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Sweet Home Chicago

ByConall Dempsey

Airplane SeatsAfter two months of touring South East Asia and twenty flight hours, I’ve returned home to Chicago.

It was a really enjoyable trip and I owe plenty of people thanks for that.

First, I need to thank my friend, Smita, and her generous parents who allowed me to use their spare bedroom as home base during my Singapore sling. Not only was I able to ditch most of my gear there so as to travel light, I also thoroughly enjoyed super tasty Indian dishes for every meal. A comfy, quiet, clean bedroom (with AC and fan) can be like heaven after a couple of weeks without. Thank you all for your generosity!

Of course thanks to all of you readers of this site. It has been a lot of fun to share my thoughts on what I’ve seen and to send comments back and forth with you.  I plan to continue to write here at conalldempsey.com, primarily about product design and usage, as I have been across SE Asia.  I’ll probably also continue sharing photos, so if you’re interested, please stop by and comment when you feel like it.  You’ll notice a few more posts from my trip over the next couple of days, but then I’ll be back to USA-based posts.

I have to take a minute to thank all of the motorbike drivers across SE Asia who were kind enough to NOT run me over on this trip whenever I tried to cross the street. Sometimes we passed closer than either of us would have liked, but I ultimately made it home safely, so thanks very much for sparing me.

I can happily add the following seven countries to the list of places I’ve visited:

  • Cambodia
  • Indonesia
  • Laos
  • Malaysia
  • Singapore
  • Thailand
  • Vietnam

No, I can’t say as I had a favorite, though Laos definitely struck a chord with me. I would definitely come back and visit every one of them again, so let me know if you feel like making a trip.

I certainly will miss being in a country where I can go to an ATM and take out a cool 2 million without batting an eye.

I definitely will not miss the thousands of motorbike drivers who unceasingly offered me motorbike rides no matter how often I said I didn’t need a ride.

Thanks again.  I hope to see you back on www.conalldempsey.com soon.  And remember:

Do Not Feed The Monkeys