so, that’s the end of our time in southeast asia. it’s been a great couple of months. i came here not really sure exactly which countries we would see and i ended up going to myanmar, thailand, singapore, and indonesia. all of them were great. they all mostly had this chill laidback kind of vibe, tropical weather that was a bit hot at times, and friendly outgoing people. despite these similarities, they all were very unique and different from each other.
myanmar had hardly any tourist infrustructure, traveling was slow and rough, and the people there weren’t used to toursists. because of this, the people there were ridiculously friendly and everyone wnated to meet you and say hello. no one there was out to screw you over to get your money. no hassling anywhere. on the opposite end of that spectrum, thailand was all about tourism. everywhere you went you were surrounded by internet cafes, hotels, bus companies, etc. thailand has had a huge flow of tourists for many many years and it definitely shows. travel there is ridiculously easy cause everything is set up to make life good for tourists. this definitely helps on one hand, but you definitely get a lot more hassles from people and also some people there are definitely just out to get your money. despite that, thailand’s an amazing place, and most people you meet are extremely nice. the thai people are incredible industrious yet totally mellow at the same time. somewhere inbetween the two lies indonesia. they definitley have a budding tourism industry. some places like bali are overrun w/ tourists, while others like flores hardly get vistied. travel is fairly difficult. the people there.. i dunno. some people were incredible nice, but others really seemed to dislike tourists. i definitely often got the feeling i was being laughed at or mocked. and then there’s singapore… a place unlike any other in SE asia. its huge skyscrapers and high costs definitely make it stand out from the other countries.
these places also have very different kinds of foods. the food in myanmar was some of the worst i’ve had anywhere, the food in thailand was some of the best, and the food in indonesia was well… kind of limited. all of these countries were highly religious and i saw a ridiculous amount of temples in all of them. also, the amount on natural beauty in all these places was absolutely spectacular. this region is just so incredibly beautiful.
and now, we’re about to totally change our pace and leave southesat asia. we’re going to japan. a country so insanely different than any other we’ve been to. all the places we’ve been to have mostly been developing countries. we’ve explored tiny villages, we’ve searched for places as remote as possible. places that have hardly any technology. and now japan will be such a crazy change. one of the most industrialized countries. one of the most expensive countries. huge shiny cities. high-tech gadgets. i cant wait…….
*v
