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Published: February 14th 2010
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Day Twenty-Eight - DONE
18,500 miles and 6 countries later, our winter wanderings have come to an end. It was always going to be a unique trip and a lot more hectic than the usual break. It was flashpacking and it was hardly off the beaten track but hopefully it'll inspire the girls to explore further afield in future. Angela is already planning more trips and at our rate it'll be 2053 before we get them all done.
Waking at around 3am on BA032 from Hong Kong, the obviously dreadful 'english breakfast' tasted mighty fine. The coffee was a needed kick as we all really just wanted to get home. Thankfully, our bodies were still on HK time and able to endure the last leg of our travels.
Landing slightly ahead of schedule, immigration was dealt with easily (so nice not be filling out visa forms in quadruplicate) and with bags collected we left T5 for the Heathrow Express. My God was it cold. We knew it would be but still. How we normally survive in this was beyond me.
At T1 we disembarked and positioned ourselves at a coffee shop for the five hour wait for
the Belfast flight. To change to a flight two hours ahead of ours would be £117 each. I bought the Sunday Times and a second cup of coffee instead.
When we finally got checked in, Leanne was challenged if her orang-utan had a boarding pass but security acquiesced and we were permitted to go through to buy yet more coffee although this was punctuated by the girls smelling perfumes and me trying to find some cheap booze.
On the flight to Belfast I considered our trip and what parts I would do differently. Although I'd never consider such a whistle-stop tour again, it fitted its purpose this time allowing the girls a taster of South East Asia. We didn't have to really rush to squeeze much in and in some cases we were clicking our heels to move on. My OCD level of clip board management planning had paid off in stark contrast to previous travels which were more 'turn-up and see'.
Angkor is a highlight that stands out and Ko Yao Yai was the beach we all needed but seeing a semi-wild orang-utan and her baby swing to within a few feet of us was magical.
In Sumatra they are classed as 'critically endangered' which means their numbers are expected to drop by 80% in three generations if the trend is not reversed. This would be criminal, they are fantastic creatures. It is easy to project human emotion onto any animal even when it is not there but as they are 97% us, it was all to easy to feel moved as she looked us in the eye.
At Disney I expected a sugar coated grin and bear it but the combination of the five star hotel and the attention to sumptuous detail meant that the constant 'Have A Magical Day!' didn't even grate. The girls giggled non stop for two days, good times.
Cambodia is a country to spend more time in and I'd happily recommended it to all. It will go like Thailand or Bali eventually but for now it is raw enough to be enchanting. Phnom Penh is a rough diamond and although Siem Reap is more tourist focused, it is fun and fresh in a way Phuket or Bangkok has lost.
Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong all reflect their wealth and bring more order and luxury to bear.
Langkawi surprised me with its calm although the eastern isles are the gems there - next time we'll do Malaysia when the west coast monsoon arrives. I think I've exhausted Singapore and it will only be used for transit to the Gili Islands the next time!
Collected at the airport by Paul and Lisa, we arrived home around 1pm and instantly turned on the heat and added two layers. We checked our mail, put the washing in the machine and I watched the Everton game from the night before. It was good to be ensconced in my corner; it was good to have my Sky+ and big telly; it was good to know that I was ordering a Dominos that night.
Being back home wasn't too bad to be honest. But I'd swap it all in a second for another look back into the eyes of that orang-utan.
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