Thailand: loneliness and pages of rubber
Salgo de Bangkok. Another black hole in my already long list of places where it's easy to stay. Here you are well and soon get used to the routine of running through the park Lumpini, fresh fruit breakfast, work in the guest house, dine in the street rioting ... but the path has to follow. Heading south, Simon y Lisa Thomas, two motorcycle travelers who have ten years on the road, I have recommended stop at Prachuap Khiri Khan, a coastal town not more than 280 km. I chose Sunday because I have to cross the entire city and a holiday like today it is already several hours of strolls and conurbations.
The road is good and boring. After a while I have driving hunger and need to refuel. Stop at a gas station with Seven Eleven. The fuel is cheaper than in Spain, less than a euro, but as to the food, I find nothing really food. Refrigerated sniffing the package I see something that looks like marinated olives. How I miss the. Olives, bread flour, red wine, olive oil. The buy and devour hoping for a taste of home. Immediately spit the bit. Not dressing, is sweet pickle. Disgusting. I know that everything is cultural, also culinary tastes, Thai for this can be a delight, but imagine you, Spaniard on foot, put in your mouth an olive frosted with sugar.
To the Thais it can be a delight, but imagine you, Spaniard on foot, put in your mouth an olive frosted with sugar
Thais have curious customs. For example, one can not find at a Seven Eleven gas station, bags full of snacks and packaged foods, nothing resulting edible, is an obvious literary overreach on my part to ask forgiveness for the reader. I know it is fair to say that it is rare that the olives are in syrup or take it to handle spicy curry. It is a cultural distinctiveness and as such, valid are the fish cakes flavored as our Iberian ham. But I say you are curious to, that surely prefer the sticks Jabugo fried rice with shrimp, I understand.
But, noses there are things that are rare even under the most multicultural examined prism. I do not mean the love of the straws spread throughout the country. Less Beer, everything else is drunk by those children tubes asthenic. And do not drink beer in straw, but taken with ice. The first time I saw such nonsense I thought it was a joke. The waiter approached me with a bottle of tasty Chang, opened, served it and immediately asked if I wanted ice cubes in my glass. Although he said in a half-decent English took me to understand because the words in context was absurd, almost offensive. Beer on ice! Where have you seen that? For in Thailand. And there to be careful because as you neglect, cascan you fucking cubes in the glass and ruining the beer they serve completely.
But where and go berserk in their rarity is what men usually drink with food. The beer they fall short. The macho tai deprive Johnny Walker Red Label and soda. The scene is always the same. A group of workers or businessmen, of ordinary people, noon, ready to continue working or traveling. Seated at the table, bowl of noodles with spicy, a couple of bottles of soda and a Scotch head of the table as a Buddhist idol. And though they take very reduced, take it. They take but well. The mendas get off the bottle as one breathes. Then pay, are mounted in the car or get on the scaffolding or get into the office or shop.
I look forwarding to the border with Burma. I'm in the narrowest part of Thailand and to the edge I have only ten miles
I look forwarding to the border with Burma. I'm in the narrowest part of Thailand and to the edge I have only ten miles. Recorrerlos I provides an overview of the rural countryside and jungle, although forest here is low because all this land is fertile and rich and is in full production of rice, pineapples and rubber.
When he reached the border let me pass the first test but I have to leave the bike. Fortunately find a car, a pick-up. Uploaded cross in the box with no man's land, a steep hill. Once up, the military will not let me go but they do everything with kindness, I can shoot and no one is rude or aggressive. Other boundaries often change I know. I like these people.
Return to the gravel roads with the sun at my heels. I stop once for shooting video. My eyes are those of a hunter. Place to detect shooting or filming. This attitude does not dilute the excitement of the trip. I like to travel by travel, I like traveling to some. Travel to Tell. That makes my trip a special. It's what builds my excitement and allowing me to spend the days alone but not lonely one. I am totally committed to my project and it fills all gaps. If I have any.
Arrived in town recommended. There is a cone-shaped mountain and on top a Buddhist temple. At the base is sacred monkeys that visitors feed. The sky is covered, ugly and gray but still the picture is beautiful. The bay is calm, the end there is a fishing village with colorful boats anchored and the horizon with countless islets curling sharp that you can see blue in the distance.
I like to travel by travel, I like traveling to some. Travel to Tell
Beachfront find a hotel with wifi and parking. but the back, where is the dining room opens onto a wide calm river where the fish splash. The lush vegetation and springs obstinate on both sides. It is an idyllic paradise itself. Ask 500 Baht, about 12 EUR, for a single room but clean and comfortable. All I need.
I go to the nearest restaurant and a Western-style beckons me when he sees me approach. A customer of the same hotel, Spanish and has seen the bike. He is with his wife. They have about sixty years and know the area well. They are traders and gender are buying, clothing and silver, in Southeast Asia for twenty years. They have seen many changes. I am with them, ask crab curry and talked for hours of national and international policy. Domestic politics does not interest me the least; is a real chafardeo of corruption and nouveau riche paletismo. I speak of Thailand draws more.
The king is also revered as a religious leader. But it is very old, is sick and is not intended heir
As I have, this is a disguised military dictatorship monarchy. The king is also revered as a religious leader. But it is very old, is sick and is not intended heir. The populist Shinawatra won the election a few years ago, attempt some reforms such as health and agricultural, and was quickly restored by the local oligarchies of a rich country, largest producer of rubber and rice. This guy was rich by mobile phones but you can not touch the ground. The most primitive human being is when someone will expropriate. Machiavelli put it well, forgive a subject before the murder of his father than the loss of their wealth. After his forced exile, mobilized its followers, Red Shirts, y bloqueó Bangkok; the opponents did the same with the yellow and bundled. Dead in the streets, new elections and now rules his sister, which is a good way to win in the absence.
I always have that Thailand was a free, was never colonized, except for the brief period of Japanese invasion during WWII 2. Go, a country ever subjected to a foreign power, as Ethiopia, tell me, but while I got fed Ethiopians, Thais seem lovely people.
Term of dining alone in the restaurant on a marble table unstable while watching me with enough beach dogs fleas. There are also mosquitoes. Be the most discomfort. I ask that I turn on one of those spirals that scares. It serves a young waitress, very pretty, with good guy; is dressed in a tight green dress and white with the name of the beer that I served: Chang. It is good if do not put ice, a local hobby. Lying on my hard seat I write these notes and occasionally looked up to see the town lit promenade. The blue bulbs, red and yellow, the wheel of the show and the buzz of insects hypnotizes me. I remember as a drunken conversation flashes just an hour ago on Spanish politicians and think that all this is now far. Fortunately.
Seated at the table, bowl of noodles with spicy, a couple of bottles of soda and a Scotch head of the table as a Buddhist idol.
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Trojan
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I love your articles! And your books!
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