On Feb 2, 2019 it were exactly 6 months that I was travelling around South East Asia now. Before I started I made this beautiful xls spreadsheet with all the months of the year and the countries and places I wanted to visit, and that were a good option at a particular time of the year. I wanted to start my journey in South East Asia, but was pretty sure, that there would be a time (maybe after 4 or 5 months?) where I would jump over to Western Australia, or Micronesia, or somewhere else. But no …
There is a huge difference between doing a trip around the world, visiting the highlights and moving rather quickly (although it might easily take you a year in doing so) and the way I ended up travelling – slow, not only doing the must-do hotspots, but trying to get my feet on the ground, getting a feeling how living in another place feels like, taking my time.
When I look at my tick-the-box list I see ‘only’ 5 countries for my first 26 weeks: Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Cambodia and Laos. Plus stop-overs in Singapore and Kuala Lumpur / Malaysia. Wow, not a lot and definitely only a small share of South East Asia alone. How and when on earth will I be visiting all the rest of the places on my famous xls-spreadsheet? One life might not be enough, and I have learned that this probably also not what I want.
What about a change of scale?
I did 58 dives in some of the most pristine underwater areas of our planet, I made 29 cats happy and 42 cats made me happy. I have met animals in the wild, in their natural habitat, some of which I have not even heard of before. I was close to orang utans, snakes, dolphins, turtles, scorpions, birds, tiny nudibranches. I was breathing oxygen produced by trees older than some European cathedrals.
I have slept in 54 different places and even more beds, some of my night camps being a tent in the middle of the jungle, a small open hut on a lonely island or on top of a boat under the stars. And I am still finding my way to the bathroom in the dark every night, and can still figure out where the door and the windows are when I wake up in the morning and still have my eyes closed.
I have eaten a lot of delicious and surprising local food, the best one proably in Sumatra, followed by Myanmar. I was never severly sick, and – as a sidenote – neither attacked by big or small animals.
I have encountered so many interesting, kind and beautiful people, got close to new humans, met new friends and family along my way.
I have not read enough books, and if WiFi was available, I have still spent too much time on the screen.
I have learned to understand and speak a few chunks of Bahasa Indonesia – by far not enough from what I would like to be able to though.
The list of places I have been to, I want to return to and I still want to go has become longer, and much more detailed & granular with every step I took. Places have memories and faces now, places feel like something. And this the best of all!
So, here’s the link to a Google MAP (click here)of all the places I have been to and lived in from August 2018 to Mid January 2019.
And if you want to get a glimpse of how it looks like there -> the photos page is updated as well! I am happy if you take a look and even more so if you leave a short comment – thank you for being part of my journey by checking by here every now and then!
Andrea
6 Mar 2019Liebe Tina, obwohl ich auch im Augenblick eine aufregende, intensive Zeit erlebe, ließ ich immer wieder Deine Blogs. Inhalt & Fotos genial😊! Liebe Grüße vom anderen Ende der Welt, Andrea
Derzeit 46 Grad Süd 😘
Andrea
6 Mar 2019…. Lese…. Sorry heute stürmischer Seegang… 😉
Nadia
15 Feb 2019Great blog Bettina….until when are u planning to travel?
Tina
16 Feb 2019Mille Grazie, Nadia 😀! I will be in SEA until July, the rest is still in the stars ✨ Please let me know should you be around! Cheers Tina
Märie
15 Feb 2019Liebe Tina!
Vielen Dank für diese wunderbaren Zeilen. Voll faszinierend was du alles erl(i)ebt und gesehen hast und es geht ja noch weiter!!!!
Ich schicke dir einen ganz lieben Gruss zu dir in die grosse weite bunte Welt!!!
Dagmar
15 Feb 2019💕
Love the photos! Du Katzenmama, Du! 😉