BACK "HOME" ... TO THAILAND
Thailand | Thursday, March 10, 2016 | 17 photos
LAOS
Coffee plantations, waterfalls, and a cool climate are the highlights of the Bolaven Plateau that we had the luck to explore by motorbike. We drove so many kms on a small motorbike, never realized how uncomfortable it actually is to sit on one of those things! Lol ;-) The best part was to be off the beaten path and see the local Laotian life.
THAILAND
Crossing the border from Laos to Thailand was easy and painless. We missed you Thailand! ;-) Being back to Thailand for the third time felt like being "back home", especially in Bangkok. It was familiar to us and as we've said before Thailand is maybe the easiest (non-western) country in the world to travel in, it's so hard actually to get stressed in Thailand.
VACATION
We were at a point where we really needed a break from our long-term trip - yes, no joke, a vacation!!! So first we went to the beach in Krabi and then to a deserted island called Koh Adang (it's a national park so there is no commercial development at all). Hello Robinson Crusoe! Tents, no wifi, no ATM, no credit cards, one store/restaurant with very strict hours, phone/camera charging with even stricter hours, and one boat per day to leave. Really peaceful and perfect for relaxing - crazy how easy it was to get into the routine of doing basically nothing all day long! Nice not to check emails or text messages or Instagram! It felt so good to be there and be away from all the day to day backpacker routine - packing/unpacking, carrying the heavy bags, taking cheap crappy buses, finding a budget hotel, finding the bus station, etc. Just basing ourselves in the same place for more than two nights was really quite refreshing. We have to do this sometimes otherwise we know we'll just burnout. Plus it doesn't hurt that southern Thailand has perhaps some of the most beautiful beaches we've ever seen!!!
LONG-TERM TRAVEL
Normally we update the blog every week but this last time we didn't for several reasons:
- We spent several days on the deserted island Koh Adang so of course, no wifi. Back to basics, "retour aux sources"! Bye-bye modern life, hello camping! Actually felt nice to be disconnected from all that for awhile. Trust me, it's hard at first but you get used to it and actually start to like it after awhile.
- We have been really busy recently with planning since our pace has ramped up and we're currently on a stint of 5 countries with only 1-2 weeks in each country. Trust us, it's a really hard pace to keep up. Normally we like to do 3-4 weeks in each country.
Strange how we feel that we were actually better at staying in touch with friends and family while back in NYC, even if we were working at the same time!
Now here's also the chance for us to set the record straight. Long term, RTW travel is not the same thing as a vacation! If you are contemplating a big trip then you will learn this the hard way, so please try and pace yourself! Long term travel is not just one big long vacation. It’s a way of life, and while it is awesome, amazing, and incredible, it’s also challenging, difficult, tiresome and frustrating.
Why long-term travel is not a holiday?
http:/www.keepcalmandtravel.com/why-long-term-travel-is-not-a-holiday/
Travel burnout
http://www.bootsnall.com/rtw/travel-burnout.html
MALAYSIA
We left "home" and are now back to "work" in Georgetown, Malaysia - several days to do laundry, find decent wifi, find our next bus, find our next cheap clean well located private room with no shared bathroom hotel and plan basically everything else for the next 3-4 weeks! Plus we're just a little bit closer to the equator and wow, it's so hot!!! Gotta find some A/C fast because otherwise we're going to pass out. :-( We'll tell you all more about Malaysia next time, stay tuned! ;-)
