Phone Hook up Monday

Flight MH 134 Brisbane to Kuala Lumpur September 17 draws closer minute by minute.Vietnam now has an Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) outbreak . Twitter does not sound like it will be of much use to the Study Tour as a tool.
I am trying to get the group to visit some schools and it seems it might be just too hard at this late stage.

Tambo Camp 500 + km one way

This week Columboola went 500+km West, Julie, Ranger Nick and I with 9 canoes, tents, sleeping mats, archery gear and lots of activities for 44 Tambo students did the trip and it was a fabulous time for all. Kiralee, Selina and Belinda made the week run very sweetly. These wonderfully generous teachers welcomed us into their homes, fed us home cooking each night and provided fantastic hospitality. I must commend them on their dedication to teaching, they all have great rapport and a lovely sence of country community.
What a great week.

Me at Work

One Month to go

I am very keen to start to chat with the other tour members but I haven't been sent the go ahead. I have a list already to launch, just waiting now. My business cards arrived yesterday and they look great. carol has done a great job with them. I also have an introduction card I will be using and once again thanks to Carol for getting it converted to Vietnamese. It tells the holder who I am,why I am in Vietnam, what I am doing, and asks them if I can help them in any way. Cool hey, she is so talented.

My Netbook

Well I picked it up Friday on my way through Toowoomba. This is my first message.I would like to say "I love you Carol". Thanks Carol very much for your support and all the wonderful things you do. Lawrence x x x

Paper marathon complete

Well all the i s are dotted and t s are crossed now. It is all up to Australia post for the next amazing leg in this tremendous journey. So I now have the signed participant agreement, the travel insurance cover note, the medical certificate, the visa documents, a copy of my passport personal details page, my dietary requirements, emergency contact information, Carol's approval and blessing and the professional support of my Principal Mick. Do I have the patience to wait the month and a half till we fly out?

Travel Insurance What a mind field!

I have been looking at a number of sites and even got a call back after an inquiry. How interesting is insurance. All the ones i have looked at so far have a heap of exceptions. I could walk all the way to Brisbane airport from here on fine print. I need it to be accepted on the study tour but all I can find is market value replacement. So I can look forward to having my stuff replaced with similar gear of the same age. WOW WEE

Netbook solution

Well after a fair degree of searching for a platform to blog from as I don't want to carry our MacBook Pro all over Vietnam I have bought an Acer netbook. Officeworks has them on special at the moment. I did the deal over the phone on Saturday and meet up with the little beast friday on my way through Toowoomba enroute to MOEC, my favourite Outdoor Education Centre.
It is black at the moment weights 1.2 kg and has 1GB of Ram, 250 GB of storage,a tiny screen, webcam,wifi, SD card slot,Windows 7 Starter and a 6 cell battery. It is as much for bicycle touring , motorcycle touring and backpacking as it is for the trip. It will be my first brand new computer.

Doctors and Needles

Monday at 12:00 is my appointment at the Dr. I have to get the Dr to sign that I am physically, mentally and psychologically fit and am able to travel and fully engage safely. I have read all the vaccination information and have already had in the past all the jabs necessary.

Documents

Well I got my letter from the online visa mob today, fantastic and interesting. I now have a list of 20 travellers who had their visa applications approved at the same time as me . People from all over the world, the letter states full name, date of birth, country of origin and passport number.
The weather looks interesting as it will be during the Autumn and the warm monsonal season. Lots of rain and temps of about 27C.

Shame SHAME Shame Lonely Planet

On Sunday August 31st the Lonely Planet 30 % sale ended. This will amaze and annoy the bloody hell out of you. I went online to find second hand guides to Vietnam. E bay has a few but they were in the UK and were not up for auction just on sale NOW. I looked at the Lonely Planet website and yes discovered the 30% sale. Wow 30% off. Great ! The price was in $US $17.49. I converted that and WOW the strong Aussie $ has the price at $15.93 and don't forget the postage. A BARGIN don't you think?
Well I put my address in for postage and WHAM all of a sudden the price rocketed. I was now looking at $28.69 which is $31.45 US. That is almost double the online US price. Now it is still cheaper than buying it from a big city shop but what is happening at Lonely Planet here in Aus.
I did order the book and also sent a question to the Lonely Planet website. I asked why it cost more in Australia than the USA to buy the same book that is printed in SE Asia. I have received a reply and replied to it. Simply it is because Lonely Planet believe that we in Australia are prepared to pay about that much for the guide. I am disgusted and will continue to shake the tree.

Technology Dilemma

Well do I take a camera, a phone and a netbook or an i Phone / i Pad. One device or three. Do I want to join the touch screen revolution.I already use our MacBook Pro as my home computer. I am always happy to get it second hand but will it fit my life goals?
I already have a brick and digital camera , so all I need is a netbook, not one for streaming or gaming or downloading DVDs. I would like one to blog on and store some photos.
I am concerned that I have no real idea of how or where any of this stuff was manufactured. I like to know or at least have some idea what the true cost is ,not just the price.
What will I do ?

Oppps

How can this be ...I have just applied online for a Visa for Vietnam and made a big mistake. I entered my birthdate as 07/08/2011???? Now this means I will be born later this week. I do hope I can fix this. I know too much to once again go down the birth canal.