Thailand is the part of South-east Asia that I have been meticulously avoiding until now. Because Thailand is beaches, fullmoon parties and minors' prostitution. A stopover spent on the canals of Chao Phraya river and a visit to a ruined temple on the Cambodia border do not count as having been in Thailand.
We got the idea in Laos. The hilly landscape of the north made us want to come back and since state borders don't interrupt landscape so Northern Laos and Northern Thailand had to be combined. There are too many broken temples in Northern Thailand and troublesome to cross borders so n the end only Thailand was left on the itinerary. Ruins and jungle. No beaches in the north which helps to keep tourism and prostitution in check.
Thailand was the only country that managed to balance between two colonial powers without being colonized itself. They destroyed each other's temples and stole Buddha statues locally.
Compared with other languages that I have sniffed the Thai language is close to Laotian. Script is similar and the languages are related. Thais and Laos are little and big brother like Estonians and Finns. Thais are bigger, wealthier and more famous. Laos who watch Thai TV understand Thai language. No Thai watches Lao TV. Although they don't say it officially but there are more Lao people in Thailand than in Laos.
But now the airplane is stuck in Helsinki. Again.
Everybody else has already been to Thailand.
Add a comment