The Backpacker

Steve was lost. He had no idea where he was or where he was going. All he knew, was that he was a traveler, a long way from home wandering around this continent aimlessly. The train stopped. A conductor said something to him in a tongue unknown to him. Looking out the window and onto the platform, he realized that this was the end of the line. He picked up his backpack and walked out onto the platform looking around him. Scattered around the place, were other travelers. His eye caught one of them. A young, blonde girl he had seen at the station before boarding the train in Bangkok the previous evening. He had assumed by her appearance that she was either American or Canadian. Nervously, he decided to ask her where he was.

“What do you mean you don’t know where you are?” replied the girl with a laugh. “You are in Chiang Mai, Thailand."

“I’m sorry” Steven replied. “I’m weary; I’ve been traveling around Asia for a couple of months now. I’ve lost track of where I am and where I’m going.”

“Are you traveling alone?” The American girl asked.

“Yes, Yes I am.”

“I am too. I've been told there's a hostel not far from here. Do you want to come with me?”

“I’d like that.” Steven replied eagerly.

Steven looked at this girl. She was shorter than him, blonde hair and the most beautiful blue eyes that almost looked like gemstones in the reflection of the bright summer light. She carried a large backpack with various sew-on patches of places she had been. Cambodia, India, Vietnam, different US States and some European countries. She was wearing a red blouse and jean shorts showing signs of wear, and on her right hand, he noticed a ring with a flat surface on top with what looked like gemstones decorating. Steven thought she was surprisingly well dressed compared to him. He had not shaved for three months and not cut his hair for over a month. His hair covered his ears while his bushy ginger-colored beard went down to his neck.

Steven and his new companion found the exit to the train station. After having numerous employees of local Hotels and Hostels trying to offer them over-priced rooms and following them while they ignored, they found their way to the road.

“Do you know the name of this Hostel?” Steve asked his new companion.

“I do” She responded with a smile while hailing a passing taxi. The American girl said the name of the hostel to the driver, and he ushered Steve and his companion to get in the back. Steve climbed in, helping the girl with her bags and then giving her a hand up into the back of the old work truck which was now used as a taxi. They both sat on opposite sides of the vehicle as it slowly pulled away from the Train station.

“Where are you from?” The Girl asked him.

“Scotland,” Steven replied. “How about you?” He asked.

“I’m from Washington State. I trust you know what country.”

Steve smiled. “Of course I know where it is.”

“Oh really? That's impressive. I’ve found that most Europeans don’t seem to know the difference between Washington State and DC.”

“I’m not European,” Steve told her.

“But you're on the same continent.”

“No. We are a separate island from the rest of Europe.”

The girl laughed.

“Well, what are you then apart from the obvious being Scottish,” she asked him.

“I am British. You don't get many Scots who identify as that anymore.”

“I’ve always felt Britain was only referencing England.” The girl answered. “I read in the news a lot about Scotland wanting to leave England."

“We do not. Well not all of us at least." Steve replied.

After a ten minute journey, the truck came to a halt. The two travelers split their fare with the driver and helped each other with their bags. In front of them, they saw the sign for the Hostel and entered.

The main Hostel reception was a large open room with a straw roof. There were two pool tables where a group of German backpackers smoked cigarettes as they played and conversed in their language. In one of the corners was a sofa where a couple gently caressed each other. Scattered around the place, were tables and chairs where Backpackers from all over Europe and America’s shared stories, smoked cigarettes and drank beer. The reception desk was a hut within the building where a local woman smoking a cigarette and reading a Thai newspaper looked up at them.

“Yes,” said the woman. “You want a room?”

“Do you have two beds? We don’t mind if it’s a mixed dorm,” the girl responded.

The Travellers were given a small four-bed dorm which could have been a shoebox it was so tiny. On the wall next to the main door was four lockers bolted into the wall and a bedside table lay beside each bunk-bed. The air conditioning sounded as it was going to pack out and fail at any moment as the fans inside the unit rattled but still gave off some refreshing cool air.

“We should stay together,” she said. You never know who may take up residence in the bunk below or atop you. Steve looked out the window. There was nothing much outside. There were a few poorly looking houses with elderly locals going about their daily routines. In the distance, he could see a Rice Paddy, and towards his left, he could see a little more of the city.

“Sure looks nice here,” he said to the girl as she plugged her phone into the outlet.

“Have you been anywhere else since you have been here?” asked Steve.

“I've been traveling for two months. I’ve been to China, India, Hong Kong and Vietnam. This is my last stop. I have to be back in Washington by the end of the month as I’m starting a new job. I graduated earlier this year. This was a trip that my former boyfriend and I were going to take, but I found out he was cheating on me, so I just went on my own.”

Steve thought about her response for a moment. It made him think about his ex-girlfriend back home. He too had lost her to infidelity.

“I feel you. My girlfriend of three years had been cheating on me too. I guess I just wasn't man enough for her.”

The girl sat up on her bed and looked over at him.

“What makes you say such a thing about yourself?” She asked him.

Steve, shy, lost for words and embarrassed looked out the window again. One of the elderly villagers was staring in his direction. He closed the blinds, blocking out the scorching afternoon sun, as he walked towards the girl who ushered him to sit next to her. Steve sat down next to the girl and leaned against the wall, his legs out in front of him, while she turned to face him sitting cross-legged on the bed.

“Tell me more about her?” she asked him.

"I dated this girl back home for over three years. We met at boarding school. The two of us were inseparable. We would do everything together both in and out of school. All of a sudden, she one day tells me that she feels I’m not man enough.”

“Why did she believe you weren't man enough?”

“I discovered she’d been screwing this biker guy for about three months before we split. She left me for him. That relationship lasted about six months before she tried to get back with me.”

“Did you?”

“I refused. I told her I never wanted to see her again.”

“You did the right thing.”

The girl tapped Steve on his knee before going into her backpack and producing a bottle of rice vodka that was half empty.

“You drink?”

Steven nodded his head.

“I bought this a few nights ago in Bangkok. I drank a little with these girls at the Hostel, one of them, this Italian girl completely passed out after barely a sip.”

Steve chuckled. He looked the girl in the eyes again and was filled with desire for her. He had not felt this way about someone for a while.

Steve had been backpacking through Asia for around three months, having started in Hong Kong where he had stayed with an old friend from his boarding school, he then went into China where he saw the Great Wall and trekked around the Mountains into Tibet. From Tibet, he made his way to Thailand, where he had spent a week of drinking heavily with other backpackers and living off the incredibly cheap street food that Bangkok had to offer. He had ended up sleeping with a prostitute there after a party off the strip in Khao San Road, where he had snorted a few lines of Cocaine with two guys from Australia. He was fortunate enough not to lose any of his belongings. This had been his first sexual encounter for over a year.

Steve took a sip of the Rice Vodka, he had never tried it before and was surprised by the strength. It was like taking a sip of pure ethanol, which burnt the back of his already dry throat. Handing the bottle back to the girl and grabbing his water bottle she chuckled and took a swig herself. The backpackers looked at each other and could do nothing but laugh.

“I told you it was strong. I thought you Scots were hardcore drinkers!”

“Aye, but with Whisky. Not this stuff. Why even are we having this filth here, when we can go and explore what this town has to offer.”

After getting some fried rice from a local cafe and bar, which they stayed in for a couple of hours chatting about their respective countries and their lives, purely for the air-conditioning, the two Backpackers wandered through Chiang Mai which had changed with the warm, relaxing night-time air. Around them, other backpackers from all over the world wandered around the bars and night-market stalls trying their luck to get already extremely low-priced goods down a notch. Everything seemed so tranquil which reminded Steve of his hometown. Steve felt the warmest he had been on this trip he had taken. He was with a beautiful woman and was beginning to take in this alien world. He was the happiest he had been in years. They found a place within one of Chiang Mai’s night markets for a nice cold beer, while some musical and dancing tribute to the Thai King was taking place within the square.

Steve leaned back in his chair so that it was sitting on the two rear legs and he looked towards the stage where the dancing was taking place. He was impressed with the colorful display which was different to the Ladyboy and strip shows he had seen while in Bangkok. His American companion loaded her camera and told him to sit still. She took two photographs of him. Steve then leaned over to see the pictures she had taken.

“You take a good photo,” The Girl told him showing the pictures. Steve was impressed by her photographic skills.

“You got a good shot there. You captured the light perfectly,” he replied

“Well, I did study photography. I have a BA in it.”

Steve was impressed, at the same time he felt jealous. Why had he not done something more of value like that with his life?

“Is that what this job you were telling me about involves?”

“Yes. I’m working as a photojournalist for a nature magazine back in Washington.”

“That’s very admirable.”

“How about you? What brings you to this part of the world?” she asked him, putting her hand on his knee.

Somewhat aroused and nervous by her advance, Steve took a deep breath and explained his story to her.

“I just wanted some time to forget about life for a few months. Before I came here, I had a pretty decent job. I was the Assistant Manager of a small hotel near my hometown.”

The girl was impressed by how a man who looked so young could have achieved that much. She looked at him and suspected that he was no older than maybe twenty-four or twenty-five. His long fuzzed beard made him look much older though. In reality, Steven was only 23. He had worked his way up from being a food runner in the Hotel kitchen and eventually became the Assistant manager at 21 after the former manager had a nervous breakdown and had to quit. Steven continued.

“I worked sixteen hour days, without a break. It was incredibly hard work. I decided to resign from that job and take a few months off to go backpacking while I'm still young. That's how I ended up here.”

“That's pretty cool; you’ve done a lot in such a short amount of time.” She said, edging slightly closer to him. Steve did the same, and then as if it were normal and he'd known her for a very long time, he placed his hand on hers, and she lifted her fingers to join hands with him. She smiled at him as they held hands.

At that moment, they could feel the rain starting. All of a sudden, as if a floodgate had opened, there was a crash of thunder and the rain started pouring down in torrents. Quick as a flash, the show on the stage stopped, and the of backpackers and locals in the square took cover under market stalls and ran across the streets to find open shops where they could take refuge. Steve and The Girl took shelter on the inside of the bar, which was filled with people trying to take cover from the rain. The two companions laughed for a moment about the storm and looked out towards the town.

The roads were flooded entirely due to the monsoon season. Around them, the locals continued their everyday life as if this kind of weather and flooding was regular. The main road was like a river now and the people and cars waded through it as though they were boats. Other more ambitious backpackers ran out and photographed each other standing in this newly formed river, that had once been a street. The girl brushed some raindrops from her Camera and then looked up at Steve and smiled. He smiled back at her putting his arms around her. The two of them embraced for a few seconds and laughed nervously while watching the flooding unfold in front of them.

“I’ve never seen anything like this before,” said Steve.

“Me neither," she replied.

“What impresses me, is how they adapted to this sort of weather they seem as though they are going about their known routines without even noticing the flooding. "

She let go of him and took a step back. Steve thought for a moment he may have been too forward and possibly scared her off. She looked at the new river again and then looked back at him.

"Don’t you get bad floods in Scotland? I thought it always rained there.”

“Yes we do,” said Steve in response. “It’s never anything like this. The most you will get is a river bursting it’s banks and causing a small amount of flooding, never anything like this though.”

“It’s crazy,” said The Girl. “It’s also amazing, that I will be able to say I saw this. I mean Washington is well known for its rain, buts never anything at all like this."

The rain began to die down, but not entirely.

“I want to go and take a few photos of this,” she said earnestly.

“Wanna come too?”

“Of course I do,” Steve said without a second thought.

The Travellers waded through the road, The water was so deep, that it was close to reaching Steve's knees. The Girl stood back under the cover of a tree that overlooked the road and begun to photograph the surroundings. She asked Steve to strike a pose for a couple of photos, which he gladly did. The two of them then swapped places; she wanted Steve to take some pictures of herself to show to her friends and family back in Washington. The girl looked around and saw a tall European man with his friends and handed him the camera.

"Excuse me, sir. Could you take a picture of us?" She asked.

The European man agreed with a smile and then the girl called Steve over. He put his arm around her shoulder and smiled as the European man took a few photos before handing back the camera.

The Backpackers made it back to the hostel. Upon arrival, they noticed how surprisingly lively it was despite the rain. The two of them got themselves a couple of bottles of beer and lay down in a hammock, drinking and watching a German man sing and play the guitar across the room from them with other backpackers around them enjoying drinks, games of pool and Skyped their families back in their own countries.

After a couple of bottles of oversized and ridiculously cheap beer, they retired to their dorm. Surprisingly, nobody had taken up the spare beds in the time they had been out. Feeling very tipsy now, they sat on her bed listening to music from his iPad and drinking the rice vodka they had drank after arriving in Chiang Mai. Maybe it was just the alcohol talking, but Steve felt a wave of confidence that he had not felt in a long time. He put his arms around her, looked her in the eye, and kissed her. She smiled at him and kissed him, as they fell into each other on the bed and made love as the storm intensified outside.

The next day, the sun came out with a vengeance. The heat had intensified after the flooding of the night before, and the humidity in the air was unbearable. The two Backpackers decided they would take a walk to the Buddhist Temple at Doi Suthep.

The two began walking up the long stairway into the temple but had to stop half way up. Steve needed to sit down, he was drenched in sweat from the climb and drunk an entire bottle of water as he sat.

“Is everything alright?” The Girl asked him.

“I’m fine. I’m just not used to this kind of heat and humidity.”

“You shouldn't drink so quickly, you’ll just make yourself sick.”

Steve could feel it in his stomach..he was not feeling so good now after downing the entire bottle of water. He now had no water for the rest of the hike up to the top and for later on in the day. The Girl helped him stand up and took his hand as they continued their hike upwards, occasionally looking back to see how far they had come and admired the view.

When the backpackers reached the temple itself, they were overwhelmed by the peace and tranquility of it. A large golden structure dominated their surroundings while Buddhist monks roamed around the grounds, meditating and lighting incense. The aroma of incense filled the air. Around them were Buddhist statues and extremely colorful sculptures of dragons and other animals across a checkered tile floor.

Steve sat down on a bench near to the central structure. The girl sat next to him and offered him some of her water.

“This place is beautiful,” she said.

“I’ve seen a lot of temples traveling around Asia, and this has to be the best one I have seen so far."

"Did you visit the big one in Bangkok?” Steve asked The Girl.

“I didn’t. It was one of those things I wanted to do but never got around to doing it. I did go and see the Gold Buddha though. I'll be back in Bangkok in a couple of days so if I have time I might go there myself.”

“I saw that as well with a group from the Hostel. It was an impressive statue which quite distracts from the rest of Bangkok. I find that Bangkok is so different from the rest of Asia with its more city-based culture and of course its obsession with prostitution of whatever you want to call them. Girls with Dicks!”

They both laughed at the joke and looked forward. There were two monks spinning a prayer wheel in the now early evening sun. Once they had rested, they explored the rest of the temple grounds and admired the views of Chiang Mai. Through the forest and the hills, the city looked so beautiful and almost like looking at it from the air.

Steve put his arm around The Girl, who then leaned into his shoulder as she looked across the landscape with him. He was overwhelmed with emotions for this girl who he had only met yesterday. It was as if they had known each other for years and he wanted to stay with her forever. Nothing would have made him happier at this point. Was it the right thing though? Having feelings for someone, he had only just met and did not know. He didn't even know her name. Did she know his? These questions spun around his head regularly. He relaxed his arm, and she sat down on the wall with him as they continued to look down below them. She then kissed him and stroked the left side of his beard.

“How long since you last shaved?” she asked him. Steve really couldn't think when he had last done it.

“About three months I think.” He replied.

“Do me a favor. Don’t ever shave it off. It makes you look so cute.”

She kissed him again. He felt it may be inappropriate to ask her name. It took him some time to work up the courage and it suddenly just came out of him.

“I never got your name.”

The Girl smiled at him and stroked the back of his neck. “It’s funny. I never thought to ask your name. It’s Carly. How about you?”

“Steven. You can call me Steve though.”

“Steven. Hmmm. Common name."

“I guess my parents liked it.”

“I’ll remember that name.”

Steve and Carly decided to leave the Temple. When they got down, the sun was almost set and the cooler evening air was beginning to take its place. They returned to the hostel where they rested for an hour in each other's arms before going into the town to view the Night Market.

The rain kept off that night. To the surprise of both Carly and Steve, the whole city appeared to have completely changed from the previous night when the roads had turned into rivers.

The two Backpackers wandered around the various stalls at the market, while Carly would stop to take photos every so often, Steve tried to see how cheap he could various items at the market. One stall which was selling a vast array of weapons including tasers disguised as iPhones, knuckle dusters, and telescopic batons, had an impressive looking antique knife that caught his attention. The blade was about eight inches long and had blunt edges but a sharp tip. It was more for display purposes rather than fighting. The sheath was made from what appeared to be snakeskin due to the scales and texture of it. Possibly from a Cobra which was common in that part of Thailand. Steve managed to barter the price from eight-hundred to five-hundred Baht.

"It's beautiful," Said Carly as she admired the sheath.

"It will look nice on my apartment wall," said Steve.

"You have an apartment?" Carly asked him.

"Not yet. I did have one before I came out here." I plan to find one with a friend when I get home.

They held hands again and continued to wander through the market. All around them, beautiful colored lanterns made from multi-colored glass lot up the street stalls as vendors saw them walking past and tried to offer them reasonable prices on items neither of them wanted or needed. The night was cool and humid. An improvement on the weather of the previous evening. The backpackers found a street-food stall with some tables laid out where they saw a local woman eating with a child. The stand was run by an elderly man who with a smile welcomed them to his stall and offered them both a portion of fried rice and soup for unbelievably low prices. The Backpackers decided to sit at one of the tables as they watched the night-market unfold before them.

"It amazes me how much things cost here." Said, Carly, as she stroked Steven's hand laying flat on the table.

"Sure is beautiful here. Compared with last night at least." Said Carly.

"I'm just amazed how well adapted to it these people are. Back home, the whole country would come to a standstill over a couple of centimeters of snow."

"You get snow a lot in Scotland?" asked Carly.

"Yes. But not often. A couple of times a year maybe, and it never really lasts too long, but when it does, it causes havoc everywhere."

"Interesting," Carly replied. "We do get it a lot back home during the winter, along with some pretty severe wind and rain storms, but we're pretty prepared for it. I always assumed Scotland had pretty harsh weather. That's how we see it in America at least."

Steve sat gazing in adoration at his companion. The last couple of days had been so wonderful to him, that it had made him completely forget the impending separation he'd have from her soon. Although he'd only spent two days with her, he felt like he'd known her for years. They had talked in great length about their lives and upbringing to each other. This was something Steve had never felt comfortable with before talking about with anyone, not even his ex-girlfriend.

Carly looked Steve in the eye and smiled. She stroked the side of his face as a tear noticeably rolled down her eye.

"I wish I didn't have to leave tomorrow." She said, visibly saddened.

Steve opened his fingers outward on her hand as she did the same, linking both of their hands together.

"You leaving early?" Asked Steve.

Carly Nodded.

"I'm getting the early morning bus back to Bangkok. From there I'm flying back to America. Back to reality and into the real world. How about you."

"I have about a week left before I head home," Steve said. "I'll rest up a bit and then look for a new job. Plenty of new hotels opening back home, I'm sure a man with my experience would find it easy to get a job there."

"Not back to your old place then?" Carly asked.

Steve shook his head.

"Definetly not." He replied. "I couldnt work at that place again."

Carly smiled.

"It sure sounds like you wouldn't want to work in such a badly run place again." She replied.

After having eaten, the two Backpackers headed back to the Hostel where the bar was open and selling large bottles of beer for incredibly low prices. For a while, they drank and chatted with a group of Dutch travelers who were making a trip around Asia. They all shared stories and talked about their homes and adventures around Europe and Asia while sharing many bottles of beer and cigarettes.

Sometime later, Steve and Carly decided to return to their room where they found a young French Backpacker had taken up residence on one of the beds. He introduced himself before heading downstairs to the bar. Alone again, Steve kissed Carly in the middle of the room before they wrapped their arms around each other and embraced.

"I wish I didn't have to leave you," Carly said as she begun to cry.

Steve's eyes began to tear up as well. Part of him was thinking to cancel his flight back to Scotland and go with her to America. The two of them lay down on Steve's bottom bunk-bed and kissed again before she lay her head down on his chest.

"Tell me about Scotland. Tell me about your home." Carly said as she stroked his chest.

"Where do I begin?" he said.

"Well. My town. It's a small market town about twenty miles from Edinburgh, the capital city. I live in a farmhouse pretty much, although my family doesn't farm, we live in a converted barn next to a couple of farms. It's quiet there. Soft rolling hills where my friends and I would play our ridiculous games where we pretended to be commando's fighting the bad guys with our cap-guns and water pistols as kids. Somewhere in the hills is an old abandoned castle which was built during the Iron Age."

"Wow. It must be so cool to live by castles. We don't have any in The States." Carly replied.

"They're normal top us." Said, Steve, as he continued. "Tell me about Washington."

Carly lifted her head so she could look at Steve. She looked into the eyes of this man she had spent the last three days with. Three beautiful days that she would never forget. In her mind, she thought about what it would be like to forget about her upcoming job and go to Scotland with him, the way many girls where she was from imagined that a handsome man from the UK would sweep them off their feet and they'd move to the UK with them. She thought about Washington for a moment and how best to describe it to this stranger.

"Well, Seattle's such a beautiful city. From my apartment, you can see Mount Rainier, which is covered in snow all year round. Some summers my family and I would hitch up the RV, and we'd head over to the park where Dad would fish whilst Mom, and I would pick wildflowers which I'd then give to Grandma, who'd usually spend the day sitting by the lake and would help my Dad cook the fish he'd catch. In the evenings, I'd sometimes spend hours looking at the mountains around us and imagine what it would be like to explore them all one day."

"Did you ever?" Asked Steve.

"Not yet." She said.

She held his hand and lay her head down next to his as she closed her eyes. Steve saw that she had been crying and felt her tears on his shirt.

"Maybe there's this wonderful man I could explore them with one day," she said as she looked at him and smiled.

Steve smiled back, as she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Steve woke up the next morning. He looked to his side to see Carly was not there. The morning heat and dehydration were unbearable at this time of the morning, mixed in with the hangover after having drunk many beers the previous night. He observed the top-bunk where he and Carly had spent their first night together and enjoyed some awful rice-vodka and saw that all her belongings were gone along with her. Steve teared up. He now felt lonely and empty inside. Possibly the most beautiful person he had ever met was gone. He then looked down at the bedside table and saw a ring. He recognized the ring in an instant. He had noticed it on her finger when he met her, and Steve found a note which read:

"To my wonderful Steven. Although our time together was short, it was the most wonderful time of my life. I won't forget you. Don't forget me. Carly."

Steven smiled after reading her note, but he couldn't help but let the tears flow down his face.

Steven tried to put the ring on his finger, but it was too small for him. Upon seeing the ring was too small, he found a length of string in his backpack. He ripped off a long piece and looped it through the ring and put it around his neck. He looked at himself in the old and cracked mirror in the room and smiled. He realized that maybe it was time to go himself. Steven immediately packed his bag and went downstairs to check out. The same woman who checked him and Carly in was sat behind the desk in the small hut.

"You not go with the girl?" Asked the receptionist.

"She had to leave early." He said as he handed back his room key.

"Where will you go now?" Asked the receptionist.

Steve thought for a moment about where he should go. He had considered going North in Laos but decided against it. He had a flight home next week, but he thought again.

"I think it's time for me to go home." He replied as he shouldered his backpack and paid up for his room in cash.

Steve walked out into the street. The sun was a brilliant fiery red that hurt his eyes, so he put on his sunglasses. He noticed a Tuk-tuk driving towards him and put out his arm. The vehicle stopped, and he asked the driver to take him to the train station.

Along the way, Steve thought about Carly and the ride they had taken to the hostel only three days ago and the things that just a simple ask about where was could lead too. He thought about his home and the stories of Rainier that Carly had told him and felt warm inside but also a sense of sadness thinking if he'd ever meet her again. The driver came to a halt outside the station.

"One hundred baht." demanded the driver. Steve handed him a hundred baht note and got off the tuk-tuk as he made his way to the station's booking office.

After booking a ticket, Steve sat alone on a bench at the platform as people around him waited patiently for the train back to Bangkok. Steve thought about what Carly was doing right now and what she was thinking. He wondered if she was at the airport, feeling as alone as he did at that moment and thinking about the time they had spent together in the Night Market and their day at the Temple where they had never been happier. Truly, Steve was blessed to have spent these days with the most amazing person he had ever met. Steve took the ring off from around his neck and placed it in his hand as he admired it.

"I'll keep this forever." He thought to himself.

Just then, the train began to roll into the station and came to a dead halt at the platform. Steve picked up his backpack and got on board and took a seat. He looked out the window and at the spot where he first laid eyes on the beautiful woman he had been honored to spend time with and smiled, but at the same time couldn't hold back the tears.

"I think it's time for me to go home." He thought to himself as the train pulled away and he could see the platform no more.