We had to think and ponder a bit about how to continue our route after the great experiences in Vietnam. The Philippines were moving ever higher up our list, but the weather there didn't seem quite right yet. Officially we were still in the Philippine typhoon season and didn't want to risk it. The neighbouring countries of Laos and Cambodia sounded super exciting, but they would have meant organising quite a lot again, and flights weren't the cheapest at that time. Slowly I needed a holiday from the holiday, where you didn't have to research visas, food and hotels in advance so that everything ran smoothly. So a short trip to the rather touristy Thailand, practically just around the corner, fitted perfectly – to do some island hopping there and finally smell sea water again. For once we didn't have to worry about a visa, didn't have to pay anything for a residence permit, and the fingerprint scanner at the airport even wished me a pleasant stay digitally in German (!). It was obvious that we would start with Bangkok and then slowly work our way south from there to finally see and feel the sea again.
Having arrived at Bangkok's smaller airport, a little out of the way, it was once again super easy to book a cheap ride to the hotel via the Grab app. For weeks Chris had been comparing and booking rides in the same time it took me just to find and open the possible apps on my phone. Remarkable. I'm still amazed at how drastically smartphones and their apps have changed and simplified the world for tourists. In Asia this is much more noticeable than in Europe; transport apps are used much more. We moved into our lodgings near Khao San Road and let the big city sink in. On the day we arrived there wasn't time for much more than a quick dinner and a walk along that very party mile, but we already found the atmosphere and how different it was from the cities and villages in Indonesia and Vietnam, where we had spent the last few months, very exciting. Especially since we were confronted with a whole grilled crocodile on a skewer on Khao San Road.
Shortly afterwards we walked past grilled centipedes and scorpions, which were then topped by insects, including cockroaches. Things got really weird when we also found official cannabis stalls and supermarkets right out on the street. In Thailand, drug offences have always carried sentences ranging from prison to the death penalty. For the last six months, the green herb has been legal here. The tourist is literally king (next to the king, of course), and the country has apparently recognised this as a great source of income to boost the economy.
So here everything was different again, but also similar to the countries before: "Same same – but different" – which was also printed on the many T-shirts on offer everywhere for us tourists, alongside all sorts of other knick-knacks, with as many elephants on them as possible. In typical Chris-and-Danie fashion we explored a lot of the city on foot. Soon, however, we realised that this wasn't very much of the city at all. Bangkok is simply huge, and our two visits – one on arrival and one on departure – simply couldn't be enough to explore this impressive metropolis with all its temples, canals, night markets, shopping malls and countless other things.
At least in the evening on the party mile, I had the chance for the first time in a while to greet the local b-boys at their street shows with a short performance of my own. It was my first brief public dance in months. I have great respect for the breakers here in Bangkok who try to put on a street show amid the crowds on the road, between tuk-tuks and motorbikes, to earn a few tips. Again and again the show had to stop to make room for passing taxis, tuk-tuks or tourist groups. Their speaker couldn't compete with the music from the restaurants, bars and clubs either. So we danced to a beat I could only guess at.
Things stayed sporty when we made a trip that is rather untypical for tourists, to the local trampoline park in the shopping mall called EmQuartier. Unfortunately it was a weekend, so we shared the jumping areas with lots of small children who were running wild through the hall and didn't want to know anything about queuing nicely or safety rules. The supervisors didn't do much to stop them from running criss-cross over the jumping areas either. When Chris, as always, did the coolest jumps in the hall and I didn't cut such a bad figure on the trampolines either, the kids soon thought we were super cool and we got to use the areas a bit more. Still, it ended with Chris having to play tag with the children in the hall and gaining new 5- to 10-year-old Thai friends, or rather fans.
Instead of a regular taxi, this time we had travelled to the hall by an extremely cheap boat taxi along one of the khlong canals, which let us see quite a bit of the city and its residential areas along the canal.
We visited Wat Saket with the Golden Mount temple, from where we had a great view over the city. We were very impressed by the many large golden Buddha statues. Gold and white were the 2 colours that stood out most for me in this city.
In the middle of the centre, between high-rises, we also got to experience and watch the monitor lizards of Lumphini Park. On all our jungle visits we had never been able to see so many monitor lizards so close. We were amazed at how normal it is for these large, agile reptiles to stroll around freely among people and birds. That's why we spent a lot of time in the park taking great monitor lizard photos.
Since we were once again in the stronghold of shopping centres, we decided to treat ourselves to the latest GoPro for Christmas (which was just around that time), so we could document our water experiences better. So we spent one of the days in a tech mall called Fortune Town.
Food-wise we stuck very often to pad thai, and we also found a really delicious vegan restaurant just around the corner from us. In Thailand everyone finds something to suit their taste. Twice we went to an organic shop that offered mini hot pots with plenty of fresh vegetables and mushrooms.
One of my highlights was a visit to the Ratchada Night Market. You could reach it very easily by the modern metro, and it was a lovely Christmassy outing, as everything was sparkling and glittering. Between strings of lights we strolled among the stalls and picked out the dish that looked tastiest to us. At this time of year and in this moment it was even reminiscent of a Thai version of a Christmas market. As a special event there was a free Muay Thai show in the food corner area of the night market. So we could enjoy our chosen dishes in comfort in the front row by the boxing ring while watching a real Thai boxing fight. We'll remember Bangkok as an impressive city with many faces.
Enjoy clicking through the photo gallery and our video.