Friends, Family & Acquaintances –

Tomorrow I will meander my way onto a flight bound for Tokyo. Then after a short layover it’s onward to my final destination, the Philippines. Specifically to this archipelago’s capital of over 7,000 islands, Manila. After a monstrous 16-hour journey my bosses are going to keep me up for the next 8 hours in order to force a rapid adjustment to the time difference. To find the time in Manila you can more or less take your time and switch the am or pm to its opposite.

This is a 3 month work assignment with my employer Yahoo and a subsequent 3 week backpacking tour through Thailand. Feel free to follow along as I keep this blog flush with stories, images and videos. My lifestyle will be somewhat of an unusual one. The hours I’ll be working fall somewhere between odd and very odd. The byproduct of this scenario being full control of my daylight hours, and a sleep cycle dependant upon power naps.

In addition to Manila and Thailand I expect at least a handful of weekend trips along the way. The luxury of no rent, bills nor even food expense will free up the necessary funds to explore places like Vietnam or Singapore. Hong Kong is just a one hour flight away.

I can make the following promises to you.

1. No matter how gut wrenchingly disgusting and despite my veggie ways, I will give any culinary offering a shot. I figure if my friend Eric can suck the marrow out of bones in Africa, I can munch on a boiled and partially fertilized duck egg, beak and all. Not necessarily looking forward to it, but…

2. I will pull no punches.

3. It will not be boring.


Truly,

Erik