January 6th 2025, Phuket, Thailand

A treatise on Thai culture. I have been in south Thailand for about three weeks now and have begun to make some conclusions on Thai people and culture. Firstly, Thailand is a tourist playground. It is cheap and the sites are beautiful. Thailand is also extremely safe. There is no petty or severe crime that I have witnessed or heard of. That being said, Thailand is effectively a lawless country. There are weed shops on every corner and blatant prostitution that attempts to hide behind massage parlors. It is interesting that with such little police enforcement that the country is so safe. It could be due to the historical peaceful buddhist culture. However, currently, Thailand is not a religious country whatsoever. Muay Thai is a big part of the culture here too, with many fights occurring almost every day. I have used these past three weeks as a sort of "half time" to my trip. This is because I have been in very touristy destinations where families are on vacation rather than rugged backpacker spots off the grid. Also it is because these are the last few weeks Zach and I will be together. Tomorrow I will start the second half of the trip, going by myself and back into the lands less explored and touched by tourists. The first half was filled with such adventure, I will need to find new and exciting ways to travel alone throughout the second half. Honestly I do not care to "sight see" or see more beautiful beaches. I want to be immersed in culture, learn about people and history and the future, and continue to do adventurous challenging things. A part of being more present requires not planning too much in the future. I do not want to book hostels or a route until the day before or day of. This will allow me to be flexible while present. I do have a route in mind though I will share now. I will go to the north of Thailand and then enter Laos. From Laos I will work south and go through Cambodia. From Cambodia I will enter and explore Vietnam. After Vietnam it is possible I will go to the Philippines, China, Indonesia, Australia, and more. This afternoon Zach and I recapped the past 3.5 months together. We told each other our biggest takeaways, our favorite parts, and the most important learnings. We both agreed Nepal was our favorite country. We also agreed smaller more off the grid experiences, like Diani Beach are the best kind. we both agreed we are more grounded and appreciative for our upbringing then ever, but still stay committed to the spiritual path. It was crazy to reflect on this amazing trip together and our past trips too.