Last words before The Trip

Hey friends. This’ll be a longer-than-usual post because I’ve not posted for a while, and because this is my last post before THE TRIP. That’s right, Tuesday I am departing for a trip that might just change Everything. Not to be too dramatic about it, but seriously. I have no idea what is in store for me in this Paya Maga place, except what we can derive from the name, which roughly translates to: Swamp in the Highlands. That means it'll be wet, dirty, high up in the clouds, and cold as a popsicle. Photos taken by a small group of Forestry dept. scouts showed prints from the Clouded Leopard, some suggestions that the Sumatran rhino may call this place home, and definite signs of annoying bloodsuckers. I am doing my best to also leech on (you see what I did there?) to the fauna group, so perhaps I can see some sick beasts in the jungle. I wonder what I shall eat tomorrow night, which I will avoid calling my Last Supper, for obvious reasons that include not distressing everyone who cares about me.

Ok, now let’s backtrack to the happenings of this last week. Well, quite uneventful for the most part. I’ve been trying to really plan out what I need to do while on this expedition. These things I have to do will include good photography, plant collection, collection of ‘exotic’ samples (i.e. rhino poop, swamp water, cave soil, cave scrapings, limestone, etc.), mingling and getting to know all the cool people on the trip, joining fauna group on night hikes, being ready for anything interesting that arises, and just plain having fun. Also finally finished my medical school secondary applications, and am now just waiting, wishing, hoping for good news. Good thing I have this expedition to keep me busy, or else my mind would wander and obsess.
On Thursday night, Gilbert took me to this restaurant, Bla Bla Bla, where we enjoyed their specialty, Coffee Chicken. And holy shit was this was an excellent dish. I know I probably say this too often, but this was a sort of religious experience. It got a little bit embarrassing at one moment because Gibert was trying to catch my attention, but all I could do was stare at the last drumstick on the platter.
Oh, and Friday, a bunch of us SBC’ers went to do Karaoke, which was just a load of fun. Of course I was very upset that the karaoke machine at this place did not have Don’t’ Stop Believing, Piano Man, and Roxanne, some of the most awesome songs to sing to.
Today, Gilbert made some excellent roasted chicken in his measly toaster oven, while I baked some rosemary-onion-parmesan focaccia, and hope to bake some banana bread later tonight, so that I may bring it by the lab. Lastly, I was surfing the web for some useful advice on how to take good photos when on an expedition, and stumbled upon a photo competition hosted by National Geographic. At first it seemed like you could just send in photos from any expedition, and have a chance to win a spot on Nat’l Geographic’s expedition to Antarctica. But actually the photos have to be from one of the expeditions they sponsor. So then I looked further and found that in March, they are leading a trip to Bhutan, a country in the Himalayas with Gross National Happiness as their primary economic indicator. The trip is officially called: Bhutan: Kingdom in the Clouds. As long as one is willing to dish out some bucks, anyone can go I think. And going to Bhutan would be difficult on my own, because they do not just take any visitors in. I have to go on this trip, it sounds absolutely sick, one of the people going is this medical anthropologist who is an expert in ethnomedicine. This is a sign right? Should I go? I’ll never have a chance like this again, probably.