Entry #1.
Date: 2 Mar 2010
Location: Singapore
Preliminary preparatory and planning stage

"The Expedition Manifesto"

A journey
by rail
up north
across the Malay Peninsula
towards the Gulf of Siam
into the Andaman Sea
... under the influence.

Date and duration:

6 Feb to 13 Feb 2010


Route:
Set off from Singapore by rail for Butterworth, Penang, our point of Transit. Enter southern thailand via the gateway city of Hat Yai. Survey the landscape and environment, and immerse into the life and community of the region of Southern Thailand, represented by the strip of land sandwhiched between the Gulf of Siam and the Andaman Sea.


Goals and objectives:

To develop an intimate and first-hand knowledge and familiarity of our native soil, the Malay Peninsula (Tanah semenanjung Melayu) by means of travel and immersion. Our group contends that modern urban dwelling has alienated our existence from our soil. This trip aims to help us rekindle our ability to feel and breath the essence of our land and its surroundings. Detachment from the identity that we carry and the lives we live as modern urban dwellers of a capitalistic nation is essential before this process of re-uniting with our natural indeginous environment can take place.

Although the ingestion of illicit psychotropic substance(s) by the expedition participants are predominantly to serve recreational ends and motives, we hereby acknowledge its ability to create a state of mind that allows themselves to detach from and transcend above modern political constructs of boundaries, space and culture, and enter into a milieu that is more native and primordial.


Personnel:

Four indigineous adult males.


Survey areas of focus:

Topography, landscape, terrain, weather, oral and physical history, people, culture, language, architecture, food and music.