Bangkok impressions

December 26th: We took the longtail boat from Koh Libong to the mainland - with a short interruption because as we left the harbor entrance, the engine suddenly broke down and we were stranded on a sandbank next to a fisherman. A few men immediately set about repairing the engine, but not so successfully. After about half an hour another boat came, which we then switched to and continued on. After about an hour's drive, a minivan took us to Trang, from where our night train went to Bangkok. Before departure, the train attendants are first arranged...

It was only with a lot of research that we managed to get seats in the couchette car, right next to the compartment door, which often didn't close... The train was very old, so it was incredibly loud at times. The hawkers who walked through the train at every stop also had no hesitation in walking through the carriage loudly praising their wares, even at night. Accordingly, we arrived in Bangkok around half past eight in the morning, a little tired and two hours late.

December 27th/28th: Bangkok has almost 10 million inhabitants, so it is huge in size and the loudest city with the worst air quality that I have ever experienced. At first I was surprised that so many people were walking around wearing masks (Corona?), until I quickly realized that it was due to the exhaust-polluted, constantly jammed streets. There are electric buses, but there are also ancient buses that emit their diesel fumes and of course the mega-loud tuk-tuks and lots of cars. Noise is omnipresent.

Since our hotel was away from the city center, we always had to take the bus to the city center for about an hour and experienced all categories of buses from simply with open windows to freezing cold air conditioning. Due to the constant traffic jams, there are no fixed departure times and it's easy to stand on the side of the road for half an hour... It's better that you don't need an ambulance here, they're just as stuck and can't get anywhere.

We explored a little bit of a well-known neighborhood on the river, to which we took the water taxi. The many street stalls and carts with fresh fruit (pineapple, papaya, mango, etc.) are nice. Half the fruit cut into bite-sized pieces for about 60 cents....

It had to be a tourist attraction: we were in the royal palace and the hall with the real Emerald Buddha (there are several replicas). Glittering golden buildings everywhere, endless splendor (see a few impressions in the photos) - that had to be digested afterward and we found a nice little park nearby.

It's still Christmas everywhere here, with a variety of Christmas tree creations, hair decorations and Christmas songs blaring from the speakers.

Not only the tangled mess of power lines seems a little strange, but also the signs that I found on the public toilets here...

December 29th: We spent our third day in this challenging environment in our neighborhood in various coffee bars, which are probably very popular here at the moment. My favorite: Iced Cappuchino...

On the last evening we treated ourselves to a Bangkok highlight: a visit to the rooftop bar in the Marriott Hotel on the 48th floor. I had to get used to the height a little and stayed seated a little away from the glass railing... It was like being in another world for us there, an incredible view over the city under a full moon (!), the trance dance music of a DJ hip people - really spaced out.... A unique experience!

Tomorrow we'll take the train further north to Sukhothai, the historic first capital of Thailand with the famous old temple complex.