Chiang Dao, Thailand

From February to March this year, I was tripping around Thailand. 

While I was planning the trip and right before I was about to leave many people asked me if I wasn’t scared of travelling by myself for almost 25 hours (I live in Brazil) and ending up in an “exotic” place like Thailand.

They asked me if I wasn’t afraid of being by myself, not knowing how to speak the language, eating different food.

They asked me how I managed to gather the money, how I did the booking for the guesthouses, how I was going to move around the country. Some even asked what it was that I was going to do in Thailand for a whole month.

Now I’ve got answers to all the people who asked me.

Was I afraid of travelling by myself all the way to Bangkok? Yes, of course. It was my first time doing it. But as soon as I put my feet on the plane I felt closer to myself and having my own company was great. I read books, bought M&M’s, slept on transit. I observed and chatted with lots of different people, laughed with South African ladies,  was a translator to a group of brazilians. You’re never alone on the road, and even if you are, it’s a great place to start knowing yourself.

Wasn’t you worried about not speaking Thai? Well, not really. Sawadee and khap kun ka (hello and thank you, respectively) can take you many places. If that’s not enough, gestures, menu pointing and mimicking are great means of communication. And above that, many people in the world know some English. You can even know Nepali babies like I did. :)

And the food? The food is great! And even if you didn’t like it, there are always pizzas, hamburgers and ordinary western meals to try out.

How did you gather money? That was one of the things I learnt from one of the blogs I use to visit, in this case Chris Guillebeau’s The Art of Non-Conformity. In one of his posts he says

Once you fully understand what you want, it’s not usually that difficult to get it.

And that’s absolutely true from my experience. To go to Thailand this year I started to save on my weekends, not going to movies, malls, concerts and inviting friends to hang out here at home with me when we wanted to meet. All of the other expenses were cut down too. In the end, it was worth every weekend and every penny I saved.

How did you book the guesthouses and moved around the country? The internet does most of the booking you need and there are plenty of resources with reviews and guides online (like Trip Advisor, WikiTravel). To move around, get a guide and ask the owners of the guest houses, they’ll certainly be happy to help you in everything you need.

Don’t be afraid of doing mistakes, another tip that Mr. Guillebeau told me and I didn’t forget was that there are very few mistakes that are impossible to fix. Like when my bus to Ayutthaya left me not at the bus station but on the middle of a road. The way to fix it was calling my guest house and getting a taxi. Even though it wasn’t expected there was certainly a way out.

That way I spent one month and ten days tripping in five different cities of Thailand. Every moment was greatly appreciated and I wouldn’t change a thing.

One of the things I had to understand to get what I wanted is that people tend to be perfectly ok with where they are and how they see the world. Once you try to defy their points of view they’ll certainly give you unrequested advice and try to change your mind not because they want to water you down, but because they expect you to live as they live.

To get rid of the web of accommodation, the first thing to do is to know exactly what you want and how you want to live. Once you know, it is easy to accomplish it. You’ll already have the passion and the will needed to get there.

Tagged: self improvement, thailand, travel ]]> http://txistu.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/life-pursuit-understand-what-you-want-then-get-it/feed/ 0 Gelidus Gaudium SAM_0743 http://txistu.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/april/ http://txistu.wordpress.com/2011/04/22/april/#comments Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:00:38 +0000 gelidusgaudium http://txistu.wordpress.com/?p=158 ]]> Sooner than anyone could be aware of

Você, por exemplo, agora, não prestou atenção ao poema que sua mente – autodenominada Sebastiana em um dia de batismo ao qual você também não prestou atenção – começou a compôr depois que você leu aquela palavra: “Tigermilk” no ônibus, há uns dois dias atrás.

A Sebastiana passou quase 20 min trabalhando no plano de fundo da sua cabeça compondo um poema bucólico envolvendo tigresas e campos verdejantes com rios de leite dignos do paraíso islâmico. Não satisfeita, ela apagou tudo e recomeçou contando uma fábula do abuso do trabalho na China impecavelmente denunciador. Perturbador como uma mãe que vê o filho morto diante de si.

Isso ela fez em 53 min. Enquanto você viajava da Piedade à sua casa no engarrafamento. E você nem ao menos prestou atenção às palavras iniciais dos poemas. Aos seus títulos. Ao ritmo e forma. À capacidade literária da Sebastiana.

Cansada, ela rasgou os papéis e se juntou a você no entorpecimento que o calor e a dor de cabeça causavam. E foi aí que veio aquele sentimento de perda estranho, aquela vontade de chorar repentina. Não por causa da “falta de Deus”, como tua mãe diria. Foi outra a perda… aquele prêmio de literatura.

Eric Clapton, John Lennon, Mitch Mitchell and Keith Richards 1969

Tropecei nessa foto depois de cair no buraco do coelho no país das maravilhas.

Alice in Wonderland - Down The Rabbit-Hole

Link pro Vladstudio, por enquanto, o melhor site de wallpapers que eu conheço. Um dia me registro…

Aguda demais pra mim.