Is it really all about the journey?

know that everyone says it is all about the journey and not just about the end...I mean, all Valedictorian speeches use the word 'journey' or roller coaster' when describing the life you have lived and the one you are about to embark on, but honestly, for me (not really Alex, as she is ever the positive traveller), but for me...I do love the end of a long journey...especially an overnight bus ride! We have taken several bus rides at this point (5 months into our 1 year adventure) and they just never seem to get better, though we have crafted various techniques to make it more bearable than our first few. For example, Alex ensures the bags are stored in a safe and secure compartment below the bus (always taking careful precautions to push them to the back corner just in case the door is carelessly left open and bags start flying out of the side), while I elbow anyone who gets in my way so that I can ensure we get our seats either right at the front (on the right or left side) or the two seats right at the top of the stairway. This is to provide the most possible leg room and not just for Alex, but my too. We like to have room to 'spread out' and put our 1 massively over packed and bulging carry on on the floor n the middle and our large water bottle in the corner. Once we have settled in, we try to relax and pray that we won't have to use the toilet until our 1 45 minute stop in the middle of the night at a random restaurant rest-stop area that is 90% of the time owned by the driver or the driver's family. The toilet on a massive coach is, well, horrific to say the least. The toilet is Western style, but it takes up the entire space within the aluminum room so there is no where to put your feet or legs and they inevitably get splashed with urine and other various liquids of unidentifiable sources so we try to hold it to say the least. Most of the time a movie is played, but there are a few issues with the showing of said films. Either, the volume does not work so one cannot hear anything, they randomly stop half-way through the viewing leaving you on the edge of your seat or they are in Thai so this is rarely a mind-numbing activity to make a few hours go by and entertain us. We do have books to read and this is usually our second choice when the movie showing fails, but the drivers decide when the lights go off and this is usually quite early so there is really no use in trying to make a dent in a used book we have found left in the hostel. Our third option is the use of our Ipods and this is quite entertaining, but the battery life is shockingly short, especially while on a 15+ hour journey...they just don't make it the whole way, so we do try to save some battery life by only using them for a few hours at a time. When playing games on the Ipod (which is quite entertaining) the battery dies even quicker. We always look forward to our one allocated rest stop during these long journeys for several reasons. Firstly, the toilet. We would both rather squat in a stinky squat pot than try to cram ourselves into a aluminum toilet box from hell while the bus is in motion. Another interesting perk of the rest stop is what kind of interesting Thai cuisine we have to choose from. Yesterday, we found ourselves choosing between an interesting and colourful buffet with various curries and rice or a yummy looking Thai soup with sprouts, noodles, broth and some random meats. We are trying to be braver and more bold, as well as a bit more frugal so we are venturing out of our Western vegetarian hidey holes and trying some Thai cuisine. We opted for the soup and there appeared to be two types of sliced meat in the broth and well as something in the shape of grayish/beige balls. We took deep breaths and dug in. I actually enjoyed the lackluster balls and the darker of the sliced meats and honestly, I did not even have an upset stomach. Alex slurped up the whole thing...all the meats and the balls and the broth and the veg. She even ate some remaining bits from my bowl...what a champion! We were both very proud of our culinary bravery and money saving ability with food and were able to get a few moments of REM cycle-less sleep before arriving back in good old Dengue Fever centre...Bangkok. We decided that it would be most wise to spend the night in Bangkok to catch up on some zzzzzzzz's before enduring another 12 hour bus ride to Chiang Mai. We were also very excited to go back to our favourite MBK Shopping Centre for a bagel sandwich and maybe a movie or art exhibit in the nearby culture centre. For dinner, we decided to find that tasty soup again so we searched each and every restaurant until we found a menu with pictures of what looked like our soup...well, well well...looky here...the actual ingredients are all laid out on the menu. Let's see; sprouts, bbq beef, glass noodles and then we get to the really interesting part...pork balls and pancreas. Hmmm...we kind of looked at each other in that 'dog hearing a high pitched sound' or deer staring at the headlights' kind of way. What can we say to each other...we ate pork balls and organ meat. I am not sure what happens to Jews when they eat pork balls and pancreas, but I am sure in death I will find out. Alex was really horrified by the pancreas bit...I guess pork balls isn't that big of a deal, though I do wonder what parts of the pig made up these round beige balls. We decided to eat vegetables and rice for dinner that night and vowed never to speak of this again...though the soup was tasty at the time and that is very hard for me to admit not only to all of you, but just really to myself. This is the thing about travelling...the bravery factor. It isn't just leaving your comforts of home and all your family and friends and routines, and it isn't just about experiencing new cultures that differ from our own or toileting in ways we never thought possible...it isn't even just about making your way to new and unexpected places you have never seen before...it is about opening your mind to all of these flavourful things in the figurative and metaphorical sense of the word pf course...but in the literal sense of the word it is about the food and trying it all...well maybe not the pork or the organ meat, but smelling, seeing and hearing the country is just as important as tasting it and most of time, the best part that leads to the best stories.