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Crazy Week …
Packing for Siem Reap - Dental Donations
many thanks to A (OralB) and S (DHAA) for their significant contributions!!

Mum (and I) tried to pack this way and that way 找一个办法带那么多牙膏和牙刷去 Siem Reap Angkor Hospital for Children. (Ref: Pre-travel Research)

At the end of the day, it looks like I’ll have to hand carry all my clothes because the bag is a bit over 15kg and AirAsia wants me to pay for an upgrade to 25kg?!! Geeze… I only wanted a bit of leeway incase I was overweight, not an upgrade. If they took body mass into consideration, I should be given at least 10kgs extra! Anyway,  I’m going to assume J isn’t utilising the 15kg and bum off her excess weight~

Other than packing there’s also been a lot of movement.

Hauling all the furniture off the carpet meant I had to box all my belongings and sleep Japanese style…

You don’t realise the number of possessions you have until you have to pack it all away! At least now I know I can survive on minimal number of clothing.

The repainting of the walls sure makes a room look new….

But it’s the re-carpeting that makes the room feel new!

Anyway, I suppose all the stress prior to departure will make me enjoy the trip even more friends

Pre-Travel Research

As many of my friends know, I like to research. It sounds harmless enough, researching is handy to make sure you know exactly what you’re talking about, or eating, or seeing, or getting into etc. The trouble comes when you research excessively to the point you think the stuff is rubbish and write your own account… I’m just a tad like that, not that far gone yet.

It wasn’t always like this, but the 6 years in tertiary education rewired my brain in it’s quest for knowledge (and I suspect a touch of PD too). Prior to this I was quite content with the answer of “Just Because”.

Anyway, this is my round-about excuse for my lack of updates as of late. I keep getting lost in my Pre-Travel Research for Cambodia and Thailand.

After you decide on a destination (which takes some research in itself), there’s a whole list of things to look into for each location (less countries = less research):

  • Accommodation – location, hotel vs hostel, reviews
  • Activities – type (leisure or extreme), location, cost, reviews
  • Dates – availability
  • Government Warnings – smartraveller
  • Insurance – budget vs comprehensive
  • Itineraries – self plan vs tour
  • Payment Options – Cash, Credit, Direct, Deposit, T/T
  • Registration - smartraveller
  • Safety Precautions – reviews, smartraveller
  • Sites to See – wikitravel, Canby (Cambodia)
  • Vaccinations - Chikungunya fever, Dengue fever, Malaria, Japanese Encephalitis, Hepatitis, Cholera, AIDS/HIV, Giardia, Salmonella, Typhoid…

To be quite honest I haven’t looked up much for Phuket because it seems to be well travelled. Siem Reap on the other hand has lots for me to look into… And now that it’s near my departure date, I’ve found myself some extra things to organise.

Cambodia itself has an extremely harsh history, and even now it is still struggling to form solid foundations for their most basic of needs.

I stumbled across the Angkor Hospital for Children, established by a NGO called Friends Without a Border, either through a review site or travel log… As a health professional, Angkor Hospital for Children really hits close to home because I know first hand how ignorance to the most basic preventive measures (washing hands, brushing teeth! etc) can affect someone’s life.

Anyhow, I’ve somehow turned my planned trip to see the Angkor ruins into a more meaningful experience. It’s a bit last minute but I’ve scrounged up some toothbrushes, toothpaste and my clinics old instruments for donation.

Now let’s just hope I get everything done on time with no hiccups!

Taking Time-Off

The thing with working, not only in dental but other fields too, is getting the time-off! Lucky for me I can pretty much pick and choose when I want to take time-off so long as I let the clinic know before hand. Unlucky for me, whenever the clinic closes I’m out of work.

But generally I’m pretty lucky, my friends have booked their time-off up to a year in advance! In contrast, I block my time-off about 6 months in advance. I guess it’s because I don’t have to fight amongst colleagues to get time-off, if I don’t work then there’s no patient to book. yay yAy!

So anyway, I had already blocked out some time in July – August, but due to changes in circumstances I now have the flexibility to move this around. I had planned on flying to the Eastern states to have a look-see around Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and even check out employment opportunities. I mean after spending ~85% of my life living in Australia, I would have liked to say I’ve been to the other states!

Well it’s not my fault that it’s cheaper to fly overseas rather than interstate!!

I’ve been “busying” myself looking at places to go and things to see, checking out accommodation and flights. sushiI think I’ve caught the travel-bug off my 姐 and 姐夫 who’s going to Japan  in a few weeks!

我猜八月二十二号飞去马来西亚,二十四号飞去柬埔寨一个星期流行!回去马来西亚以后,我还想去多一个地方但是我还没决定。。。要看那里的飞机票比较便宜。从马来西亚应该没问题,AirAsia常常打折 pleased-gry

我希望回去中国练习我的汉语,过了一年我已经忘了很多。真得很可惜!现在我有一个朋友在台湾学汉语,我也想起哪里间他和流行但是如果太贵,我不可以去。。。(我正在想买房子)

无论如何过两个星期是新年和澳洲国庆节!那天我有个的朋友从北京回珀斯。。。希望我们可以一起用汉语聊天儿~ 我去北京以前,我们喝醉了时候聊了不错也会唱一首歌。现在应该越好啊!哈哈!

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P.S. 我从现在开始要写多一点儿汉语。如果我没有练习,我怕我不可以跟我的北京朋友联络了!还有写汉语的时候,我可以乱七八糟写 meH

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