Bangkok 2.0

The next day, I took a boat to Chinatown. Among other things, I visited a large weekly market. I have never seen so many things piled up that you absolutely don't need!

From here, I went to Bangkok Central and Silom Road. At the end of Silom Road is Lumpini Park, a small recreational area in the middle of the city. The park is used by the residents of Bangkok as an outdoor gym. There are aerobic classes everywhere, a strength training area, and many fitness machines, while hundreds of joggers run their laps.

As I was leaving the park, a song suddenly played through public speakers (the national anthem of Thailand in honor of the king, which I later googled) and everyone in the park - joggers, cyclists, or simple walkers - stood motionless until the song had finished. Afterwards, everything went back to normal, as if nothing had happened. Somehow creepy, I have never experienced anything like it before!

When it got dark, I walked to the nearby red-light district of Patpong. But for a few years now, it's not just lonely men who go there. There are plenty of restaurants, pubs, live music, and a large night market, making it one of Bangkok's most popular entertainment districts. However, everywhere you can see advertisements for the famous Ping-Pong shows, where women who are too old to dance on poles or be booked by clients do strange things with their genitals. Since that probably wouldn't have been my thing, I went back to the hostel and had a drink with some other people on Khao San Road. :-)

Bangkok has countless markets. I visited, among others, a small floating market where goods and food are sold from boats, as well as the Chatuchak weekend market. From the floating market, you could take a small boat tour through the canals called Klongs.

I dared to take the bus to the markets. It's actually not that difficult, just a bit confusing at times, figuring out where and when each bus departs.

On Sunday, I wanted to go to church. It is located in Klong Toey, where the largest slum in Bangkok is. Since I had some time in the morning, I visited the Klong Toey Fresh Market, where food is offered. In addition to fruits, vegetables, herbs, and spices, there are countless stalls with meat and fish. Among the counters with dead animals, the live ones are waiting to be slaughtered on the spot. It was full of chickens, ducks, fish, crabs, insects, toads, all squeezed together in large bags... It was terrible! And the smell of raw meat and fish in the sun, as well as all the feces, was so disgusting that I almost vomited! I actually wanted to have breakfast there, but quickly changed my mind...

The church service was very nice, but there were only four of us that day. :-) That was something different, considering I'm used to large congregations at home.

In the evening, I took a night bus to the south to Krabi.