After six fantastic months full of adventure, excitement and no end of fun, the three of us say a tearful farewell to Asia.

We have visited some fantastic countries, met some exceptional people on the way, eaten some amazing food, experienced life in some quite spectacular and exciting cultures and, above everything, have had the time of our lives.

So, as we get ready to board our flight to Australia a quick run down of the last six months as we begin the next chapter of this epic journey.

- June 2007 - Jamie, Jason, Jay and Paul leave London and spend four days in Hong Kong before spending a month in China visiting some spectacular sites, most memorably the historical Great Wall of China.

- July 2007 - It’s six weeks in Vietnam for the four of us. Hanoi Backpackers Hostel will long live in the memory bank, as will our splendid motorbike tour of the north - arguably our favourite moment of the trip to date.
 
- August 2007 - It was a goodbye to Paul aka Dirty Dog whilst the three J’s, plus our newest trip roast members, Jenna aka Big Cat and Caley aka The Boss, spent a couple of weeks in Cambodia. A great country full of history, disaster and great sadness but at the same time fun, fascination and enjoyment was had by all of us.

- September 2007 - It was Thailand next as we visited Bangkok, the three Islands, Koh Samui, Koh Tao and Koh Phangan and the west of the country.  Memories included the famous Full Moon Party in Koh Phangan and a few tipsy nights in the lively Bangkok.

- October 2007 - An action packed month spent in Malaysia, including the capital Kuala Lumpur, the very beautiful Cameron Highland, equally stunning island of Borneo and the alcohol free country of Brunei.

- November 2007 - Now travelling at a real pace it was the Philippines and Indonesia plus a fantastic tennis match back in Kuala Lumpur between Pete Sampras and Roger Federer.  Highlights included Jamie’s diving in Coron, the visit to Batad Rice Terraces and the splendid time had by all at the two volcanoes - Mount Pinatubo and Mount Bromo.

- November 30 - December 6 2007 - Our final week and a bit in Asia has been spent with a super flying visit to the country of Laos - somewhere with fantastic sites and friendly people - and the city of Singapore where we have done a lot of relaxing, whilst also indulging into a splendid buffet lunch at the world famous Raffles Hotel.  A Singapore Sling later, a plate of delicacies, as well as a night out at one of the worlds top 50 nightclubs, some might say we have signed off from Asia in style.

With a tear in the eye - quite literally, I am not ashamed to admit - we move on from Asia.  To all the local people we have met - a massive thank you to you all. You have made us feel so welcome in your countries and given us memories that will stick with us for the rest of our lives. We will be coming back in the not too distant future, that is for sure. Secondly thank you to all the fellow travellers we have met along the way - it has been great and hopefully we will see you all again very soon. 

For those of you back home in London wanting to book that last minute Christmas break, Easter Holiday or if you are looking for somewhere to go next summer then honestly look no further than Asia. The three of us cannot praise the places we have been to highly enough.  A bad word we do not have.  It is easy to book that package tour to Spain or Greece but why not do something different?

Today is the beginning of our Pacific adventure starting with Cairns, Australia.  We cannot wait and I am certain more great times are not too far away.

From Asia it’s Xie Xie, Terima Kasih, Ar kun, Kam On, Khawp Khun Khrap, Khawp Jai, and THANK YOU!

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 6th, 2007 at 10:30 am and is filed under SE Asia. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.