The Perks Of The (Un)beaten Path
Can one size fit all?
I’m writing this from the top bunk of a 20-person dormitory on the island of Koh Phangan — the site of the infamous Full Moon Party. Tonight is the main event. My roommates are getting dressed like they are preparing for battle. The girls’ headdresses match the guys’ equally radioactive tank tops. Beside the prices at the bar, we might as well be at spring break in Key West.
Once a month, this island becomes backpackers’ mecca. The fact that tonight’s beach bash will draw over 30,000 people should be a case study in a marketing textbook. Yet most the travelers I’ve met, like me, are on the road looking for something different — a chance to remove themselves from their bubble and look at themselves from the outside in. So how can we reconcile this search for individual exploration when everyone has the same neon tank-top, lonely planet book, and banana-pancake itinerary?
I’ve been thinking about this question a lot over the past few days as I jump from hostel to cultural landmark to bar—all filled with westerners. Part of me is thirsting for more opportunities to be the only white dude in the room, but another part of me is starting to recognize the spectrum of experiences within each of these Petri dishes. Maybe the path less traveled is not just about my route. What good is standing at the trailhead trying to judge the value of a trail on which I have never walked? It seems the key is to open myself up to all sources of new experience. Only then will growth settle into the grooves of my pruned fingers.
That being said, travel is about both person and place. What is a trip to the other side of the world if I solely sleep with a blanket of homogeneity? Yes, the majesty of Angkor Wat or the Jade Temple may not be too diminished if seen with a crew of backpackers, but the sites are not the only pursuit of a traveler. I want to explore how the locals live, and explore myself! This requires space.
On most paths, I have found that there is space for both recreation and maturation. How can I judge the growth of individual exploration as superior to the fun of a sunrise beach party? I am grateful for the ability to operate within both realms. All I can really do is practice immediacy and try to soak in as much as I can from what’s in front of me. Tonight, I will dance in a sea of neon and then tomorrow, like the filo dough between the sweetness of baklava, I will allow myself to be alone.
“After days of feasting, fast.
After days of sleeping, stay awake one night.
After these times of bitter storytelling, joking,
and serious considerations, we should give ourselves
two days between layers of baklava in the quiet seclusion
where soul sweetens and thrives more than with language.”
Introvertedly,
Simo
