End of the Asian Adventure

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”
-Henry Miller


It's time to move on before we get too settled into life in Nonthaburi, which could easily happen. Thankfully the situation with our flights has resolved itself (as we always knew it would) with a little persuasive dialogue between Ali and the Thai Quantas representatives...

Im sitting in the crowded waiting area of gate C20 in Singapore's Changi Airport, waiting to board our flight to Melbourne. Now it's easy to see why it was such hassle to get on this flight as it appears to be full to capacity. Im sitting all curled up lotus style on the floor alongside all other 'young people' as seats have all been offered to older and more deserving passengers than ourselves. During a day sitting idle in taxis, buses, skytrains and queue's, I've had time to reflect on the last few months and our time in Asia...

From living the high life in Shanghai, leaping off a 233m tower in Macau, and searching for batman on Hong Kong island...to getting right back to basics in the mountain villages of Thailand and climbing ancient ruins in Cambodia; Variety is the word that best sums up our time so far. Accommodation ranged from high-rise downtown hotels and huts on the beach, to cold marble floors and stuffy bunk beds. Our transport has included private city chauffeurs, 6 hour buses with no air con, 12 hour buses with excessive air con, trains, planes, taxis, tuk tuks, moto's, metro's, pickup trucks etc etc... We sustained ourselves by eating the best and the worst in Asian delicacies, and occasionally treated ourselves to the best and very worst in more familiar western cuisine. We've spent thai baht, euro, dollar (US singapore and hong kong), chinese rmb, cabmodian rial and more, and we've confused ourselves with exchange rates, fee's, credits/debts to each-other and our bank accounts... all the while enjoying the relatively cheap cost of living here. There have been 'mossies' and lizards, snakes and monkeys, touts and junkies. We've spent time teaching children whatever we could from English to Music and Art, and we ourselves have learned so much more than ever anticipated. To say its been a memorable journey so far is an accurate yet understated description.

Angkor Wat