The first days in Thailand...

The month in Thailand was incredibly diverse and different.

Although we were going from Sri Lanka to the next paradise, Merle and I left Unawatuna on the last morning with mixed feelings on our way to the airport.
As I mentioned in the last Sri Lanka blog, saying goodbye was difficult and it felt strange to board the plane and leave the enchanting country.

But let's go back to Sri Lanka airport for a moment.
We arrived perfectly on time, everything went smoothly. But when we wanted to check in our perfectly packed backpacks, the misfortune greeted us.
Dry and emotionless, it was communicated to us an hour before departure that we had to provide the departure date from Thailand for the Thai visa application, otherwise we would not be allowed to enter Thailand.
Shit. Shit. Shit again.
Our plan was to keep the next country and the time of our onward journey open.
In other words: we had no plan. No plan where we should go next and especially not when.

The check-in lady told us that we had exactly 20 minutes left because we had to check in at the latest or otherwise we would not be able to board the flight.
I think we've never had such stressful 20 minutes before. Well, the last 20 minutes in previous nasty exams, where the time was not even enough for half of the tasks, were also stressful.
It was about as stressful as this. We slapped our backpacks on the floor of the check-in area and desperately tried to plan our onward journey quickly using the weak airport WiFi.
We randomly booked a bus to Laos at the cheapest time with the hope of being able to cancel the trip afterwards.

And luckily it worked out that way. We were able to provide the airport with a booking number and a day later we cancelled the trip again.

Oh my god.. we got lucky!
Then everything went quickly and the plane took off. Before that, we ate our last Rotti brought from Unawatuna.
Dear Rotti, we will miss you.

Arriving in Bangkok, we took a taxi to our hostel.
The taxi driver, my first encounter with a Thai person, was strange. An old man who grunted, sniffed his nose strangely, cleared his throat, twitched, squealed, and drove abruptly faster or slower throughout the 50-minute journey.
He crowned the trip by wanting to drop us off somewhere in the hustle and bustle of Kao San Road, but not even close to our hostel. We refused to get out until he finally drove us to our accommodation. It worked!
In the hostel, we met Alex, a super nice guy from Munich.
We went to eat a disgusting pizza together (I know, we should be ashamed, but we just felt like having pizza!) and afterwards we drank beer.
It was incredible, there were so many impressions to process.
It was hot and the humidity was unbearable. Without any effort, my body was constantly slimy and moist.
And then Kao San Road, with all its drunken, shouting tourists who drank their disgusting mixed drinks from big buckets and drunkenly stepped on the locals who persistently tried to sell their clothes, jewelry, and other items. We were accosted from left and right, asking us to drink something, to shop, or to go to some Ping Ping shows.
(If you don't know what that is, you've done everything right! Don't google it :D )

Nevertheless, the evening was super fun. Somehow, we managed to join the party for one night and dance to the creepy bad music.

We stayed in Bangkok for three days. We strolled through the city, looked into the shops, took the boat to various stations along the river, visited temples here and there, and went out for drinks in the evening.

Conclusion: Bangkok is an exciting city, the food was delicious, and there is a lot to see and experience.
But somehow, I was looking forward to finally heading towards Kho Phayam and leaving the hustle and bustle of the big city behind.
After the small Sri Lanka and so much closeness to nature, Bangkok overwhelmed me with its size, dirt, noise, and the grey, smoky veil in the air.
But I definitely want to come back again. I'm sure it can be incredibly beautiful and I can enjoy it better at a different time.