'Southeast Asia, here we come!' aka 'Journey to Bangkok'

So boys and girls, we have arrived. Hooray!

Arrival Bangkok, December 25th, half past midnight, feels like 40 degrees, humidity 99.9999%, hair done (or not).

But it took almost 24 hours until we got here. 🕦

...And because I'm not really a whiner, I will stay true to that and not... Oh well... Screw it... I'll whine. And how I will do that. 😏

So pay attention:

It all started in Tegel.

We booked with Hainan Airlines. Chinese. Because all the good flights were already taken and because I thought it would be fine. And it was... Somehow...

Unfortunately, we couldn't check in online and at the airport they told us that there were only seats available in the middle aisle and we were lucky that we could sit together at all...

Well, okay.

The plane was basically equipped like any other for long-haul flights.

That is: it is relatively spacious, so more passengers can fit in plus - the most important thing - the entertainment program consisting of a screen built into the seats of the person in front of you. This ensures that you won't get bored during the long flight. And our flight was not just long. It was verrrrrry loooooong.

We had almost 10 hours of flying ahead of us. And right from the start, when I checked the program, I noticed not only how bad the movie and TV series selection was, but also that unfortunately everything that was halfway decent was in English, Chinese, Russian, or Swahili. :(

Me and my foreign language skills.

Zonk.

10 hours, as slow as chewing gum.

Food that not only looked unidentifiable but also tasted that way.

Flight attendants who asked me several times to turn off my phone even though it was in flight mode, and in the end probably wanted to snatch the cheeky German's smartphone right out of her hand. (At least that's how they looked) 😎

Sleeping was not really an option and we were more than happy when we finally landed at some point.

Just over 9 hours layover in Beijing,  Peking.

It was smoggy, cold, barren, and so bleak there.

We desperately wandered through the airport and looked for something to chill. Well, I did.

Jule was already looking for a smoking area 🚬.

Long story short: I won, she sulked.

Because there were actually 3 small sleeping booths (designed for passengers like us), but there was a smoking ban in the entire airport! Schadenfreude is not nice, but: Ha Ha!

Well. So we spent Christmas Eve surrounded by the unfriendliest airport staff I have ever encountered.

I don't know if it's the air pollution there, which you always read about. But we couldn't explain why we were almost hit with the food we had ordered.

With an untouched to mildly threatening expression, the food was thrown onto the table. After an unsure glance into the Chinese face of the waitress, she returned a nasty 'eat-or-die' grimace....

When we finally boarded the plane that would take us to Bangkok in just over 5 hours, tiredness and travel frustration turned into pure despair.

Small plane. Little space and... Here it comes: no screens in the back of the seats!! 😱

No movies. No TV series. No Chinese commercials. No 3-D display keeping us updated on where in the world we currently are and how long we will still need.... 😭

Our lives were over.

People... The landing at Bangkok airport was the most beautiful in my whole life.

Never before have I been so happy to be able to get off the plane.

Okay.

The climate here is crazy.

Hot.

Stuffy.

Unusual.

And damn... I love it.

We went to the taxi quite quickly and the ride to our hotel was totally fine.

We had to wander around a bit before we found it, but it was worth it.

Perfect location.

Dear staff.

Everything we need.

After checking in, we explored the area a bit.

Fortunately, many things seemed familiar from my last trip to Bangkok...

And the famous infamous Khaosan Road is nearby as well.

Women vomiting, boisterous guys, half-conscious people. All of this musically accompanied by loud 90s techno. New compositions based on the melodies of well-known Christmas songs.

Ah, it was beautiful.

Honestly.

I like that.

Because as a dedicated fan of 'Schwiegertochter gesucht', I love the feeling of secondhand embarrassment. 😇

We were in bed at 5 a.m. Thai time.

And before we got out of bed today, it was already almost 5 p.m.

But hey, deceleration is the key to many things.

And it definitely fit into our imaginary castle. :)

We spent the whole day just chilling, eating, and chilling again.

Thailand has so much to offer culinarily. As is usual here, there is of course the unique opportunity to snack on fried tarantulas (or other creatures).

Did I try it??

You know me.

Of course...

Not!

But what isn't eaten yet could still be eaten, right....

...

Then we took a walk and passed Bangkok's dirty river, which looks like a sewer.

At one point, there was something like a mini dam (probably the wrong term, but who cares...)

At this point, everything you can imagine was piling up.

It was so full of everything that you couldn't see the water anymore, only guess it.

Branches, plastic, bottles, dogs, cats, cans, plants, vehicles, packaging, fish that probably glow in the dark, Granny Hildegard's dentures, and much more.

(I think if it's not washed up in this river, it doesn't exist in this world.)

In any case, there was a guy sitting across from it, holding a fishing rod in this mess.

Whether he was fishing for a bomb from World War II, his lost sister, or a newspaper... We will probably never know.

After that, we took a tuk-tuk to go to a tourist office to check some things and we also visited the Big Buddha (about 44 meters high).

The entire trip is completely unreserved except for the first two days.

I know roughly which countries I absolutely want to see and what I want to do and see there, but nothing more is planned and that's good. We will see where we end up and how long we stay there. I'm definitely looking forward to this adventure and I'm curious to see what awaits us.... :))