106 - KRABI

Krabi Night Market, Thailand.

Night Markets are just about my favorite thing in Thailand, rows and rows of food stalls, I think I've never been in a proper restaurant the whole time I was in Thailand. Also, the fact that there are not this proper eating times is just about wonderful, just go when you are hungry, and everything is just so so so good. I have this friend that always talks about the wonders of the Royal Thai Cuisine, but for me, street food is just the best.

After my stay in Koh Tao I wanted to go to Krabi and see the Andaman sea and it's gorgeous islands… everything changed after the awful night ferry to Sura Thani and the terrible arrival to Krabi, where, of course, we were scammed. On top of that the weather forecast said that the storms were going to last a week or two. I decided then that I wasn't going to stay put, that I really wasn't enjoying myself, so I bought a ticket for my next stop: Malaysia. 

105 - KOH TAO

Koh Tao, Thailand, 2013

In a way, I consider Koh Tao my last real stop in Thailand. When I was there the monsoon was moving down south, even so one thing is the monsoon rain in the evenings, another this constant dark clouds and bad weather that looked like it was following me. I didn't want to go partying that's why I choose Koh Tao instead of Koh Samui or Koh Phangan, where I spent my days enjoying the jungle around the cabin, bungalow, whatever you want to call it, watching huge crabs walk around, seeing magic sunsets, walking barefoot on the streets looking for food because the rain was so heavy that sandals or shoes were just silly, surprised at seeing girls with thanaka (I thought it was a Cambodian thing), enjoying the scarce sun. 

104 - ELEPHANT NATURE PARK

Elephant Nature Park, Thailand, 2013.

The Elephant Nature Park is such and awesome place. While in Chiang Mai, this friend I made and me wanted to see the famous asian elephants, but riding them and all that seemed, I don't know… unfair in ways that I can't describe. I don't need to do it. That's how we found this organization. It's more expensive than other places and excursions, but we figured that at least we know that the money we spent was going to a worthwhile endeavor. The say they don't work, don't have to carry stuff or people, it can be argued that they work in a sense, doing PR for funding, which might be true, but thinking about the fact that a lot of these elephants have been rescued, and most of them have some sort of physical problem… what would have been their future otherwise? They've formed new families and new bonds, they have babies stumbling around, they have people caring for them, they can walk around in herds again, not asking for money in the streets. While not being able to be free in the jungle, they can, at least have a similar environment… also, seeing elephants in person? humbled enough that it felt almost scary. 

103 - MAE TAE PROVINCE

Outside Chiang Mai, Mae Tae Province, 2013.

102 - CHIANG MAI 02

Chiang Mai

If there's something lovely to do in Chiang Mai is walk around the old walled city, despite the heat and fact that you have to be constantly on alert for cars and bikes. 

101 - CHIANG MAI

Chiang May, Thailand

Chiang Mai is this really cool place where you can actually eat so so so well. The curry from northern Thailand is almost a thing of beauty. When I got there my roommate was kind enough to offer me a ride to the night market where along with seeing gorgeous lady boys and buying tons of clothes you could eat, and that's what I did, I gorged myself on some curry that night… I slept wonderfully and was so happy next day, that I got distracted on the way to meeting a friend and I got lost. And, of course, I got my first sunburn. I was so sweaty and late and burned that when I found a songteow I convinced the driver to let me ride on the cabin with him because he had AC. 

100 - SUKHOTHAI

Sukhothai and Sukhothai Thani

I took an all night bus to get to Sukhothai, something I'm still ambivalent about, because while I love traveling at night and seeing the lights of cars and the neons of towns and cities in the darkness (an "Office of Atoms for Peace", really?), I never manage to sleep properly. If I take into account that I had just landed in Thailand and didn't have a clue about what to expect about the countryside and, not going to lie, the fact that I was alone… well, sleep was out of the menu.  

When I got there it was even earlier than I expected, not even 5am and had to take a private cab because no public transport was available at that hour, not even the songteows. It started to get lighter on the ride to my guesthouse, but even if the sunrise was starting to get on with the day, when we pulled in front of the garden no one was awake, obviously. My driver was kind enough to open the doors and made sure that I was safely inside the garden to wait for the owners. I think I waited around 2 hours, but they were 2 amazing hours. The guesthouse was in an small street by the Yom and almost no one drove through there and the silence was inspiring after the busy streets of Bangkok. I felt that I could breath again, I just sat by the fountain being eaten by mozzies and read with the growing light and listened the silence… until the public sound system decided to blast some kind of old song and a few announcements. I don't have a clue what it was, I don't speak thai, but it made me laugh despite how tired I was. 

New Sukhothai  is considered modern, if by modern you understand "always in construction", roads were being paved, a lot of houses constructed and there is always this kind of dust produced by exhaust. It's a kind of dry place under the strong sun. But you get to the temples of the old capital and everything turns lovely. The lantern festival was programmed in a week so a lot of people were there cleaning and arranging, whole schools seemed to use their students for help with the decorations and some where just visiting before the holidays and there was water and trees all along; and while the heat was terrible and I was sweating buckets a friend I made and I rented some bicycles and got to use them all day. The site is so big though that it never felt crowded and with the bikes we got a system of letting them under the shade and wander at our hearts content along the stupas and the buddha's. It felt like an oasis. 

099 - BANGKOK 03

Jim Thompson's House, Bangkok.

098 - BANGKOK 02

The Grand Palace, Bangkok.




This might be a complicated topic for some, I don't know. A long time ago, I had a conversation (or maybe I was just listening to him, but it felt like a conversation) with one of the best teachers I've ever had, about how, sometimes, despite being a convinced atheist he used to find a bit of calm and peace in the patios of those big mosques in High Asia when he was working there, joking about the strange ways we look for a bit of spirituality. I am also an atheist, what's more, structured religions scare the heck out of me, maybe, or despite (not sure yet), because I was raised in a catholic school. Which is curious because I received nothing but kindness from the nuns at my school despite the fact that my mum was divorced, and if you know anything about religion and spain, you'll know that, sometimes, that kindness is a rarity for a single mother. And, despite all those years of personal experience, I am a  firm non believer and usually, I look at churches, mosques and temples more with an historic, anthropologic, artistic and, not going to lie, ironic eye. Having said all that, I surprised myself by loving all the Buddha's faces, the kind smile usually brings me peace and I guess it's because kindness, in our world, is constantly underrated, when I firmly believe it shouldn't be. 

097 - BANGKOK 01

The Grand Palace, Bangkok.

I know that I repeat myself, but before landing in Bangkok, the only asian country I've ever visited was Japan, and while I knew, logically, mentally, that it wasn't the same at all, the reality of what encountered there was something completely and totally different of what I, more or less, imagined. Needless to say, shock, culture clash or whatever you want to call it made me fall sick after a few days of being there. Days when I've tried, without much success, battle the love of my korean roommates for leaving the AC at 19º, while I had the worse head cold I had in a long time. 

Moving around in Bangkok is never easy if you are used to a certain way of doing things and, yes, in hindsight, I realized how naive I was. But I learned I guess, even from that first day, in a crazy bus ride that per chance brought me to where I wanted to go, The Grand Palace. 

Thinking about all this, now, when I'm back, looking at all the photos that at I have now in my hands, after months of only having the rolls in a bag, is an strange experience. I know now, that my life is not here, that whatever I do, whatever path I take in the next months will lead me to a more gipsy existence, more insecure, more rewarding for me, less worried about things and material achievements… the form it will take is at the moment a mystery, but, I'll get there. One way or another. 

WELCOME TO MALAYSIA, TRULY ASIA

Here's when I tell you how I said goodbye to Thailand. 

Sooner than I wanted to or than I planned, and it felt really harsh to do it, but as the bad weather kept following me, and I'm not talking about the moonson season down south, but of deep fog and constant rain, I just didn't want to keep waiting in Krabi for days without end, were even a lot of the boats to go down to the sea were moored due the storms. 

I've been traveling at quite a rate, I feel, as if I had to get back home really soon, I imagine due a bit of  inertia as what you usually do on a holiday, I think I kept forgetting about the fact that I have a few more months ahead. Moreover, I took this really disgusting night ferry from Koh Tao to the mainland in Surat Thani, where I really didn't sleep at all, mostly because I was squeezed between a friend... and a girl I've never met before, the promised beds were actually mats on the floor and underneath them cockroaches lived quite happily. 

That's why when I arrived at Krabi and I saw this deep fog settled over the whole province I kind of broke down a bit. I thought about having to spend a week copped in hostels or guesthouses and... just couldn't. I've also had a few paperwork problems back home that for a while scared me a bit. So, after thinking about it, and thinking about it, and thinking a bit more... I decided to move on. 

Start anew in a new place, flee from the easy tourist traps. And that's why I'm in Malaysia, with plans to move more slowly and learn a new way of traveling. A more slow paced way without the rush of getting the first to the finish line. 

There's no finish line, only the road. 

THAILAND, KOH TAO

Getting to Koh Tao was kind of nuts. Well, I'm lying, just a part of the trip was nuts. The bus system in Thailand works like a dream, and there's tons of routes and companies to choose from, so no complaints there, but the catamaran for the island? a complete nightmare. I've been in boats before, but never in my life I've felt so sick. My only consolation, which it really is not, is the fact that I wasn't the only one. Almost everyone got sick, which might tell you something about how it was... It's in moments like this when I realize how far I have my head in the clouds, when a friend who's done the same boat trip tells you afterwards about this great sea sick pills that they sell at the 7eleven. Duh. How did I not think about that before?

Well, what's done is done. 

I found this fantastic offer of a bungalow at View Point Resort at Agoda, which later I saw had really bad reviews, but we decided to check out before making a decision. Maybe I was more ok with it than other customers because I hadn't paid the original price, but I actually thought it was a lovely place. With enough mosquitos to eat me alive, but really nice. And I got to use a mosquito net, which a part of me loved just because felt really old-traveler and because it also felt like a kid's fort... I get strange notions about things. 

It rained constantly and I got complettely soaked a few times but, finally, I got to spend a really nice evening perched on a rock by this really small strip of beach, watching the sea, reading a bit, walking barefoot on the rock, taking a few pictures and watching the sun go down. 

I might get strange notions and I might get my head in some kind of cloud, but my pleasures are simple.