hear me go again

And so it is. 

After months of debate - an internal one where I assume different personalities and voices - of whether this journey would be one of selfless volunteering, mix of work and leisure, or pure self-gratification of exploring new places, the latter emerged as the conqueror.  Thus, I fly in a few hours to Asia for two months, during which time I will journey to three countries still foreign to me - Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.

Three hours before my friend Anthony picks me up for the airport, I have not yet packed.  But I have begun!

The last times I embarked on such an adventure were 2009, when I traveled through Spain for two weeks (okay, that was a mini journey) and 2008, when I lived in Paris for two months.  Let me say this loud and clear - I have some sort of an itch.  That didn't really come out right, did it?  The itch I'm talking about is the one in your mind and heart, the one that constantly nags on you that it's time to move on after you've settled in a place for a long time.  How long is too long?  I guess for me it's two years.

Not that I'm packing up my bags and relocating to Asia, although I certainly welcome the idea should such a possibility present itself.  It is the desire and need to see new things and experience unfamiliar adventures.  (I leave out for now the hunger to taste new and exotic foods, but I will return to that shortly.)  As they say in the art world, it's time to refill the creative well.

So why eat, prey write?  Firstly, "eat, pray, love" is already taken:  you may have come across the superb book, depicting the journey of a woman through Italy, India, and Indonesia, or seen its sister movie, albeit much less successful and completely devoid of any of the creative magic in the book.  For you smart Alecs out there (that's usually me), my goal isn't to eat in Vietnam, prey in Cambodia, and write in Thailand.

I am by nature greedy and a complete whore for multi-tasking; thus I will do all three things in all three countries (four, if you count Taiwan which obviously isn't foreign to me).  Eat:  the aforementioned hunger to satisfy my taste buds must be fulfilled through the culinary delights that await me in these delectable countries - must.  However, I have heard enough horror stories related to food in southeast Asia that I will take greater precaution than usual.  Subsequently, I will pray that I stay healthy.  But that's not the "prey" that drives my adventure.

Prey:  I will learn to be alert to new adventures, experiences, ideas and prey on them rather than choosing the safer, familiar alternative.  Of course, this also applies to preying on beautiful men who happen to cross paths with me, not unlike a praying mantis.  Or maybe not; the only heads I've ever bitten off belong to shrimp.

Finally, we come to write, which is what I'm doing now when I should be packing.  I've worked diligently on several screenplays the past year, four shorts and two features, and it is time to recharge and replenish my brain with new ideas and personalities, not that there aren't enough voices chatting away in my head at any time.  I hope to encounter interesting people along my journey and to have the courage to approach them and strike up captivating conversations with the fluent Vietnamese, Khmer, and Thai that I don't know.  Best of luck to me.

So if you're ever in the mood for some authentic Thai food, fantastic Angkor Wat temples, or exotic Vietnamese men, just follow me on this blog, and I might happen to have what you need.