As I decided to go to Japan spontaneously, I had to come back to KL from where my final flight goes home tomorrow. I arrived early this morning at 5:45am and 25 minutes ahead schedule (that was the pilot’s and Air Asia’s pride because they stressed it several times). As you can guess Air Asia’s low cost seats were not really designed to offer a great sleeping experience to the passenger, although I paid extra for the so called hot seats which offer more leg room. In my case taking any other seats would be impossible. I realized that in Air Asia’s Airbus A330 they put 9 seats in a row instead of the normal 8 seats. Thank God I have lost weight on my trip, maybe I wouldn’t have fitted J. For my last day I reserved a hotel at the airport because I didn’t want to go for one day to my “favourite” KL and then stand up at 4am in the morning to take the bus to the airport. At the hotel, they really made me pay 60 RM (15 euro) extra for early check-in (what cheek!) but I paid them back by raiding the breakfast buffet. I changed breakfast from tomorrow to today because tomorrow I wouldn’t have had enough time to fill my stomach with all the wonderful food. They had all the Western breakfast stuff, even including an omelette station. They also had fresh fruit – I don’t know when I had fresh fruit the last time!
Now I’m sitting in my hotel room after a long nap and start to realize that it’s over! I travelled for 132 days – 42 days in Thailand, 2 days in Myanmar, 20 days in Laos, 8 days in Cambodia, 48 days in Malaysia (whereof 30 days in West-Malaysia and 18 days in Borneo) and 12 days in Japan. In the last couple of days people have asked me how I feel with regard to the fact that the trip comes to an end. My sincere answer is that I don’t feel anything. I’m neither happy nor sad. What I know is that it is time to go home. I couldn’t have travelled for another 4 months or so like other travellers because I think that at one point of time I’d not be able to enjoy it any more like I should be enjoying it. That is due to the fact that the longer you travel, the more it becomes routine. I experienced that sometimes that I was not in the mood to travel and I just wanted to stay for a longer time at one point without doing anything. That’s why I stayed in Pai for 10 days after travelling in Laos and Cambodia. I think travelling in these two countries was the most strenuous part of the trip.
Some people also asked me which country I liked most. It’s an extremely difficult question because I think it’s impossible to compare a country like Cambodia with Japan, just to make an example. It’s easier to compare rather places than countries (because every country has good and bad places). The big highlights for me were: Umphang in Thailand (because the place was unspoiled and the people amazing), Pai in Thailand (the best place to hang out, meet people and party), Luang Nam Tha in Laos (because of the trekking), 4.000 islands in Laos (the place was so beautiful that even the unfriendliness of the people couldn’t destroy the good impression), Angkor in Cambodia (self-explaining), Melaka in Malaysia (because of the guest house, the people, the food and the interesting mix of cultures), Perhentian Islands in Malaysia (because of the paradise beaches and the diving), Bako National Park in Malaysian Borneo (because of the stunning jungle), Kyoto in Japan (because of the temples and the “photo shootings”) and Fujiyoshida in Japan (self-explaining when you see pictures). If you forced me to select only one single place from the list above, I would probably say that Mount Fuji was my favourite place. I was really freaking out when I saw that mountain! Although there are two places in Laos on the list, maybe Laos was the country I was most disappointed about. I think partly this is due to the fact that my expectations were huge (the famous expectation-reality ratio!) but namely because the nature was not as unspoiled as I expected (not mentioning the littering) and because the people were strange. I don’t say they were unfriendly because this would probably be unfair but their indifference and general attitude was really bothering me. If you want to refresh, you can read my entry on 4.000 islands.
Next week I will reincorporate into normal life (whatever that is). It definitely involves working so job offers are very welcome! What I am really looking forward to is seeing family and friends, the German summer, the barbecues, the good beer and of course the upcoming European Championships. What a surprise – you can have this all together: Watching football while having barbecue and beer with family and friends in summer! Voilà!
I will close this blog with a final entry from home, so please don’t “disconnect” yet, only one more thing!
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