Last Thaistories

Hi Everyone,

As a lot of you already have noticed, I’m back from Thailand... and already in Berlin again! : )) So this will be the last blog about my journey, but first I want to thank everyone who read my blog and especially the people who reacted enthusiastically on my writings and pictures. I was always glad to know that you enjoyed reading and watching them so much.

Besides that, I can always keep my blog as a nice memory of my travel. Although I tried to describe my experiences as good as possible, it was always hard to capture them totally. Pictures and words can never totally show what I’ve seen and what I felt at a certain moment. I’ll always keep them as a memory in my mind and heart. Although this travel made me realize that I probably want to do more in photography in the future, I also noticed that it’s sometimes nice to put my camera away and to live the moment without capturing the memories forever in pictures.

That’s actually what I did the last 2,5 weeks. I went back to Koh Tao from Koh Phangan to do my advanced diving course and I saw some awesome fish and other marine life, but I couldn’t take my camera of course! So I’ll always memorize the HUGE Giant Grouper that I saw, the hunting Blue Spotted Stingrays during the night dive, the giant Tunas, the sweet Sea Slugs with their bright colours that walked across the reef with their small feet... The rare and small Crocodile Fish that was eaten by another hungry fish while we took a look at him... The buoyancy exercises at the bottom of the sea: floating upside down, using my lung capacity to keep myself neutral buoyant while picking up weights. The feeling of having a very slow reaction ability at a depth of 30 meters (not even properly able to solve the sum: 8 + ... = 11!), swimming through an old marine ship from World War II... Being out of breath under water due to a very long swim... All those things without a camera, but that doesn’t mean that I enjoyed it less!

Although I enjoyed my stay on the islands very much, I kept thinking of going back to Pai and at a certain point I just decided to go back to that paradisiacal town up in the North of Thailand and it was a very good decision. I was a little bit scared that it wouldn’t be the same, just a few people I knew from before were still there. But it seems that there is something about Pai that can make every stay a success. There was a new group of people, but all with the same vibe. And again, I can’t really tell what I did in Pai. It was basically cruising around on the scooter from a breakfast place, back to the hostel, playing all sorts of games, building card houses, hanging around, doing nothing special, buying an incredible Thai or green ice tea (we figured out that it tastes like unicorn milk), scooter to a waterfall, the natural hot springs... Walking over the small edges of canyon, having dinner on the walking street, face painting a bunch of people, doing people’s hair, making a traditional Dutch dish with a Thai twist (hutspot with chicken curry), singing and dancing along with the (live) music, going to the so called ‘town hall meetings’, the feeling of winning a game of poker : )) , enjoying the first rain of the season, the trance party, watching movies, Lexy’s pancakes, the blackness of the night and a lot more. I think that no picture could ever capture this joy, so I didn’t do a lot of effort... I just lived the moment and captured the memories in my mind...

... As I did with a lot of other things that came across my path in Thailand and that I didn’t mention in blogs before. They seemed to be unimportant at a first glance, but they make Thailand in a certain sense : )) . Like the fact that it’s almost impossible to find a bin in Thailand. Always walking around with the plastic fork, spoon and/ or plate in my hands after I had eaten street food. The streets in Thailand are so clean though, such a contradiction. People are always busy sweeping, cleaning the leaves that drop from the trees. People obviously care and want to do effort, a nice characteristic. Besides, people in Thailand seem to have super bladders! Five hour bus journeys without a single stop and no one seems to care. On my way to Pai (the second time), I was in such pain that I urged the bus driver to stop on the side of the road. I just couldn’t take it anymore! He stopped at a house. The Thai people that sat outside didn’t understand the word ‘toilet’, so by crossing my legs and biting my lip, I clarified that I really had to go to the toilet -- > a hole in the ground and no toilet paper, but what a relief! That’s the worst toilet I had in Thailand though, foremost they could be flushed with a bowl of water scooped from a bucket, but toilet paper was always rare, haha. And according to speaking English; as long as the subject had to do with the profession the Thai person practised, it wasn’t a problem to communicate. They always did a lot of effort to try to understand you though and that’s where it’s all about. The mentality in Thailand, both from the residents and my fellow backpackers, made my stay. I want to embrace all the people I met during my stay in Thailand. Thanks for your company, joy, conversations, interesting stories; thanks for everything. You made my Thailand, cus sharing an experience is worth a lot and makes the most amazing memories. I hope to see you again in the future. My doors will always be open to you, so if you pass by The Netherlands, just let me know!

Maybe it sounds cliché, but I realized that life can be so simple and enjoyable at the same time. There’s no need for having luxuries if you enjoy nice company and make memories together and that doesn’t only count for Thailand ; )) .

This was my Thailand, for sure not the last long travel I’ll make. So; till next time!

Heel veel liefs,
Danouck.