Living is Easy, Bangkok Edition

@bkkgreg was the MC of TEDxBKK
@bkkgreg was the MC of TEDxBKK
First, let me say I haven’t forgotten about the rest of my street food adventure. Suffice to say I’m still mostly eating street food. My final installments in the series will be video and a photo essay, so I’m taking my time.

I’ve finally caught up on all my photo editing. I haven’t been in this position in over a year where I didn’t have a folder of photos staring at me on my laptop.

Outside of working I’ve been meeting with other bloggers and travelers. Almost every day I’ve been having dinner or drinks with someone passing through town.

On Saturday I attended TEDxBKK, which is a regional TED conference. (If you haven’t watched some of the videos which have come out of past TED conferences, you should.) The conference was speeches on a diverse array of subjects. Several of the presentations which stood out was a woman working in Cambodia who spoke on the effectiveness of giving things to people as a form of aid, Chris Mitchell who spoke about swimming with the Great White Shark, Bruce Poon Tip, CEO of G Adventures, who spoke on how they help the communities they visit, and Prae Sunantaraks, a Thai woman who is slowly losing her sight.

On an unrelated subject, if you haven’t heard, Google Buzz launched last week. If you have a Gmail account, you can see all my photos in their full glory by following me on Buzz. I’m actually enjoying Buzz so far. I get more comments on Buzz that I do on the blog :) I’ve started a discussion on Buzz where you can ask me any question about travel or my past journeys and I’ll give you a brutally honest answer.

The last thing I’d like to share is an email I received last week:

Hi Gary, I am only 19 this year, someday I would like to be like you, travel around the world to see every corner. I am a Malaysian from Kuantan. I’ve been to London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Pattaya, Phuket, Melbourne, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macau, and Batam. I really want to travel around the world, just like what you are doing. I am not sure if there is this day, but this shall be my dream. By the way, you can call me Shin. Nice to meet you.

I get emails like this about once a week and when I get them they really make my day. I’m not the kind of guy who like to write blog posts which are nothing but rhetorical questions, post uplifting quotes, or make fluffy speeches about the wonders of travel. I don’t think its necessary. I think the beauty and allure of most places is all the selling you need. Getting emails like this lets me know that what I’m doing is getting through and that in some small way I’m making a difference.