Reflections of the Past Three Months

I can’t believe we have spent three months in Southeast Asia!  WOW.  Our time here has been a bit surreal.  I feel like we have learned, experienced, tasted, sweated, and adventured so much.  We have done things I had never dreamed of, or even knew about. We missed things I thought for sure would have been part of our journey.  It has been amazing, challenging, and completely unforgettable.

This was our first trip to Asia and the difference in culture was the most dramatic of anywhere we have visited thus far.  It was such a great experience to have our eyes opened and knowledge expanded on different ways of life, traditions, and religions.  The people we have met along the way, both locals and other travelers have played a key role in our experiences and have given us tremendous insight.  I am beyond grateful and truly honored to have met the ones we have.  The locals showed us kindness in times we were completely out of our element or lost (literally).  We met other backpackers who we shared experiences with and traded information.  This part of Asia is so diverse!  Not only are there several countries that each have their own rich culture, there are many travelers from different parts of the world here as well. 

I have honestly been so impressed with the caliber of people we have met.  The backpacker stereotype I had before our travels has completely changed.  We have met more educated, motivated, caring, and completely amazing people on our trip.  For example, our slow boat friend Nitay, who is from Israel started working on his Bachelor’s degree when he was 15!  He’s now 24 and has his Masters from Oxford after he served 3 years in the army.  Our friend Greg from Hawaii has a Master degree in environmental science and sustainability.  Our friend Tiara from Singapore is a yogini (female yoga instructor) that has trained in different parts of the world.  She has shared with us so much about Asian culture and her family traditions.  It has been very interesting; I feel that we can take back what we have learned and incorporate the knowledge into our own lives.  We have met numerous young people studying medicine and psychology.  Many teachers spend their long holidays traveling different parts of the world.  Also, people in their early 20’s who have found a niche traveling and go back home to create very successful businesses that affords them to continue traveling the world.  Like I have mentioned many times before, most backpackers are much younger than we are and it is really encouraging to see them out learning how the world works, immersing themselves in other cultures, and gaining experience that can ultimately give them wisdom to make a positive impact in our world. 

This part of the world is really beautiful.  We have been to amazing beaches, beautiful mountains, lush jungles, and many big cities in between.  It hasn’t all been perfect though.  If you have been following our journey, you know from other posts times we have been in very uncomfortable situations.  My legs are so beat up and have many new scars as nothing seems to heal very well in this climate.  The climate has probably been our biggest challenge.  It is so extremely hot and humid in most places with many bugs.  For three months, I felt like I had a constant layer of sludge on my skin that was made up of sweat, sunscreen, and bug spray.  I am so excited to one day feel clean again!  We didn’t escape stomach sickness in Cambodia, but for the most part have been very healthy. 

The other hard part has been seeing some of these amazing places being destroyed by garbage, plastic, deforestation, unsustainable tourism, and climate change.  The amount of plastic they use here is insane and most locals do not have any concept about the damaging consequences.    We have seen so much deforestation for palm plantations and we have seen a ton of dead coral with very warm water temperatures throughout Malaysia and Thailand.  It is up to people like us who have the knowledge to recognize the damage that is happening, and to start taking steps in the right direction and rally for change.  I am exceedingly guilty myself for excessive use of plastic water bottles and other unconscious tourist practices.  But I am learning.  The longer we travel, the more we learn how to use our tourism dollars to support ethical and sustainable ways of life.  We have learned more things we can do on an individual level to be a part of the solution opposed to creating more of a problem.  It has been so awesome meeting many other like-minded travelers who care about our planet and the people on it.

As I reflect on our time here, the long bus rides, crazy drivers, uncomfortable beds, mosquitos, questionable food items and so on are not the things that stand out.  What stands out about our time here is the incredible natural beauty, the rich culture, the kindness of others, and all the fun we have had exploring.  Here is a summary of the last 3 months:

Countries:

Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, and Laos

Countries we missed that are HIGH on my list to come back to:

Indonesia and Philippines.

Favorite areas:

Islands of Malaysia, Northern Vietnam & what we saw of Laos.

Favorite major city:

Singapore (for its cleanliness and ease of walking around and subway system)

Favorite Experiences:

Scuba diving Perhentian Islands, Motorcycle trip on the Ha Giang Loop in Vietnam

Favorite Temple:

The White Temple in Chiang Rai, Thailand

Favorite food:

Thai

Most impressive historical site:

Angkor Wat, Cambodia

Most impactful:

Vietnam War Remnants Museum & the Killing Fields in Cambodia

Dirtiest place:

Sihanoukville, Cambodia

Best beach:

Long Beach, Perhentian Islands, Malaysia

We are extremely fortunate to have this time in our lives, and words cannot express my gratitude for these incredible experiences.  Our next stop is Nepal which I just realized is still part of “Southeast Asia”.  I thought it would be considered a different part of Asia as it seems drastically different from where we have been.  I am beyond excited to see the Himalayas, and for the next part of our trip in a different place and different culture.  Sending so much love to everyone back home!