Believe me, I think I'm more on your side with respect to what we might seek out of travelling than you think. It's just that we have a slight difference in how it is that we percieve and think of travellers with different ideas than our own. I've done a bit of both, fly by the seat of my pants and "follow the flock" and yes, each does have benefits and costs. But I too have my best travel stories/experiences come from taking the oddball, unforseen side trips, thus my interest in that genre of travel remains. Watch, the first time I end up in some weird jail experience (no I don't commit crimes on the road, work with me on creative license for a moment) or getting robbed or some other bad story I'll be on the beaten path (where it's "safe" right?) like a scared little kid! LOL :P
But despite that, I do occasionally find it fun to meet up with other travels and go to that dance club, but I guess we just have different ways of seeking occasional comfort while out and about. So there! (again, snotty humor intended, have fun with it)
Find your boundaries and push them indeed, good stuff, I like hearing that kind of talk! Travel safe and enjoy things as you see fit (goes for all y'all). :)
soi-- not a "better before then now" argument here. i too agree that thailand is a lot of fun now. the message i was trying to convey was the dependency of media in whatever form to navigate through all of this so called trave. my point is that back then (gosh i sound like an old coot) you had to rely on yourself which in turn led to adventure cause you really never knew what you were going to get. in fact, one could do it today, if one wanted to. have you ever read one of those guidebooks that says "there is not much to do in....."? why base your travels on someone elses opinion? you live in bangers, so you know there are lots of really cool hangouts that are not even mentioned in the book, and if you did go to one of the "trendy and cool" places in the book, you would most likely stand out, cause I don't see you as one of those fishing pants kinda guys.
The Philippines has 7,108 islands mountain covered islands. How many beaches are on those islands? The Indonesian Archipelago has over 13,000 islands spread out over thousands of kilometers. Nobody goes there like they do to Thailand because Thailand is easy and familiar. If you want to discover new places in Southeast Asia then go do it because there are literally thousands of places to do it. Thailand is THE RUT. For that matter, go to Isaan and you can make all the 'discoveries' that you want.
I think I looked at a Thai guidebook to get some idea's on my first trip but probably not since.
I do use them for other places though, even for a weekend or business trip, and have quite a few now but the closest to Thaland is the LP SE Asia one.
Yeah Thailand is very easy and all the students etc who went Inter-Railing in their summer hols in Europe a lot head to Thailand - the money goes further now ;-)
I would have been paying more 20 years ago as a student in cash terms never mind real for a Thailand ticket than I do today
BeerLao hits the nail on the head. Want to do a "then" right "now"? Head east of Lombok in Indonesia, or seek out any of the hundreds of less travelled islands in the Philippines.
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<hr>I will certainly do this, as soon as I win the lottery and have plenty of time and money to travel on a trial and error basis.<hr></blockquote>
What a sad answer... I really thought that by now you would have figured out that you don't need to win the lottery to travel to Thailand and that no matter where you go in this country, you won't make an error, just have different experiences.
People still want adventure but not the risks (risk is a big word regarding Thailand) that go with it. I've seen questions like 'where can i find a paradise island with no tourist and good accommodations ?'...well, you can't, if there's no tourist why would someone want to build a guesthouse ? If it's a paradise why would tourist avoid it ? if it exist why would i tell a whole forum about it ?
or as he also points out, Isaan.
but my original point was not a "then" and "now" topic.
I guess I should have re-worded the topic, cause it seems to be causing a lot of confusion.
It should have read "Then: travel by winging it without a book forcing you to discover new places on your own" or "Now: travel without winging it because you have a book/s that tells you what you should do and you become so dependend on it that without it there is no ability to discover anything on your own because it is not in the book"
I travel with a guide book everytime. When I go to someplace I've never been I like to be able to open a book, before I arrive at the destination, and orient myself by studying the map. I look at where I am going to arrive and I look for where I'm going for lodging, entertainment and sight seeing. No confusion. I want information about the ruins I'm about to visit or a boat I'm about to take. I'm not really concerned with exact prices for anything as I can estimate that for myself. I wouldn't be to hasty in slagging of guide books if you use them as an informational resource and not a default guide to what I called THE RUT.
The difference between "now" and "then" is simple ..... the kind of tourisme in Asia (and especially in Thailand) has changed over the years.
European's who first went to Benidorm and Greece are now going to Asia and especially to Thailand but the all think that they are bloody DR. Livingstone (that was a good one Chanchao).
When arrived the first time in Thailand I did not even know that the currency used here was the Thai baht. But I did learn very quick.
Chang Noi
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