Bangkok

"Krung Thep means City of Angels, but we are happy to call it Bangkok if it helps to separate a farang from his money." - Detective Sonchai Jitpleecheep in the novel Bangkok Eight by John Burdett

Two days ago I was skiing. Now a psychedelic flurry, fuss and hullabaloo was surrounding me. The air was like a warm sweaty woolen cloth. There was definitely no need for the UNIS-jacket I had been carrying around for years. Everything happened at the same time. There was people sleeping in the middle of pedestrian street, motor-cycles, every third person yelling "Hello mister!" after me and trying to sell something, cars and cats crawling around, an annoyed looking dog watching over a half eaten chicken wing in the middle of busy street. The environment change I had gone over within past days was huge.

From the airport I was driven to a place called Khao San road, because I failed to say where I want to go. The place turned out a limbo (=bad place). I decided to walk a little and found a guest house about 15 mins from the hazzle. There were no cats or dogs inside the rooms and even an own toilet was included. A luxury, I understand. Just a perfect place for a lost tourist. I heard that it's good to eat where eat where the locals are eating. A small booth on the street. Tables full of local looking people. Must meet my standards. I was served a noodle soup with some stuff, including pieces of intestines (as a biologist I would define them as pieces of chicken rectum). The price (30 bath / 0.7 euros) included very detailed instructions how to use sticks for a soup. The food wasn't bad. At least I didn't get dirrhea. It's save to eat where the locals are eating, I take it...

However, it seems that all the books I have been reading, the stories I have heard and the films I have been watching, have not prepared me for what I have faced. The more I walk and look, the less I see. This place is just so much different from all the other places I have been. Bangkok is too big place for a small lonesome guy. It's time to move on. An old studying friend is having a holiday in Phuket. I thought that it could be cool to visit him on the way to Ko Tao. Today I'll go to find a bus ticket. More photos (and hopefully better ones) later on.