You do not need to reserve guesthouses, hotels, or hostels in advance when traveling in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and hopefully anywhere else we go. You can ask a tuk-tuk driver to take you to the center of town, or a cheap guesthouse- and there most always will be availability. This will save you money, time, and effort.
It was helpful to utilize hostel airport transfers in Australia and New Zealand, but in SE Asia, you can go anywhere within a radius of 45 km for around 5 dollars each.
Especially in Thailand, do not be afraid to eat of the streets despite what your doctor, mother, guidebook, or common sense may tell you. If there is a line of locals, a good rule of thumb would be do as the locals will do. You can get a meal for a dollar, and it will likely be better than anything you can get in a restaurant.
Even if you have never tried Pepto Bismal, or the consistency scares you this is all you need for potential stomach issues in this region. Instead of pregaming with vodka, we have often found ourselves taking swigs of pepto in preparation for a long night out.
DO NOT pack like Carley. If you are afraid they don’t carry nice face wash, body wash, deodorant, or good shampoo you’re a fool. Even though these are some of the largest tourist destinations in the world, she was convinced there would be none of the above. It is wiser to buy as you go here, for it will save you a great deal of space in your suitcase.
There are 711s in Thailand. Many times, you can be standing and looking around in a circle and be able to throw a rock at three 711s…sometimes even four. There is also canned mountain dew for anyone who is as addicted as anyone who can ever say they have lived on Wall St or Center St.
Always carry toilet paper when traveling. Boy or girl, man or woman, don’t expect a large role or Charmin ultra when you walk into a stall with a hole in the ground. Since we know a lot of you have not ventured over to this area, we should warn you the facilities are not exactly up to par. Even if you get a room in a “resort”, don’t expect anything more than a hose, and a hole in the ground for a bathroom…unless you upgrade. We promise…this you will find out the hard way.
Two months in, we can say to definitely embrace the backpacker mentality. As we poked fun at those in Australia for their lack of hygiene, and canned bean-eating habits, by now, we could easily be mistaken for them, and its for all the better. Don’t get us wrong, we are both craving philly cheese steaks and our home shower, but we will never forget the months of eating plain rice, sticky rice, fried rice, coconut rice, sweet and sour rice, egg rice, brown rice all while not showering. The new name for our blog should be two friends, zero showers, four chopsticks, and 1000 bowls of rice…forever.
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