" March 14th 2020, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs introduced a dissuasion from unnecessary travel to all countries, due to the extensive uncertainty for global travel linked to covid-19 "
When the news broke out, I burst out in some kind of weird laughter because up until then, this just sounded so unreal, and absurd. Sars had stopped me from visiting China for half a year, but that the whole world would close just felt unimaginable. But it happened.
I had been busy coordinating tours around Asia and, creating content for tour companies on Social Media. In my life, there wasn’t much time for hobbies, apart from taking a lot of photos on tour. All the free time would rightfully go to family life at home in Chiang Mai, and indulging myself in a nice coffee now and then. But then the news of covid, a pandemic struck, and all work-related travel came to an end by mid-March 2020. Suddenly I found myself with more free time than ever, to think and reflect on my travel-related life in Asia.
A kind of “unemployment deluxe situation ” in a way. Because being stuck in Chiang Mai wasn’t a bad place to get stuck in.
Thailand managed early to push back the virus and after a lockdown of a month or so, there was suddenly a chance to explore this country again, but under completely different premises. A rather empty country when it came to visitors, but we still did our best to try to support the travel and tourism industry, doing a few family road trips. And then I did some short trips on my own.
Well, I concluded that now is a good time to tell my journey through Thailand since my first visit in 1994 and share some tips and ideas that I hope some of you might find useful. Tidbits from the land of smiles, where the food taste a bit more, and life can be both complicated and easy. So let’s savour the Tom Yam soup, the flavoursome dish with a taste explosion, that can stand as a bit of a symbol of colourful life and travels in Thailand.
The beyond part was a recommendation from an Australian friend: – Don’t forget to tell the stories of your other Asian journeys.
So let’s explore now and then, I will share new experiences and walk down memory lane. My ambition and hope are that you the reader will get both useful travel tips and a bit of knowledge from reading this blog in “Swenglish”. Welcome!
Per Sundberg