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| Gili Air, Indonesia |
Well, after an incredible four months, my SouthEast Asia trip has come to an end. I've had some pretty amazing experiences; I've learned to ride a motorcycle and bought my first bike, I discovered the joys of scuba diving and dove as often as I could (often to the detriment of my wallet), I learned about and experienced many different cultures, I spent time on more beautiful beaches than anyone ever deserves to, and I met many awesome backpackers who I will hopefully be able to keep in contact with and perhaps even visit again if I ever find myself, well, almost anywhere around the globe.
Of course there has been the occasional downside as well, as I've alluded to a bit in this blog. Travel is not always glamorous or exciting and sometimes things go wrong, your stuff may be stolen or you may find yourself exhausted, cranky, and cramped in a bus you didn't even know could be this uncomfortable. Regardless of any downside though, this trip will still remain one of the best decisions I've ever made.
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| Reunited with my lovely mother |
Now that I'm back home I am currently enjoying catching up with friends and family, organizing my apartment, petting my kitties, and enjoying little pleasures, like water presure in a shower, soft clean carpet, understanding the conversations of everyone around me, or having transportation leave on schedule. I'm also getting a chance to go through my records and receipts and I've compliled a list of a few stats from the trip, just for fun. I suppose this is a good way of summing up the blog as well. I started the blog just to keep a few friends and family updated, and I never expected to enjoy writing it as much as I did. If some of you enjoyed reading it even a fraction of the amount that I enjoyed writing it, then I think I've done my job. Perhaps if I ever do another big trip, I will have to restart it again :-)
My trip: Some numbers and lists
- No. of countries visited: 8 (Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia)
- No. of days: 119
- No. of scuba dives: 21
- Levels of diving accomplished: 2 (PADI open-water and PADI advanced)
- No. of Visas extended: 1 (Vietnam)
- No. of countries that I rented motorbikes in: 5
- No. of motorbike accidents: 0
- Dollars lost in buying/selling my motorcycle: $20 (Bought the bike for $250US, sold it for $230US)
- No. of hostels/guesthouses/hotels slept in: 57 (Not including airport floors, empty beaches, nightbuses/trains, etc)
- No. of flights (individual take offs and landings): 14
- No. of nightbuses: 4
- No. of nighttrains: 3
- Some types of transportation: Plane, taxi, tuk-tuk, night train, regular train, motorbike taxi, long-tail boat, fast speedboat, remorque (Cambodian covered wagon thing pulled by a motorbike), elephant, local bus with chickens in the isles (and where no-one bats an eye when someone brings an AK-47 with them onto the bus -actually happened in Laos!), my own motorcycle, horse, "Super VIP" bus with personal gaming consul/television, bicycle, and public bemo (Like a pick up truck taxi that just drives around aimlessly picking up locals and dropping you off at your destination...eventually).
- No. of times where I felt sick enough that I altered my plans (at least for that day): 2. Not too bad, I think!
- Number of days spent truly travelling alone: Somewhere between 3 and 7?
- No. of friends met: Simply too many to count! :-)
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