A journey of a thousand miles must begin with one step- Lao Tzu
I'm grateful to be able to travel to Thailand and to experience so much of this beautiful, unique, and friendly culture.
When I came to Taiwan in 2020 my thought was to work here and also travel throughout Asia exploring various landscapes. I came to Taiwan during covid, but I didn't expect Taiwan to be locked down for basically 3 years.
There were both good and bad aspects to the lockdown. The good part of the lockdown was that even though I couldn't leave Taiwan, I could explore every inch of the island and really get to know places I might not have if I was able to travel outside of the country. Also, I could do this with no limited tourists because of the borders being closed to tourists. The difficult part was not being able to leave. I love to travel and see the world and I couldn't do that so I tried to make the best of it here in this country.
In January of 2023, I was finally able to leave the country and explore Thailand. As soon as my feet stepped foot in Bangkok, I knew I was in a different world compared to Taiwan. Most of the people spoke English so the country was very easy to navigate. Second, the culture is very welcoming and has a warm vibe to it. Everyone is always smiling and seems very welcoming.
I live in a big city in Taiwan so I wanted to spend most of my time at the beach but decided to extend my trip and add some more days to Bangkok and I'm glad I did. I love seeing the Asian architecture as well as ancient temples and Thailand did not disappoint. As a solo female traveler, I felt very comfortable in the country. I was able to explore beyond the tourist areas and never felt my safety was in jeopardy.
Thai food is amazing and I was so happy to be able to enjoy food with so many different spices and flavors. Some of the best places I ate were restaurants recommended by local people. Even the night market in Thailand compared to Taiwan was different. I felt it was much more open with a variety of different foods that I wouldn't see in Taiwan.
The best part of Thailand was the beach and one of my favorite moments was a day in which it rained and this caused many of the tourists to cancel their guided trip so I was the only one on the tour. Rain didn't bother me one bit and I was happy to have a whole tour to myself. We explored the various beaches, fed monkeys, and I was able to appreciate peaceful moments on beaches that would be crowded with tourists if the weather was sunny.
Years ago, that would have been me canceling my tour because of the weather but on this spiritual journey I’ve recognized that it’s important to live in the present moment and you never know what you can encounter no matter the weather.
The tour guide gave me freedom to meditate on the beach which is one of my favorite things in the world to do. I felt very blessed to be able to see the ocean, beautiful land and its natural element unbothered by people.
My other favorite activity that I did was with a company called Following Giants www.followinggiants.net I've traveled all around the world and this is probably the most amazing thing I've done. This is a small company of like-minded caring individuals who want to see the best for elephants who have been worked, stressed and haven't been able to live the life they deserve because of being worked either in lumber yards or sanctuaries with tourists who are allowed to touch the elephants.
In this environment, there is no touching of any elephant. You walk with the elephants as they do their daily routine of finding food in the forest and swimming. What I appreciated about each and every worker was the thoroughly educated guest on why it's so important to let these creatures roam free. You could feel the elephant's energy was different. There was no anxiety there and no stress from having to be around people touching them, bathing them and in their personal space all the time.
We never got too close to the elephants and watched from a distance but it was fascinating. As far as I know there is only one other place like this in Thailand. Most of the other sanctuaries elephants are with tourists almost all day, not being able to eat the proper amount of food they need, and feel stressed from what they are asked to do.
Overall the trip was amazing. It was the first Asian country that I've been able to go to and I'm glad I went. I would highly recommend going to Thailand if you like temples, night markets, beaches, and feeling a sense of peace. Please also look at Following Giants. I love to spread the word about people helping animals and these people are amazing.
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