The right vacation in Thailand

On the question of independent travel and all sorts of different excuses. While we wintered in Thailand, my mother read a lot of articles on our blog and came to visit us, on her own, discovering the wonderful world of travel without travel agencies. I am sure that the impressions will last for a long time now. However, read it yourself.

We were there for only two weeks, and the feeling that we have lived our whole life. And I said it was not for «red word». We actually went to visit Oleg and Dasha in Chiang Mai, since I have not seen each other since November 2010 and I already really missed them. Therefore, I tried to be with them and communicate to the maximum. I think that our arrival was also a joy and benefit to them, because together we looked, learned and traveled around a lot of interesting places. If you just list it, you will already get a decent list. So what was the most memorable?

Of course, the city itself is noisy, bright with many temples, modern and ancient, flowering trees and garlands of electrical wires, always smiling Thais and an abundance of food on the street, smells and aromas of spices, quite modern residential buildings and shacks made of reeds or cardboard packaging. It was surprising that in our condo, bed linen and towels were changed every day. We were surprised by the street filters for purification of drinking water and the price of such water per liter is -1 baht. I was surprised by the tradition to take off your shoes not only at the entrance to the temple, but also in the condo, in the massage parlor, etc. Pleased with the low prices for literally everything.

Of course, they tried to do Thai massage every day, at a price of 140-150 baht per hour. Finally, we have experienced what fish therapy is. We were happy as children and the sensations and prices, 1 procedure - 200 baht.

I just fell in love with Thai cuisine. Now my favorite food is rice and rice noodles with all kinds of fillings. I will experiment at home. I can't help but mention shopping, because it is impossible to refrain from shopping when you see things made of 100% - cotton and natural silk «funny» prices. Of course, one suitcase was not enough..

Fruits! It is something! We tried everything that was sold on the market. Each morning started with amber mango and ripe orange papaya. And also pomelo, pineapple, watermelon, melon, small bananas and any other exotic that my stomach could not stand a couple of times. But it was impossible to walk past stalls with peeled and cut fruit throughout the city. But the load was not only on the stomach.

We have tried all types of transport that exist in Tai on ourselves: a local airline plane, a night train with seated coaches, a bus, a santeo, a tuk-tuk and even a bike, so far only as passengers. We were surprised by the cars (already in Bangkok) of all colors of the rainbow: pink, crimson, purple, blue, light green, yellow ...

Well, of course, the strongest impressions (back to the beginning) are from nature, from history, culture, religion (Buddhism). In a nutshell. Trips to Share and surroundings to waterfalls, a canyon, bathing in a hot spring, riding elephants ... All this is breathtaking. And Buddhist temples are something fabulous, magical, fantastic in beauty. And all this beauty is carefully preserved for centuries. And it seems that everywhere you are welcome, regardless of faith, they smile and are ready to communicate in any form: both in good and bad English, and «on fingers», and simply by mimicry they will make it clear that they are glad and ready to help you. There is a feeling of inner joy from life here and now, peace. It becomes light in my soul. I am writing now, but the words still do not fully convey the state of mind.

Well, to the question: why do people travel. In my case, there is an exact answer: while traveling, I get to know myself. At least after a trip to Thailand (and I still travel a lot), my self-esteem has sharply increased, and this is very pleasant. I realized that traveling around the world on my own, without travel agencies, is much more interesting and, most importantly, not scary at all. And I did it with the help of Oleg and Dasha !!! I am surprised at myself! Now I have a new goal: I need to learn thoroughly English for new independent trips. It's great when you have a goal at 20, 30, and 50!