2nd month in review and a wanderlust being satisfied

This month started at the same pace as the last, but soon we were able to take our foot off the gas and achieve the beach bum status everyone dreams of on a rainy day.

Here's a quick recap of what we've been up to in the last month:

1. Stood in awe amongst ancient temples in Cambodia
2. Ate a scorpion 
3. Observed silence in a beautiful Buddhist temple 
4. Took part in an epic country-wide water fight
5. Celebrated new year with the locals 
6. Spent a fortnight lazing on a beach 
7. Spent over 3 days of my life on transport
8. Visited 4 countries
9. Slept in shipping containers 
10. Saw the formerly tallest buildings in the world.
11. Hung out with monkeys for a day and let them swing on my ears 
12. Rode bikes around rice fields and terraces 
13. Took to the waves bodyboarding in Kuta (building up to a surf board)

The stunning temples around Angkor Wat

Giant water fight in Thailand during songkran

Getting friendly with the locals

Beautiful rice fields around Ubud

We've had such an incredible month, Songkran in Thailand was one of the most interesting and fun days I've had in my entire life. Close behind was seeing the monkeys in the forest temple in Ubud (see previous posts for more detail) as they were so funny to be around in such a breathtaking setting.

So as I've entered month 3 of our travels and seen my 28th birthday come and go, it's dawned on the both of us that with all we've been through and experienced so far that the hunger to see more and more that we've always had has actually started to wane.

We're only actually at the halfway point in our travels as our future travels are all planned out and our return flight to the UK booked in August. Next week we finish the whole Asia section of our travels and return to Europe to spend the remainder of our time away in Italy. There we will travel for 3.5 weeks before heading to a town near Turin to stay with a family and be au pairs for the rest of the summer.

It's crazy to think we are only half way through as the last two months have given us so many memories that it feels like we've been gone for 6 months! So many times I lost track of what day it was. It's clear that of all things about travelling, one is clearer to me than anything: it's a way to cram several months or years of life experience into a short period. At the end of it you may be a bit frazzled, but you definitely emerge with a smile on your bronzed face and a host of new memories that you'll never forget.

Before we managed to chill out in Thailand, we were starting to get very weary of the non-stop travelling and were glad to be able to stay in one place for more than just a couple of days.
With all we've seen and done we've both felt that our wanderlust is being satisfied surprisingly earlier than we'd anticipated. It's almost like we've gone through phases and once at the end of each one we've felt like we've ticked that off the list of things we wanted to experience/achieve. We've done the constant movement, we've done off the beaten path, we've slummed it in some grotty places, we've hung out with locals and fellow travellers, we had our "do nothing" phase, we even had our short and disastrous teaching phase!

Coming out the other side of all of those phases has done something else we didn't quite expect to happen so quickly either - it's made us more prepared to go home. Some periods made us really homesick, some made us ready to return simply by fulfilling an ambition. Either way we've realised that when we do come back at the end of summer we will be more than ready to settle back into life in the UK once again, ready to face the challenges that life has ahead of us.

Italy was always the icing on the cake for us, we wanted just to spend a month there before returning, so for things to pan out to spend a summer and half our time away there is beyond our wildest dreams. For us, the history, the food, the wine, the culture and the people are nearly unbeatable in our eyes so we are getting all that we want and more.

There's plenty more in store ahead of us and our excitement is one thing that hasn't waivered, so soon it's goodbye Asia, ciao Italia and the beginning of a whole new chapter.