And in the blink of an eye...

In less than 3 days I am back in Ottawa. I remember telling myself in January before leaving Canada that it would pass in a blink of an eye, and it couldn’t be more true.

What happened to my Thailand, Laos and Cambodia trip?? Oh right, it passed already. I knew this month and a half would pass by quickly but boy I never expected it to pass this fast.

Currently I am on a bus (16 hour bus ride WAA) headed back to Bangkok from Phnom Penh to catch a flight tomorrow to Hong Kong and then I have two days in my beloved city until I must take a very long flight back to the old O-town.

Don’t get me wrong I am excited to be back home. Especially after being non stop travelling never really having a comfortable bed, taking busses non stop from city to city and literally sweating buckets every day (I have actually never sweated so much in my entire life in only one day here). I am also super excited to see my family, my friends and my dog!!! But most of all…. I am excited to eat ALL of the food I have been missing for 5 months and a half!!! Haha! AHH give me tostitos and salsa RIGHT NOW!

But the mix of emotion right now is a little over whelming. I am, first of all, excited to go back to Hong Kong because I miss it so much, but I am soo sad that my travel time is done and I have to say bye to Emilie and Celia (and Hong Kong as well) only two days after arriving back there. And at the same time I am excited to go home but nervous because I know I will have the after-exchange shock slash back to reality shock. Plus I also feel just super grateful for all of the experiences I’ve had, I have no words to describe how grateful I am for this last 5 months and a half. So it’s like every emotion running through my brain right now.

I’ve basically had no time to write about my time in Thailand, Laos and Cambodia on here and I am a bit tired of just describing what I have been doing and seeing. All I can say is all countries were different and amazing in their own way. Thailand was much easier to be a tourist in, and much more comfortable to be in because of that fact. Laos was full of butterflies and waterfalls haha and Cambodia was very interesting and heart breaking.

But alright I’ll explain my route… So first I went to some southern islands in Thailand, then took a night train to Bangkok, then flew to Chiang Mai, then I took a 3 day long bus and boat trip to Luang Prabang in Laos (very interesting 3 day experience), afterwards we basically worked our way from the North of Laos until the South (So Luang Prabang, Vang Vieng, Vientiane, Tha Khek, Pakse and 4000 islands) to then reach Cambodia where we bussed to Siem Reap and then Phnom Penh.

What else can I say? I probably took enough tuktuk rides to become a qualified driver, I have all kinds of different money in my wallet, I’ve gotten tricked into giving money to people too many times, I’ve seen alligators, snakes, gigantic butterflies, werid-ass fish, weird-ass reptiles, elephants, about a million cows, chickens, roosters, pigs (I am probably also now qualified to work on a farm), I’ve made friends with locals even if we couldn’t speak to each other, I’ve also gotten made fun of by a whole lot of locals! I’ve slept in huts, claustrophobic busses and dirty hostels. I’ve gotten completely used to bugs, even big scary ones. I even ate one that looks like a cockroach. Yeah, I’ve come a long way. My friends call me the mosquito assassin, or Jane (of the jungle), I picked up French expressions and vocabulary that I used to find annoying. If someone says “same” I have to say “same same” with a Thai accent. I decided I want to adopt a Thai boy and a Cambodian girl. I have met fellow travellers from around the world who I have ran into in other cities by accident. I have lost a shirt, a towel, a hat, I went through 3 umbrellas and I thought I lost a pack of souvenirs and freaked out only to find them at the end of my trip in a secret pocket of my luggage.

ANYWAY, a whole lot of little stories to tell, but no time to tell them!

Guess that is what real conversations with real people are for!

I have enjoyed writing this blog when I could. Thank you for reading it!

Until my next adventure,

Danielle / Jane / Mosquito assassin