Arriving to Bangkok. Bye-bye civilization.

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After a long long flight through Cairo - where I managed to meet up with 2 Hungarian very funny guys - I arrived to Bangkok. Nevermind the sleepless hours I was enthusiastically searching for the Airport Exit. After walking around for 30 min following notice board directions pointing opposite directions, I finally found the ticket office for the Airport Bus. I was told bus Nr4, but of course, after exiting and asking again it was Bus Nr 2.
This was a fair introduction of how life is here, everything is just a big gray cloud, and you never know what to believe or not.
There was a very nice lady on the Airport Shuttle bus, who took notes of who wants to get off at what stop in Bangkok. I though, allrighty, its gonna be a piece of cake to find the hostel! Yeah right.
The driver basically kicked us out at the last stop, he never intended to stop anywhere else anyway. It was no use to ask him where to go, he was just screaming at me to get off. Jeezzz. After asking 10 people, I finally found Nappark Hostel. I wish I knew it was the last time I had a hot shower or used a western toilet.
I was about to lay down and sleep, when Simon, a Swiss guy just checked into the bed next to mine, so we ended up talking a lot and had a 'very romantic' dinner on Khao San Road. Why romantic? There is no way you can eat without candlelight! By 20.00 the same day, our group grew to 6, including my future travel-mate: English boy Richard. We ended up drinking buckets (yep, what else?) and listening to a Thai live singer! Fun times!
The next day I decided to explore the city myself (ok, I thought the guys ditched me..). This turned out to be a horrendous idea, people randomly coming up to me at every corner, grabbing your map and circling stuff on it, and you cant get rid of them for 20 minutes..Of course, they all want to sell their tuk-tuk rides, or their neighbor's tuk-tuk offers.. Actually it does not matter what is it, as long as they try to sell something. Of course I was told to not to visit certain temples at certain hours, as they are closed etc.. But the time I got there I found out it was all bullshit, and I missed out on the most important sights of the city. But, hey it was only boiling 50 degrees, gazing sun and I was wondering by myself at some places where there was literally nobody around. Huh, juppie. I got pretty fed up by the afternoon, so decided to head back to the hostel. On the way a sweet old Thai lady came to talk to me about my blond hair, I thought finally a nice person. Aha. She finally offered her "cooking services" for some fee if I follow her to her home.
I really had enough.
A second try in the afternoon was more successful: me and Richard hired a tuk-tuk driver who took us to some Buddha Temples and the huge 40m Buddha statue. The best was when we entered to a temple where there was absolutely nobody, but us and a little old Thai lady who was doing her daily chanting. It was absolutely quiet and we were just sitting there for a while on the soft red carpet. So, this is what the Buddha zen life-style like I guess.. 😊
The next day I got up early, cause it was the day we were about to split the group, 3 guys heading up North and 3 of us to the South. So, quick-quick, hiring another tuk-tuk driver and a fast visit to the Grand Palace of Bangkok. It was not 50 degrees anymore, but 60, we were literally sweating liters, the place was full of tourists and pretty gold temples, but that's about it actually.
Then we took a taxi - which got stuck in traffic for 1 hr - then a bus towards Koh Samet. Of course, nobody could tell us which direction the bus is heading or for that matter, when is the estimated arrival time. We got to the ferry station very late, and we were told about 5 different versions of how much its gonna cost us to take the ferry to the island. Eventually, we ended up ripped off - yet again - paying 6 times the normal fee.. We couldn't care less anymore, it was dark and we were just tired.
First impressions of Bangkok? It's sweating humid hot, people are bullshitting the whole time, and there is no way you can get any information about anything that is actually accurate. Oh, and have I mentioned that your tuk-tuk driver will take you to a suit shop, like it or not.
I personally visited 2 of these shops, even though that's the last thing I wanna buy.
Well, Asia, bring it on! 😊

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