The Tube
A question I sometimes find myself asking is: what the fuck is the point of travel writing? If you asked me what visiting Thailand is like, I’d tell you it’s what you think visiting Thailand is like. Scooters pouring down the street, temples plated in gold, cracked pavements, sudden rain and wet heat, cold beer under an awning with a bowl of something spicy with rice. Massage parlours and lizards dotting the walls. Rattling aircon, loose shirts, tuktuks, mosquito bites. Banana trees and grilled meat. Hippie brokepackers, young travellers in their early 20s, ‘digital nomads’, sunblasted expats with younger local wives, Israelis on their post-genocide R&R tour. Mountains and islands. Tangled, sagging webs of overhead cables and powerlines. Buddhist shrines and clattering, stinking markets. Thailand is like a constellation of things which happen in Thailand. Sure, but; you know. What's it actually like? The tourist experience of Thailand is unusually circumscribed. The language b...
