Last Day In Asia.

After seven amazing weeks, today is our last day in Asia. We have experienced the polarities of cultures, from the affluence, efficiency and modernity of Japan to the opposingly poor, often delapidated charm of South East Asia, where one is surprised everytime something runs on time, and neither are without their appeal.
I know in the now six and a half months to go, I will be exposed to a plethora of different cultures, but I must consciously not compare to anywhere else and take each culture and country on their own merits.
I have realised that the Football World Cup is going to be one of the best times to be abroad, and being awake at 3:30 am at an English bar called the Hare and Hound watching England draw with the USA was evidence of how much fun the next few weeks will be, however, it is now midday, and all I have done is lie in bed, listen to Harry Potter audiobooks, get a much needed espresso and lament the smell of cigarette smoke lingering in my every pore.
We spent many more days in Luang Prabang than either of us intended to, but the hostel we stayed at was too hospitable and the people we met were too friendly to ever want to leave. It was an eclectic mix of Tom and I, two American girls, a crazy French Canadian who debatably spoke English, a hilarious German girl, a crazy Russian, fresh from the military who would wake every morning with a fitness regime that made me feel incredibly lazy, but was interesting none the less and a staff who became more like a family, complete with the cutest little Lao girl I have ever met and Shampoo, the owner. "Oh my buddah."
We tried our best to become locals, frequenting the same fruit shake stand and vegetarian buffet everynight, to the point where he saw us coming. "Two mango fruit shakes."
We were offered drugs by what seemed to be every tuk tuk driver in Luang Prabang with the ubiquitous wink, click of the tounge and euphemism of "you want something?"
We spent a great day tubing down the river with all the people from our hostel, to a lunch which, for vegan purposes, consisted of sticky rice and chilli eating challenges, which, as is the nature of chilli eating challenges, noone really won.
Saying goodbye to Asia will be hard and I feel that now on top of my pangs of homesickness, will be pains of loss for the absence of the beautiful continent from my life; at least for now.
But a lazy afternoon spent thumbing through Europe On A Shoestring Lonely Planet added to my already massive anticipation of the next three and a half months, however it also reiterated my imminent level of destitution.
It is now only 13 hours until Australia's first World Cup game, and thanks to our support of England last night, we have recruited some support from the Mother Country.
My plans for Europe are fairly loose, but I see that as one of the greatest joys of travel; the way that dates and times become inconsequential and one is left with nothing but their own will and a three month Eurail pass. There are things I really want to see, both new places and places I feel drawn back to, but I have no cement plans, only desires.
Their is a palpable excitement between Tom and I to meet up with Harry, Hugo, Nic and Connor in Lisbon, but standing between us and that meeting is an epic of flights and transit, which I am trying to not think about (except for our excitement to be flying Cathay Pacific; I don't know what we are actually expecting from it, but it is surely preferable to British Airways.)
Our one full day in Vientiane thus far was not spent in any way I could have expected, including little more than lots of Indian food, a visit to a waterpark and a very late night with our new English friends.
I am incapable of describing our time in Luang Prabang in great detail, because on reflection I cannot recall where the time actually went, except into meeting some great people and seeing the beautiful World Heritage city. It was painful to leave, but as I expect to do many times this trip, I consoled myself with the knowledge I will return one day; youth is not entirely wasted on the young.
Hardly surprisingly, we met up by pure coincidence with the UK family who we have shadowed for our entire time in Laos, but this time we had a proper farewell, but with the knowledge we will see them sometime soon in Bath.
It is frightening on reflection to think how fast this seven weeks has gone, and I know this rapidity will not slow down for our entire trip, which is disconcerting but instills in me a knowledge that I must treasure every moment on the road, this perhaps being the last time in a long time I will have such liberty without the constraints of normality and routine, which I am sure may seem more appealing after months of wandering.
As is seeming to have already formed itself as a habit, we will be getting Indian for lunch, after my last 14 minutes of internet connection runs out. I would feel very culturally traitorous, but we have been eating Lao food for the last two weeks, and we have realised we will not have the chance for affordable Indian for a long time, which, for me, is very distressing, but I am looking forward to what will end up being a bread tour of Europe and a lesson in freeganism and frugality. It is strange the things one looks forward to, but I remember with amazing clarity a vegetarian restaurant in Cezky Krumlov in the Czech Republic which I have missed ever since I left, 3 years ago, to which I will return for regular patronage.
It will be hard to say goodbye to Tom, after having spent everyday for almost two months together, but this farewell will be equally matched by traveling with Harry. We have heard that friends traveling together has the potential to destroy friendships, but we have escaped that and only ever have pointless little squabbles which we quickly realised the triviality of and sort it out. We have seen and experienced too much together for there to be a danger of any sort of major falling out, and all my memories of this amazing experience thus far are intertwined with his presence.
It is time to sign off on this entry, the last one to come from this beautifully unique continent, and both lament the loss of it and be excited for what is to come.
Asia, I will miss you.