Introducing Travelgai

Greetings TravelFeeders & Hivers,

My name is Scott, a.k.a. travelgai, and I recently discovered the Hive/TravelFeed and think it may be a good place to share my passion for travel, food, culture and history; and all those beautiful nuances that you find between it all.

First things first, you're probably wondering about the name Travelgai, right? Well, it's a play on the words "guy" and "gai". "Gai" is chicken in Thai and happens to be pronounced the same as "guy".

Actually, it was never my intention to do that, it just so happened that "travelguy" was already taken on the Internet. Whew . . . that's outta the way. Now, a little about me. 😄

About Me

Most of my adult life was spent in Chicago where I graduated from University, and later completed a Masters in Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine. Chicago played an important role in who I am today and particularly, the early stages of developing my worldview. I consider myself extremely lucky to have lived in "Shytown" in the 90's before all the gentrification & commercialization ruined a lot of great neighborhoods. Back then, Chicago had many underground scenes, a huge coffeehouse culture, a thriving alternative community, it was a creative hub for artists and musicians, and of course, it was in Chicago that I had a much deeper exposer to most of the world's cultures, which were sprinkled throughout the city.

I spent many years walking the streets of Chicago and exploring those cultural enclaves; even living in some of them. One of the advantages of big-city life is the opportunity to preview a country's food, music, traditions, etc., etc., before you actually visit their country. Aside from the fact that I grew up around a Latino community, I lived in a couple of Latino neighborhoods and basically experienced all of Latin America within a few square miles. This was one of the reasons Mexico was a country I visited often - I love the vibe of the culture.

Fast forward to 2010, I made my first trip to Thailand to get a Teaching certificate, which I was going to use while doing advanced studies in China. Well, I never made to China, instead, I ended-up making some friends and staying in Thailand for a little over a year and then traveling around Southeast Asia for 5 months or so. Though, I was able to do a comparison between traditional Chinese medicine and traditional Thai medicine.

Finally, I made it back to the states where I opened up an acupuncture clinic, which lasted about 5 years. I really started getting irritated with American politics & American life; plus I was having a hard time getting rid of that "travel-itch" that I had been trying to ignore. The fact is, after you spend so much time outside your home country, it gets harder and harder to come back and stay there.

Long story short, I moved to Thailand in 2017 and will probably remain here a couple more years before moving on to a new country. For this reason, much of the current content will be from the surrounding region (Southeast Asia).

I don't want to make this too long and drawn out, so, I have some images from a few places I've been that I'd like to share with you. Enjoy!

Mexico City (D.F.) is one of my favorite, if not, my absolute favorite big city. I lived in D.F. for a while, as well as, Puebla. As for the former, space and time seem to overlap throughout the urban landscape, sometimes symbiotically, at other times clashing with urban development. D.F. is a multicultural city with a global reputation for cosmopolitanism, but what I really like are all the stories it has to tell, they're seeping from every street, every corner, every person, and span every imaginable genre.

Sumatra (Indonesia) was such a great and memorable trip! My first ferry ride was from Malacca, Malaysia to Sumatra. The island is Amazing! There are many different ecoregions throughout the island, including one of the world's most biodiverse rainforests. A variety of natural vistas, outdoor activities and culture I didn't even know existed. This is definitely one of many places I would love to return to.

Czech Republic is another fantastic country to visit! It offers everything mentioned above and then some. I really enjoy photographing architecture, especially the details, and this is one of the reasons Prague is a great destination, because it offers superb examples of almost every era of architecture ranging from: Gothic, Baroque & Rococo to Romanesque & Renaissance.

That's me in a nutshell, or maybe more correct, a couple layers of my onion. So, I hope to bring some interesting articles, images, places to see, some local travel advice, and a whole lot more to this wonderful feed; and of course, I look forward to any and all positive community interactions!

Thanks everyone for taking the time to read my introduction!

As always - SAFE TRAVELS! ✈️🚄🚢