London (England)
Rome, Naples, Florence, Venice (Italy)
Vienna (Austria)
Prague (Czech Rep)
Berlin (Germany)
Amsterdam, Utretch, Rotterdam (Holland)
Brussells (Belgium)
Toronto, Kingston, Montreal, Vancouver (Canada)
Cheong Un, Busan, Daegu, Gwangju, Andong, Okpo, Daejeon, Jeonju, Kyongju, Boreyong, Seoul (South Korea)
Kuala Lampur, Cameron Highlands, Georgetown, Perhentian Islands (Malaysia)
Singapore (Singapore)
Bangkok (and the beginning of my blog!), Phuket, Chiang Mai, Kanchanabury (Thailand)
Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Kaam Samnoor (Cambodia)
Saigon, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi (Vietnam)
Vientiane, Vang Vieng, Luang Prabang (Laos)
Taipei (Taiwan)
48 cities. 16 countries.
What a journey! I’m exhausted just thinking about it! Although I was able to unpack my luggage for an extended period in Korea, it always hung over my head that, especially by month 7, I was going to be leaving. And, wow, who knew how much crap you can accumulate over a year?! Oh my! In any event, I’ve lived out of a couple cases of luggage for the last 1.5 years. I backpacked through Europe for a month before heading back to Canada to apply for my South Korean work visa, then jetted off to SoKo to teach English for a year. Deciding to stay in Asia for summer vacation, I travelled through Malaysia and Singapore before returning to SoKo, only to be quarantined at my apartment during the swine flu epidemic. Once my contract finished, I headed to Bangkok and, deciding that I no longer wanted to work there, I flew down to Phuket to do some Muay Thai training. After three weeks of intense training, I rested my shins (and possibly a broken thumb) as I bussed to Phnom Penh via Bangkok. Volunteering in Cambodia for a month left me with a choice to go to Vietnam, which I took, and spent 2.5 weeks there before taking the cheap, but long, bus ride to Vientiane in Laos. Three cities in Laos and then it was back to Chiang Mai for a few days before heading back to Bangkok to arrange my flight back to Canada. Not wanting to go back, I decided to stop over in Taipei for a week and absolutely loved it, I even started looking for jobs! But, it was time to return to Canada. Vancouver-bound, I stayed for a week with some friends and then booked my ticket back to my home town, Winnipeg.
Fascinating, that’s all I can say. I did that? I seriously travelled all those places?
Yep, says my bank account.
Yep, say the numerous self-portraits.
Yep, say the friends who politely smile when I ask what they’ve been up to lately.
Now I sit in Winnipeg putting some things together and meeting my family and friends. But I’ll leave that to another post at a later date. For now, it’s time to sit back and remember the good times.