tim says hi

I haven’t been outside of Kazakhstan since August 2007 and I haven’t left Petropavlovsk since December. As the temperature outside reluctantly rises above freezing and the mountains of snow transform the sidewalks into rivers and courtyards into swamps, I’m ready to go. After re-reading some of my writing from this time last year, I see that I still had a romantic view of everything. The winter had been long and cold and I wrote about ice picnics. I sprained my ankle and was happy to recount the inner working of a Soviet-style hospital. We had big milestones and I reflected on completing six months in country. This year I don’t feel the luxury of novelty to soften the winter. Although this year has been milder than last, I’ve felt the strain of routine and uneasy hints of a depression I fully expected but never really experienced last year.

So I’m going to Thailand to make me feel better. I leave Petropavlovsk on Monday, fly out of Almaty on Wednesday. We’ll be in Bangkok for two days, Trat and the island of Koh Chang for another few days. From there we’ll take a bus into Cambodia, where we’ll split a week among Kompong Cham on the coast, Phnom Penh the capital and Angkor Wat where there are some really cool Buddhist temples. Food, lodging and transportation are cheap there. The weather hovers between 70F and 90F all year round. I’ll be back in Petro on April 3rd with pictures and stories.