bangkok

I have no problem traveling in hot weather, however being in Bangkok during in April which is the hottest month of the year in Thailand is not a great idea...hot weather causes a very heavy mixture smell of spices, exhaust and sewage and this smell surrounds the whole city..

Bangkok is like an open air kitchen. Because mainly houses and flats dont have kitchen inside. Thus most people are eating from street vendors who are cooking all day on the street...

tailek`s house

there were lots of cool travelers staying at tailek`s house while i was there..maybe around 10 people..we spend the days together playing guitar, singing songs, cooking and eating yummy food..

my host Bee is an amazing cook..her food was the best thai food I ate in Thailand..the day after Bee cooked for us, I was asked by the other CSers to cook Turkish food for dinner..Together with 5-6 people in the kitchen, I tried to cook some difficult dishes, was very great experience..

here are some photos of Tailek and Tailek`house:

CS cleaning

dinner at tailek`s house

bee and tailek

My mom sometimes thinks that we backpackers like torturing ourselves. Indeed I can understand the reasons behind of this idea. While having a comfortable life, refusing everything and pushing ourselves into unexpected conditions...

Heavy backpacks, irregular and sometimes unhealthy food, uncomfortable and sometimes dirty places to sleep... It is not always that terrible I guess, but yes sometimes we are confronting difficult circumstances.


What else can you do, if you want to discover the world when you have a limited budget?

Thanks to social networks for travelers like couchsurfing, hospitalityclub and other similar ones, traveling becomes more affordable and enjoyable.

My first day in Bangkok, I visited my CSer host Tailek`s house. The house of three beautiful people Tailek, Bee and Scott. It was around 8am when I first arrived the house.It is a five floors apartment with lots of beautiful plants at the entrance. Tailek`s house entrance
Somehow someone opened the apartment door for me. When I first stepped in the apartment, I was not sure if it was the right place. Because there were almost fifty pairs of shoes at the entrance hall. I just thought maybe it was a yoga studio or something similar:)

At Tailek`s house, first floor (ground level) is for meeting, eating and cooking.Second floor is the most popular, busy floor with lots of fans.Third floor is private lodge for Tailek and Bee. Fourth floor where I was staying was more quite and relaxed floor, Scott has his own room on this floor. Fifth floor is the roof terrace level, very hot but the most private part of the house.


My couch at Tailek`s house

explore, dream, discover...

My last night in SA, I went out to have my last farewell drink with my Bentleigh mates. It was a new cool place Bob Rocks in Greenside.Sad to discover such a nice place at my last day in the city.

After couple of farewell occasions, this last one somehow made me so uncomfortable.Each time when I kiss and hug someone to say goodbye, I was feeling pain attacks in my stomach.

My body was just reacting..because I was not feeling that it would be a permanent separation, just a break..a timeless break..

How light did I become suddenly?

All my life necessities could fit a medium size backpack. Will I really need my other stuff which was sent by cargo to Turkey?

Now I am ready to survive only with few things, maybe one day I will free myself from everything..

Early morning, Gwenael and Yasemin gave me some support for last packing. After Yasmin took me to the airport.During our last moments together, we talked about how travel frees people and she told me that she was quite happy to see me moving although she would miss me too much.I understood that time how true friendship was. We set a "rendezvous "to meet up in Buenos Aires at new years eve.

During my flight, I thought about the words of Mark Twain which was emailed to me by Gweny during my decision making process about staying in SA or moving ahead:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”