Happy Australia Day! It's now 5 days to go before my volunteer trip to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I have pretty much got my packing sorted - just need to chuck all the items into a suitcase. I have 2 choices:

a) very nice compact suitcase which unfortunately smells of kimchi i.e. Korean pickled chilli cabbage (due to previous episode with my dad's bag of souvenir Korean kimchi exploding whilst on the plane) or

b) non-pungent suitcase which is slightly bigger and bulkier than a).

I think I will go with the second suitcase (I think the fragrance-free factor is important, since I don't want the smell of my luggage to scare off the lovely volunteer picking me up from the airport, not to mention whoever will be within a 5km radius of me.

On Friday I will be having the last of my travel vaccinations (which means I only have to feel like a human pin cushion one last time - ah, better that than getting rabies I suppose).

It's hard to believe that what started as a casual conversation on skype with a friend 8 months ago has turned into what could well be a trip - and puppet project - of a lifetime. My dear puppeteer friend Emma from Ireland told me that she was planning to take a big trip to Asia, including 2 volunteer projects (a puppet project in Cambodia and another one helping out at an Orangutan sanctuary in Borneo). Now I'll be joining her in Siem Reap to make giant parade puppets with a big bunch of kids and volunteers and can't wait! We've been fundraising for months (thank you to all the people who bought my book of poems!) and now I'm only 5 sleeps away! (That also means I only have 5 days left to try and pick up the basic Khmer language - not an easy task. So far I can say 'hello', which will only get me so far....)