Countdown has begun

Hello Friends,

The countdown is on for my next adventure. In four weeks, I'll be flying to East Timor for a six week stay, then I'll spend three weeks with Anita gadding about in Indonesia and Malaysian Borneo over her Christmas break. I'll spend my final ten weeks mostly in Bali, with a few weeks in Indonesian Borneo.

In East Timor, I'll be volunteering with Ba Futuru, an organization that focuses on women. It has many programs in many communities, and promotes community development, economic development, prevention of violence against women, art, and education.  

In Indonesia, I'll be volunteering with the Friends of the National Parks Foundation. Most of their projects promote animal welfare. In Nusa Penida, for example, they operate a bird sanctuary. In Borneo, they have an orangutan sanctuary. In Borneo, volunteers are no longer allowed to work directly with the animals although they are allowed to muck out the enclosures.

In both places, they've asked me to volunteer my writing services. 

For the next four weeks, I'm focusing on getting ready. I'm half way through my typhoid vaccine (I'm taking four capsules, each spaced 48 hours apart). It's the only vaccine that I needed to top up.  

Tomorrow, I'll walk over to Mountain Equipment Coop for pack towels and some other lightweight items. 

This weekend, I'm going to Knit City in Vancouver to pick up yarn for the trip. I've started knitting lace shawls -- they take longer, and the wool is often very compact. 

More later...