Updates: Future Life and Travel Plans
Posted in Cambodia, Laos by Malena on May 8th, 2009 3:43 am

Well, I’ve now been traveling for more than fourteen months and biking for more than three! I no longer hesitate at bargaining over guesthouse prices and internet cafes, fearlessly stare down border guards who try and bribe extra money out of me, eat at even the dodgiest of restaurants, use Brit/Euro terminology occasionally when I talk, have the strangest tan lines I’ve ever seen, barely squeak when mice crawl over my foot, don’t mind those big hills quite so much (but developed a deep and abiding hatred of a headwind) and have - at last! - finalized my plans for the next four years. So, without further ado, for the people who know me “in real life” and are curious, and those who just know me through the blog, read on to find out where I’ll be in a few weeks, months, and years:

Flooding from a Dam (West Laos)
Flooding from a Dam (West Laos)
Actually, the hardest question to answer is where I’m going in a few weeks. That I haven’t decided! I liked my attempts at getting “off the beaten track” in Laos and Vietnam, and think I’ll try to similarly spend some time away from the highway here in Cambodia. I’m in Siem Reap at the moment, and I’d like to see Preah Vihear and Rattanakiri provinces, along with the coastline. I think I have a plan for tomorrow, but that’s basically as far as it goes.

Golden Stupa - Phat That Luang with Monk (Vientiane, Laos)
Golden Stupa - Phat That Luang with Monk (Vientiane, Laos)
After Cambodia, I’m heading to Thailand and a quick weekend flight- probably to expensive Tokyo, but circumstances might require Hong Kong instead. I’m then meeting my little brother (the same one I traveled with in Nicaragua and Costa Rica… lucky guy!) for three weeks of cycling in Southern Thailand and Malaysia. Then, I have enough time to take a few deep breaths before Kate (friend who visited in the Middle East) comes out for a short cycling trip of… well, we haven’t quite decided yet, but it will be somewhere in Southeast Asia! At the end of July, I’ll fly from Bangkok to Australia for a quick visit before heading back to the States for a break. I have no idea what I’m doing with my bike at this point.

Rice Paper Drying - for Noodles (Luang Prabang, Laos)
Rice Paper Drying - for Noodles (Luang Prabang, Laos)
From there… well, I applied for a one-year deferral from law school to travel, and it was granted! This surprised me, as I assumed the admissions committee would decline my request, quite fairly, as I’m not doing something that will directly enhance my academic or professional skills. I’m very happy they decided to grant this request, and plan to keep on cycling, but this time somewhere else - tentatively South America! I haven’t worked out all the details yet (after all, I’m still not sure where I’ll be going next week!) but the next year and a bit should be interesting. Even now that it’s all had a few days to sink in, I can’t believe I’m traveling for another year!

Laos Scenery
Laos Scenery
Had you asked, back in India, when I wanted to stop traveling, I would have answered “As soon as possible!” or at the very latest, given a date sometime this May. Then, I discovered Southeast Asia and more importantly, the right way for *me* to travel, and suddenly, I’ll be gone until next summer! It took me almost a year to figure out what worked, and now that I have, I guess I won’t be stopping anytime soon.

Anyway, as mentioned, I’m deferring law school. That means that in August of 2010 (seems so far away now) I’ll be making that cross-country trip to California where I’ll spend the next three years training to be a lawyer as a member of the Stanford Law Class of 2013 - wow!

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01
Brad
posting from United States
May 8th, 2009 4:33 am

Dude, I am glad you have had such a good time and are able to keep going. Quite inspirational to us boring stay at home types. Keep on pedaling

02
maggie
posting from United States
May 8th, 2009 4:55 am

Wow. Malena, you are truly awesome. or, should i say, awe-inspiring. :) congrats on getting the deferral, on school, and everything else. are you going to keep blogging somehow on your next year of ‘venturing? i’m so excited for you (and you’re even inspiring me to get my bike (bicycle) functioning again)! :) btw, speaking of ‘expensive’ cities, there might be a minor shock when you get to the Bay area… but i guess you have a long time to work up to that! :P congrats!! ::hug::

03
Ramsey
posting from United States
May 8th, 2009 5:54 am

Depending on what you decide for your future travels, if you will go back to Thailand I may know someone who could keep your bike for you. Let me know. Good luck with everything and congrats on law school.

Mike had dinner with your family last night. He was in New Orleans at a conference.

Happy pedaling.

Ramsey

04
Quita
posting from United States
May 8th, 2009 10:51 am

Go, Malena! Go, Malena! Go, Malena!

05
Pam Walter
posting from United States
May 9th, 2009 8:52 am

Congratulations on your new plans and on embarking on such an amazing experience! No journey is ever wasted, and I’m sure you’ll use these travels in your future law career in ways you cannot imagine now.

06
antoine
posting from France
May 11th, 2009 3:50 am

Bonjour Malena !
I come back to your website after a couple of monthes and I’m very happy to see you’re doing so well ! What a wonderful thing to read that you’ll keep traveling another year !! I think that a break at home will be very enjoyable but also make you even more willing to keep cycling the world before coming back to reality. Time will be come soon enough… I’m still in Paris writing and selling articles about my trip, and a publisher contacted me to rewrite my travel blog as a book… I must give my text in six monthes :) When you post it, I’ll be interested to read what you didn’t like in India…
I wish you a lot of joy on the road !!
Antoine

07
Eva Rees
posting from Brazil
May 11th, 2009 9:03 am

Love this post Malena, and so glad to see you’ve hit your stride. You fill us both with admiration and hope for our future as well :)

We too are getting the strange tan lines (chacos left me with puzzle-feet). We experimented with eating on the street since day one, and so far, not a single incident (3 countries under our belts!). I was initially apprehensive of bargaining, as it doesn’t come naturally to Americans, but we’ve been pleased with how easy it’s been. The difficulty in bargaining sometimes still comes from simply not knowing what I’m supposed to be bargaining to. Prices drop easily on tours and rooms, but moving from country to country we aren’t always sure what the going rate should be. In the jungle of Perú we bargaining down the price of a tour quite a bit, but in the end still paid substantially more than others because we just had no idea of the range. Hopefully time will give us a better gauge.

I am so happy that you’ve decided to extend your travels. It’s only recently that we realized how possible it really is to spend months at a time on the road, exploring what the world has to offer — I can’t wait to see where it takes us.

08
Jessica the hedgehog
posting from United States
May 12th, 2009 8:21 am

Congratulations, Malena! That’s awesome news! I’m so glad they granted you a deferral and even happier that you’ve found the way to travel that works best for you. :)

I think South America would be a wonderful place to bike! We spent a bit more than 6 months in South America (Argentina, Uruguay, Peru, and Ecuador)…and I can highly recommend a journey there.

(And we’ll be headed to Colombia in a few weeks - really looking forward to that!)

I totally remember those rice paper drying racks in Luang Prabang! I was looking at one of our photos of them the other day. :)

I’m excited to see what adventures you discover in Cambodia. It was our favorite country from our rtw trip. Our biggest piece of advice we give folks going to Cambodia is to go beyond just Phnom Penh and Siem Reap (though we enjoyed both of those places tremendously too - especially Phnom Penh) and get into the more rural parts of Cambodia. Since you’ll be on your bike, you’ll have no trouble doing this and then some! It’s such an incredibly welcoming country. :)

09
Malena
posting from Cambodia
May 17th, 2009 3:17 am

Thanks to everyone for all the positive comments! Right now I’m trying to say focused on Southeast Asia rather than worry too much about South America, but it’s hard :)

Jessica - I have DEFINITELY had some adventures already in Cambodia that I can’t wait to write about! Just as soon as I get the photos uploaded… I’ve heard nothing but great things about Colombia - I’ll keep an eye on your journal to see how you find it!

Eva - Just took a look at your website and now I’m *very* excited about all the food in South America I can look forward to. Must…stay…focused on SE Asia!

Antoine - Very happy to hear from you :)

And thanks to everyone else! Maggie, Brad, I’ll have to stalk you on facebook and figure out what you’re up to nowadays!

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