Bangkok (Days 1-3)

With another solo plane ride and another goodbye, it was finally time again for another new (very new) adventure, Thailand. Southeast Asia: Part I. I get my passport stamped, exchange my money, switch out my SIM card and set out to find my hostel. This time around I couldn't get myself excited for the "adventure" of navigating even though I may be good at it by now. With a jam packed city of 8 million people with too many types of transportation and cheap dollar accommodations, it makes decision-making harder for an indecisive person such as myself. 

Eventually, through a shuttle bus, metro, tuk tuk ride and a GPS, I check into the friendly little hostel off the road in corner of an alleyway of an alleyway of an alleyway, Cozy Bangkok Hostel. I shared the dorm with a couple who were backpacking in SE Asia for 3 months and an English teacher from China on vacation. The next morning the Chinese guy, Graham, invited me to explore Bangkok with him and another solo traveler, Rene, from Germany. Graham is a soft spoken, calm, friendly, honest and charmingly nerdy guy. Rene is a laid back, seasoned backpacker dude who had saved up his money from working odd jobs to travel around Southeast Asia until his money and luck ran out with random jobs. The three of us ended up hitting it off really well and spent the next 2-3 days together exploring. Meeting such down to earth people was such a good start to the trip and totally refreshed my mind for the rest of the trip. These special chances are unique to staying in hostels. It's what I look forward to most and remember the most. After a few days in Bangkok, we all then separately moved on to our next destinations but we of course did not forget to find each other on Facebook before parting ways! Thanks to that I learned that Graham's name was actually "Grammar." Too many puns to make on that one for a nerdy Chinese English teacher's name. Hehe.

My cousin Leslie finally arrived in Thailand just in time for the Chinese New Year. Bangkok is said to have the second best Chinese New Years celebrations in the world so we couldn't have been more lucky with our timing. We went out to Chinatown for dinner. The Main Street was packed with people walking and eating at the street food stands. For whatever reason, traffic was allowed through the street even though there was no free pavement to drive through, so the cars and tuk tuks in between added to the already chaotic atmosphere. It was all entertaining and pleasant none the less. Chinese dragons, lanterns and street performers were everywhere. Tons of people, none pushy, just soaking in the energy and aromas.

The following day we did the usual sight seeing everywhere. Everyone seems to agree that being in Bangkok for jus a day or two is enough, which is true, though I did enjoy experiencing the jam packed chaos of everything: from the traffic, to the giant shopping malls, to the metro and the night market. All the natives are calm and patient through it all. There isn't any yelling, honking or impatience. Just organized chaos. And despite them living in what Westerners would consider as poverty, the Thais remain humble as people and as a society.

I don't have many pictures of Bangkok but here's just a few.