Finally Back On The Road!!

I've done it! I have finally left Brisbane, Australia. I am very sad leave Brisbane. It had become home for me. But, the life of a traveller means getting comfortable in a place, making great friends, getting itchy feet, and moving on.

I find myself happily eating green curry while drinking a beer in a hole in the wall restaurant in Bangkok, Thailand. Now that I've hit the road again, I can feel the stress leaving me. My last couple of months in Brisbane had become stressful for some reason. Being in new places, going for spontaneous adventures (aka getting lost), meeting new people, and having the complete freedom to do whatever the heck you want to do..... this is my comfort zone and I didn't realize how much I missed it.

Yesterday was an incredible "adventure"/lost day. I spent 8 hours just wondering around temples, eating street food, meeting friendly people, and getting my future told! (January 7th is supposed to be extremely lucky for me! ESPECIALLY if I paid the guy 5000Baht [150 $US]).......(I didn't pay)....

One thing I REALLY like about Bangkok is the back alley scene. Tourist stay away for the most part, it's not "in your face" with trying to get you to buy things and it's easy to move around. The back alley restaurants are the best. Yesterday I got lost... utterly and completely lost (with no awesome landmarks this isn't a hard thing to have happen) I found myself taking a "shortcut" because I thought I knew where I was. I followed a dingy windy alley that was without a doubt the most sketch thing I have done to date. Passing by chicken coops, seeing people kill said chickens, everything being dirty and dark, water running down the middle of the alley, buildings in all sorts of different stages of dilapidation... and that's when I saw it.

A low roof building with a McDonnalds umbrella above it's one outside table. A couple of people scattered about sitting on wood boxes eating noodles. The woman in the "kitchen" -- A half indoor and half outdoor assembly of mismatched work stations, one big wok, and raw meet chillin under ice a foot away from the cooked meat -- she looked like she was about 100 years old. But she moved with the quickness and precision of a woman no older than 90....

I saw a sign that clearly stated something in Thai that I dont understand with a "-30b". So all I knew was whatever she was selling was 30 Baht or $1 US. I was hungry, so I figure why not!? I handed her 30 Baht, she pointed at the beef or the chicken...  the chicken had LESS flies on it so I went with that. Five minutes later the woman came back with a bowl of something that involved noodles, chicken, vegetables, and a broth that killed. The bowl was about the size of my face, I barely finished it all. But it was AMAZING. Without a doubt the BEST meal I've ever paid $1 US Dollar for.

What am I trying to say? Yes, there is an inherent plethora of dangers that might befall you when you decide to travel by back alleys that look as sketch as some of the ones I'm going down. But, sometimes they pay off. I have no idea how I got there, no idea what the place is called or if it even has a name, but that place will be lodged in my memory for the rest of my life as the best food I ever got for $1 Dollar.

So, I landed in Bangkok two nights ago. With the help and great direction of my Canadian CoachSurfing host, David: I managed to find his place, plan my next day, and have a place to stay for two nights! Yesterday, in addition to adventures, I went around to about 25 different Travel Agency type places and finally found the cheapest one. In about two hours I should be getting in a taxi, to then get on a bus, to then get on a speed boat, to the get to an island call Koh Tao(one of Thailands most legit scuba diving locations) for a 3 day stay to do 4 dives and hang out in tropical paradise.... I'm a little stoked.

I have a couple of other blog post to write, namely a "Australia- A Review" and a "People are Awesome" (thank you to several people) but this will most likely be it for today! I'm going be headed back to the states for Christmas and I'm stoked about that. If you wanta see me or hang or anything let me know asap!

Emails while on the road are always GREAT!
SteveGoesAbroad@gmail.com

Thanks for reading!
Steve