We’ve just crossed the 9 month marker of our 1 year journey. Having been through Hong Kong, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia, our time abroad is quickly coming to a close. In a few weeks we’ll be heading back to see more of Malaysia’s north coast around Penang and possibly the Perhentian islands for some diving, then on to Borneo for a few more weeks of diving and motorcycling before flying back to Hong Kong to return home to Canada in August.
Given how quickly the next 3 months will go by, we’ve started to reminisce about the comforts of home and the things we’ve missed most. Not to mention what we’ll do first when we get back. We’re only home for a few short weeks before we plan to head to Central America, so there will be some things we know we’ll revel in back home while we can:
- 600cc+ motorcycles and roads to ride them on.
- Grass. Parks here are more often trees amongst concrete, jungle, or muddy ferny stuff. Really lush suburb turf is hard to find.
- Beer variety. I never want to drink another pilsen again.
- Family. Kelly has yet to meet her new nephew, and we both miss our mommies.
- Reliable high speed internet.
- Caesars. Both the drink and the salad.
- Hockey, and other Canadian sports like Poutine.
- Potable tap water. It would be nice to wash vegetables/make ice and such without worrying about getting some kind of intestinal parasite.
- Alberta beef steaks
- Lunch with the girls/beers with the boys. Being able to just call up your friends and head out the door for whatever.
- The Food Network
- Garbage trucks and construction early in the morning. They’ve got nothing on roosters.
- Beach volleyball. Given all this sand, shouldn’t there be a court every so often?
- Having a real kitchen and markets with familiar/readily available ingredients.
- Having a constant uninterrupted power supply.
- Construction standards. So if you leave the sugar out, your house isn’t full of ants.
- A routine. Moving every few weeks into a totally new scenario is disruptive. Knowing you’ll be setup somewhere familiar with regular everyday things to do for a while is very appealing at the moment.
We’ve loved our time in Asia and are really looking forward to the next couple months and the amazing diving in store for us in Malaysia. At the same time, homesickness has started to settle in and the closer we get to coming home, the harder it is to stay focused on the remainder of this trip. Here’s a few highlights from the last 9 months and things we’re still looking forward to.
- “Tea time” on the beach @ 3pm.
- Learning to scuba dive.
- Sunsets in Boracay.
- Diving with a whale shark in Thailand.
- Diving with manta rays in Bali (we hope!)
- Taking a jewelry silversmithing course in Bali (next week?)
- Drinking with the dive shop boys in Dauin @ The Shack
- Swimming in huge waves on our beach just before a storm
- Our first real meal in Malaysia @ Old China Cafe
- No alarm clocks everyday
- A four day motorcycle tour in Borneo (Mike hopes)
- Diving in Sipidan (still to come)
- Ridiculously cheap meals and drinks
- Wearing flip-flops and board shorts to the office everyday
- Asia’s lack of ridiculous laws
- Cita’s Christmas Party
- Swim up bars
- Super fresh fruit
- Weird Asian television commercials and game shows
There’s been a lot of memorable times and some hard ones along the way. I can thankfully say that it’s a road I would choose to travel again, given the chance. Hopefully, after spending some time back home we’ll be on to a whole new set of experiences (both good and bad) in Costa Rica, where we’ll be starting the first leg of our Central American adventures.
Looking forward to seeing you all back home in a few short months.
Posted by: Shim
