solo mission
this morning i came across this article on vagablogging.net by alison brick which sort of mirrors thoughts i’ve been having lately as i’ve been planning my next solo leg of the trip… the last few weeks have been a flurry of fun and excitement in traveling with an amazing group of girls. we were always on the move, always planning our next adventure, always getting ourselves into or out of “taxi drama”, as kira put it. =) i feel so lucky to have been able to share some of those experiences with them and also to be undertaking this entire trip with jess as my partner in crime.
but i’ve always known, and i think on this trip i’ve discovered even more, that there is a part of me that craves alone time and thrills at the thought of solo travel. when you travel alone, i find that you often go out of your comfort zone and that’s a really scary place to be sometimes. yet it’s also exhilirating, and forces you to reach out and to make connections that you often would miss when you’re traveling with a companion or a group. i’ve made some amazing, lifelong friends (hi, adrienne!) when we were both traveling solo. yet the last time i really took a trip on my own was in 2000 in london. and i’ve decided… 8 years is just too long.
so today jess is coming with me to the train station to book my ticket back up to chiang mai, where i’ll be planning a trip through laos, solo. jess is staying in bangkok to spend some time with aung, and we’ll be meeting up again when i get back. so far my plan is to book a package in chiang mai that will take me up to the laos border crossing and then a boat ride down the mekong river to luang prabang. the trip there should take about 3 days, and i’m crossing my fingers that i won’t be too seasick, because i believe the last 2 days are on the boat! after luang prabang, i’ll probably take a bus down to vang vieng (highly recommended by the guy we met in the taipei airport!) or on to the capital, vientienne, which is my friend champa’s hometown! from there i’ll catch a train back to bangkok to meet up with jess…
our plans for the rest of our time here also include a side trip to cambodia when eric gets in towards the end of this month. then i’m hoping to get back down to the south, but this time maybe on the gulf of thailand side, to seek out a cozy beach bungalow as a birthday present to myself. =) there’s also another 10-day meditation retreat near surat thani in the south which starts on my actual birthday, so i’m looking into that too – it might be kind of interesting to start out my 28th year on earth with 10 days of silence. haha. it’s amazing to me that half our time in thailand is gone already, but we’re definitely going to be making the most of the time we have left. more stories to come! =)
(oooh! i was just hunting around on google for something else and came across this awesome travel blog entry, which recounts the luang prabang – vientienne trip that i’m going to be booking today! can’t wait!)
Tags: bangkok (thailand), malia
malia
Sounds like a great idea—to combine the best of both solo and traveling with friends some of the time too…enjoyed reading the companion links as well….seems like you have a good plan….love you, Mom
very cool malia. keep telling us your stories and stay safe. i’m like you too, i love my time with others, but i also need a balance with alone time too. i remember when i went to europe i spent the first half with kimi and tawny and the second half traveling around alone (they had flown back by that time). each were equally rewarding just in very different ways.