I'd like to welcome all of you. It's really a pleasure to see so many people interested in what others think even if that's just for marks only;) What I'd like to tell you about is my dream journey to Southern Asia. So let's get straight to the point.

First of all, there are three countries -- Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia -- to visit. First sketch is placed below, but that's just to show the main idea, not exact places. We'll be traveling by ourselves. There will be no guide, no tourist group, hotels etc. There will be only us and our backpacks. This gives us a possibility of doing everything in our own pace, or at least I imagine it like that.

First place is Thailand which I'd like to discuss a little today. Like probably everyone knows, Thailand is located in Southern Asia. It is bordered by Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and Burma, when speaking of countries. But there are also Gulf of Thailand and Andaman Sea there. Probably most of you don't know that Thailand is a monarchy with a king that reigns starting from 1946. That's pretty awesome.

What's more interesting, at least for me, is the different climate there. Tropical climate and monsoons are two most common examples of those differences. It's hard to imagine that for half of the year it rains there nearly every day and all that water evaporates a moment after and all that becomes humidity. It's probably the worse part of the year for visitors. Although it may be interesting, the other part of the year seems a better choice. During that part monsoon comes from northeast and brings dry and hot air, so that temperature is around 40 C. When I see pictures or read about southern tropical rainforests with commonness of orchids, colourful parrots flying everywhere, elephants and 13% of area being parts of national parks, it makes me want to live there.

But there's more. There's culture that has so much to do with Buddhism which can be seen at every turn. Thai culture has been influenced by many migrations throughout the ages, but there's something exceptional about it. Siginificant part of the art is connected with Buddhism which is the most influential religion (or maybe a philosophical and ethical system) there. Buddha can be seen all over there like crosses in Poland. What's interesting is that monks hold many public offices and they have free public transport. Furthermore, most male kids become monks for at least three months and their family earns great merit thanks to this. I'm not sure if that's not just a shallow ritual nowadays, but it's difficult to find out without going there.

Last, but not least is food. I can't even imagine how great it can be to go to the marketplace where everything is different from European food. Moreover, those places can be located on boats on which a cook cooks your food. It's so different from what I've seen in my entire life, that it makes happy to even think about it.

Of course, that's not all. There are plenty of things that seem great but I don't want to bore you more:)

(Thailand's hit of 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA1RzZa6nhY)

1. What do you think about Thailand? Would you go there, if you had an opportunity?

2. Do you have a dream journey, that you'd like to experience?