Bathroom accessories

Learning another language

Old Friends

It’s all about learning from your experiences and becoming a better person.

-Me

I hope one day philosophy students will quote me, but until then my two weeks of traveling have been educational on a number of things. I’ll give you five.

1. Pack light. I’m learning this as I move from location to location. Being agile is good on trips like this. I thought I did a good job packing essentials into my 80 liter backpack, but I’ve seen people with smaller bags traveling for a lot longer. I can’t imagine what I would eliminate.  I really need my 8 pair of underwear in cause of emergency.
2. Make friends. I’ve been amazed how open and willing to talk most people have been during this trip. It’s even more cool when I’ve see them again later during my travels. That was certainly the case in Thailand most people were on the same northern route from Bangkok to Chiang Mai and Pai. Talking to people helped fine tone my travel plans and made me realize the next item.
3. Learn languages. Damn, I wish I spoke Thai, French, Cambodian, German… the list could go for days. Only speaking English in foreign countries is like trying to put a square peg into a round peg. I’ve gotten by so far, but it feels like a struggle to close the language gap and limits the experiences and sharing. I had an experience with a food vendor basically refused to talk to me because I start off saying “hello” in English. Maybe they were just weird, but I’ll take some of the blame. That’s a volley for point four.
4. Don’t eat French Fries in Southeast Asia. This isn’t a warning about not eating fried potatoes, though I will warn you to ONLY DRINK BOTTLED WATER, it’s more of a roundabout way of saying eat some of the foods that are local dishes of the country you visit. I’ll warn you to make sure it’s cooked properly, but I’ve loved so many dishes here that can only be imitated back home. On my last night in Cambodia, I had two bowls of fish Amok, in the same sitting, at an incredible Siem Reap restaurant across from our hostel. I may have eaten like an American (huge food portions), but I really enjoyed trying some genuine Khmer cuisine. You ready for point five?
5. Use a “bum gun”. To reduce toilet paper usage and plumbing clogs, many bathrooms in Southeast Asia have spray hoses (same in appearance to the ones used in kitchen) to rinse your booty crack after going number two. I can never get fully on board with intentionally spraying water on my butt, especially cold water. I have to give credit to those who can do that on a daily, maybe even tri-daily basis, and not be in a grumpy  mood. The possibility of walking around all day with soggy underwear makes me depressed. SE Asia I tip my hat to you.

In my final week, I plan to gain a few more useful sayings for my future philosophy quotables. I hope these points help you when you make the trip to a foreign land or maybe just in your daily life. You could make friends or learn a new language during your lunch break, try a restaurant that serves different foreign foods every now and then, or at the very least have management install “bum guns” in the office bathrooms. Either way, it’s all about trying something new and becoming better for it.