Having watched many Youtube vids of the Scopolamine, Columbia scares me, these gangs really know how to clean these guys out - crypto wallets, online banking, many lose over 10 grand in a few hours while they're passed out....then again have met many single women in my travels that have travelled South America alone with no problems
Just back from 4 days in Istanbul, 3.5 weeks in Thailand, 8 days in Bali, 3 ish more weeks back in Thailand, then Tokyo for 5 days. Stopped Before and after Thailand to break up the flights so wasn't faced with a 24-30 hour travel days with layovers. Can never say enough good things about Thailand, was my 3rd time there and fell more in love with it. Stayed mostly in the south, hit up some less touristy islands this time, found some incredible beaches with not many tourists. Wore a bathing suit for 5 or 6 days straight on one island, didn't need to shower just swam everyday. Awesome snorkeling right off the beach. Already looking forward to next Nov/Dec to head back. The dish Evoex posted was one of my daily, or every other day staples. Love that stuff. Enjoy picking up some of the common Thai words and phrases, always tell myself when I come home from travelling I'm going to try and put more effort into learning languages than wasting time on Youtube, will see if it pans out this time. Am only 34 and plan to spend a great deal of time there later on in life in my retirement years. So many other countries to see but I always want to go back there.
Mind boggling how many men send money to women over there on a monthly basis, just to tell people back home they have a "girlfriend" who they might visit once a year, and video call. That could be an entirely separate thread on it's own. Talked to many who had men buy them scooters, vehicles, built them a house back home for their family in the provinces etc. So many men go their to live their second life, after the divorce back home and kids grown up. Countless Australian and British guys owning a bar with their Thai partner. Every single one is the exact same but seem to make a go of it. All day long see 50-70 year old men with a gorgeous woman sitting behind them on their scooter. Sure is nice not being intimidated by women over there though, feel like almost any one is approachable, even if they turn you down or not interested they are nice about it. Not like here where I wouldn't even consider randomly talking to one at a shopping mall or on the street.
Tokyo was interesting. A bit tough when wanted to get outside of the touristy parts. Going from Thailand where it seems %80 of their economy is based on tourism, feels like Japan doesn't care at all about tourists, which is fine, just a little frustrating. For example one night walked around a neighborhood for over an hour looking for somewhere to eat. Either no English on any menu of the 15 restaurants I checked, too intimate(small of a place and I was only non Japanese waiting for a seat to open), walked into one - sat down and I said no beer - weren't interested in serving me food, other place asked for a mandatory appetizer order in lieu of a cover charge. Other places closed at 9, I could go on. Ended up that night at the Japanese version of Denny's fast food and ordered off the Ipad menu set to English. Did have some really great meals though. Went to some famous and local style ramen places. Delicious for around $10 per bowl.
Could have easily stayed another 2 or 3 weeks in Thailand without regret but it is a good thing I came home when I did, my dad thought it was a few mice in the basement that messed up my camera system so he set some traps when he stopped to check the house. I quickly found it was a squirrel that got in. Fell through a bunch of ceiling tiles and was just starting to cause damage/build nests. Rented a trap off marketplace and had it caught with peanut butter in about an hour. Thinking it fell through chimney - the water heater side and came through the venting.
