Spontaneous Holidays in Thailand

Some people like to plan every moment of their holiday. In fact they can seem to put more effort into planning their holidays than army generals put into invasions. Weeks can be spent flipping through maps and guide books, and by the end of this almost every moment of the holiday is accounted for. Personally I think that this is a terrible way to approach what is meant to be a break, and if you happen to be bringing these plans to Thailand you are likely in for a torturous time.

Timetables just don't seem to work in Thailand, and if you want to make the Thai gods laugh you should show them your plans. People in this country just don't seem to work well with schedules. Being late for an appointment is not such a big deal and plans are made and forgotten as a matter of course. Things in Thailand can change in a moment, and if you are expecting people to apologize for this you are going to be disappointed.

A lot of the reason for this chaotic state of affairs was explained by the Buddha. He described life as having three basic characteristics; impermanence, suffering, and non-self. Life is constantly changing and there is nothing that isn't subject to this. People in Thailand realize this fact of life so don't put too much wasted effort into trying to change reality. If you attempt to inflict order on a chaotic system like Thailand you are only going to suffer. If the Buddha had worked for the Thai tourist board he is sure to have warned people to leave their plans on the plane. This is not such a bad thing, and when you embrace the chaos you will find that you will have the best holiday ever.

The best way to approach your time in Thailand is to take it as it comes. Transport is going to be late, and places you want to visit are going to close without any warning. You will likely find that you spend evenings with Thai friends planning where you should go the next day only to end up somewhere completely different. When I first moved here it seemed that a lot of the reason for the confusion was the language barrier, but I've since learned that it really is this chaotic. Don't be too surprised if local people tell you that you can do such and such only for you to later find out that you can't; they just didn't want to disappoint you.

Most people can benefit from a bit of spontaneity in their lives, and you are going to get plenty of that if you spend some time here Thailand. This is not such a bad thing, and it might be something that you want to continue when you return home.