Blog du Wren

Travelling vs. Vacationing

There is a subtle difference between travelling and vacationing, but it seems to come up a lot. Every traveller you meet has a different balance of taking in a new culture, geography, etc. and comforts and pleasure. For some, exemplified by those who choose all inclucive resorts in the Caribbean, the balance is towards comforts and pleasure. For others, the balanace is extremely the other way. Think of hauling a big backpack through the heat of the jungle and the chaos of local buses to see the ruins of some religious something or other.

For me, the balance is usually towards the less comforts, more culture side, (although I don't dis the resort life at all (case in point)) This eye opening and sometimes back-breaking pursuit is what I call "travelling". Well, travelling can wear on you. It takes a lot to wade through the challenges that throw themselves at you in a typical traveller's day. So I decided to take a vacation from my travels. Yes, I know. Right now you are saying, "your whole trip has been a vacation". Well, I assure you that there are definitely trials and tribulations that I've been omitting in this blog.

Anyhoo, the vacation: Ryan and I found ourselves in Pattaya, Thailand, a beach resort of some disrepute. (We found out the reason for the disrepute after visiting, and it is safe to say that I will never go back there again. Long story.) Anyway, what the town did have going for it is that it was geared towards vacationers. So for my vacation, I chose a movie in the cinema (James Bond in Casino Royal), a couple of rounds of minigolf, an air conditioned room, and an all you can eat breakfast buffet. Needless to say, it was great! Although I lost 300 baht on the golfing (10 baht per stroke. I'm far off my best), and prolly gained 15 pounds or so (I also upped my daily icecream limit from 1 to 3 for my vacation), it was a much needed recharge with western comforts after my time in China and before tackling Cambodia and Vietnam.

So now we are back in travel mode. We are in Trat, with plans to head out to Ko Chang tomorrow. Today, we took 3 local buses totalling 6 hours, part of which was so hot the sweat just poured off, another part of which was done standing in an oversold bus. Culture at its finest, I guess.

Friday November 17 2006

File under: Thailand, pics

Toggle Comments (9)

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on Sat 18th Nov, 2006 09:05 pm UTC Sara said:
Cambodia and Vietnam? Really?
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on Sun 19th Nov, 2006 03:48 am UTC Wren said:
We'll hit the Cambodian border next week, although the beach here is pretty nice, so it might be a bit longer than that. From there, we haven't decided on Vietnam or Laos. Laos is rising to challenge Vietnam pretty quickly from the people we've been talking to. It's so nice to not know and play it by ear.
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on Sun 19th Nov, 2006 08:50 am UTC bob said:
thought of burma? i've heard nothing but good things from people that've gone there.
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on Sun 19th Nov, 2006 01:28 pm UTC Horge said:
I don't know if you're up for any of it, but I once read an interesting book about a guy who travelled up the Viet Cong trails by motor bike. It could be pretty cool. Plus it would be another (former) Communist country under your belt, if that means anything. I don't know anything about Laos except I had a friend in 6th grade whose parents were from there; also the Asian neighbor in "King of the Hill" is Laotian. In any case I think the tie-breaker should be in quantitiy/quality of geocaches in-country.
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on Sun 19th Nov, 2006 05:56 pm UTC Kevin Iga said:
I'm a friend of Chris Richards (see comments on a couple of posts down), in Hong Kong for this semester. Some Pepperdine folks and I went to Southern Vietnam and had a blast. Some of us are heading to Cambodia probably at the beginning of December. I can send you the email of Austin Outhavong, a Pepperdine alum math major who worked in Laos for a bit, and now works in Thailand. I know what you mean by vacationing vs. travelling. For me, I can vacation right here in Hong Kong, sitting around doing nothing. Or reading blogs belonging to friends of friends. :-)
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on Mon 20th Nov, 2006 01:25 am UTC Jule said:
If you go to Vietnam, you must say hi to Pres. George for me! We are on a first name basis...
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on Mon 20th Nov, 2006 02:23 pm UTC trista said:
Wait a minute... are you saying China doesn't provide on the "western comforts"? What are you talking about! If you didn't notice some of these bigger cities round here got some of them new fancy toilets.. ya know.. them with the porceline and the water inside and the throne and all. Sure, you gotta poor a bucket of water down it to flush, but they are called "western toilets" yOU got somethin better goin on down there in Thailand? Ya, and say "what up" to George for me too.. tell him i'm comin back to the homeland soon with all that info he wanted.
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on Mon 20th Nov, 2006 05:30 pm UTC Kevin Anderson said:
Vietnam is a trying place. Be glad you stocked upon creature comforts before visiting that pretty place. God bless.
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on Tue 21st Nov, 2006 06:45 am UTC Jule said:
Kevin, I remember that you went to Vietnam! now if I could only remember how you got there...wiat, it is coming back to me...
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