Tyro Sketches: Lessons from an exotic Kingdom

One of the things I realized about myself very recently is that I do not enjoy travelling alone. As interesting and challenging as it sounds to many of my friends the idea of going on an adventure alone, with a backpack and a not-so-carefully laid out plan in paper, meeting new people and embracing everything that comes along the way, it has never appealed to me as much. And finding oneself while travelling alone is something that comes along as a bonus to most, but for me, I feel like it is the people you are with who facilitate this search for self.

That is why I was glad I had friends over at Thailand because if I hadn’t, I would probably not have gone there and had such a wonderful and memorable time. I might as well say it was easily the best vacation I have ever had, because it had this rare combination of an incredibly beautiful place (the sea and beaches are always special for Nepalese people) with intelligent, interesting and fun-loving friends with whom you had a lifetime of catching up to do. This recipe allowed us to realize every element to a truly amazing vacation, be it going out on a drinking rampage and partying till daylight, chilling in the pool early in the morning with fruit juice after a very heavy breakfast, talking about and catching up on life till late nights in the balcony, getting soaked in the rain and having beer afterwards, saying and doing incredibly stupid things without a care of being judged by each other, walking down picturesque streets in an old and worn out city of Thailand, having intelligent conversations about everything and the grand plans we’ve laid out for ourselves in life over a spectacular view of the whole city of Bangkok, laughing till we were out of breath in multiple occasions and pouring out your emotions throughout the night until you slept for just an hour.

And the point here is that while I had breathtaking views of hidden beaches, exciting dives into the sea at night while it was pitch black, pursuits of beautiful sea creatures in snorkels, and everything about the place in general, I can never associate a strong connection with a place, as much as I can with the people I spent the time in the place with. That has always been the case. Someone once told me we hold on to memories we are most fond of, while our brain filters the rest of it; and as much as I would want to hold on to the things I’m not really fond of too, I trust that my brain is intelligent enough to know better to let go. And whenever I think of my travels, I mostly only want to remember the times I’ve spent knowing more about the people I was with rather than the place I was in. Thailand, had lots of good places to offer, and I consider it a bonus that added to the remarkable time we had together, and I really see myself going there again for a different experience with different people and I’m sure that if I’m with the right crowd again, I will have the time of my life.

I don’t really like travelling alone because while people travel to find new places, I like to travel to find new things about the people I am close to. Thailand taught me an important lesson that there is always something new you can learn about the people you have been knowing for years, that, in ways make you closer to them. Happiness is only real when it is shared, as said by Christopher McCandless, ironically in a book that apparently inspires people to head out into the wild on an adventure by themselves, and this quote is something I am deeply fond of in sense that sharing experience is sharing happiness, and I believe it holds very true for travel bugs such as myself.

Pictures are inevitable aren't they: