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Published: July 12th 2007
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And so it is… there comes a point with everything when you have had enough. Too much of a good thing maybe? I didn’t imagine I could travel for a year. Half a year seemed more manageable. But after only 3 ½ months I’m already getting tired of it. Not tired of seeing new countries, trying new foods and enjoying different climates, but tired of being a “backpacker”. India and Nepal fascinated me and were a challenge to travel in. But South East Asia is so geared up for tourism you don’t need to think. And many backpackers don’t.
Before you can talk to anyone properly, it is customary to discuss first where you are from, where you have been, where you are going to, and for how long. So you have the exact same conversation over and over a hundred times a day. And most of the time you never get past that. Utterly pointless. But sometimes you do and then you might even get to know that person’s name! Sometimes I explain the truth and tell them about Prague but often I just say I’m from Manchester. It is much easier. I like finding out where other
people are from though, and there are travellers from all over the world. But the majority come from just a small number of countries - UK, Ireland, Holland, Canada, Australia and Israel.
From Cambodia I arrived back in Bangkok to meet my Italian friend who in the end wasn't coming to meet me. So I headed alone up north to a small town called Pai. Pai is known as a hippie paradise and it is very chilled out. I took a hut by the river and spent a couple of days “chillaxing” (as everyone here seems to say) and watching my fellow backpackers and thinking about what it means to be a traveller. In India I met some travellers who were too young. They couldn’t handle the differences from home and spent a lot of time in their guesthouses eating Lays crisps and watching MTV. I was glad I was older and could appreciate the religions, cultures and lifestyles I was presented with. But in South East Asia I often feel old. I had a conversation on the bus to Bangkok with an 18 year old Scottish kid who claimed that Asia was OK but that, “I’m so used
to coming home from school and having a bowl of cornflakes and you just can’t get good cornflakes out here”. I said nothing. Maybe I am too old for this.
In small towns like Pai you are beyond time and beyond nationality. Backpackers ask constantly “”What day is it? Is it a weekday?” and we are always talking about “doing” a country e.g. “I’ve just done Cambodia” and it seems so ridiculous that we think that spending a few days somewhere means we know that place and don’t need to return. Like when Americans or Australians “do” Europe in a week. Travellers are now spread across the world like missionaries, carrying their bibles (i.e. Lonely Planets), wearing sandals and sarongs and sampling the local version of banana pancakes. But don’t mistake backpackers for hippies. Hippies are naïve sentimentalists who smoke too much. We backpackers, on the other hand, are independent, well-informed and cynical enough to know that people and things aren’t all good. Many also smoke too much.
Pai is a beautiful place, and I did enjoy cycling in the countryside, relaxing in the hot springs and visiting the local waterfall. After a couple of days, however, I needed something more, so I moved down from the hills into Chang Mai. But I didn’t like this place at all. Wanting to avoid other backpackers as much as possible, on my first night there I took an expat’s advice for a bar popular with Thai people. The bar, Warm-Up Bar, was on the edge of town and I was the only westerner there. It was a cool place but it was hard to mix with the locals and it closed early. I had had enough. My first visit to Thailand was great but now something was missing.
I decided to go to Laos. I wondered if it might offer something different. I needed company and I knew the slow boat to Laos would provide that. If I couldn't avoid being a backpacker, I may as well just immerse myself in it completely.
Next morning I asked about getting a ticket and was lucky to get one for the same day and I set off on the 3-day journey from Chang Mai in Thailand to Luang Prabang in Laos…
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sylvie
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hi traveller !!
hello hooneyyy ! do you remember the french nurses ? I can see you look fine .as Anais I do work a lot and every day free I go climbing in mountains .. it is our week end escape !! but it s good .. I thank you you ve learned me some tchek words because this times I met many tcheky people all around the mountains , they are fine and they love mountainnering .. they are bravous because they usually have old mountain gear...! see you in asia an other time paul and don t forget ... life is a sexuel transmissible disease... S Y L V I E