Mentally checking off semester one of this Thai school year, I look back and am speechless as to where it went. October has been my benchmark from the very beginning, that point in the distance I squinted to see back in May, wondering what my state of mind would be. Having reached that point, I can truly appreciate the steady stride we’ve hit this past month. A mixture of pleasurable routine and variety have created an odd sort of contentment, and I’m glad of it. I’m the most placid and motivated I’ve ever been, and most of all, I’m living and finding a sense of community in the most off-the-wall place I’ve ever been. Still today, after 4 months in this beautiful place, I’ll zone out, mentally and physically (like a slow motion zoom-out on Google Earth from me to outer space) and look at my life. Holy shit, I actually live in Thailand, in Asia, in a 3rd world region, in a city a lot of natives can’t point to on a map, 8000 miles away from home. I don’t think that will truly sink in until I step off the plane in Atlanta next year. I can imagine it being a blanketed feeling of sudden realization and real sadness that its force didn’t hit me until then. I can’t wait until that moment, really. That moment suspended between two completely different lives. It will be hard to return, but so easy at the same time.
As breathtaking as it is to look back though, I’ve never been more excited to look forward. Three weeks of freedom await, and we have plans to wander. A statement which seems to be, in itself, counterproductive. Guidelines with room to wiggle.
Several years ago, my dad spent many, many months planning a special trip for my family. Unable to fully appreciate it at the time, I now look back with a fond wistfulness and wish that type of trip could happen again someday. After 12 hour work days, my daddy would drop one task and pick up another: the task of planning our 2 week vacation to Canada. Hours of accumulated research added up to equal a trip that moved like clockwork and ticked without the slightest glitch. Everything from rental cars to seaside B & Bs and whale watching tours to ferry rides worked just as he had planned. I was so amazed.
So when this trip rolled around, Kelsey so graciously let me try my hand at planning. Albeit a far cry from the detailed trip my daddy planned, I attempted to lay some skeletal guidelines, then when we arrive, I will let Kelsey’s previous backpacking instincts fill in the gaps. Perhaps the hurdle I faced most, rather than the task of having every minute planned like our Canadian adventure, was the constraints of finances, currency exchange, and communication. So, after a little surfing online and a lot of luck, our vacation is as follows: We leave tomorrow headed several hours north toward Chiang Mai, the second largest Thai destination aside from the capital city. The mountainous city has so much to offer. One day, we are being picked up and taken to an elephant reservation to adopt our own lovely creature for the day. After visiting Night Market Bazaars and locating and frequenting a Subway that is rumored to be in the city, we will visit a Tiger Kingdom and hold baby tigers. I hope they’ve been declawed. Week two, we will travel nearly 9 hours south to Pattaya beach where we will visit a local orphanage, scuba dive in the coral reefs and take a 2-day zip lining tour through the jungle. Week three, the week with the least planned and the one weighted with the most anticipation, will be spent on a tropical island called Koh Samet in the Gulf of Thailand. Having been frugal with our accommodations until this point, we decided to splurge and stay in a bungalow style resort on the beach. Though I mentioned not having plans per se, we actually plan to be busy reading, relaxing, writing letters to loved ones and spending the whole week looking out on that crystal blue ocean and pinching ourselves. Because it will probably be the most unforgettable trip ever.
Assuming this trip, too, like Canada, goes without many hitches, I will be ecstatic to fill in this loose itinerary with colorful details, fun stories and the most valuable of memories. We hop aboard a bus tomorrow at 9:45 AM with a little luggage, a little cash and a lot of pent up excitement for a trip I know, where whatever we do, will be the trip of a lifetime.
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