Yay, I finally finished my video on my trip to Thailand with my sister!
It was quite an experience. I had not done a backpacker trip like that before and it was to serve me as one of those trips where you step out of your comfort zone.
As I don't want to bore you with many details, I will show you the video instead:
Funny how in the end, I am left with only the good memories.
Right after the trip, I dreaded the moment when people would ask me: "So? How was it???" Because honestly, it was not as cool as I had imagined from what people had told me. It was colorful and people were friendly, that part is true. But the backpacking? Well, I'm not a backpacker. I know that now. I don't like to pack and unpack my things every other day. My mood shifts drastically with every hour of transport I have to undergo in order to reach the next place.
Travelling with my sister was a new experience. Although we had lived together in a shared flat as adults in the past and talk quite regularly via skype, I had not anticipated that I would not know her by heart. Little things like what a person likes to eat, how she reacts in stressful situations, what kinds of things are important to her when travelling - these details are important when you travel together. We did manage to get along rather well, apart from one situation when I called her names and we didn't talk for fifteen minutes. Having expected to have a fallout at one point, it was not a big deal, we talked about it afterwards and made up soon after.
I realized that going to many places in a short time does not work for me. I prefer to stay for a while in order to have time to get to know the locals, learn how to speak, learn something about their traditions and their culture and experience the place in a more profound way.
Having relieved myself of the negative parts, let me list my ten top moments of the trip for a nice finish:
10. The warm welcome from my Barcelonese connection, Carlos. We hung out, drank fresh coconuts and tried out the massage places. It was the best possible start to Thailand and with the mosquito repellent he gave us, he possibly saved us from some troubled nights.
9. The conversation with two Germans, a physicist and a biologist in a nice, clean restaurant from an impressive Thai woman who had just set up business. We laughed a lot and stayed until late and got motivated to do a jungle tour the next day.
8. The play in the puppet theater in Old Bangkok - the puppet characters came to live with fascinatingly human movements. I hugged one of them and it felt weirdly comforting.
7. The first night in the bungalow on Koh Yao Noi after having had a night at the airport, a plane ride, a taxi ride, a boat ride and a tuktuk ride - pure bliss of relaxation!
6. The night market encounter in Phuket with some ladies from the market. They were really nice and gave us a lot more food than we paid for, interviewed us about where we were from, where we stayed and then warned us in a both disturbing and hilarious way. A deaf woman made creepy pantomime abut two women being stabbed and throat-slit. Later, one of them drove us to our hostel and I directed her to our place entirely in Thai!
5. I ran 11.3km without stopping in the jungle of Khao Sok! I got to see monkeys close to a Buddhist temple in a little cave, banana plantations, really cool bungalows deep in the forest and passed by my sister by chance on the last two kilometers. Awesome!
4. The first ride on a rental bycicle. I felt fast, free and part of the busy traffic instead of being its victim for once. I pedaled as fast as I could and was smiling all the way.
3. Dancing in the floating bar on Koh Phanghan with Rafé, an artistic multi-talent, musician, juggler, dancer, half Brazilian-half Spanish. We did a contemporary contact dance number. It felt sexy and asthetic and gracious and utterly mindfreeing to be able to forget any fear bout trying new moves in public.
2. Our Christmas Dinner in a wonderful French restaurant right at the beach with tasty cocktails, delicious food (cheese! bread! tender meat! papaya salad! chocolate!) and a thrilling moment of performing Autumn Leaves together with a Jazz guitarist. It was perfect and it's only thanks to my sister that we went. Thank you ska! <3
1. Our bicycle tours through the hell hills of Koh Phangan: although we had to push our bikes more than we rode them, these tours were pure positive energy: people on the road in taxis and on motorbikes greeted and cheered us on. We saw elephants, a dragon and breath-taking views of the island. We didn't see any waterfall. We sweated them.
Thank you Thailand for having us!
It was quite an experience. I had not done a backpacker trip like that before and it was to serve me as one of those trips where you step out of your comfort zone.
As I don't want to bore you with many details, I will show you the video instead:
Funny how in the end, I am left with only the good memories.
Travelling with my sister was a new experience. Although we had lived together in a shared flat as adults in the past and talk quite regularly via skype, I had not anticipated that I would not know her by heart. Little things like what a person likes to eat, how she reacts in stressful situations, what kinds of things are important to her when travelling - these details are important when you travel together. We did manage to get along rather well, apart from one situation when I called her names and we didn't talk for fifteen minutes. Having expected to have a fallout at one point, it was not a big deal, we talked about it afterwards and made up soon after.
I realized that going to many places in a short time does not work for me. I prefer to stay for a while in order to have time to get to know the locals, learn how to speak, learn something about their traditions and their culture and experience the place in a more profound way.
Having relieved myself of the negative parts, let me list my ten top moments of the trip for a nice finish:
10. The warm welcome from my Barcelonese connection, Carlos. We hung out, drank fresh coconuts and tried out the massage places. It was the best possible start to Thailand and with the mosquito repellent he gave us, he possibly saved us from some troubled nights.
9. The conversation with two Germans, a physicist and a biologist in a nice, clean restaurant from an impressive Thai woman who had just set up business. We laughed a lot and stayed until late and got motivated to do a jungle tour the next day.
8. The play in the puppet theater in Old Bangkok - the puppet characters came to live with fascinatingly human movements. I hugged one of them and it felt weirdly comforting.
7. The first night in the bungalow on Koh Yao Noi after having had a night at the airport, a plane ride, a taxi ride, a boat ride and a tuktuk ride - pure bliss of relaxation!
6. The night market encounter in Phuket with some ladies from the market. They were really nice and gave us a lot more food than we paid for, interviewed us about where we were from, where we stayed and then warned us in a both disturbing and hilarious way. A deaf woman made creepy pantomime abut two women being stabbed and throat-slit. Later, one of them drove us to our hostel and I directed her to our place entirely in Thai!
5. I ran 11.3km without stopping in the jungle of Khao Sok! I got to see monkeys close to a Buddhist temple in a little cave, banana plantations, really cool bungalows deep in the forest and passed by my sister by chance on the last two kilometers. Awesome!
4. The first ride on a rental bycicle. I felt fast, free and part of the busy traffic instead of being its victim for once. I pedaled as fast as I could and was smiling all the way.
3. Dancing in the floating bar on Koh Phanghan with Rafé, an artistic multi-talent, musician, juggler, dancer, half Brazilian-half Spanish. We did a contemporary contact dance number. It felt sexy and asthetic and gracious and utterly mindfreeing to be able to forget any fear bout trying new moves in public.
2. Our Christmas Dinner in a wonderful French restaurant right at the beach with tasty cocktails, delicious food (cheese! bread! tender meat! papaya salad! chocolate!) and a thrilling moment of performing Autumn Leaves together with a Jazz guitarist. It was perfect and it's only thanks to my sister that we went. Thank you ska! <3
1. Our bicycle tours through the hell hills of Koh Phangan: although we had to push our bikes more than we rode them, these tours were pure positive energy: people on the road in taxis and on motorbikes greeted and cheered us on. We saw elephants, a dragon and breath-taking views of the island. We didn't see any waterfall. We sweated them.
Thank you Thailand for having us!
Thanks for the nice report. It's a pleasure to read it.......
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