*isolation*
Saturday, December 20th, 2008thoughts shared by the adults
Bangkok, Thailand
I think there are three factors contributing to the fact that on this trip we feel no sense of isolation, unlike when we were living in Poland in the early nineties. Back then we would race down the seven flights of stairs and peer in our green metal wall-mounted letterbox at exactly the same time each day. If there was no letter, that was it for 24 hours, and after a few weeks of emptiness we would sometimes feel quite alone. Then when mail did arrive, it was weeks old – history!
Yesterday morning as we rode along the road in an over-stuffed tuktuk, heading for the Lao/Thai border, we sent out some texts to use up the last of the Lao sim card. Within minutes Charles was replying from Auckland, where they were counting down their final eight hours before going to the airport to fly to Bangkok – we calculated by then we’d be two hours into our overnight train journey to the same destination. But already it seemed they were just round the corner! (Yes, having someone come to share part of the journey, reduces the isolation for sure….not forgetting we had Grandpa with us for a good few weeks too….factor number one).
Before Rob could put the phone away, Kate was replying from the sunny Bay of Plenty. Back and forth we conversed in the here and now – even quicker than commenting on the blog or sending an email!
The internet (with blogging, emailing, MSNing and the like) definitely diminishes distance. Knowing that someone can see what you’ve been up to within hours or days of it happening, somehow makes *them* seem closer! Factor number two.
And, thirdly, the fact that we are travelling as a rather large group often in somewhat confined spaces means we don’t have room to be alone, let alone LONELY!
Doesn’t mean it’s all fun and games and glitzy glamour though……check out yesterday’s border crossing……we didn’t let the kids use the word, but the wait was BORING. Don’t tell them we said that, OK 😉
we started at the back of that queue…and we’re not yet at the front!!
if you want some idea of how slowly that queue moved,
try downloading this photo album and looking at every single picture, OK!
at least it would be more interesting 😉
(just for the record,
it’s our pictures from our day at the Plain of Jars in Laos –
you’ll go on a virtual journey through the plain, a silk village and some caves)
rayres