This was when I learned how much songtaews allow you to interact with nature. My friend Bailey was telling a story as we drove through the park. She stopped mid-sentence and started coughing and laughing simultaneously, or at the same time, saying, “Ah! A bug flew in my mouth!”
Yes, the open air does allow for bugs to hit your face, which is both funny and a little gross. However, it also allows you to feel the warm Thai breeze on your skin, wave to the monkeys without having to roll down your window and feel like you are outdoors while riding down a road. In Thailand, people seem to live very close to their environment and the outdoors. In cars, subways and buses, I feel very separated from the air by doors and windows. In Thai culture, we are always reminded of the temperature, because so much of our lives are spent in the open air. For example, most restaurants have outdoor seating, and some do not even offer indoor seating, so sometimes we do not have a choice! We are forced to be outside, rain or shine.
So, without windows to roll up, we rode through the national park, smelling the damp rainforest plants, touching the hanging vines and feeling the air get colder as we ascended, or went up, the mountain. This was all possible because songtaews are used so frequently here in Thailand.
I love the outdoors, so being able to feel so close to the plants and animals while in the songtaew made me really happy, even if my glasses got smacked by a few mosquitos.
