3 days in Bangkok

Bangkok 08.03-10.03

At the airport in Sydney, time went by quickly (thanks to Wi-Fi), and on the plane, there was an empty seat next to me and a slightly larger woman (who was sitting by the window) so I could lie down in between, when there were no turbulence.

I was so fascinated by the movie 'fantastic beasts and where to find them' that I watched it twice.

The flight was quite bumpy overall, and there was hardly any time when we didn't have to fasten our seat belts.

When I arrived in Bangkok (at 1 o'clock in the morning), I started looking for taxis. I found them, but I didn't understand the system (you have to take a ticket with a number and then you are assigned a taxi). I couldn't see the stands where you could take the ticket because there was a large Asian group in front of them. So I tried to talk to various people in English, but they ignored me or didn't understand.

After about half an hour, I was at my wit's end and on the verge of tears. Until the group finally dispersed and I finally understood the system.

However, the next problem awaited me less than 2 minutes later in the taxi: the taxi driver didn't understand me at all, didn't know where my hostel is, didn't know the English or Thai name of the street, and couldn't do anything with the map I showed him on my phone. So he asked for the telephone number of my hostel, called and had it explained to him.

I checked in at 3 o'clock in the morning and extended my stay by 2 more nights (but had to change rooms in the morning because the women's dormitory was full for the next nights).

When everything was settled, I called my mom to let her know that I had made it to the hostel.

On Wednesday, I met 3 German girls at breakfast, but unfortunately, they checked out already, so they couldn't do anything with me during the day. Rika then approached me later and asked if I had any plans and if I would like to go to the Wat Pho Temple with her.

So we walked for 1.5 hours in the scorching sun.

Bangkok is... noisy, chaotic, crowded, dirty, hot, stuffy, and smelly.

I didn't feel comfortable at all, but I was glad to have Rika's company.

At the temple, we first bought a cloth to cover our thighs and knees, and then we went into the temple. I had expected the temple complex to be cleaner... but here, too, the tourists were processed in an assembly-line fashion.

The huge golden reclining Buddha was impressive, but it was too hot and too crowded to fully enjoy it.

In the afternoon, we took a taxi back to the hostel.

I was unhappy and decided to spend the remaining time until my departure to Chiang Mai (on the evening of the 10th) in the hostel and only go out to eat.

There were just too many impressions and changes for one day.

At breakfast the next day, I met Lukas, a 28-year-old photographer from Hannover.

We decided to meet at around 11 o'clock to walk to Khao San Road (backpacker street).

Here, too, it took us almost 2 hours, and we first sat down in a café, ate crêpes, and had a smoothie.

Then we walked through a few side streets there and in the evening we ate a large portion of Pad Thai at a small street food stall for the equivalent of about €1!!

We took a taxi back and in the evening I fell into bed totally exhausted.

On the 10th, I checked out and met Nikki (from Kerikeri, NZ) around 10:30 in the morning. We walked to a small park, sat on a few benches in the shade, and enjoyed every cool breeze that passed by. Afterwards, we ate at a vegan snack bar before returning to the hostel around 2:30.

Half an hour later, Nikki said goodbye and I picked up my backpacks, hailed a taxi, and made my way to the train station.

Across the street from the train station, I picked up my train ticket, booked my return flight from Chiang Mai and the onward journey with a night bus to Ranong for the 14th.

A pretty tight schedule, but I'm happy with it. After the weeks in New Zealand where we could take our time everywhere, I'm now really happy to have a lot of action for a few days, then relax on the beach in Bali for 2 weeks, and finally go home.

At the train station, I sat down next to a sweet Thai woman and her toddler with 2 donuts and waited for my train.

We left at 6:10 p.m. - 13 hours on the night train to the north: to Chiang Mai!

It was freezing on the train... the air conditioning cooled down the compartment so much that I had to put on leggings and a thick sweater!

At around 8 p.m., train staff came and turned the seats into beds, then put a mat over them, covered them with a white sheet, made up a pillow, and added a blanket (wrapped in a plastic bag).

I closed the curtain, which kept the very cold air conditioning extremely well, so well that I even got warm overnight and had to take off the thick sweater!

The mat was quite hard, but I slept fantastically well. The rocking of the train makes you fall asleep wonderfully. So I slept from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. (when we were awakened by the staff with a loud 'Good Morning').

Just in time for the sunrise! Absolutely brilliant!

At the train station, I had a conversation with Sarah; we decided to walk to the hostel (hers was not far from mine). However, we gave up after about half an hour and took a tuk-tuk-like vehicle.