Engaged

What to say... Ya, so I'm engaged.
I feel like I should make an official announcement or something... but that would be weird. Instead, I'll conduct a little interview with myself and it will be just as weird but hopefully slightly more entertaining.

Vasti, we just heard the news. You're engaged and to your childhood sweetheart of all things. Can you please tell our readers how this makes you feel?

[Vasti giggles] "Oh well, you know. I feel happy, and a little old. How is one suspose to feel?" She looks shy and timid in her loose opal green top and yellow floral skirt, the epitome of femininity, except for a strange purple chainmail link necklace that clashes horribly with everything. A trademark of Vasti's style.

Haha, I'm not sure how you're susposed to feel, but I don't think you're old. Were you expecting the question? 

"Hmmm, that's a toughie. I wasn't. We had been talking about marriage in theory and I had been growing impatient with Sinclair not asking. A couple of years back I asked him what he thought of me asking him to marry me, he said he'd just say 'no' because if he hasn't asked himself it means he isn't ready. So I knew that whatever happened I would have to wait for him to ask. I'm not gonna lie, I feel like he took his time. Also, he always said he wanted proposals to be romantic so I never expected to be asked in an email, hahaha. Did NOT see that coming."

So it's true, he sent you an email. I had heard the rumours but didn't really believe it. I heard your sister called it "Very 2012" and many of our readers will find it... unconventional. What did you think? Were you disappointed?

Asking this question seemed to bring a tension in the room. I would be really uncomfortable for her to admit that she was disappointed, what if he soon to be husband read this article. She handled it with grace, although I'm not sure how honest she was. "I didn't have the opportunity to be disappointed." She says " My first response was shock. I had to read it over again to see if my eyes were playing tricks on me. They weren't. Then I had to think of an answer. I said 'yes'." She laughs. I want to change the topic, I feel shouldn't have asked, but she continues to speak. "By the time I sat and thought about it I had heard Sinclair's story, and the spirit of the proposal was really romantic. I don't know if you'd understand this, not knowing my fiance very well, but it was a very 'Sinclair' thing to do."

I can see that you know him well. 

"God yes, I know him better than he knows himself. And I'm not exaggerating; you can check with him, he'll confirm it." She's wagging a finger at me as if I really should confirm it before I publish this interview, she seems serious but playful at the same time. I assume she's teasing. I hope she's teasing.

So what's next, are you quitting your contract and racing home to plan a wedding? In our last interview you said that if you do not achieve your goals in Korea you will not be coming back. Does that still hold?

"Hahaha, I forgot I told everyone that. But yes, it still holds. I have made massive progress on my debt. I've beat it down from R150 000 and even though I'm not done yet, I am 100% sure I'll have paid it all off by the time I finish my contract. The second part of my goal is weight loss, I'm struggling a lot more here. I gained and lost and gained again. I'm trying to set up a sustainable routine but it took me more than a year to realise that in order to do that I have to fill my time with things and not mill about my apartment so much. Also, I lost a workout buddy. Workout buddies are the best ways to stay focused and stick it through. I'll have to keep working on that even after I get home so that won't keep me in SK."

And the wedding plans? Everyone wants to know, will it be extravagant or intimate? What are the plans?
"I don't believe that everyone wants to know that. I think they all just want to know if they're invited or not. I would have considered having a small wedding if I had a smaller family, but I want my family there and there are a lot of them. And since we're going big we might as well do it properly. No?"

Yes, have you chosen your colours? Or are you considering a themed wedding?
She barks out a laugh. "My sister and I have been talking about themes. I just tease Sinclair about it, we haven't settled on anything and I think he wants to be included in the planning so I won't be too busy trying to design a wedding on my own." So, you're saying there is not much planning? "I'm saying we've thought of guests and spoken about money, but everything else is up in the air. In fact, suggestions are welcome." Maybe it was too soon to ask, but with rumours of a September wedding, she must realise she will have just under a year to plan this. It will be fun to watch and see if she takes it in her stride which is her normal style or if she turns into another just another bridezilla. Weddings do to crazy things to people. She did make a comment about people applying for bridesmaids positions and donations being persuasive, I assumed she was teasing. 

After spending an afternoon in her little town with her, I can tell that she is happy and excited about her future. Come what may, I'm sure that her friends and family will support her and be present in her joy.

Thailand

To be honest I don't know how to write this post. It's really difficult. I think I said it earlier when I spoke about how travel stretches your brain. The things I experienced happened on so many levels that I'm unsure of what tone to write this post in. Should I write a basic account of what happened? Should I write my experience of what happened? My feelings and thoughts? Should I do a little anthropological breakdown of Thailand at first glance through the eyes of a South African tourist? I had fun, I really did. But for the first time in my life I had more money than I could spend, I was out among people I did not relate to, simply to enjoy looking at their country. I was seperate and not contributing (to anything except the tourism industry) and I didn't feel connected. I felt arrogant and small and like my hands were made dirty by my money. You may disagree but those feelings do not make for a good blog post. I loved Thailand, it was loads of fun, but it made me rethink the way I will choose to travel in the future.

After uhming and ahing for the past month or so I thought I'd just caption some photo's and let the story tell itself. 

 I was happy in Thailand, the whole time. More homesick than ever because in some ways Thailand is more like SA than Korea is. Although, it's not really like SA at all. I think it felt similar because people were poor and brown and that's the SA I grew up in. Also Thailand is beautiful and that made my heart light.

 Did not fall for this ridiculous trick. 90Baht is only R20 but still... who put the birds in the cages to start with?

 There are way more animals in Thailand than in Korea, this also made me happy. Cats are everywhere and roam around temples looking well fed and like they own the place. Stray dogs roam the streets, some of them were beautiful (I was told this by my companion Angela, I'm not clued up on canine aesthetics).

 I'm not sure why but I'm moved by this picture. It's a tuk-tuk repair shop and it was beautiful. I think the owner was gatvol of tourists cause I asked if I could take a picture and he just waved at me dismissively. He was chatting to an old guy friend when we came back this way so I don't think it was that he was busy.

This was the view from my hostel in Bangkok. I stayed in the very city part of the city if you know what I mean. I guess I mean developed, when developed means built up. It was overcast almost the entire week that I spent in Thailand but the weather was pleasant and not too hot. I liked my hostel and if you're ever thinking of going to Thailand and you want to stay somewhere central and near transport thing, I'd recommend it.

 This is also in Bangkok, down one of the side roads. One of the big differences between Korea/Bangkok and SA is that on this side they live in their cities, whereas we mostly work in our cities and live in surrounding suburbs. This street had little rooms on the one side, and front doors leading into houses and underneath the planks there was an open sewerage drain pipe thing. Through one of the windows was a mother rocking her baby in a hammock and I really wanted to take a picture cause it was super cute, but I felt it would be really disrespectful to stick my camera lens right into someone's living space.

 Thai massages are all they're made out to be. I had five massages in the week I spent in Thailand. they are about R50 for an hour long full body massage. I really enjoyed it, even though I had to get completely naked sometimes and the ladies felt up my bum and boobs a lot. It's a good thing I'm not a prude or I would have really missed out. This picture is of neck and foot massages in the street, R25 for one hour. It's fantastic after a day of shopping.

 About ten people tried to sell me this hat. Hawkers in Thailand are aggressive and tenacious in their sales technique. You have to have thick skin to say no over and over again to people who make their living selling stuff. They have skills. I like this picture cause my shoulders got an airing. In Korea I have to cover up from chin to bum. Also Ferron bought me this top a long time ago. Thank you Ferron.

 This was an 8 year old Indian boy who was selling roses at 11pm on a school night in a tourist area. He told me both his parents are in India and he'll be going back to India in 2023 when he is 18. I spoke to some Indian guys at my hostel about him and they said he's probably lying. I believed him though, and there were some other kids doing the same thing. In this picture he is laughing because he tricked some of the Dutch boys we were with into buying roses for me and Angela.

This is one of the side roads along the main tourist road in Bangkok. It was covered in art from around the world. lots of pretty graffiti and stalls selling cool stuff. I was sad that we found it so late in the day since I would have liked to have explored this area more, eaten lunch here or done a little photoshoot.

My guardian. I really liked how Thailand kept the sacred spaces sacred even though there were tourists milling about everywhere. I got gated numerous times for wearing overly revealing clothes and if you didn't catch the quiet vibe as you entered a room you were properly shushed.

Party space Pattaya! Drank too much, too fast, danced about in a cage hovering above a pit of more dancing people. Saw a ping pong show, slept like a baby that night.

A statue I found in the street that you see in the picture above this one. Only I saw the statue the next morning, it had a little shrine next to it. It's a smallish statue at the base of a decorated tree.

Me getting my tattoo on the beach. Three elephants, one for Africa, one for Thailand and one for the love of elephants.

There is a lot more. I came home with almost a thousand pictures. But also there is a lot more, the world is smaller than we think. And also there is a lot more that world is bigger than we think. And also, over and above all of that, there is a lot more cause I didn't crack the surface. I didn't even crack the varnish on the surface. I'm not even sure what the surface is made of. I'm not even sure what part of the surface I was on.

This post was hard.

Vasti