Thailand: the Land of a Thousand Smiles

Today (or at least the day I started writing this three days ago) marks two months since I arrived in Asia. I am not sure if the actual flow of time aligns with my perception; and I think that is a sign of something beautiful. I have been truly living in the moment, which makes time a somewhat arbitrary concept. Despite that, it felt like a significant enough of a date to do a bit of self reflection; even if I dragged it out over a few days.

I started this journey in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; assuming that I’d settle in Cambodia after a month or two. Although, up until a few months before leaving home, I had my heart set on Thailand. I stumbled into a bit of heartbreak in late 2022 upon learning that visible tattoos can make employment in Thailand nearly impossible; so given that my arms/hands are covered, I had a mini meltdown, and then opted for Cambodia. Yet I’ve been in Thailand for a little over half my time in South East Asia thus far. And I love it. I owe that partially to a new and dear friend/ surrogate mother Lavinia, whom I met on the very remote island of Koh Rong in Cambodia after my second mini meltdown triggered by the thought of settling in Phnom Penh. I trusted the universe and followed Lavinia to Thailand where she was spending the last five weeks of her travels before heading home to the UK last week. At the time we started traveling, I couldn’t imagine spending five weeks with someone I’d just met, and assumed I’d part ways with her after a few weeks… and I may have a time or two, but we kept finding each other again; somehow magnetically pulled together even when not intended.

Lavinia is loud, she’s opinionated, and always running late. She’s also a tad bossy. For those of you who know me well, it probably sounds like we have nothing in common at all ;-)

She’s also easily attuned to others emotions, and has a big heart. There may be a few things she saw in me before I was quite ready to see it myself; the most significant being that she knew I’d be happier in Thailand, something I was unwilling to see as I didn’t think I’d find work here. Lavinia always had some master plan for me to fall in love with Thailand and re-examine my plan of settling in Cambodia, though she was never overly pushy about it (perhaps she picked up on my slightly oppositional side that would have just dug in my heels and pushed back).

So why do I like Thailand more? A few people have asked me this. It’s a difficult question to answer, but I think there are three significant things that tip the scales in Thailands favor:

1. It’s more developed - Cambodia is severely lacking in infrastructure. Thailand boasts much stronger transportation systems, quality healthcare, and seemingly an all around easier life

2. It's one of the most gay friendly countries in the world- for those of my readers who are gay, I am sure you get it. For the rest however, it’s a complex matter that I probably can’t justify with words. Canada is not an overtly oppressive nation, but I’ve spent most of my life with an underlying sense of being “different”; having a quality about me that sets me out of the mainstream and into some subculture that much of the Canadian population is extremely comfortable with viewing as inferior. This takes a big toll on a person. In contrast; in Thailand they don’t give a fuck! Love is love. It is a beautiful thing. It’s funny that some of my loved ones have fears about safety when it comes to Thailand, as I’ve never felt safer. Here I don’t have to worry about someone trying to bottle me at the bar for looking queer.

3. The beaches- Admittedly the nicest beach I’ve seen was in Cambodia; the country is severely lacking in coastal land. Whereas Thailand has countless amazing beaches and islands to choose from.

I’ve traveled to several different pasts of Thailand; Bangkok, Pattaya, Koh Chang, Phuket and Krabi. In a few days I go to Roi Et for Thai new years. Roi Et should be interesting; I’ve been warned that no one will speak English, and it’ll be my first time in north east Thailand. So should be a real experience, not just a touristy pre-packaged one! Fortunately I have a nice Thai man to help me navigate it.

Phuket has been my favorite place thus far. Which is no big surprise to me; I think I’m secretly a mermaid or something. I’ve always felt strongly pulled towards the ocean. It’s a big part of what drew me back to SEA in the first place.

So hopefully I can settle there; and if not there, somewhere in southern Thailand along the coast. I’ve “started” a teaching English as a foreign language course; it seems like teaching is likely to be the best way to go. I also think it’s something I will enjoy. Though I do need to actually commit the time to completing the course and looking for work.

I'm currently in Ao Nang, Krabi. Songkran (Thai New Years) started today. A multi day celebration, they start with celebrating water with water gun fights in the streets. Not two minutes after leaving my hotel room this morning I was soaking wet. So I bought a big water gun, and joined the celebration. Sadly, there are no pictures as my phone was safely tucked away. Tomorrow I head to Roi Et to continue the celebration.

Time will tell where I will actually end up, and I will keep you posted, my readers. For now; I continue to enjoy the journey.

To finish this post; here is a list of some things I've done, and pics from each place I've visited thus far:

Things I've done so far:

• Eat, pray, loved my way through Thailand and Cambodia

• Visited the killing fields in Cambodia

• Allowed hundreds of sand fleas to feast on my feet

• Had two or three meltdowns (I miss my cats!)

• Made new life long friends

• Visited countless amazing beaches

• Watched a cat give birth in a palm tree

• Ate some amazing food

• Got food poisoning in Phuket (damn you Kuwait kitchen)

• Found shoes that fit my giant feet

• Laughed a lot

• Drank too much

• Got drunk off one single drink (thank you Bangkok for making right proper Long Islands)

• Slept until noon most days

• Smoked some good Shisha

• Gotten lost and found myself over and over again

• Seen some of the best drag shows of my life

• Things I won’t admit on a blog my parents read

• Got sand in places I didn’t know existed

• Got a great tan

• Lost most of my tan

• Celebrated Songkran with water gun fights in the street

Cambodia

Phnom Penh

Siem Reap

Koh Rong

Thailand

Bangkok

Pattaya

Koh Chang

Phuket

Krabi