You experience everything in Thailand (45)
Now you see them everywhere, young people with backpacks, discovering the world. In the XNUMXs, Johnny BG belonged to the first generation of backpackers who traveled from country to country on a limited budget. He wrote the following story about those early years.
A takraw tournament in Chantaburi
In 1992, at the age of almost 25, I made the choice to seek refuge outside the Netherlands because of dissatisfaction with life in the Netherlands. It could have been Spain, but it ended up being SE Asia with Thailand as the starting point, the country that left me with a very good feeling after a three-day stop in Bangkok a year earlier. The planning was that the trip should last as long as possible, but in reality the budget was for a maximum of one year.
At that age you can take on the world was my thought and I'll see what happens. Now there is 24/7 communication with the home front and there are many younger people who are taking up the challenge or have already taken up the challenge, but in my case there was no mobile, no internet and the prospect was a great uncertainty. In retrospect, I sometimes think of what I did to my parents. Not knowing anything about what a son traveling alone in Thailand is up to and then "no news is good news", as we used to say at home?
My aim was to give a monthly update by telephone, but without income that was a rib from my body. I don't have my diary anymore, but I think 3 minutes of calling was 350 baht and I could do other fun things with it a day. Sounds selfish, but that's just how it was, because you have to survive and therefore make choices.
Because of the visa regulations, the trip also went to Malaysia, Singapore and Sumatra, but I was always only too happy to be able to return to Thai soil, where I could experience much more freedom and happiness. The goal was to see all corners of the country and the strategy was simple. With the Lonely Planet Survival Kit book in hand, step into the unknown and try to arrange a "moped" or bicycle to discover the area.
At some point I decided to go to Chanthaburi and after finding the desired low cost hotel on the river I started looking for a moped rental company. This turned out to be almost impossible in this city and in broken English and Thai I got into a conversation with two Thai men at a moped repair shop.
They told me that there was a takraw tournament in town that evening and if I wanted to participate. Takraw was new to me, but it's like foot volleyball with a small reed ball on a badminton court and I thought it would be fun to participate. Of course it seemed like something to me and we immediately went to the field to practice.
The practice was of course about nothing, but the fun was there and despite that I returned to the hotel satisfied to be picked up in the afternoon to go to the tournament. Before we could participate we had to be registered as a team, but then there was the obligation to become a member of the takraw association without obligation. I needed a passport photo for that, so off to a photo shop and back quickly and it was arranged.
The tournament was bigger than expected and I estimate at least 100 players and a multitude of visitors, so that could be fun with that weird farang, who thinks he can play takraw and is also in the starting line-up.
As a mediocre amateur football player and with knowledge of volleyball, it turned out to be a bad idea during the games to think that it is foot volleyball. That ball is more painful on your body than any soccer ball on your fontanel. After three games it happened and we finished last without a chance, but nevertheless applause from the audience because of the entertainment.
After this spectacle, we went to celebrate this fun event with the 2 team members and their supporters with a dinner at the river and it turned out to be a nice and pleasant evening.
Since there was not much else for me to do due to the lack of a moped or bicycle, the trip in Chanthaburi only lasted 3 days, but one with a nice experience that I could only share with my diary.
All in all, the journey took 8 months and the challenge could begin to get my then Thai girlfriend to live in the Netherlands in a cunning way.
Very recognizable story.
All I remember of this is also playing teakraw in the late 80's whenever the hotel's cook and gardener were on break.
After only 10 minutes my foot hurt so much that I had to stop.
The roran ball feels like concrete after kicking it a few times.
Since then, immense respect for all those young guys who kick the ball hard while they are “floating”.
I've been watching and supporting it ever since. !!
Nice story!
But also in the 70s and 80s there were already a lot of backpack tourists…
Good story. I also traveled to SE Asia with my backpack in the 90s. At that time I was studying at the UvA in Amsterdam, and I believe I received 600 guilders in study financing per month. I could make a living from that in Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia. Instead of paying the telephone costs with my parents myself, I called them every 2nd Sunday COLLECT CALL, at their request (very recognizable: no news is good news). I often had to look for a place where that was possible, and sometimes I even stayed longer because it was only Sunday the day after tomorrow, but I could call collect 'here'. Fantastic times that I would like to do again.
Nice story, but I also wanted to protest a bit. In 1980, as a 22-year-old, I traveled to Southeast Asia with my backpack and that was already very popular at the time. So if you belonged to the first generation in the XNUMXs, which one did I belong to?