Of jungles, both organic and concrete

I continue to marvel at the breakdown of social norms that most travellers experience as we all share a tour van on the way to hot springs deep in the jungle or in a boat on the way to tropical islands. Instant physical connection as we all use our hands to help each other into bobbing boats, linked arms to hold each other safe as we stare out from a lofty viewpoint, squeezing together around a table and handshakes or backslaps as we say goodbye. This behaviour would only be expected at home in hippy communes or one-love festivals, but not amongst all general society. Still, out here under the wide open sky, it’s just another way we seek to create a connection when all familiar community is gone. It is a little different for me as a solo traveller because sometimes the family groups are large and exclusive, but for the most part, they have wrapped me into their little ecosystems of humour and philosophy. I have been included with a really cool group of Chinese university students who claimed to know enough to question and not enough to know how to ask..(.I love that kind of talk); I have been part of an Indian family from Malaysia, another Indian family from Singapore, Spanish couples and the occasional Brit or Aussie family. A couple from UAE adopted me off and on for a week in Ao Nang and Phi Phi – she was from Morocco, he was from India, and their dynamic was hilarious.

And then there was my one night in Bangkok…my last night was memorable – full of fun, fantasy and some actual danger. A British family and a Dutch family and I travelled canals through Bangkok by long boat, pathway and bamboo bicycle. During the last two days, we saw massive Buddhas, floating markets, historical sites and car culture. I had a Thai massage at Wat Pho, the first Thai Medical school, marvelled at the grandiosity of golden temples, and prayed at the central Buddhist hall, pulled into reverence at the vibration of so many voices praying the same words on Buddha’s holiday. During the last night, we floated along and watched the sunset between eye-catching skyscrapers, had dinner along a wooden pier and saw fireflies light up the sides of the canals. Late into the evening, as we made our way down the canal, we heard the motor putt, sputter and then fall silent. There we floated in the dark with no safety lights, watching tugboats pull gigantic platforms past us as we waited for the swelling surge of their wake to move us around, powerless to change direction and hopeful that we don’t get hit by the bigger boats who couldn’t see us. After a time, a second-long boat pulled up in the murkiness, and I thought he would tow us to safety – but we were told to transfer between the boats. Again with great care and connection with each other, our little band of tourists worked to stabilize as each person stepped from one wobbly boat to the other. Low in the water, with loose planks of reinforced wood, the second boat took us to a pier, only to take us back in when we saw that the entire area was flooded. Third time being the charm, we offloaded late into the night in the middle of nowhere…on Buddha’s holiday, no taxi wanted to come for regular fares and then didn’t come at all.
I decided to strike out on my own because I didn’t see a solution coming, and for the next hour and a bit, I relied on Google Maps to steer me on my walk home. It felt like I walked through every economic area and witnessed interactions and transactions that I would not usually and should not have been privy to. And yet, every time someone talked to me, they were kind and careful – I was spared being pulled into some of the things I saw – Maybe it was the protection of Buddha’s holiday, I’ll never know. But I could not have written a more eventful last night in Thailand, with the song One Night in Bangkok ringing absolutely true – “…One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble, Not much between despair and ecstasy…” By the time I was in the tourist area filled with neon-lit tuk-tuks and club nightlife, I could have hailed a ride, but I decided to walk it out…reflecting on how much beauty Thailand shared with me this month, how much tourism shapes any destination and how we are all seeking connection. Sending out love now from the beaches of Bali.

Photo Gallery: Temples, world famous flower market(goes for blocks upon blocks) our tuk tuks outside palace grounds, Chinatown, Floating Market, Inner Bangkok canal markets

Photo Gallery: Bangkok canals, Wat Po Sleeping Buddha, shrines to previous King Ramas, prayers in Convocation Hall at Wat Po, and me – proof of life:)