Goodbye Thailand

Imagine a place where it would be 32 degrees at 2 o'clock at night... Cockroaches crawling around on the streets, next to a place where cockroaches cooked in chili oil, nice and crispy, are for sale. The smell of sewer in the air sometimes makes you want to vomit. Stray dogs running around on the streets, sleeping everywhere. People constantly asking you if you want a mototaxi or massage? Everything you buy end up being more expensive than when the local people would buy it. Mosquitoes zapping around the room, they will find you sooner or later. Every day and every night? Yup, this is part of Thailand, but there is so much more to love about this country.
I have been around to a few countries and I can without doubt say that even though Thai people are a bit racist and probably want to make a buck on every possible tourist, Thais are by far the most friendly and open minded people I have ever encountered.
It is at the same time painful to see tourists come to Thailand and behave like they own everything because they have money in their pockets. Russians seem to be pretty bad at this, as well as some Brits and Australians, treating the locals like shit. Yes, you can be treated like royals here for almost nothing, the places that are super expensive and exclusive are almost for sure places owned by foreigners who really rip you off.

The foods here, don't even get me started. If you don't like Thai food, I feel sorry for you, really. The diversity here in food is so big and made with super fresh ingredients. In fact, most places don't have a freezer and very small room for a fridge.
Instead they will get what they need for the kitchen in the morning and refill during the day if needed. I will have a big problem when I get back home, because now I know how it is really supposed to taste and I like it spicy! I will really have to do some research to find the right place to eat.
One of the best food places in Patong I think is Thai BBQ. Not because it is a buffet style, but it is super good and you can have whatever you want. It is made on top of an annoying dome shaped BBQ area, where all the juices will run off into the water and make a damn good soup.
There is plenty of foods to chose from: shrimp, squid, fish, chicken, beef and pork, all the intestine you can imagine and so many fresh herbs to give this a flavor so good. We would often sit there for hours indulging in tasty meat until the place would close.
The fruits are fresh and tastes so much better than what you would find in the supermarket in the Western world. You will find fruits here you have never seen before, but taste wonderful.
The cheapest way of getting the fruits is to buy from the back of trucks coming to the city every day. They drive around with a megaphone, announcing what kinds of fruits they have today - and they are around 20% of what the fruit stores will sell it for.
The beaches are pristine, maybe a little overcrowded from all the tourists, but it doesn't take much effort to find a more secluded beach for some privacy. But then again, there is no beer service, lol.
Traffic is horrible, but it flows. Be quick and part of the flow, don't try to stop things to get it your way. Crossing the street may seem like an impossible task, but the secret is to walk and keep walking. Cars and mopeds are not going to stop for you or slow down, but they are going to go around you because they can predict your movement. The real big mistake is to stop halfway, then things get interesting. Go with the flow...
Helmets are optional seems to be the Thai thinking. Every day you hear or see some poor girl on the motobike who fall, most of the time without a helmet. The only reason they wear the helmets is because they will get tickets from the police otherwise. At night where there is almost no police patrols around, helmets are off. They come in different sizes, all to small for me, so I had to modify my helmet, by removing foam from the inside. Mostly you see tourists drive with helmets as the Thai are less likely to be stopped by the police, tourists with money is priority.
All minibus drivers are former Formula 1 drivers, with supreme Schumacher skills. At least that is what they think, because nobody is slowing down, even in rain. Driving with a 2 meter distance to the car in front, pushing it to move to the side. One time we drove home from the boat with the roof full of heavy empty dive gear, the minibus driver decided to overtake a big tourist bus which was already overtaking a moped so place in the middle of the road. The driver seemed to think he would fit on the outside of the bus and floored it. We ended up passing the bus but went sideways because the tires got into the dirt. The minibus went sideways right, then left then right again, for some reason it didn't flip over. He then went out of the minibus, walked to the big tourist bus driver and started shouting at the driver, haha. Someone else is always someone at fault, right?

Now it may seem like this was just a serious of endless parties and drunken people, but that is not really the case. I was living there, a daily life in Thailand, a lot of usual stuff going on too. Shopping, cleaning, washing, relaxing, the same as everyone else. I wanted to try and live there to see if it was something for me. I love it. There are many things that does not work the right way and so on, but the aspects of life that interests me are present there in a degree that I enjoy it tremendously.
If I could combine my real job with something in Thailand, I would seriously consider moving there, that's for sure. I guess all it takes is willpower some would say, let's see how much I really want this then...

It was time for the last night out, sniff. Au, Elias and I had some good food, I refrained from eating too spicy food, didn't want to spend the majority of the time on the airplane on the toilet. We stopped by the mushroom Bars for a last beer there, that's when we accidentally bumped into Claus who was on a night out with his friend. Got to say goodbye to him before we went back to A1 to meet with Goy. I had to pay my 2000 baht debt that I lost in a bet - that evening she had not been smoking for 2 months. At midnight she opened a packet of cigarettes and ignited one... I hope it tasted like crap
My ride to the airport was waiting at home, so I rushed back and put my stuff in the car. I was not easy to say goodbye to Au and Elias, two people I had gotten to know 5 and 4 months earlier. A pair of  dark sunglasses helped...

Fuck I am going to miss this place and friends. Good Bye Thailand, until next time