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Published: August 8th 2007
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They say: „Never leave that to tomorrow what you can do today!!!“… but as all of you know, these words are sometimes easier said than done. My last extent trip to Southeast Asia is dating back a few years. Since then, a little travel bug has been nagging me from time to time that I still have a few Southeast Asian countries left on my list to visit, and to name them: Myanmar, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Therefore, one day in January 2007 when I felt farsick once again… I’ve just booked a flight to Southeast Asia… ready for chasing that travel bug down...
In addition, for some reason, I have been missing that part of the world for quite a while. The colours, the smell, the people, the nature, the spices, the traffic, the spirit, the sea, the food… simply Asia.
- Thailand - The City of Angels - „One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster. The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free. You'll find a god in every golden cloister. And if you're lucky then the god's a she. I can feel an angel sliding up to me...“ („One night in Khaosan Road
Backpackers Heaven Bangkok“ by Murray Head)
I started my journey via Dubai in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and flew north to Bangkok, Thailand for a night before flying into Myanmar.
I was actually planning to have a full day in Bangkok but I missed my flight in Kuala Lumpur so that I ended up buying a new ticket for the next available flight to Bangkok. The departure was scheduled for 3 hours later, which then again turned out to have another 3 hours delay, so that I finally arrived in Bangkok in the early evening, what kind of sucked because I wanted to walk around the city and snap some pics and run some errands before leaving to Myanmar the next morning.
Bangkok is definitely not the most beautiful city in Asia, traffic and air is bad like in most big Asian cities, but for some reason I have a special relation to Bangkok. In the past it was always my starting point, a central hub for all destinations, when travelling in SE Asia, so I do have some special memories related to this city, „the city of angels“ - how some people call
it, some others might say „the
city of sins“.
There is the infamous Khaosan Road, which is probably the most famous backpacker street in the world. A place I love and hate. I love Khaosan as a place where backpackers from all over the world gather and I love Khaosan for its convenience. But in the same instant I dislike Khaosan for the crowds of travellers, the overpriced bars, shops and restaurants and unfriendly staff. So whenever I think of Khaosan, I have to think of Alex Garland’s novel „The Beach“! The book starts in Khaosan, Richard the main character (in the movie played by Leonardo Di Caprio) is sitting stoned in his crappy hostel room somehwere in Khaosan and announces: "I'm going to find one of those Lonely Planet writers and ask him, what's so fucking lonely about Khaosan Road!!!“
Talking of the Lonely Planet and unspoiled places I have to think of Maria, a Spanish girl I met a few years ago in Laos who told me about a small village with no tourists at all, she was like: „I visited a charming minority-run guesthouse in Laos remote northern part. You have to go there but whatever you do, don't tell Lonely
Planet." - Well, I'm afraid someone else did.
Nevertheless, Khaosan Road is still a legend. Since my last visit the area has changed. Most of the street vendors are gone, Burger King and Mc Donalds opened branches right on or next to Khaosan Road and travellers keep flocking in.
I do believe that Khaosan is a good place to relax and drink after hard travelling, organizing your further trip and meeting up with some friends - a few years ago I was sitting in one of the Khaosan Internet Cafes at 6:00AM in the morning, I’ve just returned from Cambodia, when I suddenly spotted 2 familiar faces on the street, there were 2 Italian guys who I met exactly a year ago on the ferry from Egypt to Jordan - sometimes the world is much smaller than we expect it to be, so Khaosan is nice for a day or two but I can’t really stand more than that anymore.
While I was waiting at the Kuala Lumpur aiport for my flight to Bangkok I’ve met Sue, an American girl with an Asian face and Agun, a fairly beautiful Thai girl with pale white skin like a porcelain doll. Three people waiting for the same plane, at the same place, at the same time, but with three totally different stories to tell. That’s maybe one of the reasons why I like airports, there are people from all corners of the planet heading for all kinds of destinations.
There was Sue, adopted as a baby from South Korea and raised in a small town somewhere in Iowa. She told me that she used to have no relation to Korea or Asia at all and never felt the desire to find out anything about her Asian roots. But then, one day she just stumbled coincidentally over a job offer on a black board: „Teaching refugee kids in Northern Thailand.“ and it should change her life completely. She has never been out of the United States before but then 4 weeks later she set her first step on Asian soil and started to love Asia. She told us about the kids she was teaching, their smiles, their curious eyes, their sad stories and their will to survive.
And there was Agun, her story is even more interesting, it's about money, power and men, but a kind of delicate and too private to tell here.
After our arrival in Bangkok, Sue and me got to Khaosan and shared a room for a night as both of us were leaving the next morning so that we just needed a place to crush for a view hours. Later we met up with Agun for dinner near Khaosan. Sue left early as she was tired, as she has been on the road for almost 2 days, and wanted to have some sleep before her onward travel back to Northern Thailand.
So Agun and me decided to have some drinks and ended up in a skybar at one of the skyscrapers with a breathtaking view. We chitter chattered and had some drinks and afterwards a walk through the nightly and lifely city before we finally bid farewell to each other.
When I returned to the hostel and entered our room I noticed that there was something very strange laying in the king size double bed - something that looked like an eskimo. The room was freezing as the aircondition was turned on to the max. It took me some seconds to notice that it was Sue, wearing layers of clothes, a jacket, a thick sweater and in addition a scarf, handgloves and a woolen hat. When the eskimo lifted her head for a second to see who was entering into her iglu, I asked her if she wants me to turn off the aircondition, but she mumbled something and shook her head before falling asleep again, so I just put out my jacket out of my backpack and ended up sleeping in a bed next to an American girl with an Asian face who looked like an eskimo…
Four hours later I was sitting in an airplane to Myanmar… the eskimo was probably still sleeping in the iglu... somewhere at Khaosan... somewhere in the city of angels... and who knows?! Maybe she was even dreaming of angels...
To be continued… next: Myanmar - The Golden Land...
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Mj
non-member comment
Cool
Just started reading your blogs today, I like your writing style and the words you use. I'll be following your blogs mate so dont stop, keep moving. Mj