Faced with possibly the worse financial crisis since the Great Depression, with unemployment rising and hundreds of thousands worried about keeping their jobs I have taken the slightly strange step of quitting my perfectly good job and sodding off travelling for 6 months. Come March 31st I will hop on a plane to Hong Kong (I can't wait for the dim sum) where my South East Asia adventure begins. It will be a brief 4 days there catching up with a friend before heading to our new home for the next 3 months, Malaysia. Once that bit is out the way I have to pop back to England quickly for a wedding before heading back to Asia, this time Thailand, where the more mobile part of the trip begins. Over the 3 months following I will make my way around Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and into China, heading back to Thailand for September 25th where the trip will end and I'll have to try and find gainful employment again, assuming the trip hasn't permanently altered my outlook. If things are really bad when I return then some more travelling may occur but we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.
All is not lost though, I've bought a laptop and a new camera (any excuse) and so will be blogging as I go. I imagine the blog will be rather restaurant focused, as my hotel and hostel living will minimise the cooking (not sure how I'm going to handle so long away from a stove), but I'm pretty sure I can find some interesting food to photograph and write about. I may stick some pure travel related posts up too, although not sure if I want to taint the blog with non-food related chatter. We'll see. Either way I hope to put some interesting stuff up for anyone that cares to read it.
If you think there's any must-dos, must-sees or, most importantly, must-eats in any of those countries please let me know what they are.
Wow - congrats on your big move/trip! Have a banana leaf rice in Malaysia for me!
I haven't done much travel around Asia but I adored Chiang Mai when I was there. The kao soi at Lamduan is amazing!
Posted by: Su-Lin | March 16, 2009 at 12:56 PM
You have to go to Roti Mataba in Bangkok - amazing. Also worth reading is Robyn's amazing blog, http://eatingasia.typepad.com.
Good luck, wish I was doing the same thing!
Posted by: William | March 16, 2009 at 09:39 PM
As I said on the BBC food board, It's a brave choice and I wish I was secure enough to do the same.
Enjoy yourself Josh!
Posted by: Lee Donovan | March 17, 2009 at 10:02 AM
jeaaaaloouuuss!
Posted by: Sarah Williams | March 19, 2009 at 01:09 PM
Josh,
Left a message on the BBC food boards but just wanted to say have a great time, be safe and come back and tell us all about your travels, your food, your experiences. Bound to be great!!
I do envy you.
Take care.
Sue
Posted by: SchueySue | March 27, 2009 at 03:25 PM