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Published: August 13th 2012
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Today I am leaving Bangkok an would like to give you some infomation about what has happened until now.
I left Germany Aug. 7.th going to Bangkok via London. After 20 hours flying around half of the globe I finally arrived at Bangkok. As I got out of the plane, thick humid air hit me. Bangkok airport is quite big so you have to run 20 min. to get your luggage and another 30 min. to go through border control. I have bought a travel guide about Thailand in Germany and they stated, you have to take the airport express bus to go to the city - the airport is located 20 Km away outside Bangkok (BKK). I have spend half an hour searching for the airport bus until a nice guy told be, they have closed the bus service from airport to BKK city. Instead they have arranged a metro service - no big deal but you have to know. Most travelers I have met had this problem as well.
The hostel I have stayed is called "Cozy Bangkok Place" and is located near the central station. It is really affordable, just 400 Baht per night. It is
clean and really cozy - you have to take out your shoes before you enter. Take a look at the pictures. The day I arrived I just took a quick meal at the central station and went back to the hostel. I felled asleep right away.
After taking a shower the next morning I wanted to go to the famous Khoasan Road. This road is the central meeting point for all backpackers in Asia and also known from the movie "The beach". I took a look at the map and found out, it is not far away and so I decied to walk.... a bad decision! I have walked more than one hour throughout Chinatown and got terribly lost even though my orientation is not this bad. But somehow I have managed to get back to the main station. You have to get rid of the thinking, you can walk even a short distance here in Bkk. Everything is far away, the traffic is always jammed and chaotic. Beside this public transportation or a taxi is really cheap. Bkk has more then 10 Million inhabitent and approximately 90.000 cabs so you can catch one everytime and everywhere.
Bangkok
is also the spiritual headquater of Thailand. I have visited some Wats (tempel) and they all are really very, very beautiful. Buddhism is a very important part of Thai society, history and politics. Therefore many families send one of their childs at the age of ten to a wat to become a monk. The "apprenticeship" take ten years and brings some nice side effects to the family.
1. The education in the wat is free of charge - to visit a school in Thailand could be expensive and the earnings are low (more to this point later)
2. The education is very strict and on very high level
3. After becoming a monk the parents receive an express ticket to heaven when they die, no matter how they behave during their live
4. Becoming a monk is also the complimentary ticket for high paid jobs
The central point of buddhism is living in peaceful coexistent, doing no harm to anybody - this is what I have get. That is why Thai people are very friendly and live in very strong family ties. Beside buddhism the family means everything to a Thai. Not such a bad
idea I think. But the Thai society has a big uprising problem. Thailand is a very young nation with an average age of 31 and this young nation is getting tired of their tradition - tradition keeps modern western life away and a great part of this young nation longs for this lifestyle. Dont get me wrong, the young Thai can live as they are pleased to do but there is always the critical look of the old (vanishing) Thai and as I have stated before, family means everything to a Thai.
Another big problem is the incredible big abyss of the wealthy and the poor people. Right now the middle class is very small but with an upward trend. I have seen this problem every day. Near the hostel at the central station most peopel are poor and you can see many homeless people as well. Sleeping on the streets with no belongins just their old messy clothes. Driving a few stations with the metro you can see the other part of society. You can shop everywhere, in hughe malls. Prada, Guci, BMW, Mercedes, Gourmet Food etc... For example you can spend 140 Baht for just one apple
- I did so because I wanted to know what it is with this apple. But it just tasted like a good apple, nothing special at all. At the other side you can get along with the same amount of money the whole day and the most people at Bkk has to do so. This is why people living at Bkk are the most unhappiest in Thailand. Ok, this should be enough talking of politic. This is what I have done during the last days.
- Visiting some of the most important Wats in Thailand, I have already stated my five cents to this topic
- Doing a night bike tour throuhg Bkk / This was an exiting experience, especially visting the flower market two days before mothers day and learnig some basic facts about Buddhism first handed
- Going to Khoasan Road / awesome place with lots of people to meet. So I have met two experienced Asia travelers who gave me some good advices such vistiting the bayoke sky tower bar at the 87. th floor or the chatunchak weekend market where you can buy everything you can imagine
- Doing a run with
a motorbike taxi / as stated before the traffic is almost always jammed so the advantege of the motorbike is the agility. Unfortunatelly I have missed the action cam at the hostel but I will do another run with a motorbike taxi 😊
- Visiting Siam Ocean world / this is the biggest aquarim in southeast Asia
- Going to the MBK shopping mall / you have to imagine a shopping mall twice as big as DEZ and Citypoint together full of fake stuff. You can buy original as well but it is more expensive then in Europe - I didnt get why, arent this kind of stuff produced here????
- Visiting Madams Tussauds / nice experience as well. Looks so real....
- Going to Lumphini Park / a green park in the middle of the city. Thai people meet here in their spare time for a work out ( but only allowed from 10 am to 3 pm), playing games etc. You can buy some bread at the park entrance and feed the fishes in the water. Nice to do. First I have wondered why nobody is catching the huge fishes in there but the
guide from the night tour enlighted me. Fishing in the park or near a Wat would bring very bad luck to fisher so only a very, very silly guy would do this. Also it is forbidden by law
- Visiting the grand palace / well what did you expect from a palace. Gold almost everywhere but the entrance fee was 400 Baht, so I did not enter
- Visiting the Museum of Siam / Siam is the old name of Thailand and shows Thai history with a lot of Videos and interactive things to do. It was not so bad but I am not really into museums I have noticed once again
- Tasting Thai food / food is always a great part of a journey. I have tried as much as possible. For me the best was "Durian". It has a really strong smell and is not allowed in public buildings and hotels 😊 But the taste is just awesome. Meanwhile I am getting a bit tired of rice. Thai eat rice almost everytime, even at breakfast....
I have also noticed, that a photo of the Thai Royals are almost everywhere. This fact
reminds me about socialism but I also know, Thail love their Royals as much as the English do
Finaly I have to admit, that Bkk is an exciting place. But also verty noisy with bad air due to the crazy traffic. That is why I am really looking forward moving to the south by train. Next station is the Khao Sok national park in the Rainforest. We will read us again thence.
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