the road more or less traveled: Thailand

Over the past 3 months since we have arrived from Thailand, I have been contemplating what to write. In retrospect I liked my overall experiences in Thailand... but while there, my guard was up the whole time and I believe that I was not able to experience the cities we visited to the fullest.

Some amazing things about Thailand: street food ranging from skewered scorpions, seafood and cocktails from a VW bus and the noodle carts... my fave, beautiful beaches, amazing temples, incredible Siamese history, learning that Siamese cats are Thai cats, cheap shopping, price haggling, huge metropolis some parts of which you can't even know where to begin to discover, night markets, buddhas of all sizes, thai iced tea, thai coffee & the temples of Ayutthaya.

Also, pristine beaches can still be found on phi phi island, a wide variety of sea life...we encountered black banded sea snake, lion fish, clown fish, anemones, shit tons of coral, pipe fish, puffer fish & green box fishes. We were able to experience various uncrowded beaches, peace, quiet and sleep in beautiful bungalows with crazy beautiful views of the sea, kayaking and tons of jungle hiking night & day to avoid paying exorbitant long boat fees & most important of all the incredibly nice and genuinely hospitable people.

Some non amazing things about Thailand: lost passports (though that is not Bangkok's fault), scams galore, overpriced tuk tuk & taxi rides, the incessant offers of ping pong shows, tours in the red light districts & getting you involved in the massive sex tourism; scams including shutting down of certain tourists spots, tuk tuk drivers charging you 300 baht to go less than 1km within the Sukhumvit district, taking you to different stops which are actually jewelry shops selling you stuff, locals putting pigeon food in your hand without your permission and charging you 100 baht for the 'experience,' and sleepless nights in Khao San road. The worst part: there are tourists everywhere... you really have to dig deep to find an experience that isn't diminished due to the exploitation of tourists.

With that said... the 'amazing' outweighs the 'non amazing' even if you have to wait a few months to forget about the 'non amazing.' It truly is a marvellous country and with many different facets. I am glad to have had that experience...I love any type of adventure, good or bad, any day.