Making Friends on the Road

Going into this trip we didn’t have any expectations of making new friends. We were constantly on the move, staying a few days (at most!) in any one place. Switching towns every few days is not a conducive way to make lasting friendships.

Traveling as a couple has some challenges as well. As a traveling couple, you are already a complete unit. You already have someone to talk/eat/do activities with, so if you want to connect with others you really have to make more of an effort. Mark and I both have traveled solo before, he in Europe and I in the Middle East/East Africa. As solo travelers, we put more effort into meeting other travelers…the need to interact with other people became overwhelming at times. Traveling is amazing and exciting and every day is new…and it can also be lonely.

While in Luang Prabang, we signed up with a local tour company for a day hike through local villages to Kuoang Xi waterfall.  Signing up for activities is a great way to meet other travelers, but it can be a mixed bag…say if everyone in your group only speaks German. We were happily surprised to find our tour group included another American couple, Jeff and Daneah.

Originally Washingtonians (the state, not the capital), they have lived overseas working in international schools for the past eight years in Saudi Arabia, China (Shanghai) and now Bangkok.  Between tales of travels and technology (Jeff also writes a popular blog about using technology for education at TheThinkingStick.com) our guide, Kai, could barely get a word in edgewise.

We met for dinner that night and the next, and then Jeff and Daneah flew home to Bangkok. They visited Laos on their school’s spring break, and break week was almost over. They invited us to stay at their place outside Bangkok before we flew to Japan, and so a few days later we arrived at their spacious home and got a taste for overseas living.

They live in a suburb community about 45 minutes from downtown Bangkok. We visited the local mall and supermarkets, ate Japanese/Korean BBQ, and watched “Clash of the Titans” in 3-D in a super air-conditioned theater. Jeff made us all lattes, and we visited an amazing restaurant called River Tree House (I think!) that served incredibly tasty Thai food. The restaurant was located in a place we would have never found…well off the path beaten by Frommer’s and Lonely Planet. It was awesome!

Daneah also enlightened me on some international toilet etiquette. In much of Asia and the Middle East, squat toilets are the norm. No seats, just places to put your feet and a hole. I’m not sure exactly how the conversation evolved this way (much giggling was involved), but we were discussing the issue of “splashing”, and Daneah told me a story about how she had discussed this very same issue with one of her Japanese friends, and her friend asked her which way she was facing while in the stall. There is a right answer to this question, and it is not the one Westerners would give. Apparently the “correct” way to position yourself over the hole is with your back facing the stall door, NOT with your face facing the stall door (as you’d do with a typical Western toilet). So now you know. Back to the stall door = no splashing.

We are so glad we met Daneah and Jeff, and look forward to keeping up with their adventures abroad and in their summer home, the lovely city of Seattle.

Tagged as: hiking