How to describe my last week from Korat, Thailand to Siem
Reap, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand in 30 minutes before my internet time and
money for the evening diminishes?
I consider listing all the events, emotions, and experiences
that have transpired to the tune of “We Didn’t Start the Fire,” but my brother beat
me to it.
Instead, we bring on the prose.
A cocktail of local vibes, exuberant tourism, misplaced
debit cards, durian smelling cramped public transport, the only tall farang on
the bus, bicycle cruising through millennia old temple cities, ‘you buy this,
we make you discount, good good price,’ six on a motorbike, twelve in a
tuk-tuk!, joyous hospital visits from Thai moms, Thai volleyball world champs, Cambodian
hangovers, and ono grinds all around.
I relate a sequence of events to symbolize the week.
An 11 hour bus ride from Siem Reap to Bangkok. 2 hours of which are spent at the Cambodian –
Thailand border, where they could have filmed Indiana Jones. Many wear protection on their face from
breathing in the dust. Market vendors
selling baguettes, amok fish, grilled kabobs over open flame, fresh fruits,
dirty politics, all cheap cheap. Lots of
scams at this border, best to arrange transportation ahead of time. Individual persons carry truck loads of concealed
goods utilizing the mother of invention, the wheel, and its balance. No camels or elephants at this crossing
though I wouldn’t have blinked an eye, except for the fact that Durians,
Mangoes, Pineapples and Camels generally don’t live together.
Besides drivers on the one side of the road in Poipet and on
the other in Aranya Prathet, the sense and culture between Kingdoms is
drastically different. Strange to
compare traveling the same distance in America and arrive from the East to West
end of North Dakota. Came across many
different nationalities and accents thus far, though very few Americans.
I arrive in Bangkok after the exciting ride of weaving in
and out traffic, ignoring street lines, and chasing the buffaloes off the road
into rice fields. I stretch out. All in good order after the 17 people (and
the unfortunate tag-along Durian) pour out of the van at Khao San Rd, old city
Bangkok (tourist and backpacker hub). I
link up with two Germans and head to a well recommended guesthouse for 200 baht
a night, in a quiet, less touristic 10 minute walk from Old City.
We check into a non-computerized guesthouse by an older Thai
guy not budging from the encroaching modern world, drop our bags, and check out
the street vendors. First thing I do in
Bangkok: grab an appetizer of scorpions and crickets (the texture raises your
awareness that you are eating an insect, though the flavor is masked well by
the shoyu-chili-lime-crispiness). Then I
enjoy the best Pad Thai of my life made in front of me in a steaming hot wok,
with 8 different toppings to add on afterwards from 4 variations of hot peppers
to peanuts to dried shrimp. Did I
mention that this large portion cost 30 baht, equivalent to 1 US Dollar? Afterwards we stuffed our bellies a little
bit more with a banana and chocolate pancake, cooked on hot plate to order, with
the classic Thai-style addition of sweet condensed milk.
So after the day of traveling 500k, I filling up my belly, taking
a hot shower, and sleeping in a clean guesthouse, I spend under 20 US Dollar. I almost got the massage too that night, though
I saved it for the next day, keeping my average below 20 instead of below 25
USD. It is no wonder why SE Asia is so
widely visited by Europeans, Asians and Australians.
I am leaving Thailand tomorrow morning to Nepal. And though I’ve been reading Buddhist texts
and learning from some amazing folk here, I am not going to distance myself and
emotions from the ‘I-Self’ just yet, at least not as a writer. I have had some beautiful experiences here in
this country on the farm in rural Isaan, in the breathtaking temples of Bangkok,
and the smells and smiles on the street from my basic efforts at the Thai tonal
language. If I come back here after
Nepal, I would love to spend some time
in the North, visit Pun Pun and Pai, have a lengthier stay at Rak Tamachat, see
friends who I’ve made in the brief time here, and possibly check out Laos and
Vietnam. I would be very pleased with
that path if it were placed before me.
That being said, what is front of me now is Nepal. I smile knowing its existence and my path cross
tomorrow after all-time and no-time. I
accept the unknowing future, and can only take the self that I’ve become to brave
the road ahead. I share with you the (paraphrased)
wisdom of a Cambodian Tuk-Tuk Driver, who is no stranger to war, hardship, and
the joys of this beautiful life.
‘There are accidents in this world, and there is too, good
all around. Us meeting is so very
lucky. Until next time, I will see you when
you see me, and good luck to you and good luck to me!
In both a literal and figurative sense, every time we had a
drink of beer all 5 of us would raise our glasses together and say “Chuk Moi’e,”
which translates to “Cheer Up!”
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