Over and Out

The final day has arrived and it feels how I expected it to feel. It has been quite an unbelievable journey over the three months (four including India), and will be unrecognisable to life in England, which is good to really appreciate it. To be good things must come to an end otherwise they would not have been a good thing. ("Death is the best invention in life" - Steve Jobs.) And they say "time flies when you're having fun", but this journey felt nice an epic both in duration and stature. I don't think time can really run away from you if you focus on this moment, since at any time it is only this moment that exists. The world may run dynamically through this moment, but the concept of this moment can be seen as static. I have found time goes slower that way. And I like it. 

That being said, this morning I listened to a couple of songs that have recurred during the trip and I began the reminiscing! I am very grateful to circumstance that I got the opportunity to experience what I have experienced. Over the last few days a couple of people at the hostel asked me what the highlights of my trip were, and without thinking much I came up with Tongariro Crossing (trying not to fall in a live volcano), Ayers Rock (trying not to pass out from dehydration), the night dive at The Great Barrier Reef (seeing sharks by torchlight), and The Full Moon Party (surviving that second bucket). Danger is the theme here! 

Through my experiences, sightseeing and learnings in the last four months, I think I have attained what I wanted to achieve on this trip. A couple of days ago I was able to sit and do nothing for two-and-a-half hours waiting for a train, entirely calm and happy. Now this is on the back of a hectic few months and I am yet to prove it to myself in 'normal' conditions, but it does exhibit some of what I believe I have learnt during my trip: depend on nothing material for contentedness. This may make no sense without explanation, and probably will still make no sense even then. 

Staying largely in the hostel for these two days in Bangkok has highlighted the traveller community and the hostelling element that I really liked throughout my trip. "The traveller" is a different people to those in the real world: he/she is relaxed, very friendly, adventurous, and goes with the flow whatever it may be. That is generalising a little too far, but I was a big fan of such people that did make up a large proportion of the people I met. It has opened my eyes to a new world of people!

It has been fun. (I wonder if I will now continue to narrate my life?) Thanks for tuning in. Goodnight and Godspeed. 

xoxo 

The Grand Palace

Okay so I lied in my last post. I remembered some advice given by a poster in New Zealand (see attached photo). I did a little exploration in the direction of the ferry to the Grand Palace, and saw no signs of carnage! My journey was not cut short by Suthep (the protest leader) and his clan. The Grand Palace (the home to Kings and the government between 1782 and 1932) was richly ornate and resembled a series of giant temples. It was architecturally impressive and I am glad I went for it, but after seeing what I have seen (particularly the temples in Chiang Mai and the Nizam Palace in India), I was by no means blown away by this must-see attraction of Bangkok. 

State of Emergency

Interesting. A State of Emergency has just been declared in Bangkok in accordance with the escalation to violence of the anti-government protests! There have been a couple of explosions and a few night-time shootings in the last week since the 'shutdown' in Bangkok begun. No one knows whether the violence is by the so-called 'corrupt' government or from the protestors' side. The State of Emergency means that the police can arrest people without charge, ban group gatherings and make certain zones off-limits. The last time I read the words 'State of Emergency' was in Nelson Mandela's Long Walk to Freedom! 

I was always planning on keeping a low profile for these final two-or-so days in Bangkok, but I think I shall now just hide out in the hostel (beside collecting my suit)! Luckily, the hostel is exceedingly nice for a Thailand budget accommodation and there seem to be friendly people here. According to the reports and people's experiences, most tourist areas are unaffected, but I believe it is not worth the risk on the final day of my travels! It only really means not seeing the Grand Palace, and I think I have already seen more spectacles than I can absorb during this travelling spree anyway! 

Diving Koh Tao

(Written 18/01, 18.10)

After a nasty ferry ride over, on which many people chundered everywhere, I arrived at Koh Samui to Ban's Diving Resort. It is like a little village of divers, and it seems this part of the island (Sairee beach) is just full of dive centres! I actually felt quite strange here at first having been in a very personal and homely guesthouse in Koh Samui where I knew everyone to being the loner! 

I had my two dives this morning, and I can see why Koh Tao is such a popular diving area! The first dive (where we hoped to see a whale shark!) was not so spectacular, but the second one rivalled the Great Barrier Reef. With vast numbers of big and colourful fish, and seemingly fluorescent coral, it was quite the underwater habitat! 

(Written 20/01, 13.06)

I have really enjoyed my stay on Koh Tao. The whole place is just full of dive schools, and bars and cafes on the beach. In the dorm I met three cool Aussies, a Canadian and a Swede to form something of a crew for these last couple of days - pretty entertaining bunch! I went for probably my final hike of the three month trip to find a mountain-top viewpoint at the southernmost point of the island. The walk was pretty dirty down the main road until I reached the mountain when it suddenly became challenging, but highly picturesque. However, I think my main of Koh Tao will be sitting on beanbags on the beach, sipping a Chang beer and being entertained by people playing with fire (once more)! 

Islands and Fire

(Written 16/01, 12.51pm)

Having seen so many magical things in the last two months or so, I think Thailand is going to serve a very different purpose in my travels. Koh Samui is a great island with a nice beach to relax on - exactly what I wanted to slow down the back end of my travels. I do not seem to tire of sitting on that beach in the stormy weather. The owners at Penzy guesthouse, where I am staying, treat us like their kids! Now I have only seen two islands so far, but to me Thailand is all about the islands.

The Full Moon Party was everything I expected and wanted: lights, fire and music on the beach! I made some nice Dutch friends at the guesthouse, which meant I was not a total loner at the party! The whole event was a lot of fun, from the guesthouse pep talk to the bumpy speed boat rides in the dark (to and from Koh Pha Ngan) to finding myself safe and sound this morning! I liked it a lot. 

I seem to be verbalising (but luckily not vocalising!) all of my thoughts these days. I am not sure if I always do that and it is just that I have noticed it now, or it is because I have done much less talking than usual in the last twenty days! Let's see when I get back.

On to the small island of Koh Tao tomorrow for a few days. It is meant to be special for diving, so hopefully will see some cool things beneath the surface!

Onwards & Southwards

(Written 13/01, 09.00) 

My final two days in Chiang Mai involved further temple visiting and enjoying food! I did not mention the famous Chiang Mai night bazaar before, but I found myself there on a couple of occasions. With bright lights and sections of different styles, it was one of the more impressive markets I have seen on my travels! Yesterday I took the iconic Chiang Mai red-taxi-come-shuttle-bus to Doi Suthep, a temple at the top of a mountain. It was majestic, big and very golden! Contrasting to what I expected, it seems Buddhism (in Thailand) has fallen into the human-trap of making religion into a spectacle: gold statues, donations for the monks, professional photos, and the likes. I thought Buddhism had held truer to the spirituality than other religions, but in Thailand that does not seem to be the case. 

At 6am this morning I reached Bangkok on my overnight bus. This was a pretty fun experience! Everyone was lugged onto the double-decker "VIP" bus, which had suitably reclining seats (almost to the horizontal!). After about half an hour of taking in the experience, I took out my book and settled in for the 10-hour journey. Then they swithed off the lights! That made me chuckle a little. Everyone started setting up shop for bed, and surprisingly some reasonable sleep was had! However, they did occasionally turn on the excessively bright lights at which everyone awoke thinking UFOs had landed on their face. No kidding, the brutal awakenings did feel like the apocalypse, and each time it took a few moments before it became funny that everyone was in the same boat. After our 2am stop, I began speaking to the guy next to Mr and discovered that he was a professional Muay Thai fighter down from Canada! With 11 knockouts in his 12 fights, he sounded like quote a serious guy. He proceeded to tell me he was going surfing in Australia, and he planned on carrying a knife while surfing so he could kill the sharks. Nutter.

I have not seen much so far, but from what I have seen Bangkok seems like a bit of a hole*. Nothing except MacDonalds and Starbucks was open before 8am, and I have already been approached by several 'masseuses'. Nice. I probably won't see the best of the city on this visit, however, as I am keeping on the down-low to avoid the massive protests and shutdown starting in Bangkok today. Quite the adventure! Overnight train and morning ferry to get to Koh Samui tomorrow. The islands should be rather different (hopefully)! 

*I apologise if this sounds rude, but this is MY blog! 

Chiang Mai Nature Crash Course

(Written 12/01, 11.44am)

On my second day in Chiang Mai, I went for a 'one-day trekking' excursion at Doi Inthanon National Park. This was effectively an all-in-one of the activities that Chiang Mai's nature has to offer and one of just few ways to explore the nearby national parks. It was actually a very good day. The elephants blew me away, looking fit and healthy although there was a bit of hook action (no more elephant riding for me please!), the bamboo rafting was quite an authentic, peaceful way to explore the forests, and the hike at the end was long and challenging enough to constitute a good hike! The hill tribe people were probably set up for us to see, but it was not turned into a circus, and I reckon, closely reflected the genuine hill tribe people. 

We had a bit of fun with a tiny monkey running around, and an equally small dog chasing it! The monkey climbed my arms and legs like branches on a tree to escape the dog! There were also some chickens in the mix being bullied by the monkey, and it was just an all round bizarre sight! The fun, however, came to a sincere end when the monkey was placed in a cage fit for a baby mouse and the chickens were locked away. I came across some like-minded Germans, who also disliked the touristy nature of the excursion and the lack of free wildlife. We finally decided that we did the trip because it was actually the only was to see elephants (the Elephant Nature Park was fully booked), paying money probably improves conditions for the wildlife, and there were no other real options for exploring the national parks on one-day trips. But the highly diverse (almost random!) day was fun overall, and I'd say a good trip to do in Chiang Mai.