So long, and thanks for all the memories!

On August 1^st it was time to return to Chiang Mai for our final week in Thailand and SE Asia. Our program was coming to a close and while I was extremely sad to be saying goodbye to my new friends and these countries I had grown to love, I was also really ready to be home. I missed my family, my comfortable bed, a humidity free environment (humidity is torture and there is no humidity quite like SE Asia during monsoon season), and Mexican food. But the program was not yet over and so, on our last morning in Phuket, Zenia and I walked around the beach, got one last massage, and then headed for the airport and a flight back to Chiang Mai.

We caught a red truck from the Chiang Mai airport to BABSEA House and were immediately told that “in an effort to mix things up” we would be staying in the house for our final week rather than the apartment complex. Needless to say, this news did not go over so well with anyone. It wasn’t too difficult for Zenia and I to move into BABSEA House as we had all our things packed and ready to go from our return trip, but those who had spent the summer in Chiang Mai had to quickly grab all their belongings from what had been their home for three months and move over to the apartments quite a distance away. While Zenia and I were at first upset at this change of events, we soon realized its upsides as we now had a TV that actually got a channel with English speaking shows! (Throughout the days and nights it would play an endless loop of American science fiction show episodes – Star Trek, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, and Star Trek: Next Generation. Crazy and yet awesome.)

Thank you, Lonely Planet. 

We quickly settled in to our new room and headed into the city with all our friends we had just been reunited with. It was amazing seeing all our friends and hearing about their experiences in the various countries. As everyone had travelled far and wide back to Chiang Mai (except the Chiang Mai kids, of course), many using multiple means of transportation (tuk tuk, red truck, bus, plane, etc.), we were all very tired and went to bed fairly early, aware that for the next week we would be spending each morning with BABSEA doing a wrap up of our experiences.

Just a quick summary will suffice for our BABSEA wrap up sessions, I think. Each morning we would arrive at the very same building where we spent our orientation sessions and we would discuss our experiences. Every morning a different group from a different country would present on what they did over the summer, what they saw, and what they learned. Although somewhat a rehash of what we did on our own each evening when we all went out to dinner together and talked for hours, it was still incredible to hear more and see pictures. After our morning reviews, BABSEA would set us free around lunch time and we would all disperse to follow our own whims.

The sad news in all of this is that Zenia left early on the second day after our return. Her cousin was getting married in Canada and she returned home to help out (and, I think, because she was a bit homesick). And so, for the rest of my time in SE Asia, I was without my most trusted and beloved travelling companion. Luckily, I was back with all my other friends and we were able to make the most of our last few days together.

The end of a long trip is always a strange thing. While you’ve had a wonderful time, made some incredible memories, and enjoyed every minute, the knowledge that soon you will be home is overwhelming and overshadows everything you do. And as you contemplate your return to the comforts you have been so long without, the lack of real rest catches up with you and you become almost unbearably tired, such that it’s hard to motivate yourself to go out and finish your travels with the same energy level with which you started them. This period of time is almost directly proportionate to the length of your trip. If you were gone a week – it’s probably no longer than your wait at the airport for your return flight. Gone two weeks – it will last the morning before your flight. Gone three months – the last five days of your trip will be spent in a fog of sleepiness and the overwhelming desire to be home.

Almost every afternoon Bobby and I would head out into Chiang Mai, exploring the parts of the city we had not seen during our previous stay. Then, around dinner time, we would head back to BABSEA House. We would head into my room where the TV was located, lay down “for a quick rest” after walking around Chiang Mai afternoon on my and Zenia’s twin beds, and watch a little sci fi on TV. Inevitably we would both fall asleep, awakening only when it was time to actually go to bed. It was a lazy existence and, perhaps, I could have spent the time more actively sightseeing, but it was precisely what I needed after such a long, action packed summer.

I had one last adventure in Chiang Mai with my friend, Ellie. We each had discussed at length before our return how much we loved Thai cuisine and how much we would love to take a cooking class at some point. Well, we decided to follow Bruce’s advice and “make it happen.” We did some research, found a one day cooking class outside of the city and got permission to go (permission because we didn’t go to the BABSEA review session that day)! It was incredible. Early in the morning a van picked us up from BABSEA House and headed out to a local market to buy some fresh ingredients for our day of cooking. We wandered around the same market we visited on my first stay in Chiang Mai, carrying the purchases of our guides and then headed back to the van and out to the cooking school.

The school was located some distance outside Chiang Mai, set on about five acres of land. The buildings of the school were set next to a small pond and abutted a large garden of fresh vegetables, fruits, and peppers grown specifically for the school. A large veranda was built out over the pond and had two long wooden tables with bench seating running the length. A large building stood across the way and had cooking stations ranging around three walls of the room, ready for our use later that morning. Upon our arrival we filled out a questionnaire regarding what dishes we would like to learn to cook (we had a choice of five out of fifteen), we were give red aprons and large hats, and then were told that to start we would have to learn a little about Thai foods. We headed out into a beautifully tended garden and learned about Thai peppers, basil, broccoli, eggplant, etc. The garden was teeming with beautiful veggies, most of them new to our eyes, and soon we were invited to pick a few for our upcoming dishes. I grabbed a handful of bright red peppers about the size of my pinky nail, a bunch of Thai eggplants that grow no larger than a nickel and are bright green, and some fresh Thai basil.

We then headed back to the veranda and got started on our culinary adventure. We began by using a mortar and pestle to create our very own curry paste (an enterprise not for the faint of heart as it involves crushing the hottest of Thai peppers, which more than one person managed to get in their eyes leading to tears and burning pain), which we then used to make either red, green or yellow curry. It was amazing! I was cooking the food I loved and was actually have extremely successful results. We were provided some pre-made sticky rice (sticky rice takes hours to make properly – you have to soak the rice for at least three hours or overnight before steaming – and so it had been made for us) and were then invited to sit and enjoy the first fruits of our labors. As soon as we finished we were off to cook our next few items all at once in order to create one large feast for the noon meal. I made Tom Yum Soup (a clear, delicious soup with enormous oyster mushrooms and fresh vegetables), Chicken with Basil, and, my personal favorite, Pad See Ew. It was incredible. For each item of the meal we were given a platter with all the ingredients and then our head chef would demonstrate how to make each dish and walk around the room watching as we copied his movements and instructions. It was an absolute blast and soon Ellie and I were laughing like loons as we cooked some of our favorite Thai dishes.

Eating the food was a revelation. Everything tasted incredible, made even more delicious by the fact that we cooked it ourselves. We ate until we couldn’t move and then were told it was time to make desert. I chose a simple dish – mango with sticky rice – and enjoyed the juicy and refreshing taste of the mango after so much rich and savory food. The day was absolutely perfect and the best way to end my time in SE Asia. We returned to BABSEA House at the end of the day and shared our leftovers with all our friends, who were, naturally, overawed by our culinary talents.

The next day was my last in SE Asia. I spent most of the day packing and saying goodbye to all my friends. Around dinner time I caught a red truck from BABSEA House and was off to the airport. Similarly to my trip to Chiang Mai three months before, I was to fly that night from Chiang Mai to Bangkok and then spend the night in the Bangkok airport before flying home first thing in the morning. This time, however, I had a better plan. I decided to stay up all night and on the first leg of my morning flight to Japan and sleep only on the final leg of my journey to facilitate getting back on US time. And so, I ate a salad at the Chiang Mai airport, flew into Bangkok and then sat in front of the check in desks at the Bangkok airport from about 10 pm to 3 am. After checking in my bags, I headed up to the gate and before too long was on my plane and truly heading home, first to Tokyo where I would change planes and then back to Portland, Oregon.

The flight was easy and uneventful and, I’m happy to report, my plan of postponing sleep worked perfectly. I awoke about thirty minutes before touchdown on my last flight, just as we were coming back over US soil. I was home. Of course, the last leg of the journey required actually being readmitted to my native country. I got off the plane in the terminal and soon passed through passport control with no problems.

My excitement to be home was palpable and all too soon I was collecting my bags, which somewhat dimmed my excitement as to get from the International terminal at the Portland airport to the portion where I would be picked up by my family I had to take a short bus ride and walk what felt like a mile. To fully understand my consternation, it is necessary for me to reveal a slightly embarrassing fact about my return…I was loaded down with luggage like a pack mule. I can’t overstress this fact – I looked like an over-weighted turtle trying to walk on two legs. By the time I got home I had visited several cities in four countries and had bought souvenirs and trinkets from each. And so I was dragging one large traveler’s backpack, my large black purse, a small black backpack, a small(ish) knockoff roller suitcase from the mall in Laos, a medium sized green duffle bag from Cambodia, an art tube filled with paintings, and a self-made flat, rectangular carrier for two art prints that couldn’t be rolled and had to remain flat. I must have looked ridiculous! But, to their credit, my parents didn’t laugh too hard when they saw me. As I walked down that final stretch of hallway I could see them at the end like a light at the end of a dark tunnel, a sign that I was truly home. I ran (well, attempted to run, but only managed a speed closer to that of a medium paced walk) toward them and hugs were exchanged all around, my parents clearly relieved that I returned to them safe and sound.

My SE Asia trip was officially over. I was back in the US and happy to be home. But if there is one thing this trip taught me, it is that I love to travel – explore new places, eat new food, and make new friends. So don’t be sad that my SE Asia tale is done, because this bookworm will be having more adventures abroad before you know it. The world awaits…

And so, there is only one way to end this chapter in my life, one of the best chapters yet written. So long, and thanks for all the memories, SE Asia. I will return.