Back to Thailand: A Songkran Trip to Kanchanaburi
Back to Thailand
Three years ago, I accidentally lost my phone in Chiang Mai, and the connections I made back then are the reason I'm heading back to Thailand today. (Even though there are still so many other places I want to visit.) Kae, Kung, and Lek let me know they were taking a trip to Kanchanaburi for the Songkran festival. By pure coincidence, I was able to get time off during those exact dates, so we decided to travel together. Honestly, I agonized over whether to go or not, and here is why:
- First of all, my travel companions are all women. Unfortunately, it's not for any heart-fluttering, romantic reasons that I felt uncomfortable. I was just worried about how Thai culture views a guy traveling with a group of women. If this were Europe, I'd say yes without a second thought, but if it were the Middle East or India, their families might come to kill me. I had no idea where Thailand drew the line, so I was really concerned.
- Next was the money issue. This was actually the deciding factor that made me hesitate to buy my plane ticket. And it wasn't the usual problem of me not having enough money. Looking back at my last trip, I knew that if I tagged along, they wouldn't let me spend a single dime on accommodation, transportation, or even food. I can accept being indebted once, but my personality absolutely cannot handle burdening them a second time.
After agonizing over these two issues, the biggest reason I decided to go was that I was just too curious about what people do in Thailand during Songkran. (I really wanted to join the water fights...) Plus, my friends assured me that their families wouldn't come to kill me if I joined the trip. I solved the most important money issue by bringing Korean cosmetics, Cheong Kwan Jang (Korean red ginseng), and the soju and strawberries they ordered me to bring—threatening to send me back if I didn't.
Suvarnabhumi Airport
On the way here, I was worried I might panic if I couldn't remember how to take the subway, but thankfully I'm not that stupid. Since it was my second visit, I actually felt pretty relaxed. Feeling a bit smug as I watched backpackers panicking in front of the ticket machines—just like I did in the past—I bought my ticket right away. I enjoyed the familiar scenery from the subway as I headed to the meeting spot to see my friends.
Departure
I was waiting at the KFC near On Nut station, which we used as a meeting spot because their office is nearby. A little while later, I saw their welcoming faces and was about to gladly say hello, but they just told me to hurry up and get in the car. They asked, "Are you hungry?" and immediately told me to get in... To anyone watching, it looked exactly like I was being kidnapped for a shrimp boat. Is there absolutely no ceremony of happily greeting each other and asking how we've been???
After getting in the car like I'd been kidnapped, I sat there blankly, having no idea where our destination was or how long it would take. I tend to pass out easily in moving cars anyway, and since I was tired, I went into sleep mode for three or four hours. The surprising thing was that even after I woke up, we just kept driving without eating. Aside from grabbing a cup of Starbucks coffee while getting gas, they just kept driving on and on while chatting only among themselves in Thai.
Then suddenly, we zipped past a sign into some unknown place—I only managed to catch that the last word was 'RESORT'—and parked. It was exhausting enough just sitting and sleeping on the way, but Kung, who had been driving that whole time, was completely drained and looked like her soul had left her body. I was in a daze, but I snapped out of it when we were shown to our room. The room we arrived at after all that trouble was a floating house on the water. Opening the door to face the quietly flowing river in such an atmospheric place finally made it feel like I was on a real trip.
Dinner
By the way, I felt really bad because I got this whole room to myself while the four of them were sleeping in the same-sized room next door. Just as I was starting to feel sorry and burdened by being a nuisance again, they demanded their presents before we even ate. Yelling "STRAWBERRY!!!", they devoured the strawberries without even washing them, making them disappear in the blink of an eye. I just can't understand why kids who eat various kinds of fruit every day in a country so abundant with it are so crazy about strawberries. Anyway, after stuffing ourselves with what might have been an appetizer or dinner, our actual meal finally arrived at nearly 10 PM. I was finally having my first meal of the day.
Because I had been starving with nothing but a cup of coffee, everything I touched tasted incredible. Mixing the soju I brought from Korea with beer to create a Korean company dinner vibe finally made it feel like a real vacation. Half-drunk, we used our broken English to catch up on how we'd been, whether they were okay during the coup last year, and if Korea was a good place to live, and suddenly it was already time for bed. Thinking about how losing my phone for the first time led to me coming all the way here to hang out, it was amazing how things turned out. Anyway, with these fascinating connections, the Kanchanaburi trip begins!