Long time, long time
the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, Cambodian countryside, downtown Hanoi, and Thai graffiti
The holidays are long over, and I've been back in Japan for about 2 weeks now. I wanted to post some photos earlier, but I just got around to it this week. You can find them accordingly:
Singapore and Malaysia : December 22nd to December 27th
Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, Cambodia : December 27th to December 31st
Bangkok, Thailand and Hanoi / Halong Bay, Vietnam : January 1st to January 14th
To be honest, the biggest reason I stayed in Japan a second year is that I really wanted to travel around Asia. Yes, my first year here was exciting enough to keep me in Akita, but the opportunity to travel in this area may not present itself many times again in my life. I hope it does, but I felt like I really had to take advantage of this opportunity.
We traveled to five countries: Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam. Many things on the trip left lasting impressions on me, but of the five, Vietnam was my favorite. The pace and style of life in Hanoi seemed perfect - it's a stylish and hip city, with lots of working class people, but with an edgier side as well. After being in Japan for 18 months and observing the mostly quiet politeness, it was exciting to see so many people with a more aggressive approach.
Angkor Wat in Cambodia is something I'd recommend to anyone. The temples are beautiful, even if they are 800 years old and falling apart. Again, a stark contrast to Japan, which has lots of younger temples built in a completely different style. Cambodia as a whole was eye-opening for me, and easily the poorest place I've ever seen. Learning about some of the atrocities taking place there in the 1980s, unbeknownst to many people in the world, was sad and pretty powerful.
Japan is having a pretty harsh winter. When I came back to Akita, I learned that more than 80 people have died in my prefecture this winter, due to all of the snowfall. We are only thru January, but the snow that has fallen already, even in Akita City, is much more than last year. But the city looks great in the snow, so it's worth the inconvenience, for sure.
I hope you enjoy the photos!