Solotrip Part 1: Thailand (11th-18th July)

So this is the reason why I haven't published anything for a while: I went on a solo trip for three weeks, just to do something on my own, without having to compromise and to find out how I would cope. So my first stop was Bangkok. I flew with an airline from Singapore, which kindly placed me in a window seat in the middle of the plane near the emergency exit, so I had no one in front of me and a wonderful view next to me. During takeoff, I could look down on some Japanese island groups, and during landing, I could see Bangkok at night. The entry process was quite unproblematic, I got a stamp in my passport and then I could look for the bus number that I had looked up in advance. I used an app with offline maps throughout the whole trip, which worked quite well, although it would have been much easier with internet, but I was too stingy for that. It's also nice not to be constantly reachable. Finally, I found the hostel and fell into bed completely exhausted. The next day, I started exploring Bangkok. The heat and humid air made me crave a shower as soon as I left the hostel. On the first day, I decided to visit the beautiful temples. The entrance fee is quite expensive for tourists, but it was really beautiful. At the entrance, I was stopped because of my shorts and had to buy a long pair of pants in the temple. In retrospect, this was the best thing that could have happened to me, a thin pair of pants that I could have easily fit into twice but fit well because of the elastic waistband and was much airier than my denim shorts. In addition, it had some pretty blue and white elephant patterns. So, I continued wearing these pants quite often. Finally, I arrived at the temple and could admire beautiful colorful roofs, pillars, golden statues, and decorations. After that, I visited the temple of the huge reclining Buddha, which was impressive and fortunately not as crowded as the first one. Because of the heat, I needed a break and went to an adjacent park to relax in the shade of the trees. To complete the temple day, I took the shuttle boat to the other side of the river, to another temple that looked completely different from the first two. It had white towers decorated with colorful tiles, some of which could be climbed to enjoy the view there. The gentle breeze that blew there was a true relief. My last destination for that day was Chinatown, a huge bazaar spread out in tiny narrow alleys with all sorts of trinkets, which could probably be described as absolutely useless stuff and souvenirs for 80%. It was relatively crowded, loud, and full of smells of fruit and plastic, especially the smell of durians (stinky fruit) was everywhere. I don't know why they are so popular, they taste exactly as they smell. Not good at all.

The next day, I went to the Golden Mountain Temple, which I found the most beautiful of the temples, although it was less magnificent than the others. But you climbed the stairs to the temple through a small jungle, past huge bells, and were rewarded with a fantastic view over Bangkok. Also, there were not many tourists here, which created a bit more tranquility in the air. However, the hustle and bustle returned when I was walking on Khao San Road, the backpacker area, which was colorful and loud in front of me. A true fun area where I met some people and could eat to my heart's content. Bars, restaurants, street food, souvenirs, clothes, and bags could be bought here at reasonable prices (probably still overpriced because of the tourists), and I could have bought so many things as they were really beautiful and not as tacky as the things in Chinatown, but unfortunately, my carry-on baggage was limited. Then I visited the Jim Thompson House Museum and the district with the large shopping malls.

The next day, I went on a day trip to Ayutthaya with a nice young man. We rented bikes and visited the old temple ruins, which were really impressive. Mostly reddish stones that are overgrown with plants over time formed pointed buildings with round elements, whose shape I had never seen before, it was really impressive. So we rode our bikes through the city, stopped at some parks and street food lots, and visited the temple sites. There were even elephants here. In the evening, we had a Thai beer and drove back to Bangkok, where we met again in the city center for dinner (an unbelievably spicy but very delicious noodle soup) and then went to the Lebua Tower. This Skybar is famous from the movie 'Hangover' and offers an incredible view of the city, although the drink prices were very expensive, but it was definitely worth it.

The next day was supposed to be a day trip to Kanchanaburi. This place became famous for the many casualties that the construction of a bridge during the war demanded. However, this place did not have much else to offer, except for a beautiful Chinese temple. It was raining lightly and there wasn't much going on, I was even the only one on the temple grounds, which created a very special atmosphere; you could hear the rain and the Chinese music that was played in the temple, together with the gray sky and the colorful colors at the temple. Nevertheless, I didn't really know what to do afterwards, so I approached a guy who seemed to feel the same way as me. He was Dutch and a student, and we quickly became friends and went to eat together. For dessert, we had an incredibly delicious mango ice cream with cream and sauce, and he asked me if I wanted to come to the national park with him. I didn't hesitate and asked him if he had seen a shop where I could buy a toothbrush. I checked into the same hostel as him, and since it was still raining, we watched movies and ordered pizza. The next morning, we left early by bus to the Erawan National Park, where there were beautiful hiking trails at the waterfalls. We even swam in the light blue water together with large fish that nibbled loose scales from our fingers and toes. Unfortunately, I didn't have a bikini with me, but luckily my companion had a spare pair of swim trunks, which he made available to me, so I jumped into the water wearing a bra and swim trunks, and it was wonderful. We dived under waterfalls, slid from the big rocks into the water like on a slide, and waded through the rivers. This was the highlight of my stay in Thailand, even though the trip to the national park was not even planned and very coincidental. Back in Bangkok, I strolled along Khao San Road once again before heading to the airport and to the next country.