To goal or not to goal

In the past when I've embarked on a new adventure, prior to the trip, I usually wrote several goals of what I hoped to accomplish. For example, I wanted to be a starter on my college basketball team, I tried my hardest not to use hair gel in Israel and of course I wanted to see local Peruvians doing coke during sunrise at a lame disco club. Check, check and check.

So, I've had some successes in the past, but what exactly am I looking to do with my time in Asia? It's really too broad a question, one that I expect to be asked constantly and if not explicitly by people I meet, it's certainly something I'll be thinking about. Let me ruminate awhile and maybe I'll have an answer in the future.

In the meantime, a couple thoughts on the matter:

• there are a handful of places I'm excited to see, the Great Wall in China, the Angkor Wat in Cambodia to name a couple
• I want to sample the 'local flavor' of where I'm staying- take that to mean what you want
• I want to get my scuba certification
• Hopefully learn some new and improve on existing skills, cooking, massage, the art of sleeping on a bus, drunken boxing.

I think that's a good start. Nothing too ambitious. I don't expect to unleash some magical princess or have some profoundly, introspective, personal journey. Just simple stuff. Also, I want to write more (one of the reasons for this blog).

So I'm off tomorrow. Not sure how well I'll be sleeping tonight considering wake up time is a matter of hours away. I'm very excited, this is going to be great!