Highlights

Since returning a few days ago, a few people have asked me, "What are some of the most memorable moments during your trip in Southeast Asia?" While a whole series of events flash through my mind when I hear that, I do have some favorite memories that I'll share with you here.

1) Nate and I starting a dance party/limbo competition/congo line on the beach with our muay thai trainers, new British and Swedish friends we had met earlier that day, and other tipsy patrons enjoying "buckets" at Lotus Bar's happy hour in Koh Tao.

2) Nate, Wendy, and I beer garden-ing and clubbing with Bangkok locals after a group of university students invited us over to their table to help them finish off their Singha "towers."

3) Riding a rusty, worn-down bike before the sunrise to see Angkor Wat.

4) Smoking what was sold as Cubans and contemplating the meaning of friendship, the complexities of marriage, and the anticipation about the future with Nate in Siem Reap. (If you only saw the flow charts we drafted in my Moleskin. I still laugh every time I flip to those pages.)

5) Meeting Bahn in Sapa and freezing my butt off trekking up to the mountain homestay.

6) Eating Bun Cha for almost every meal in Hanoi.

7) Meeting the Australian cougar at Le Pub who hated me at first and then proceeded (by the end of the night) to tell me that I could move in with her whenever I wanted to visit Melbourne. She could (in a slurred voice) "help make it happen," because her and I were "the same."

8) Recovering from whatever mosquito-bourne disease I had in Ho Chi Minh City.

9) Finally seeing my mom and meeting the extended family in Surabaya. The nicest people you could ever meet.

10) Lombok and my very own 5 cougars who treated me as one of their own. (Does that make me a bobcat?)

11) Happy Cafe

12) Dancing (more like moshing) with the eccentric, elder, local HK guy who's a regular at Peele Fresca

I'm sure there's more, but those are the first that come to mind. I still don't believe it's almost been three months. What's next? you might ask. Well, I guess I can tell you when I see you.

Good night, and signing off. For now.