John and Rita dropped us off at Cranbrook airport on December 12. It was a nice morning but there had been some snow. We’d left early so we could take our time on the drive and went for coffee together before leaving. Our flight this time was Cranbrook-Vancouver-Tokyo-Bangkok. I had arranged to meet my sister Jayne at the airport. We were supposed to have 2 hours in Vancouver but it was pouring when we arrived and took over 30 minutes to get a gate and get off the plane. We did get to spend a quick half hour with Jayne before we headed through customs.

Leaving the PCT was one of the hardest decisions we have made but we both believe that it was the right choice. Paul’s knee was getting worse, my feet were constantly sore and neither of us was feeling right. We called our parents from our last camp spot to discuss options. All of them were so supportive and encouraging about our decision. It helped us to feel more comfortable about the decision to return.

In January of 2019, while we were chilling in Kampot, Cambodia, we were trying to figure out what we would do for the summer of 2019. Eventually we decided that we wanted to hike the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) from the Canadian border in Washington to the Mexican border near San Diego. So using our phones at 3AM in Cambodia we jumped online for the second permit lottery and got 2 permits for northbound PCT hikes. Unfortunately we couldn’t get 2 on the same day so we had to switch them out for southbound (SOBO) permits which didn’t require specific dates for heading in that direction.

We flew back to Canada to get organized to hit the PCT. John and Rita were kind enough to let us stay with them in Creston while we got ready. When we applied for permits we were not able to get the same dates. There was a 2 weeks difference in our start dates and the workaround for that is not deemed legal by the PCTA, if stopped you can get in trouble. In the end it was a non issue since we changed our permits to head Southbound on the PCT as we weren’t even close to being ready to head off on our original dates. SOBO permits aren’t in demand, something about it being harder to go straight into the mountains instead of building up to it. We were easily able to get a date for both of us and planned to hit the trail June 26. It worked out as since we could give ourselves time to train and get our gear organized for our start date.

In all the years we had been coming to Lipe, we had never arrived on the ferry from Langkawi before and in all likelihood never will again. The ferry was great, getting off the ferry was the usual chaos but waiting to get stamped through customs was nasty. It was hot, not much shade, we weren’t supposed to leave and there was a ton of people. The local Thai customs will check your passport, call you up in groups per country and give you a form to complete then you go through to another line to get stamped in. I think this took well over an hour.

We had decided to head to Malaysia next, giving ourselves about a month before heading to Lipe. We went from Phnom Penh to Kuala Lumpur on Air Asia, it was a short flight. The airport in KL is massive but modern and we moved through everything quickly. We got sims and a Grab Taxi to downtown KL.

We booked a suite at Mercu Summer Suites, which are 99% AirBnb’s. It was a great location, close enough to get places by walking or Grab. We had great plans in KL, but our experience turned out to be different than expected.

So we arranged to get to Cambodia by ferry to the Vietnamese mainland through Andy at Oasis Bar. They arrange you to be met at the ferry, taken to the bar then off to the border. Mr. Chen helps you at the border and gets you in a taxi to your final destination on the Cambodian side. It was great. And everything went smoothly, no delays at either border and we were at the guesthouse by lunchtime.

Our next stop was Vietnam… well, with a stop in Bangkok to get our Vietnamese visas. We decided to stay at the Vie again, partly because it was central to everywhere we needed to go and we deserved to be spoiled after Nepal! We were also able to spend an evening with Ben since he lived close enough to come into the area.

On our way to Nepal, yes we are going back to hike the Annapurna Circuit again, we decided to take a couple of days and spoil ourselves in Bangkok. We stayed at our favorite hotel, the Vie, pigged out on breakfast buffets, sushi and curries, did some shopping and slept.