World of Wander

SAME-SAME

It’s amazing how two words can redefine adventure.

My trip was all planned out. It was a backpacking adventure that would start in Bangkok, Thailand then lead me to Penang, Malaysia. From Penang, I would move on to Johor Baru, then, take a bus to Singapore.

As it wasn’t my first time in Bangkok, I spent the first leg of my trip taking the off-beaten track. On my 3rd day, I went to the travel office near my hotel. My flight from Penang to Johor Baru was booked on-line, and all I needed to do was go from Bangkok to Penang.

The travel agent greeted me with a pleasant “Sawasdee Kha” with palms together, nestled in between her chest. I inquired whether they had land trips to Penang, to which she answered in the affirmative. The 2nd leg of my adventure was about to begin.

The bus – or mini-bus – trip to Penang started early. As we traversed the highways of Thailand, the sight of miles and miles of wild grass and tall trees greeted on both sides - a welcome sight compared to a city of concrete and glass. They say the color green helps a person relax, and after staring at it for hours, relaxation kicked in.

I woke up as we were pulling in the bus terminal. Hungry from the trip, I walked over to a quaint café filled with backpackers. The tables were arranged in a communal way, so free flowing conversation was encouraged. As the conversation among backpackers progressed, one of them said something that caught my attention.

“We’re going to Koh Phangan. The beaches there are incredible.”

That’s when I realized that my adventure might have taken a wrong turn. Walking around the area, I found out that I was at Surat Thani, one of the provinces that serve as the jump off point to the pristine islands of Koh Phangan.

Quickly, I went to the bus terminal and looked for our driver and asked him where the bus is supposed to take the passengers. He smiled and answered: “Phangan.”

Calmly, I told him that I needed to go to Penang and not Phangan. He smiled again and said:

“Phangan… Penang… Same-same.”

Those two words drastically altered my adventure. I missed my flight from Penang to Johor Baru. I never got to the bus that would take me to Singapore.

Where it took me were places even more spectacular. I saw the rustic back roads of Surat Thani where I got a taste of the sweetest – and cheapest – rambutans. The Hat Yai countryside where people would gather at an empty patch of land and watch old Thai films projected on a large white cloth. It was the southern part of Thailand where tourists were discouraged because of insurgent activities.

It wasn’t the trip I planned, but it was an adventure I would never have discovered if not for those two fateful words.

Indeed, I’ll never look at Thailand the same-same way again.