"The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes, but in having new eyes, in seeing the universe with the eyes of another, of hundreds of others, in seeing the hundreds of universes that each of them sees." - Marcel Proust


I want to get dirty. I want to get so dirty, I don't recognize myself. I want get down in the mess, up close and personal. I want dirt under my nails, in my teeth, and between my bare toes. Part of life is messy and frightening and hungry and exhausted bodies and unclean and mean, and I haven't experienced enough of that. I want to sleep in it. I want to wake up in it. I want to sink my hands into the warm muck. I want to shake clouds of grit out of my shoes. I want to feel the earth pour through my fingers--from the red dust of Africa to the gray pebbles of the Himalayas. I want the ground to pound into the soles of my feet as I walk. I want the Earth to change me back as I leave footprints upon it. I want to breathe it; I want it in my soul. I want to walk past the end of the paved road, as far my feet will take me, and meet people who are intimately dependent upon the land and the water for their existence. I want to end the day as they do: sweaty and physically exhausted. And when I finally return to our society and wash off the layers of grime, when I look in the mirror, I don't want to recognize the person underneath, staring back at me.

I wish to meet marginalized people in rural settings. In these places far from the cities, where the soil is arid, the winds subzero, or the sun mercilessly hot and humid, people exist. If they do not speak my language, then I will learn their language. If there are no showers, then I will be dirty. If there is no food, then I will be hungry. If there are no roads to drive on, then I will walk. I will use local transportation as much as possible: foot, horse, or boat. I want to avoid the luxury of insulation from the grittiness of travel--the elements, the discomfort, and the people. On this journey, I propose riding through the western depths of the Himalayas on horseback, immersing myself in small holy towns along the entire length of the Ganges in India, paddling around the lower Mekong River in Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and getting muddy in the agricultural landscape of the Li River Valley in Southern China. Across an ocean, in Africa, I would begin by walking with the nomadic herding peoples of the Rift Valley in Kenya and Uganda, bumping along rocky roads into the remote Simian Mountains in Ethiopia, and finally ending my journey somewhere uncertain, in the south, as far as my feet will go...

In this era of new beginnings amid great uncertainty, I hope that I can join my generation emerging as a global generation, deeply concerned about the welfare of the rest of the world, passionate about our potential for positive impact, and aware that we are not morally, politically, or culturally superior by virtue of our birthright, privilege, or nationality. We can only embrace our potential for global participation by collectively moving beyond theories of our own superiority. Constructive discourse can only begin when we shed our static conceptions of non-Western cultures, immerse ourselves in the terrifying unknown, and insist upon forging living relationships based upon the inherent dignity and worth of all human beings. This requires deep humility, on the ground, in the dust. We each have a responsibility to try to understand the world from perspectives outside our own--and travel is the purest way to achieve humbling, direct experience.

Although it is impossible to be completely prepared to face the unknown, I believe I am ready to undertake this journey now. I am ready to test myself in a new way: no grades, no multiple choice, no fill-in-the-blank. The lessons that I have taken to heart in the last 22 years of my life will guide me into the unknown, and I do not know what will happen. I have learned that getting off the beaten track is dirty, difficult, and terrifyingly uncertain, but tenacity can lead to the most amazing experiences. I am tenacious. I have pushed myself and been pushed farther in four years than I ever thought was possible. My passion for discovery has taken me to many corners of this diverse institution, and this city. I seek the unexpected. I pursue the unexplained. I hone my mind. I take the academic and I expose it to the real world. Why am I ready for this journey? I want to see if what I think I know can withstand the most intense test ever, in an environment as far from an institution as I can get, and I am willing to risk everything. I will be open-minded because I have very little direct experience with life outside Eastern Washington and Seattle--everything will be new, challenging, and frightening, and that is why this journey will be incredibly transformational.

This journey would also be very difficult. Some challenges will be logistical: language barriers, staying healthy, finding food, water, a place to sleep, and transportation. The challenge of staying healthy will require malaria prophylaxis in West Africa, and an immunization against Yellow Fever. Avoiding Dengue Fever in Africa will require mosquito nets at night. Due to my possible proximity to rivers, I must prevent water-borne diseases such as schistosomiasis, cholera, and dysentery. I must be vigilant at all times to stay safe when I am alone. I am aware that risk is inherent in travel, but risk can be minimized by proper planning, communication with locals, being aware of my environment, and making sensible choices. I am also aware that some encounters will be very culturally challenging, and I will struggle in unfamiliar and disorienting situations. I seek these interactions. I look forward to challenging the way I normally interact with the world, and learning to interact with people on their terms. For example, in some cultures, people will get very close and speak very loudly to communicate. I would not retreat from this encounter. I would adapt. It will be messy. I am also excited for this journey's potential for positive impact upon the people and places I visit. By visiting places in developing regions where there is little tourist infrastructure, I would bring capitol away from the cities and back into the hands of the people in the margins, who live their lives in the dirt and the dust, people who experience the hardship and joy of life on the edge. I will try to learn from them. They will learn from me, too. I hope to build relationships on some level of mutual understanding, wherever we can find it--whether that exchange is money, food, laughter, or shared exhaustion at the end of a difficult day. As I meet new people, I would show them a new dimension of what Americans are like, and if they feel like enlightening me, I would see a new dimension of life in the eyes of a stranger. It may not be clean or pretty. It may be the dirty laundry of the human experience. That's okay--I want to get right in it.


ITINERARY
“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” - Lao Tzu

Flight: Seattle to Hong Kong (no visa fee): $800

>> CHINA – 8 weeks, July/August 2009 – Total Cost: ~$3200 (including flight from Seattle)
Visa: $130, Food: $15/day, Bed: $25/day (cheaper further West)
Train/bus (Shenzen, Yangshuo, Chengdu, Xi'an, Kashgar): $300
• Li/Yangtze River Valley by foot/bike/boat – 4 weeks, $1000
• Xinjiang Region (Western China, Gobi Desert, Uighurs, horseback) – 4 wks, $1000

>> NEPAL – 4 weeks – September 2009 – Total Cost: ~$1200
Visa: $40, Food: $10/day, Bed: $15/day
Flight from China: $300, Bus: $75
• Annapurna Trek to Sagarmatha (Everest) – 3 wks
• Chitwan National Park – 1 wk

>> INDIA – 8 weeks – October/November 2009 – Total Cost: ~$2000
Visa: $93, Food: $10/day, Bed: $15/day (more expensive around Pushkar Mela - $40/day)
Train/bus/jeep: $300;
• Source of the Ganges (Gomuki) to Kolkata, Ganges delta – 3 wks
• Ladakh, Leh – 3 wks
• Pushkar Mela (Camel Fair/Religious Pilgrimage) – 2 wks

>> VIETNAM – 1 week – December 2009 – Total Cost: ~$800
Multiple entry Visa: $85, Food: $10/day, Bed: $15/day
Flight: Kolkata, India → Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) - $400
• Mekong Delta, floating markets – 1 wk

>> CAMBODIA – 3-4 weeks – /December 2009, Total: ~$1000
Visa: $25, Food: $10/day, Bed: $10/day
• Ba Hon to Voen Kham (Mekong River)

>> LAOS – 4 weeks – January 2010, Total: ~$1000
Visa: $50, Food: $5-10/day, Bed: $5-10/day
• Si Phan Don to Luang Prabang (Mekong River) – go to Burma via Chiang Mai?

>> ETHIOPIA – 4 weeks – February 2010, Total: ~$3000 (including flight from Asia)
Visa: $70, Food: $20/day, Bed: $20/day
Flight: Ho Chi Minh to Delhi - $550, Delhi to Addis Ababa - $500
• Simien Mountain Range – 2 wks
• Source of the Blue Nile – Sakala – 2 wks

>> KENYA / UGANDA – 4 weeks, March 2010, Total: $2000
KENYA Visa: $50 / UGANDA Visa: $50, Bus: $40, Food: $15/day, Bed: $25/day
• Rift Valley – Maasai herding people

>> RWANDA – 3 weeks – April 2010 – Total: $1000
Visa: no fee, Food: $15/day, Bed: $20/day
• Volcanoes National Park – mountain peoples, gorillas

>> TANZANIA – 4 weeks – May 2010 – Total: $2000
Visa: $130, Food: $20/day, Bed: $25/day
• Serengeti, wildebeest migration

>> continue south with whatever funds I saved... flight back when I run out of money: $1600

>> MALAWI – Visa: no fee >> MOZAMBIQUE – Visa: $40 >> SOUTH AFRICA – Visa: no fee

BUDGETED COSTS: $20,000