Digital Backpacker 2000 #7

September 20th: The Big Mango
After three weeks I felt it was time to leave Indonesia behind me, looking back I guess I liked Samosir Island the most. So many people with their interesting stories. On one of my last days there my neighbour asked me to join him for a cup of coffee at a restaurant of a friend of his.

Peter, 42, from Germany has been living on Samosir Island now for over two years. He married a Batak wife and made his “Panorama” restaurant to a well run place. After some time, his loving wife decided it was time for her to own her own Panorama restaurant. She went to the Indonesian “Imigrasie” and did what was in her powers to get her husband out of the country. He discovered her intentions very quickly and shut down the cash flow for some weeks. “When the car needs to be repaired and there’s no money for it, the car will soon stand still.” She found out that she couldn’t run the place on her own and realized it takes the two of them to make it a success. Slowly their relationship is improving again and she gave him a beautiful son.

On the boat to Penang I met an guy from Wales;

“Aha, you’re English!”

“No, I’m from WALES!” His passport showed “Great Britain” and again he took the bait like a fish as I said: “So, you’re English!”

He didn’t travel with a guidebook as it was more adventurous, he was an “unplanned” traveler. The guidebooks take away some fun and the worst problem to me is that they send all the tourists to the same places, the real country can be discovered behind the facades of the tourists shops, bars and restaurants. He had a funny sense of humor. He would buy something and then when other people ask how much it’d cost him he would put the price way down lower. The other person wants to buy the same and starts to argue with the salesman.

I headed straight to Thailand after Sumatra. In Krabi I hired a motorbike and did some sightseeing around the town. The shell cemetery wasn’t that interesting, the beaches were more to my liking. Great views, palm trees everywhere at the sandy roads, small green islands in the blue sea.

I passed the Muay Thai stadium on my way back and decided to take a look there later. Thai boxing is really popular, people make their bets carrying their mobile phone in one hand, with the other hand they’re busy gesticulating to other people higher up in the audience. The boxers use their arms, hands and legs to get the opponent down. The music contributes to the excitement. When no one goes down, the referee or the jury decides who wins. If it’s a sport or not, everyone can decide for himself. The Olympic medal in Sydney proves that quality is available in Thailand. Training camps can be found anywhere in the country and for a poor family, a good fighting kid can be a lifeline out of poverty. Only the best make it to Bangkok.

I happily accepted Dew’s invitation to spend some days at her place in Bangkok while I would try to get a Cambodian visa. The city welcomed me with it’s usual traffic jams, policeman all around with their white gloves. The reason why they have to salute her still escapes me. “I only smile!” yeah yeah! The air con in Dew’s car is just a temporary escape from the exhausting heat outside.

In the night market I saw the food that I didn’t appreciate that much in Hat Yai. When I asked what it was, Dew replied: “Oh, boiled chicken feet!” I lost my appetite but for not longer than the walk to the next stand! I’ve often wondered to myself what it was that I was actually eating. I just let my taste decide. When we walked back I saw the remains of a spirit house thrown down at a tree. A lot of houses have a small spirit house to protect it from evil spirits, something bad must have happened, they will hope the evil spirits will enter the tree and leave them alone.

By skytrain I got to the Cambodian embassy and “money makes the world go round” is a song that even the Cambodians can sing. It takes two working days to get a visa. I didn’t fill in my point of entry and return on the form; “No problem sir!”, I didn’t have the photocopy of my passport; “No problem sir!” At four in the afternoon I could collect my visa.

All people in Dew’s family have studied abroad and that makes communication real easy. We had dinner at her sister’s place. Her man was very proud of their 8 year old son. He showed me his math book and swimming medals. The kid could even search for Star Wars pics on the Internet. Pretty early for his age. They are thinking about moving to Canada to continue his education over there as “Education in Thailand isn’t good.” Her brother, who can ask mighty interesting questions, wants to pursue a career in politics. After his study of politics in London it’s the next logical step.

After these days in Bangkok my backpack feels mighty heavy. I will hit the road tomorrow morning and travel to Siem Reap, Cambodia. Another country, other adventures…

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