We spent our last few days in Thailand in Phuket. FYI: it’s pronounced poo-ket. Ahem. By now, this is our third time in this city, and it’s funny how things can feel so familiar in such an unfamiliar place. We have become unfazed by the motorbike taxi drivers hollering, we know where to go for a comforting bowl of noodle soup, and we can even navigate through the traffic and streets quite well on our own motorbike.
Oddly enough, the opposite has also happened – the unfamiliar in the familiar. We’re at the airport right now, waiting to board our flight. Since we’re going back to a country (China) where it’s not summer all year round, it’s necessary for me to put on the layers. Who would have thought that after 6 weeks of giving my legs and feet freedom to breathe that pants and shoes would feel so restricting and odd? The upside is that there won’t be any blood-sucking mosquitos once we get on that plane.
There’s only a few hours left before our flight leaves Thailand, the land of smiles. And although I’m sad that we won’t be back anytime in the foreseeable future, South East Asia 2.0 has been a blast. I’m definitely very grateful for all the things we’ve been able to do, the food we’ve been able to eat, and the people we’ve met along the way. I know we can’t be on vacation forever, and there’s even a small part of me that’s somewhat excited to get back to work. Working definitely makes you more appreciative of having time off, and the money’s not bad either. I think a sure sign of how you know your expenses are running dry is when you need to gather up all our foreign currencies you’ve accumulated to see how much you have for food that day. We must have provided the currency exchange guy much excitement when we showed up with our Cambodian riels, Loas kips, Indonesian rupiahs, Philippino pesos, Vietnamese dongs, and some US dollars just for kicks.
We still have almost an hour before we board. It’s 1 AM right now, believe it or not. We haven’t left the country yet but it feels like we’re already transitioning into China. There’s a murmur of Mandarin all around us, and the Duty Free shop is jammed pack with Chinese tourists taking advantage of the tobacco and alcohol deals. We’re gonna be stopping over in Shanghai for a few hours, but that gives us just enough time to head into town and get our favourite pan fried buns. Then it’s back to Beijing for the final countdown.
It's been a blast South East Asia. So long, and thanks for all the fish!
Sail Rock, Similan Islands - Thailand
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