Here's a post I've been figuratively sitting on since New Year.

I've met so many people here that are just happy to talk to you because you are an English speaker. There is weird comfort in being around a language you think in, are comfortable with; in speaking to someone who doesn't have to put in effort just to understand what you're saying. Where your interactions do not require extra thinking. Being a teacher for English as a foreign language automatically puts you in a position where this comfort is a little hard to find. (If it wasn't, you would be redundant, right?)

When you think of the comforts I might miss when I started living here in Thailand, the list seems like it will be Indian food, a cup of good, South Indian filter coffee, proper Indian tea... I never could think of anything definite I would miss - until the day I went on vacation with my two American friends to nice, touristy Kanchanaburi for New Year and there was so much more English! Suddenly everything was easier. Little things made us happy.

Not even in my dreams did I think I might ever miss being in an English environment. It's not that I don't hear English at all here, in Ubon: I work with a group of English speakers, hang out in a room with them all day (almost) when I work; my roomies and I talk to each other exclusively in English; I watch English TV shows on YouTube (or wherever else) and talk to my Thai friends and colleagues in English (that's a bit of a tug-o-war, to be honest). The familiarity is still so welcome, though.

While I now live in a big city (trust me, I've had to redefine so many things for myself when I got here - "big city" is one, "pretty good English" is another), the friends I met with live in a small, small town. They are the ONLY actual English speakers in their school (the schools here also have Thai teachers who teach English, but many don't really speak any English). I can only imagine how much more they value every English word they come across. Even being in a big city, things like an English menu are not terribly common and books in half decent English can only be found, secondhand, in falang cafes - usually, not for sale. Our excitement on being able to buy English books in Kanchanaburi drove us crazy. We saw everything from Chelsea Handler to Bothom to DH Lawrence. 

English Comics from India - #doublewin!

It's fascinating the things you learn about yourself when you travel. This wasn't even the enlightenment I expected. You live you learn, right?

WOW! That wasn't so bad!

For a long time, I've been following The WOW Club on Facebook - they are an all women travelling club of much acclaim. The tours they organised always seemed awesome, the places they went to exotic, their travel pictures amazing; but they were always just a little too expensive for me. I stress on for me, because my style of travel is different. I'm a DIY kinda person and they are luxury, organised, 4*, A/C coaches and guided tours kinda people. They do offer the benefits of luxury and the advantage price for a mass booking.

I've always kept away from them, primarily for their prices (like I said before) and also 'cos I've always been afraid of the constraints of travelling with a large group. An all women group, at that (pardon my prejudice). But when they advertised for Uzbekistan, I jumped and grabbed it with both hands. The price, as I saw it, was amazing! And I thought to myself, "There is some chance that I may never go to Uzbekistan alone. I'm not really sure what type of country it is".

So I booked with WOW. I was really excited but I was also very weary. I didn't know what to expect - both from the group and the trip itself. I was a little thrown off because I didn't have to do ANY work - no research, nothing. I just had to show up. (I did do some research though. Just to put myself at ease.)

I'm not going to lie - there were ups and downs. Lots of ups and lots of downs. There were times when it felt like there were more downs, but thinking back, I recall more ups. The good thing was that, unlike other group tours (and I have been on one other), we weren't catered Indian food at every stop. Of course there were people who missed Indian food, but those people brought their own fare. And shared.

The ladies I travelled with, and out guide

There were all sorts of people, really - the attention seekers, the "I'm so cool, I'm going to drink and party at every chance I get", the loud and fussy who had an issue with everything - including the similarity of the architecture of the monuments, the embarrassingly insensitive questioners, the laggards who made everyone wait, the speedys who couldn't be bothered to wait (if there's anyone who is more irritating than those who make you wait, it's those who just don't wait for the group to catch up), the uber knowledge seekers who inundated the guides with questions, the quiet and polite who had no expectations, the compulsive shoppers, the many many photographers and the party-poopers (me) who avoided joining in the games as much as they possibly could. Overall, nice people and a good fun gang.

I was assigned a nice roomie; she was about my age, fun, willing to participate in my randomness and explore the city with me. I made new friends; found a friend's mom; was bellboy (Tip: Never carry too little luggage when travelling in a group, esp if you are young. What surprised me, was the amount of luggage most people carried. I had just one backpack and my purse. But most people had two suitcases - for 6 days!); shopping buddy; had people who looked out for me; gained a beautiful pair of earrings; and a reputation of someone who can really eat.

The tour itself was nice and comfortable, though it didn't offer much time to do anything other that what was scheduled. The "WOW Buddy" who accompanied us didn't do very much, but the guide from the local travel company, who was with us through the trip and was our go-to-guy, was amazing. He was patient, sweet, answered our every question/request and put up with us. The places they took us to were excellent (though I still feel that the things I did without the group - planned by either them or me - were the highlights).

On the whole, I was proven wrong on two accounts: 1. I would totally visit Uzbekistan by myself (maybe I'll do the next post on the place itself), and 2. Travelling with The WOW Club wasn't so bad after all.