Advertisement
Leaving Phuket
Hopeful teachers and all their stuff!For two days now I've been trying to formulate a blog entry. What I've ended up with are sentences jotted down in random places, of random events, emotions and fleeting thoughts. My desire was to explain the last month, to summarize my experiences. As I've said before I usually don't write about things. So, my struggles to convey a months worth of living in SE Asia is as real as my struggle to speak the language here. Then it hit me this morning! Living here is all about appreciating the little things and welcoming the blissful, if not frustrating and refreshing, constant change. This may sound obvious and coming from me even a bit redundant, but allow me to elaborate. I arrived here in Tak, Thailand 10 days ago. I had just finished an eye opening three day visa run to Laos. Literally eye opening thanks to an overnight 11 hour van ride full of people and figuratively after spending half a day sitting in a Laos border control office watching the flow of passports, cash tucked under documents and people. Then, since I'm still convinced that at some point during my travels an overnight transport will get me to my
Bangkok Panorama
One of the few quiet moments in this crazy, wonderous city on the go! destination refreshed and ready to tackle the new city, I took an overnight bus to Tak. I arrived at 5 am with no idea of where I would be staying, nor how I'd get to said place. So I hopped, well more like staggered, into what seemed to be a turn of the century tuk-tuk with an equally as old driver. We puttered to three guesthouses only to learn they were all full. By the time we reached the fourth one and found out it was full I was finished. I asked the two ladies, who were still wearing nightgowns, if I could just sleep in one of the wooden chairs in front of their office. I don't know if it was my broken Thai from my dictionary, my sad, I've been wearing the same clothes for two days and feel like crap from my cold and PMS look or the fact that I was coughing up a lung that won them over, but alas. They took pity on me and let me sleep there for a few hours until someone did finally check out. That was 10 days or a whole 'nother lifetime ago!
Ok, back to my
Temple and Flowers
Bliss after the border control office mayhem! elaborating. My urban solace here is the Ping River that runs through town, so this morning I got up early and headed that way. I stopped off at 7-11 to grab an iced coffee. Yes I'm addicted to coffee and yes I'm thankful for a bit of Westernization. When I checked out the cashier said, in Thai, how much I owed her. Now that's nothing new. Surprisingly enough people start carrying on conversations with me all the time. They're quite one sided, but amusing nonetheless. This morning though in my "I'm contemplating music, the river and other random thoughts and not focused on the language" phase I nonchalantly heard the total I owed and instantly understood the number. That's what living here is all about. The little aha moments and successes. Things like realizing that the water level of the river really does rise and fall throughout the day, the affirmation of saying a word, yes one word, correctly, the sound of chanting monks in the temple at night or the tantilizing experience of a new plate of street food. Yet, much is unknown and may forever remain a mystery to me. I wonder why people carry small bags of
catfish and snails to the river early in the morning only to release them to schools of hungry fish waiting in the dark waters below? Or how is it that this society recognizes and embraces a variety of gender roles? What is blaring from the speakers of the pickup truck that drives through our neighborhood at 7 am everyday? Or one of my favorites, what are all those different toppings, broths and dried bits you're putting on my rice? Wait, is that even rice? So, realizing the recognizable within the unknown holds astonishing power.
Many people have written me and said they are hopeful that I am documenting my travels in order to write a book. It's a wonderful thought, but all I can do is chuckle. I don't see myself as a writer, but I did think of some titles this morning based on my experiences. I'll leave the writing to someone else 😊
My Scruptious Life on 60 Baht a Day.
The World Out of the Left Side of the Train, Bus and Tuk-tuk.
"Wait, What Did I Just Say?", and Other Blunders of a Traveling Farang.
Ear Plugs, Hand Sanitizer and a
Thank you Matt
for confirming that not all candy is as yummy as it looks! Smile.
How to Flush a Toilet With No Handle and Other Tips for SE Asia Beginners.
Welcome to the "Successfully Not Fallen Off or In the Squat Toilet of a Moving Train While Wearing a Backpack!" Club.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.183s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 11; qc: 56; dbt: 0.0996s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Julia
non-member comment
We love you!
I'm sorry it's been so long since I checked your blog - I'm happy that you've been writing more often than I've been checking. Your adventures never end, do they? Things are busy and good and sunny and rainy and full of flowers and grass and freshly painted walls and boxes. Pizza calls me - I'll write more soon! Ashley says hi. Love, Julia