Cultural Conundrum

Last weekend I had to travel to Bangkok again for more medical visits. As is my habit, I had booked my bus ticket well in advance in order to be able to reserve my preferred seat - right at the very front on the upper deck with a full view of the road ahead to minimise travel sickness on the mountainous stretch from Mae Sot to Tak; and on the aisle side where there is more room for my bag and I can be first out when we get to the single toilet stop in the 8 hour trip.
I generally get the bus at a secondary bus station near where I live, after it has departed from the main bus depot at the other end of town. When the bus pulled in, I noticed from the bright orange robes that the person sitting at the front in the seat next to the one I had reserved was a monk. The thought crossed my mind that this might cause an interesting situation, as monks are not meant to be in close proximity to a woman.
I presented my ticket to the bus stewardess and she showed me upstairs to my seat. When she realised where I was meant to be sitting, she was clearly thrown into a terrible dilemma which manifested itself in a fit of hand-over-the-mouth giggling. There was no way she could let me sit next to the monk, as that would have constituted a serious violation of religious protocol. Had I been Thai, I imagine she would have had no qualms in allocating me to a different seat, but she probably felt that to refuse me my booked seat would look like rudeness to a foreigner.
Some people at the back of the bus were indicating that there were free seats there. I understood the dilemma, and I had no intention of insisting on sitting next to the monk. However, having gone to the trouble to book my seat well in advance, I was not prepared to be relegated to the back of the bus and spend the next 8 hours in queasy misery. So I waited patiently at the front of the bus for someone to come up with a sensible solution.
The stewardess went and fetched her superior. He checked my ticket, and the monk's ticket, and the tickets of several other people sitting in the immediate vicinity, just to make sure there was no mistake. Then he did exactly what I would have done and asked the single man sitting in the seat behind the one I had booked to move forward and sit next to the monk. I did assert myself at this point and insisted on having the window seat, where, once we got on our way, I was treated to the loud and persistent snoring of the monk in the seat in front of me.

To cut a long weekend of medical tests short, I have been diagnosed with a nerve problem in my leg, the most likely cause of which in my case is significant weight loss. Tests showed no obvious, serious underlying cause for the weight loss, which is probably due to the difficulties I have been having with my diet and digestive system ever since I got here. Recommended treatment - come home and start eating properly again! So, after several months of procrastinating over setting a return date, I have finally decided to leave Mae Sot at the end of November and fly back to the UK around 2nd Dec after dealing with the final leaving procedures in Bangkok. So I'll be home just in time to gate-crash everyone's pre-Christmas festivities!

I have very mixed feelings about leaving. In some ways I am definitely ready to come home. The last couple of months in particular I have been feeling increasingly exhausted, and the things that I find difficult here have seemed more problematic then ever. However, I know I have a massive readjustment process ahead of me. It will be difficult to leave behind people that I have worked with so closely here, and after being so completely independent in my life and work, it will be difficult to find myself initially dependent on other people until I get myself set up with a job and somewhere to live. These are all well-recognised phenomena, and VSO offers a lot of support for its returning volunteers. I will have to be firm with myself and try and curb my usual tendency to want to have everything sorted and ship-shape immediately!