'Let the Party started' aka 'one night in Bangkok'

January 28, 2017

BANGKOK. A city like no other. Real. Big Love and all that. (But only in moderation for me. Tomorrow it will continue... You will find out soon enough where... ) 😀

And right here at the starting point of our adventure, which has already been going on for 5.5 weeks, I just said goodbye to Jule.

Yep. She's gone. On her way to the airport. And I stayed. Just like that.

For those who don't know yet: Without thinking about it for too long, I spontaneously booked a new flight. A few weeks ago already.

And my previous travel companion was replaced today... By a completely crazy person. I don't know who let her out... Ladies & Gentlemen, Liiiisaaaa is in tha house!

Just now on Khaosan Road, we got ourselves a bucket and sang loudly through the crowd. We've heard that in foreign countries you have to adapt to the customs. And that's what everyone does here... Highest authority and all that.

Okay... So... I want to be completely honest with you. Don't let the pictures here fool you... It may look like we're having fun together. In reality, though, we don't have much to talk about... As you can see in the next photos...

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Before the 'big' farewell ceremony with Jule, the three of us went to the salon around the corner and had a massage.

And now... Well... Almost midnight and just the two of us again... In a new constellation... 😎🎉💣🎈🔥

The journey to Bangkok was more than rough. Long. Exhausting. Frustrating. Never-ending. Suddenly I understood why people go on a rampage... Seriously. I was close to it too. I mean, we've had a lot of experience with the Asian "maybe today, maybe tomorrow" mentality... we now know that you get more for your money, and that "making 1 into 3" is suddenly not so great anymore... Because it's not about free cocktails or anything like that... no... It's about booking a bus that is supposed to take 6 hours and then it turns into 9. Or 10. Or 15.

But what happened now really topped everything !!!1!!one!!

On our last day in Sihanoukville, we got a ticket for the return trip to Bangkok. $26. Supposedly for 15 hours. It's actually only about 700 kilometers for the distance. But it doesn't go directly, it goes through detours. We booked a sleeper bus. We were told that we would only change buses once at the border and then get into a VIP van.

Well. The first surprise came 4 hours later. Nowhere near the border, we were practically thrown out in the middle of the night and had to wait there for almost 2 hours for the next bus. It eventually came. Completely worn out. Broken windows. Definitely past its prime. But well. Let's not be like that. The main thing is to sleep. Well, as well as you can in such a bus... All the rumbling and bumping. And always the fear that the window will break right in front of your face...

I don't even know how long we had to sit in there in the end. Another 7 hours?! 10? 13!? Definitely too long... Eventually we actually reached the border. If only we had known... at least not from the drivers. They simply threw our bags out and pointed towards the border. We were all standing there. Nobody knew what to do. Where to go... It took a while for us to get the exit stamp at the Cambodian border. But it took even longer to get the entry stamp at the Thai side.

It was so crowded there. But after about 2 hours, that was done too ✅.

We came out. Nobody there. No bus. No driver. No idea where we should go. Only much later, a guy made himself noticed and signaled for us to follow him. And if you think we immediately got into the van... Well, yeah... He's never been in Thailand before.

Waiting again. Without knowing how long. Because whenever you ask, suddenly people don't understand English anymore... 😏

Then there was a van. We were happy inside already, finally getting away from here. ...But if you think we got in there... Well... He still didn't get it.... 😇 The van was ours. Absolutely certain. But even though we had booked and paid for it in advance, the drivers didn't let us on. No. It's of course more profitable to take some people who pay cash to get away from there. Cash in the pocket. They know exactly how to get the money. Black money and all that. And so the drivers and the van filled their wallets. We were left outside... But what can you do. Where can you complain, huh. It's just not Germany. One crow doesn't pick out another's eye. Well.

After over 1 hour, we were then led across the entire train station into a side street. Again without a word. And then a bus came. A BUS. Not a van. And even this driver communicates rather non-verbally or not at all. And on top of that, it took another 3 hours until this fucking thing finally started moving. And our group (consisting of 8 people), who had actually booked the van, only got to board when all the others from a different group were already inside. We got leftover seats instead of sitting exclusively in the VIP vehicle for hours already. I wonder what they would have done if this bus had been full!? 🤔 Would they really have made us wait another 5 hours, hoping that someone would give us a ride to BKK? Just because those vultures stuffed a few baht into their dirty pockets? And gave our booked seats to others!!??! We were so pissed off. Seriously. Do you know when we reached our destination!? Not after 15 hours as announced. Not after 18 or even 20. No. After fucking 26 (!) hours on the bus(es), we arrived. twenty-six. So, a total of 11 hours delayed. You have to take that in, ey. With all the love... but from now on, I'll skip a few coconut shakes and only fly from A to B. I don't care. I can do without that now.

For now, I'm not flying anywhere. I'm lying in bed and don't plan on moving from here in the near future.

Lisa and I are sleeping now. 💤

Lights out. 💡🔚