Number of Nepalese are fleeing abroad in search of HOPE, Hope that they would have a
Life, Life that has a Living, Living that has a Standard and Standard that’s not for present
only but also to many futures.
While lucky ones get their visa stamp affixed, many are left stranded in a homeland too. For these and many other people in the country, getting their passport stamped at least once is a dream. Depressed are the young people who are compelled to renew their passport without being stamped.
Nepal still ranks at 101st in the strongest passport in the world. Entry to many developed countries isn’t a cup of tea of citizens holding this passport. Even with valid visa on hand, they have to encounter numerous allegations, confrontations, judgement at immigration of many international airports.
In this context, Thailand has been one of the cheapest destinations and go to country to many Nepalese. Number of people visiting this country has grown manifold, given the distance of travel, economy of both countries and the availability of budget airlines.
I had seen enough reels on Instagram about the tourism of Thailand lately. However, I was appalled until I visited the country on my own. For any Nepalese individuals, international tour means travel outside India, skyscrapers, beaches and white people.
I had already experienced beach life in my last trip to Andaman and Nicobar Islands, however, I wanted to explore more of this country with beach lives like in Hollywood that would directly make to social media. This unfortunately had to be settled down and got crashed in a few minutes immediate after the arrival into the country.
We reached the hotel at late night and the floor tiles was instantly a red signal. When we reached dining hall for morning breakfast, the crowd was full of Indians and only Indians. Some very bad tasting Indian dishes were also available for breakfast; particularly because the hotel knows their customers. Likewise, we could also see huge number of Indian people in small markets, restaurants and budget friendly shopping malls like MBK. Apart, I could also explore whole of little India on my way to Prathunam Night Market.
Likewise, many travel agents who knew our identity spoke to us directly in Hindi, our pickup drivers were confused because they expected some Aryan faced Indian would show up and the next check in hotels were all run by Indians or manager was an Indian and there were number of buses carrying huge team of Indian tourists.
At one of the hotels, these people wouldn’t wipe their bodies and take lift after swimming in the pool leaving corridors, lift , lobby all wet. Dining halls and lobbies were mostly covered by them for their loud trip discussions. Likewise, these men were also shamelessly seen walking on ugly hanging underwear around the beaches. Once, I was also asked if I wanted peanuts (looked much like set of mobile Chatpat stall) at Leaning Buddha Temple. Our travel agent would accompany us with only fellow Indian travelers where some thai people spoke minimum Hindi whilst Nepalese from Myanmar spoke in Nepali.
With time constraints and work priorities, we could only make to Pattaya so my assumptions on my observations may not hold true for sea life of whole Thailand. But the water wasn’t crystal clear. I couldn’t see a single fish or jellyfish stuck on a shore brought my sea tides and waves. Coral Island wasn’t rich with enough trees and green surroundings. I wanted to try scuba but wasn’t recommended by friend who told its scam. The diver would take you underneath to a structure with man-made sea bed, fake corals and almost no aquatic animals. Who’d spend thousands to experience artificial structures?
Likewise, due to huge number of people to be transported to and fro, they wouldn’t provide more than an hour to relax on a beach and bring back on a near to death rides on speed boats, no calmness, no stillness on a long awaited vacation.
So, to many not anti-Indians but somehow Indian allergy like me, I wouldn’t recommend Thailand as your first international trip. Maybe, you can wait another year, collect a few thousands and plan for another country, discuss thoroughly with your travel agent regarding hotels and groups you’d be catered. Do not fall into traps of budget friendly destinations at the expense of long awaited personal time.
