Why I Unluckily Fell in Love with Thailand

    "Are you travelling alone?" I'm asking a backpacker whom we have just met during the breakfast buffet on the Khao San Road in Thailand. It's hard to oversee that he partied last night, like most of the people who visit the notorious backpacker mile. "No, actually, I was on the road with two of my mates. Suddenly, they were gone. They have probably picked up any Thai barkeeper... I'm feeling really sorry for her," he answers with a mischievous grin. "I guess they have treated her very badly". 

Nightfall in Pattaya, Thailand

Long it has been no secret that the red light district of Thailand has evolved into a rudimentary illegal economic sector. In this regard, Pattaya is the sex tourism stronghold for lustful men of predominantly high age. I followed the obscure going-ons of the horizontal industry the last days in Pattaya and Bangkok. Nevertheless, I run out of words. I'm sitting opposite of my interlocutor and have somehow no more desire to continue the conversation. 

How to Live More Consciously

   We are too busy hiding our heads behind weighty tomes in order learn chemical formulae and laws by heart that we will forget very soon. Our aim is a successful final degree, just to start afterwards an all the more successful career. Therefore, we are sitting for weeks behind big screens because the next deadline for the twenty-page term paper has to be met at any price. No, today we do not have time to go out with our friends. Since we were little, we have already been instilled that work always comes before pleasure. As if we first had to deserve it to live. 

John Lennon once said: ""Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans". And he proved to be right. As soon as our duties get a higher priority than enjoying life, something is likely going wrong. One day we will probably wake up and ask ourselves: "Have we actually lived?"

We will be even older, have more obligations and will devote our life to our family, our children - if we will have some. With age, it will not be easier and the problems will not become any smaller. 

We have unlearned to live consciously!

Nevertheless, living consciously is easier said than done. I, too, have realized lately, how easy it is to abandon oneself to the daily grind and to conjure up excuses, why it is not possible to allow oneself some fun. The society has imposed norms on us that tell us how to live. We can see it in our fellow men, day after day. At the extreme, we are talking about those who just turned 17 and have already started to study. Ideally, they are accomplishing their Bachelor study program within three years and are taking right after that their Master's degree. Finally, they are standing with their young 23 years in the middle of the working world. Most of the students will probably complete their Master's degree in average with 27. And their lives, we use as guidelines. 

So, what about you?

Photographer: TALKASIA

Social networks like Facebook give us incentives to always compare ourselves with other people. Person XY has already done this and that, completed a semester abroad, has already done its doctorate and now works for a highly respected company. And I stand here, in the seventh semester of my Bachelor program and ask myself if something was going wrong.

"Dearest Award..."

What the hell is actually the "Dearest Award..."?  

The "Dearest Award" serves the purpose to increase the publicity of rather unknown or new websites. With the nomination through another blogger, one receives eleven questions which should be answered in an own blog post. My blog was chosen by the authors of the German travel blog http://www.moosearoundtheworld.de. Thank you!  
Here are the eleven questions that the travel bloggers Anke and Thorsten made up for me and some other bloggers:

How should your life look like in ten years?

In ten years, I'll be out on business as a travel journalist on the Southeast Asian islands Borneo and Sumatra. I'll support foundations that take stand for the protection of endangered animal species and will collaborate on rehabilitation programs for the reintroduction of orang-utans. I'd like to have my own travel magazine. I don't want to be rich, but earn enough money to travel the world. A small trailer will help providing me with enough  mobility and freedom.

Besides, I'd love to have cat, a dog and perhaps also a donkey (iii-a).

Where will your next journey take you?
Probably to Northern Europe. Sweden, Finland, Norway or Iceland. What moves me there are the idyllic landscapes: crystal clear lakes surrounded by high mountains, at night a sky full of aurora borealis, then at times some moose that look out of the thicket. 

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

Less than two weeks ago, I ate for the first time deep-fried scorpion. Or rather a leg. That was in Thailand on the Khao San Road in Bangkok. Admittedly, I had drunk some beer before. In my boozy state, I watched an Australian backpacker how she bit appreciatively into the tail of a scorpion. Apparently, I appeared a little euphoric wherefore she offered me a leg. She said: "Caution - tastes like burned chicken" - and she was right all along. 

What situation are you afraid of when you are travelling?

I am afraid of an abduction and a simultaneous abstraction of my identification documents. Moreover, I am accompanied by fears like

Childhood Dreams - Part 3: "Couchsurfer Meetings in the Orange County" (or: California Travel Report)

Click here to read PART 1      -          Click here to read PART 2

Why I met with Couchsurfers in the Orange County

     It is nearly impossible to develop a personal opinion about the cultural identity of a country without coming into closer contact with the locals. On this account, it was clear for me from the beginning that I would set out on a couchsurfing adventure once again. Deep inside I hoped that there was far more to discover in the land of unlimited possibilities than those things I have already known from the media. Those of you who have been following my blog recently, probably know that I have already had the honor to surf across Morocco, but also to host people in my hometown. However, this time, I would go on an expedition in a foreign country for the first time alone.

Sometimes, I take pleasure in the uncertainty not knowing what to expect. It has something fascinating, something challenging. As I have noticed during my time in California, travelling alone can have great benefits. Independence and heightened receptiveness towards the culture are besides the enduring joy of exploration undoubtedly a part of it. In case of a longer stay I certainly would have missed to exchange the latest news with my friends. Though, during this week, this was not the case.