Caitlin had the incredible idea that we should spoil ourselves and move over to a fancy hotel with a spa for the last two nights of our trip. She was actually wonderfully kind and gifted me one of those nights as a start-of-grad-school present!

After nearly five weeks of sleeping in hostels, homestays, and cheap hotels, this sounded like heaven, so on Thursday night we moved over to the Anantara Angkor Resort – A.K.A. the fanciest hotel I’ve ever set foot in!

Late on Thursday night, after returning from our tour of Kompong Khleang, we each went for a complimentary foot massage and treated ourselves to facials.

On Friday, the last full day of my trip, we slept in, swam in the hotel’s gorgeous pool, and each enjoyed a full-body massage in the early afternoon.

I did not realize how much I was craving this! My five weeks of backpacking were not the easiest on my body, and this offered the perfect physical recovery at the end of my adventures.

In the evening, we went for dinner at Embassy Restaurant. This restaurant has a set tasting menu of Khmer cuisine that changes every month, and we joined this with their recommended wine pairings.

We had a fantastic meal that included Khmer street finger food, a scallop amuse-bouche, a sea bass and eggplant appetizer, pork rib sour soup, tamarind fruit sorbet, stir-fried prawns, slow-cooked beef cheek, and a palm caramel taro cake. What a way to end the trip!

This morning, I said goodbye to Caitlin and departed the hotel for the airport to head back home to New York City. I am currently at the Guangzhou airport in south China with a layover, and will board my 15-hour flight to JFK in about an hour.

I cannot believe my trip is at an end! What an incredible five weeks these have been. I saw so many sights that I could never have imagined, ate incredible foods, met awesome people, and simply had so much fun exploring this part of the world.

Thank you, Southeast Asia, for an amazing trip. Until next time!