My First Solo Trip

Being half Thai and having been to Thailand a couple of times.  The country of smiles felt like a good choice, for my first solo trip. At least I could count and say a couple of words in Thai...

The first stop on my list was to meet  Klara, a wonderful girl that I met a couple of years before when I went to Thailand with my family. I was thinking about renting a motorbike, so I could see more of my surroundings and also have transportation to see her. I asked if they had a 50cc because I had only driven my cousin's motocross bike before and at that time I drove right into a house. But to my disappointment, they only had 125cc available.

The owner looked a little bit worried when I didn't know how to start the bike.. ( as he should be). Because it didn't take long before I had one of my closest near-death experiences. I had to cross a small and busy road and under my tires, I had sand and pebbles, so it was hard to get a fast grip. A small window was coming up and I decided to try to take it. The bike started to wobble and fell to the side. I and the bike were now sliding slowly over the street and I could see a big truck coming against me. Lucky as I was I just slid over the whole street, just in time for the truck to pass with a big honk.

I survived with a couple of bruises, but the bike was not that lucky. I realized then that the first day of my solo trip would cost me a bit of money.

First lesson,  when you try something new start in a safe environment and take one small step after the other.

Some bandages, a dinner with Klara, and I was on to my next mission. That was two weeks of volunteer work, working as an English teacher for Thai and Burmese kids. In an organization that was created after the tsunami in 2004.

I was put in a small room with 7 others, sleeping in bunk beds. No air-conditioning and they called me lucky because they just got rid of a horrifying bed bug invasion (most of them had nasty bites). Did I forget to say, that we did not have any hot water?

But it was not as bad as it sounds, the people working there were the most wonderful and kind people you can find. Most of them were English native speakers, so I had a great opportunity to brush up on my language skills.

Growing up in a country where education is free and for everyone. It became very eye-opening to teach Burmese kids, who took a bus for two hours every morning to be able to go to school. I was also teaching in an orphanage, that was built for the kids, that lost their parents during the tsunami. Here they also took care of young mothers and their babies. So imagine a class with everything from toddlers to a sixteen-year-old mother that was breastfeeding her twins.

So many lessons learned here and immersion like this are going to shape your personality. But if I going to say something,

"Be grateful for what you have and make sure to put yourself in positions to remind yourself."

On this trip, the two-week volunteer work was the only thing that was planned. The rest of the journey was now going to be a mystery. A Canadian girl name Aliza had heard about this artificial lake (Khao Sok National Park) that was built up in the mountains in one of the world's oldest rain forests. So we decided to stay one night close to the lake and the next day take a one-day tour. The tour included some cruising, canoeing, lunch, swimming, and a 3-hour hike. The hike had one part inside a cave where the water went up to chest level (not scary at all, when you could see giant spiders and snakes inside the cave... ).

I had never spent any time in the north of Thailand, but I had heard a lot of good things. So when Aliza went back to the camp I jumped on a plane to Chiang Mai.

I started the trip with a Bungy jump, the jump is 50 meters high and it's over a small lagoon. I must say it was quite refreshing, I would like to do a Bungy again sometime. Next up was rock climbing, it was a gorgeous day with a beautiful view after you reached the top. I was going true different levels of the wall and soon I start to bounce more against the wall than going up upwards. And the only thing I could hear was no pain no gain from my instructor.

Back at the hotel, I met two German girls. We decided to call the taxi driver I had from the airport and ask him if he could be our driver for a day (I had a wonderful conversation with him from the airport and I would love to give him as much business as possible). From the recommendations of our new friend, we went to various parks and temples.

I stayed in a place that was half hostel, half hotel, so it was some gathering of travelers and backpackers there. One night I heard two girls from Denmark talking about a Place called Pai. Pai is a 3-hours minibus ride from Chiang Mai and I would recommend not to be hungover on this trip because it includes 750 twists and turns up a mountain (talking from experience).

Pai is a one-of-a-kind place, canyon, hot spring, waterfalls, stunning viewpoints, in a gorgeous landscape. Just rent a motorbike and let your breath be taken away.

When being an introvert, and having the belief that I would never be able to travel alone, this trip was exactly what I had to do. Because now I am fine with riding solo, always.

I think Rachel Wolchin's quote sums up this post perfect,

“If we were meant to stay in one place, we’d have roots instead of feet.”