There’s a tropical fruit that grows here in Thailand called durian. They say it “smells like hell, tastes like heaven.” Well, they’re wrong. It smells all right, but the taste makes you want to spew your phad thai. Come to think of it, now that I’ve tasted it, it really does smell like hell.
You know you’ve been in SE Asia for a good amount of time when you start attaching words like “expensive” to a multi-course meal that costs an equivalent to US$4 or strapping all your luggage to yourself and hiring a motorbike driver to take you the 26 km to the pier to catch a boat to an island, instead of hiring a sawngtaew (a pick-up truck sort of thing with benches in the back) to save $3. I don’t know what I was thinking. With my vivid imagination, I could see a car cutting us off or something and me and my stuff splattered all over the pavement. But that didn’t happen, and I did make it to the beach. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
First, I went up north to the Golden Triangle area to a city called Chiang Rai for a few days to take photos of the children at the Akha Youth Development Center. They come down from the remote hilltribes to live at this center so that they can get an education in the nearby town. At first, it’s hard for them to adjust and they miss their families, as they only get to go back home a couple times per year. But as time goes by, they make friends with the other students and come to enjoy the modern conveniences like flushing toilets, which they don’t generally have up in the hilltribes where life is still pleasantly simple. Luka, the man that is in charge of the center, also planted a tea field, which they harvest and sell to offset the costs of running it, in addition to each student having a sponsor. Photo link to the right.
Bus rides are just made to be annoying. It’s either too hot or too cold, the person next to you smells or snores, plays music on their cell phone really loud, or the bus driver feels compelled to play local karaoke on the bus TV. Ah, well. Too bad this isn’t what I remember when I’m itching to travel again. But somehow we forget pain and unpleasantness all too quickly. But that’s a good thing.
Bus and hair-raising motorbike rides behind me, I thought I wanted a quiet beach on a little island, but once I got there, I realized this isn’t what I wanted at all. Being on my own, I wanted to be around people. So I found the most crowded beach I could on Koh Samet and plunked down with my book for some sun and ocean breeze. After a walk along the white sand beach, the sun was going down and the restaurants were setting up for dinner. Tables with little pillows to recline on started to line the beach. Lanterns and candles provided the mood lighting. I met up with the Norwegian girl I’d met earlier and we enjoyed a lovely Thai BBQ dinner on the beach, complete with a fire show later in the evening.
After some time alone on the beach, I was ready for some face time with a real person. One of my best friends, Jeff, has a friend teaching English in Bangkok. My last night in Thailand, I spent with Shaun on Khao San Road experiencing the nightlife and enjoying a good meal and one last mango with sticky rice. It was great fun and lots of laughs– Shaun and Jeff are so much alike, I could’ve sworn Jeff was there with us.
Southeast Asia is now behind me, and dreams of walking cobblestone streets in Europe pull me onward.