travel

Need Vs Want

/ Sloan / 2 Comments

I have an on going list of things that I need to buy when I return Stateside. With every goal I think I’m setting comes another large purchase.

  • A smartphone. To text, facebook, and tweet.
  • A new computer. To facebook, tweet, email and maybe write.
  • A juicer. To try and replicate the juices I’ve had in SE Asia.
  • A car. To jam out to tunes when karaoke bars are not readily available.
  • A down payment on an apartment. To store all my new purchases.
  • A bike tune up (x2, I have 2 bikes.) I guess for safety.
  • Plane tickets. To see my best friend get married.
  • Micro brew beer. To drink.
  • New running shoes. To run.

The list continues on with things like a new wardrobe, shoes and other things. Which is what all of these objects are, things I need. Wait. Need? Need or want? Realistically, I’ve been living out of a backpack for months and have done just fine with out any of these things. Need vs. Want. When you truly narrow it down, what do you actually need?

 I spent the day trekking through the mountains of Loi Cai with a Vietnamese Hill Tribe woman for hours, she welcomed me into her home and cooked me lunch while her family wandered in and out of the small building. Her kitchen was a pot, a hole in the floor for fire and a spicket outside. Her living room was a dirt floor void of furniture. The most extravagant things she owned was her clothing and jewelry—most of which was made either by herself or one of her village people. This was truly minimalist living.

I asked her if she was happy. Happy bringing travelers like me into her village for the day, living the way she does—her genuine smile answered the question without words.

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Lost (but okay)

/ Sloan / Leave a comment

Some people travel to ‘find’ themselves. Others to ‘escape’. Many to ‘view’ the world from a new angle, a new taste, or smell.

I’m not finding anything, just finding myself more lost. I haven’t escaped anything. I am seeing the world and myself differently.

More lost than ever. I’m wandering [aimlessly] I love [despising] the confusion and [un]certainty of every choice I make.

 

 

Cut Me a Piece of Pai

/ Sloan / 4 Comments

As I’ve begun this trip, I’m finding myself saying that this is not a trip, a vacation or a holiday. I am traveling. Someone who is on a vacation is packing in, planning their days, making lists and getting things done; someone who is traveling is observing, they are relaxing and being somewhere.

Last week I found my way up to Pai, Thailand. I arrived in awe of the mountains, ready to tour the wats and hike the trails bathe in a waterfall and soak in the hot springs. Tuesday night I settled into my bungalow about to walk the town and taste one of the meals I had heard about from the amazing restaurants that were recommended in my travel books. Instead, on my way to town the bungalow owners stopped me and handed me a beer and a bag of bugs: “here, you do this,” he showed me how to pull the wings and legs off, “we will fry, it is cicada season! Cheap, delicious, aroi.”

The night continued from there. We had a family dinner at the Family Huts Bungalow and this is how my three nights turned into four, this is how I slowed down and decided that sitting at a coffee shop called The Good Life talking about life, energy, the past and future was more important than touring the mountains.

Don’t get me wrong, I got up each morning and went for a quick run before the sun got too hot, I did a yoga practice or two on the porch of my bungalow, I drank fruit lassis, I added spirulina algae to my beet and carrot juice, I drank wheat grass and got my ass kicked at Muay Thai.  I sat and wrote. I people watched. I talked and listened with new friends, I drank beers under the moon at a bar where we lounged in hammocks and listened to bad cover music. I also went to bed at 9pm.

My slice of Pai has kicked off this travel right. It was hard to leave but I was afraid that if I didn’t I wouldn’t have left. There’s so much to observe and I have a feeling I’m going to see less but experience more.

Pai love

Pai love