Dentist - girl

Col went to the dentist last week to have a tooth removed. He didn't want me to go with him. I was a bit relieved since last time I did the 'right thing' and went with him, I had to leave the room when the crunching sound got too much.

However, when he hadn't returned almost two hours later I was a bit concerned. Turned out they were busy working out whether a hole between his mouth and nose was a bad thing or not.

Given that Col hates the dentist more than anything and I'd bullied him into going I felt quite bad for him. Thank goodness he's one of the most resonable people I know and so didn't blame me for any of this mess.

It's now a week later and his hole has basically cleared up. I only made one or two jokes about oral fistuala, mainly because I imagine real fistula to be one of the worst things ever and therefore not joking material - there's not much I consider off limits so I sort of surprised myself there.

Col being Col, there was a lot of itnernet research into 'the hole'. We now know everything there is to know about sinus communications - useful. I just hope this hasn't put him off the dentist forever.

dentist - boy

Sinus communication. Oral fistula. These are words I don't expect to hear when I have a tooth pulled. However, as I understand it now, it does happen from time to time (the tooth's root uncovers a passageway into my sinus and out my nose) and it means blowing my nose, sneezing with my mouth closed, using a straw or any other activity which shoves air from my nose to mouth or vice versa is a bad idea for 2-3 weeks (shit).

I would have liked to have been prepared.

I have to write notes everywhere I go since most of these actions I do without thinking. I was unaware previously how frequently I equalise the pressure in my ears, which now only makes me whistle and blow gum blood into my nose.

This will probably effect my decision of whether or not I'll have a root canal and crown. Have been looking for the statistics for a rate of success are not easy to find for the UK . Found some for the US which are not impressive and our health care is in the dark ages compared to theirs.

boy

Before 7am our general plan before 2010 was for Cassie to find work in an African country (though not a failed or kleptocratic state, which already reduces our options significantly) and then we would stop work and go. After 8am we’ve included an interim period of travel in the mix and a definite date for our mutual end of work.

This is all positive since I’ve wanted to do a longish trip for a while and I assumed the logistics of finding a development job in Cassie’s world was too tough after a break such as this.

So it’s, India, Nepal, Tibet, China, North Korea and back (via Tokyo). I’m particularly keen on having the North Korea experience, not that I love the thought of propping up KJI’s necrocratic utopia with my hard earned funds, but I’ve just read a travellers account and can’t let go. Always wanted to see China and Tibet, Cassie wanted to see India and Nepal just happens to be sandwiched between the two.

Just flat stuff and storage to be sorted, but that’s just details.

Sleepy Decisions - girl

We've been chatting about various things we want to do and see recently but this morning we woke up and for some reason began to talk far more seriously. I'd imagine it has something to do with a couple of friends having booked a Cape Town to Cairo trip for early next year.

It was almost the same as our decision to get married - we were discussing trip ideas more and more seriously and then we stopped, looked at each other and one of us said, 'are we really doing this?' and that was it, we're doing it.

What is it? Well, nothing's set in stone but we plan to take three months to travel parts of northern India, trek in Nepal, hit Tibet, take the world's highest train from Lhasa to somewhere in China, hang out there for a bit before taking an organised tour to N Korea (Colin's recently got in to this idea) and a final stop in Japan. Cool huh?

I'm a bit concerned about N Korea but Col really wants to go and who am I to refuse him anything? As long as we're as ethical about our travelling as possible elsewhere then I'm happy - we've already talked about eco-travel and hooking up with local NGOs to learn about problems in the countries we're seeing.

Col's already been to India a couple of times and I've spent a summer in China but we're both happy to go again and I'm sure we'll see plenty of new things and share new experiences. Thank goodness we're both pretty laid back travellers since my parents would be devastated if we got a divorce!

Of course, the main things right now are: sorting out our flat and not letting this amazing trip overshadow trips to France, the Netherlands and Namibia this year.

It begins

We've been married for seven months and this morning, Sunday 16th August, we decided that it was probably time we went travelling. We thought that it might be interesting to blog together - we'll share experiences and emotions separately but on the same blog. Male and female views of the same events. Wonder what it will show about us.

First off, introductions: we are Colin Pearse and Cassie Williams. We met in Rwanda in 2005, moved to Ethiopia together in early 2006 and back to the UK in late 2006. In Jan 2009 we got married in Vegas, Elvis style.

Cassie: I'm a 29 year old British girl. I work in development and travel a great deal to the fSU and SSA for work. I love what I do as I passionately believe in trying to make the world a more equal place (sounds soft but I'm not!). My interests include travelling, languages and reading. I'm currently training for a 1/2 marathon to raise funds for SACCA, a Rwandan street kids organisation with whom I used to work.

Colin: I'm 39 and British. I am a Unix engineer but really I only work to feed my love of travel and life. I lived outside of the UK for a long time before coming home in 2006 - France, Belgium, Luxumburg, Rwanda and Ethiopia. My interests include reading, playing the guitar and travelling.