Sitting here in my hotel overlooking the Laccadive Sea (Yeah, I've never heard of it either) in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka I've been thinking.
And yes, that was me gloating, but the hotel was cheapish (in a mattress on the floor in a single room kind of way) because its low season and low season rules.
Anyway, as I said, I've been thinking. Thinking about the lessons I've learned/ will learn from the countries I've been to and/or am going to.
Looking back, this trip has had a game-of-two-halves feel to it. The first half (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos) has been like childhood - fun, carefree - and suddenly I've become a responsible adult with bills and mortgage (in the most fun way possible) (Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Malaysia).
I can't really pinpoint when that changed. The friends I was making at the start were numerous, yet fleeting (only in each others company for a few days at the most). At some stage, probably in Cambodia, I made less friends, but was with them for longer (as long as a week and in some cases we're still together almost eight weeks later (though with a little break in between)).
So what is it that I've learned/ that I anticipate learning?
The first is how to travel as a group. I touched on it in a previous post, but this is an extension of that. No longer do I feel like I'm travelling alone, but now part of a group, which, in Sri Lanka I think is necessary. Mostly because of how expensive accommodation is (between $20-$30 a night for an average guesthouse) and also because its not so easy to meet new people. As a solo traveller it would be difficult to meet and travel with people because they're already in the country with their own group/ doing their own thing i.e. renting a car. It would actually get quite lonely on your own, though it might be slightly different in high season. There isn't really an infrastructure for tourists/ backpackers - there's not really any cheap and cheerful backpackers accommodation or bars (except in bigger places like Kandy, Colombo or Galle) or anywhere to hang out at night (Sri Lankans aren't really big drinkers, so I'm told. And they also have a day off whenever there's a full moon - relevance factor = 0.).
The point is that you get to know people quite well when you're with them all day every day for weeks on end in the extraordinary situation that is travelling. And in the least cliche way possible, you learn things about yourself (like that I can't ride a motorbike) and things that reinforce what you already knew. The weird thing is that being with other people so long has made me a bit apprehensive about going it alone again - but probably only until I'm actually on my own again.
Sri Lanka has also been a lesson in teamwork, compromise, problem solving, frugality (it is also expensive to do things in Sri Lanka) and maths (who owes whom how much).
The next two things I'll anticipate learning are to do with money.
I'm heading to Myanmar in the next week or so and from what I've heard its difficult/ impossible to get money out from ATMs etc. And what's worse, apparently there's hardly any internet *GASP!* and if there is its slow. In anticipation of the former I've withdrawn $1000USD for the 27 days I'll be there. To save you from getting your calculator out, that works out to be about $37 per day for food, accommodation - everything. If I run out of money, and if what people have told me is correct, I'll be out on the street until my flight out of there.
I've never been much of a make-a-budget-and-stick-to-it kinda guy, more of a try-and-spend-as-little-money-as-possible-and-see-how-we-go, which I suppose would still work but I'm used to having some back-up money if I needed it. Not this time. But not to worry, an Australian couple I met in Cambodia said they lived comfortably on about $35/day each for about three weeks and were staying in semi-fancy places so things should be all right. Its just a scary thought having a finite amount of money and THAT'S IT.
In a quasi-related lesson, when I get out of Myanmar I'll have not that much money left (and I still have to buy a flight home!) so my lesson in Malaysia will be in stretching a dollar (or in this case Ringgit) and extending my trip for as long as possible. And also maybe when to call it quits on something. The money I'll have left from my trip will also have to last until December when I get my money out of a term deposit. (And here's a bonus lesson - New Zealand is expensive.)
Now whether these lessons will stay with me after I return is yet to be seen. But for now they seem like worthwhile lessons to learn (not that I was altogether unfamiliar with them to begin with. I suppose these are more like the practical part of the lesson - like learning about magnesium + heat and then actually doing it.).
And by the way, this counts for a post about Myanmar because of the reason mentioned above.
And yes, that was me gloating, but the hotel was cheapish (in a mattress on the floor in a single room kind of way) because its low season and low season rules.
Anyway, as I said, I've been thinking. Thinking about the lessons I've learned/ will learn from the countries I've been to and/or am going to.
Looking back, this trip has had a game-of-two-halves feel to it. The first half (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos) has been like childhood - fun, carefree - and suddenly I've become a responsible adult with bills and mortgage (in the most fun way possible) (Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Malaysia).
I can't really pinpoint when that changed. The friends I was making at the start were numerous, yet fleeting (only in each others company for a few days at the most). At some stage, probably in Cambodia, I made less friends, but was with them for longer (as long as a week and in some cases we're still together almost eight weeks later (though with a little break in between)).
So what is it that I've learned/ that I anticipate learning?
The first is how to travel as a group. I touched on it in a previous post, but this is an extension of that. No longer do I feel like I'm travelling alone, but now part of a group, which, in Sri Lanka I think is necessary. Mostly because of how expensive accommodation is (between $20-$30 a night for an average guesthouse) and also because its not so easy to meet new people. As a solo traveller it would be difficult to meet and travel with people because they're already in the country with their own group/ doing their own thing i.e. renting a car. It would actually get quite lonely on your own, though it might be slightly different in high season. There isn't really an infrastructure for tourists/ backpackers - there's not really any cheap and cheerful backpackers accommodation or bars (except in bigger places like Kandy, Colombo or Galle) or anywhere to hang out at night (Sri Lankans aren't really big drinkers, so I'm told. And they also have a day off whenever there's a full moon - relevance factor = 0.).
The point is that you get to know people quite well when you're with them all day every day for weeks on end in the extraordinary situation that is travelling. And in the least cliche way possible, you learn things about yourself (like that I can't ride a motorbike) and things that reinforce what you already knew. The weird thing is that being with other people so long has made me a bit apprehensive about going it alone again - but probably only until I'm actually on my own again.
Sri Lanka has also been a lesson in teamwork, compromise, problem solving, frugality (it is also expensive to do things in Sri Lanka) and maths (who owes whom how much).
The next two things I'll anticipate learning are to do with money.
I'm heading to Myanmar in the next week or so and from what I've heard its difficult/ impossible to get money out from ATMs etc. And what's worse, apparently there's hardly any internet *GASP!* and if there is its slow. In anticipation of the former I've withdrawn $1000USD for the 27 days I'll be there. To save you from getting your calculator out, that works out to be about $37 per day for food, accommodation - everything. If I run out of money, and if what people have told me is correct, I'll be out on the street until my flight out of there.
I've never been much of a make-a-budget-and-stick-to-it kinda guy, more of a try-and-spend-as-little-money-as-possible-and-see-how-we-go, which I suppose would still work but I'm used to having some back-up money if I needed it. Not this time. But not to worry, an Australian couple I met in Cambodia said they lived comfortably on about $35/day each for about three weeks and were staying in semi-fancy places so things should be all right. Its just a scary thought having a finite amount of money and THAT'S IT.
In a quasi-related lesson, when I get out of Myanmar I'll have not that much money left (and I still have to buy a flight home!) so my lesson in Malaysia will be in stretching a dollar (or in this case Ringgit) and extending my trip for as long as possible. And also maybe when to call it quits on something. The money I'll have left from my trip will also have to last until December when I get my money out of a term deposit. (And here's a bonus lesson - New Zealand is expensive.)
Now whether these lessons will stay with me after I return is yet to be seen. But for now they seem like worthwhile lessons to learn (not that I was altogether unfamiliar with them to begin with. I suppose these are more like the practical part of the lesson - like learning about magnesium + heat and then actually doing it.).
And by the way, this counts for a post about Myanmar because of the reason mentioned above.
