “I could never do that” comments from friends and strangers when referring to my life startle me. Anyone can do this, I think to myself, people are just people everywhere you go.
The fact that I work so far from home and travel often is not an unforeseen component of my life. On my “List of Things to Do” that I started compiling back in high-school, there are 34 countries I want to visit. Surprisingly, Thailand was never on the original list. It’s funny how things work out.
Every time I go to Thailand it’s a new experience, and that’s one of the really cool things about traveling and moving around a lot that I appreciate so much, no matter how hard it can be at times. It’s just that simple fact that even when you’re going to the same places things change; and when things change and you can see it happening, it’s a pretty freaking awesome reminder of how vibrant and amazing this world really is.
In the day to day routine of life, it’s easy to miss those changes – one day just blends into the other and things appear to stay the same. But nothing ever stays the same, everything changes. Sometimes those changes can smack you in the face when you expect things to be a certain way, which isn’t always easy and can really hurt quite a bit. Sometimes there is intense resistance and turmoil before the calm sets in. Everyday I’m learning more and more how to accept things as they are and just roll with the transformations. It can be a demanding process, acceptance, but it’s always worth it.
This trip I did things I’ve done before: spent time with old friends, and ran around the jungle like usual. But I also did several things I’ve never done before: ate crickets and chicken feet, zoomed around on the back of a motorcycle going way too fast down hills most of the time, watched the sun rise at Nong Pak Chi watchtower, walked through the Chiang Mai Night Market like a tourist, went ziplining in the forest canopy in Mae Kampong…and relished in the sweet rejuvenation of my love of adventure for just being out in the world, soaking it in (as opposed to studying it so intensely for my research)… as always it was a fantastic trip.
Now I’m back and there is much work to be done compiling and editing videos, dissertation stuff, writing papers…it’s back to the grindstone – the 90% hard work. But it was a glorious 10%. And I can’t wait to tell you what the gibbons have been up to since I last left.
Sorry we weren't able to keep you updated as we went throughout the trip as we expected but stay tuned, there’s more to come…


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