Adventure is out there...

I nearly missed my bus stop even though I was staring out the window. As I sat there, watching the vivacious, colourful flags and portraits of Her Royal Highness Queen Sirikit whirl by in a flutter, hung throughout the entire city in celebration of her birthday, a wave of emotions overtook me. I didn’t know what to feel. I was jubilant to be a part of celebrating the birth of Thailand’s beloved queen, but at the same time I was feeling nostalgic as Her Majesty’s birthday is also Mother’s Day and I was missing my own mother terribly. It had been five months since I had left South Africa and arrived in Thailand to pursue a ‘working holiday’ by teaching English in Bangkok. My Bangkok as I had come to think of it, with the thousands of people who were now, as I, travelling home on the over crowded bus. I had been fortunate enough to procure an empty seat and having taught on my feet all day, I was thankful for the chance to finally sit down. I became caught up in my own exhaustion and, lulled by the familiar humming of the effervescent city, I disregarded my surroundings. Luckily the bus driver was one of those individuals who deliberately underestimates the size of his behemoth vehicle and treating it more like a tuk-tuk, punched the breaks at the very last minute and caused those sitting and especially those standing, to feel the full force of gravity heaving us forward. That is why one should always seek a solid surface to cling on to when riding a bus in Bangkok. Even then it sometimes doesn’t help, as the poor school girl who nearly landed in my lap found out. Thankfully the incident revived me from my almost comatose state and I fought my way towards the congested exit. I walked back to my apartment with swollen feet, an aching back and the knowledge of knowing there was nothing to eat at home, causing the short walk to feel particularly arduous. Yet as I passed my neighbour’s kitchen and the smell of fried rice and fish sauce accosted my nostrils, I realised that in a few months I would be home and may never have the chance to ride a tuk-tuk disguised as a bus again. And that is what I love about travelling – it creates those ephemeral moments which makes you recognise that even the mundane aspects of everyday life, such as riding a bus, can become an adventure.