Travelers: Keep your brain turned on
Travelers: Keep your brain turned on
By: Brad Hurvitz
Posted: 5/3/10
“Aaron?” I asked my brother. “Traveling is dangerous. Unexpected things can occur at any given moment. All of my possessions will be in my backpack at all times; how can I be certain of my safety?”
Before a big trip, nerves get the best of any traveler and may even mitigate the unbridled excitement. You can’t help but wonder: What if something horrible does happen?
We have all heard stories or seen movies where a terrible event occurs in a foreign country, and the traveler must rely on logically sound reasoning to make the best of the potentially dismal situation.
“You can’t be certain,” Aaron replied, and with an adamant undertone in his voice he explained an idea he heard in his previous travels that has enhanced his responsibility while traveling from country to country.
“K.Y.B.T.O., Brad: To reduce the risk, you must Keep Your Brain Turned ON at all times!”
I had lived in Australia for a few months with a couple of wonderful South African families when I met up with my brother in Burma, and together we crossed into Thailand from Ranong, the southernmost border crossing in Burma.
Burma was no easy place to travel, so we were both relieved to be in Thailand and eager to explore the famous beaches upon the tropical islands alongside the southern Malay Peninsula.
After hours of buses and an overnight boat ride where we were packed like sardines on the top deck, sandwiched between 100 other travelers with each of us wary of the person next to us, we finally made it to the largest island on the east coast, Ko Samui.
From Ko Samui we took a 35-minute speed boat to the island of Koh Phangan for the notoriously illustrious “Full Moon party.”
Any traveler who goes to Thailand, or even Southeast Asia, has probably heard about this massive lunar event occurring on the night of the full moon, and people travel from great distances to attend it.
Imagine a half-mile-long crescent-shaped beach. On the beach are upward of 25,000 people from all over the world. Throw in clubs blaring their music at full volume, black lights every few feet, people wearing glow-in-the-dark paint and glow sticks, candle lanterns ascending into the sky, fire jugglers, eaters, dancers and blowers, with half of the people drunk on cheap alcohol and the other half hedonistically engaging themselves while on Ecstasy, and perhaps you will get a general impression of what this infamous party appears to be: a dream for some, a nightmare for others.
The line for the speedboat from Ko Samui was well over a two hour wait, but we bribed the front guard and two hours was quickly reduced to two minutes. The speedboat that took us to Koh Pangan and stopped short of the shoreline by about 200 feet, allowing everybody off the boat and into five feet of water.
Nobody cared about getting wet, as the water was comfortably warm. Aaron and I had each been abroad for a few months, and we already had a keen handle on keeping our brains “turned on,” but given the partygoers’ altered state of consciousness and the disgusting stories we heard about the party, this was no place to bring anything important, and we had to be sure we didn’t lose sight of each other.
The first 30 minutes of the party were epic! Slowly, however, epic turned to fun, which was abruptly replaced by an exhausting and sticky mosh pit of stench and carelessness. After a few hours of pseudo-enjoyment, we were finished.
Aaron and I started heading back to the boat, which was docked further from the shore than we recalled because of the incoming tides. There were 15 boats to choose from, and it was a problem for the hundreds of people who wanted to go back to Ko Samui.
Shorter people were struggling to progress into the dark depths of the ocean, and everybody had a hard time finding their specific boat. Many of the other rigs seemed to be too crowded. We finally found ours and boarded.
Because of the depth of the water and the nonfunctional state many were in, people struggled to get on board, so Aaron and I put our hands out to assist them.
After we helped a few people on board, I noticed one of the Thai boat drivers harassing my brother, who tenaciously retorted that he was helping others get on the boat. Before I knew it, the Thai man had pushed my brother off the boat and into the water.
It is not an uncommon occurrence for my brother to accidentally mouth off to somebody who treats him poorly, so I was not too startled by this and continued helping people on board.
When Aaron climbed back on the boat, the mild disagreement became a problem. The Thai captain began shoving my brother in an attempt to keep him off the boat. Given my brother’s comparatively Goliath-sized Western frame, pushing was not going to work.
The Thai boat operator then grabbed a 4-foot stick – one that could hit a baseball out of the infield. He reached back and was about to strike my brother, who was crouching defensively, when I jumped in and halted his swinging hands.
I forcibly removed the stick from his grip and backed my brother in his quarrel. The people we had just helped on board stepped into the disagreement to calm the situation down before it turned into a Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing) battle. We eventually were able to stay on board and make it back to our neighboring island.
Keeping your brain turned on is about not falling into complacency – staying constantly aware of your surroundings. It sounds like a paranoid approach at first, but after a little bit of time it becomes second nature: Putting your foot in your backpack straps when you are napping in a public place, paying attention to familiar faces that may be near, not giving away too much information, not pulling out all of your money at once. Small things can make a massive difference.
I have met travelers who have become complacent and have had their computer stolen while on a train, or people who fell for scams and had the local mafia personally escort them to the nearest ATMs to withdraw and sacrifice thousands of dollars so they could safely escape.
Traveling is not an easy vacation; it can get dangerous if you become complacent. K.Y.B.T.O.: Keep your brain turned on, stay aware, and try not to get into fights with local boat operators after a Full Moon party.
