Last preparations

My brand new rucksack looks constipated. I pile some clothes and toiletries on the bed and force the zipper up. I haven’t even started the tour and my rucksack is already giving up.

99.9% of the people would say carrying a laptop and scanner around the Asian continent proves I am an idiot. And they do have a point. Still, I rather get rid of clothes and cosmetics rather than leave my precious laptop home. About a year ago I was returning to London from a holiday in Finland I had the same situation not being able to close the suitcase. My mum couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw me sadly pulling out the big power drill I had to leave behind.

Bangkok traffic is alive: a never ending smoking stream, where everyone has a plan, a vehicle and a mission. My survival instinct says that the only way to cross the road is when other people cross it. I always make sure that there is at least one Thai between the cars and me to soften the impact in case the traffic doesn’t stop. With my 157 cm (5’3’’) height, I tower over most people and I can mostly see where I am going all the time, even in the busy chaotic markets where walking is restricted to tiny geisha steps. The markets is a mixture of postmodern city of Blade Runner and the randomness of the Mos Eisley cantina “wretched hive of scum and villainy.” It is all colours, exotic smells and loud noise. The markets are everywhere, and in the narrow corridors I mostly have no idea what my direction is. Everything is making noise.

I stop to a food cart. The locals are queuing with their own plates and the thai noodle soup smells great. A plate of noodles costs 30 Baht, around one USD. Just when I am thinking how well I am following the doctor’s orders, I see the chef putting the noodles on my plate using his bare hands. The doctor might not approve with my lunch, but hey, the noodles taste great.

The twelve group members meet for the first time on the hotel roof terrace. We are a good mix of international people, mostly single travelers. The group leader is a native Cambodian and over the next nine days she will guide us from Bangkok through Cambodia all the way to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam. I get to meet my new roommate, a nurse from Melbourne. If I keep on ignoring the doctor’s orders on a daily basis, a nurse roommate might turn handy. Common knowledge is that doctors and nurses have the access to the best drugs.