Miss Changeeveryday
Aug 31, 2018 · 10 min read

Traveling alone in Thailand

Now I am sitting in the plane flying towards Shanghai. I pray for safe arrival. I hope I would finish this long blog when I get off the plane. (actually not)


What’s my impression on Thailand?

I visited the north part of it during the past four days. It’s completely not enough to visit it just one time. Next time I’d like to visit the south part of it, which will be the islands and the capital Bangkok. Thailand is not far away from Shanghai. It took me less than five hours to arrive in Chiang Mai from Shanghai. The local time is one hour slower than Beijing time.

It’s not as clean as Shanghai. It’s not easy to find a dustbin in the street. So I put the rubbish in my bag. When I eventually found a dustbin with my effort, I found it was quite different from those in the USA and China. It is just a big white plastic with mental frame on the top. Ahh, I should not have any expectation to this little city, as Shanghai is an international city. Stepping out of Chiang Mai airport, I regret not bringing a mask with me, as there is lots of dust combined in the air outside.

The Chiang Mai airport is very small. I like the Los Angeles airport which is bigger than Pudong airport. I find I quite like big and flourishing internatioanl cities. I should visit such cities as London, New York. The biggest shopping mall here is much smaller than the skymall in Shanghai.

Lots of motorcycles can be seen in the street. Most of the local people commute by motorcycles. Even there are motorcycles to be rented for tourists downstairs near the hotel I lived in. I didn‘t rent any one. I don’t know how to use it. It’s dangerous for a new rider in the street. So I waved my hand to stop those red double buses and then showed the addresses to the drivers. Those red double buses remind me of the green double buses I took in my childhood, and those buses cannot be seen in China now. I sat in the bus and looked outside silently. The buildings lined the street are not high, and the clothes on those local people are not fashionable. Some people can speak fluent Chinese but little English. It’s said that the Chinese is the compulsory subject the local students must study at school. When I turn on the TV in the hotel, there are also many channels about speaking in Chinese. I see many Chinese tourists here and there. Has Thailand become the popular tourism country for Chinese?

The life pace is very slow there. Many stores will not be open until 10:30. That’s why I didn’t eat my breakfast during the four days. It seems everything is slow there. The pepole walk slow, the cars run slow, the waiter coming to service you slow etc. No metro,no high-speed train… time is one hour slower.

However, there is still something that cheers me.

The goods there are quite cheap. Especially the fruit-milk shake. I drank at least one big cup of tropical fruit milk shake each day there. The Thai food with curry is delicious. I bought some famous medicines for my father and mother. The medicines can cure muscle pain and other pain. It is said that they are the gifts each tourist will bring home.


Those people I met

X is 12 years older than me. She is a married woman without child. She has lived in Shanghai for more than 10 years. She looks fashionable at her age. She came to talk with me when I was bargaining with a taxi driver outside of the airport. In the conversation, I know she cannot speak English and her friends are in a different flight which is going to arrive in Chiangmai after 21:00. She would like to join my trip before she gets together with her friends. I agree. I suggetst we first visit the famous gate where there is a pigeon square. The red long wall is beautiful in the sun. The pigeons there are not afraid of tourists at all. They walk around you, and even stop on your shoulders to take a rest. She is good at taking pictures and very easy-going. I also find she knows a lot in some fileds. For example, tea, silver and gold. In a tea store on the Ningman road, she can ditinguish which tea is good and which one is worth to be bought. Among those numerous necklaces in the market, she can distinguish which one is real and what price it should be at. The sellers even sell gold and silver necklaces and rings on a little stall, which suprises me! No robbers here? She is good at singing, too. She sang songs with enthusiasm when she was taking a rest and waiting for me in the hotel. She said singing songs could make both of us happier. Haha, I think she must be a positive person. Then I know she practices singing songs each day. Ahh, that’s why she looks younger than those women who are at the same age as her. I tell her I like playing the piano. And she thinks I must be a person who can sing well. I laughed.

The couple are from Poland. Her man is a gentleman, he aways let ladies first. She told me that waiters in Thailand ignore ladies if there are men together with them. Because men will make decisions for ladies, for example, when a couple go to a restaurant, man will order food for his partner. Man will make the decisions for her. I prefer to making decisions by myself rather than by my man. It’s unfair! But I find she seems to enjoy being treated by her man in this way.

He is an Austrilian, in his fourties. He sat next to me on the bus to Chiang Rai. Each year he travelled for a month away from his family. He has travelled in Thailand for 24 days now. Now he missed his baby. I found he sat on the bus very straight for hours. How does he make it? I didn’t ask him.

At the long neck village, there lived the refugees running away from the wars in Myanmar. The female there wear bronze neck rings. They start wearing those rings when they are 10 years old. And then each year they will add to another one around their necks. It’s those bronze neck rings enable their necks to become longer to attract tourists. The rings can be merely taken off three times through their whole life. The day when they get married, the day when they give birth to a baby, and the day when they die. They are so poor. The children don’t go to school because they don’t like doing it. The female weave scarfs and make crafts without working outside of the village, and then sell them to tourists, which is the way they make money. I bought two red scarfs there just to help a bit. I aslo saw another minority there.They wear big and heavy ear rings to make their ears longer and bigger. Ahhh, I am shocked by what I see. I asked an old woman from the village “do you find pain with your ears because of those heavy ear rings on them?” She waved her head and took one ear ring off to show me her big and long ear. I was so scared that I must have showed the miserable facial expression. Why must they do such things to hurt themselves? And why do their generations do the same things as them? Is it a meaningful custom? Maybe they are happy or proud of their custom.The young girl in her twenties there smiled so happily to me. I smiled back to her but felt sad for her. Doesn’t she want to make changes? She spent her whole day there weaving scarfs in the village. How can she endure her such life? I left there with a heavy heart.

Along the Mekong river, a Laos was selling snake wine. He showed me the biggest snake he had. I was scared then and screamed a bit. He tried to persuade me to bring a bottle home. I definitely cannot do it. He was disappointed. How did they catch the snakes? And the funcation of the snake wine is true? The Laos said it can cure muscle pain and support male to become more energetic. Ahhh, I once heard some snakes were cooked in kichens, but it’s my first time to know snakes can be used in wine and have such functions to male.I was surprised.

The last person I ’d like to mention is an old local driver. He seems to be in his sixties. Years of working in the sun makes his skin black. He can understand a little English. He is a driver of a red double bus. I waved my hand to stop his bus after finishing wandering at the night market. He is the third driver who finally agreed to be paid 30b to drive me to my hotel. The two drivers who were much younger than him before him didn’t agree to be paid 30b to drive me there. The two drivers said I was alone so I need to pay more. At the beginning he didn’t agree to be paid 30b, then I asked “Is it I am alone that I must pay more???” He looked at me and said ok. I got on his bus, feeling happy about my success bargain. After more than 10 minutes, he knocked at the bus window to remind me of the arrival of my address. I got off the bus and he pointed at the path. I saw at the end of the path there was a hotel whose name is the same as the name of the hotel I lived in. I waved my head “I don’t live here.There is a river in front of the hotel I lived in. ” I showed him the paper I brought, and on the paper read the detailed address and hotel phone number. I cannot show him the hotel address in my phone because my mobile wifi had already ran out of battery. To avoid getting myself trapped in such situation, I have already prepared for paper information, which means I printed the hotel address and phone number before I visited this country. He asked me to sit on the seat next to him, and then he put on his glasses and turned on his little torch to lighten the paper so that he could see the address clearly. He dialed the phone number slowly because he is old, and finally someone answered the phone. I cannot understand what they talked about, but I could suppose that he must confirm the right hotel address he is going to drive towards because he told me “two 7 days” . Seven Days is the name of the hotel I lived in. Then I knew he had driven me to the other one. I decided to pay him 50b now, because I was touched by his details I saw. I should be responsible for his extra gasoline fees, and should be responsible for my carelessness without showing him the detailed address. It’s time for me to get off his bus because I saw the right hotel. I handed to him 100b instead of the 30b changes. But he didn’t take it, he waved his head saying ” no changes” . Well, I plan to give him 50b but I don’t have 50b. “but I only have 30b changes” , I gave him 30b, and he nodded his head. I found I had several coins, and at first I would like to give him all my changes but I remembered the tips from the internet, “giving Thais conins means you treat them as beggars.” So I put back the rest coins into my purse. I got off his bus and said”thank you”two times. He smiled and drove away. He didn’t ask more from me but drove me to the right place safely. I felt touched.

The places I visited

Chiang Rai

The white temple behind me is amazing. It is still under construction.

This is the back temple I visited. It was described as the hell because there are lots of real animal bones and fur there. Its real name is Banndam Museum which is the home of the creator.

These two temples have long stories, but now I am tried of typing them.

Pai

On the way to Pai,I vomited a lot. You cannot imagine how many turns the bus made in the mountain. 70 turns made me vomit in the bus. 🤢

But it deserves visiting. It is a beautiful place with grasses, mountains, fields, and farms. It is quiet and filled with fresh air.

I set myself free on the grassland, empty my heart, embrace the fresh air and can’t help running on the path lined with green grass in the wind.

Traveling alone is insanity, but do it anyway. Taking more risks helps you become the best version of you.

    Miss Changeeveryday

    Written by

    A girl who is on the way to becoming “Her” 👑

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