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Published: December 12th 2012
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Royal Palace
Night scene. Not sure if this was a regular or special occurrence. So this was it, a 4h+ bus ride later and I'd arrived at the final stop of the six-month leg of my Southeast Asian journey thus far, before I head back home to Singapore for a couple weeks' "rest". (It's actually been seven months since I first arrived in Surabaya in Indonesia on 14 May 12, but I did drop by back in Singapore a month later for a quick week's break before embarking on the longer leg with my flight to Yangon, Myanmar.)
In any case, I'm now back in Phnom Penh. And I say back because I was in fact just here not that long ago in March, for a short trip to see Angkor Wat in Siem Reap (which explains why I'm not re-visiting again so soon). Anyway that was in fact the trip that kinda crystallized my desire to leave it all behind, and to go on this adventure. So arriving back here in Phnom Penh and reflecting over what a difference the past nine months or so has made is quite something for me...
I don't have that much to say about Phnom Penh itself. It's certainly different from the lazy Cambodian southern coast
Sunset from the Mekong
My last, for a while... that I just came from, but in many ways is similar to what I'd seen in the larger cities of the Mekong countries. Not quite as developed as say Hanoi or Saigon yet, but the signs of burgeoning prosperity are certainly apparent.Spent most of the time really just soaking up the atmosphere of the city, and of course reflecting over my journey thus far. And I say thus far because I don't feel like I'm done yet. I'm still planning for a SEA Part Deux of sorts, and of course you'll be the first to hear of it, right here.
So how has it been? What have I learnt? Has it been worth it? And do I have any regrets?These are of course intrinsically rather complex questions, but I would quite confidently say, hand on my heart, that I have had very few regrets about doing this, possibly even none.
Quite often I think back to the very humdrum routine that I'd established in my previous work-life in the bank, and just feel more contented with the way things are now. It's not without its challenges of course, with the financial aspect being the most obvious. I'm thankful
though that hasn't really been a huge cause for concern for me yet, at this point. Another concern was of course the professional aspect of being out of work for so long. Well with regards to this, I saw fit to heed Steve Jobs advice, that you have to trust "your gut, destiny, life, karma or whatever", to "do what you love" and to "keep looking, don't settle". Well love is a strong word, especially for someone who doesn't profess to yet knowing what it means exactly, but I would say at least I've quite profoundly enjoyed the past seven months of travelling. Who's to say the feeling will last? But at this point I'll say I'm willing to keep on going, for now.
I'm also rather surprised that, by and large (crooked Vietnamese bus conductors notwithstanding), things have gone by without any major hiccups. But I'll knock on wood and keep my fingers crossed on this as I'm not quite home and dry yet! Humour-aside, this trip thus far has been truly memorable, and dare I say even special. There have been moments of magic. About regrets, I think the only one would have been if I were
to look back on my life later having NOT done the trip when I had the desire to...
So that's it, this is me signing off from Phnom Penh, the end of Part 1, of what I hope will be a fruitful multi-part journey. I should be back again soon, but until then, don't hold your breath!
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