Meeting Other Travelers:

Traveling with my brother for two weeks was great in many ways, and a challenge in others. While overall it was a wonderful chance to reconnect with him, and we had many lovely and meaningful moments together – one of the things that has me excited to travel solo for awhile is that of meeting other travelers.

When you’re in a group, even a pair, its just a bit harder to open up and interact. It’s true with locals, and it’s true with other travelers. You get easily and frequently occupied with your companions.
Just a few days into my solo trek, and I’m having great conversations and interactions with fascinating travelers that might not have happened had I been with my brother or a group.

The day after my brother departed for Bangkok I had a leisurely breakfast at Ning’s watching wind-formed whitecaps on Prachuap Bay. As I was wrapping up and debating another cup of coffee, two bikers ( I mean backpacking bikers, carrying their gear on bikes and camping along the way ) stopped in. I had noticed them riding through the center of town two nights before, pointing out to my brother “now there are some real travelers!”

Coffee at Ning’s, Prachuap Khiri Khan.

The third cup of coffee never arrived (Ning had to hit the market and then get a nap in), but instead I had great conversation with Gene (Eugene) and Aaron. Gene is traveling on Bike from Australia to Japan, where he’s hoping to find some work and board the winter snow season.

Aaron is riding overland to Europe (!) and will head through Myanmar to Pakistan and India and eventually end up in the Balkans sometime early next Summer. A long road, with some interesting visa challenges ahead. It’s a route that possibly hasn’t been done for awhile by bike, and if so, not very many times.

Nice guys, part way through seriously epic journeys. My journey is my own, but it’s hard not to be a little bit jealous of the paths (and time) stretching in front of them both.

They had scruffy faces and the kind of deep, dark tans that white folk get only after many seasons of being in sunny climes. We talked travel about points South of here, they pointed out a few places on the Andaman coast that they had found good that I might try out. Good meaning not too touristy, good views, beaches, and most importantly for all of us: good night markets. We also talked about the recent changes to Myanmar’s border crossings – apparently visas are now being granted at overland crossings – meaning one could theoretically travel from Ranong Thailand into Myanmar and travel overland – skipping a trek back to Bangkok to get a visa there. And saving a flight – previously tourist visas were geared for travelers flying into Yangon directly, or package tourists heading to the Inle Lake, Mandalay, Bagan sightseeing trifecta.

As is common while travelling solo (even only one day into the solo part of my trek) I find myself attaching to people. Not romantically, and not seriously, but just a low pull: wanting to spend a bit longer with people that I like or that seem to be interesting company.

It’s tempting to want to want to indulge that, and to linger, but it’s almost always best to enjoy the company you have while you have it, and then to bid adieu. Aaron and Gene and I talked about meeting in town that evening to grab a beer or two (we did not). Knowing that our paths are North/South opposite and I won’t likely see them again, I wish them well on their long roads ahead.

Back at my guesthouse, I met George. An affable German with a big mustache and an even larger grin. He’s been traveling and living in Asia for nearly three decades. He has resided in Phuket for 8 years with his Thai wife, but is considering a move to Prachuap Khiri Khan as Phuket’s “gone too crazy”. He shares tons of great travel tips about places off the Lonely Planet radar, and tells great stories of the early days of Westerners in Laos in the early 1990s. We talk of Myanmar/Burma, and of the rapid changes there including talk of a stock market opening up in a few years. George will likely invest a bit, saying ‘they’ve got what we want, and we have what they want’ with a big grin while standing in the center of the pool at our guesthouse.

The next day I burn off some of a long train delay chatting with a fellow from Brazil, and another from Germany – both taking the train south to Chumphon to catch the night ferry to Koh Tao. They seemed weary in the midday heat, and a bit apprehensive of the long train and ferry ride ahead. But they were good low-key company to help while away a sweltering wait.

Once in my own next stop – a short 80km down the coast at tiny and weekday-quiet Ban Krut – I quickly meet some of the other guests at the Siripong Guesthouse, a basic but clean backpacker crashpad steps from the beach. I speak the most with Thierry, a middle-aged Frenchman who has been coming to Ban Krut for 13 years. As is a common theme with the expats in these sleepier coast towns, he expresses a bit of unease over how the place is changing. Over beers we bond a bit over shared stories from travels in Guatemala. I feel an affinity for almost anyone who has spent time in Xela and San Pedro La Laguna and imbibed Gallo and Quetzalteca, and there is no exception with Thierry.

The next night I was invited to a party in Ban Krut – an opening of the Sea Sand spa and homestay run by the lovely Thawanna (I’m sure I’ve got that spelling wrong.) joined by Thierry and other guests of the Siripong as well as a warm and friendly mix of local Thais and longtime expats who’ve settled here. Conversations fluidly moved between French and German and Thai and English. The food was great, the karaoke was hilarious, and the company was top notch.

If this trip holds to my previous solo journeys – I know I’ll meet many other interesting folk during my travels. Some of those encounters will be very fleeting, the length of a wait at a train station. Some might stretch on for a day or could even result in weeks of travelling together. And there’s a small chance some real friendships could develop. But for certain, there will be a good deal of meeting, feeling that familiar mild pull of attachment, then saying slightly melancholy goodbyes and “safe travels” as we head separate ways.

It’s a wonderful thing about travel, and especially about traveling solo: meeting (mostly) fascinating and (generally) wonderful people from all over that you just wouldn’t have met otherwise. People full of travel tips. People with their own stories and dramas and foibles and talents. People from whom you can catch tiny glimpses of their lives, and maybe share some of your own.

For anyone who likes humans as I do, this part of travel is a genuine and enriching pleasure.