Ms. Tiffany's Universe: January 2009

November 2008: I found myself in Thailand and Cambodia all by myself. I was a little nervous to travel alone at first but I pounded myself on the chest, just as Ms. Dion taught me to and hopped on the plane.

My two main reasons for this trip were:
1) To fulfill several of my dreams
2) To get myself completely out of my element and challenge myself.

My flight landed past midnight in Bangkok and I began to wonder where I was going to sleep that night...I had absolutely nothing planned. Lack of planning is not my usual MO and believe me I attempted many many times but every time I sat down to put things in order nothing came of it. I believe it's the way things needed to be. I think I just needed to go and take whatever paths I chose to take as they arose along the way.

I still find myself struggling to find a way to describe this trip to people because it was unlike anything I've ever done before. It wasn't a vacation for one thing...a vacation is a break from life, whether you enjoyed it or not...this was not that. This was living my life while traveling. Evey day I had to scavenge for food, make sure I had a place to sleep that night, figure out how to get from here to there, experience discrimination, learn cultural differences, deal with grief, be alone every night, make new friends everyday and the hardest part, there is no escaping you when you are the only one there.

Yet at the same time I was living this adventurous fantasy! White water rafting, elephant riding, kayaking, island hopping, climbing amongst ancient ruins, exploring new cities, discount shopping that puts Ross to shame, plane rides, bus rides, train rides, tuk tuks, hoofing it, MASSAGES. The scenery was so varied and completely stunning. The people were amazing. I met people from all over the world and let me tell you this world is abounding with good people. People who care, who want to make a difference and leave the world a better place than how they found it. I love that I learned that.

Anyway, I didn't intend to go on and on I was just going to announce that I've finally pulled together all the pictures. There are a lot of pictures but I broke them down by catagory so they would be easier to go through and I'm not very good at editing pictures so they are all as they were taken...

Enjoy!
Tiffany

Bangkok: