Goodbye Asia

So after spending over four months travelling around Asia I will say it has been incredible and there wasn't a single day I did not enjoy. This is the end of one part of my journey and the beginning of a new one. It’s fair to say I’v learnt a few things along the way. Some of my vast wisdom I can dispense with you now:

• Squat Toilets to begin with were a strange oddity, but when you’ve got to go, you’ve got to go; the secret is keep your balance and maintain strong leg muscles. 
• Steal toilet roll at every opportunity, it is embarrassing, expensive and ineffective to have to resort to local currency when you're caught short.
• Lonely Planet is called a 'guide' book for a reason, don't let it dictate a trip, some of the best places I've been too were by complete accident. 
• Don’t piss off locals, Iv seen both machete and guns behind bars.
• Don’t buy Salt Toothpaste.
• Defiantly try local delicacies, but in some places it's a safer bet to be vegetarian.
• There will be times when you feel completely out of your depth, enjoy them.
• Before travelling Asia re-evaluate your perceptions of personal boundaries, they will be invaded often when you use public transport.
• Enjoy every hot shower you get, you never know when you are going to get another.
• Clothes aren’t ‘unclean’ until they fail the sniff test, was in showers, waterfalls and the sea.
• Being ill whilst travelling really sucks.
• Beards are awesome.
• Monkeys Steal.
• Plan all your flights incredibly loosely. 
• Be aware that rivers, sand, oil, dogs, elephants, cows, kids, pigs, snakes, cliffs, police and other motorists all pose as potential hazards on the roads.
• Big bugs will find you.
• When on a motorbike in Vietnam do as the locals do, never look back.
• Try a Chili Eating/Whiskey Drinking contest with a local, but don't expect to win.
• Don't think it's really difficult to go travel.
• There will be some places where you feel you can completely lose yourself in (India, Vietnam) whereas others you can't escape the well worn tourist track (Laos, Thailand) you can still appreciate them all the same.
• Monkeys drink coke, eat sunglasses and gnaw legs.
• Do what you want to do.
• Travelling really makes you appreciate your own country, your friends and your family. Its ok to feel homesick from time to time.
• After departing Asia, it might be wise to take some deworming tablets.
• Don't buy any electronics that have unbelievably low prices they are almost certainly 'genuine fakes'
• Forget all you know about health and safety. Out here your on your own.
• A dog is defiantly not man’s best friend in Vietnam.
• If you are into tea, probably best to bring your own. lots of places have pretty rubbish stuff.
• Thailand is full of surprises, sometimes what you see isn’t what you get, even in the case of local ‘ladies’ So my advice is give them all a wide birth.
• Never base preconceptions on a place from other traveller's opinions and never ever let it decided whether you go.
• You meet the best people travelling. It’s the people that make travelling.
• Don't trust monkeys.
• The vocal soundtrack of this tour has been Flight of the Conchords, Tenacious D, The Beatles and Oasis: the last two everyone in Asia knows, even tribes. The first two we tried to introduce to Asia.
• Goodbyes are sometimes not fun, but moving forward is crucial, you can always revisit a place and see people again later down the line.
• On occasions just stop for a moment, soak it all in and savor the moment.
• I miss cider. Stock up before you travel.