Bangkok...back to Thailand, baby

From Pakse, Laos, I crossed the border into Thailand. I could have gone directly to Bangkok on an overnight-bus, but I decided to stay one day in Ubon Ratchattani and then push on to Bangkok the following evening. Even though Ubon was pretty much the most uninteresting city I've seen to date, staying there for one night turned out to be a good plan. Coming directly from Laos, I would not have been ready for the chaos of Bangkok, and this gave me one day in a middle-ground to adjust, plus I found a cheap internet cafe, and I was able to hunker down for a few hours to dig myself out of the email-hole I'd managed to develop. Unfortunately, the internet cafe I selected in Ubon was one of these gaming center/internet combo places, and my USB flash drive (the one with all of my travel photos) contracted a virus that made it look like my pictures had been erased. Everything turned out ok, but not before I had a mini-meltdown at the internet cafe. I think I would rather lose my passport than lose all of my photos from traveling. Though it would be a huge inconvenience, my passport, at least, could be replaced.

Bangkok is intense. It's a huge city with pretty much anything and everything you could possibly imagine. The traffic is insane, the streets are packed with taxis and tuk tuks, and the sidewalks are crammed with food stalls and vendors of every product imaginable. The sounds, smells, heat and humidity hit your sense like a ton of bricks. I landed amidst this pandemonium early in the morning, fresh off an awake-all-night-bus from the sleepy town of Ubon. I had a surprisingly uneventful tuk tuk ride from the bus stop to the Skytrain station, hopped on the Skytrain to the Sukumvit area, checked myself into the super-clean Soi 1 Guesthouse, and set out to explore the city.

I had some errands to run (the occasional organizational day is necessary when you are traveling for an extended period: a visit to an embassy to apply for a visa, a quick stop at the pharmacy, questing for yet another pair of size 11 flip flops to replace the ones I destroyed the previous week...you get the idea), so I didn't have much time for sightseeing, but walked around most of central Bangkok with a few excursions here and there. I was planning to use Bangkok as my travel hub over the next few weeks, so I wasn't too stressed out about seeing all of the sights on this particular visit.

One evening, I went to the infamous Khao San road. This is where most of the backpackers stay and is famous through out SE Asia as the original "backpacker ghetto". I made a conscious decision not to stay there because the area is not well linked to the rest of the city via public transportation, and I was in errand-running/organizational mode. Plus, Khao San has its own distinct vibe, and sometimes I just need a break from backpacker-land.

All in all, my time in Bangkok was a fun experience. The food is fantastic, and the city is full of life. A visit to Bangkok is the travel equivalent of adding a shot of espresso to your life.

-Julia


Bangkok


A lizard chilling out in Lumpini park, Bangkok


Khao San road at night


Evening food stalls in Bangkok...fantastic curry!


Bangkok