So, I'm back in Norway again after travelling from July 2010 until July 2011, a bit more than one year has passed since I sat myself on the flight to Singapore with few plans. Thanks to my good friend Knut the first five weeks was no problem at all, we did the one thing we set out to do, climb Mt. Kinabalu in Boreno. When Knut left, and I was by myself in Bangkok I had no idea how great this trip was going to be.
The people
Most of all I have to say thanks to all the amazing people I've met on this trip. There are many words that describe these people, I'll try to list a few of them: trusting, generous, altruistic, full of knowledge, curious, kind, and most of all they have all been more than willing to share experiences, travels, and good moments the past year.
Without the people I've been lucky enough to meet on this trip it wouldn't have been such a good experience.
The food
Another aspect of travelling is food, as far as I'm concerned trying the foods of different countries and cultures belongs to the travel experience. I've tasted many amazing dishes, but also weird things, and animals I thought I would never eat suddenly became a meal during travelling. One thing is to go to the local restaurants, that's great, but sometimes I was even lucky enough to be invited to people's home to dine with them there, that's a great combination of both people, food, and culture.
The culture
Seeing different cultures is definitely part of travelling, but to actually get to know the culture you need to spend time with local people. They are the experts when it comes to customs, tradition, history, and not to forget, respect. To respect the culture of the place you are visiting is one of the most important things you can do as a foreigner. It might be strange to adapt, but the reward is that you get closer to the real country you're visiting. Language is also a keyword in this context, I've learnt a bit of many languages the past year. Phrases like "too expensive", "yes", "no", "how are you", and so on will make a big difference. In Vietnam, Laos, and Korea I was even lucky enough to get a name in the local language give to me by friends.
The memories
I have to say that after 380 days, I will probably struggle to account for every single day of this trip, but what I do know is that I have almost 9000 pictures from my experiences. If I start thinking back to a specific day, or place I will recall the great people I met, the amazing food I had with them, and the completely different culture where this all happened. Of course I've also met a lot of people from Europe, people who understand what this has been about, and people I hope to catch up with back in Europe.
To be continued
By this I want to say thanks to everyone who has been following my travels on this blog, for some I've heard that reading about far away places, and seeing the pictures has been like an escape from everyday life. This blog doesn't stop here of course, but for me to blog about that I went to the office etc. doesn't really make good blog material. As soon as I embark on a new trip, long or short, I'll make sure to write some lines about it, and of course post some pictures... :)
Thanks for reading!
Einar
