We’ve been back almost a week now, and our Jet lag is pretty much behind us. It was brutal. I felt like a zombie for about four days. It had me feeling a lot of regret — not for going to Vietnam and Cambodia, but for having to come home.

Not that home isn’t good. I have my cats and my music. And there are people here that I would miss if I didn’t return. Still, the food here mostly tastes like disappointment, and it’s been harder than I would have expected to adjust back to northern autumn temperatures.

Looking back, it was an amazing experience travelling through Vietnam and Cambodia. The food, the people, the culture in every place we stayed was incredible. Some of the highlights include our overnight stay on a boat in Halong Bay; learning how to make noodles, getting clothes tailored and almost being kidnapped in Hoi An; the War Remnants Museum, Art Museum, and monument to Thích Quảng Đức in Ho Chi Minh City; the Sky Bar in Phnom Penh and the sunrise at Angkor Wat; meeting a survivor of the Killing Fields; cruising the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam and visiting the floating villages near Siem Reap; the crazy traffic everywhere.

The food was excellent everywhere, and different in each region. When I left Vancouver, I knew I liked Phở Bò. I didn’t expect bún bò Huế to become my favourite soup. I also didn’t expect to enjoy fried rice and pho for breakfast, something I really miss now.

As a first experience of Asia, I don’t know how representative it was, but we do both want to see more in the future. Japan and Korea; Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia; China and Mongolia; more or Vietnam and Cambodia, but also Laos and some of Thailand outside of Bangkok.

There is so much of the world to see and experience, and only so much time and money. We won’t get to it all, but we’ll try to see as much as we can.