Yingkiong Ho!

This is a post I write while heading to Yingkiong a town close to my research field site. Although the title post is inspired by Yukon Ho of the Calvin Hobbes fame, this trip needed a LOT more planning! For a year and a little more I was raising funds for my research, for half that year I gazed at my research proposal, waiting for a miracle, and for a month or so there has been a hullaballoo about getting the equipment, papers and the logistics together. Actually the meat of this article was only the last two lines but thought I will throw in a few ribs. Here, I list all the things that are in my three bags i carry, think I will have more words than any of my earlier posts had!
Miscellaneous: Water bottle - Laptop with charger - Phone with charger - an ink pen and a bottle of ink - one book to read - few pairs of clothing - warm clothes - couple of socks - soap - towel - brush and paste - an Adi knife called Yoxik - cap
Equipment: soil moisture meter - canopy densiometer - rain gauge - watchdog data logger - soil moisture / Ph sensor - GPS - lux meter - batteries for all equipment - gum boots - poncho - umbrella - dynamo torch - waterproof bag - camera - binoculars - camera tripod - 300 GB hard disk - brush to clean my laptop -mp3 player - 4 gb pen drive
Food & beverages: sambar powder - chatni powder - rasam powder - pappula podi - 30 chapatis - tomato onion dry curry - half a liter of orange vodka
Gifts: two watches for my field assistants - a poncho - three dynamo torches - a couple headcaps
Unmentionables: unmentionable!
All this stuff weighs about 18 kilos, two kilos below the 'pay your ass off' offer at the airport for excess luggage! Well, I am headed, I sit here behind in my dad's car and type this and looks like the next half year and more are going to be exciting!
Here is the stuff as seen through the scanner at the airport, its all there!
Here is the luggage of three people for six months, almost like house-shifting!
I know the blog has been idle for a while, but here I am headed to field and will write in many 'stories for boys' soon. watch this space!