I flew from Guangzhou to Vancouver to Toronto without any hiccups. I never got to see much of China but I was happy to leave. Guangzhou at least didn't have much of a vibe to it.
Being back in Canada feels pretty good. I didn't feel particularly homesick while in Asia but this return, of all my returns, I've noticed the most. Often I come back from another country and life continues to glide along. Everything seems more fresh now and the season probably has a lot to do with it. Autumn in Ontario is pretty special.
I do have another explanation though. A book I was reading over the summer talked traveling to a new place as exciting because you have no mundane frame of reference. A grocery store is no longer merely the place you've bought food every week for years but a festival of new sights, smells, and tastes. A street is no longer the street you walk down every day to get to work but a parade of new people, vehicles, and architecture. It's the same reason why no one in Ontario goes to Niagara Falls until they take a visitor.
For the first time I've brought that fresh pair of eyes back home and it's a lot of fun. Walking around Stratford yesterday I went to all kinds of shops I don't remember seeing before. Walking around London today I found a new park around the corner from my Dad's place. I noticed every red leaf falling past every person walking down every wide street in every quiet neighborhood. Though I don't think I really got much out of my trip to Cambodia and Vietnam this kind of perspective makes the trip all worthwhile.
