500 odd km, 1 border crossing, 3+ languages and 2 days of my life at the mercy of bus, train, minivan and tuk-tuk drivers. It wasn’t easy, fun or enjoyable but that said, I wouldn’t have changed a thing. I’m a sucker for avoidable challenges. Just because you can fly or jump in a taxi doesn’t mean that you should.

The most challenging moments were:
- waiting at connecting bust terminal while tiring to intemperate announcements (in Malay), having being given wrong bus number anyway.
- crossing the Malaysia/Thailand boarder (by train) with no idea what to do or how far away the connecting Thai train was.
- navigating Hat Yai, Thailand, with no map or guidebooks (let alone the language barrier) or plans about where/what we were actually doing next.
- haggling with street vendor, while simultaneously trying to do currency conversions in my head (28baht to AU$1), without a common language.

Anyway, I’ve always considered myself a relatively patient person, I can fill in hours waiting for trivial events to happen, but yesterday I was pushed to my limit. I’m not sure if it was the share exhaustion of having been moving for so long, or having no clear idea about where we are going, or the eternal search for filling (safe) vegetarian, but it was compounded 10 fold by having to communicate (batter) across languages with people who at times just seemed plain rude and arrogant. I was left with no option but to persevere but a the feeling inside was a crying for a quite retreat into the guide book.

After the calamities had passed the inner dialogue continued for hours as I tried to understand/interpret what it was that had just happened. At the end of it, I realised it didn’t matter so much and that the real challenge is to have plans yet remain calm and flexible, while knowing your boundaries and being comfortable to stop at them.

On a side note; remembering and inspired by that saying a smile is the same in every language, I’ve been moved to cultivate a sincere smile to move others to warmer places.

Warm wishes,

Nathan

---

Posted on December 12th, 2006 :: Filed under Travel
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

---