Thursday, March 1, 2018

Lessons From My Travelmates - Part 1

Hello there again readers! Looks like I still have a few. Thankyou for your lovely comments on comeback post two days ago. Today I want to share on lessons I've learnt from my various travel mates. Throughout my not-so-famous years of traveling, I'm blessed to be be given the experience of travelling solo, with a partner and then in groups of 4 to 40 people!

But am gonna blog on the people I've grown close to during my travels and what they taught me in the process. ☺

1. The Art of Backpacking from Rayyan Haries 

I last met him in 2012, when I was a rising travel blogger. I just won an award in travel blogging and was enjoying its rewards in the form of free familiarization trips by various tourism boards, free food/buffet reviews and VIP invites to media events. We first met during a food review at G-Tower, Kuala Lumpur. Rayyan himself was an active blogger at that time who prides in backpacking solo to several Asian countries. I was at time still a newbie in terms of travelling and struck luck bagging an award while blogging about my recent travels to China. To be honest, it was only a travel package and I was restricted to the agent's schedule.

Rayyan and me during a trip to Kuantan, Pahang for a blogging event.
Rayyan on the other hand, was traveling alone with no clear plans whatsoever. I was dazed by his stories of backpacking through Thailand and some-how a plan between us was formed.



The plan was to follow him backpacking for my first time in Thailand for a week with only RM500!

At first I thought he was insane! But I figured, hellya, why not!

And so we went! My posting on my social media platform during that time was something like..."kahwin lari di Thailand!"with our picture. I was just being funny and it did make our combine socmedia followers' tongues wagging. πŸ˜‹

We went to Krabi by bus. Changed buses some where in Hatyai and continued our journey to Krabi from there. There were no direct buses from KL to Krabi

In Krabi I experienced my first milestone as a backpacker. We arrived late at night without booking any accommodation.  I was tired but positive, so we spent some time checking out all kinds of hostel there and thankfully found one. This was my very first time staying in a hostel! Thankfully there was a hostel room for ladies only and I chose that one! While Rayyan chose to stay in a mixed hostel room. It was here that I found out a secret about Rayyan that many people never knew about. Guess we do have more things in common than expected. We both were interested in good-looking guys! :P

So what about Krabi besides the white washed beaches and beautiful, half naked people around? Oh! I just loved the fruit juices! So cheap and tasty! After "cuci mata" in Krabi, we decided to go to Bangkok by bus. Tickets bought on the spot.

In Bangkok we search our accommodation on Khaosan Rd. Infamous as the backpackers' hot spot in Bangkok. We had a strict budget to follow and after walking in and out many hostels there, we finally agreed on a hostel. The price was probably RM20-30 per head.

Rayyan, a Japanese lad and me.
After a day of sightseeing in Bangkok, we then headed to Ayuthayya because Bangkok was expensive and did the same method in searching for accommodation as we did in Krabi and Bangkok. This time we settled for a small guesthouse costing only RM10 (100 bahts) per person! And I actually got the whole room by myself!

Rayyan instead had a room-mate. A cute guy from Japan. And I began to notice that Rayyan was totally crushing on that guy that he actually invited him to follow us back to Malaysia! One thing about Rayyan that I grew fond of was his amazing ability to quickly be friends with every stranger we met during this trip! And he was a master of the British accent!

We went back to Kuala Lumpur via train, bringing along Rayyan's crush from Japan. And that was our last trip together before Rayyan led a life of living and volunteering overseas. He actually went on TV for several interviews and gave inspirational talks to people. I never did meet him ever again...

Last not least, to summarize the lessons I've learnt from Rayyan of this backpacking experience were :-

  1. ✅Go cheap and you cut on comfort
  2. ✅Public transport is basically easy in Thailand
  3. ✅Hostels aren't that bad! Basic but clean.
  4. ✅Always target backpacking areas to find cheap accommodations. There are just so many to choose from! You will be spoiled with choices!
  5. ✅Save on accommodations and spend more on experience! For example, food, entrance fees, souvenirs, transport from one spot to another.. etc.
  6. ✅RM500 for a week in Thailand is DOABLE!
So who's next on my travel-mates list? πŸ”ŠπŸ”ŠπŸ”ŠStay tuned lovely readers! πŸ‘„







11 comments:

Henry Lee said... [Reply]

Good tips there! Rasa rasa nak pergi Thailand lagi lepas ni... bawa RM500 je cukup. Hahahaa

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@ henry... tua2 begini dah tak larat nk backpacking mcm dulu. Nak buat staycation ja skang nih ahahaha

Alid Abdul said... [Reply]

So you're gonna write about me heeeeeeeeeh?? Malu laaaahhhhhh.
Never meet with Rayyan but follow each other on Twitter, but where's he now? Eaten by the Kraken ahahaha

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@ alid.. iya alid... but much2 later coz i met you later kan? hehehe

Hans Hanis said... [Reply]

'perghhh
bila yang pergi nya?
bak ole2
hahaha

Jard The Great said... [Reply]

@ hans.. crita dah lama la hans! hahaha ntah2 ko masih pelajar sekolah menengah time ni

Farikica said... [Reply]

Hello Jard...looking good! I think it's been a while since u last updated yr blog, ya...;) Anyway, nice sharing and awesome tips!

Mas Light said... [Reply]

Yeah traveling for me is more about the experience. Doesn't really need to spend excessively on unnecessary things. But just enjoy every moment and not regret if u dun spend on things u want hehe.

Anonymous said... [Reply]

Some times its a pain in the ass to read what people wrote but this website
is real user genial!

Anonymous said... [Reply]

Make more please

ruggedmom said... [Reply]

Hostel in Thailand/Vietnam/Indonesia/Cambodia range between rm10-30 bersih dan selesa but I've tried three hostels in Chinatown KL tak macam tu. Ada bilik tu bila solat kepala masuk bawah katil hahahaha...