well I've dog-gone gone and done it...

I've handed in my notice at work, I've given my landlord notice, I've emailed my moving company guy for a quote and I'm waiting to find out if I can get a berth on a passenger carrying freighter from anywhere on the Malay Peninsular to anywhere in Australia, but preferably Perth. After only 6 months in Cambodia, I am headed back to civilization, and proper medical facilities, which is what has prompted the bringing forward of the long term plan. 


I went and had a good chat with the doctor I saw for my previous thyroid check up and we decided that it would be best to get myself properly tested etc for all my various medical weirdnesses. There is nothing imminent, but she said I should be thinking of availing myself of some Western medical care in order to get things sorted out by January. Basically, the tummy thing seems related to various foods like milk and wheat so I'm struggling to eat healthily, and if I can't access alternatives soon, I will develop other problems. 


So the plan is to go from Phnom Penh to the Cambodian coast line and spent a couple of days farewelling my favourite parts of it. I'll take a bus from Sihanoukville, on the coast, straight through to Bangkok. It's about 12 hours and the worst leg of the trip. In BKK, I will hopefully catch up with some friends and do some serious shopping. I'll then leg it down to Singapore by train to spend New Years with friends, before heading back up to Georgetown and Kuala Lumpur, and hopefully a berth on a freighter heading to Perth in Western Australia. If I can't get a boat, I'll have to get my creative thinking hat on as I flying is really horrendously uncomfortable for me.


In a couple of weeks, we have a long weekend so I'm going to Ho Chi Minh City for a farewell fling of shopping and saying my goodbyes to people I will probably never see again. I have already mentally starting to say my good byes to Asia. I'm feeling very strange about the whole thing; excited to be going to Perth and very, very sad to be leaving Asia. Maybe...I will be back.