I've spent the last handful of days doing some major research. I've grown a little bored of my traveling routine, feeling much more like a tourist than pleases me, so I set out to find a remedy to that. My solution, after debating with myself all forms of volunteering, working, and general time-killing, is to pursue work-exchange programs. These programs generally function by working on someone's farm/estate/business/boat/etc for four to six hours a day in return for free room and board. While WWOOF, the popular organic farm volunteering network, falls under this category, I will also be utilizing other resources that offer opportunities beyond farming. I have found a number of useful and reputable resources for locating available work exchanges and have already located a plethora of enticing opportunities in just about every country I could ever want to visit. The most notable benefit to this mode of traveling is cost. As it stands, I would estimate that food and lodging comprise at least three quarters of my expenditures. In many other parts of the world (Europe in particular), those costs are far too great for my meager budget to accommodate. However, once those expenses are eliminated, the only significant fee becomes transportation, which is mild in contrast. As such, my dreams of traveling through North Africa and even into southern Europe may now be fully realized.
Furthermore, I will finally be doing something. Be it farming, construction, maintenance, or even just cleaning, I'll be using my hands and gaining experiences living in a local environment. I may miss out on some of the guidebook "sights," but I feel pretty damned sight-ed out by now. That's not to say that I feel these last three months have been a waste-- quite the contrary. The experiences I've had thus far, in addition to the time I've had to gather my wits, have been invaluable. However, now I'm ready for something more and look forward to my shift into becoming a working traveler with great zeal.
It's like I've been kicked in the face with enthusiasm.
In between epiphanies, I also spent some time exploring the backpacker hotspot of Chiang Mai. A surprisingly bustling little city, there's plenty of night markets and food stalls to take advantage of here. After the thirty-eighth flyer was handed to me, I finally caved and bought a ticket to the night's Muay Thai boxing match. One of the fighters in the lineup was American, so I figured it'd be good to show my support. Man, Muay Thai is brutal. There's a bone-cracking emphasis on using knees and elbows, though just about anything is fair game. Half of the fights ended in the first round with pretty savage knockouts. The heavier weights usually didn't end with knockouts, but instead endured five vicious rounds of kicks to the face and knees to the abdomen. Having a front-row seat, I could even hear the crack as a fighter's ribs were snapped like autumn twigs by the uncompromising knee of his opponent. He attempted to continue fighting, but at the first glancing blow to his abs, he crumpled as if he were no more than a marionette with its strings severed. Fun times, though I couldn't quite figure out how to place a bet.
Good thing, cause I would've lost that bet.
If you ever have the opportunity to see a Muay Thai match though, do it. They're a really fascinating experience. From the praying/dancing the fighters do for five minutes before the match to the bizarre and chaotic music that played throughout the fights, it was a hell of a time. The following day, I decided that Thai food is just too damn delicious and enrolled myself in a cooking class. Best. Decision. Ever. We cooked (and ate) six dishes, with all the ingredients organically grown on site. I ate so much that I was forced to put my last dish, pad thai, in a takeaway container for later. I've always been a sucker for Thai curry, but hot damn is it delectable after you've ground down the spices into a curry paste yourself. It's also really painful when you get chili bits in your eye, but I was too engrossed in how delicious all my food was to care.
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD AND ALL THINGS HOLY MY EYES ARE BLEEDING!!!
So that was most of Chiang Mai. I'll be heading to crazy Bangkok tonight, though I'm sure I'll be more than ready to leave in a couple days. One can only tolerate so many go-go bars full of ladyboys. Then it's on to the beaches and hopefully diving of southern Thailand, where I'll also eventually participate in my first work exchange program. Before long, I intend to buy a ticket to somewhere along the lines of Turkey or Jordan and begin the next leg of my journey: The Mediterranean.
They have massive Hindu/Buddhist sculpture parks there too, right?
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