World, hello again. If anyone still reads this blog (hi Mum?), sorry for the 4 month disappearance. Life and a touch of laziness happened but fear not, the dark days are over and I’m back with the time and will to write, plus things to write about. Hurrah.
As the title of this post suggests, I’ve left my job in London to go travelling! Yep, I’m doing that thing. Sort of. Except there was no dramatic handing-in-of-resignation-letter because my contract was coming to an end this July anyway. And I have definitely not sold all my possessions. And I’m not travelling the whole world at once… Nor am I going away for a year or forever… Nope, definitely not.
‘So what the ruddy hell are you doing??’ I hear you ask. Well, from the 12th July I’ll be heading to Asia for 3 months to travel and have fun but also to undertake a social research project of-sorts. Those close to me know how interested I am in photography, languages, learning about other people’s cultures and hearing human-interest stories so what better thing to do than combine all those components!
With an unadvisable amount of camera gear in tow, I’m hoping to capture lots of first-hand stories of people from around Asia and learn from everyone what their perceptions of ‘home’ and ‘family’ are, what their aspirations are and how they view the world. And distill them into some (hopefully) great photos and short-films. (And practice various languages along the way). No pressure then.
Perhaps this sounds more like work than a long holiday but I assure you, I’m very excited, if a little apprehensive about how this will work out! 3 months also doesn’t sound that long in the grand scheme of things but believe me, I think my bank balance would disagree. (Sometimes I feel like I’ve spent all my money before I’ve even left. I’m looking at you, hideously expensive Chinese visa and extra camera gear!)
‘Where are you actually going?’ I hear you ask. Well, I’m going to start off in China (Beijing, Shanghai, Guilin), then head on to Taiwan, Malaysia, Singapore and end up in Hong Kong. That might not sound like many countries either but I don’t want to squeeze in any more into 3 months! I was dying to go to Japan and places like Laos and Myanmar too but I really want to give those countries the time and attention they deserve so I’m going to save them for another trip.
So there we are! One week to go and I’m off on my story-telling adventure! Sometimes I think I’m a bit nuts (my mum almost definitely thinks I am) but I just know this is something I HAVE to try, whether I fall flat on my face or come home in a blaze of glory. Or something in between. Whatever happens, I’ll have learnt a lot.
Emma Exploring 