Travelinka » 30 ноя 2021, 22:31
Ноябрь уже заканчивается, а я почти забыла, что это время - сетовать на мрачную погоду и короткий световой день. Если рано вставать и не проводить весь день в офисе, оказывается, что всё не так уж плохо.
Обычно мне хотелось сбежать на юг. Четыре года назад в это время я была в Тайланде, бродила по Бангкоку, прислушивалась к звукам тропического леса в парке Khao Sok и отвоёвывала рюкзак у мартышки на берегу Ao Nang. Первый раз в ЮВА.
Если можно, размещу когда-то написанный текст, в одноразовом порядке - на английском.
Я вспоминаю Бангкок…
I am thinking about Bangkok when I take a sip of the herbal tea bought at the lively market on my last day in the city. The aromatic flavours fill all my existence and a gush of thrilling sensations flow into my heart. A flood of memories rush into my mind. I feel something fleeting, like a warm, humid breeze.
It calls me back. It drives me to go explore new places. It whispers in my ears saying ”No matter what, it was worth it. It is worth it to get out of the comfort zone, it is worth it to take the risk.”
I start understanding people who do all those crazy things, who venture high in the mountains struggling against cold and lack of oxygen, who travel to exotic countries where infectious diseases rage and criminals have a frightening power over the whole regions.
Wait, I wrote it wrong. I have been understanding them earlier, for a long time now. I read their exciting stories and traveled with them virtually. But at this moment, weak from a cold and drinking balmy tea made of tropical herbs and berries, I FEEL it - why people do that.
When the tea cup is empty, my vivid passionate thoughts will start fading away. I’ll be back to being careful and reasonable.
I realize one more thing which I have already been vaguely suspecting. The greatest and richest experiences don’t always feel great in the process. Some of them open up and show all their beauty only later in our memories. The greatest trips might often feel like “I am crazy tired” or “How do I survive this?” They are those days when you don't have time to overanalyze, to check with yourself - Is it going well? Am I happy?
I am thinking about Bangkok. Hot, noisy, vibrant, dirty and colorful. Its smells almost make me faint. It is sun and heat. It is cars, buses and motorbikes buzzying around in a chaotic swarm. It is sickening, vivid and disturbing.
It is humid air and pouring rain. It is amazing temples all around the city, golden Buddha statues and bright orange marigolds. Just a step aside from the crowds, you can escape into the quietness of a white temple. You enter it and humbly sit down on the floor in front of Buddha. Watching the candles burning, you find peace of mind and try to catch these meditative moments in your memories.
I don't know any other city where I stayed for five days and couldn't get enough of it. My camera stopped working, but I remember how I strolled the streets, swaying between excitement and nausea, how the taxi drivers drove me crazy, how I was traveling in a rickety bus with a chinese girl and a peruvian guy.
You become different there, you can't remain the same. You accept the noise, the chaotic roads and questionable food hygiene. You surrender to what it is.
Would I want to live there? Never. In the first moments at the airport back home you enjoy immensly the nordic silence. Getting back to everyday routine, you are happy with the comfortable and well organized life. Until at some point, something hidden and elusive pops into your head. You start longing for Asia that you can never understand, Asia that you don't belong to and never will.