The charms of a simple life

Our time in Khanom will come to an end soon. We have been looking forward to the arrival of our friends, Gary and Beer, from Hat Yai, and that also reminds us that it is almost time to go. While enjoying our time together, we’ve had moments to reminisce about the past six weeks we have been here. A time which, in the beginning seemed to be endless as we indulged our selves in a slow and simple life with limited social interaction, and now the time suddenly seems to have flown by.

It was and still is great here. Looking back makes me realise how much I enjoy this simpler way of life. How much I like, while working, being able to listen to the birds, feel a cool breeze, and don’t have to bother with the daily turmoil in an office. How thankful I am I don’t have to rush in the morning, feel stressed to decide what to wear, and that I don’t have to squeeze myself into a steaming crowd on the train.

How much I enjoy to life in this beautiful place, with little traffic, where in your free time you can do little else than wander along the beach or past rice fields and coconut plantations and afterwards enjoy a cool drink and a sea breeze. And I don’t mind that, since we don’t have a car or moped, our action radius has been limited, or depended on an invitation from others to take us around.

This is a place in which I have come to appreciate that there is so much less to choose from than in Amsterdam, whether it concerns food, clothes, or goods. A place where I realise I don’t really miss that there are hardly any cultural activities to attend, and where I come to value even more deeply than before a simple way of life, with little distraction and hardly any stress.

And then the arrival of Gary and Beer, made me aware that the only thing I missed (or would have missed if they wouldn’t have joined us) is the company of friends and family. Even though that has been compensated for the friendships we’ve found here, these last few nights, while sitting around a bonfire, sharing stories, cooking potjiekos (a stewprepared outdoors) in an original South African potjie (a round, cast iron, three-legged pot) I realised how great it was to see them again. And even more so now, now that they have gone for the weekend back to Hat Yai, I realise how great it is to share experiences with others and enjoy a few moments together.

These last few weeks have once more confirmed, that even though traveling to new places, making new friends and living this kind of simple life are true passions to me, it will never be able to replace the longing I feel to connect once in a while with family and old friends.

With this knowledge, I consider ourselves very fortunate to know that so many of the people we truly appreciate, are spread all over the world. And since we don’t seem to be attached to a certain spot, it looks like this new insight can be our future guide for the way to go.

Tagged as: digital nomads, Friends, Friendship, Simple life, travel, Valued living