I have officially finished up the Asia part of my journey and am en route to Europe. I am definitely sad to be leaving such a wicked part of the world. Honestly though I think I would love every part of the world if I had the chance. Each country had its own little intricacies or sayings or experiences unique to its place and space. I am already planning a potential return to Asia- I can't help it!!
Thailand-SAME SAME BUT DIFFERENT! For me this is where this saying originated. The tank i had sporting the phrase became a source of attention in each country to follow haha. Thailand or the land of smiles was also the land of ferries, beaches, delicious curries and 7-Elevens at every turn. I made some great friends on this lag of the journey with my Free and Easy group-AKA "SLUTS." Long story haha but it was a crazy time of "gettin weird" with a great group of Canadian travellers. Thailand was also my introduction to Asia and it could not have been better. I had to manage ferries, trains, buses and planes which helped set me up for the next 3 months.
Cambodia- this country smacked me right in the face after leaving the groovy and beach atmosphere of Thailand. It is a much less developed nation and you can see the variation it holds with it's surrounding neighbours. Poverty is more noticeable and they have an incredibly sad history- see my post about the Killing Fields in Phnom Pehn. I made myself an incredibly comfortable home there in my volunteer house in Siem Reap. I did struggle through some extremely high temperatures, reaching the high 40s with humidity, because of course I chose their hottest month of the year to visit. I met some very inspiring people in this country and my experience in Cambodia kick started my personal growth and discovery. This country was definitely the place for cheap massages(I think I had about 8 in my 5 weeks there) cheap pedicures, and cheap fashions. So needless to say I spent loads at their markets and spas haha. I would also label Cambodia the country of tuk tuks. It's was the go-to way to get around Siem Reap and you could not walk more than 10 steps without getting a holler from multiple directions "Laday! Tuk tuk?!" I went through a progressive love-hate relationship with the tuk tuk drivers, a friend of mine was once asked if she needed a tuk tuk while she was riding a bike- clearly she was in need of a ride....
Laos! The home of the Gibbon experience! I spent a very short amount of time in this country but it had a pretty cool feel to it and again it is still very much in the early developing stages. It was my first opportunity to see familiar faces from home having the opportunity to meet up with a couple of my friends.
Living in a treehouse in the secluded jungles of Laos shows you a simplistic way of life. You are cut off from the outside world, there is no electricity, there are no cell phones and definitely no wifi. For some this way of life is their everyday reality, they have no other choice. For us we loved it but it was also capped by a time limit of 3 days before we could get back in touch with our "normal" reality.
Vietnam -this country was the place for mad discovery for me. I learned so much about not only myself but about so many other cultures. I was challenged and confronted with feelings I hadn't yet encountered on my trip and I had to push through to make Vietnam everything it could be And it was more than I expected or could have dreamed. My time in Vietnam, though difficult at times was my favourite because of what it taught me. My favourite phrase of Vietnam was "why not?" Any question would be responded with a why not answer- I loved it so I have added that to my vocabulary and way of thinking. Vietnam was also the cheapest of all the nations I had visited.
Finally Indonesia was my last Asia stop and I would love to go back to this country and see more of it. There are 100's of islands that make up this nation and each has their own culture and own language dialect. I spent some time in Ubud the place of yoga and some amazing shopping on the island of Bali, then went to the Gili islands- what a paradise that was :) sun sun sun! Cheap eats! Indonesia was Definitely the best country for food! On the GILIs one thing that brought a smile to my face was how the locals said wifi- they pronounced it weefee. "You have weefee if your room" haha. Every cou try had their small sayings or ways of speaking to tourists that made me smile. I loved the individual intricacies each country possessed:)
Noooooow I am in Ireland. What an incredible shock to my system both physically and mentally. First of all I am FREEZING! I will be lucky if the temperatures reach 15 degrees. I have already sought out a hoodie because I am tired of shivering. It has rained most of the time since I have been here as well and guess what? umbrellas are used for rain. Haha let me explain why this is funny. All through my time in Asia i would see many of the women use umbrellas to shade themselves from the sun to avoid getting darker skin and it was so foreign for me to see an umbrella used in this way. Now being in Dublin and using an umbrella myself it just makes me chuckle knowing how it is used in two different ways in extremely opposite climates.
I spent my first day in Dublin yesterday and it's a pretty cool city but I couldn't stop looking around and gawking. The contrast between Asia and Ireland is astounding. The form of tourism, prices, the landscape, the people (native English speakers!!!), the architecture, is all so incredibly different. European travelling is definitely a different and I think more "posh" form of backpacking. Right now I have wifi on my bus... Luxury or what?!
I've only been over in Europe for about 2 days but i think I have come to the conclusion that "I'm So Asia". I am much more comfortable in that environment (despite the heat) where I am surrounded by such diverse and different cultures- this is my happy place. I'm not a history buff and there is endless history in Europe I couldn't keep up with all the facts we learned on our walking tour yesterday. I am open to the gorgeous places of Europe and my amazing experiences to come with all my favourite people from home but I can't help but long for Asia.
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