Thailand - 3rd Stop: Bangkok

The next destination was Bangkok. Although I'm not a big fan of big and crowded places, the capital of Thailand was a must on our trip. But first, we had to find a way to get from Khao Lak to the city almost 800km away. We booked seats online with a local bus company with a layover in Phuket. So we spent another night in Phuket. Later, this place was used as a layover multiple times. We booked a hotel near the bus station. On the evening of the next day, we left Phuket by overnight bus and arrived in Bangkok 14 hours later. The journey went quickly thanks to comfortable seats, snacks, and the download feature of Netflix. On the first day, we found a great café in a quiet residential area. We spent a lot of time walking through the streets and exploring the surroundings. The market on the streets of Bangkok with its many stalls full of clothing, souvenirs, and food impressed me. The residential areas were worn out but still cozy in their own way. There is a lot of poverty on the streets of Thailand. Nevertheless, the Thais seem happy and always friendly. Whether this is just an illusion or reality, I have not been able to find out to this day. We had a lot of trips planned through the city to temples, cafés, and national parks for the next few days in Bangkok. However, our further stay turned out differently. Ina and I made the mistake of not paying attention to where the water we drank in the restaurants came from. This was probably the reason why we had to deal with a stomach upset for the next 3 days. Everything started on the 2nd day when we had to call a taxi back to the hotel earlier than planned because Ina didn't feel well. She vomited in the car during the ride. For me, who was still feeling great at that time, it was the funniest thing that had happened to me in a long time... not so much for Ina. She didn't have a bag and so her stomach contents ended up on the back seat of the taxi. In response, I gave her my (full) bag so that the next 2 attacks wouldn't end up between us. As if that wasn't enough, the taxi driver started gagging, because of course, we had to pick someone who had a problem with people vomiting. After another unpleasant 30 minutes in the taxi, I gave the lady a very generous tip. Of course, I had to call Melissa immediately (my sister and Ina's best friend) and tell her about it. There is no better audience for a funny story. It was entertaining until karma caught up with me and my stomach turned left at around 10 pm. So, the next 3 days, neither of us spent in the streets of Bangkok, but in bed or on the floor of our hotel room. During this time, we couldn't drink much, let alone eat, so our circulation completely collapsed. On the third day, we ordered cooked rice to the room. At this point, we were no longer in the mood to care about our appearance. So, the friendly man from room service got a particularly nice view of our butts. It should be noted that the Thais are 'prudish' from a Western perspective and do not view this kind of thing positively. But after the last few days, we didn't care at all. On the last day, Ina was feeling relatively well again. I still had some lingering effects. We were very disappointed that we couldn't see the best sights of Bangkok, but we set off for our next destination: Kanchanaburi.