I don’t know what drove me to travel? It doesn’t really run in my family as I was the only one that had a passport at the time. Was it in my heritage or did I break the mold? Some things I will never know, but here I stood on a dock at the most southern tip of Thailand with a loaded bicycle about to head north to god knows where. 

  Thailand was not a stranger to me as I travel through it a few years before. This time around was of course very different and I was excited to see more of less touristic places along the way. I’ve noticed that I got more unique experiences on the journey by going through the “no name” towns. The one thing I didn’t except was the fact that I was constantly lost in translation there. Thailand was the only country in Southeast Asia that wasn’t conquered by another country and they are very proud of that. So much so that they didn’t really teach the English language to the locals as much as the surrounding countries. Getting around wasn’t any harder though being that the Thai people are very nice and caring, it just got lonely a lot. 

  During the journey north, I managed to stop on an island called Koh Tao to meet some friends I previously ran into in Australia. It was a good two week break in Paradise to hit the reset button before jumping back on the bike and setting my sights on Bangkok to meet up with another friend that I met in Malaysia. Along the way to Bangkok I came across a  young family on bicycles as well. They blew my mind as they were going on three years on the road with a 4 year old daughter. She was probably the smartest kid I have ever met. I could have a full conversation with her in English and then watch her say something in Japanese to her mom seamlessly. After 2 days of riding With that couple We ended up going our separate ways, but they left a life-changing impact to me and my thoughts of my future as I watch them raise their kid on the road still living out their dreams.

  I headed north to Bangkok where I met up with my my dear friend and spent about a week with her before I jump back on the bike and headed through the middle of Thailand. It took a handful of days through a lot of remote villages and long straightaways, but I managed to hit Chiang Mai. As a celebration of me making it to the most northern city in Thailand I treated myself to a wonderful Airbnb. I decided to spend a couple weeks there before heading east towards the country of Laos in plans of just crossing through to Vietnam Where I would fly out to Europe to finish my cycling trip… unfortunately the world had other plans! 

  Thailand to me still stands out as one of my favorite countries not only for the beautiful beaches and great food but the wonderful people as well. My first venture through this country was fairly short and I only ended up doing the touristy cities as I was just backpacking. Once riding through almost the entirety of the country, I found different meaning to the Thai culture and have a little bit more understanding of what is really important in life. When planning on going through Thailand I told some of my friends that it would probably be the last time that I would venture into Thailand being that there’s so many other countries I haven’t been to yet… oh how I was so wrong for thinking that!