Efter en alt for lang rejse, sidder jeg nu endelig i Thailand. 12 timer i bus til London, et par timers søvn, 1,5 time i bus til Gatwick, 3 timer til Ukraine, 10 timer til Bangkok og 4 timer til Nakhon Ratchasima/Korat, hvor jeg befinder mig lige pt. Jeg kan godt mærke, at min sidste langtidsflyvning var helt tilbage i juli. Jeg er ude af træning. Fandme godt jeg har et par uger til at lade op til den næste! Men jeg er jo vant til det. 40 timer i bus fra Brasilien til Argentina. Siger det bare. Den vil jeg altid have.Nå altså, jeg sidder i Korat/Nakhon Ratchasima, en landsby nogle 4 timer nordøst for Bangkok. Den oprindelige grund til, at valget faldt på Thailand og bare generelt Sydøstasien, da jeg sad og drømte tilbage i oktober, er at Katrina ligenu bor i Korat, hvor hun underviser i engelsk. Kat er fra Singapore, og jeg mødte hende tilbage da jeg var med Luna i Tokyo i 2013. Vi skal rejse lidt rundt i Thailand den næste uge, inden turen går til hendes hjemland næste tirsdag, d. 14. april. Det er Thai nytår her de næste par dage, så jeg kunne ikke have valgt et bedre tidspunkt at komme til.Og skal vi så lige takke russerne for ikke at skyde flyet ned, hva’? Et layover i Ukraine var bestemt interessant. Jeg tror jeg blev henvendt til på russisk omkring 12 gange. Jeg kan også ligne en ukrainer, kan jeg. Og så skulle jeg til at regne med en ny valuta. Det var også interessant. Jeg hørte ikke engelsk en eneste gang. Jeg følte mig endnu mere fremmed end i Japan man. Ja ja. Nu er jeg her. Og så lærer jeg lidt russisk til jeg skal turen hjem igen, ikk’?Foreløbige observationer i Thailandet:Trafikken er ikke så vanvittig som i Bogotá, men det at alle kører på scootere får det til at se vanvittigt ud. Kat har selvfølgelig også en. Og igår, da hun kom og hentede mig på busstationen, var det med den. Jeg havde selvfølgelig glemt at nævne, at jeg altså rejser som kuffertrejsende. Bliver aldrig en backpacker. Det var da intet problem. Så jeg sad og holdte min kuffert ud over kanten på scooteren hele vejen. Det mærkeligste var nok, at der var ingen, der stirrede mere end normalt.. Det siger lidt om standarden her!Men vi overlevede, og jeg er lige stået op, jeg har det godt for dem der bekymrede sig! Klokken er halv tre om eftermiddagen, jetlag er vist allerede væk og nu kan vi komme ud og opleve - lige indtil imorgen tidlig kl. 6.40, hvor bussen til Bangkok afgår.. Det skal da nok blive gjort!And she’s in Thailand! I made it to Nakhon Ratchasima/Korat, where I’ll be staying the next couple of days. For those of you still blissfully unaware of my plans, the reason for me choosing Thailand (and Singapore for that matter) is called Katrina and she’s a lovely Singaporean girl I met with Luna when we vacationed in Tokyo back in 2013. Kat teaches English here in the village of Nakhon Ratchasima (also called Korat, much easier, eh?) and due to the fact that I picked a perfect time to come, she’s off from Wednesday because of the Thai New Year – so we’ll be travelling around Thailand for a bit, going down to either Hua Hin or Koh Chang for a couple of days and then staying in Bangkok from Friday and then flying together to Singapore on the 14th.On a similar flying note, I’d like to thank the Russians for refraining from shooting down the plane. Nah, just kidding. We were far away from the Crimea. However, a layover in Ukraine was definitely an interesting experience. Daunting, some might say. I was addressed in Russian about twenty million times. Apparently, I can look Ukrainian. Who knew? Also, I had to convert a new currency. Also very interesting. Also very interesting not being able to read a single sign in the airport. I almost felt more alienated there than I did in Japan. And this was still Europe. Not once did I hear people speaking in English. I’ll have to learn some basics before making the trip back. It’s just common courtesy, right?So far, I've made an important observation about the Thai people:The traffic is insane. Insaneeeee, I tell ya. Bangkok was obviously a mess due to its size, but even here in Korat my nerves are frayed beyond measure. Last night, when Kat picked me and my suitcase up from the busstation, she was on her scooter. Everybody has a scooter here. Sometimes, there's 3 people on one scooter. Perfectly normal. So me sitting on her scooter balancing my suitcase when driving 40 miles an hour was also perfectly normal. So that's what we did. We survived. And I have one conclusion: It was aaaaahmazing. I could get addicted to driving a scooter. It was cool. Anyways, for those who were obviously concerned, I made it safely and I'm not tired anymore. At least not jetlagged anymore. I slept until 2.30PM, so should be good, right? And now we're off exploring until tomorrow morning at 6.40AM, where the bus to Bangkok departs.. wish us luck!
Tuesday, 7 April 2015
Welcome to Thailand, the land of Thai and insane traffic
Efter en alt for lang rejse, sidder jeg nu endelig i Thailand. 12 timer i bus til London, et par timers søvn, 1,5 time i bus til Gatwick, 3 timer til Ukraine, 10 timer til Bangkok og 4 timer til Nakhon Ratchasima/Korat, hvor jeg befinder mig lige pt. Jeg kan godt mærke, at min sidste langtidsflyvning var helt tilbage i juli. Jeg er ude af træning. Fandme godt jeg har et par uger til at lade op til den næste! Men jeg er jo vant til det. 40 timer i bus fra Brasilien til Argentina. Siger det bare. Den vil jeg altid have.Nå altså, jeg sidder i Korat/Nakhon Ratchasima, en landsby nogle 4 timer nordøst for Bangkok. Den oprindelige grund til, at valget faldt på Thailand og bare generelt Sydøstasien, da jeg sad og drømte tilbage i oktober, er at Katrina ligenu bor i Korat, hvor hun underviser i engelsk. Kat er fra Singapore, og jeg mødte hende tilbage da jeg var med Luna i Tokyo i 2013. Vi skal rejse lidt rundt i Thailand den næste uge, inden turen går til hendes hjemland næste tirsdag, d. 14. april. Det er Thai nytår her de næste par dage, så jeg kunne ikke have valgt et bedre tidspunkt at komme til.Og skal vi så lige takke russerne for ikke at skyde flyet ned, hva’? Et layover i Ukraine var bestemt interessant. Jeg tror jeg blev henvendt til på russisk omkring 12 gange. Jeg kan også ligne en ukrainer, kan jeg. Og så skulle jeg til at regne med en ny valuta. Det var også interessant. Jeg hørte ikke engelsk en eneste gang. Jeg følte mig endnu mere fremmed end i Japan man. Ja ja. Nu er jeg her. Og så lærer jeg lidt russisk til jeg skal turen hjem igen, ikk’?Foreløbige observationer i Thailandet:Trafikken er ikke så vanvittig som i Bogotá, men det at alle kører på scootere får det til at se vanvittigt ud. Kat har selvfølgelig også en. Og igår, da hun kom og hentede mig på busstationen, var det med den. Jeg havde selvfølgelig glemt at nævne, at jeg altså rejser som kuffertrejsende. Bliver aldrig en backpacker. Det var da intet problem. Så jeg sad og holdte min kuffert ud over kanten på scooteren hele vejen. Det mærkeligste var nok, at der var ingen, der stirrede mere end normalt.. Det siger lidt om standarden her!Men vi overlevede, og jeg er lige stået op, jeg har det godt for dem der bekymrede sig! Klokken er halv tre om eftermiddagen, jetlag er vist allerede væk og nu kan vi komme ud og opleve - lige indtil imorgen tidlig kl. 6.40, hvor bussen til Bangkok afgår.. Det skal da nok blive gjort!And she’s in Thailand! I made it to Nakhon Ratchasima/Korat, where I’ll be staying the next couple of days. For those of you still blissfully unaware of my plans, the reason for me choosing Thailand (and Singapore for that matter) is called Katrina and she’s a lovely Singaporean girl I met with Luna when we vacationed in Tokyo back in 2013. Kat teaches English here in the village of Nakhon Ratchasima (also called Korat, much easier, eh?) and due to the fact that I picked a perfect time to come, she’s off from Wednesday because of the Thai New Year – so we’ll be travelling around Thailand for a bit, going down to either Hua Hin or Koh Chang for a couple of days and then staying in Bangkok from Friday and then flying together to Singapore on the 14th.On a similar flying note, I’d like to thank the Russians for refraining from shooting down the plane. Nah, just kidding. We were far away from the Crimea. However, a layover in Ukraine was definitely an interesting experience. Daunting, some might say. I was addressed in Russian about twenty million times. Apparently, I can look Ukrainian. Who knew? Also, I had to convert a new currency. Also very interesting. Also very interesting not being able to read a single sign in the airport. I almost felt more alienated there than I did in Japan. And this was still Europe. Not once did I hear people speaking in English. I’ll have to learn some basics before making the trip back. It’s just common courtesy, right?So far, I've made an important observation about the Thai people:The traffic is insane. Insaneeeee, I tell ya. Bangkok was obviously a mess due to its size, but even here in Korat my nerves are frayed beyond measure. Last night, when Kat picked me and my suitcase up from the busstation, she was on her scooter. Everybody has a scooter here. Sometimes, there's 3 people on one scooter. Perfectly normal. So me sitting on her scooter balancing my suitcase when driving 40 miles an hour was also perfectly normal. So that's what we did. We survived. And I have one conclusion: It was aaaaahmazing. I could get addicted to driving a scooter. It was cool. Anyways, for those who were obviously concerned, I made it safely and I'm not tired anymore. At least not jetlagged anymore. I slept until 2.30PM, so should be good, right? And now we're off exploring until tomorrow morning at 6.40AM, where the bus to Bangkok departs.. wish us luck!
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