One Night in Bangkok

Actually, it was 4 nights in Bangkok, but the well-known song title sounded so nice as a headline 😉

In many ways, Bangkok is simply superlative. A really intense and vibrant city. After the calm days on the islands, a metropolis with millions of people was, of course, a big contrast. Congested streets are the order of the day, but thanks to an excellent skytrain system, you can get around quite well even during rush hour. There is a great desire for security, so bags are checked at every metro entrance, and in addition to the usual prohibitions on weapons, etc., there are also funny signs prohibiting other things that you can't bring in 😊 But what is also clearly noticeable is Bangkok's smartphone addiction! Nowhere else has it been as intense as here. It's actually so bad that posters are now being used to warn about physical harm and encourage people to start talking to each other again... Unbelievable!... This is the new world... how frightening!

We rented a nice apartment in a high-rise building a bit outside the city center. Right by the (well-developed) metro, so we could get to the center in no time. But the biggest highlight for us... a nice German snack!! 😊 We actually found German bread in a supermarket. We also got cheese from Wismar, muesli with 5 types of grains, and milk from German cows. We were overjoyed!! And finally, no eggs for breakfast!! We were really getting tired of them... Bähh... (well, now we've had to go back to eating eggs out of necessity)

In addition to the business district with skyscrapers, the city also offers huge food streets and markets. You can buy absolutely everything here, especially when it comes to textiles, you can easily succumb to a shopping frenzy and push "man" to the limits of their patience, so it's better if "woman" goes on their own 😉 (unless the male being is also a shopping enthusiast... which does exist somewhere 😉)

A pretty big part of the city center is also taken up by the Grand Palace with its countless temples and pagodas. In addition to the crowds of people, the overwhelming amount of Thai art adorned with gold and glitter is also quite awe-inspiring. And everything is filled with Buddha statues and other figurines. The huge reclining Buddha is quite impressive! The death of the king is still very present in Bangkok! Many people wear black mourning clothes and his image hangs everywhere. One rather spooky moment for us happened one evening around 6 p.m. at one of the metro stations when suddenly everyone stood still as if frozen in place and the national anthem started playing in honor of the king. The people seemed almost like remote-controlled robots, it was really strange!

Well, then we stroll through Bangkok on Saturday morning and who do we run into? Nils, a distant friend from Essen, who was here on business with his colleague. The world is a village and we celebrated that and plunged into Bangkok's famous nightlife together!