I know i’m probably (definitely) pretty inexperienced compared to most people to be lecturing on the qualities of travelling to some distant land. The best and closest experience I have had to a proper travel is when I spent a month in Thailand. After the initial culture shock, which must have lasted from the airport to the hotel. This I remember clear as day because as I looked through the steamy window, with rain pattering vigorously against the pane of glass onto the neon nights of Bangkok (I still protect myself every time I hear that name) I saw slums and high rises, Tuk Tuks and strange markets all whilst my mouth was a jar as if it was trying to absorb the landscape for my mind to process. From then on, I was nodding my head whilst saying to myself whilst saying “I’m gonna have a good fucking month” I mean who couldn’t, it’s $1 for a beer and a pack of cigarettes. I fib, although that was *ehem* quite a bonus. The place is just so bloody beautiful.
le cheep beer.
High rises of Bangkok.
Gawping at the luscious scenery.
Climbing heinous amounts of stairs to visit monks only to decent them 30 seconds later because we’ve offended them.
Elephant riding!
Getting stuck on a mud road 1000ft up a cliff face.
Visiting a tribal village in which the shop keeper gives you a shot of happy water every time he sees you.
Meeting the villagers.(me on the right)
Travel definitely does broaden the mind. I mean when I returned from half way across the planet after having the time of my life, whilst living on a small amount of dosh. I couldn’t care for good food; unless I was full. Where I slept; unless I was dry. T.V or other thing we take for granted, full stop. You get the picture. It generally put things into perspective for you.
I can remember being on the sleeper train. With a close friend, sitting by the open window watching the blur of yellow lights of villages and towns wizz past. With the cool breeze and the cheep beer. In a cabin of travelers that were chatting around us; the usual conversation about where they came from and where they’re going next. It was certainly not the destination that counted during this journey.
“Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends, but is played out over and over again in the quiestest chambers. The mind can never break off from the journey.”
1fooloutof7billion 