post-Krabi

While it has usually been the case that during the longer school holidays i'll take a fairly long, or at least, as long as possible holiday out of the continent of Asia, the special circumstances of this December holiday (plus of course my last minute planning, which was even more last-minute this time than it has ever been before due to a combination of procrastination and too much darn work to do) have it such that travel plans this time round were decidedly different. Well for starters, i've had to restrict myself to Asia for a change, and in fact, to be more specific, Southeast Asia (though that's in large part because i'm not at all interested in going to any other parts of Asia, at least not at the moment, and in the case of China, not ever). Additionally, the length of the trip's been cut drastically from last year's three weeks to less than a week this time round. So this meant that for the first time in three years there were no quaint Christmas markets in close-to-freezing weather with the obligatory mulled wine to enjoy. Instead, it was decidedly tropical weather for a change, something much closer to home (which as far as i'm concerned is often not something good).

It didn't turn out too badly though. Not that i'm not one to be philosophical about such things, but like i had said earlier, in a way circumstances were such that it was just as well that i didn't manage to get away from say, November, since i had so much work to do (hmm and in fact, still do have to do, though that's another story). Furthermore, i guess after four straight backpacking and couchsurfing trips in Europe a break in the routine couldn't do much harm. In any case, i ended up going to Koh Lanta in Krabi province, which at this time of year at the start of the northern winter season seems to have a tourist demographic profile almost entirely composed of sun-starved Europeans. Being pretty much a lone Asian in a sea of tourists of European ethnicity (yes there were barely even any Japanese, and (thank goodness) almost no other Singaporeans in sight either) meant that i was pretty much ignored by almost all the people in the tourist trade whom i encountered, which can work both ways. On the minus side, in such situations you can't help but feel like a second-class tourist compared to the farangs, but on the plus side, that means that the scores of massage, hotel, and restaurant touts barely even sent a glance my way.

Oh, and of course, another big plus about this trip is that it was a heck of a lot cheaper than what i'd pay usually, even though this time i had to resort to staying in hotels due to the scarcity of budget/couchsurfing options. So now i'm telling myself that the money saved this time round could possibly go a long way next time. Hopefully the next time will be during the June holidays. I dunno if i could tahan any longer without a larger-scale trip...